Digital Print Asia July August 2013

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DIGITAL Asia July - August 2013

ICE THE BRAND-NEW WAY TO PRODUCE DIGITAL LABELS SEETHEPROOF.COM

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EMKA Increase Productivity with HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press Solutions for Disparate Systems AGFA Graphics Makes New Moves Hollanders Introduces the First Double-sided Textile Printer Fuji Xerox’s DocuWide C842 Enters Singapore Kodansha Embraces HP T300 Color Debut for Rapida 106 and RotaJet 76

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Weppert Invest Into A Speedmaster Color-Logic Certifies Mimaki JV400LX Series

Praise for the Stand Out Press Flint Group Exhibits Nyloprint Next Exposure for the First Time at SDW Pragati Places Order for Two New Komori Presses KBA Takes Over Kammann Maschinenbau GMBH in Bad Oeynhausen PaperlinX Creates Office in Shanghai China Probes Tetra Pak for Misuse of Market Walmart Says Cannot Meet India’s Local Sourcing Rules: Report Muller Martini Faced with Long-term Reform of the Company 4th Edition of Pack Print International hubergroup Expands in Southeast Asia WAN-IFRA India Expo Draws Elite Exhibitors Bencis to Acquire Xeikon Avery Dennison Expands Production in Malaysia Southern Graphic System Spreads Network in Asia Omet Announces Order for Variflex and X-flex at Recently Held LMAI Conference

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Getting Uglier in Indonesia De-inking Innovations Leaving Fraudsters a Bad Taste The Changing World of Label Printing Green Shoots or Are you in Weeds?

57 Ubi Ave. 1, #03-06 Ubi centre, Singapore 408936 Tel : +65 6733 5342 Fax: +65 6733 3586

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EMKA increases productivity with HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press, supporting growth across varied applications

AT A GLANCE Industry: General Commercial Printing Business name: EMKA Group

CHALLENGE Increase productivity and lower production costs by moving offset jobs to digital platform. l

Headquarters: Israel Website: www.emka.co.il

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Maintain market lead with diverse range of specialised printing solutions on varied substrates.

Convince customers to move to digital printing.

Create digital offset quality ISO PVC cards for wide range of customers, and meet high-security standards where required.

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SOLUTION HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press with HP ElectroInk technology (with HP Indigo One Shot Color printing mode and HP Indigo ElectroInk UV Red). l

RESULTS Productivity has doubled and costs are significantly reduced with HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press. l

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Ability of HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press to print on both PVC and paper means that one press now does the work of two.

Higher customer confidence in digital presses due to uncompromised quality and time savings.

Offers high-quality ISO cards to large customer base, and prints invisible data with HP Indigo ElectroInk UV Red for high-security cards.

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“We can print almost twice as fast with the HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press1. By doubling our productivity, we have increased our customers’ confidence in our capabilities as a service provider.”

— Ofir Adar, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), EMKA Group

As service providers, finding the right balance between quantity and quality is a constant primary challenge. In a competitive market, everyone strives to offer customers both a diverse product range and consistent quality across the board.

The EMKA Group has decades of experience in juggling those goals. Founded more than 60 years ago by the Klein family to produce sandpaper and abrasive products for the carpentry and wood industry, the EMKA Group has evolved into one of Israel’s biggest commercial printing companies. With more than 300 employees and seven divisions, EMKA’s offerings now include direct mailing and forms, envelopes, cards, rolls and labels, and office supplies – all under the same roof. Yet despite this rapid growth, EMKA has maintained its commitment to providing its customers with specialised and high-quality printing solutions.

As CTO of the EMKA Group, Ofir Adar understands the importance of technology in this winning mix. The company has a long history with HP Indigo presses. It purchased its first HP Indigo Press – the HP Indigo press s2000 – in 2006, and later acquired the HP Indigo press 3000 and HP Indigo press 3050. In late 2011, EMKA decided to purchase another HP Indigo Press.

“HP has never failed us. We trust the company and its technology, and this, together with the well-proven benefits of digital printing, is what led us to test the HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press as a replacement for our offset machine for certain jobs,” explains Adar. “It wasn’t cost effective to run such a big machine for medium-size jobs due to the long setup time. With the new HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press, the setup stage is much faster, so we can print smaller quantities with very high quality and fast time to market, which makes our customers very confident in our capabilities. We can print almost twice as fast as we could with our older HP Indigo press s2000 so we have doubled our productivity.”

New HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press boosts ISO card and transpromo business Due to its versatility and ability to switch easily between jobs and varied media types, the HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press does double duty at EMKA. The company uses the press for two major applications: ISO-compliant plastic cards produced

by EMKA Card Systems, and paper transpromo (transactional print and proactive marketing) applications produced by EMKA Direct Mailing.

Adar says: “We can now use the same machine to print on both PVC and paper. This means that we use one press to do the work of two. Before we purchased the machine, I had to convince management that printing cards and transpromo applications on the new HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press would increase productivity, lower production costs, and enable us to win new customers – and that’s exactly what happened.”

