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DataLase is developing a colour laser-imaging system that it believes could be used as an alternative to traditional box-printing processes.

The colour-change ink specialist has so far mainly focused on regulatory applications, as alternatives to more established technologies such as inkjet and thermal transfer for adding product identification data.

But DataLase chief executive Steve Kelly (pictured) said the technology in development could move the firm into packaging aesthetics.

DataLase currently offers two products for the packaging market – PackMark and CaseMark.

For these applications, special DataLase ink is applied directly to a patch on the packaging substrate and a CO2 laser-imaging system writes required label data to the marked area, causing the ink to change to grey/black.

However, Kelly said that, through the colour technology, an “array of colours” could be produced by modifying the laser settings to cause a reaction to an additive in DataLase ink printed on a patch or the entire packaging substrate.

“You could have a common format box and decorate it, just in time, to specification,” he said.

Kelly said he expected sales of the two packaging products to be the Widnes-based company’s main revenue generators in the next three years, and added that he thought CaseMark had “greater potential” than PackMark.

“Our best marketing proposition is that laser will never go down,” he said. “It is the most efficient printing engine there is. The market is ready for something new and laser has a sexy profile. The challenge is cycles for adoption and barriers like cost justification. It’s all down to getting the first well-known reference site.”

DataLase, which was formed in 2001 and also has a US base in Georgia, is in the final stages of raising more than £4.5m in funding. It has also expanded its sales force in order to back the commercialisation of its new products.

The firm has alliances with packaging suppliers such as Alcan, Smurfit Kappa and SCA, as well as hardware companies including Domino and Videojet.