PWA Issue 10 Web

Print World Asia Magazine

Covering the Printing, Packaging and Publishing Industries across Asia.

Issue 10 2015 US$8.50

th Asian PrintAwards 2015

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Contents Page

Issue 10 2015

3

ASIAN PRINT AWARDS entry form

8

Konica Minolta Pushes Boundaries with the new

bizhub PRESS C71hc

10

Fuji Xerox Establishes Innovation Office, a New

Research Organization, in Singapore

14

NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHED, NEW

TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCED

16

The HD Distinction

20

HP Indigo Showcases Labels and Packaging Innovation

at Labelexpo

24

Message on a bottle

30

Digitizing the digital

32

Eight-colour Rapida 106 creates

reserves for urgent jobs

34

Higspec S29 colution for Thai package prineter

36

Crossing the finish line – a Cinderella story

44

IGAS a great show for Komori

46

Goss announces new Contiweb modular product lines

for digital web presses

48

Beijing Daily opts again for KBA newspaper technology

50

Suitable for folding carton applications

52

Ideal for fast, high quality sample or small lot

57 Ubi Ave. 1, #03-06 Ubi Centre, Singapore 408936. tel+65 6733 5342 fax +65 6733 3586 Marketing Director

Paul Callaghan paul@cpublish.com.sg

Events

Elizabeth Liew eliew@cpublish.com.sg Advertising sales@cpublish.com.sg Journalist

Sha Jumari editorasia@cpublish.com.sg Advertising Sales

Matthew Callahan matt@cpublish.com.sg Accounts/Circulation accounts@cpublish.com.sg

productions 54

News from around the world

Get your BEST work ready for this year's Asian Print Awards (held in Singapore).

It will be the hardest event to win in the Awards 13 year History

Enter your best work!

AWARD WINNING PERFORMANCE

FREE ENTRY FORM

2015

ENTRIES SUBMISSION CLOSES ON 18TH DECEMBER 2015 AT 5PM

The Asian Print Awards Committee would like to thank our Title Sponsor, Pack Print International (PPi), our Platinum and Gold sponsors. Together we recognise the best in print quality Asia has to offer.

Platinum Sponsors

Cold Sponsor

Print Media Association of Singapore

13th Asian Print Awards 2015

The only regional awards of its kind in Asia The annual Asian Print Awards was founded to recognise outstanding achievement in the print and packaging industries across Asia. With more than half the world’s population represented in this fast growing area, communication in the form of printed matter links Asia’s diverse cultures. It is imperative that such print achievements do not go unrecognised, especially among the population base that Asia enjoys.

The Awards are judged on a wholly quality-oriented set of criteria to ensure that fair play is enacted at all times.

The Independent Judging Panel comprises highly qualified personnel from within Asia and around the world. The independent judging panel has no knowledge of the actual entrants details.

ALL ENTRIES ARE NUMBER-CODED. Entries must be commercially produced work.

The Asian Print Awards is the only regional print quality competition of its kind in Asia. Supported by leading industry-supply companies, any progressive quality print house should enter and prove that they are the best - by winning the Gold, Silver or Bronze award. Proving pride in quality awareness is what customers love to see. It’s not just empty words, you can prove it.

Make a note in your diary now!

The “Event” for 2015 is the Asian Print Awards night, join us in Singapore If your company wins an award, a representative(s) from your company MUST be present in Singapore to receive the award on stage, we will not send any awards to you if you are absent!

13th Asian Print Awards 2015 Categories Categories 1-12 : Offset Printing Only

Categories 13-21: Digital Printing Only

1. Posters, Showcards and Point-of-sale material – 4 or more colours - any substrate 2. Postcards, Greeting and Invitation Cards – (small items to be display mounted) 3. Calendars – any format 4. Leaflets, Flyers, Folders and Brochures - any number of colours, up to 16 pages (excluding cover) 5. Catalogues, Booklets and Brochures - 4 or more colours more than 16 pages 6. Sheetfed magazines – 4 or more colours 7. Book printing – 2 or 3 colour printing only 8. Book printing – 4 or more colours 9. Limited Editions & Artwork Reproductions (under 2000 print run order). Includes a one-off production and/or a Personalised numbered copy.

10. Web Offset – Coated stock 70gsm and above (Paper specifications must be provided on entry form Section B: Other technical details) to be printed in red ink 11. Web Offset – LWC (light weight coated) stock 65gsm or less (Paper specifications must be provided on entry form Section B: Other technical details) to be printed in red ink* 12. Packaging (Does not include labels) – a package must contain and protect the product, communicate with the end user and be functional for enduse) Any number of colours, on any substrate: will be judged equally on Print quality, Functionality and Design

Will be Judged on – Quality – Production – Appropriate use of technology & Visual impact Provide name of press utilised in “Other technical details” of section B on the entry form* 13. Book Printing – 4 or more colours 14. Leaflets, Flyers, Folders & Brochures – any number of colours up to 16 pages (excluding cover) 15. Catalogues, booklets and brochures – 4 or more colours more than 16 pages 16. Calendars & Individual Self Published photo books – any format 17. Postcards, Greeting and Invitation cards (small items to be displaymounted) 18. Posters, Showcards & Point-of-sale material – 4 or more colours – any substrate 19. Packaging (Does not include labels) – a package must contain and protect the product, communicate with the end user and be functional for end-use) any number of colours on any substrate: will be judged equally on Print Quality – Functionality and Design 20. Digital Outdoor, Large Format and Signage. Entrant must supply an explanation of concept, together with either: a) a full sized print or b) a CD/DVD of theme and a one square metre of the actual production print or c) a proof of the concept and one square metre of the actual production print

Categories 21-25: Specialty Categories

21. Multi–piece productions and Campaigns – Any substrate or print process: Multi–piece Production must be 3 or more items such as folder, leaflets, ringbinders, inserts, envelopes including their contents. Campaigns must be 3 or more items with a consistent theme produced during the year by the same printer for the same client 22. Embellishment – any substrate – any combination – for example: embossing – diecutting – foil stamping – laminating, coating 23. Innovation / Specialty Printing – the entry must exhibit any innovative and / special application of machinery, process, substrate or finishing. A short description must be provided for the judges, detailing reasons for entry into this category 24. Digital Colour Proofing: The Judging Criteria is to assess the best proof to print match. Entries must be from a commercial Production Job (not a test sample) and must supply a proof together with a full copy of the printed job. Magazines entries must provide a proof of eight (8) different pages together with a full copy of the magazine 25. Self Promotion – any item printed to promote a product or company involved in the graphic arts industry.

Self promotion cannot be entered into any other Category *Paper specifications (gsm) must be provided on ‘Section B’ in the space provided.

Entries will be judged equally on concept, print quality and visual impact

Make sure you CHECK all your entries for any faults, production defects! IT MAY MEAN GOLD.

Free Entry Form

Deadline for Entries Submission: 18th December 2015, 5pm Remember to submit 2 copies of each job!

Why? - Just in case one is damaged.

SECTION A (This will not be shown to judges) Entered by (company name): ____________________________________________________________________________________ Contact Person: _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telephone: _______________ Country: _____________________ Postcode: __________________ Email: ________________________ Title of entry (description): _____________________________________________________________________________________ Printed by (company name): ____________________________________________________________________________________ Client name: ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Designer Pre Press House: ______________________________________________________________________________________ Brand of Printing Machine used: __________________________________________________________________________________ Stock supplied by (Merchant’s name): ______________________________________________________________________________ Brand name of stocks Coated Uncoated: ___________________________________________________________________________ Category entered: ____________________________________________________________________________________________ By signing here you accept the rules and conditions of the Asian Print Awards

Signature over printed name _____________________________ Name __________________________________________________

SECTION B (Production information to be shown to judges)

(tape this to the back of your entries)

Category entered (Same as above): __________________________________ Entry number (Administration use only) ___________________ Print method: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Number of printed colours: _____________________________________________________________________________________ Number of press passes: ____________________________________Paper Specifications (gsm):________________________________ Quantity produced (Print run copies): _____________________________________________________________________________ Embellishments: _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Other technical details (finishing processes etc): ______________________________________________________________________

12th Asian Print Awards 2015

ENTRIES SUBMISSION CLOSES 18 DECEMBER 2015, 5pm Send all entries to: APAM Pte Ltd, 57 Ubi Ave. 1, #03-06 Ubi Centre, Singapore 408936.

Tel: (65)6733 5342 Fax: (65) 6733 3586 Email: epub_subscription@cpublish.com.sg Additional entry forms can be downloaded at www.asianprintawards.com.sg Please note that entries are non-returnable unless a self addressed courier pack is supplied.

Print World Asia • 10 / 2015

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Digital Technology

Konica Minolta Pushes Boundaries with the new bizhub PRESS C71hc Using proprietary High Chroma toner to expand colour gamut range, the C71hc promises new printing possibilities with bold, intense and vibrant RGB colours reproduced in print.

Konica Minolta recently celebrated the Singapore launch of the new bizhub PRESS C71hc. The new digital production printer features High Chroma toner, which is able to widen the colour gamut range from RGB to sRGB, to deliver lifelike and intense prints.

With the new C71hc, digital print professionals can now deliver unrivalled vividness in corporate and marketing collaterals. The production printer has had several installations in the region already.

The bizhub PRESS C71hc stays true to the WYSIWYG principle, such that colours are printed as shown on the monitor. The ability to reproduce print optimised colour from what is seen on the monitor to prepress and

Print World Asia • 10 2015

Digital Technology production is a necessity for agencies producing marketing and advertising collaterals, since imageries are in RGB format before going through the CMYK process.

Compared with prints produced by predecessor models, users will immediately be able to notice that shades such as yellow, pink and blue are significantly brighter. The toner is derived from Konica Minolta's Simitri ® HD E toner technology. Along with the High Chroma polymerised toner, the powerful press boasts matchless clarity and precision for the highest image quality with 1,200 x 1,200 dpi x 8 bit full colour resolution.

"With its superior High Chroma toner, the bizhub PRESS C71hc is engineered for effective visual communication. It is furnished with powerful finishing options, workflow and colour management which will enable a digital print professional to benefit from maximised value and reduction in capital expenditure. This once again demonstrates Konica Minolta's commitment to creating new value,” said Jonathan Yeo, general manager, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Asia.

The bizhub PRESS C71hc has value added offerings that allow for media flexibility without outsourcing printing jobs. Some of the product features include a high print speed of 71 colour pages per minute and automatic duplex printing of up to 300gsm and producing printed materials up to 1200mm for simplex printing.

The bizhub PRESS C71hc is engineered for unparalleled productivity and designed for intuitive use, promising not just colours that come alive on paper, but also the ultimate experience for the most optimal and environmentally–friendly printing environment.

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Digital Technology

Fuji Xerox Establishes Innovation Office, a New Research Organization, in Singapore The facility aims to accelerate research by virtually connecting Japan, Singapore and Silicon Valley to provide solutions and services that meet global needs.

Fuji Xerox officially opened doors to its new research organisation in Singapore, the Innovation Office.

The establishment began full-scale operations on 1 October 2015. The Innovation Office is Fuji Xerox’s

new research base of the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to quickly correspond to global customer needs by collaborating with its two existing research facilities, Japan’s Fuji Xerox R&D Square in Yokohama and FX Palo Alto Laboratory Inc. in the United States.

The ultimate goal of the centre is to be able to deliver technologies that resolve customers’ business challenges.

The new Color 1000i Press

Gold & Silver give you infinite creative possibilities Fuji Xerox’s new Color 1000i Press is the industry’s first to offer gold and silver dry ink in a single pass.

Built on the market leading Color 1000 Press platform but now with stunning metallic effects that can deliver increased profitability to your business.

To find out more go to: www.fxap.com.sg/product/production/color_1000i/index.jsp The Color 1000i Press

Xerox, Xerox and Design, as well as Fuji Xerox and Design and Color 1000i Press are registered trademarks or trademarks of Xerox Corporation in Japan and/or other countries.