EMKA uses the unique HP Indigo One Shot Color printing mode on the HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press to print specialty applications on a wide range of synthetics, including PVC. Its high-quality PVC gift cards, loyalty and membership cards, employee identification cards, and chip cards are used by some of Israel’s biggest banks, retail stores, loyalty clubs, companies, and governmental organisations. For cards requiring high security standards, EMKA uses HP ElectroInk UV Red to print invisible data; and it uses HP ElectroInk White to print on a variety of substrates, including transparent materials, synthetics, metallics, and paperboard for folding cartons.

EMKA also uses the new HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press to print medium-volume transpromo jobs for SMB retail chains, gas companies, tech service companies, and banks.

“Our customers need to dynamically change the graphics and marketing messaging in their billing statements and promotional materials. The speed and quality of the HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press enable us to do this with quick time-to-market,” explains Adar.

Fast turnaround with digital offset quality Adar is a big believer in digital technology. “We are trying to convince most of our customers to move from offset to digital because of the benefits. Using a digital platform is far more productive and flexible. The high setup costs of offset printing mean that customers need to commit to a specific design. With digital, they can make changes far more easily.

We get the design file from the customer and print it with the data file in one stage – it’s as simple as that!

“With the HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press, we get the versatility of a digital solution with almost the same quality as traditional offset printing. Our customers give us excellent feedback and the majority hasn’t even noticed the difference.

So we can supply our customers with a high-quality product in a very short time. This is a contributing factor to our ability to maintain the lead in the Israeli market.”

1) Compared to the HP Indigo press s2000 * In 2012, EMKA Group served as a beta site for the HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press

Get connected. www.hp.com/go/graphicarts Share with colleagues.

© 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA3-9951EEW, Created March 2012. This is an HP Indigo digital print.

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Solutions for disparate systems?

Transforming and Automating Workflows:

This series of articles by David L. Zwang focuses on the processes and products that can lead to the transformation of your current workflows and business, to prepare you for the new challenges ahead.

This series runs about once a month over the course of the year, with the first article having appeared in January 2013. Zwang looks at process transformation and automation, and the background and steps you need to understand to be successful. He will also look at some of the current product offerings and how they are being, or could be, used to help you transform your business and strengthen your customer relationships.

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In this article, David looks at how the existing solution offerings can be used in disparate workflow systems both inside the plant and bridging client workflow systems In the last article, we looked at some of the packaged production workflow systems that have evolved from original plant-centric CTP solutions, as well as those that ship with and drive many of the digital print devices that are sold in today’s market. But in your company, if you are like most of the other service providers out there, you probably have to manage your own legacy production workflow and all of the other workflows that came with purchased equipment. And what about your workflow beyond these production systems to other non-production-specific processes, or your customer workflows? As a refresher, early in the series we looked at the PRIMIR Transformative Workflow Reference Model as an example of what your business infrastructure and processes should look like to support business and process requirements today and in the future. You should continue to reference that to ensure that you maintain a ‘bigger picture’ focus as you plan.

Beyond the packaged workflow systems that are available with your hardware purchases, there are alternatives that

offer additional flexibility. Many of these ‘non-aligned’ (to vendor specific equipment) systems offer similar workflow mechanisms like ‘pipeline workflows’ (flexible task connectivity), or API (Application Programming Interface) integration, but are specifically designed to bridge disparate systems and processes into a cohesive solution.

I have selected three examples of bridging applications to highlight, based on my positive experiences with each of them.

Each one offers a differing approach and focus. As I have constantly tried to reinforce throughout this series, the term ‘workflow’ can be very misleading. Until you really dig into the offerings, you really can’t see what problems or solutions are addressed, or more importantly, how they can help you transform your unique production workflow.

In my experience, the most flexible of these would be Enfocus Switch. This is an automated, rules based pipeline solution that connects various production, business and communication processes.

It is a scalable server-based application that easily integrates with other systems through a number of built in features.

Switch has support for inbound and outbound transmission of production files,

customer communication, and metadata. It is supplied with built-in tools that connect processes, and coordinate file and job handling and internal and external communications. It supports the use of ‘configurators,’ which are API-driven integrators for an increasing number of 3rd party applications. It also supports the use of hot folders for use when applications and processes don’t have configurators. For more complex needs, it includes scripting support (JavaScript, Visual Basic, and AppleScript) for further workflow customization. Switch also interacts very nicely with the other Enfocus products like PitStop Server to offer even more intelligent task handling and the newly-announced Connect ALL to enhance file submission accuracy and customer communication. There really isn’t anything else like this in the market with this scope and at its affordable price point, and it is highly regarded.

Another set of process bridging applications is available from Hybrid Software.

Its approach uses a ‘suite’ of applications that can be interconnected and integrated with your existing systems.

As I mentioned in previous articles, MIS integration really isn’t plug and play, so one of the areas Hybrid has focused on is integration with MIS/ERP systems. In Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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addition to MIS integration, Hybrid has also created a middle-ground suite of applications that can supplant many of the functions of an MIS system. It now offers Frontdesk OLM, which can actually acts as a portal for your plant with some order entry functionality; and Fileforce, which addresses job ticketing, file management and time tracking functionality that is found in most MIS systems. All of this and more can be automated using its Pipeline application. Hybrid’s roots are in prepress and packaging, so rounding out its offerings are Proofscope, an online softproofing application, and ProofscopeLive, a very interesting browser-based PDF editor.

