Engineered Printing Solutions celebrates milestone 100th sale of single pass direct to object inkjet system

Engineered Printing Solutions (EPS) has announced the sale of its 100th single pass direct to object (DTO) inkjet production system, marking a major step in the manufacturing industry’s shift from analogue decoration to high speed digital production.

Founded in 1985 as a specialised pad printing engineering company, EPS has grown into a leader in industrial digital printing and automation. Today, the company has deployed more than 2000 pad printers, 300 multipass DTO inkjet systems, and now 100 production grade single pass DTO machines, forming one of the most experienced installed bases in the DTO market. From developing the first tagless T-shirt system with Hanes to transforming the way caps and closures, hard hats, golf balls, and other complex shapes are printed, EPS has helped drive the analogue to digital conversion across multiple industries.

The sale of the 100th system reflects wider market trends reshaping product decoration. Manufacturers today must support shorter batch sizes, long tail stock keeping units, quicker changeovers, and on-demand customisation – needs that traditional pad, screen, and offset printing cannot meet cost effectively due to tooling costs, long set ups, and skilled labour reliance. Single pass digital DTO eliminates plates, clichés, screens, and set up fees, enabling rapid artwork changes, variable data, and inline 2D code traceability without reducing production speed.

Rising labour costs and workforce shortages are also accelerating digital adoption. Single pass UV inkjet reduces labour hours by up to 81% while aligning with automation ready workflows, including robotic loading, pre-treatment, inspection, and unloading. Because digital DTO is software driven, brands can maintain consistent print quality across shifts while minimising operator training and dependency.

EPS executive chairman Ken Stack described the milestone as a pivotal moment for the industry. ‘Reaching our 100th single pass DTO system is more than a sales milestone – it marks a turning point in how manufacturers think about product decoration. Digital DTO has moved from early adoption to mainstream production, driven by the need for agility, automation, and measurable return on investment. Our next 100 systems will help shape the future of manufacturing for brands that demand reliability, flexibility, and world class engineering support.’

The company’s experience across the first 100 single pass systems has reinforced the importance of full production cell engineering. Pre-treatment, ink chemistry, colour management, part transport, and automation all play major roles in digital success. EPS’s engineering, chemistry, and colour science teams work directly with customers to develop and validate application specific workflows. The company emphasises uptime, reliability, and 24 hour a day, seven days a week production readiness as core differentiators, noting that DTO machines operate inside continuous factory environments where ‘if the printer is down, the factory is down’.

It is celebrating its 100th single pass sale in partnership with Kingston Aluminium Technology (KAT) of Canada. KAT’s patented Alumishape technology produces shaped aluminium bottles designed for high shelf impact and sustainability. EPS engineered a flexible single pass system capable of printing before bottle forming, enabling the containers to be shaped after decoration without distorting the artwork. The system delivers 80 cans per minute, creating a new benchmark for post formed aluminium packaging.

Ben Pilon, president of BPE Group, KAT’s parent company, highlighted the engineering collaboration, saying: ‘Finding a print solution was a long process for us. With our new technology, we had been through a lot of testing, and it was proving to be a major challenge.

‘Working with EPS was a completely different process compared to other solutions. It provides quick response times, creativity, and the ability to problem solve. The company worked with us to develop something new and I felt confident that together it would be a great solution. Our current printer has been working great, support has been very good and most importantly, our customers are happy.’