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Digital Technology The Innovation Office will be conducting research activities with a mid- to long-term perspective in aims of commercialising them as Fuji Xerox’s solutions and services.

In addition, the facility will create new values by verifying Fuji Xerox’s technologies, including its latest technologies under research, through working closely with customers and partner companies in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan.

Following the verification, Fuji Xerox researchers and technical staff in Japan who are specialized in areas such as image processing and text analysis will be assigned accordingly to commercialise those values by developing specific solutions/services to offer to customers.

Fuji Xerox will also be creating a virtual showcase, which is a threedimensional (3D) modeling of some of the research activities taking place at Fuji Xerox’s R&D locations in Japan, the United States and Singapore.

Visitors at the three locations can view the latest researches being conducted under a long-term perspective at FX Palo Alto Laboratory, such as Multimedia Processing and ComputerHuman Interaction Technology, as well as global case studies reflecting

the localities of the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan and Singapore.

The virtual showcase is created incorporating Fuji Xerox’s multimedia technology and remote communications technology.

Customers and research staff working remotely in Japan, Silicon Valley and Singapore are able to jointly experience the technology and verify its values, as if they are working in the same room.

“We are pleased that Fuji Xerox has chosen Singapore to establish its new research hub, the Innovation Office,” says Beng Kong Pee, director of Electronics, Singapore Economic Development Board. “By being in Singapore, Fuji Xerox’s Innovation Office will be able to leverage on our multi-disciplinary R&D environment and diverse talent pool to co-create solutions with the large base of clients and partners headquartered here.”

Exterior building of the Fuji Xerox R&D Square in Yokohama

To date, Fuji Xerox has promoted R&D focusing on solving customers’ business challenges at its main R&D site in Japan, Fuji Xerox R&D Square, while working closely with FX Palo Alto Laboratory, which conducts advanced researches in the innovative climate of the Silicon Valley.

Innovation Office in Singapore, Fuji Xerox hopes to enhance its R&D structure by incorporating (1) a global perspective to tackle customers’ challenges, (2) latest technologies and (3) business models, to further accelerate its solutions and services business.

With

the

establishment

of

the

Print World Asia • 10 2015

Digital Technology

meet the experts

13

February/March, 2016 Brno, Czech Republic www.bvv.cz/printexpo-gb October 18–21, 2016 Shanghai, China www.allinprint.com

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

November 17–20, 2015 Shanghai, China www.pacproasia.com

August 26 –29, 2015 Bangkok, Thailand www.pack-print.de September 7–10, 2016 Jakarta, Indonesia www.indoprint.net

drupa in Düsseldorf is the most important global event for the industry.

In other markets of great potential we draw on our expertise to bring you additional trade shows featuring the technologies of tomorrow.

Welcome to the experts, welcome to drupa.

t! ss i m i m o ’t Don .drupa.c blog

Share Messe Düsseldorf Asia Pte Ltd 3 HarbourFront Place #09-02 HarbourFront Tower Two _ Singapore 099254 Tel. +65 6332 9643 / 6332 9620 Fax +65 6337 4633 / 6332 9655 mdrep@mda.com.sg

www.messe-duesseldorf.de/MDA

Print World Asia • 10 / 2015

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Digital Technology

NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHED, NEW TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCED Xeikon, an innovator in digital printing technology, reported a very successful Labelexpo Europe show, closing 25 deals and acquiring a large number of leads.

“Labelexpo Europe in Brussels remains THE show for the labels and packaging industries, and its central location in Brussels makes it easily accessible to the European community,” comments Wim Maes, Xeikon’s CEO. “We also appreciate the two-year cycle of the show, allowing a higher concentration of innovation and a better view of the future of the industry. During this year’s Labelexpo – whose attendance was estimated at more than 35,000 visitors, up more than 12% from the previous show – we again had the opportunity to meet and talk to people from around the globe and to experience the vitality of an event focused on an exciting and growing market. This validates our strategic decision to place a significant amount of focus on this market, which will represent an estimated 58% of

our revenues by the end of this year.”

Maes explains that Xeikon’s new tagline, “Direct. Dedicated. Digital.”, embodies Xeikon’s unique approach to the market and was very well received by show attendees.

Cheetah: running fast Xeikon launched the first press featuring its Cheetah technology at the show. The Xeikon CX3 was the focal point of Xeikon’s stand, and the entire stand had a Cheetah theme in its honor.

“We are very pleased with the market reception to this exciting technology,” says Filip Weymans, Xeikon Director Segment Labels & Packaging. “With the addition of the Xeikon CX3, we now have six digital label presses, the largest digital label printing portfolio in the industry. And the industry is

excited about the Xeikon CX3 as well: by the end of the year, we will have sold 20 units!” The Xeikon CX3 with Cheetah Technology is the fastest digital label press in its league. For more information on this press visit www.xeikon.com/CX3.

Hear it from the customers “This launch was warmly received at the show,” Weymans adds, “and we were pleased to share real customer experiences as well. We expect to have

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Digital Technology

“These are just a few of the examples that demonstrate how dynamic the show was and how much interest there is in Xeikon solutions,” Weymans states. “Attendees were also excited to hear about future Xeikon strategies, including Fusion Technology, an innovative breakthrough concept that brings closer to reality the promise of fully automated, unattended label and packaging production from customer order to delivery. Fusion Technology combines full color production printing with digital embellishment of labels and packaging in a single, one-pass and fully digital production process.”

Fusion will consist of a series of embellishment modules released over time that are not just put in-line with the press, but are components of an entirely new modular system with the digital front-end taking care of prepress, data processing, color management and press operation as well as full control and operation of all embellishment modules without manual intervention. Potential digital embellishment modules include hot/ cold foiling; screen prints; matte, gloss and structured flood and spot varnish and a digital braille module.

Higher margins, more opportunities Also launched at the show were two additional Xeikon innovations: Matte Silver and Palladium toners, the first products in the new Xeikon Creative Colors toner group, adding high quality metallic magic for premium digital label and packaging print; and many more stories coming up once we have more of our presses installed in the field.”

Customer stories shared during the show included: The purchase of a Xeikon CX3 by Austrian label market leader Ulrich Etiketten; Swedish label printer Jinnestål’s acquisition of a Xeikon 3300 with a near-line Xeikon DCoat330 Dcoat

converting unit and integration with Label Traxx; and Two additional purchases from the Nordic label community, by Swedish Jodi Etiketter who ordered a Xeikon CX3 digital label press; and Finnish operation Tarratuote Oy, who opted for the Xeikon 3030Plus system.

Fusion: High-end labels. One pass.

One platform. All digital.

VariLane, to optimize productivity and profitability by printing labels of different sizes and run lengths on the same web in discreet lanes.

“If Labelexpo Europe 2015 is any indicator,” Maes concludes, “then both Xeikon and the labels & packaging community have an exciting future ahead. We are already looking forward to Labelexpo 2017, and, of course, drupa 2016 next spring, where you can be sure to see even more innovation from Xeikon!”

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Management/General

The HD Distinction Canon gears up to take the commercial print industry in Asia by storm. One of the target markets identified is the top-tier, high-end professional photo print market. By Sha Jumari.

The verdict’s out: the best way to save important photos is to print them. Lauded as a replacement for photo albums, photobooks took off in the cusp of 2010 as photo labs and commercial printers everywhere began offering this service to their customers. It is not showing signs of slowing down either. According to a Futuresource Consulting research, photobooks are expected to exceed a market value of $1.6 billion in 2016.

In July 2015, Canon celebrated the first installation of the DreamLabo 5000 in Singapore with FotoHub, allowing high-definition (HD) photobook and photoprint services to now be available in the city-state. First launched in Europe in 2011, the DreamLabo 5000 is significant to Canon, as it marks the company’s foray into the production photo printing industry.

“A photobook is an emotional journey.

Canon is known for its superior cameras, and now we have the highest speed and highest quality printers that can bring those images to life. The Canon DreamLabo 5000 is able to achieve true HD quality, and that is our main differentiation point,” said Bob Endert, senior director, Canon Singapore.

The DreamLabo 5000 offers an alternative to silver halide photo

The HD difference means that the DreamLabo 5000 could aim for the premier tier of photo book users with the most discerning eye for quality – the professional photographers.

processing technology. It leverages on Canon’s proprietary inkjet technology that is also used in other professional photo printers such as the PixmaPro and ImagePrograf. The digital press boasts the ability to quickly print highquality photos and detailed text. It is capable of printing the contents of a 20-page A4-size photo album in just 72 seconds and the printing of 40 photo prints (102 x 152mm) in one minute.

Endert’s first order of business would be to connect its DreamLabo customers with Canon’s pool of professional photographers: “At this point, the market is just beginning to hear about it and we have a huge user opportunity. When we show professional photographers photos printed by the DreamLabo 5000, they are amazed. They were not even aware that an option of such high quality even exists. That is one of our goals moving forward – to create awareness of this HD quality.”

The Canon PhotoMarathon Challenge is just one of the ways. Now in its 13th year running, the competition first kicked off in Singapore and today spans across 10 countries in the region. The annual event is the largest and most anticipated photography competition, attracting participation from photography enthusiasts. The

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Digital Technology

challenge required participants to race around the country to capture images based on challenging themes, while under time pressure.

“It’s going back to making the professional printing market aware of Canon’s portfolio today, and what they can expect in the future. Everyone associates Canon with cameras but there’s still a lot of potential for the professional printing industry in Asia Pacific,” said Endert.

FotoHub started out as a photolab that uses traditional silver halide

technology. With the purchase of the DreamLabo 5000, the Singaporean company moved into digital printing and has more flexibility to reinvent its business, meet customer needs and achieve sustainable growth.

Although the Canon DreamLabo 5000 is aimed at the photo product printing market, Endert is quick to highlight its versatility: “One of the key benefits for FotoHub is that they are now open to a whole new set of applications that cannot be done on offset. They can move into the commercial printing spectrum, such as printing business

cards or direct marketing materials.”

With more than 25 years of experience in the professional print industry, Endert has had front row view of the development of offset and digital technologies. One of his observations were that while analog printing is still widely used in Asia Pacific, a lot are migrating or incorporating digital technologies, due to trends such as shorter run lengths and demand for quality.

“Previously, you could be based in Singapore, but have your items printed from Malaysia or China, where it’s cheaper. However, with increasing demand for shorter run lengths and rising wages, printers in countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong are investing in digital systems because their customers are expecting very high quality prints, and very fast delivery times,” observed Endert.

“It’s the same situation as in Europe and America. Some companies are very slow with adapting, and they are being overtaken by competitors that are purchasing digital machines,” Endert continued.

“There is a huge potential for growth for Canon because we have taken the lead in quality. We have the perfect combination of quality and perfectionism of the Japanese, plus European productivity, reliability and robustness brought in from Oce,” said Endert. “That is what going to help us a lot, moving into and growing in the commercial printing industry. That is very exciting.”

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Digital Technology

HP Indigo Showcases Labels and Packaging Innovation at Labelexpo Labelexpo 2015, HP Indigo showcased labels and packaging portfolio innovation, including new product features and upgrade packages, software enhancements for mass customization as well as new financing options. These new innovations allow more customers to capitalize on the growing digital opportunity in a market where they are already achieving 30 percent page growth year over year.

"With mounting pressure from brands to deliver differentiated, high-quality labels and packaging at faster and faster turnaround times, converters and PSPs are constantly looking for new avenues for growth and expansion," said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo Division, HP. "New HP Indigo cross-portfolio innovations, including breakthrough color management and higher productivity and versatility, allow our customers to remain a step ahead of the market, time and time again. " Expanded narrow-web capabilities and worldwide customer installations HP is demonstrating new HP Indigo WS6800 Digital Press innovations, boosting color capabilities and productivity. New features include: Color Automation Package, a new, best-in-class digital color matching solution that uses the press' inline

spectrophotometer and new HP Indigo Labels & Packaging Print Server capabilities powered by Esko, offering converters a quick and easy process to match brand spot colors from the first label to the last. Labelexpo attendees will have the opportunity to test this new color solution as part of a "color challenge" held in HP's booth.

