Five years on from the creation of its digital printing division, Dantex is planning for the next stage of growth.

Dantex acquired JF Machines in 2014, with Dantex Digital and the company’s first digital press, PicoColour II, formally launching at Labelexpo Europe 2015.

Since then, the company has made a number of technical and corporate developments to enhance its position in digital printing. This has included the launch of the PicoJet range to complement PicoColour, both UV inkjet digital label printing machines.

Further updates to PicoJet include the addition of the 350RF modular digital platform with inline finishing, and PicoJet 350R and PicoJet 254R reel-to-reel production versions suitable for offline finishing. PicoColour has also been recently upgraded with a slitting and rewinding option that enables up to six rolls to be finished ready for label application.

Dantex Digital has also not long since celebrated the one-year anniversary of its move into a new location close to Kettering in the UK. This site better allows the company to handle current production levels, anticipated future demand, and R&D.

Andy Abbott, director of operations at Dantex, explained, ‘The site covers 12,000sqft, which is more than double our previous location, and has simplified production by having all processes on one level and in one location.

‘When we looked at it from a production standpoint, we needed to relocate or run the risk of coming to a standstill. Here, we have the capacity to produce eight machines at a time, and can handle the larger PicoJet systems. In the old location, it would have been a challenge to produce PicoJet, while JF Machines would build bespoke machines, one at a time.’

The site also includes a dedicated R&D block, were Richard Hall, R&D director at Dantex Digital, and his team are able to perform tests on the company’s machines to improve their performance and ready the next generation of upgrades.

Mr Abbott continued, ‘Having R&D taking place outside of the normal production area makes the process much more efficient and beneficial to the development of the systems, as well as production, as it allows us to dedicate time and resources to this essential element of the business.’

2020 will be a big year for Dantex Digital, as Mr Abbott explained, ‘We have got to a stage where we are an established name in the industry, and we have a book of happy customers. Many are now buying second machines, and we are looking at how we can help our customers take their production to the next level.’