Videojet vs. Imaje vs. Hitachi vs. Domino

This sales competition shall be one of the toughest battle between Videojet, Imaje, Hitachi and Domino in year 2008.

The customer:
A multi national beverage manufacturer.

Sales potential:
Capital equipment investment: 5 units of CIJ
Consumables usage: 5 X 7000 prints per hour, equal to 35,000 prints per hour

Bidding inkjet brand:
Videojet
Domino
Hitachi
Imaje

Application:
To print 2 lines of code consists of batch number and expiry date on top of the aseptic paper carton beverage packaging on-line.



Videojet Approach:

Videojet is one of the most established inkjet company. 2 units of Videojet Excel 170i have been setup for the trial. Sales engineer with the backup of a team of service engineers has impressed the users of their excellent customer service.

Domino Approach:

This competition is advantageous to Domino as the user is existing user of Domino CIJ.

Hitachi Approach:

Hitachi, a new market leader of CIJ in South East Asia region. .Hitachi has made the competition tougher by offering the latest Hitachi PXR with a very attractive package. The touch panel of Hitachi PXR has given the users some new experience with the large and colorful screen.

Imaje Approach:

Imaje, one of the inkjet market leaders is offering the Imaje 9020. The small foot print has impressed the engineer where space is always an issue in the filling room.

Summary of users’ remarks as below:
Most user friendly- Videojet Excel 170i
Best customer service- Videojet Excel 170i , Hitachi PXR
Best print quality- Imaje 9020, Hitachi PXR

The Decision:
After a few weeks of actual production trials and studies, Videojet Excel 170i, Hitachi PXR and Domino A200 were short listed for final consideration. The maintenance leader of the manufacturer has one concern on the air driven Videojet Excel 170i as the compressed air supply available is oily and wet.

The proposals has been escalated to top management and to ensure a wise decision is made, the customer is seeking recommendation from the headquarter which is located outside of the country.

Finally a decision is made, and the order has awarded to Domino.

Imaje Crayon (previous version)

The previous version Imaje Crayon large character inkjet printer is one of the most popular carton printer in the market.

In South East Asia region, the Imaje Crayon installed base could be as large as its rival Marsh Unicorn.

The outlook of this Imaje Crayon printer looks very similar to Marsh Unicorn, in fact, both of these models were manufactured by Marsh.

A few years after Videojet acquired Marsh company, Imaje has discontinued this model and the latest Crayon was launched.

To inkjet users who still have the previous version of Imaje Crayon carton printer, alternately you could engage Marsh authorized distributors to for technical assistance.

To enhance the operating cost in term of cost per print, it is wise to upgrade the unit with ink system (reservoir) because purchase ink in bulk form (normally in 5 gallons drum) will have significant savings as compared to getting ink supplies in cartridge form.

It would be even better if the ink system is equipped with ink low alarm which would trigger upon ink level falls below certain preset level.