中文UK self-adhesive label, ticket and tag manufacturer Labelnet has installed a second Domino digital label press, the N730i, after growing its digital production from zero in 2020 to around 40 percent of total output today. The investment is both a vote of confidence in digital and a marker of how thoroughly the company has restructured its business around shorter runs and faster turnaround in a notoriously competitive label market.
Labelnet spent more than 25 years as a dedicated flexo business before building its digital capability in 2020 with a Domino N610i. The catalyst was clear demand for shorter runs and quicker delivery. That first press let the company shrink turnaround times from weeks to days or even hours, expand from food labels into the chemical and beverage sectors, and widen its range to embellished, foiled, variable data and multi-layer labels. Its hybrid approach was recognized in 2025 when its peel-and-reveal beer label for Hackney Church Brewery, Noah Knows Best, won the Digital Labels & Packaging Excellence with Hybrid Printing award, a tangible proof point that digital and flexo finishing can combine to win creative briefs.
Rob Lorkins, managing director of Labelnet, recalled how transformative the first Domino machine was in 2020, drastically changing the business. The company quickly branched out, bringing studio work in-house and adding a new set of skills. Lorkins emphasized the operational benefit of flexibility and the ability to adapt to customer requirements on the spot, a capability that matters as average order values decline and job counts climb across the industry.
Facing growing demand for high-quality digitally printed labels, Labelnet recently added the N730i, which prints at up to 1,200 DPI and up to 90 metres per minute. Real-time in-line raster image processing on the press’s Sunrise DFE handles artwork, including variable data, as it prints, reducing pre-processing and idle time. The higher resolution and speed extend the kinds of jobs Labelnet can accept and shorten lead times further, allowing the converter to promise premium quality without sacrificing the responsiveness that drew customers to digital in the first place.
Digital has also reshaped the workforce. Lorkins noted that the company has brought in many younger people who adapted to the technology very quickly, and expects that trend to continue. For a traditional converter, that cultural renewal is as valuable as the hardware itself, future-proofing the business against a tightening skilled-labor market. Craig Clawson, sales manager at Domino Printing Sciences, said Labelnet’s second-press investment reflects the success it has achieved since embracing digital production, and Domino is delighted to keep supporting the team.
The Labelnet trajectory illustrates a pattern repeating across the label industry: a first digital press proves the model, hybrid finishing unlocks new applications, and a second press follows once digital becomes a structural share of volume rather than a sideline. With digital now at 40 percent of output, Labelnet has effectively become a hybrid converter where flexo and digital are chosen per job rather than by default, a model many of its peers are now racing to copy.
Source: Labels & Labeling (16 October 2026) – Labelnet adds second Domino.
The economics behind Labelnet’s second press are worth examining. A first digital press typically proves the concept and absorbs the easiest short-run work; a second arrives only when digital is no longer experimental but structural. At 40 percent of output, digital is now core to Labelnet’s capacity, and the N730i’s higher resolution and speed let it take jobs that previously defaulted to flexo on quality grounds. That migration blurs the old boundary between digital for short runs and flexo for long ones.
Hybrid finishing has been central to the company’s success. Owning flexo finishing lines that can embellish, foil and apply variable data to digitally printed reels means Labelnet captures the premium end of the label market, where brand owners pay for tactile and visual effects. The Hackney Church Brewery award illustrates how a creative brief, impossible on pure digital or pure flexo alone, becomes achievable through combination, and awards of that kind also function as marketing that attracts similar high-value work.
Regionally, the UK label sector remains intensely competitive, with converters differentiating on speed, service and creative capability rather than price alone. Labelnet’s willingness to bring studio work in-house and invest in younger operators suggests a deliberate strategy to control more of the value chain and reduce dependence on external pre-press. If digital continues its climb past 40 percent, a third press may eventually enter the conversation, but for now the two-Domino footprint balances capacity, flexibility and capital discipline.
The second-press decision also reflects a maturing view of capacity planning. Rather than buying a larger flexo press to absorb volume, Labelnet chose to deepen digital, preserving the flexibility that attracted customers in the first place. That choice protects the company against demand volatility, because digital capacity can be reallocated across jobs far more easily than a dedicated flexo setup configured for a narrow spec. In an environment where average order values are falling and job counts rising, flexibility is itself a form of resilience.
Lorkins’s point about younger operators adapting quickly is more than a cultural observation; it is a hiring strategy. Digital presses appeal to a workforce comfortable with software, data and automation, helping Labelnet attract talent that might otherwise avoid a traditional print floor. As the industry competes for skilled staff, the technology mix becomes a recruiting tool. With the N730i in place, Labelnet can promise both the craft of hybrid embellishment and the speed of modern digital, a combination that positions it strongly against pure-play digital or pure-play flexo rivals in the UK market.