Manager, a soft proofing application; and Job Manager, an estimating and cost accounting application. More recently, the company combined its standalone applications into Workgroups DaVinci, which offers a more complete project management and automation solution. It has been designed to allow flexibility in workflow design and integration.

While each of these systems offer the tools to build a workflow, these same tools can also help you build efficient or inefficient solutions. In the end, you still need to understand what you want to accomplish and find the most effective way to achieve it. These systems are only tools that can be used to ‘help’ you transform and automate your production workflows. Ultimately, you need an effective plan to start with, or you wind up automating an inefficient workflow and gaining very little. Ideally, working with experienced ‘change agents’ and taking cues from best of breed operations is the best way to proceed.

or you can implement alternatives that allow you to build custom bridges among all of your disparate workflows. As we discussed in the last article, many of the existing packaged workflows supplied with your equipment offer ways to bridge through the use of hot folders, but that is a fairly limited option. Some bridging can occur with the integration of compatible MIS/ERP systems, especially those with strong planning and scheduling functions, although getting this to work in a disparate process environment is no small challenge, if even possible.

However, after many years of addressing process efficiency in plants around the globe, I believe A different approach comes from that in the absence of a single MetaCommunications. MetaCommunications started offering its very flexall-encompassing workflow soluible Virtual Ticket, a standalone project tion that can automate all of your management application, in the late disparate equipment and process1990’s. It created a virtual job ticket es, the answer is that you need to that would allow for a replacement of find the best way to bridge the inthe existing paper-based job tickets and included the added value of autodividual best-of-breed pieces into a mation of many scheduling and man- So what are you to do? You can continue more flexible and complete bestagement tasks. Since then, MetaCom- to have multiple detached workflow si- of-breed solution that specifically munications has added Digital Storage los, that cost more to operate and make Manager, a DAM application; Approval it more difficult to train staff to manage, addresses your environment.

David Zwang, travels around the globe helping companies increase their operational productivity, margins and market reach. With over 40 years of industry experience, David specializes in process analysis and strategic development for firms in the fields of publishing, design, premedia, and printing.

Remember If you have any topics you think are important and would like us to cover during the balance of this series, please let us know!

You can contact David via email at david@zwang.com

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Agfa Gr a phics

Makes new moves into textile printing with its Ardeco for soft signage To satisfy the growing market demand for direct printed textile output, Agfa Graphics is announcing at FESPA 2013 its state of the art, high-end printing solution for soft signage applications.

Called Ardeco, this new wide-format printer is a precision engineered solution that combines advanced sublimation capabilities with a highly accurate textile transport system. It comes in a choice of print head configurations, and features an inline cold-knife cutting system.

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

This fully-integrated digital textile solution is designed for volume production of all soft signage output including backlit displays, flags and general displays that benefit from being printed onto polyester based fabrics up to a maximum print width of 3.2m. Ardeco prints rich vibrant solid colors, gradients of impeccable quality and high detail rendered images utilizing high quality disperse inks.

With Ardeco’s calendering capability built in, this results in

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an end-to-end system that doesn’t require any additional fixation or finishing option. In addition, the machine’s ink through feature means that highly absorbent and open-weave fabrics such as meshes can be printed without any damage that can be caused by ink splash back.

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Asanti solution,” states Willy van Dromme, Director of Marketing Sign and Display at Agfa Graphics. “Ardeco itself has a compact footprint yet the complete solution incorporates all the elements needed for straightforward, high quality and reliable direct-to-fabric printing and calendering.”

“Digital textile printing is really coming of age and the Ardeco system will satisfy sign-makers and display producers wanting to benefit from the engine’s high productivity and our

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Hollanders

introduces the first

double-sided textile printer Just some weeks before Fespa, the Dutch manufacturer introduced the ColorBooster DS to an exclusive group of printers and journalists.

-Sabine A. Slaughter reports.

Located in the outskirts of the Dutch city of Eindhoven, the company, that started out as a developer of solutions for textile printing and later on became a printer manufacturer, has their showrooms as well as their R&D center and headquarters.

The company’s founder, Peter Hollanders, CTO of Hollanders Printing Systems, is proud to be able to present a manifold, yet high technology range of affordable textile printing presses – each of them having been devised and developed at his company. There are machines for flags and banners, dedicated solutions for carpet printing and other specialized applications that all correspond Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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to Hollanders’ approach: When working with textile and when the highest quality is to be combined with lowest cost of production, there is only one way to control the entire process. It’s to understand every little detail of the entire production flow. And this is very different from using an existing printer and convert it into something that might be able to print on textile.