A new HP ElectroInk Fade Resistant Ink set, enabling high-value applications with high light-fastness for use outdoors.

Enhanced media versatility, ease of use, and lower cost of operation with the new Michelman DP680 Primer.

Integration with industry-leading digital workflow solutions, including webto-print solutions designed for labels and packaging product ordering, as well as new proofing, pre-press and automation tools.

HP SmartStream Designer integration with security solutions to create

microtext variable data printing (VDP), anti-counterfeit QR codes, dynamic guilloche, and end-to-end track and trace solutions.

The industry's best-selling narrow-web press series, the HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press series now boasts installations in more than 60 countries with an installed base nearly doubling over the past two years.(2) Marking the 1,000th HP Indigo WS6000 series press purchase worldwide, Italian worldwide group EUROSTAMPA is adding a fifth press to their HP Indigo narrow-web portfolio with an HP Indigo WS6800 Digital Press, to produce custom labels for wine and liquor brands. Other recent HP Indigo WS6800 purchases include: Kroschske Signs International in Germany, one of the largest signs and outdoor label manufacturers in Europe .

Game changers

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Say yes to 98% of commercial jobs, produced cost-effectively with no compromise on quality or media range.

Introducing the latest ground-breaking innovations from HP Indigo.

Faster, smarter and more profitable, this new line-up is changing the rules of the game. It includes the HP Indigo 5600 and 7800 digital presses, as well as the B2/29 inch HP Indigo 10000 – all you would expect from an Indigo press, but in a wider format. It’s a gamechanging portfolio that’s redefining what’s possible with print.

With thousands of digital sheetfed presses in operation, as well as partnerships with leading vendors for end-to-end solutions, HP Indigo is the proven choice for profitable growth.

Find out more at hp.com/go/indigo or contact Edcent Chan at: +65 9862 6092 or email: edcent.chan@hp.com

HP Indigo 7800 Digital Press

HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press

© 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press

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Sheetfed Offset

Graficas Varias in Spain, who specializes in label production for wineries and champagne brands.

U.S.-based Labels Specialties, a privately-held wholesale custom label manufacturer, adding digital printing capabilities for the first time to increase production flexibility and deliver faster turnaround times.

U.S.-based Dion Labels, a legacy label printer using two new HP Indigo WS6800s to expand into shrink sleeves, cost-effectively produce long- and short-runs, as well as achieve highquality, consistent color results.

"The HP Indigo WS6800 is a terrific advancement, with features that deliver what we wanted to achieve most from digital printing," said John Dion, President, Dion Labels.

"Advanced color capabilities, including color consistency using the inline spectrophotometer, allow us to save time and reach optimum color much faster."

HP Indigo 20000 and 30000 upgrade packages and customer adoption New upgrade packages for the HP Indigo 20000 and 30000 Digital Presses extend the presses' media gamut and deliver improved quality, efficiency and productivity: The HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press

upgrade package includes a new slitter, reinsertion capabilities and HP ElectroInk White for shrink sleeves.

The HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press upgrade package features new options for metalized substrates as well as reinsertion capabilities.

Additionally, the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press is compatible with conventional finishing solutions, including the ABG Digicon 3000 that can be connected inline with the HP Indigo 20000, as well as the recently announced Comexi Nexus L20000 laminator. Designed for use with the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press, the Comexi Nexus L20000 laminator is launching at Labelexpo and is demonstrated in HP's booth.

The first dedicated digital presses designed for packaging converters, HP Indigo 20000 and 30000 Digital Presses have reached 70 units sold worldwide since 2014 commercial availability, with six customers installing multiple presses. Recent HP Indigo 20000 purchases include: Camargo Cia, de Embalagens, who purchased Brazil's first HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press.

CPM International, one of southern Europe's leading labels and flexible packaging printers and converters.

"A leading print provider for major food brands, our company was facing challenges to cost-effectively meet customer demands for high-value, VDP products at varying run-lengths," said Javier Marina, Sales Director, CPM International. "The HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press has allowed us to introduce new offerings to our customers, now with the ability to quickly develop and deliver new designs, and complete product personalization."

Powering mass customization for brands Showcased in HP's booth at Labelexpo, the new HP SmartStream Designer for Adobe Illustrator CC2015 includes access to HP SmartStream Mosaic and offers an easy-to-use, feature-rich VDP plug-in solution.

The only software of its kind, awardwinning HP SmartStream Mosaic delivers highly customized campaigns where every copy is different, helping HP customers deliver unique solutions to leading brands worldwide. Most recently, Bud Light used an HP Indigo WS6800 Digital Press and the HP SmartStream Mosaic software to create 200,000 unique, limited-edition beer cans from just 31 original designs, making Bud Light the first U.S. brand to deploy HP's mass customization technology.

HP Indigo Financing HP Indigo Financing, a new offering from HP Financial Services, gives customers the freedom to choose how and when they pay for any HP Indigo product, with the flexibility to customize their monthly payment cycle with a multi-step structure.(3) "As a company with a 25-year history and deep local roots, we have seen more change within the past two years than in the past two decades, with customer demand for unprecedented levels of customization," said Scott Harris, vice president, Holly Tag & Label. "HP Financial Services helped us rethink our investment approach, enabling us to achieve financial flexibility and invest in the right solution, positioning our company to meet and now exceed evolving customer needs with industryleading HP Indigo technology."

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Digital Technology

Message on a bottle In the last couple of years we have witnessed a strong growth of industrial inkjet printing in the interior decoration markets, such as ceramics, flooring, walls, panels, amongst others. In the meanwhile inkjet is also a firm stakeholder in the label industry, in flexible packaging and folding cartons. More and more new implementations of inkjet technology take inkjet straight where it belongs: right into the production line.

Innovative inkjet solutions in the packaging world Innovation is a process starting from a creative idea over evaluation, development and finally implementation. This innovation process applies to products, processes, structures, relationships, strategies and maybe also to YOU! Today’s inkjet technologies have gone through a number of significant changes with regards to reliability (e.g. through flow TF architecture), quality and performance. These changes nicely combine with advances in new jetable fluids and inks, with improved materials handling, transport and finishing systems all leading to a new generation of cost effective printing solutions. The scalability and noncontact capabilities of full color inkjet systems have the potential of filling

roles in package printing that cannot effectively be serviced conventionally.

Over the next decade more and more inkjet based printing solutions will find their way in the packaging world to enable product decoration, impacting how packaging is created, printed, distributed and managed. Inkjet could truly be a disruptive technology; you may not see it coming, and you notice it only when it’s too late, by which time your market position could be totally undermined.

Digital label printing leading the way Label printers are familiar with the digital printing process for labels. It all started with the toner based HP Indigo and Xeikon systems, but during the last 5 years a couple of new inkjet based label print solutions have joined them. Thanks to the success of the

digital label print solutions and with an honest believe in the potential of digital alternatives, label printers start introducing digital print to help with product versioning, ever decreasing batches and customization.

Also brand owners support that evolution and demand increased efficiency and flexibility. They have a holistic view, looking for solutions with smaller lot numbers, more personalized products, print-on-demand and just-intime deliveries while eco trends drive material reduction, sustainability and carbon footprint.

Industrial inkjet solutions – Jetting labels in the production line Today printing and converting are separate processes. Labeling is a laborintensive process: labels are printed on rolls, often pre-cut, just to finally glue/

Print World Asia • 10 2015

Digital Technology Developing and integrating an inkjet based solution in a manufacturing line The true virtues of the inkjet technology are scalability and non-contact; no more compromises, no image carrier, no step-and-repeat to fit short runs of labels of different formats, no limitations in material and widths.

Robust inkjet heads with a choice of resolution, speed, and inks are available now, highly reliable. However inkjet technology is only part of the equation.

Integrating such single pass inkjet system in a production line adds a different level of complexity: mastering the filling, handling, positioning and registration for printing on the bottles in a production-speed bottling system.

It sounds obvious that a leader in industrial automation systems (like KHS is known in the beverage industry) are the preferred partners to define the specifications for such a system, because they have access to the market, know the product requirements and speak the “language” of their customers. They have the mechanical engineering expertise to guarantee high precision bottle handling, positioning and accurate motion control, and are thereby ready to find answers to the challenges of the development and integration of the inkjet building blocks to print directly on the bottle.

transfer/attach/pull them on a box, container, bottle, tube or whatever needs to be labeled. Labels are expensive too, even though the costs don't stem from the printing as such, but rather from the substrate and the transfer materials, which are thrown away afterwards anyway.

No wonder that the industry thinks about taking product decoration and production into a single integrated process. Inkjet technology is key to that. Already today there are solutions available, to either work without transfer materials or to use inkjet technology and directly print on the bottle, container or tube. We will soon witness a marriage between printing and industrial production. That will not only reduce costs and simplify logistics, but it will also be more environment friendly reducing waste. That is why

more and more companies will think about reengineering, about simplifying processes while increasing flexibility.

First inkjet based direct product decoration for PET bottles A first version of a direct print solution for printing on PET beverage bottles has been installed at Martens Brouwerij in Belgium for the printing of special campaigns. The system merges a variety of new and existing technologies into one brand-new production line, ready to take on new challenges from their customers.

Before entering into the specific benefits of the Martens Brouwerij print-to-PET-bottle case, let’s discuss the challenges to engineer and build such integrated inkjet based direct print solution.

That is where industry experts meet...

KHS has not disclosed too many details of the Direct Print system. They have been working on the solution for many years, and it is encouraging that KHS had worked on the development of the solution with industrial partners specialized in inkjet, for example Xaar and Agfa Graphics.

The Direct Print by KHS is commercialized by a wholly-owned KHS subsidiary, NMP Systems. It is configured with Xaar print heads optimized for single pass printing and it uses low-migration inks from Agfa.

It will print with an optical resolution of 1080 X 1080 dpi at a speed of up to 36.000 PET bottles per hour.

The cornerstones for a successful direct product decoration solution are reliability, quality and overall performance.

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Digital Technology

As already mentioned inkjet printing is all about finding the ideal interaction between an inkjet print head, ink and surface. Good understanding of the inks, material surface tension issues, UV curing/pinning and finishing elements are important factors.

Setting up the right configuration, the vertical jetting station, jet straightness, firing and throw distance control for variable drop volumes, perfect colorto-color registration (including white), dynamic fluid system, electronics and maintenance system are all crucial to the system.

Not to forget about the digital image path. The availability of a digital front end and workflow system are new to this industry. It is required to initiate jobs, handle data, ripping, screening, color management and print engine operation control and will be a key element to drive productivity and ease the operation.

Decoration for PET bottles as an example - Inkjet technology The Direct Print equipment at Martens uses the Xaar print heads to jet text and images in five colors (CMYK+W), using low-migration LED-cured inks from Agfa directly onto PET bottles at the production rate of 12,000 bottles per hour. The print heads use the TF TechnologyTM; this ink recirculation architecture is key for any single pass inkjet system, as this will determine

the reliability and productivity of the system solution. At head level the waveform-, voltage- and temperaturecontrol are a “must” when combined with this through flow ink circulation.

Maximum reliability is achieved with these continuous flow heads, the right reflow rates for the inkjet heads for recovery of failing nozzles and a sufficient slight under-pressure to control meniscus. The jet straightness, the throwing distance (the distance from the nozzle to the bottle substrate) and drop formation all influence the image quality.

Techniques like variable dot printing and appropriate software algorithms allow for smoothening distance tolerances and can assist to generate distorted imaging.

Addressing these variable throw distances and controlling the drop formation is the combined result of jet dynamics and the fluid properties. Firing conditions such as pulse amplitude, pulse width, and pulse frequency will also affect drop formation. Finally the UV ink’s viscosity, wetting performance, surface energy and careful control of drop spreading behavior contribute to the control of dot gain, which is vital for a consistent image quality.

