Cambridge the birthplace of today s ink jet technology It seems that the earliest experiments using static electricity to manipulate a stream of droplets was conducted in France and published in 1749 by Abbé Nollet. (1) Lord Kelvin, in the UK, invented what could be termed the first inkjet recording device in 1858: this used a continuous stream of ink from a siphon, and a driving signal to move the siphon across a moving web of paper, and was used to automatically record telegraph messages. Further research on the relationship of jet diameter to drop size was conducted by Joseph Plateau (Belgium) in 1865. (1) Then in 1878 Lord Rayleigh published a series of papers regarding liquid drop formation, the theory behind which is still used in today s ink jet printers. (1) Both Kelvin and Rayleigh studied at Cambridge University. Cambridge Consultants and the ink jet company nebula Ink jet remained a scientific curiosity until the development of the computer chip and although several scientists made advances the defining patents were registered in 1962 by Professor Sweet of Stanford University in the US. Sweet s interest lay in using the technology to produce a high speed oscillograph, as used in a chart recorder. Fundamentally, Sweet showed how the ink stream could be broken up into droplets of even size and spacing, and then a charge applied to each droplet to cause it to be deflected when passed through an electric field. This deflection would allow the ink droplets to print a pattern, with unused droplets re circulated back into the system. Thus the Continuous Ink Jet (CIJ) printing process was born. (1) The Sweet patent was picked up by Cambridge Consultants in the UK who embarked on the development of a continuous ink jet printer. Two of the key people in this activity were Mike Keeling and Hillar Weinberg. The CCL technology spawned the formation of most of the key ink jet companies we see today: Domino in 1978, then later Thomson Industries (France) which went on to form Imaje. In 1981 Keeling and Weinberg were employed by Willett UK to develop a range of coding products including CIJ. The story goes that having seen how these various companies had implemented the exciting new CIJ technology, Keeling and Weinberg thought they could do much better themselves, and so in 1986 they left to form Linx. From small beginnings Keeling and Weinberg raised funding for their new company from a combination of second mortgages on their houses, and venture capital companies; although Mike Keeling recalls that they had gone through the Venture Capital Year Book starting at A and been rejected by everyone until they reached M! The founders sheer determination and belief proved worthwhile when Code Control Ltd was established in 1986, changing to Linx Printing Technologies on 6th July 1987. (1) Herman Wijshoff, Structure and fluid dynamics in piezo inkjet printheads. The Netherlands: Venlo 2008 1 Linx Printing Technologies Ltd Burrel Road, St Ives, Cambs, UK PE27 3LA C Perry 5/3/12
Why Linx? Mike Keeling explains: We used to say it was a combination of Links (linking machines together) and Inks then changing the k to an x. Adding the two dots above the i was a touch of brilliance. Also, a major requirement was that the new name should not be rude in any known language! The company s original office was in Mike Keeling s spare bedroom in Willingham, Cambs before they moved to offices in St Ives with a production team of just 4 people. Recalls Tony Hill, an original member of this production team, and still with Linx today: I remember the Sales Director excitably running downstairs and announcing to every body that he had sold seven printers for delivery in the next month. I recall some concern that we only had one month to make such a large number of printers, a process that takes under an hour and a quarter today. Linx leads the way with CIJ innovation If Keeling and Weinberg set up Linx to prove that they could develop better CIJ printers, then this was proved with their inaugural products, which included some industry firsts still used today by most CIJ manufacturers: Totally sealed, adjustment free printhead this solid state printhead had no exposed wires and was robust and the design has been imitated globally since Flight Viscosity Control this affects how an ink jet breaks up and it is the velocity that determines print quality. Linx printers monitor and control viscosity using an efficient, non mechanical method, which is more reliable than some other systems Auto Modulation, jet droplet formation control a method of automatically monitoring and adjusting jet modulation amplitude to ensure perfect droplet formation under varying environmental conditions One button start and stop ease of use was, and continues to be, at the heart of Linx product engineering Linx s first CIJ printer was the 5000 which was launched in 1987, shortly followed by the 5100, 5150 and 5200 printers. These were the first CIJ printers to have the totally sealed printhead; one button start and stop; and the first to print up to 4 lines. The 4000 followed in 1988 and the 6000 in 1991, the latter continuing Linx s record of firsts with a full printhead autoflush (keeping the printhead clean for first time startups), and a WYSIWYG display. Updates to both models were brought to market during the 1990s, including the 6200 model which was the first CIJ printer to have auto power down, and the 4800 which came with IP55 rating as standard another industry first. Linx s first food grade inks were developed originally for the European egg coding market, and first used in the 6200 and 4800 printers in 1997. Linx s first dedicated printer for pigmented inks the Linx 6800 Spectrum was launched in 2002. 2003 saw the 4800 replaced with the 4900; a printer with a deep drawn stainless steel cover that shrugged off water. In 2009 the 6000 series of printers was replaced with the 7300. Over the next few years both the 7300 and 4900 range 2 Linx Printing Technologies Ltd Burrel Road, St Ives, Cambs, UK PE27 3LA C Perry 5/3/12
