Irish Printer

MAR/APR 2016 || THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY || WWW.IRISH PRINTER.IE

WHEN COLOUR IS YOUR LIFE...

The Perfect Print Production Partner.

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Prepare for take off!

Take the smart route and visit Hall 1 at drupa where you will see the very latest innovations in litho, toner and inkjet digital technology, prepress, postpress, workflows and consumables.

Informed advice, innovative solutions and unmatched support makes Heidelberg the number one choice in the graphic arts industry. Don’t be left behind - find out what’s new and has profit potential at drupa. www.uk.heidelberg.com/

31st May - 10th June

Heidelberg Graphic Equipment 69-76 High Street, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 0AA Tel: 0844 892 2010 www.uk.heidelberg.com

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CONTENTS

04 10

The Big Picture

16

Offset Litho

25

Awards Preview

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Technology

News

A round up of some of the latest news from the Irish print industry.

Market Report Inkjet Moves Away from the Mainstream international independent consultant Sophie Matthews-Paul explores future growth and profitability avenues for wide format print.

18 Drupa Preview

With 1,650 exhibitors signed up, Irish Printer profiles some of the manufacturers at drupa 2016 who are promising printers better ways to maximise productivity and increase profitability.

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Find out about the latest developments at the IQ Group and Addprint, and about Tallaghtbased Sign + Digital’s recent expansion in Northern Ireland.

After a prolonged period in the doldrums, could the litho print market be on the up again in Ireland? We report on W&G Baird’s recent landmark investment.

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As we look forward to the 2016 Irish Print Awards, Irish Printer showcases some of the high profile companies that have renewed their support for this prestigious event.

Ron Gilboa, Director of InfoTrends’ Production & Industrial Printing Advisory Service, looks at how digital technology is driving growth in the industrial print sector.

3D Printing

Canon demonstrated its 3D printing proposition at Fespa Digital. Canon Ireland’s Philip Brady tells Irish Printer how it works.

Cover Story As MJ Flood announces its headline sponsorship of the Irish Print Awards 2016, Managing Director Michael Power and Production Print Manager Phil Schueler talk about their new service offering and some of the big reveals that we can expect at drupa 2016.

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What’s New in Print

● Graphics Colours Reflect Key Design Trends ● New Interior Décor Substrates from Soyang ● Digital Inks for Textiles and Graphics ● Tharstern Demonstrate MIS Expertise ● Fujifilm Releases Acuity Update ● Agfa Reveals Latest Platesetter System

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EDITOR’S LETTER

and a print industry that is undergoing major structural change, with traditional print plateauing or declining in the key western markets. However, print and print technology continue to play a crucial role despite the digitisation of our daily lives. Print volumes have suffered in particular areas and applications (e.g. newspapers, magazines and some commercial jobs), yet they are still growing in packaging, wide-format and industrial applications, as well as in the emerging economies, generating plenty of business opportunities.

The drupa organisers say that the show will address these issues and visitors will see where the business opportunities lie. “Our job at drupa is to transfer trends into products that printers can use to successfully service the market,” says Claus Bolza-Schuneman.

Are you ready to be inspired? If so, I hope to meet up with some Irish Printer readers in Düsseldorf where we should get a better insight into the future of print in our digital world.

elcome to the March/ April edition of Irish Printer magazine.

Every drupa exhibition is centred around a specific theme. The arrival of numerous inkjet presses addressing all application sectors confirmed the progressive move from conventional to digital printing at drupa 2008, which became known as ‘The Inkjet drupa’. The dominant themes at drupa 2012 were automation, packaging, digital, hybrid technologies, web-to-print applications and environmentally-sound printing. Some of these themes will re-appear at drupa 2016 (May 31st to June 10th in Düsseldorf). But the focus will also include multichannel communications, functional printing and 3D printing.

If there is an overall theme it is what drupa calls Print 4.0 or the complete digitisation of the print production process. KBA Managing Director and drupa president Claus Bolza-Schuneman says ‘full digital workflow, whether that involves a digital press or an offset or flexo press, is essential to a profitable business.” All of this reflects the new opportunities that continue to emerge for commercial print companies and the requirement for printers to harness digital channels of communications in order to grow their operations.

Of course this year’s drupa takes place against the backdrop of a shrinking number of printers worldwide

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Maev Martin, Editor Email: maev.martin@ashvillemediagroup.com Tel: (01) 432 2271

THE TEAM Editor: Maev Martin Editorial Manager: Mary Connaughton Creative Director: Jane Matthews Layout: Antoinette Sinclair Production Manager: Mary Connaughton Production: Claire Kiernan Printed by: Walsh Colour Print on Novatech Matt 150gsm, manufactured

by Arjowiggins Graphic and supplied by Antalis.

Contact: Irish Printer, Ashville Media Group, Old Stone Building, Blackhall Green, Dublin 7 Tel: (01) 432 2200 Web: www.irishprinter.ie

All rights reserved. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this magazine is accurate. The publishers cannot, however, accept responsibility for errors or omissions. Reproduction by any means in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. © Ashville Media Group 2015.

All discounts, promotions and competitions contained in this magazine are run independently of Irish Printer. The promoter/ advertiser is responsible for honouring the prize.

ISSN 0790-2026

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EXPERTISE IN. QUALITY OUT.

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To find out more visit www.epson.ie/signbyepson or call one of the Epson resellers listed below.

Tel: 0906 628929 www.ipsolutions.ie

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Tel: 061 43 99 58 www.infinity2.ie

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TEN TOP STORIES

Returning visitors to The Print Show website will notice a constant change in the site’s colour theme and messaging.

The Print Show 2016 for the UK (And Irish!) Print Industry Organisers of The Print Show are continuing their preparations for the second edition of the event this year by developing and launching a new online information portal along with its initial floorplan. The Print Show 2016 will once again take place at the NEC in Birmingham from October 11th to 13th. A number of key names have already confirmed their attendance among more than 80% of 2015’s exhibitors that have already re-committed to the show. Recent major contract signings such as Antalis, Presstek, and Premier Paper Group have been added to a list of confirmed exhibitors that includes Grafityp, Intelligent Finishing Solutions, Konica Minolta, Riso, and Vivid Laminating Systems. “The confidence and warm response that has been generated after the success of the 2015 event has definitely driven much earlier confirmed bookings for 2016, as we are much further ahead than we were this time last year,” commented Chris Davies, Event Director for The Print Show.

“As a result, we are also expanding the show and will be looking at an event that will be about 15% to 20% larger in year two. Lucas Fedyniak, Technical Manager for The Print Show, says that the new visitor and exhibitor information portal is now mobile-friendly, allows people to register for e-mail updates about the show, and features a full photo library and video content from last year’s show.

The 2017 show will take place at The International Centre, Telford, from October 11th to 13th 2017.

Find out more online at theprintshow.co.uk

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TEN TOP STORIES New Kolbus Binding Line for W&G Baird W&G Baird have installed a new Kolbus KM600 perfect binding line at their Antrim factory. Replacing an ageing machine, the new binder will not only speed up production but enable Baird’s to produce all their perfect binding work in-house. The Kolbus KM 600 production line will run at 8,000 copies per hour and can produce both EVA and PUR products, enabling Baird’s to bring their own PUR binding inhouse alongside customer jobs. The line includes the latest Kolbus ZU 805 rotary gathering machine with full digital camera signature recognition and automated makeready. It is also combined with the fastest Kolbus HD 153 trimmer so that the most highly specified jobs can be produced at the highest quality and, crucially, run at speed.

The W&G Baird binding line was a complete turn-key installation, with Kolbus UK also supplying the book stacker and shrink film wrapper. “We are committed to W&G Baird becoming more energy efficient and, in particular, keeping CO2 emissions down,” says Managing Director Patrick Moffett. “With this end in mind we wanted to bring as much work in-house as possible. Installing the Kolbus KM600 line has helped us to achieve that. It gives us greater flexibility and the ability to produce gatefold covers etc. An increasing percentage of our clients are specifying PUR binding so it was important to us that this was also part of the new machine’s specification.”

Kolbus UK Managing Director Robert Flather says that the new Kolbus KM600 is a much more efficient machine than its predecessor. “Offering energy savings of up to 30%, it fits in with Baird’s green credentials,” he says. “With faster makeready, more cover options, and the PUR gluing station it will enable them to produce a wider range of top quality products in-house”.

As well as their Antrim manufacturing facility, W&G Baird have sales offices in Dublin and Nottingham enabling them to offer comprehensive customer service throughout the UK and Ireland. They were established back in 1862, making them one of the oldest print companies in Ireland, and now also one of the biggest.

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Automated Finishing Creates Business Boom Business at Ferguson Print + Embroidery in Derry has been booming for the past year and Managing Director Paul Ferguson attributes this to the automation of the company’s finishing operation in the form of a Duplo DC-616 creaser cutter supplied

by Neopost Ireland. “We are working flat out six days a week,” he says. “The DC-616 is a really multifunctional machine. We previously used hand guillotines and hand operated perforators but they were very slow and we were struggling to do small runs of business cards, as well as tickets and other promotional materials, but now we are flying! It is great for eliminating white edging, as well as for doing double and three folds for restaurant and takeaway menus. The trimming and cutting of flyers is a big feature for us and it is allowing us to produce more tickets because of the perforation capacity.” Ferguson Print + Embroidery operates a Konica Minolta copy printer, two Roland VersaCamm models, and a large AJ740 Roland printer for banner production. The company has been embroidering and providing a textile printing service for the past 20 years. They entered the commercial print market eight years ago. “It is becoming a big part of our business,” says Paul. “Between embroidery and other types of print work, it doesn’t stop for us, and this machine has created even more business for the company.”

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TEN TOP STORIES

Belfast Printer Installs Ireland’s First H-UV Equipped Komori Belfast-based printer Impro Printing has installed a five colour Komori Lithrone S29 and coater which is the first in Ireland to be equipped with the H-UV drying system.

“We had been delaying the replacement of our old Komori Lithrone 528 with coater, awaiting an innovation that would give us something extra,” says Ernest Culley, Managing Director of Impro Printing. “For us, it is all about adding value to work and keeping that in-house where possible. In researching the Lithrone S529 H-UV, we evaluated the savings we could expect on makeready materials, production times, energy used, reduced downtime, reduced consumables and maintenance, comparing these against our Lithrone 528. The most significant saving was on turnaround time, with the H-UV curing providing instant drying on materials which are traditionally difficult to cure and giving us the facility to take sheets straight from the press to further processing.” With its significantly faster makeready times, high automation levels, and a production speed of up to 16,000sph, Impro have calculated that they can expect to see an increase in productivity of around 30% through the new H-UV equipped Komori. “It will give us the opportunity to offer even more creative options, including drip-off and high gloss finishes, and will considerably increase the type of work we can do, potentially opening up new markets and hopefully adding more value to all jobs in the process,” says Ernest Culley. “We currently operate over various sectors, providing high quality short and medium runs to some of Ireland’s most significant businesses and organisations, where high quality is always expected and deadlines are ever shortening. Based on the work we currently produce, we hope the production process will be made far more efficient by keeping the spot UV varnishing in-house, while also attracting new customers to the other added benefits that the H-UV technology provides. We have already shown our major clients, including a number of award-winning design agencies, samples of previous jobs printed on our new H-UV press for comparison and they are really excited about the superior appearance, particularly on uncoated papers, as well as the additional high gloss and drip-off options.”