Some secret is definitely in the ink Inkjet systems can only perform well if the inkjet head and the ink meet the criteria for heavy-duty production. A successful printing result can only be

achieved if the correct jetting properties (particle size, latency, viscosity, surface tension, ...) have been set for a specific inkjet head. If this is not the case the ink may not jet at all, nozzles may fail or the nozzle jet direction might be slightly angled.

As much as material compatibility between ink and the ink-supply system (tubing, manifolds, pumps, level sensing, ..) is crucial, also conditioning the ink for optimal production performance, the jetting properties of ink and the interaction between the ink and the object surface requires specific development from the ink manufacturer. Typical properties of the inkjet ink are color gamut, ink density, adhesion, light stability and scratch resistance.

The concept behind a low-migration ink for printing direct on the PET beverage bottles is to limit migration through the substrate as much as possible, even for a thin wall PET bottle, which is the trend in the industry today.

For direct print on a PET beverage bottle, many more requirements are demanded to the ink formulations in order to meet the customer expectations of adhesion, scratch resistance, flexibility etc.

Impressive is also that the digitally printed bottles fully support the existing recycling processes in order to

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Digital Technology

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Digital Technology be used again.

Last but not least, it must have been a big challenge to design the inks towards the industrial reliability of constant jetting performance.

Martens Brouwerij: first direct print solution for PET bottles.

Back to the original story now: the world’s first ‘Direct Print Powered by KHSTM’ system in industrial- scale production and printing directly onto PET beer bottles was installed at Martens Brouwerij in Bocholt, Belgium and is operational since mid June this year.

The company uses this new direct product decoration system for a new application called the Talking Bottles Kampioenenbier.

A new marketing campaign to promote the upcoming release of a movie “Jubilee Generale” by a popular group of local TV actors “F.C. Kampioenen” was the reason for the new beer and according printed images. The direct color decoration on the bottles is combined with digitally printed QR codes and augmented reality. A special app brings the images of the actors printed on the bottle to life. They bring a small performance on your smartphone. When two bottles are scanned together, the app even starts a dialog between them – very innovative and engaging talking bottles.

The entire set-up is a great example of creativity and innovation. The design and direct print solution for this late stage and customised packaging illustrate the capabilities of a true complete digital world. The “no label look” image on the PET beer bottles does not only inform,

but communicates the message over a relative small surface on the bottle.

The QR code and augmented reality are instrumental to bridge the off-line and on-line communication, which fits perfectly with upcoming digital technologies, social media, online shopping, globalization and the like.

Message on a bottle – the future It is interesting to see how this new direct product decoration solution for PET beer bottles already deals with trends in the industry: short run printing, printon-demand and customization straight in the manufacturing environment.

Digitally printed alternatives are the only way to tackle these challenges.

Thanks to the non-contact inkjet printing technologies that are available today, it is possible to print on a wide range of industrial surfaces. The single pass printing concept is ideally suited to take inkjet into the industrial packagingconverting-production lines.

Technology drives business innovation and customer requirements drive

technology development. Beyond the technology, there are many drivers in favor of integrating print at multiple stages in the product supply chain: just-In-time procurement and logistics systems of major retailers, environmental initiatives aimed at reducing packaging, and the demand for customized and regionalized labeling within global distribution models These are powerful arguments for consumer producer groups to integrate print activity in the in-line packaging process, aiming at serving customers better and potentially saving costs by integrating production with customer consumption, reducing lead times, 'versioning' products and most certainly offer sustainable products. Everybody in the 'value chain' will benefit from better-planned production, reduced levels of stock and a tight connection to the order process.

Will packaging’ converters rigorously re-engineer their business processes?

Many of them have been working for decades with their existing equipment and print technologies and may not see the new possibilities today. But the message on a bottle is clear: Doing the things like we used to do is not an option; packaging converters will eventually embrace these new digital technologies and admit the need for change. As a believer in single-pass inkjet we know the challenges and we are convinced that direct print will take bottle printing (as an example) — whether in-line or near- line — into the manufacturing process as an integrated part of a production-speed system.

Is there any beer left in the bottle?

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Management/General

Digitizing the digital From photo film to digital camera, from letters to emails, from books to e-readers, from vinyl to MP3: the whole world is turning digital. Yet, ironically, the core compound driving the digitization of technologies and products is still being produced using analog technology. Indeed, printed circuit boards (PCB’s) are the beating heart of all digital alternatives, but the vast majority of PCB’s are still produced using rotogravure print rolls, dry film or coated resists and photo tool films.

When after the Second World War, radio tubes got replaced by semiconductors, the connections moved from soldered copper wires to Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and it caused the dawn of a new industry. In those 50 years the PCB construction, the production location and the professionalism of the manufactures changed, yet the basic principles did not.

electronics industry uses about fifteen million square meters of PCB film for which Agfa is a market-leading supplier.

The technology is now being changed and Agfa also invests in the future of PCB production. They build on their experience in the PCB market to aim at a continued leading position in the PCB industry.

Today, still a full surface copper is used to start from and a full surface resist is added. This is imaged and the resist developed, the copper etched and the resist stripped. Every year the global

Industrial inkjet printing for PCB Digital technology has recently become available to replace analog imaging technology: inkjet printing is the digital alternative to the photo-tooling film process. Even though inkjet

printing started off in marking/coding and document printing, it grew to industrial in wide-format and billboard printing and is now mature enough for implementation in industrial production processes. Especially inkjet technology based on UV-curable inks jetted by piezo-based industrial print heads is ready for real production implementation. Agfa continuous research and development in this area, has led to DiPaMat Legend White and Yellow inks for legend printing on PCB’s, that have become well-known and readily adopted in the meanwhile.

This Agfa DiPaMat Legend inks set has now been extended with a dedicated Black legend inkjet ink and a White legend inkjet ink specifically for flexible applications.

Next steps digitization of the PCB production As a next step in the digitization of the PCB production, UV-curable

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process, fewer raw materials are used, consequently causing less waste.

inkjet inks, which deliver cured layers that are resistant to acidic etching, have now become available. These inks are designed for the production of single layer PCB’s or inner-layers of multi-layer PCB’s. Agfa’s DiPaMat UV curable etch resistant inkjet inks can withstand ferric chloride and copper chloride etching and are caustic strippable. As such, they can perfectly replace the current etch and strip lines.

Benefits of going digital The assets of digital printing using the UV-curable etch resistant inks are obviously relevant to PCB production: no time-consuming film production and no film exposure step. Equivalent to digital legend inks, the more general advantages of digital print also apply to etch resist inks: faster turnarounds, extremely high flexibility and productivity, reduced floor space and less manual labor, all ultimately leading to cost saving as well. With inkjet

printing the images are generated on the fly, allowing for dynamic imaging.

Since digital printing is an additive

New markets explored Agfa’s DiPaMat Etch Resist inks are designed as part of the Agfa portfolio of functional inkjet inks for the PCB market. However, the this same technology is also used in non-PCB applications where acidic etching and caustic stripping are also used: manufacturing of etched products for photochemical machining: name tags, flexible dies and other chemically milled objects in general because DiPaMat Etch Resist inks not only apply on copper but also on (stainless) steels, brass and aluminum. This allows for digitally powered, image based chemical etching of metals in a market that benefits the most from a digital approach for mass customization.

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Sheetfed Offset

Eight-colour Rapida 106 creates reserves for urgent jobs An eight-colour KBA Rapida 106 perfector for four-over-four printing has been in operation at Shoei Printing, a wellknown Japanese printing and media house, since a couple of month. It is the company’s first sheetfed offset press from Koenig & Bauer and the second Rapida to be fired up so far this year in the greater Niigata region.

Sakai Masayuki, CEO and president of Shoei, and Michael Grieger, sales manager at KBA, are pleased with the gains in productivity and flexibility delivered by the new high-performance press

An eight-colour Rapida 106 perfector has bowled over Shoei Printing in Japan since August 2015 with its outstanding productivity

Shoei Printing was founded in 1959 and today the company has several offices in Japan as well as subsidiaries in Vietnam and China. 130 employees work at the headquarters. Until now Shoei Printing only operated printing technology from Japan which included two eight-colour medium-format presses. One of them is only a year old.

However, CEO and President Sakai Masayuki realised that it doesn’t deliver the gains in productivity agreed.

Together with his team he therefore carried out print tests on sheetfed offset presses from various manufacturers.

Attention focused on printing speed, makeready times, substrate handling and operation. The Rapida 106 stood out from the crowd with regard to printing speed and makeready times

in particular. “KBA not only met the performance parameters stated in its product brochures exactly, but it even exceeded them,” says Sakai Masayuki.

On the basis of this, he ordered his first Rapida 106 from KBA. It is equipped with a high-speed package for speeds of up to 18,000sph in perfecting mode as well as a raft of automation modules.

These include DriveTronic SPC simultaneous plate changing plus Plate Ident, Data Matrix Select for automatic plate recognition and loading job data, CleanTronic Synchro for parallel washing processes, ErgoTronic ACR for register setting and many others.

The press also features QualiTronic Color Control inline colour control system for both sides of the sheet.

Furthermore, the Rapida 106 is connected to the company’s MIS via a LogoTronic CIPLinkX workstation.

The press also receives presetting data from pre-press via CIPLinkX. “The press installation was carried out quickly in an extremely professional manner,” says Sakai Masayuki.

“Whereas replacing a press with a newer model in the past only resulted in moderate increases in performance, this all changed with the Rapida 106. We have seen huge gains in productivity. Jobs that took 24 hours in the past with our existing technology, now only take 16 hours. This means we save a third of the time. This makes production planning easier and creates reserves for urgent additional jobs,” says Shoei Printing CEO about the increase in flexibility. “I can definitely say that the Rapida 106 delivers the shortest ROI of all presses known to me.”

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Sheetfed Offset

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Packaging Technology

Crossing the finish line – a Cinderella story

By Cary Sherburne

Post-press binding and finishing in commercial print, packaging, sign & display graphics and other sectors will be a key attraction at drupa 2016. As they say, it isn’t finished until it is finished … and for many companies, there are still significant opportunities for improving throughput and productivity as well as reducing costs in their post-press departments.

All segments of the market are facing similar challenges. Shorter run lengths, faster time to market, more versioned and variable content – while each segment has slightly different challenges, they are all facing this trifecta, and as a result, are moving to an increasingly digital workflow. While significant focus has been placed on the benefits of digital printing, the analogue technologies – offset and flexo, most notably – are also moving to workflows that benefit from faster make-ready times, less waste and fewer touch points in the manufacturing process.

Alon Gershon, Manager of Workflow Solutions at HP Indigo, pointed out, “Finishing processes – both set-up and operation – are often still highly timeconsuming, labour-intensive, leading to high dependency on skilled operators and prone to errors and waste of costly

work in process.” The challenge for printers and packaging converters is to implement post-press operations that circumvent these barriers to production efficiency.

Already, prepress and print have benefited from technologies that speed work through the production process, but for many companies, post-press processes are still a bottleneck, perhaps the last hold-out in the analogue-todigital transformation. Yoshihiro Oe, General Manager Export, Europe and Africa Business Alliance at Horizon commented, “Many customers are still primarily focusing on investment in the prepress and press areas and less on finishing; this is a challenge we face.”

However, we believe that is rapidly changing and that we will see many advances at drupa 2016 toward making post-press processes as efficient as the rest of the production workflow

as well as a stronger interest in these developments on the part of end users.

“Historically post-press was always seen as the industry’s Cinderella technology, taken for granted, undervalued and overlooked. But as run lengths fall and turnaround times come under more pressure, advances in post-press automation and integration are becoming increasingly important as printers realise that the latest finishing technologies can not only ease production bottlenecks, but actually generate new opportunities.

I’ve no doubt that the headlines at drupa 2016 will be dominated by digital technologies, but the switchedon printers will all make a beeline for the post-press halls because they know that’s where they will see new ways of unlocking digital’s potential,” Darryl Danielli, Chief Editor UK-based PrintWeek.