The new ColorBooster DS, the first double-sided textile printer, is the highlight of the day. The machine prints on both sides of a fabric simultaneously whereby highest registration is ensured. This is made possible via Hollanders’ own registration and transport system that first of prints on one side, then the fabric is printed from the other side too. It incorporates a very sophisticated integrated fixation unit consisting of infrared based ceramic heating elements which ensures that there is a constant temperature across the entire media surface thus enabling proper sublimation and fixation of colours to the textile without deformation and at the highest possible UV-resistance, colour brilliance and durability.

Depending upon the project different im-

ages can be printed on each side or the same image from both sides whereby brilliant, rich designs and graphics can be realized. The machines are manufactured to order which means that there is a choice of colour channels available apart from CMYK. The company recommends to use its own water based inks that are also available in violet, red, gray and other spot colours. Hollanders uses a spot colour list based on the actually ink thus ensuring accurate vector colour reproduction. It comes in two widths – 2.1 m and 3.2 m.

“One of the most demanding tasks has been getting the registration right”, states Peter Hollanders. The ColorBooster DS incorporates step correction, air or electrostatic suction, traction control, temperature and humidity control among others. “Our extensive research into inkjet technologies, how drops are ejected by different print heads and control thereof enabled us to built this innovative and highly sophisticated new textile printer.”

Incorporating Seiko print heads, the ColorBooster DS enables 24/7 printing whereby speeds between 45-70 sqm/h

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at production quality and with 720 x 720 dpi can be achieved. “The speed always varies according to the design and the amount of ink that has to be laid on the fabric as well as the number of passes required. A full rich red or black image on both sides requires different ink amounts and passes than a multicolour design. In addition, structure of the fabric, its ink absorption and many other factors play an important role in determining speed, thickness of ink layers as well as passes.

Obviously the machine can also print faster, but the image quality will suffer as rich vibrant images require a certain amount of ink. Our ColorBooster XL for example, that also incorporates Seiko heads requires an ink layer from 5 till about 20 ml/ sqm on different substrates to achieve accurate image reproduction resulting in a square meter ink price between €0.32 and €1.28. When producing 100.000 sqm per year and calculating all cost: depreciation, maintenance, supplies, heads, operator cost, electricity, ink, etc. the cost price shall be around 3 euro/sqm”, explains Peter Hollanders. “To print a rich and brilliant image requires more often than not extensive knowledge. That’s why we also developed our own software to drive our printers thus many of the facDigital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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tors are taken into account resulting in well-received and high quality output.”

Hollanders’ inks not only come in several colours apart from CMYK, they are also water based, meaning that they are soft on the environment and non-toxic. The inks show a wide colour gamut and are highly UV resistant. All that is required after printing on the ColorBooster DS is a wash of the fabrics. As no transfer paper is required, excessive waste that usually is associated with dye-sublimation processes is also avoided.

For finishing the Hollanders ColorWash, a roll-to-roll machine enabling washing, drying and ironing without operator interference can be used. It incorporates an onboard control system for water temperature, washing speed, water consumption, soap concentration, media tension, drying and ironing whereby different modules can be assembled and ordered.

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In addition, Hollanders drives the press via its own workflow and color control software that enables a high degree of repeatability of print jobs. The machine’s media quick sets plus take up and feed settings enable fast set ups of jobs.

The ColorBooster DS is specifically designed for printing on spun polyester flags, but can also accommodate decostyle banners, front-lit interior backdrops, backlit retail frames, block-out prints and many more visual communication products on textile. Among the media there are woven and knitted media, open and closed structures, polyester, voile, fence, mesh and many more with or without coating. It allows for rolls with a diameter of up to 60 cm and enables unattended printing, so overnight jobs are no more a headache.

And there is more: At the same time the company introduced the ColorBooster 250 that is expected to come to market later this year. It incorporates the re-

nowned Hollanders media tension and traction control and can be driven with either water based dye-sublimation or disperse inks whereby Ricoh Gen5 print heads are used. The ColorBooster 250 can print directly on textiles but also accommodate transfer paper printing processes. Three different models – a starter version with 4 colour channels, production edition with 6 colour channels and an ultimate edition with 8 colour channels are available. Print width is 2.5 m.

The new entry level ColorBooster 250 is expected to be available for around 98,000 euros in the starter version up to 150,000 euros for the ultimate edition.

One of the main principles of the company is that the ROI method is based on true figures. “At the end of the year, our customers must be able to confirm that our economic model is right: lowest cost per square meter at the highest possible quality. And that with the best color reproduction on the widest range of fabrics”, states Peter Hollanders.

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UV LED Curable Flatbed Inkjet Printer

Ultra-High Speed, High Precision Prints that Capture Your Mind The new JFX500-2131 from Mimaki smashes all established records for a grand format flatbed UV LED printer, with production speeds of up to 60 sqm/h, delivering unbelievably high quality, right down to 2 point text on a massive 210 x 310 cm print area.

The Mimaki JFX500-2131 delivers: • Amazing print speeds of up to 60 sqm/h with CMYK and 45 sqm/h with white ink printing • High precision printing up to 1,200 dpi and variable dot printing with a minimum size of 4 picoliter • No media deformation, no drying time. No warm up time

www.mimaki.co.jp

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Fuji Xerox’s DocuWide C842 Enters Singapore Targeted at architectural, display graphics and fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG) markets, Singapore has already one installation for an upcoming campaign in a local mall.

