Mike Barry is the key account and OEM manager for Domino Digital Printing North America. Barry has spent the past nine years in the printing and packaging industry, and he is instrumental in helping customers understand the nuances of the newest technology on the market today.

As part of L&NW Label Insights, we recently had the luxury of talking to Barry about how Domino is helping its customers take advantage of the hybrid printing market. Domino has a growing list of partners on the conventional side, and the company has instituted a host of tools to identify when the shift would make sense for a customer’s book of business.

L&NW: What are the benefits of hybrid printing?
Mike Barry: Hybrid presses provide converters a single-pass production solution that leverages the advantages of digital printing and the flexibility of a traditional flexo press. Hybrid combines the best of both worlds when it comes to digital and all the advantages of short runs, multiple SKUs, lack of waste and shorter setup times, with flexo processes that can be used for embellishments, coatings, diecutting, converting, etc.

The combination of digital printing with traditional flexo converting options opens up the door to new opportunities. There could be certain work that combines, for example, variable data and a cold foil, that would not be possible on an asset that was a standalone digital or traditional flexo. The combination of the two opens up the door for new possibilities to run a label using the most efficient methods for your job. Hybrid presses give you that Swiss army knife of a tool.

This technology can also cut down on labor costs. Digital-only presses will have multiple step workflows and labor for different pieces of the puzzle. It also allows you to transition more work to digital from flexo because of the inline capabilities of a hybrid press, especially if you have multi-SKU work with 10 images that share common tooling. Hybrid presses will be far more effective running those jobs. Converters can take those jobs that didn’t quite make sense to put on a digital-only press – where they kept them on their flexo presses – and put them on the hybrid. That then frees up more space on the flexo press for longer run, more profitable work.

L&NW: How has Domino positioned itself for success in this space?
MB: Domino is all about choice. We offer roll-to-roll presses, which can be standalone or configured for near-line applications, as well. Then we have our integration module, and that module is open architecture. Even though we are open architecture and can integrate with just about any platform, we do have several key partnerships that we’re proud of. Our newest partnership is with Mark Andy with their Digital Series IQ platform, which utilizes our Domino N610 integration module. Of course, we have longstanding relationships with MPS, CEI, ABG, Rotocontrol and several other industry players who have several installations integrated inline with our digital press.

Having that open architecture and the ability for choice are ways that we’ve positioned ourselves well in the hybrid market. We’re the experts in digital inkjet technology, not flexo and other converting elements. We want the converter to select the right tools and partner but allow them to utilize the benefits of our print engine.

L&NW: What customer feedback have you received for your hybrid solutions?
MB: Over the last several years, hybrid technology has become more and more popular. One, customers are becoming more educated in understanding the advantages of what they can do that would be limited on traditional digital or flexo presses. There are other savings in production, so the adoption rate is increasing year-over-year. Two, I think some of the embelishment and semi-rotary diecutting technologies have gotten better and faster. The technological improvements on the converter side, along with continued innovation on inkjet presses have allowed hybrid presses to become more efficient.

L&NW: When would it make sense to go with a hybrid press instead of strictly digital or flexo?
MB: At Domino, we have developed a presentation entitled “Hybrid 101,” and we’ve delivered versions of that through associations, like TLMI and FTA, and internally to our customers. We took a look at some case studies of different types of jobs to understand what the most financially beneficial way is to run them. Run lengths and applications play a big part in it. The digital engine used within the hybrid presses is the same as what’s used in our standalone roll-to-roll presses.

From a quality and throughput point of view, and the applications you can print, it’s really all the same. What separates the technology is your production workflow. What is the makeup of those jobs, how many SKUs, what is the common tooling? If you have a heavy SKU job where you have 10 different versions of an image but they share the same diecut or overvarnish or flexo spot color, that’s a single setup on a hybrid press. The digital engine will change seamlessly between the images. You can complete all 10 of those SKUs without the setup time or cost associated with changing the image on the flexo side. They’re also fully finished in a single pass.

Another example is the types of jobs. For example, shrink sleeve labels are very popular on our hybrid presses because they require a last down white, and they require that white to have the slip coefficient required for shrink labels. We can do that in a hybrid format by printing the digital aspect of the job, then laying down a flexo white behind that to get all the properties that we need. That’s not something you can do in a single-step process with a standalone digital press. Then on flexo, you’re incurring a lot of setup costs if those are shorter runs.

Specialty applications, like variable data, might have a cold foil or metallic spot color can be done on a hybrid process because it can be set up inline. We take a look at a customer’s whole book of work, and then identify if a hybrid workflow is the right way to go.

L&NW: How does Domino help navigate customers looking to gain entry in this market?
MB: It really comes down to education and understanding the converter’s book of business. We have ROI tools that analyze what the best production method is for each customer. Then we have a wide range of choices. Someone who is interested in Domino technology has a ton of options on the flexo side. Having that choice and knowledge helps them gain entry into the market.

L&NW: Where do you see the future of hybrid adoption?
MB: I think it’s only going to continue to increase as the technology on the converting side – and also the digital technology – gets faster over time. Even if converters don’t need four flexo decks and two die stations, they might want a single flexo station and a die station inline with their digital engine because it might make a ton of sense for them. I think this technology will continue to become the norm going forward.