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Management/General to inline or offline finishing with no change in software required.” Xerox is extending its finishing partnerships and automation initiatives beyond its traditional sheet-fed environment into production inkjet and packaging.

Another great example of workflow automation at work post-press is Georgia (U.S.) based Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions who processes 200+ jobs per day. Peter Xierten, Director of Systems and Information Technology, said, “Saving three to five minutes per job on cutting set-up adds up to two or three hours per day saved in cutting time. We now have one operator working one shift (since implementing a finishing automation solution from HP), whereas before we needed two cutters working all day, two shifts and overtime.”

Begin with the end in mind How a job will be finished must be taken into consideration from the very beginning of the design and production process. Impositions that are most efficient for the printed sheet may not be the same impositions that are efficient in post-press as each piece of finishing equipment requires a unique imposition; and these two efficiencies must be well balanced for a smooth workflow with minimal waste.

And finally, automation is key. For many companies, there is already significant automation in the prepressto-print process, but less so in the bindery. Manual machine set-up can be time consuming and error prone, often requiring highly skilled workers and production of “overs” to allow for anticipated waste. To the extent machine setup can be automated based on job ticketing information, bar codes, marks and the like, errors are less likely to occur, the number of overs required can often be significantly reduced, and less skilled workers can be utilised in the post-press area.

“You don’t want to be a commodity printer these days, even in short run, and value-added post-press solutions are a good way to move out of the commodity zone,” Jerry Sturnick, Xerox Finishing Business Manager.

Xerox has played a leadership role in finishing automation since the launch of its ground-breaking DocuTech Production Press in 1990 and the development of its Digital Finishing Architecture (DFA) that now includes unique dual mode configurations which allows the same finishing solution to support both inline and offline workflows. Sturnick reports that Xerox has assembled a diverse portfolio of finishing partners over the last 30 years.

“We are seeing that about one-third of digital page volume is finished inline with the other two-thirds offline,” he adds. “That’s why we introduced a dual mode feeder at drupa 2012 that uses the same DFA interface to direct sheets

Modularity increases flexibility It is also important to note that many finishing vendors, especially in the transactional, direct mail and commercial print spaces, including MBO, Mueller Martini and Horizon, offer modular finishing solutions that can be configured on the fly as production needs change. This approach results in more flexibility and better utilisation of and ROI for postpress investments.

MBO is a great example of modularity at work. The company offers a wide variety of separate but compatible modules that are mobile and interchangeable, creating a mix-andmatch finishing department. The company also describes a “Parking

Division ContiTech of Continental AG Print World Asia • 10 / 2015

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Sheetfed Offset their ideal marketing strategy encompasses a combination of both print and digital communication.

In the direct mail segment, automation is key, both from a cost perspective and to prevent errors. In addition to automated inserter setup, look for inspection and real-time reporting systems such as those from Ironsides Technology, Videk and others, to play a growing role.

Both transaction and direct mail have already seen significant automation but there is room for more. A good role model is UK-based Capita Document & Information Services, who has implemented a fully automated, asnear-lights-out-as-you-can-get mail operation. Capita chose to work with Ironsides Technology to implement automated production tracking with an umbrella solution that integrates the end-to-end workflow across the production platform as well as enabling quality control and real-time reporting.

Lot Concept,” with an unwinder and sheeter at its core. Lance Martin, MBO’s Director of Sales, North America, said, “With this core in place a printer needs only to purchase the modules necessary for a given job. It is also an ideal model for printers who expect growth since adding modules to the Parking Lot is more cost effective than purchasing entirely new solutions. With numerous modules on hand, a printer needs only to roll modules into place to create onestep finishing production systems.”

While some of the challenges and trends cross segment boundaries, each segment also has its individual characteristics.

Masters of mail Direct mail is not going away anytime soon. And while transactional mail has been on the decline in many regions for some time, we don’t see that going away anytime soon, either.

Despite all the hype surrounding digital marketing – and the investments brands are making in digital media – even among younger consumers 92% say they prefer direct mail for making purchasing decisions, with 67% of consumers overall expressing this preference. And, according to a Pitney Bowes survey, 76% of small businesses say

This unifying solution enabled Capita to meet its goal of complete traceability from composition through final preparation for entry into the mail stream. And operators rarely touch mail packets, even when reprints are required. Operations managers know exactly where each and every page is in the production process at a given point in time, enabling much more effective management of the overall production process.

High value finishing Regardless of the print technology being used, there are a growing number of digital finishing solutions that add value to the final printed product along with reduced time to market, reduced waste and cost-effective finishing of short to medium runs. And their value is being recognised by buyers and industry associations alike. High value finishing is one way to decommoditise print, mitigating price-based buying decisions.

Israel-based Highcon was just named a recipient of the prestigious Printing Industries of America 2015 InterTech Award for Technology Innovation for its digital cutting, creasing and laser die cutting machine for converting paper, labels, folding carton and

microflute, which was introduced at drupa 2012. Boutwell Owens was the first North American packaging converter to implement the Highcon solution. In addition to enabling cost effective production of small runs and speeding time to market, these types of digital solutions open new doors for brand owners, designers, printers and converters alike.

“When you have a structural designer that has been told for so many years that you can’t do certain things, today it is all feasible and the handcuffs are off. The world is open; we are no longer restricted by tooling and cost.

People can do things they never before imagined!” Ward McLaughlin, CEO Boutwell Owens.

Other suppliers that offer digitallyenabled high value finishing solutions include the Scodix family of digital enhancement presses that offer postprint addition of variable density embossing and gloss and now digital foiling; and MGI with coating and foiling options. Others, like Kama, Therm-o-Type, Hunkeler and Standard Finishing, offer die cutting and perforating solutions optimised for short runs. Kama also offers hot foil, embossing and in-register holograms for even more added value.

Digital press manufacturers such as Canon, EFI, HP Indigo, Kodak, Ricoh, Xeikon and Xerox are partnering with these post-press suppliers to offer inline and near-line laser die cutting, coating and other advanced post-press capabilities designed for short-run and one-off efficiencies as well as medium run length production quantities. In

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Sheetfed Offset 41 addition, digital presses from these companies also offer clear toners that act as a coating agent as well as adding “pop” to images.

faster, more cost effective mock-ups and samples often produced using the same substrates and printing processes that will used for the final product.

All of these capabilities contribute to the overall value of print, adding to the look and feel of printed pieces with gloss, satin or matte finishes, digital embossing, innovative cutting, foiling and other special effects. Where print itself can often be a commodity, adding these types of specialty finishing increases the value of print, does a better job of catching the attention of recipients, and can help marketers get their messages out in a way that is difficult to do with digital communications.

There are also a growing number of cutting tables from vendors such as Esko, Mimaki and Zund that are designed to quickly deliver shorter runs of finished goods for use as final product or for samples/mock-ups in the packaging, commercial print and sign/display graphics markets. These companies also offer sophisticated software, such as Esko’s i-Cut Suite, as well as tool sets that speed setup and make these devices easier and more efficient to use.

At drupa 2016, look for these suppliers

and many others who will be showing advanced high value finishing optimised to meet emerging market requirements, and expect to see more innovation than ever before in this area.

Packaging perfection Packaging converters are also benefiting from digital workflows.

The digital die cutting and finishing techniques discussed above, combined with digital printing, are making it easier for converters to offer not only small lot finished packages but also

“As the continued high growth for these solutions seems to prove, the ability to

produce one-offs or short run finishing fast and precise has become a standard need in the graphic arts industry for a wide range of applications,” Jef Stoffels, Director Corporate Marketing Esko.

Some packaging solutions providers such as Bobst are turning their attention to increased efficiency and reduced make-ready times for labels, flexible materials, folding carton and corrugated applications as well as the ability to integrate with other systems

converters have in place. Bobst’s recent acquisition of a majority stake in Nuova GIDUE, a company that began introducing digitally-enabled solutions for the labels and packaging market in 2000, sends a signal about its future intent. Expect to see this trend continue and accelerate. Look to see these companies move upstream as well. For example, the 2014 Bobst annual report contains this statement that provides additional insight into future strategies: “On the Digital Packaging Solutions side, in 2015 we will be installing pre series machines for digital printing at corrugated board sites.”

And look for press manufacturers to move further downstream in the production process. Heidelberg, for example, engineered an outsourcing

deal with Masterwork resulting in additions to same year.

Chinese manufacturer Machinery in 2014, a new die cutter and its folder-gluer line the

Books and beyond Book printing is an area where digital has made a significant impact, with respect to both printing and finishing.

Many book printers have implemented production inkjet printing technology that is replacing offset volumes, especially as the quality of these systems

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Sheetfed Offset more. And Horizon, Kolbus and others offer automated digital-conventionalhybrid book finishing lines that can be configured to meet each plant’s specific manufacturing needs, efficiently producing both perfect bound and case bound books.

Israeli book printing company Cordoba added the Hunkeler modular book block solution to its Kodak production inkjet press earlier this year in a nearline configuration in order to address decreasing run lengths as a result of changes in the law in Israel that prevent heavy discounting that was a standard practice in the country. The installation was timely, as the company has seen a 60% to 70% reduction in volume for black & white book printing, making it inefficient for some titles to be produced using offset printing.

improves and the range of functional substrates increases. Digital lines for book binding have also made huge strides. For example, earlier this year at Hunkeler Innovationdays, Hunkeler unveiled its smart book solution for short run book production.

It starts with cold glue pre-gluing of the book block to prevent slippage as the block proceeds through the rest of the binding process. Book sizes are dynamically adjusted, so that each book that comes off the line can be a different size and thickness. Glued book blocks are then handed off to an inline perfect binder, which can be sourced from a variety of different manufacturers. This is just one example of the advanced binding solutions now available to book printers.

Another is Horizon’s stacking solution for B2 digital presses which converts digitally printed B2 sheets into any required sheet size down to A6, collating them in page order to form book blocks, resulting in print to book block with minimal touch points. MBO also offers a fully variable book block production solution capable of variable format, page count, signatures and

And, of course, especially for perfectbound books, lamination is important to product printed covers. Providers of laminating solutions such as Neschen and Sihl are working hard to optimise those for an ever-growing variety of digital toner and ink types to ensure high quality adhesion.

Wrapping it up If post-press is a bottleneck in your organisation, or if you are considering the purchase of new presses, begin with the end in mind.

Be sure to engage post-press vendors throughout the evaluation process to take advantage of their expertise and to make sure that your ultimate configuration is the best possible match to your requirements. Most of these suppliers offer pre-sale consulting services that can help ensure that you make the right decisions in this important area.

Keep in mind that in post-press, it is especially important to ensure flexibility in your configuration – the ability to add and subtract modules, reconfigure on the fly and more – especially as new customer requirements emerge or new technologies come to market that can improve post-press productivity. And at drupa 2016, take the Cinderella story to heart by spending quality time looking at all of the advances in post-press that can make your operation more efficient and effective.

Executive summary At drupa 2016, expect post-press to emerge as a Cinderella story. Already, prepress and print have benefited from technologies that speed work through the production process, but for many companies post-press processes are still a bottleneck. PrintWeek Chief Editor Darryl Danielli points out, “Historically post-press was seen as the industry’s Cinderella technology, taken for granted, undervalued and overlooked.

But as run lengths fall and turnaround times come under more pressure, advances in post-press automation and integration are becoming increasingly important.”

Whether you are talking about transactional printing, direct mail, commercial print or packaging, all segments are facing the trifecta of reduced run lengths, shorter cycle times and the need for more versioned and variable content. While automation in prepress and print production is critical in maintaining an efficient operation that can address these requirements, post-press is arguably even more critical. Consider the cost of errors at the post-press stage – either a substantial number of “overs” must be provided to post-press to accommodate potential errors, or work must be reprinted when errors occur. And bottlenecks in post-press can be the straw that breaks the ability to deliver against strict service level agreements, causing havoc for both buyers and producers of print.