- Christel Lee reports.

Launched last May in Australia and China, the printer has clocked some ten installations in each of these two markets. The wide-format colour inkjet printer made its first appearance in PacPrint Australia.

Fuji Xerox team were demonstrating the printer’s prowess through holding the printout by the metres, stretching across the booth.

The printer is able to print seven A0 size in a minute and supports continuous printing of various paper types up to 999 sheets at a consistent rate. “The DocuWide C842 Printer is the latest to join Fuji Xerox’s portfolio of wide format printers, with the aim of helping businesses increase workflow productivity and offering them new media possibilities. We are confident DocuWide’s professional specifications will be a boon especially for those in the design, advertising, manufacturing, engineering and print industry,” adds Adeline Goh, Senior Marketing Manager, Fuji Xerox Singapore.

This new solution platform is unlike the common printer system, which employs moving printheads. It is built with a revolutionary fixed line head system where

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five high-definition, four-colour (CMYK) print heads are aligned in a zigzag formation to deliver high-speed printing. In addition, the printer allows the loading of up to four different paper types and sizes simultaneously. This allows users to prepare the device in advance for print efficiency.

The C842 can print up to 42 inches wide and 5m long on a wide range of paper types from plain paper to matte coated and films (subject to testing), it can produce a wide range of creative applications including exhibition banners, tracing paper drawings, backlight advertising displays and in-store large size displays.

details. The water-based ink contains up to only 20% solvent.

Equipped with an ink circulating system which eliminates air bubbles and impurities, the DocuWide C842 uses technology that sprays ink miniaturised to 1.4 picolitre to reproduce high gradation of colour for poster photographs with fine texture requirements to half-tone outputs for documents as well as high-resolution printing of fine lines in drawings. This again goes beyond industry standards of 4.0 picolitre for fine image production to help users realise perfection in the finest

The first Singaporean printer to install is also an Asian Print Awards contender, iSuccess. iSuccess will be showing off its latest on Singapore’s National Day. The Smile! Campaign, organised by Central Mall, targeted to print out 4,000 colourful 18 by 18 inch sticker posters capturing smiles of shoppers of all ages. In celebration of the nation’s 48th birthday, these sticker posters will be pasted across the mall as a floor montage showcasing smiling faces of Singaporeans.

Understanding the high demands in the various design industries to reproduce accurate images and extremely fine lines, water-based dye ink is used to ensure that all printouts remain true to the original copy and without graininess at an output of 1600 x 1600 dpi so that all details are captured. This will give advertisers, designers or engineers more time to spend thinking about their design concepts, rather than put work to an abrupt stop just to spot that change in detail from revised prints.

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Kodansha embraces HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press to boost business agility

At a glance

Challenge

Solution

Results

Industry: Publishing

• Improve supply chain management and reduce warehousing costs.

• Benchmarking against international best practices, Kodansha invested in the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press to deliver the necessary speed, efficiency and publishing flexibility.

• Reduced stock count, improving cost control and inventory management.

Business name: Kodansha Ltd. Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan Website: kodansha.co.jp

• Meet offset quality and media variety but with the ability to produce shorter print runs.

• Upgrade contents in new print formats, and transfer publishing data to eBooks and hybrid products.

• Achieve a streamlined workflow incorporating print, bookbinding and finishing.

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• Using the HP T300 on short-runs of small format books and to print academic content, including upgrades from monochrome to color.

• Improved business agility; now able to print in shorter runs and respond to market demand.

• Enabled the refresh of academic content with cost-effective use of color images in previously monochrome titles.

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“ The HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press was able to meet our requirements.

We looked at many factors, including ink-density, and test-printing showed that other companies’ equipment would not be able to meet our needs.”

– Kenjiro Umezaki, executive director of Kodansha‘s Production Division

Kodansha is one of the largest publishing companies in Japan.

Established in 1909, it publishes more than 50 magazine titles, along with 3,000 book titles every year. Unusual among Japanese publishers, Kodansha operates its own printing company, Toyokuni Printing.

Despite its size, reputation and vertical integration, Kodansha is not immune to the challenges of the wider publishing industry.

Across the industry, print circulation figures are falling, while the availability of online content is flourishing. The print circulation of new title launches is also dwindling.

The traditional business model, where publishers use offset printers to produce large volumes of product (with the risk that not every copy will sell), is proving costly and inflexible.

Unsold copies require warehousing, stock management and ongoing marketing involvement. In addition, offset printing makes it difficult to react quickly to new print opportunities.

To thrive, publishers need to be far more agile. They need to be able to repurpose content in response to market demand and, where applicable, adapt print content as eBooks, creating a new hybrid publishing market.

Kodansha wants to be able to trial new titles with shorter print runs and examine niche opportunities. This way the business is better able to quickly and cost effectively identify commercial successes, and reduce the costly storage of excess paper stock.