Production Director Gordon Grattan says that, since they are working more often with uncoated sheets where quick delivery can be a problem, H-UV enables finishing immediately, which means that work is out the door sooner, with a corresponding reduced stock space. The scheduling of work is also made easier. “We can already see that effects such as drip-off and spot varnishing

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show greater gloss and higher contrast and our operators report that the colour measured in the delivery is the true final colour, so they are able to judge immediately whether any further adjustment is required,” he says.

“Given that we are ISO 14000 certified, the new Lithrone also has very welcome environmental credentials.

It is a cleaner product that creates a cleaner factory and completely eliminates the need for spray powder or alcohol. We are achieving make readies in under 50 sheets, power consumption is lower, and we have found that the H-UV system requires comparatively less ink.”

Ernest Culley

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TEN TOP STORIES

ABC Figures Reveal Power of Magazine Brands ABC Ireland figures released on February 18th highlight magazines’ unique power in engaging and influencing readers, whether mass market or specialist interest. The figures cover the period to December 31st 2015 and are based on circulation for the magazine in print and, where available, also incorporate circulation data for digital editions to provide a single combined circulation figure.

“The report turns a spotlight on the magazine brands at the core of our sector and shows the innovation of magazine brands in moving to service their audiences across a variety of platforms in recent years,” says Grace Aungier, CEO, Magazines Ireland. “The attraction of professionally-created and intelligently-curated content under the banner of a trusted magazine brand is now stronger than ever. These latest ABC figures show yet again how magazine brands remain uniquely engaging as an environment for both editorial and commercial content.” A Magazines Ireland retail marketing campaign to promote the power of print magazines to both readers and retailers includes a Love Reading poster for retailers to display in store, a Love Reading magazine advert, and an information leaflet Making More Money from Magazines to encourage and support retailers in selling magazines.

Magazines Ireland is the association of magazine publishers and represents 38 Irish publishers who together produce over 185 magazines, both consumer, business and custom titles, in print and on digital channels.

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Printers Excel in Professional Practice Seven of the Irish design and print industry’s most long serving and accomplished professionals added another string to their collective bows recently when they completed the Masters in Professional Practice. Organised by the Design, Print & Packaging Skillnet, the oneyear, part-time, flexible delivery programme is aimed at experienced professionals from the design or print industry sector.

Accredited by DIT, the programme covers all aspects of leadership and management.

Modules include sales and marketing, leadership, communications and HR, and finance, as well as a research thesis. The successful participants were (pictured below, l-r): Brendan Lynch, Smurfit Kappa, Anne Cooke, Consultant, Ashling Aylward, Designer, John Harold, Consultant, Eugene Healy, Trimfold, Tom Clements, RPD and IPF President, and Dr Kevin Byrne of DIT. “This is our MA graduation class for 2015 we are very proud to say that they all did exceptionally well in their Masters in Professional Practice from DIT,” says Diane Dignam, Network Manager, Design, Print & Packaging Skillnet.

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TEN TOP STORIES

Irish Farmers Journal Prints Unique Codes for Digital Access

Delta Opts for Central Cooling on Speedmaster Delta Print & Packaging in Belfast has taken delivery of a technotrans central cooling system to remove heat from the Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 145-6+L VLF press it has just installed. The company is mirroring the cooling it has on two other Speedmaster presses because Gary Boyd, Engineering and Projects manager, says “technotrans is reliable and with much better after sales service than many of its competitors.” The excess heat is currently ducted out of the building but the company would consider re-using the heat in other parts of the plant. This is something that will be regularly reviewed.

“Temperature control is important to ensure process variables remain within defined limits for best quality and repeatability,” says Gary Boyd. The company is very brand conscious and the need for colour predictability spurred it to buy the Heidelberg Axis Control spectral measurement device. Temperature control ensures that the ink tack is exactly right, and that, too, enhances the finished results. Delta is in the second of a five-year Stg£40m investment programme which has included spending at the Northern Ireland and Poland plants. “The UK and Ireland lag behind Europe in the adoption of water-cooled peripherals but we have seen a stronger take up recently,” says Peter Benton, Managing Director of technotrans.

“Water has better cooling properties than air (about four times the efficiency) and the heat taken away from the press can be re-used to save energy and costs. The side benefit is that it creates a better working environment and comfortable operators are more productive!”

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The Irish Farmers Journal recently enlisted the help of Codico to install a Domino Binary Bitjet at The Irish Times printing facility in Dublin. The Bitjet, which was easily integrated into an existing print line and prints the codes at a speed of 65,000 copies per hour (18 copies per second), uses Domino’s GT Editor Software which is capable of generating guaranteed unique alpha numeric codes. The Irish Farmers Journal is using the unique codes to give readers full access to its website. “The initiative, the first of its kind among Irish publishers, is designed to boost the audience for the title’s expanded digital coverage without compromising sales of the weekly newspaper,” says Editor and Chief Executive Justin McCarthy. “When buyers of the Thursday paper register their unique code at farmersjournal.ie, they gain full access to the site until 9pm the following Wednesday. A new code is then published in the next print edition. The Irish Farmers Journal has always pushed our readers to innovate, change and adapt to the latest technologies. We are committed to driving the digital agenda among the farming community.”

Binary technology is typically used to print addresses, graphics, numbers, barcodes and other variable data onto a variety of substrates such as newspapers, magazines, labels, plastic cards, tickets and tokens. The Bitjet can achieve speeds of up to 15 metres per second and, according to Codico, the technology “sets the industry standard in terms of quality, consistently delivering high resolution text and images at very high speed”.

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TEN TOP STORIES

Pictured announcing Ricoh Ireland’s €100K deal with Plus Print are (L-R): Paul Kealy, Production Print Division, Ricoh Ireland, and John Kenny, Sales Director, Plus Print, at Plus Print in Dublin Industrial Estate.

Durst UK Adds Labels to Business Portfolio Durst UK is expanding its business portfolio by taking on the labels market previously run from the division’s headquarters in Brixen, Italy. The Durst UK headquarters are in Leatherhead, Surrey, and its staff covering the UK and Ireland will now also have responsibility for labels and specialty packaging. They are backed by Durst UK’s ninestrong team of service engineers strategically placed across the UK and Ireland. They are equipped for 24x7 operations throughout the year and work closely with the parent company’s own support teams. Durst, which has more than 150 installations throughout the UK and Ireland, will also directly supply consumables, spare parts, inks and other logistics from UK facilities. “We are expecting continued growth in all our market sectors in 2016, especially in labels, which we see as an extremely important sector for our market-leading systems,” says Durst UK Managing Director Peter Bray. “We expect to make further important announcements soon. With full backing from our parent company, taking on the labels sector provides further significant business opportunities for Durst UK, which has continued to increase market share for many years.”

Mike Englander, Durst Business Development Manager, has responsibility for the commercial and business development aspects of the label business in the UK. He says it is not only the support, supply and logistics, but also consumables, spare parts and inks that will be supplied directly for the label industry from UK facilities.

Covering Ireland as well, Durst UK is responsible for sales and service, as well as marketing.

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Plus Print Doubles Capacity in €100K Ricoh Deal Ricoh announced on April 4th that it had signed a €100,000 deal with Plus Print to provide the Dublin-based company with its advanced digital production press, the Ricoh Pro C7100X. The deal is helping Plus Print to double its print capacity and increase digital output by 40%.

With a fifth colour station allowing users to print in white or clear gloss, as well as the option to print six-page A4 brochures, the new press allowed Plus Print to move some of its outsourced work in-house. Plus Print recycles print waste and uses renewable energy, chemical-free plates and alcohol-free dampers on all printing presses.

It also gives customers the option of using vegetablebased inks. The Ricoh Pro C7100X complies with the Energy Star 2.0 standards, therefore appealing to Plus Print and its sustainable business efforts. “The market has changed so much and our work is increasingly digitaloriented,” says Plus Print Sales Director, John Kenny.

“We had to update our existing machine and the Ricoh colour digital press was the best one out there. The press also has more functions than any of its competitors and the quality of the print is superb.” Last year, Plus Print was named Printer of the Year at the Irish Print Awards for the second year in three years. It was also awarded the title of Small Printer of the Year for the fifth year running. “You don’t win awards like that without the right technology,” says John. “The Ricoh Pro C7100X has given us the confidence to actively seek more highend production work because we know that we are providing the best quality and service out there.”

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MARKET REPORT

Mimaki’s CJV150-160

Inkjet Moves Away from the

MAINSTREAM International independent consultant Sophie MatthewsPaul says that wide format print will find future growth and profitability in applications away from mainstream work.

BELOW: An EFI Vutek press

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N

ot so many years ago the wideformat printing market was still in an experimental stage and couldn’t be considered a serious contender for production in commercial environments. Since those early days the advances in technology have been rapid, now reaching the point where digital has become the preferred format for many display applications.

Reliability in machine build has accompanied the continuing evolution of printheads and inks, resulting in platforms that produce consistent results that are fit-for-purpose.

Nowadays, it is rare to find a print business involved in large format jobs that doesn’t have an inkjet capability.

Although there has been significant expansion of digital printing systems among display producers, screen-printing companies, sign-makers and, increasingly, the offset litho sector, this hasn’t led to the the total demise of analogue production methodologies. Where wide format has scored, complemented by advances made in associative software and the materials available, is by bringing versatility and flexibility to all industry segments where

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MARKET REPORT

the digital revolution has opened doors to low volumes, one-offs, versioning and variable data. To these criteria can be added environmental benefits through a process that uses no traditional chemistry, plus a reduction in waste, and the advantages of just-in-time and on-demand ordering by brands and end customers.

Practical Benefits from Digital Production From a practical perspective, wide format inkjet production carries the advantage of faster turnaround times, better operating environments, easier logistics, and more efficient end-to-end workflows. Additionally, economic and stock reduction considerations have been factored into this mix and these have helped to bring inkjet processes to the fore. During the past two decades, therefore, there has been a significant change in the way that applications coming under the remit of large or wide format are produced.

This took digital print engines, typically ranging in size from one metre to five metres, from being speciality machines into the mainstream market.