That’s why it is important to begin with the end in mind. Regardless of market segment, a complete understanding of post-press requirements when a job is being quoted, estimated and planned is absolutely critical. And taking as many manual touches out of post-press as possible will also improve the overall ability to deliver against customer expectations. drupa 2016 will be an excellent venue for printers and packaging converters to learn about the latest advances in postpress and speak to suppliers about their specific requirements. Meanwhile, this article contains an overview of current trends and offerings that provide a good baseline for drupa visitors.

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Sheetfed Offset

IGAS a great show for Komori

IGAS 2015 was held for six days, from Friday, September 11 to Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at the Tokyo Big Sight International Exhibition Center with the theme of [Print + innovation: Further Challenge to the Print technology!] with 345 exhibitors in an area of 24,167 sqm. Some 56,533 visitors came to the show. environments that incorporate this green concept as well as the current state of product development.

[Web Offset/Chambon Corner] The Komori booth at IGAS 2015 exhibited panels showing the latest technologies and printing samples from H-UV-equipped web offset presses. Panels showing the in-line presses for packaging manufactured

by Komori-Chambon and printing samples from these machines were also introduced.

Komori Corporation presented optimum business models and solutions that take the standpoint of customers, enabling a contribution to the development and growth of customers’ business through the Komori booth, live demonstrations and seminars with the main theme of ‘Open New Pages’ and the subtheme of ‘Tsunagu: Connect.’

The solutions business indicating new possibilities for printing that will be achieved through the combination of offset and digital were presented with four demonstrations each day (differed on final day). There were a great many visitors especially at the demonstrations of the Impremia IS29. [dCL Corner] The dCL (digital Creative Lounge) facilities were set up in the Komori booth, and a digital printing system, laminator, cutting plotter and the K-ColorSimulator 2 CMS software were exhibited. We demonstrated business model ideas and color matching with offset printing.

[K-Supply/Service Corner] At the exhibition site, case studies of users who have adopted K-Supply products (special consumables, materials and equipment) and the support system for these users were shown with video and panel displays.

In addition, products that contribute to energy saving on existing machines and in the plant, such as DC blowers and a real-time operations monitor (power consumption monitoring device), were also shown.

[KOMORI Ecology Corner] ‘Building a mild, bright future where the balance is protected through the coexistence of everything’ is the green concept that Komori promotes. We introduced the building of production

[Currency Press Corner / Seria Corner / Print Gallery] Komori currency/security presses are running in not only domestic but also overseas facilities. The Currency Press Corner had an explanation of anticounterfeiting technologies with the title ‘Japanese banknotes are printed by KOMORI banknote printing presses.’ and exhibited a panel showing currency presses for export.

In the Seria Corner, screen-printed printing samples from the automotive, graphics and amusement markets were exhibited.

Business model ideas and samples of added value printing were displayed in the Print Gallery. Printing methods and key points were also introduced in this corner.

[Seminars] Five seminars for persons involved in printing, such as on Komori original printing technologies and preventive maintenance activities were held during the show.. A total of 220 visitors attended the Komori seminars.

The road to growth

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Set your future along a secure, profitable path in labels and packaging with the HP Indigo Digital Press portfolio.

HP brings a decade of experience, innovation and best-in-class technology to the new family of HP Indigo Digital Presses for labels and flexible packaging.

Match your business needs with the widest range of digital production capabilities to help your business grow. Choose from the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press for heavy-duty medium and long runs, or move from one job to the next with the HP Indigo WS6800 Press, a high-performing versatile press for short to medium-run jobs, or why not step into the world of digital print production with the HP Indigo WS4600, today’s best entry level solution.

HP Indigo offers a proven, versatile product portfolio that enables next level flexibility and new ways to serve your customers. Discover the advantages of HP Indigo, and secure your path to profitable growth today.

Find out more: hp.com/go/labelsandpackaging or contact Edcent Chan at: +65 9862 6092 or email: edcent.chan@hp.com

HP Indigo WS6800 Digital Press

© 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

HP Indigo WS4600 Digital Press

HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press

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Web Offset Technology

Goss announces new Contiweb modular product lines for digital web presses New unwinders and rewinders introduce proven tension control technology to digital web printing Different levels of automation provide scalable solutions Applications including labels and packaging will benefit from Contiweb 99.7% splice performance

Goss is introducing its Contiweb hallmark of tension excellence to a new market by launching a range of six unwinder/splicers and rewinders developed specifically to address digital web printing requirements.

Developed at the Goss Contiweb facility in the Netherlands, renowned for the supply of splicers and dryers to the world's premier web offset printers for almost 40 years, the new product lines have been designed to equal the Contiweb signature splice performance of 99.7 percent for digital webs.

recognizes the growth and potential in digital web printing. "After many years refining and perfecting product design to ensure efficiency and repeatable high quality for web offset printers, we're now seeing a similar need within the digital web community," he comments.

"The increasing variety of installations and applications is creating a relentless demand from print service providers for technologies that advance their competitive edge. The ability to master web tension and to continually improve productivity is rapidly becoming critical to success."

Bert Schoonderbeek, managing director at Goss Contiweb says the development

Available in two web widths 770 mm (30") and 1100 mm (42"), the

Available immediately, both the unwinder and the rewinder series are designed and engineered to be entirely modular, providing customers with an easy path to full automation at either end of the press line.

‘CD' range of splicer/unwinders and the ‘CR' range of rewinders share features that facilitate simple set-up, integration and day-to-day operation.

These include floor-level loading and unloading of paper reels; unwinding/ rewinding in either direction; as well as motorized reel side-lay adjustment; all of which can be monitored throughout via an HMI screen on the unit.

Each model is shaftless and uses pneumatically expanding core chucks driven by low-noise electric motors, which provides an added element of sustainability since energy generated feeds back into the electrical circuit.

The Goss Contiweb CD Series of unwinder/splicers Drawing on Contiweb's 40 years' experience in web tension technology, the ‘CD' series has been engineered to ensure accuracy and repeatability at every stage of the digital web infeed process, regardless of operator experience or familiarity with web-fed production.

CD-W unwinder stationary splicing

with

manual,

CD-S Stop/Go double unwinder with

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Web Offset Technology

semi-automatic splice - allows the operator to unload, load and prepare for splicing while production is underway; facilitates a minimum stoppage cycle time per splice CD-N fully automatic splicer with nonstop reel changeover - uses renowned Contiweb ‘zero-speed' festoon technology to splice running web and new reel while press continues at full speed The models come with a range of options including additional levels of infeed control, web guidance, remote operation through the central control system, and remote diagnosis via VPN. The Goss Contiweb CR Series of rewinders All models in the Contiweb Digital Series of rewinders have been developed specifically to rewind reels at speed without the loss of any printed copies. Transfer may be between reels of different width and paper thickness, and repeated transfers from first to

second position, and vice versa, are also possible.

CR-W single rewinder - reel change and web transfer to the new core is manual while the press remains stationary CR-S Stop/Go double rewinder with semi-automatic web transfer - allows unloading and preparation of cores during ongoing production; facilitates a minimum stoppage time for reel change and web transfer to the new core CR-N Non-stop unwinder with automatic reel changeover - unloading of fully wound reels and preparation of cores is possible during production; automatic splice can be made at full press speed, at any reel diameter The three versions can also be fitted with a slitter, and are available with optional extras such as integrated electronic web tension control at outfeed, web guides, central console operability and remote diagnostics.

"Whether the customer is new to webfed print production or an old hand, we feel very confident that with the CD and CR product lines we are equipping digital print providers with the very best technology to achieve maximum productivity and efficiency from their system," concludes Schoonderbeek.

"As the top production speeds achievable from digital web presses continue to rise, these capabilities will be of ever-increasing significance to the whole viability of the print operation."

Aside from the digital web sector, the adaptable and modular design of the Contiweb Digital Series also expands potential for labels and packaging applications. This is particularly in the case of customized Goss Vpak web offset press configurations incorporating a range of processes and ancillaries - such as flexo, gravure and digital stations, UV and EB drying which would benefit from a higher level of tension control throughout the web path.

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Web Offset Technology

Beijing Daily opts again for KBA newspaper technology Following an intensive selection process Beijing Daily Group, a traditional publishing house in the heart of Beijing with a large printing centre on the edge of the Chinese capital, decided to continue its partnership with Koenig & Bauer (KBA). A KBA Comet installed there in 2010 will be extended by two printing towers and two folders in the first half of 2016.

Morning Post, Beijing Suburbs Daily, Beijing Business Today and Beijing Social News, the media group also owns highly traditional and popular titles, such as the Beijing Evening News and the Beijing Daily, established in 1958 and 1952 respectively. Alongside activities in the print arena, the traditional printing house continues to expand its involvement in electronic media.

The delivery package also includes adjusting the production capabilities of the existing Comet and a new mailroom system for the entire plant.

This recent investment boosts the media group’s production flexibility and efficiency with in-house and thirdparty products while at the same time lightening the workload of an older press from another manufacturer.

Cui Tang Lian, printing house director of Beijing Daily Group: “The effects of the media shift are clearly noticeable even in China. We continue to rely on the printed newspaper in a high quality, nevertheless we have to set up our printing house in such a way as to enable us to produce frequently changing print products in terms of scope and design quickly, flexibly and efficiently. Short makeready times, high production speeds, low waste levels and a reliable service partnership onsite were the decisive factors for the necessary expansion project. We are continuing the successful collaboration with KBA given the Comet’s good performance and first-class service support received. We will be well prepared for the future with our five-

tower press line equipped with three folders.”

Leading media house in China Along with a raft of magazines, Beijing Daily Group also publishes numerous daily newspapers. The newspaper titles have a combined daily circulation of almost two million copies in the Beijing metropolitan area. Besides the Beijing

KBA Comet convinces with quality and productivity The Comet press line handles web widths from 635 to 880mm (25 34.65in), has a cylinder circumference of 1,092mm (43in) and a maximum rated output in straight production of 78,000cph. The press will comprise five printing towers and three KF 3 jaw folders after the extension is complete.

The KBA consoles feature ink-key presetting software and a RIP interface.

Signing the contract in Beijing (sitting l-r): Song Xu, manager of China National Publishing Industry Trading Corporation, Cui Tang Lian, printing house director at Beijing Daily Group, Andreas Friedrich, general manager web sales and service (North/ East Asia) from KBA. Standing (l-r): Jiang Dawei, manager of China National Publishing Industry Trading Corporation, Wang Xiao Liang, director of the technical department at Beijing Daily Group, Yuan Junhua, senior manager of the technical department at Beijing Daily Group, Feng Lijie, manager of the business department at Beijing Daily Group, Wang Jianguo, press room manager at Beijing Daily printing house, Han Shao Sheng, general manager, web sales KBA China

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KBA Rapida 145 and 164 More power in VLF

KBA.R.643.e

Our new Rapida 145 and Rapida 164 jumbos underscore our position as the technological and market leader in large format. The Rapida 145’s maximum rated output of 17,000 sheets per hour and the Rapida 164’s output of 15,000 sheets per hour as well as unbeatably fast job changes deliver an unparalleled level of productivity and cost efficiency. How? Through simultaneous plate change, parallel washing cycles, no-sidelay infeed, automated coating-forme change, quick-change screen-roller sleeves and presetting of all core functions. Plus options for inline finishing, quality assurance and much, much more. Any questions?

Give us a call.

KBA Printing Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., +86 10 8447 5909, w.zehner@kbachina.com KBA (HK) Co. Ltd., +852 2742 8368, jkwan@kba.com.hk KBA Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia, +60 3 788 588-60, KBA@KBAasiapacific.com KBA Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd., Singapore, +65 6562 8582, ssegger@KBAasiapacific.com Intergraphics (Thailand) Co. Ltd., +66 2 259 3071, jtsuwan@igraph.co.th www.kba.com

Koenig & Bauer AG

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Packaging Technology

Suitable for folding carton applications Fujifilm announces that its successful B2 inkjet digital press, the Jet Press 720S, can now be configured to handle folding carton applications.