Benchmarking against international publishers Kenjiro Umezaki, executive director of Kodansha’s Production Division says the business sought a new press, one capable of printing short-runs: “Even if we were only printing short-runs, we look for savings in the cost of printing, so we were considering new printing systems.”

Umezaki says Kodansha typically benchmarks new purchases against the equipment of rival publishers. He says he was impressed with the performance of the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press and HP’s experience in international markets, particularly in the book publishing sector.

“We were looking at using the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press not for on-demand products, but for routine short-run production for wide distribution to bookstores. To do so, we wanted to use the same offset paper as with the previous set-up.

“The HP T300 was able to meet our requirements. We looked at many factors, including ink-density, and test-printing showed that other companies’ equipment would not be able to meet our needs.”

Reducing stock costs The HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press has made an immediate impact. The ability to offer short-runs has reduced the risk of printing an excessive amount of copies. This will lead to a reduction in stock and improved inventory management, contributing to considerable annual savings. “We expect this will be the most significant cost-reduction area for the business,” says Umezaki.

More than cost saving, the HP T300 has enabled Kodansha to be more flexible with its approach to market. Short-runs allow the business to test a product and if demand is strong, go ahead with larger runs.

Get connected. hp.com/go/graphicarts Share with colleagues.

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“We don’t know for sure which titles will succeed or how many copies will be sold. It’s important for us to establish the production line to supply books promptly according to market response,” says Umezaki. “Furthermore, if we can determine how many books we should produce at any one time, it becomes a less risky process.”

In addition, academic books, previously published in monochrome, can now be produced in color, making the product more attractive and able to command a higher margin.

In addition, the publishing content is reused in the publishing of eBooks.

Umezaki says printing towards the upper range of the HP T300’s limits, which is color print runs of up to 3,000, will deliver cost comparable to offset. This allows Kodansha to print in color at monochrome prices, while improving margins and delivering a higher quality product. It also impacts Kodansha proof-books, promotional copies sent to bookshops and buyers.

Hideki Okada, chief operating officer of Toyokuni Printing, says the HP T300 is now being trialed on bunko books, small format books similar to paperbacks, with print runs between 300 and 500. This format needs to be light yet robust, requiring thin paper but glued solidly to prevent falling apart. For quality purposes, it is important neither ink nor Bonding Agent shows through the thin paper.

The HP Bonding Agent, a colorless liquid applied before the other inks and only where inks are printed improves optical density and pigment adhesion to the paper. The HP T300’s use of the HP Bonding Agent means Kodansha can not only print onto low-cost, uncoated offset media, but by doing so, achieve a level of durability and output quality that surpassed what it considered achievable.

“We’d like to use the new system to increase the number and variety of such publications,” he says. “We can improve bunko books by including more pictures and illustrations, something the HP T300 enables.

“Usually with inkjet printing, you need to choose a specific paper carefully, but with the HP T300, you can use standard offset paper. The effectiveness of the HP Bonding Agent also gives us more flexibility in choosing the paper.

“We can streamline the production process with bookbinding and finishing. Conventional high-volume production is based on a separation of these processes. The HP T300 gives us a good opportunity to streamline our production.

© Copyright 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA4-6920ENW, June 2013, This is an HP Indigo digital print.

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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DIGITAL Technology

Walter Zehner (right), managing director of KBA Greater China, thanked managing director David Liu from the Glory Innovations Group for his confidence and hospitality

De bu t for R a pi da 1 0 6 a n d RotaJ ET 76 The KBA Roadshow is already a well-established tradition for the print branch in the People’s Republic of China, the Asia-Pacific region and India. In March, the successful series extended its list of venues to include also Taiwan. Three events attracted a good attendance in each of the country’s most important print centres: Tainan in the south, Taichung in the central region and Taipei in the north. The technical highlights placed in the spotlight were UV technologies for sheetfed offset, in-mould label printing, the digital web press RotaJET 76, and the Rapida 106, the world champion press

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

in terms of makeready and production speed. The process developments and product innovations were presented in proven inimitable manner by Jürgen Veil, KBA head of sheetfed marketing.

the presentations by KBA users such as Wu Weng Hsiung, chairman of the Just Shine Printing Company, and Chen Cheng Hsiung, president of the Printing Technology Research Institute.

Akio Pong, managing director of KBA sales partner Shining Graphics, welcomed the guests and introduced the KBA group as a broadly based, innovative and financially very sound partner of the international print industry. The importance attached to the meetings was reflected in addresses given by the presidents of the printing associations in the three regions, and in

In Taipei, the managing director of KBA Greater China, Walter Zehner, thanked the management of the Glory Innovations Group for two special “firsts”, namely the installation of the first Rapida 106 in Taiwan and the opportunity to present this high-tech press live in action to other Taiwanese printers. Walter Zehner: “The Rapida 106 has brought the Glory Inno-

DIGITAL Technology

21

vations Group a significant productivity boost and distinct competitive advantages. The high degree of flexibility enables response to the most varied demands of future markets. KBA aims to serve the company as a long-term and reliable partner, and that will benefit both sides in the end.”