Niche and Speciality Markets While the growth in wide format print continues, it is noticeable that users of machines are not only servicing the more conventional market requirements but are also moving to new niche and speciality areas where digital technology can realise jobs that, formerly, were not feasible. The ability to experiment with inkjet and different materials is simplified because of fast set-up and changeover, the ease of the pre-press process, and the viability of producing one-offs or very low volumes.

Additionally, print service providers face challenges - not only from competition generated by their counterparts trading in the same market sector but also from new investors in digital technology. Those recent entrants that have opted to take on a niche or specialist segment, rather than merely become a ‘me too’ operation, avoid the inevitable race to win orders in an arena where rivalry can too often be based on price.

Nonetheless, the growth in demand for wide format inkjet production devices continues across the entire digital spectrum, driven by the desire for higher quality, faster throughput and the need for reliability.

Speed Versus Versatility Versatility is still key to the throughput benefits of inkjet and diversification can often prove to be the key factor that drives better margins and greater profitability. Ergo, effective workflow is as important as the throughput rates of a particular print device, and investment must be quantified against expected daily volumes, diversity and variability of work. “We know many of our customers are using our printers to produce a wide variety of products on a range of substrates to meet the needs of their customers and to maximise ROI,” says Richard Barrow, Senior Product Manager, LFP Signage, Epson Europe. “So one printer can be used to produce everything from retail POS graphics, pop up banners and self-adhesive decals and labels to wall coverings, external displays and vehicle wraps.” Mike Horsten, General Manager

BELOW: The Inca Onset X3 press

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Agfa’s Jeti Mira

Marketing EMEA at Mimaki, concurs.“I believe that diversity in the offering is the key to success,” he says. “For the most part, a single production type of print company no longer exists. Offering a diverse series of printing products is making the one-stop-shop a reality.” Flexibility is not only governed by the creativity of the display producer or the sign shop. It is encouraged by technologies that have been developed to minimise down-time during job changeover and the ability to produce applications that are right first time.

End-to-End Workflow Advantages Advances don’t lie only in the print engine’s design and construction. The benefit of an efficient end-to-end workflow, plus integration with onward services that aid accountability, such as streamlined finishing in print-to-cut environments, MIS/ERP and JDF compliance, is also becoming increasingly important. “It is fairly obvious to calculate how a company can increase its throughput and its profits by printing more work on a wider, faster printer,” says EFI’s VP Inkjet Solutions, Ken Hanulec. “But it is too easy for companies to overlook the ways they can also get better results with a better workflow. So it is definitely a way to gain a competitive edge that needs to be recognised.”

Mike Horsten says that if you are a large print house with multiple printers the workflow is crucial to survival. “Without a good MIS system or an automated workflow the amount of work would kill any company in the long run,” he says. “On the other hand, the demands for perfect workflow are not so important if you are a small company and you know your entire customer base.” With wide format print devices across all levels providing key output for an ever growing range of end applications, efficiency continues to increase in relevance. Epson’s Richard Barrow says they work closely with their software partners to ensure that the workflow to printer interface is very efficient.

Getting it Right First Time Agfa’s Paul Adriaensen endorses the relevance of good workflow in today’s print operations: “Good throughput means that the machine outputs correctly the first time and every time, job after job,” he says. “Workflow automates input file and data processing, colour management, printer and finishing settings in order to avoid delays during the entire production process.” Today’s users of wide format printers can come from any background, whether they happen to be designers, former specialists in typesetting or repro, sign makers, screen printers or the sign making sectors of the industry. The common feature among all is that every order should meet the quality of output required, produced to an acceptable price, on time. But every print service provider should look at the bottom line and not just production costs. “There are still companies that don’t calculate the entire workflow cost before adding margin,” says Mimaki’s Mike Horsten. “If they can look at the whole cost structure of their business they would know the profitability for the work carried out.”

Growth in the wide format segment is predicated on many factors, from machine technologies and reliability to running costs, diversification in application type and balancing volume against the versatility of low numbers and one-offs. But device flexibility, where fewer print engines can generate the right volumes across a broad range of materials and applications types, is proving to be a key factor in future investment. “Diversity is one of the reasons customers like using our hybrid roll/flatbed printers,” says EFI’s Ken Hanulec. “Many of our customers need to be able to print as many different types of jobs as possible, from corrugated displays to traditional banners and everything in-between.”

Since drupa 2012, inkjet developments have continued apace, with the announcement of new inks and faster machines that include automation for material handling, streamline print-to-cut options, and the advancement of LED curing. New chemistries include water-based UV-curable formulations and latex chemistries, as well as aqueous-based, solvent-based and UV-curable options that continue to be used in everyday environments.

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COVER STORY

YOUR PERFECT

PRODUCTION PRINT PARTNER ast year MJ Flood installed 51 colour production presses and eight mono presses in the Irish commercial print sector. Installations range from the Konica Minolta Bizhub Press C1060L entry level printer up to the Bizhub Press C1060, C1070, C1085, and C1100 Series, so 2015 was another year of sales growth for their production press operation. “We are aiming to achieve a similar installed base in 2016,” says Phil Schueler. “We sold presses to some of our existing customers but primarily to new customers, which was great. Since we started the production print department back in 2010 we have increased our revenue from the sale of production print machines year-on-year.”

Big Themes for 2016 MJ Flood is looking to build on the gains made in the commercial print sector in 2015. “The Konica Minolta

As MJ Flood announces its headline sponsorship of the Irish Print Awards 2016, Managing Director Michael Power and Production Print Manager Phil Schueler talk about their new service offering and some of the big reveals that we can expect at drupa 2016.

Bizhub Press C71CF will be launched next month and it is our first foray into the roll-to-roll label printing market,” says Michael Power. “This is based around the tried and trusted colour print engine of the C1070.”

The Konica Minolta Bizhub Press C71CF, which combines the Konica Minolta engine with Japanese technology, is a core part of MJ Flood’s strategy in achieving a presence in the label print market. The launch of the KM1 B2plus UV inkjet four-colour sheetfed press and of MGI’s JETVarnish 3D and iFoil technology are further evidence of Konica Minolta’s major move into the packaging sector.

“The MGI JetVarnish and the KM1 are major technological developments for Konica Minolta,” says Phil. “However, it will take time before those products are released in Ireland. But what is clear is that, with these three major and innovative pieces of technology, Konica Minolta is moving beyond cut sheet SRA3 colour and B&W machines and into the packaging and label printing space. We have a great product mix and we are continually improving our service. For example, we are expanding the Dublin production print service team with the recruitment of two more specialists.”

Irish Print Awards Partner

(L) Michael Power, Managing Director, MJ Flood. (R) Phil Schueler, Production Print Manager, MJ Flood.

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Irish Printer is delighted to welcome MJ Flood on board as the new headline sponsor of the 2016 Irish Print Awards. “We decided to become the headline sponsor of the awards to reflect the huge success that we have had with the Konica Minolta brand in the commercial print sector,” says Michael. “Six years ago we were unheard of in this market and now we are the market leader. This has been done through a willingness to invest in people and training and to provide finance to an industry that was on its knees during the recession. That investment is paying off for us now.”

Phil says that, as a bigger company with increased market share in Ireland, MJ Flood regards the Irish Print Awards as the perfect platform to get their name into the market and to further promote their product and service offering. “Michael and I attended the 2015 event and we were very impressed,” he says. “This partnership with the Irish Print Awards is about letting the industry know who we are and what we are about. When it comes to our offering in the commercial print space, we are not just

04/04/2016 11:36

COVER STORY

about the products but the service support and backup. Our unique selling point in the market is the service and support behind our machines. That is where we differentiate ourselves from the competition.”

A New Dawn for Print?

How would Michael compare the print industry as it is now with the industry as it was back in 2010 when MJ Flood entered the production print market?

“Printers are making money again,” he says. “There is a willingness to invest in the latest hardware. Six years ago there was a huge market for second hand equipment. This market is far smaller now. In addition, the average digital printer was producing about 30,000 pages per month. This is closer to 80,000 pages per month now, with most printers having two or three devices, rather than doing all their digital work on one engine.”

Phil has been Production Print Manager with MJ Flood since 2010 and has sold presses to printers throughout the island of Ireland. “Some printers are talking about getting rid of their litho presses and are going completely digital,” he says. “Companies that haven’t got into digital printing aren’t doing so well and have probably gone out of business. Printers now know that digital is a necessity. The larger machines have got bigger and faster and they feature improved paper handling. Also, the cost per page has dropped to a level that is really aggressive. Medium-sized printers are looking to invest in a machine of the scale of the Bizhub Press C1085. They are skipping over the mid range machines and going straight to the bigger presses and that is because of the speed of the machines and the competitive cost per page. At the moment I have a number of customers who are looking to upgrade from the C6000 or C7000 level to a C1085. This is a new and welcome development which indicates that buoyancy is returning to the market. Printers are taking risks – they see growth re-emerging so they are investing in bigger print engines instead of opting for more of the same. There has been a big turnaround in the industry over the last year and a half so we are excited about the year ahead.”

Michael Power and Phil Schueler with the Konica Minolta Bizhub Press C1100.

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Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C1070

Konica Minolta at Drupa 2016

Does Konica Minolta have any big reveals planned for drupa 2016 (May 31st to June 10th)? “A fully functioning and ready for market KM1 B2-plus UV inkjet four-colour sheetfed press will be displayed at drupa and we will also showcase the MGI JetVarnish 3D digital spot UV coater and iFoil, as well as a new range of mono production printing devices,” says Michael Power.

MGI first presented the JETVarnish at drupa 2008.

Ideal for operations with offset and/or digital presses up to 52x105cm format, the JETVarnish 3D is the perfect solution for 3D or traditional flat spot UV coating on runs from one to thousands of sheets. JETVarnish series customers hail from all graphic arts sectors, including offset commercial printers, digital printers, finishing houses, silk screen printers, speciality photo printers, and book publishers. The most popular jobs include book covers, brochures, business and invitation cards, and packaging. The iFOIL eliminates the need for films, dies and makeready, allowing printers to produce hot foil stamping and embossing jobs.

The KM-1 was first shown in concept form at drupa 2012. The machine, which uses Konica Minolta’s UV CMYK inks and Piezo Shear mode printhead technology, can also handle a 585x750mm media size and media thickness from 0.06 to 0.6mm. Konica Minolta says that output speeds of up to 3,000sph, as well as 1,200x1,200dpi resolution, will make the press suitable for high-speed commercial printing, for producing short print runs to tight deadlines, and for processing variable data.

There will also be a special focus on the C71CF digital label press, as well as the KIP large format range. “This comprises four colour laser systems which are fast and inexpensive to run,” says Phil. “We are testing the market for these models, which are aimed at the construction and architectural sectors, an area that we hope will be revived in Ireland this year.”

