Memjet announced the opening of a state-of-the-art dye-based ink manufacturing plant in Sydney, Australia.
The new facility will produce Memjet’s advanced ink formulations in a quality-controlled, automated production environment. Memjet explained that its new smart manufacturing facility houses custom-made mixing and sanitising technology for superior ink quality and enhanced partner value propositions.
The company said it is a world-first. Fully automated ink production processes have been designed by Memjet’s in-house, chemistry and engineering teams.
The new facility includes high-precision automated mixing equipment, which is air-sealed and has high-purity air filtering systems at all input points to eliminate contaminants and produce superior dye-based ink. There are no open tanks or open delivery mechanisms in the production facility. Food-grade components are used in every area of the plant with ‘zero retain’ vessels and valving systems to ensure cleanliness and cross-contamination-free product manufacturing.
Ink manufacturing quality is further enhanced by a newly developed, high-pressure, integrated cleaning system that introduces highly efficient microbiological sanitation. This thermally managed system allows for real-time control and output checking to ensure cleanliness and trouble-free formulation changes between batch mixing processes.
Quality assurance at the new site goes well beyond output approval, the company added. Automated dispensing and traceability of consumables means manufacturing will not start if key materials have not been approved by the Quality Assurance Laboratory and the results stored in Memjet’s Manufacturing Execution System.
Once manufactured, Memjet ink is passed through a finely filtered multi-stage transfer system that moves the ink from mixing tanks to storage tanks prior to being dispensed to shipping containers. This process is monitored and measured by the Execution System which fills bulk ink delivery tanks for shipment to customers.
Memjet CEO, Sunil Gupta, said: “Our new Sydney production facility represents a significant and continuing commitment to our dye-based ink platforms and customers worldwide. It is an exciting breakthrough in dye-based ink production. Sealed ink housing throughout all stages of the ink production process means Memjet inks deliver a superior level of sanitization. This supports optimal print performance and decreases downtime for printhead maintenance.”
Memjet Chief Technology Officer, Jason Thelander, explained that the new Memjet manufacturing facility is within walking distance from Memjet’s research and development facility. “The close proximity to our engineering and materials science teams means plant technicians have immediate access to high-level expertise for investigative advice and process improvements. This also supports ongoing ink development by giving our research team a shop floor vantage point from which to approach innovation.”