expanded to include application specific models, for example the 7300 Spectrum for high contrast pigmented inks, and the 4900DC which included a traversing printhead for coding across multiple lanes of products such as yoghurt pots. Linx also developed its own range of inks and solvents, which enabled its CIJ printers to code onto a wide variety of substrates and applications, ranging from inks for wet bottle coding, to UV readable inks which are invisible until seen under a UV light and therefore ideal for anti counterfeiting or discreet coding. In 2011 a new CIJ platform was added to the range with the launch of the Linx CJ400 the lightest CIJ printer on the market. A large colour touch screen includes clear, step by step instructions to make message creation very easy, and a self service module reduces the need for service engineer call outs. These developments position the Linx CJ400 as a very flexible printer, as it can be easily unplugged, carried to another line, and quickly installed. The self service module also makes the CJ400 ideal for geographically remote businesses where service call outs could be costly. Commercial Growth The late 80 s and early 90 s was a period of rapid product innovation. There then followed a period of intense commercialisation of the company in the late 90 s, in order to develop business processes, and channels through which Linx s now expansive range of products could be sold. Linx s Sales, Service and Marketing departments grew, and more distributors were appointed to sell Linx products overseas. Linx s manufacturing processes were refined and improved to Best Practice standards of the time. As the Linx channel expanded and the company became a global business, a comprehensive range of Best Practice processes and tools for Sales, Marketing and Service was developed and shared with the Linx distributors. Underlying these activities was Linx s objective: to make it easy for distributors to do business with Linx. Linx s distributors now had the tools to successfully compete in a growing market. And more distributors followed, with the period 2000 2010 seeing a rapid increase in the number of new distributors appointed. Thinking along your lines After nearly 10 years of swift growth it was time for Linx to have its own personality: Linx was not just another CIJ company. In depth research, conducted in 1996 amongst a variety of CIJ specifiers, revealed that Linx was perceived as a young, keen, approachable company that was straightforward and easy to work with. Linx decided to build on these attributes, which were already associated with the company, and to position itself as a company which has empathy with its customers, and which talks and deals in a very straightforward manner. So the strapline Thinking along your lines was developed to express this position, and remains central to Linx s communications today. 3 Linx Printing Technologies Ltd Burrel Road, St Ives, Cambs, UK PE27 3LA C Perry 5/3/12
More than just a CIJ company Linx was to develop into much more than a CIJ company. In 1999 Xymark was acquired which brought to Linx an established range of laser coders, thus opening up more opportunities for market growth. Added to this were Linx s Large Character Printers for secondary packaging in 2002. In 2005 the Danaher Corporation acquired Linx and over the next 7 years Linx continued to develop its range of CIJ printers but also added to its portfolio with new technologies: Thermal Transfer Overprinters in 2005, Linx s own range of laser coders in 2007, extensions to the Large Character Printer range, and more recently Thermal Inkjet printers in 2010. Linx was floated as a public company in 1992 and became Linx Printing Technologies plc. On acquisition by Danaher it reverted to its Limited company status. Both Keeling and Weinberg remained with the company as non executive directors until the end of the 90 s. And the winner is Linx collected a plethora of awards in its early days, which recognised the company s hotbed of innovation, and its rapid growth into the global export market. Some of these awards were marked by visits to Linx by notable politicians, which gave the company the excellent excuse to set up a marquee in the car park and invite all the staff to attend a dinner and presentation: 1990 Mid Anglia Business Awards Business of the Year (highly commended) 1990 Prince of Wales Award for Innovation and Production finalist. Local MP the Rt. Hon. John Major, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, visited Linx and was treated to a demonstration of a Linx CIJ printer coding onto a plaque and a cricket ball. 1991 Queen s Award for Export 1992 Export Award for Smaller Businesses 1992 Prince of Wales Award for Innovation Keeling and Weinberg were presented with this award, for the ink jet printer, by HRH Prince Charles, who enjoyed a demonstration of a Linx printer coding onto a pot of azaleas. The announcement of the award was made on BBC TV s Tomorrow s World 1998 Robert King Medal for Export Achievement by this date Linx was already selling into 38 countries via a network Distributor Partners, as well as a direct sales office in the UK and France. 4 Linx Printing Technologies Ltd Burrel Road, St Ives, Cambs, UK PE27 3LA C Perry 5/3/12
Coding Onwards Linx continues to grow, both by way of expanding its coding and marking product portfolio, and the markets it serves: Linx coding equipment is now sold into 92 countries. And after 23 years at its Burrel Road, St Ives site, Linx now plans to invest in a new purpose built headquarters just down the road in St Ives. The company now looks forward to the next 25 years, of sharing product innovations that demonstrate the core characteristics of Linx products from the last 25 years: greater levels of reliability, lower costs of ownership and ease of use. Acknowledgements Many thanks to current Linx staff for their contributions, and to Mike Keeling and Hill Weinberg for their advice and recollections, all of whom helped to bring together this short history of Linx Printing Technologies, written to mark the company s 25 th Anniversary in 2012. 5 Linx Printing Technologies Ltd Burrel Road, St Ives, Cambs, UK PE27 3LA C Perry 5/3/12