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THE BIG PICTURE

REPROCENTRE RAISES THE

WITH MIMAKI Mimaki fits the bill at Dublin-based IQ Group and plays a major role in Addprint’s Irish Print Awards success, while Tallaght-based Sign + Digital expands its presence in Northern Ireland with the opening of its new interactive creative centre in Belfast.

S

mart visual solutions company IQ Group recently added a Mimaki JV300-160 and CG-160FXII to its portfolio of printing hardware through authorised Mimaki reseller, Reprocentre, and the Dublinbased company is delighted with the investment.

“The Mimaki JV300 provides great print quality and continuity of colour every time, regardless of changes in temperature, giving us the ability to colour match perfectly,” says one of the company’s directors, Gary Upton.

“We’re a reactive company - we offer a fast turnaround for our customers and the JV300 fits right in here, giving us speed and flexibility. We’ve been really impressed.”

IQ, or Image Quest as it was formally known, originally started out as a print management service and signage company, but quickly evolved to incorporate in-house print production to make them more cost effective, offer faster turnaround times, and give their customers more security and confidentiality. “We offer the complete

BELOW: IQ Group with their new Mimaki JV300-160.

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workflow in-house,” says Gary. “We have a creative design studio, a highly-productive print department, and a team of installation experts, so we can guarantee a premium service and products every time. We do a vast amount of contract work and we need to be consistent on every level, including superior print output, which is exactly what we get with the JV300.” Reprocentre has provided a variety of hardware and materials for IQ over the last few years.

“When they came to us looking for something to increase their productivity without compromising on quality or colour gamut we recommended the Mimaki JV300 solvent printer,” says Sales Director Eoin Honan. “It is super-fast and the SS21 solvent inks mean that beautiful bright blocks of colour aren’t an issue. We also supplied a Mimaki bulkink system (MBIS) with the JV300 which gives IQ higher production levels by running the printer overnight and unattended on long runs.”

The Mimaki JV300 has also been making its mark at Addprint Ltd. Its winning entry in the Luxury Packaging Printer of the Year category in the 2015 Irish Print Awards (a cosmetic beauty box project for Bourjois Paris) was printed on its recently installed Mimaki CJV300 printer/ cutter. Managing Director, Robert Doyle explains the reason for the purchase. “The quality of the print is exceptional and we need that guarantee because a large amount of the work we do is close-up Point of Sale displays. The CJV300 also gives us great colour vibrancy and the colour matching from one print to another is superb, which is crucial for the bright colour consistency required with cosmetic brands.

We also wanted a printer that was easy to use. Our previous solvent printer required two people to load and unload but the new Mimaki CJV300 is a one man job and we can leave it unattended, which makes great business sense.”

The Mimaki CJV300 was supplied by Reprocentre. “We think it’s important to celebrate and support the printing industry in Ireland and we have been sponsors of the Large Format Digital Printer of the Year award for some time,” says Reprocentre Sales Director Eoin Honan. “We were delighted that one of our own customers won an award. It is well deserved, as Addprint has produced some impressive stuff.” Yet winning an Irish Print Award isn’t the only development at Addprint. The company will soon by moving to a new ‘digital print house.’ “We’ve been working on our

04/04/2016 10:52

THE BIG PICTURE Agfa’s Year of Tempting Plates

ABOVE: Sign+Digital Materials Ltd’s new interactive creative centre in Antrim.

new premises since last year and soon we’ll be able to showcase the many fantastic Point of Sale materials and products we can supply,” says Robert Doyle. “It is an exciting time for the company.”

Another company that is experiencing exciting times is Sign+Digital Materials Ltd, who recently opened a new interactive creative centre in Antrim. The creative centre consists of the latest technology in large format printing, as well as an Aladdin’s cave of creative ideas for sign makers to help them win more business and market their businesses to consumers. The company currently employs three staff in Northern Ireland and is set to grow that workforce by a further ten to service Northern Ireland and the UK. “I have travelled the world and seen lots of companies supplying materials to the signage industry, but what Sign + Materials Ltd have done here in this showroom to assist sign makers is out of this world,” says Ole ‘Sunshine’ Solskin, the leading expert in vehicle wrapping and window tint.” Leo Maher, Managing Director of Sign + Digital Materials, says the company is proud to be opening its second creative centre in Antrim. “Building on our existing workforce of 28, we see ourselves growing by another ten staff in the coming two years,” he says.

Sign + Digital Materials Limited supplies signage materials and large format printers to sign makers across Northern Ireland, the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

HP’s Paris Love Match

HP Indigo recently teamed up with national French magazine, Paris Match, to deliver the first ever planet-related photograph petition in order to influence decision-makers at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP21. The initiative, led

by Paris Match, entitled ‘Love Planet’ or ‘Ma Terre en Photos’ in French, saw 15,000 photographs from internet users across the globe collated and developed into a unique printed book using HP Indigo technology. The crowdsourced photos of animals and landscapes were intended to demonstrate to policy makers the significance of their decisions for the planet, as well as the implications for its citizens. The book was presented to 200 state leaders and delegation managers on the opening day of COP21 – prior to the announcement of the first universal climate change agreement across 195 countries.

LEFT: Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, with the finished print.

RIGHT: François Hollande, President of France, looks over the printed ‘Love Planet’ book at COP21.

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The printed pages of Agfa Graphics printed calendar for its VIP relations have been brought to life through augmented reality. The 2016 Agfa Graphics Calendar is titled ‘A Year of Tempting Plates,’ referring both to the company’s printing plates and to the calendar’s subject matter, as it features 12 delicious dishes sent in by the company’s employees from around the globe in a contest looking for favourite local food. The dishes embellish the pages of the calendar, while the full recipes can be found in the cookbook accompanying it. Agfa Graphics made its 2016 calendar into a fine example of the power of print, using a number of different printing techniques and materials. All prepress work for the 2016 edition was done using the company’s prepress solutions, including Apogee workflow software, Azura chemistry-free plates, Avalon platesetter, and Sublima screening software. The calendar was printed on a selection of high-quality papers from Igepa, with the exception of the colophon page, which was printed on Agfa’s inhouse developed and produced Synaps material. Every page stands out through its design and the high-quality prepress makeready, as well as through the use of extraordinary inks such as metallic or fluorescent ones and, in some cases, even the complementary use of silk screen printing. The pages are enhanced with the help of augmented reality (AR) software. This means that a making-of video will start playing when scanning the cover of the calendar with the Agfa Graphics AR app on a tablet or smartphone. When scanning the different pages of the calendar or cookbook, readers/viewers will get to see 12 instructional cooking movies, helping them to execute the recipes. Each month, a new recipe, including an instructional movie, will be uploaded onto www. agfagraphics.com/calendar.

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16

LITHO

ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICAL SPEEDMASTER

W&G BAIRD OPTS FOR

After a prolonged period in the doldrums, could the litho print market be on the up again in Ireland? We report on W&G Baird’s recent landmark investment.

C

o Antrim-based W&G Baird is installing a Speedmaster XL106-8-P featuring Inpress Control 2 as part of a Bank of Ireland backed Stg£4m investment programme. The intention is that it will produce the work currently done by two 10-colour presses, while also significantly reducing its carbon footprint. To mark the occasion,

Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell officially launched the new press on March 4th.

The decision to buy the Speedmaster XL 106-8-P was not made lightly and research included site visits to six existing customers. “Each of them told us that they would never buy a press without Inpress Control in future,” says Patrick Moffett, Managing Director of W&G Baird. Other features that will help increase the sheets on the floor include the UK’s first Autoplate XL 2. It is a fully automatic simultaneous plate changer on which the plate cylinder is decoupled from the gear train to perform the plate changing process. At the same time as changing the printing plates (plate mounting and removal), it is possible to wash the blankets and impression cylinder. This will be driven from the latest version of Pressroom Manager, a workflow that will link in, for now, with prepress and, in the longer term, with company’s MIS. The press also has Inpress Control 2 which reduces waste even more than the first generation of this automatic colour and register control device. Technotrans has supplied ink.trac, a bulk inking system which will run with Flint vegetable-based inks.

There will be significant economic and ecological benefits with this project.

“With the help of Heidelberg Germany we measured the annual output from our two SM 102 10-colour presses and then mapped them on to the XL 106 press,” says Patrick Moffett. “The results were extremely impressive. We estimate that we will reduce paper usage by 217 tonnes, which delivers a reduction in CO2 emissions of 276 tonnes and equates to a saving of around 3,200 trees per year,” says Mr Moffett. “Energy required to produce the work will be down 18%.

This, combined with IPA alcohol and ink usage reductions, means that the total annual saving in CO2 emissions on the XL press will be over 350 tonnes. All this, along with the quality and consistency of the XL and the strength of Heidelberg’s service offering in Northern Ireland, made the decision to purchase an XL an easy one. For customers this investment will mean even better quality and colour control with no compromise on service levels.”

The press is currently being installed and training is being undertaken.

W&G Baird, which has been in business since 1862, supplies sectional work, including magazines, books, educational products and commercial work. The company was named 2016 Brochure Printer of the Year in the Irish Print Awards 2015.

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04/04/2016 10:57

The Future is Variable.

Muller Martini Showcases Finishing 4.0 Print products are more variable as a result of increasing customisation and personalisation – that poses a major challenge for print finishing.

Take off with Muller Martini.

As a leader in highly variable finishing solutions, Muller Martini will demonstrate in Finishing 4.0 at

drupa, May 31 to June 10, 2016 Hall 2, Booth A49

drupa 2016 how a variety of print products with widely ranging content, sizes and thicknesses can be produced highly efficiently and with minimal intervention by machine operators.

Muller Martini – your strong partner.

Further informations on our website

0044 (0)844 875 4590 www.mullermartini.com/gb

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15/02/2016 12:34

Inspiring ideas for success drupa is the must-attend event in 2016: Starting point of highly promising visions. Focus of future technologies. Meeting point of ideas that electrify the markets.

Innovative business models and best-practice examples will show the growth potential of the future: print, packaging production, green printing, functional printing, multichannel and 3D printing.

The programme “drupa future visions” is a look far ahead.

Be part of it!

daily news, trends, innovations blog.drupa.com

May 31 – June 10, 2016 Düsseldorf/Germany www.drupa.com Share

German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce 46 Fitzwilliam Square _ Dublin 2 Tel. +353 (1)64 24 390 _ Fax +353 (1)64 24 399 dusseldorf@german-irish.ie

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DRUPA 2016

Facing the

FUTURE IN DUSSELDORF This drupa, more than any other, will present printers with a wider choice of printing technologies, both in the digital and offset sectors. With 1,650 exhibitors signed up, Irish Printer looks at some of the manufacturers who are promising printers better ways to maximise productivity and increase profitability.