Alex Hong from Shining Graphics explained the press features and process sequences in more detail during a print demonstration on the Rapida 106, and drew attention to the extremely fast makeready achieved with the dedicated plate cylinder drive system DriveTronic SPC. Subsequently, the gathered print professionals were able to take a closer, first-hand look at the press.

Jürgen Veil, KBA head of sheetfed offset marketing, presented a diversity of technical innovations

Walter Zehner presented a model of the six-colour Rapida 106 to David Liu, managing director of the Glory Innovations Group, as thanks for the company’s confidence and outstanding hospitality. David Liu reaffirmed his great satisfaction with the local KBA team and said that he looked forward to further expanding his business with the new Rapida.

The three KBA events in Taiwan – here in Taipei – were very well received and attracted good attendances Autor / Author: Cammy Lee Nr. / No.: 13-029-R Rückfragen / Inquiries: Martin Dänhardt Datum / Date: 16.04.2013 Telefon / Phone: +49 351 833-2580 E-Mail: martin.daenhardt@kba.com KBA Roadshow in Taiwan

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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PACKAGING Technology

Weppert invests into a Speedmaster

CD 102-6+L-UV Scope of Performance Enhanced Photo: Druckhaus Weppert Norbert Hettrich, managing partner of Druckhaus Weppert Schweinfurt GmbH

For more information, please contact: Heidelberg Asia Pte Ltd Pornthip Asavajaruphan Regional Marketing & Communications Manager

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

PACKAGING Technology

The Weppert printing company in Schweinfurt is maintaining a course of steady growth. With the purchase of a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102-6-LUV, the printing company is expanding its modern machinery and increasing its range of high-quality print finishing and print effects. In the words of Norbert Hettrich, managing partner of Weppert, “This machine perfectly complements our workflow and represents yet another increase in productivity. With this investment in UV technology, we can exercise even better control over the quality of print finishing in the future. And our customers benefit from a broader selection of high-quality finishing, metallic effects, as well as spot and full-surface coating”.

The investment in the 6-color printing machine is part of the growth strategy of the printing company from Schweinfurt, which would like to position itself as the market leader in the growing online print sector. With its brands xposeprint, VIP Print and Buecher.vipprint, Weppert experienced an increase in turnover of 18 per cent in 2012, with the online business alone attaining three-digit growth.

This most recent machine purchase also serves the expansion of the Internet sector. Thanks to the larger range of design possibilities using UV technology, the portal xposeprint.de has established itself in the market as an online platform for high-quality, effective printing products at competitive prices and is continuing to cement its position as Germany’s most cost-effective printer of brochures.

Printing with UV technology provides benefits both for Weppert and for its customers. When the printing inks are dried in a process using UV light, the liquid binding agent components of the UV ink become cross-linked within seconds

Phone: +66 2 610 6210

Fax: +66 2 610 6299

23

to form a solid film. The printed sheets dry immediately and the print product can then undergo any further processing right away, all of which leads to an increase in manufacturing efficiency. In addition, UV coating gives the printed materials a particularly high gloss and a great feel, combined with good protection and scratch resistance. This makes brochures, flyers, advertising material or stickers extremely effective and classy.

The Speedmaster CD 102-6-L-UV is the sixth sheet-fed offset machine of the printing company. After some design changes in the production halls, it will go into production in Plant I in the Schweinfurt location at the end of April. This start-up coincides with the introduction of new employees into the production department, who bring with them the relevant expertise in dealing with UV inks and coatings, as well as with the appropriate print substrates.

Since 1839, the name Weppert has stood for competence and quality in printing.

With innovative product developments and using the most up-to-date technologies, the printing company has grown from a former workshop into a successful company in the printing industry. With its brands xposeprint, VIPprint and Buecher. vipprint, Weppert is today a competence center for high-quality and individual online print products and, with more than 26,000 items, covers the whole range of printing needs in the business world.

Weppert offers a complete service to its customers – from design and implementation, through manufacture and finishing, and all the way up to the perfect end product. We also take care of the complete logistics chain, right up to the handover of a print product to the end customer.

E-mail: pornthip.asavajaruphan@heidelberg.com

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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PACKAGING Technology

For more information, contact: Mark Geeves at 513-258-0047 or mark@color-logic.com or i.lesmana@mimakieurope.com

s e i f i t r e Color-Logic C

Mimaki JV400LX Series Wide-Format Latex Printers West Chester, OH; July 2013--Color-Logic has extended its long relationship with Mimaki by certifying Mimaki JV400LX Series wide-format latex printers for use with the Process Metallic Color System.

Since the early days of the Color-Logic process, Mimaki has been a valued partner, and the release of Mimaki latex printers with white ink--the first in the world--now extends that relationship.

Announcing the continued collaboration, Color-Logic Chief Technology Officer Richard Ainge commented: “Mimaki wide format printers have a long-proven compatibility with the Color-Logic process, and their release of the world’s first latex printer with white ink capability means that Mimaki laser printer users can now achieve dramatic metallic special effects using metallic substrate. The Mimaki white ink enables graphic designers to block the effect of metallic substrates where the metallic effect is not desired. Using the Color-Logic software to create the necessary white ink masks

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

significantly reduces design time, and the Color-Logic visualization software enables designers to accurately assess their metallic designs without expensive onpress test prints.”

