Viking expands capabilities with Domino

Viking Label & Packaging, founded in 1965, started in a garage at Nisswa, MN, is a mid-size label converter with a team of 55 and a customer base across the US and Canada, primarily servicing the food packaging industry, automotive, health and beauty, food and beverage markets. 

‘When Viking first entered the digital market, we had essentially an entry-level roll-to-roll digital press,’ said Kim Larson, president of Viking Label & Packaging. ‘When the time came for us to upgrade, we did our due diligence in testing the multiple platforms that are out there and at the end of the day, Domino rose to the top with its quality of the print, ease of use, and its service…along with our familiarity of CEI and its equipment.’

Steve Engen, CEO of Viking Label & Packaging, added: ‘When we started looking at the CEI BossJet, we were at a position where we wanted to take that next step to digital. The CEI BossJet gave us that opportunity to run jobs in a single pass, to turn jobs faster, and the sheer volume of work has significantly impacted our profits on that machine. It really was a win-win.’

The new CEI BossJet setup includes 40-in unwind, a dual-sided web cleaner, a corona treater, UV flexo station for priming or printing, the Domino, expanded gamut, with two whites, four-color process (CMYK), orange and violet. 

‘Lamination can be applied at the same time,’ added Bryan Trees, plant manager of Viking Label & Packaging. ‘After that, we die-cut, going into either semi-rotary or full-rotary. Travels then to our waste windup, where labels are stripped down into the final shear or cutting station. And these two monitors control all functions on this press so that a single operator can run it.’

This hybrid press has increased productivity, efficiency, and profitability and enabled expansion into other sectors.

‘The CEI BossJet “powered by Domino” has allowed us to enter markets that we would not previously have been able to enter. This hybrid press combines the digital components of the colors and variable data with the flexo ability to decorate, be it cold foil, or tactile varnishing, or pattern varnishing. Things like that are providing that shelf appeal that all brand owners are in search of. I really think it outperforms expectations,’ added Larson. ‘Domino has been second to none.’