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DRUPA 2016

Get in the Zone The Ricoh stand will consist of zones on different sectors that present opportunities for the commercial printer. The Corporate Printing Zone will focus on increased promotional output and print room integration that can grow in-house print services. The Commercial Printing Zone will concentrate on live end-to-end production and lean manufacturing with the Pro C9110 and Pro C7110x, which will be supported by MarcomCentral job submission and Avanti MIS. Among the applications shown will be banners, spot/gloss clear toners, printing on metallic/synthetic materials and packaging. In the Large Format zone Ricoh applications will include indoor and outdoor signs and display graphics, interior decoration, photos and fine art prints, labels and packaging, and banner solutions. Nearby, a dedicated production area will be organised around lean manufacturing principles for the efficient production of print samples and a variety of show and visitor collateral. The Publishing Zone will showcase digital print technologies and workflow for short run colour trade book and journal production with examples from leading publishers including HarperCollins and RELX (Reed Elsevier Group). The Direct Mail/Transactional Zone will show that Ricoh has the ability to provide the hardware, software and variable data expertise to create a full solution, from data cleansing, data analytics and variable data/media asset management (Fusion Pro/MarcomCentral), to digital printing (Pro C7110) and strategies to make print interactive (Clickable Paper). Among the applications on show will be a variety of mailers that printers are producing for big brand clients using Ricoh technology, as well as a dedicated mailer for the drupa show which will include personalised vouchers. Technologies on display in Ricoh’s Industrial Zone include industrial inkjet, additive manufacturing and robotics.

Highlights of the Ricoh stand at drupa 2016 will include their sheet fed and continuous feed line of digital presses powered by Ricoh-centred workflows.

Demonstrations will include a fully configured Ricoh Pro VC60000 running a variety of media roll-to-roll and roll-to-sheet, and a single engine Pro VC60000 that lets visitors take a close look at the technology that powers it. The Ricoh stand will also feature colour cut sheet presses, including the Ricoh Pro C9110 and the Ricoh Pro C7100x with its fifth toner station. Visitors to the show will be able to see live demonstrations for the new aqueous resin (AR) latex inks for the Ricoh Pro large format L4100 printer, and increased finishing capabilities with the Watkiss PowerSquare 224 booklet maker running in line with the Pro C9100 series, Pro C7100x series, and the Ricoh Pro 8100 series digital presses. In addition, the enhanced banner option for the Pro C7100x and Pro C9100 digital presses will be shown for the first time.

We Embody Print Agfa Graphics will present an overview of its product portfolio under the ‘We Embody Print’ theme. New products will include Eco³ plates for commercial, newspaper and packaging printers and its ink portfolio for an array of industrial printing applications, as well as UV inkjet wide format sign and display printers with different automation and finishing options and dedicated workflow software.The Anapurna roll-to-roll and hybrid solutions will be driven by the Asanti workflow at the booth. So will the Jeti Mira

BELOW: The Ricoh Pro VC60000 – one of the latest Ricoh technologies that will be available to view at the show.

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ABOVE: Agfa Graphics will present an overview of its product portfolio under the ‘We Embody Print’ theme

with the unique dockable roll-to-roll option and the Jeti Tauro, now for the first time in a ¾ automation line-up, including the new automatic board feeder and unloading unit. The new Acorta 3120 HD, targeted at very thick or dense materials, completes the Acorta family of cutting plotters. Agfa Graphics will also be present at the Touchpoint Packaging display in hall 12 with technology and software solutions for future packaging design, production, authentication and customisation or personalisation, including Arziro Design, a plugin for Adobe Illustrator to create counterfeit-proof artwork, and Arziro Authenticate, a hybrid authentication and track & trace solution, as well as a range of functional ink technologies for new smart packaging applications.

Offset – The Next Generation Heidelberg has a number of significant offset announcements planned for drupa, including a second generation B2 Anicolor, improvements to the Speedmaster CX 102 and XL 75 presses, a new Prinect Press Center XL, and a new operating system for the entire Speedmaster range, as well as a variety of next generation tools for faster makereadies.

The Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor 2 will make its first public appearance. The six-colour and coater model will be demonstrated with full UV functionality. This new generation short inking press will handle a wider range of inks and includes a 20% faster ink change facility.

Equipped with a new design, new feeder and the new Prinect Press Center XL 2, the Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor 2 will move into serial production from November. The Anicolor Booster can be activated at the push of a button on the Prinect Press Center to allow the operator to access a wider density range, which shortens set up times and makes it easy to switch between coated and uncoated stocks. In addition, there is faster wash up, making it possible to change colours up to a minute faster. This will enable packaging printers with two or more ink changes in almost every order to get through two or three more orders a day. The operator can now select ‘standard’, ‘short’ or even ‘none’ for the ink shut-off time, depending on the colour assignment from one job to the next. The shortened

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DRUPA 2016

ABOVE: Heidelberg’s Speedmaster XL75 Anicolor 2

ink shut-off saves another 20 seconds, while eliminating it altogether reduces the set up time by 40 seconds. Since its launch in 2012, 200 units of the B2 Anicolor have been sold worldwide with a 50-50 split between packaging and commercial customers.

The offset presses on show in Hall 1 include the Speedmaster XL 1066+LYYL (raised packaging press with full logistic capabilities), Speedmaster XL 106-8-P LED and Speedmaster CX 102-5+L. Heidelberg has announced a new Prinect Press Center XL for its Speedmaster presses. It combines a 65 inch Wallscreen XL with a smaller touchscreen pad operating in a similar way to smartphones and tablets. It will connect into the Prinect workflows and can feature multiple information views, such as the machine, a job list, colour measurement charts and the current job. There are also helpful widgets to give the operator quick and easy help with specific operations covering, for instance, status, plate on demand, overprint or pallet sheet. DryStar LED will now be available on the Speedmaster XL series from B2 to VLF, as well as the CX/SX 102.

Heidelberg’s Digital is on Fire

offers an industrial level solution that Heidelberg expects will turn heads in the packaging market particularly, but also in commercial sectors for items like calendars and posters. Primefire 106 took just over 15 months and intensive expert exchange between R&D and engineering teams in Japan and Germany to come to fruition. Testing in-house continues and the press will then be field tested at a packaging company in Germany and elsewhere before coming to market in 2017. Combining the inkjet know-how of Fujifilm with the application expertise of Heidelberg, the Primefire 106 can handle short runs and personalisation, including bar codes, QR codes and numbering. The water-based ink applied by the 1200 x 1200 dpi seven-colour inkjet unit is food safe, and it can print on substrates up to 0.6mm. By using Multicolour technology (the four process colours plus green, orange and violet) Heidelberg says it can provide high quality print and an even greater colour gamut than is possible with offset.

The Omnifire 4D range, for printing directly onto objects, is being significantly extended. Although it is the 250 that will be shown, Heidelberg is also on the brink of launching the Omnifire 1000 for printing on to larger objects, including snowboards, boxes, bikes and luggage.

It is also looking to have a very large Omnifire XL which will have applications in the automotive and aeronautical

sectors. The Omnifire 1000 will be launched at the end of this year to handle objects up to 1,000mm and uses six axes robotics to enable every side of an object to be printed. It uses inkjet print heads to print four colours and opaque white plus a protective coating and it can personalise on demand. Printed objects produced on the Omnifire 1000 will be displayed at drupa. The Gallus Labelfire runs at 50m/minute at 1,200dpi. This press and other Gallus products will be sold through Heidelberg UK, effective since April 1st when the label company’s UK team was absorbed into Heidelberg UK. This was the first model developed jointly by Heidelberg and Fujifilm and it was launched in 2015. The Versafire CP and CV are for short run and personalised commercial printing applications and by the time drupa opens, Heidelberg says it will have sold over 1,000 of these machines.

The Finished Article The Bobst stand at drupa sounds like it will be a ‘must see’ for anyone involved in packaging or label manufacture. Highlights will include the world premiere of a new Mastercut 106 PER. The manufacturer is claiming that this new model will be ‘the most productive die-cutter ever available to the industry, thanks to a range of ground-breaking innovations that will set new standards in die-cutting’.

Bobst will also showcase a new Masterfoil 106 PR hot-foil stamping press and a new version of the M6 UV flexo press, configured with folding carton production in mind, which, they say, will challenge offset printed carton production by offering job changeovers in under a minute. The manufacturer claims that the sevencolour M6 offers what no other press in the market can - the cost benefits of purchasing board on reels, allied

BELOW: Heidelberg’s Primefire 106 B1 inkjet press jointly developed with Fujifilm

According to drupa, digital printing is growing at 7.5% annually and digital printing will be a key theme of drupa 2016, which will have a host of new digital printing systems on show, both inkjet and toner, sheetfed and webfed, with all of the major manufacturers launching new presses.

Heidelberg will showcase the fruits of a number of collaborations with fellow manufacturers, including a Primefire B1 inkjet press jointly developed with Fujifilm, as well as an Omnifire 250 (formerly Jetpress Dimension) 4D press, Labelfire (which is the recently launched Gallus DCS 340) and Versafire CP and CV (formerly Linoprint) technology. The Primefire

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DRUPA 2016

to the production benefits of the no-water, no-solvent, fast changeover UV Digital Flexo process. Bobst are also promising alternatives to offset printing for the production of folding cartons and flexible packaging that offer high productivity, and set-up times that are comparable to digital.

Their technology array will also feature new CI flexo, in-line flexo, gravure and digital printing presses.

Cloud-Based Print Management The cloud will feature heavily at this year’s drupa. Kodak and HP are both promoting their new cloud services – in Kodak’s case it is the transitioning of the Prinergy workflow to the cloud, while HP is launching PrintoOS, a cloud-based business operating system.

PrintOS is for print companies of all segments and sizes for use with HP Indigo, PageWide Web Press, Scitex and Latex digital printing technology.

Featuring a suite of web-based and mobile applications, PrintOS helps simplify and automate print production, enabling customers to start printing jobs faster. Additionally, cloud connectivity allows customers to monitor print status remotely, as well as track and improve production performance over time.

PrintOS applications include Box, a tool simplifying job onboarding through non-automated channels like email and file transfer services.

Another application, Site Flow, combines automated order submission, pre-press and shop floor management capabilities that allow printers to fulfill hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of individual, personalised print orders every day, including direct shipment to end customers. HP Indigo and PageWide Web Press customers can begin using PrintOS on May 31st.

For the first time in drupa history, the HP Graphics Solutions Business is hosting the tradeshow’s largest exhibit in hall 17 and the world’s biggest digital printing showcase for the 11day event. HP will display its latest technology for the general commercial

ABOVE: The Bobst MW 85F CI flexo press

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ABOVE: HP PrintOS mobile application – Android printing segment, in addition to new hardware and solutions for labels and packaging, large-format and sign and display application areas.