The Jet Press 720S configured for folding carton applications benefits from the same industry leading quality and productivity as the general commercial print version, but the ability to increase the vacuum pressure around the drum, together with a redesigned vacuum jacket, allows the press to accommodate a more diverse range of heavier carton boards commonly used in packaging applications.

Says Taro Aoki, Head of Digital Press Solutions in EMEA for Fujifilm: “The folding carton and package printing market is changing, with advances in print technologies creating opportunities for forward thinking companies to take advantage of the trend towards more creative, personalised and shorter run packaging.

The Jet Press 720S, configured to take heavier duty folding carton board, fits this trend perfectly, with its high quality and productivity perfect for these types of applications. The press is already proven in the market, with an increasing number of commercial printers taking advantage of its industry leading performance. Now these benefits can be applied to folding carton print applications.“

A robust, workhorse B2 production press, the Jet Press 720S is becoming increasingly popular, thanks to its reliability and uptime, a wide colour gamut, and its ability to produce short run print of the highest possible quality, out-performing offset in many areas.

High capacity data servers using Fujifilm’s own XMF workflow solution enable the Jet Press 720S to download all the data needed to print complex jobs on the fly, making variable data and versioned print jobs possible on a single sided press. In addition, the ability to produce collated print, where each sheet of a job is different, simplifies the finishing process considerably, minimising the post-press costs.

The Jet Press 720S features new generation SAMBA™ printheads – the industry’s most advanced single pass printhead technology with each B2 width print bar comprising of 17 individually replaceable modular printheads, each with 2,048 nozzles, ensuring the 720S can achieve native resolutions of 1,200 x 1,200 dpi.

The print bar also takes advantage of unique VersaDrop™ technology, allowing the size and shape of each

ink drop to be precisely controlled and placed on the paper. This guarantees the highest digital print quality in the industry with unbeatable consistency, with no on-press tweaks necessary.

The replaceable modular printheads also significantly reduce the necessity for system downtime and minimise breaks in production for press maintenance, with a traditional sheetfed paper feed mechanism providing high registration accuracy and reliable operation.

Concludes Taro Aoki: “The new configuration of the Jet Press 720S enables packaging companies to offer their customers ultra-high quality short-run, versioned and personalised packaging, while also achieving substantial reductions in substrate waste and associated production costs.

Fujifilm’s focus on the packaging market is growing, and the launch of this configuration of the Jet Press 720S will provide exciting opportunities for packaging printers to offer their customers something different.“

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touch the future 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

Messe Düsseldorf Asia Pte Ltd 3 HarbourFront Place #09-02 HarbourFront Tower Two _ Singapore 099254 Tel. +65 6332 9643 / 6332 9620 Fax +65 6337 4633 / 6332 9655 mdrep@mda.com.sg

www.messe-duesseldorf.de/MDA

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Wide Format / Proofing Technology

Ideal for fast, high quality sample or small lot production Mimaki, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers, today announced that it will be introducing a brand-new directto-textile inkjet printer at ITMA 2015 in Milan, Italy dye inks to meet a wide range of application needs. Sublimation dye inks are available at commercial launch with other inks following soon. 2-liter ink packs are available for uninterrupted printing on longer runs.

Uninterrupted printing with automatic detection and cleaning of clogged nozzles. The Nozzle Recovery System ensures that good nozzles are used as substitutes when clogged nozzles are not recovered after cleaning.

ITMA is the world’s most established textile and garment machinery exhibition, bringing together industry leaders for a discussion on emerging trends and innovative solutions. In Hall 18, Stand C104, Mimaki will debut the Mimaki TX300P-1800, an innovative 1.8 meter roll-to-roll direct-to-textile inkjet printer. Its predecessor, the Tx21600, has been used for textile printing worldwide for the last 14 years.

“The TX300P-1800 is designed to meet the market demand for smaller lot sizes, faster delivery times and the ability to quickly produce samples,” says Mike Horsten, General Manager Marketing of Mimaki EMEA. “We are also mindful of the shift in textile production from both analog to digital and from centralized to distributed production. We envision a day not too far in the future when consumers will be able to download or create their own patterns rather than being limited to commercially available designs. The TX300P-1800, which is available with a variety of ink types and produces very high quality, is ideal for this new distributed model of textile printing.”

Future-proof technical features Designed specifically for directto-textile printing, the Mimaki TX300P-1800 8-colour inkjet printer features a new printhead that ejects ink droplets at high speed to ensure accurate ink droplet placement with a high head gap. This makes the printer ideal for printing high quality images on all types of fabrics, including thicker and textured materials. Other features include: Print resolution of up to 1080 dpi with drop sizes ranging from 6 to 24 pl. Small droplets create beautiful highresolution printing, and large droplets are useful for high-speed printing.

Print speeds more than twice as fast as that of a conventional printer at up to max 68 m2/hour.

Stable textile transport that maintains optimum tension, based on Mimaki’s unique and reliable techniques developed over years of textile inkjet printer research and development.

A choice of sublimation dye, disperse dye, pigment, reactive dye, and acid

A choice of powerful digital front ends, including standard Mimaki RasterLink6 or the TxLink3 Lite. The latter offers simple RGB and CMYK colour replacement on raster and vector data to more accurately achieve corporate and other special colours, as well as the ability to produce different colour patterns.

Production of large, seamless patterns from a single image, including repeat and mirror patterns.

Simple creation of multi-colour ICC profiles using Mimaki’s unique profile Wizard.

“We are looking forward to hearing what ITMA attendees have to say about the TX300P-1800,” Horsten adds. “We think its quality, speed and affordability will generate ideas about many new opportunities in the eyes of visitors, and we look forward to working with them to change the way textile printing is accomplished in the future.”

Commercial availability of the Mimaki TX300P-1800 is targeted for December 2015.

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NEWS

More Performance. Built in automation plus unique press

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technologies take the finite resource of time and multiply it for you. You get more out of every shift and enhanced relationship with your clients.

The Versant™ 2100 Press allows you to manage colour more easily and simply with automated calibration and proofing. The result is higher quality without operator involvement, a positive impact on your productivity as well as your print output.

Do More. With More.

For more information: www.fxap.com.sg/product/production/versant_2100p.jsp The Versant™ 2100 Press

Xerox, Xerox and Design, as well as Fuji Xerox and Design and Versant are registered trademarks or trademarks of Xerox Corporation in Japan and/or other countries.

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NEWS IGAS in Tokyo: Alegro, Vareo and Primera Attract Great Interest Stratasys Ltd, the 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company, announced that they are partnering with Adobe to bring high quality, color 3D printing to creatives around the world. The announcement was made in Los Angeles at Adobe MAX. The two companies are joining forces to eliminate the workflow and product barriers that prevent creative professionals from easily transforming their designs into vibrant and durable color 3D printed models. As the first step of this vision, starting immediately, Adobe Photoshop CC users will be able to send 3D files for production through Stratasys Direct Express. This connection is done directly from the native Photoshop CC environment, increasing ease of use by enabling a streamlined workflow with features such as direct quoting, validation and previewing.

Stratasys Direct Express is a self-service website that makes it easy for anyone to take advantage of 3D printing by simply uploading files, instantly submitting an order, and receiving parts within days.

Stratasys Direct Express is powered by Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, one of the world's largest providers of advanced manufacturing services, combining the latest additive and conventional manufacturing technologies with decades of practical experience.

"Stratasys is poised to help product designers, artists, engineers and makers push the boundaries of color 3D printing. Partnering with Adobe is a major step in achieving this goal," said Dan Yalon, executive vice president, business development, marketing and vertical solutions, Stratasys. "We are confident that together we will introduce more creative professionals to the world of additive manufacturing and provide them with all the tools they need to effortlessly turn their visions into colorful, beautiful reality."

Experience Stratasys Color 3D Printing at Adobe MAX Stratasys is demonstrating its commitment to this vision as a Gold Sponsor at Adobe MAX 2015. Included on display at the Stratasys booth will be spectacular works of art from world-renowned artists and designers that showcase the innovative color capabilities, superior quality, geometric freedom, smooth surface textures, and endless possibilities that come with Stratasys 3D Printing.

Three Stratasys users - Jason Lopes from the Hollywood special effects company, Legacy Effects; influential artist Nick Ervinck; and Shajay Booshan, head of computation and design at leading architecture and design firm, Zaha Hadid Architects - will be presenting their breakthrough applications of Stratasys color 3D printing at this year's event.

Adobe MAX attendees will also be able to meet these presenters at the Stratasys booth in the Community Pavilion.

In addition, attendees are invited to visit the Stratasys booth for an exclusive sneak peek at a color 3D printing design software being created by Stratasys and Adobe, and to compete in a design challenge to win one of two daily awards of $1000 toward 3D printing services at Stratasys Direct Express.

"Adobe and Stratasys share a common vision: to provide our users with the ultimate color 3D printing experience and enable them to create amazing things no one ever dreamed of before," said Adil Munshi, VP and General manager Print and Publishing BU, Adobe. "We are excited to be working together with Stratasys to help users unleash the full potential of color 3D printing."

Textile print heroes converge at FESPA Textile 2016 FESPA Textile, formerly FESPA Fabric, will open its doors alongside FESPA Digital 2016, at the RAI Amsterdam from 8-11 March 2016. Occupying a dedicated hall of 7,342 m2, with textile equipment and applications on display throughout many wider areas of the FESPA Digital show. Visitors will have every opportunity to investigate the most appropriate digital textile solutions for their business. As the most comprehensive showcase of textile print technologies and applications in Europe in 2016, the event is not to be missed.

As the recent FESPA Print Census (see editorial notes) showed, textile is one of the fastest growing areas of digital print globally, with 81% of respondents viewing it as key for their business. Roz McGuinness, FESPA Divisional Director comments: “The results of our FESPA Print Census highlighted that textile printing for garments and décor are huge growth areas, with textile printing for soft signage not far behind. With this in mind, rebranding the former FESPA Fabric as FESPA Textile was a logical solution. We know that textile covers many different areas, from garments, to interiors, banners and beyond, and we are confident that next year’s event will be a key launch platform for many technology innovations in this dynamic segment of speciality print.”

FESPA Textile 2016 features exhibits from suppliers offering equipment,

consumables, substrates and apparel solutions including: Brother, Bullmer, Kiian Digital, INX Digital, Pongs, Screen Europe, MS Printing Solutions, Stahls and Kornit Digital. Visitors will be guided to textile exhibits and content by the icon of Textilewoman, one of a line-up of FESPA Digital superheroes.

She will help printers locate new opportunities in soft signage, apparel printing (including garment print & decoration and embroidery) and interior décor.

On Tuesday 8th March,the FESPA Digital Textile Conference is also taking place, alongside the exhibition, making it easy for visitors to combine with their time at the show. A full day of interesting sessions ranging from Insights into the growth & creative development of digital textiles markets with Ron Gilboa of Infotrends, to Growing your business with fabric printing by Daniel Arzt of Sun Ski Sport sro, means that attendees are sure to gain useful knowledge on how to diversify into this potentially lucrative field.

Those visitors with a leaning towards fashion will benefit from attending the

Q&A session with Basso & Brooke, pioneers of the digital print process in fashion. Winning the accolade of ‘Best New Designers’ at the Elle Style Awards, this partnership is a proven success story of the use of textile in the fashion world.

2016; registration after this date will be subject to a €40.00 entry fee.

Roz McGuinness concludes: “With the Census highlighting that textile printing capabilities and equipment purchases are high on the agenda with over one fifth of respondents, FESPA Textile is set to be a key event in printers’ diaries. And, as always, we are committed to helping printers understand the opportunities open to them and how to make the right investments.”

Inca Digital announces a new benchmark for throughput, quality, supreme reliability and ‘future-proof ’ scalability with the launch of the new Inca “Onset X” Series of large-format, flatbed UV inkjet printers, sold globally and exclusively by Fujifilm.

