Domino's Pizza were looking for a rugged and reliable bar code label printer with a small footprint to print order and delivery labels for their stores throughout the UK & Ireland - the Cognitive Advantage™ printer with unique two-year warranty, was the clear choice for their requirements.
The reason for change at Domino's
Previously, Domino's Pizza stores were using dot matrix printers for printing order and delivery details and were experiencing various reliability and performance problems. The printer mechanisms were susceptible to damage from flour particles and there were problems with mis-feeds and paper jams. This meant that, at peak ordering times, a member of Domino's staff was frequently taken away from serving customers in order to sort out problems with the printer -resulting in potential loss of revenue and hold-ups in customer service and the pizza delivery process. The dot matrix printers were also noisy and the large footprint used valuable counter space.
Domino's required a label printer that was small, robust, extremely simple to operate and easy to load with new media.
Domino's selected the Advantage™ direct thermal bar code label printer. The advantage of direct thermal printing technology is that no ribbon is required. Advantage™ printers also have drop-in paper loading, ensuring they are very quick and easy to load with a new roll of labels.
Challenges 
Using direct thermal printing technology presented Domino's and Maxatec with various challenges. Thermal printers use heat from the printhead and specially treated media to create the print. Domino's needed to attach labels directly onto hot pizza boxes. The thermal media is heat sensitive so it can start to darken when exposed to heat, which can affect the legibility of the print.
Maxatec and Domino's worked with a custom media supplier to test various types of specially treated thermal media and succeeded in qualifying a media that withstood the heat from the pizza box. Domino's in-store staff also found if they placed the label on the front edge of the box, the effect of the heat on the print quality was minimal.
The Advantages of the new label printing solution
With the new system, Domino's staff input a customer order onto the computer system, which then automatically prints two barcoded labels on the Advantage™ printer. The label contains information about the order and the delivery address. One label is for the pizza box, the other is used for the paperwork given to the delivery person.
One of the most important challenges in the pizza delivery business is keeping the pizzas hot. At Domino's, the delivery driver now has full details of the exact order and delivery address on the paper work that s/he takes on the road, there is no need to open the hot bag in order to view the delivery address on the pizza box inside. So each pizza is delivered piping hot.
Domino's also uses the Advantage™ bar code label printer to print out special promotions, coupons and welcome information for new customers, which are simply applied to the pizza box as required.
Tim Cawley, IS Manager at Domino's Pizza Group Ltd, said, "The majority of Domino's pizzas are delivered to customers' homes. It is therefore crucial that the delivery process runs efficiently and that information is clearly displayed for delivery drivers to see. Maxatec provided the perfect solution and we are very pleased with the performance and reliability of the printers. Where the Advantage™ printers have replaced the old dot matrix ones, we have saved on staff time dealing with printer breakdowns and maintenance costs have reduced enormously! "
The Advantage™ printers are user-friendly and require very little maintenance. The lid of the printer protects the printhead and the paper path. The label is front-presenting so is very easy to tear off and the printer is easy set up and adjust the functions. Using direct thermal print technology means there are no ribbons to replace.
Annette Dankowski, account manager, Maxatec said; " Maxatec's breadth of experience across a variety of industries and applications means that we are able to give an excellent quality of service and support, to our customers and ensure our products meet their individual needs. "
Cawley added, "We believe that partnering with reliable and innovative IT suppliers such as Maxatec is key to our continuing success. With a further 50 stores planned to open each year, we anticipate working with Maxatec on further printer rollouts in the near future."
The Advantage™ label printer has the only all-metal print mechanism in its price class providing outstanding power, print performance and value for any application. It can print more than 5,000 labels per day. It is also tough enough to withstand the rigors of many environments including logistics and warehouse, retail, kitchen and manufacturing.
About Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza Group Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Domino's Pizza UK & IRL plc, which is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange (symbol: DOM). Domino's Pizza Group Limited is the UK's leading pizza delivery company and holds the master franchise to own, operate and franchise Domino's Pizza stores in the UK and Ireland. The first UK store opened in 1985 and the first Irish store opened in 1991. As at 22 April 2004, there were 326 stores in the UK and Ireland.
Domino's Pizza is the world leader in pizza delivery and was founded in the United States in 1960. There are currently more than 7,000 stores open across more than 50 international markets employing over a quarter of a million people.
About Maxa Technologies plc (Maxatec)
Maxa Technologies is an ISO approved, supplier of printers, peripherals and services. Maxatec's product portfolio includes TPG point of sale printers, Cognitive bar code label printers, Extech portable printers, Blazepoint industrial label and ticket printers, NiceLabel™ label design software and a wide range of consumables (paper, labels, ribbons), spare parts and in-house service, support and training capabilities.