Agfa Graphics will be launching PrintSphere, which offers printers a cloud-based solution for online data exchange. It provides a standardised way to send and receive files, including secure back-ups of production databases, all integrated with Agfa’s Apogee, Arkitex and Asanti workflow software. With its Eversify mobile content

publishing software, Agfa Graphics addresses magazine and newspaper publishers that seek a solution to diversify their content to a wide range of devices (smartphones, tablets) at any moment of the day in an automated way. The SaaS solution can be integrated in any editorial, content management or InDesign-based layout system.

On the Periphery Press peripherals specialist technotrans will display products for UV and digital printing applications, as well as conventional offset and precision equipment. “technotrans continues to make great headway in digital printing, providing temperature control solutions for both toner and inkjet machines and it is an area we are working to expand further,” says Peter Benton, Managing Director of technotrans in the UK. “Our systems can chill the digital printing unit, electrical/electronic parts, and the dryer. Our smartchiller, which will be shown at drupa, is an ideal solution for small- to mediumsized cooling applications.”

The benefits resulting from being able to process dry sheets off the end of a press has turned heads in the industry so LED-UV and LE-UV will be key technologies this drupa for both commercial and packaging applications. technotrans will showcase technology that will help cool LED and UV dryers and provide a longer service life and consistent printing results. There will also be an ink supply system for this technology, featuring a patented piston sealing system and ink agitators like those currently used on the ink. mate series. In addition, technotrans has experienced a rise in demand for combination units. These bring together the dampening solution circulator and ink temperature control in one unit. At drupa a new generation of products - the power-controlled alpha.c eco (for small to medium formats) and the beta.c blue system (for medium to large presses), will be unveiled. Both offer energy-efficient cooling along with the flexibility to adjust the level of chilling required during production.

Coating and press room consumables supplier Ultrachem will be exhibiting its latest portfolio of products for offset, heatset,coldset and flexo print businesses. These include UV and conventional inks, conventional/CTP developers, water-based flexo inks,UV and water-based coating, and conventional blankets. Recent additions to its range will be highlighted, including new flexo water-based inks. Ultrachem is now an official partner with ACTEGA, a prominent manufacturer of water-based flexographic inks. Another new addition is Fastbond, a clear UV curing adhesive formulated specifically for film to board and film to film bonding. Low migration and low toxicity characteristics make Fastbond suitable for a variety of food-related applications, including sandwich packaging.

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COMMERCIAL PROFILE

Canon will show print businesses the full gamut of its inkjet and toner-based solutions, from small to wide format, at drupa 2016.

ABOVE: OcĂŠ VarioPrint i300

ABOVE: Oce ImageStream 2400

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08/04/2016 14:56

COMMERCIAL PROFILE

T

he focus of Canon’s presence at drupa 2016 (Hall 8a, Stand B50 at Messe Düsseldorf, May 31st to June 10th) will be on productive, high quality technologies that meet the evolving expectations of commercial printers and corporate print departments of every size and type.

The highlight for most visitors will be the first opportunity to see Canon’s most recently launched production print systems, including: Océ VarioPrint i300 - an inkjet sheetfed press with new features and finishing options; imagePRESS C10000VP - a 100ppm digital production press; imagePRESS C8000VP – an 80ppm digital production press; Océ ColorStream 6000 Chroma - a high-speed commercial inkjet system featuring the new Chromera ink set; ImageStream 2400 - a fullcolour inkjet press for standard coated papers; ColorWave 910 - a high-speed, single-pass colour inkjet printer; and the first European showing of several new wide format printer models.

The Canon stand will be arranged to reflect the most prominent applications for visitors, making it easy to locate the solutions of most interest to them: commercial print; business communications, including transactional and direct mail; publishing, including books, magazines and newspapers; advertising and creative, including display graphics; functional/industrial, including 3D printing; packaging; and photographic products.

Every print service provider, regardless of their size, business profile or applications focus, should come and talk to Canon at drupa about how we can help them to grow their business. We are a market leader in both inkjet and toner technologies addressing the whole spectrum of print applications...

Philip Brady, Director-Head of Canon Ireland

UnleashPrint In every area of the stand, Canon will bring its new campaign to ‘#UnleashPrint’ to life. This communicates Canon’s passion for print as a unique and powerful medium, celebrates the value of print, and sets out to unlock its still untapped potential.

At drupa 2016, visitors will discover how Canon can help them ‘unleash print’ by combining technology innovation with expertise in implementing intelligent new business models that elevate print’s ability to respond to changing customer needs. Every zone of the Canon stand will feature exceptional creative print applications, with the aim of inspiring visitors to extend their product portfolio and push the boundaries of print. As part of its customer journey, Canon will also show visitors how they can increase print’s effectiveness though integration with digital platforms to deliver seamless multichannel communications that simplify customer experiences, stimulate response, and make print as measurable as any other tool in the communications mix.

Canon experts will be on hand throughout drupa to talk to print service providers about their development plans and aspirations, offering practical guidance and insight through such successful tools as the Canon Business & Innovation Scan and Essential Business Builder Program.

“Every print service provider, regardless of their size, business profile or applications focus, should come and talk to Canon at drupa about how we can help them to grow their business,” says Philip Brady, Director-Head of Canon Ireland. “We are a market leader in both inkjet and toner technologies addressing the whole spectrum of print applications, with an extensive international customer base representing all types of print business. The high-performance end-to-end solutions we will showcase are the result of our sustained R&D commitment, shaped by the insights we gain from our deep engagement with our customer community. This combination of leading technology, expertise and continuous dialogue with customers means we are uniquely placed to help print service providers implement customer-centric digital business models that unleash the full potential of their business.”

Canon’s extensive production print portfolio on display at drupa 2016 includes: a range of high-specification

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BELOW: ImagePRESS C1000VP

digital inkjet presses for continuous and sheet-fed work across a spectrum of high-volume commercial print applications; an extended family of digital toner presses, delivering up to 100 pages per minute for high-quality commercial print applications; wide format output devices, including flatbed and roll-to-roll, toner and inkjet, covering a range of applications from commercial wide format print, through signage and graphics, to decorative and functional print; a portfolio of workflow automation solutions and supporting software; and a growing range of integrated and off-line finishing solutions.

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THE NEW GENERATION WORK TABLE

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CWT FLAT BED APPLICATOR The CWT Flat Bed Applicator is a sturdy versatile mounting table that is mainly used for laminating foil and cutting materials.

The work table has an ergonomic roller unit that is designed with no overhead beam for easier access. It features guided, low-friction linear bearings for smooth roll motion up and down the length of the table.

The CWT is designed to save up to 85% production time on mounting vinyl prints and applying transfer paper.

> Save 80-85% production time > Better for operator health & safety > Laminates all substrates up to 70 mm (2.7in.) > Ergonomic design enables total control of your different operations FLEXIBLE APPLICATIONS Apply prints and other self-adhesive materials on any substrate, e.g. acrylic or aluminium sheets, ACM panels, backlit and frontlit soft fabrics, glass, etc. You can also apply protective laminate with total control.

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04/04/2016 11:00 11:41 31/03/2016

AWARDS PREVIEW

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN

The 39th Irish Print Awards will take place on Friday, November 25th in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry, Dublin and Irish Printer is looking forward to yet another successful event in 2016.

In the first of a series of sponsor profiles, we showcase some of the biggest manufacturers in the business who have renewed their support for these prestigious awards.

The Canon Award for Graphic Design and Print Excellence

Réalt Paper Events and Corporate Stationery Printer of the Year

Canon is a world leader for managed services worldwide. Canon Ireland, which was founded in 1990 and employs 85 staff, helps customers to optimise their document and business processes with a broad range of professional business services and solutions. “Our goal is to enable customers to increase productivity and reduce cost,” says Philip Brady, Director-Head of Canon Ireland. “We help customers gain the most value from their information, providing knowledge and expertise to reduce and manage costs and improve productivity and efficiency, as well as drive business growth and profitability. As a leader in technology and innovation, we also work with professional, commercial and wide format printers, providing market-leading expertise, products and solutions. Many documents that we print or use are part of an extended process, for e.g. purchase to pay, quality management, HR files etc.” Canon Ireland’s technology is operational in a wide range of sectors, including education, health, finance, legal, manufacturing, commercial print and display graphics, and small and home office. “Canon is sponsoring the Graphic Design & Print Excellence award because it reflects the creativity and innovation at the heart of the print industry,” says Philip. “The Irish Print Awards are more relevant to our industry than ever, as they showcase how the print industry has evolved and is now thriving in our digital world.”

Introduced in 2014, the Events and Corporate

Neopost Ireland Support Print Finishing Award

For details of sponsorship opportunities

086 821 0203 Contact: Fiona Larmon fiona.larmon@ ashvillemediagroup.com

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Neopost Ireland is looking forward to the 2016 Irish Print Awards. “The print sector in Ireland has experienced significant changes in the last year and there have also been many changes at Neopost Ireland,” says Marketing Manager Ray Bissett. “We’ve added some great new experience to our print sales team with Simon Houston and new products from our key suppliers.These include the new Duplo 150 CR booklet maker, 600i booklet system, Roland TruVis range, and an evolving range of cutter creasers and flatbed applicators.

We are also looking forward to drupa this June and we are producing a drupa pocket guide, which was a favourite at drupa 2012. If Irish Printer readers are interested in acquiring one, please let us know.

We expect to roll out many more exciting products, from machines to consumables, during the year.

Every product and service designed by Neopost improves the quality of customers’ interactions.

From our traditional mailing offers to our digital communications, shipping services and graphics sector products, everything is focused on linking people, helping them work more efficiently, and bringing them closer together. Given that we are the leading supplier of print finishing and wide format equipment, we are delighted to be sponsoring the Print Finishing category once again at this year’s awards. We believe in supporting the industry that has supported us and we are looking forward to another informative, enjoyable and rewarding event.

Stationery Printer of the Year award has quickly established itself as one of the award categories with the highest amount of entries. This is because the majority of printers identify with this category as there is a continuous stream of relevant print jobs. “This award showcases the Irish print trade’s level of design, quality of print, and the choice of paper or board that is required to produce a job with real impact,” explains Ger Barron, Managing Director of Réalt Paper Ltd. “The higher the impact, the larger the margin earned and the better the chance of retaining the print customer.” Réalt sell the paper, board and envelope stock required to produce a basic or high end job, be it for a corporate suite of stationery or a job for a specific event, with matching invitations, RSVP cards, menus, place names, booklets, and envelopes. “Réalt appreciates the substantial and loyal support it has enjoyed from the print trade in Ireland over the past 36 years,” says Ger. “We will continue to be active in events such as the Irish Print Awards where we were delighted to be awarded the Best Supplier Customer Service Award last year, the only award voted on by the printers. The Print Awards provide a platform where the hard work, skill and achievements of Irish print companies are recognised, highlighted and celebrated.”