For more information on FESPA Textile 2016 including a full exhibitor list, visitor information and event registration, go to www.fespatextile.com. Information on the Digital Textile Conference can also be found here. Entry to the exhibition automatically includes entry to FESPA Digital 2016, European Sign Expo and Printeriors.

Visitors who register online before 15th January 2016 will have free access to all of the FESPA events from 8-11 March

Inca Digital takes future-proof flexibility and performance to a higher level with the new Onset X Series

A major evolution of Inca’s pioneering ‘Scalable Architecture’ concept, each Onset X printer is based on a new common scalable architecture platform which features a larger 25-zone vacuum table and UV control system to eliminate masking, and - uniquely among highend large-format flatbed printers - a carriage that can incorporate up to 14 ink channels. This allows print service providers to configure their Onset X printer for the combination of productivity, colour and quality that best matches their changing production requirements.

If they wish, users can start out with the Onset X1 (560m2/hr /6027sqft, 112 full-bed sheets/hr) and, as their business develops, upgrade to the Onset X2 (725m2/hr /7803 sqft, 145 beds/ hr) and eventually to the new ultra-highproductivity high-quality printer that sits at the pinnacle of the Onset X Series the Onset X3 (900m2/hr /9687 sqft,180 beds/hr).

The speeds and productivity of the Onset X Series printers are dependent on the choice of Fujifilm Dimatix printhead and can be configured for each customer depending on their desired quality/ speed requirements. Each model in the Onset X Series can handle substrates in sizes up to 3.22m (126 inches) x 1.6m (63 inches) and thicknesses up to 50mm and is compatible with different types of automated media handling systems to optimize productivity.

Onset X, model by model Onset X owes its unique combination of quality, productivity and flexibility to the common scalable platform that the Onset X1, Onset X2 and Onset X3 share. This is built to accommodate up to 14 ink channels, which users can

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NEWS

configure in a variety of ways depending on their requirements.

Onset X1: With a maximum throughput of 560m2/hr (equivalent to 112 full-bed sheets/hr), the Onset X1 is ideal for companies producing a mix of fastturnaround retail graphics requiring distance viewing as well as high-quality images for close-up viewing. The Onset X1 features eight active channels: four print CMYK and the remainder can be configured as required using a combination of light magenta, light cyan, white and orange (LmLcWO). When the time is right, an additional carriage can be added to scale up to an Onset X2 or X3.

Onset X2: With a second set of CMYK, the Onset X2 delivers even higher productivity — 725m2/hr (145 beds/ hr) — while an optional six LmLcWO channels can be populated to add versatility. Also upgradeable according to business needs, the 14-channel Onset X2 provides the capacity to extend the range of jobs companies can handle. A choice of uni-directional, bi-directional and super high-quality print modes can be selected depending on the specific job requirements.

Onset X3: Capable of printing at a blistering 900m2/hr (180 beds/hr), the Onset X3 features 3 x CMYK ink channels plus the choice of white or orange, and 14 or 27-picolitre printheads.

The Onset X3 sits at the pinnacle of productivity. With this printer, users of analogue screen printing lines can take the digital route, confident they can print long runs of high-quality print with superb consistency and reliability.

“Since 2013 Inca Onset users have benefited from a highly-flexible flatbed UV inkjet production machine that can grow and change with them,” says John Mills, Inca Digital’s CEO. “Strong sales of the Onset have shown that the modular concept is right for the highly dynamic high-end large-format UV sector, which is evolving at such a pace, and in so many directions, that print service providers often face a dilemma in choosing the right printer. The new Onset X Series is designed to remove the traditional compromise of quality and productivity and make the choice of printer the easiest decision they have to make. The Series combines an easy-to-understand upgrade path with a comprehensive choice of options, so that, whatever stage the business is at, management can configure or re-configure an Onset X printer with the right productivity and colour performance to match their budget and evolving business needs.”

Industry-leading productivity, quality and reliability The new Onset X range incorporates hardware and software advances that further enhance Inca’s reputation for developing large-format flatbed UV printers that combine productivity and quality with industry-leading reliability.

Especially notable is the new 25-zone vacuum table, featuring a powerful new vacuum solution and choice of skin design depending on the user’s needs.

This completely eliminates bed masking for substrates of any size, greatly reduces set-up times for standard POS substrates and increases throughput of short-run, fast-turnaround print. Vacuum zones are independently controlled and easily

managed by the operator using the auto zone function. Frequently-used formats can be automatically programmed and stored in a user-generated database.

This innovation alone can increase the Onset X Series’ productivity by up to 20 per cent compared to previous Onset printers.

A completely level table surface is crucial for accurate, repeatable drop positioning, particularly in bi-directional print mode.

A new patented ‘print-a-shim’ process takes Inca’s class-leading technology to the next level to ensure a completely flat table with zero-tolerance. Using the Onset X’s in-built sensor, the ‘print-ashim’ process precisely measures the profile of the table and defines a contour to accurately create ink shims to produce a completely level platform on which the final table skin is mounted.

For the Onset X Series, Inca has also developed a new GUI to provide a powerful yet simple-to-use printer and job management tool. The operator can finalise and initiate jobs, save settings, create print queues and manage and optimise every stage of the print process.

Improved off-machine job set-up means that when jobs arrive at the printer, more parameters (substrates, print speed, quality mode, gloss levels, etc) are already defined. Password control and web browser access enable production management to control the decisionmaking process and amend print queues remotely.

Other new features available across the Onset X Series include a productivity pack which incorporates: advanced high-speed shuttering systems that protect printheads from UV damage when printing thick substrates; optional automated substrate cleaning using an adhesive roller system to remove debris and improve up-time; and a new-design roller for corrugated board printing that, in a single pass before printing, presses

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NEWS the substrate onto the vacuum bed to ensure a good contact.

“The launch of a platform with the features of the Onset X doesn’t happen by chance. It represents the culmination of the combined hardware, ink and application expertise of Fujifilm and Inca Digital over the last 15 years,” says Steve Wood, Marketing Manager, Fujifilm.

“This partnership has delivered many leading inkjet systems over this period, and we are proud to support Inca Digital in the launch of what is going to be the flatbed production platform by which all others are judged. The evolution of the Onset over the last two years has already made it the leading flatbed inkjet production platform, and the launch of the Onset X is only going to make it more attractive for many more print service providers.”

Esko announces it is rolling out its newest release of ArtiosCAD Esko announces it is rolling out its newest release of ArtiosCAD, an important release of one of its leading structural design editors for packaging and displays. The updated version showcases Canvas Design which, thanks to a series of new features, significantly improves the workflow for anyone designing and producing multi-component displays and packaging.

The enhancements are the result of substantial customer input, eliminate the pain points customers were facing related to designing and producing multipart designs.

"Displays are becoming ever more complex, with more and more pieces and parts.

Designers like to create all parts on a single 'document' so they can see how each piece will interact and fit with each other. Imagine if you have a fifty-piece display built with several different substrates or materials. Designing them individually presents a true challenge trying to keep track of all the pieces," explains Richard Deroo, Esko Product Manager, Structural Design.

"These enhancements make multi-part designing easier than ever before."

Master Design template The new Canvas File in ArtiosCAD is a master design template. A designer can create all the pieces on a single canvas and see how they interact. From that one canvas, they can now redirect those components that need graphics, separate the components based upon how they are manufactured and identify each part for reports, database searching or for integrating with a business system.

ArtiosCAD maintains a unique board assignment for each part. Parts made on mixed substrates can be designed and viewed together. Unique database information is stored for each part, making them easy to identify. When parts are output, they can be done so, separately. Moreover, if a separate part file is edited, ArtiosCAD notes the change and allows it to be updated on the master Canvas File.

Significant improvement for POP, display and multi-part package design There are many areas where ArtiosCAD streamlines a workflow. For example, it makes it easy to tie into an MIS, allowing the business system to create unique parts for inventory and costing; or helping to run a bill of materials. If a display is created, only those parts that require artwork can be sent to the graphic design department – not the entire display, eliminating any possible confusion. For manufacturing, companies are now able to separate the canvas into different parts and deliver only those pieces that require a specific manufacturing technique – for example, to a die maker or to a Kongsberg table.

It’s even possible to add non-design elements such as a pallet for transport or assembly hardware to the workflow, which are then referred to as nonproduction parts.

"With this latest upgrade to ArtiosCAD, Esko has introduced significant improvements for designers of POP and displays, and multi-part packaging – improving the workflow and allowing them to work more efficiently. This release allows them to work the way they want to work on a single design canvas, while identifying separate parts," concludes Deroo.

All these new enhancements are available in ArtiosCAD 14.1.1. From today, October 15, the upgrade will be free of charge for ArtiosCAD customers worldwide with maintenance contracts.

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NEWS New Sun Chemical video shows how its solutions provide a colourful and meaningful impact in everyday life In a new video introducing its brand to the variety of different markets it serves throughout the world, Sun Chemical emphasises how its global reach, broad range of products and services, and strong R&D leadership, provide a colourful and meaningful impact in the daily life of consumers.

The video shows how the wide range of colourful solutions Sun Chemical manufactures, including inks, pigments, coatings and adhesives, are used on a variety of applications including: food packaging, labels, credit cards, publications, cosmetics, automotive interiors and exteriors, building wraps, plastics and more.

“Colour has a profound impact in our lives. Whether it is the cars we drive, the make-up we put on, the clothes we wear, or the unique shades used in company branding, colour offers differentiation, style and personality,” said Felipe Mellado, Chief Marketing Officer, Sun Chemical. “Many of the people who walk around each day probably don’t have any idea that virtually everything they touched or looked at could have had Sun Chemical’s mark on it in some way or another. This video shows just a sample of the many ways our inks, pigments, coatings and more impact our everyday life.”

The core message of the video is meant to help customers know that Sun Chemical is a partner they can turn to as they transform their businesses to meet marketplace demands and keep costs down.

“Our customers have to compete in a marketplace that is always evolving,” Mellado said. “They are facing strict regulations, higher costs than ever to run their business, sustainability requirements and much more. At Sun Chemical and DIC’s combined 17 R&D locations,

we are continuously working for our customers by developing solutions that will help them achieve their goals, cut costs and meet the standards required of them by regulations.”

Domino launches N610i integration module at Labelexpo Europe 2015 Domino Digital Printing Solutions is pleased to announce the launch of the N610i integration module, forming part of a digital hybrid solution, all based on its proven 7 colour digital label press. Visitors to stand 9A60 at Labelexpo Europe 2015 will be able to view first-hand the new N610i variant, integrated with an AB Graphics Digicon 3, including flexo, varnishing, laminating and die-cutting stations. There will be daily scheduled demonstrations of this and Domino’s new digital foiling solution.

Philip Easton, Director of Domino’s Digital Printing Solutions Division, states: “We have noticed a considerable growth in the labelling market over the past few years, which makes Labelexpo the perfect event for introducing our latest digital innovations. This is a key opportunity to illustrate how our newly launched bespoke solutions can meet the needs of label printers worldwide.”

“The new N610i ink jet integration module enables our customers to configure a digital hybrid press that

meets their business needs now but offers significant flexibility to reconfigure the line for future requirements.

Customers now have the option to purchase the N610i either as a standalone digital press, with in-line finishing, or as part of a hybrid machine including flexo, screen and foiling stations in different positions in the line,” explains Philip. “The modularity of this solution also allows the customer the ability to reconfigure the machine to suit their future changing needs and is equipped to respond to new incoming jobs.”

Also featured on the stand are two K600i digital print modules, integrated onto a GraphiMecc web inspection and finishing line, printing black variable data and demonstrating Domino’s new digital foiling solution. This unique solution for brand protection, authenticity and product embellishment combines the benefits of variable data content digital printing with the conventional ‘coldfoiling’ process. It uses the K600i to print a digital adhesive and create the image area prior to UV-curing and delamination. Unlike some other ink jet systems that print metallic ink to provide a foil-like effect, Domino’s digital cold foil solution is based on real metallic foil to provide a higher quality finish and enables the use of security and decorative holographic images within the foil.