IBS, a Xerox Company, Digital Printer of the Year IBS, a Xerox Company, brings unrivalled expertise to the market, providing the full Xerox product and services portfolio, from entry level printers to complete automated workflow solutions. “We provide market leading technology and print management solutions that help our customers work better, ensuring business continuity and ultimately enabling business growth,” says Alan Brown, Managing Director at IBS, a Xerox Company.

“We see Irish Printer as a valuable medium for placing IBS, a Xerox Company, in front of one of our key target markets. The Irish Print Awards presents us with a niche opportunity to put our brand, products and solutions in front of our existing customers and potential new customers. As one of the leading digital software and hardware technology companies for the commercial print sector in Ireland, we regard the Digital Printer of the Year category in the Irish Print Awards as the perfect fit for IBS, a Xerox Company. As we visit our customers, we frequently see the Irish Print Award certificates proudly displayed in their reception areas. We understand that this is an award that recognises excellence and is one of the benchmarks by which companies can be judged.

It is a validation of a company’s expertise in a particular field and no doubt also has merit in the mindset of our customers customers.”

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TECHNOLOGY

OF INDUSTRIAL PRINTING The Digital Transformation

Ron Gilboa, Director of InfoTrends’ Production & Industrial Printing Advisory Service, looks at how digital technology is driving the growth of the industrial print sector.

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04/04/2016 11:09

TECHNOLOGY

The use of digital technology is now migrating and growing in industrial segments such as packaging, decorative, and functional printing.

ndustrial printing applications have historically been produced using a variety of analog printing technologies, such as offset, gravure, flexographic, and screen printing. The range of applications is dazzling, and includes textiles, ceramics, flooring, laminates, glass, wood, membrane switches, printed electronics, packaging, and even some bio-medical materials.

According to InfoTrends’ estimates, worldwide mass-production of decorative products accounted for just under half a trillion dollars in manufactured goods in flat glass, ceramic tiles, flooring/laminates, textile, and wall coverings. Our desire to increasingly customise our surroundings, coupled with relentless innovations in materials science and digital material deposition technology, is a major driving force in the transition from mass-production to mass-customisation.

This transition enables consumers as well as institutional buyers to customise their environments with branded imagery, or with decorative surfaces that reflect their tastes and visual sensibilities.

Digitally printed output is now increasingly used to enable masscustomisation while also providing a range of other benefits, including operational efficiency in manufacturing and a positive environmental impact. For many years, inkjet printing technologies, like drop-ondemand and continuous inkjet, struggled to gain acceptance due to high costs, reliability issues, and a limited range of available materials (e.g., inks and substrates). These factors hampered the range of applications that could be produced. However, over the past two decades, surging technological developments in materials and printheads have yielded a crop of products that have effectively transformed industry dynamics to enable mass-customisation of graphic arts products using inkjet technology. These changes are quickly expanding into industrial manufacturing as well. These inkjet solutions enable manufacturers to produce quality products while benefiting from the operational advantages of digital print.

As important as operational efficiency may be, it is only one of the ingredients that is driving market growth. The ability to costeffectively manufacture products in short runs is democratising the creative process. In a market where printing requires less makeready and inventories are significantly reduced, brand owners and designers are now free to explore new products, materials, and manufacturing technologies that do not require as high an investment as massproduced products. Fueled by the Internet, these products generate demand for a range of applications that were previously unavailable to consumers and businesses. Combined with the operational benefits, these market-driven opportunities can result in profitable growth for companies of all sizes. Although the digital revolution has taken several paths, the most prominent to date has been in the graphic communications market. Digital print-on-demand is now well-established in the graphic communications market, with over one billion A4 impressions produced annually. The use of digital technology is now migrating and growing in industrial segments such as packaging, decorative, and functional printing. To better understand the key trends that are impacting the various industries, I have compiled a short description and some examples to highlight the solutions that are available in these industry segments.

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Packaging Over the past few years, digital colour technology has established a critical base of electro-photographic and inkjet solutions. These accounted for about one billion square metres in 2014 and are projected to reach two billion square metres in 2019, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23%. Thanks to a new generation of inkjet presses, this market is now reaching folding cartons, flexible packaging, direct-to-shape, and corrugated printing. These systems go beyond proofing and into fully integrated production lines. Solutions that are targeted toward corrugated liner manufacturing or sheet fed printing of corrugated boxes/displays are now available from key industry suppliers with print speeds exceeding 200 metres per minute. Direct-to-shape is another example of an emerging category where graphic arts, technologies, and industry-specific suppliers have come together to meet the demand for customised printing like never before. Examples include a major brand that is now offering digitally printed beer bottles that are fully customised and linked to an augmented reality campaign. This isn’t a completely new concept, except that it is now being done on an industrial scale by a mainstream manufacturer.

OPPOSITE: Functional Printing - a building in a technology education park.

BELOW: At the launch of Dagschotel beer in Belgium digitally printed PET bottles come to life using a beer smartphone application. With the app, images of actors from a Belgian TV sitcom printed on the bottles deliver special performances on the smartphone. The bottles were digitally printed using a Direct Print Powered system developed by KHS that uses Xaar 1002 printheads to jet high resolution text and images in five colours using low migration LED cured inks directly onto PET bottles at a production rate of 12,000 bottles per hour.

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TECHNOLOGY

Decorative Printing Decorative printing is a vast market segment with a number of applications that are taking advantage of digital printing capabilities.

Although many applications exist in this segment, this article will focus on ceramics, textiles, laminates & wood, wall coverings, and glass, which are leading the digital transition.

BELOW: Ceramic inks on tiles

CERAMICS The market for ceramic tile is huge, with over 12 billion square metres of tile manufactured worldwide in 2014 based on an InfoTile report.

This industry segment traditionally used rotary presses to deposit decorative ceramic inks onto tiles ahead of the firing process, resulting in a cost-effective product that rivalled the permanency of natural stone. At the same time, however, using rotary print cylinders has its drawbacks - pattern repeats are limited and require costly changeovers. Because digital printing has dramatically improved time-to-market, enabled design changes, and reduced make-ready, it now captures the majority of tile manufacturing in Europe and is gaining a rapidly-growing share in China. Moreover, digital technology offers dimensional printing in later firings to add texture in addition to the decorative layer.

TEXTILES Based on InfoTrends’ Digital Textile Forecast, printed fabrics accounted for over 35 billion square metres in 2014 - and 800 million of this volume was digital. Although most of these fabrics are produced using silk screens or rotary presses, the use of digital printers is rapidly increasing.

Rotary screen printing is the prevailing technology for high-volume fabric manufacturing but since the early 1990s, inkjet technology vendors have attempted to make inkjet a suitable solution for fabric manufacturers. The past few years have seen a rapid growth in inkjet printing on fabric for organisations of all sizes. InfoTrends’ Digital Textile Forecast projects that digital textile fabric printing will demonstrate a CAGR of over 30%, surpassing 3.2 billion square metres by 2019. This rapid growth can be attributed to a reduction in makeready, cost reductions in environmentally-friendly production, and the democratisation of designs that enable brand owners to reach markets quickly and effectively.

BELOW: Laminates & Wood

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WALL COVERINGS

LAMINATES & WOOD Woodworking products have been making use of printed decorative papers and laminates for decades in the construction and furniture industries. Typically produced using gravure presses, decorative papers are converted to laminates using a range of processes. This industry produced over 300 million digital square metres in 2014, based on an InfoTrends’ document entitled Profiting from Digital Printing in the Décor Marketplace.

The pressure to develop short-run or custom laminates is driving an increased demand for mid-range as well as industrial products that rival the printing volumes of traditional gravure presses. Many leading providers of laminates and décor paper (e.g., Schattdecor, WilsonArt, and Formica) are now offering custom laminates based on end-users’ demands for increased levels of design freedom and customisation. Also, a range of direct printing solutions produced on a variety of wood products such as Medium Fibre Board (MDF), plywood, and natural wood are emerging. These do not require lamination and are used for adding a decorative surface to residential and commercial applications.

Technologies such as surface printing, offset, flexography, and gravure printing have been widely used to produce standard wallpapers, with volumes estimated at 52 million square metres annually in 2014 based on InfoTrends’ Profiting from Digital Printing in the Décor Marketplace. Digital wide format printing solutions ushered in generations of innovative graphic communication solutions for the plethora of industries that have been migrating to the wall covering segment. Advancements in digital printing inks (e.g., latex and flexible UV inks) now enable printing on standard industry media that complies with health and safety codes.

Applications such as murals and graphically rich wallpaper rolls are becoming increasingly common and are now available from a number of suppliers.

GLASS According to the Global Flat Glass Industry Trend, Forecast, and Opportunity Analysis by Lucintel, the flat glass market is expected to surpass $66bn by 2019 and is starting to adopt digital printing as a means of expanding its reach. With the development of inkjet printheads that are capable of printing ceramic inks onto glass, a number of industries are using digital printing technology to produce long-life decorated glass that is suitable for architectural and industrial uses.

04/04/2016 11:10

TECHNOLOGY Functional Printing Another type of industrial printing is where the printed surface is deposited with material or ink to enable some functionality. These applications take advantage of piezoelectric or continuous drop devices to enable deposition of a variety of materials. Applications include membrane switches, printed electronics, 3D printing, and a range of new innovations in small particle sizes (e.g., nano-particulates) that are expanding into pharmaceutical and bio-medical applications. This section will highlight some of the developments that enable membrane switch printing, printed electronics, and 3D printing. While there are a number of other very compelling deposition technologies, these are typically limited to speciality industry forums in the life sciences industry.

MEMBRANE SWITCHES The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) defines a membrane switch as ‘a momentary switch device in which at least one contact is on, or made of, a flexible substrate’. These flexible substrates are typically printed on PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), which is used as a base carrier. Printing technologies are regularly used in the production of the graphic overlays as well as some of the circuitry where conductive inks are used. Advancements in digital UV printing technology, including flexible inks and Light Emitting Diode (LED) curing, are expanding the range of membrane switch applications and carrier materials to include flexible substrates that can be cured with less energy and heat. In certain highervolume applications, curing using EB (Electron Beam) technology enables deposition and curing on sensitive materials. In all of these cases, a short-run of customised print can take the place of screen or flexographic printing technology.

BELOW: The YIELDjet platform is the world’s first inkjet printing manufacturing equipment solution for flexible and large-scale Organic Light Emitting Diodes

ABOVE: An example of Canon’s 3D printing technology

3D PRINTING Current 3D print technologies include binder jetting, digital light processing, electron beam melting, fused filament fabrication, material jetting, selective deposition lamination, selective laser sintering, and stereo lithography. All of these technologies have their pros and cons, and it is likely that this list will grow even longer over time as more vendors make their own contributions to this space. The market is delineated along three product categories: production, professional, and personal. Typical applications created on 3D printers include prototypes, molds & dyes, and end-use products. These applications are being used by almost all industries to create a variety of products, from nanosized research products to airplane parts. This segment is evolving rapidly, and hardly a day passes when we don’t hear about a new innovation that enables another compelling application. The attraction in 3D printing is its additive nature - waste is limited, time-to-market is shortened, and custom designs are possible.

PRINTED ELECTRONICS Electrical circuits have been printed using screen printing, flexography, gravure, and offset lithography for many years, and inkjet printing has been an option for quite some time too.

During this process, electrically functional inks are deposited on the substrate to create active or passive devices, such as thin film transistors or resistors. Printed electronics are expected to be used in applications such as flexible displays, smart labels, decorative/ animated posters, and active clothing. Digital display printing is at the forefront of innovation, but digital deposition of functional materials has been in development since the early 1990s and can now be found in applications including Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tags, smart textiles, and many more printed electronics. At the same time, however, conventional printing technologies such as flexography and photo lithography are still in use in high-volume manufacturing of printed electronics. This provides numerous opportunities for growth in this industry for a range of speciality print providers.

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FUTURE PRINT

Seeing the Future in

Q A

Apart from showcasing its wide format portfolio at Fespa Digital, including its new Océ Arizona 1280 XT and Océ Arizona 1280 GT flatbed printers, Canon also demonstrated its 3D printing proposition.

Philip Brady, Country Manager, Canon Ireland, tells Irish Printer how it works.

Q BELOW: A selection of products produced by Canon’s 3D printing technology and the ProJet660Pro.

A

Q A

Q A

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What is Canon’s approach to 3D printing?

At Fespa Digital, Canon customers within the creative, architectural and manufacturing industries could see how wide format and 3D printing solutions can work hand in hand to deliver the ultimate in colour prints and prototypes to support the proposal and shortrun manufacturing phases. Our approach is based on simple core principles; we want to offer the best solutions, with the best service, knowledge and support in the 3D printing industry, both today and in the future. Canon has deep relationships with a substantial customer base in the engineering, manufacturing and architecture industries, where 3D printing has the greatest immediate potential. We believe that we can offer an exceptional sales and service experience to our customers, coupled with the broad knowledge base of our 3D printing application and colour specialist team. We can also offer European coverage for service and support, and flexible financing options for a wide range of devices.

The addition of 3D printing to our 2D offering means that we have an extended print and technology portfolio that few can match.”

In Canon Ireland’s experience, are Irish commercial printers expressing any interest in moving into the 3D print space?

Following the Canon Expo in Paris last year, the response from the market has been very strong and we see that Canon’s value proposition of leading technology, service and support is resonating well with our customer base in Ireland. We are getting a lot of enquiries from the manufacturing, medical and science sectors and we have already developed some great case studies in the engineering, architecture and education sectors.

Will 3D printing become an increasing part of Canon’s business in the next few years?

The 3D Printing Group will absolutely become an increasing part of Canon’s business in the next few years. We are looking to expand our business model even further across Europe and we continue to work closely with 3D Systems to exchange knowledge and build our respective capabilities. Our growth ambitions and the size of the team established within 3D mean that we already operate as an accountable division catering to this market What does Canon regard as the main applications that 3D printing is best suited to?

The demand for 3D printing is extremely strong.

For many organisations there is a steep learning curve to move to additive manufacturing processes. It is therefore important that, as a partner, we can support customers from a service and knowledge transfer perspective to enable them to leverage the full benefits of 3D printing technology. Initially the focus is on prototyping for rapid product development, as we believe that this is where we can offer the most value to our customers.

04/04/2016 11:12

WHAT’S NEW IN PRINT

New Interior Décor Substrates from Soyang

Digitally printable media manufacturer and distributor Soyang Europe introduced its new collection of interior decoration materials at Sign & Digital UK, alongside its textile, signage and graphics ranges suitable for printing with sublimation, solvent, UV and latex technologies.

Highlights included its new SoDecor range of digitally printable wallpaper as well as the European manufactured Decal range of wallpaper materials. “Interior décor is a massively popular area and at this year’s Sign & Digital we showed visitors the expanse of options available by way of interior décor substrates,” says the company’s Managing Director, Mark Mashiter. “From high-quality, self-adhesive vinyl to a variety of printable wallpapers, we’re able to offer a solution for an extensive amount of material requirements in this fast moving sector.”

Graphics Colours Reflect Key Design Trends

Pantone has launched 112 new Pantone colours for the design community.

The addition brings the total colour count of the graphic design Pantone Plus Series to 1,867 colours. Leveraging international trend-spotting intelligence from the Pantone Colour Institute, the new palette incorporates key design trends across industries. During product development, Pantone surveyed hundreds of designers across graphics, packaging, print and web design. The findings indicated a desire for more blushes, blues and neutrals. Pantone says that the use of neutrals, blushes and nuanced blues in branding and packaging design are representative of the simplified design aesthetic that has been building since white became an iconic symbol of functionality and clean design. In addition, the deepening of red, orange and brown shades reflects a shift toward earth-driven and organic lifestyles.

Tharstern Demonstrate MIS Expertise

MIS systems specialist Tharstern showcased specific applications for wide format companies at Fespa Digital 2016. Visitors were treated to demonstrations on the latest technologies in a number of areas, including CRM, estimating, sales order processing (via cXML), job management, scheduling and job tracking, and business intelligence.

“Wide format companies have unique specifications, workflows and standards,” says Lee Ward, Tharstern’s Global Sales Director. “Our MIS software has been developed for the market by working closely with specialist large format printers. The Tharstern MIS has specific features that allow customers to easily manage multi-product campaigns at estimating and job stage. In addition, it provides specific support for common wide format processes such as mounting, welding, hemming and eyeletting and great features for efficiently handling multi product campaigns.”

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WHAT’S NEW IN PRINT

Digital Inks for Textiles and Graphics

J-Teck3 presented its diverse range of digital disperse dyes for sublimation and direct printing, specially engineered for polyester, at Fespa Digital. J-Teck3’s technology spans an array of applications including high fashion apparel and sportswear, home furnishing, and display graphics. J-Teck3’s portfolio compromises five collections, including its next generation of digital inks, the J-Cube range, which includes vibrant colours and is fully-compatible with printers equipped with Kyocera, Ricoh, Konica Minolta and Panasonic print heads. The J-Cube water-based piezo inks are specially formulated for high-speed digital printers. Specifically designed for Epson print heads, the J-Next is the company’s bestseller and offers a spectrum of vibrant colours. This range includes the J-Next Subly Extra which provides colour for coated and uncoated papers, as well as the J-Next Print, which incorporates disperse dye for printing directly onto polyester for high fashion and display graphics.

Fujifilm Releases Acuity Update

Agfa Reveals Latest Platesetter System

Agfa Graphics recently announced the newest addition to its family of thermal platesetter systems, the Avalon N4-30.

The new model for the four-up CtP market comes in three speed options (E, S and XT).

The fastest XT version produces up to 33 plates per hour. The imaging technology is based on the fiber-coupled LD (laser diode) recording head used in the Avalon N8-24 series, which Agfa says results in higher output speed and better image quality.

“The Avalon N4-30 XT completes our offering in the 4-up segment supporting conventional and chemistry-free plate types,” says Bruno Lepage, Marketing Product Manager CtP Equipment Commercial & Packaging, Agfa Graphics. “Both the quality and the speed, but also the high

IP_March_April_2016_New In Print.indd 32

reliability, of our systems are extremely attractive to B2 commercial printers. The laser diodes enable the reproduction of sharper halftone dots, improving print quality up to Sublima 280.” The Avalon N4-30 system images plates from 324mm x 330mm to 830mm x 660mm. Inline press punching is optional. Agfa Graphics’ Avalon N4-30 comes with manual load or single-/ multi-cassette autoloaders.

Fujifilm has released the new Acuity Select 20 series to replace the existing Acuity Advance Select series.

According to Fujifilm, the Select 20 is suited to graphic display printers who require high quality printing on both rigid and flexible media. Like the Acuity Advance Select series, it features print speeds of up to 33.6 square metres per hour, and the ability to produce a variety of applications on a range of substrates up to 50.8mm thick.

New features include the option of using light cyan and light magenta to further enhance print quality for those producing fine art or photographic images, and a pneumatic pin registration system, as well as an optional automated printhead maintenance system.

The latest UV lamp technology allows for thinner, more sensitive media to be printed and the 20 series also incorporates an improved high-pressure vacuum system designed to reduce the need for masking of the bed for easy loading of media. Fujifilm claims that the new features offered by the series will enable speciality and industrial printers currently using analogue print technologies to easily make the transition to digital printing.

04/04/2016 11:14

UNIT TO LET with SHARED SERVICES with “similar” businesses!

Would suit Small/Medium Sized Printer, Computer to Plate (CTP) Company, Print-Originator l Facilities available include: Muller Machine, Guillotine, Finishing Facilities, Fork-Lift. l Secure set-up includes floor space, office space, roller-shutter and pedestrian access, customer and staff parking. l Two potential new business accounts ‘in-house’ for CTP company!

Location: Baldoyle Ind. Estate, Dublin 13.

Have you a new years resolution?

Do you want to: 1: Reduce your operating costs?

2: Increase your efficiency?

3: Improve your level of service?

4: Achieve cross-functional efficiencies with similar businesses?

5: Grow your reputation?

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If you’ve answered “YES” to any of the above and are interested in driving your business forward in a Unit with SHARED SERVICES with a similar business, please contact Linda on 086-1012537 to discuss or email linda@irishbroker.ie 237607_4C_Holyrood Publications_ALS_IP.indd 1

16/10/2015 08:49

CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY

At Walsh Colour Print we always invest in the best technology available, to give our clients the best possible quality, service and price.

We are pleased to announce that we have just installed a Bobst NovaCut B1 flat bed die-cutting machine.

This new machine will allow us to produce die-cut folders, up to B1 size, to the best industry standards available.

As well as producing top quality products, this machine will greatly increase productivity on larger runs.

We would be delighted to provide prices for die-cut folders, promotional pieces, die-cut packaging and any other die-cut product that you require.

Please contact us with any queries!

Freephone: 1800 613 111 Email: sales@walshcolourprint.com

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05/04/2016 17:08

DISCOVER TRUE WHITENESS! ON UPM FINESSE PAPERS

UPM Finesse papers offer high whiteness and brightness, opacity 90–100% and different finishing from gloss to matt.

Its superior surface provides the best image and text reproduction, ensuring you can make a sharp and lasting impression.

UPM Finesse woodfree coated papers are available in a wide range of sheets and reels. Their runnability and overall performance is proven to be excellent. Close co-operation with technical service and product development ensures that the paper is constantly being developed to meet different printing and market requirements. UPM Finesse is an EU Ecolabel awarded paper.

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05/04/2016 12:31 16:48 24/02/2016