Mimaki boosts customers’ competitiveness with its original ink jet technology and cutting technology. The company created the wide-format eco-solvent market and is now taking the lead in newer inkjet products including latex ink and solvent UV ink. For more information, European and US customers should visit www.mimakieurope.com or www. mimakiuse.com. In other areas, log on to http://eng.mimaki.co.jp/. tion process that yields dramatic results.

Color-Logic decorative effects utilize the Color-Logic™ develops color communi- existing workflows of printers and decation systems and software tool sets signers, yielding dynamic results without for a variety of special effect printing the use of special equipment. Color-Logapplications. Color-Logic provides brand ic supports the value of print and works owners, product managers, corpora- with designers and printers to enhance tions, and their advertising agencies the their printed media. For more informaability to differentiate themselves and tion, visit www.color-logic.com or call +1their clients with a simple print produc- 513-258-0047.

DIGITAL Technology

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Print Profitability

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Variable Data Softwares

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Canon has come a long way in the production printing arena. Our series of color and mono digital press are designed to meet your every business requirement.

All imagePRESS and Oce machines come with a range of professional finishing accessories, providing you the ease of business scalability and flexibility. Each of the imagePRESS and Oce comes with its own strength of business proposition.

To complement the imagePRESS and Oce series of digital press, we have a wide offering of print production software solutions for your business needs. Ranging from web-based job submission, to integrated workflow, variable data printing and print audit, our production solutions ensure that your business can be simple.

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Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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nEWS

PRAISE FOR THE

‘STAND OUT’ PRESS The bosses of a Chinese print company believe their purchase of a new manroland press will enable them to print better, faster and be different from their competitors.

Li Sheng Color Printing, based in Taiwan, specializes in high end packaging and printing products such as cigarette packs, and cosmetic and food packages. With 120 employees, it is a leading folding paper box manufacturer on the island.

They have a number of manroland presses on their 12,000 square metre site, and have now added the R507LV +UV. Lin Yankun, the managing director, singled out the print quality – particularly in the coating application and ease of operation.

of our printers in the packaging printing industry understand that the advanced printing technology is the key to success.”

“The double coater application from ROLAND is mature and helps customers achieve added value on the packaging products.”

“manroland printing technologies, which have been leading the global packaging printing industry, enable us not only to print better and faster, but also to print differently from our competitors. Thus we are able to bring more added value to our customers. ”

He said the InlineFoiler application made his company’s finish stand out against the competitors.

The General Manager Mr. Chia Sheng Lin, revealed the secrets of their success. “All

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

“manroland has been our best “old” friend whom we could count on all these years.”

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nEWS

Flint Group

exhibits nyloprint® NExT Exposure for the first time at SDW

Flint Group Flexographic Products presented its printing plate portfolio for security and banknote printing.

From 21 to 23 May 2013 this year’s Security Document World Conference (SDW) took place in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, London (Great Britain). With good reason, the organisers claim the affiliated exhibition to be one of the largest and best attended in the world of security printing. Celebrating its seventh anniversary, the event brought record numbers once again with about 100 exhibitors and more than 1,500 visitors.

During the event, Flint Group Flexographic Products presented its printing plate portfolio for security and banknote printing. Especially for the production of passports, stamps or bank notes, guilloche patterns and micro texts are used, which require the highest possible precision. With a resolution of up to 10,000 dpi nyloprint® WS and WS Digital printing plates are ideally suited for such extremely high printing requirements.

The highlight of Flint Group Flexographic Products’ exhibit was nyloprint® NExT, the new exposure for letterpress plates.

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

The nyloprint® NExT exposure is targeted to the security and banknote printing as well as the high-end segment of labels, tubes, cups and can printing. UV-A LEDs of the latest generation (> 250 mW/cm²) allow a more precise image reproduction of the finest relief elements and gradations. Compared with conventional light sources, the high-power LEDs enable a virtual 1:1 copy of the digital data onto the printing plate, thus optimising the reproduction accuracy of the digital data.

The exposing speed of the LED bars can be customised to specifically define dot shape and shoulder angle. Additionally, the finest highlights and open shadows increase the image contrast.

The constant UV output of the UV-A LEDs of the nyloprint® NExT exposure results in among the highest long-term repeatability, especially for rework during the complete life cycle. In this application, it shows clear advantages against the conventional tube exposure as well. The temperature control of the exposure bed ensures consistent production conditions. The new exposure unit is suitable for processing every high quality photopolymer letterpress plates up to a maximum size of 1200 x 960 mm (47.2” x 37.8”). As a standard, the exposure unit will be offered with UV-A LEDs and can be provided with additional UVA tubes on request.

The new technology can be used for all digital letterpress plates, regardless of

Fl i nt G ro u p Fl e xo g ra p hi c Products presented its printing plate portfolio for security and banknote printing. plate thickness and format. It is compatible with all standard prepress and HD software and can be easily implemented into the existing digital workflow.

More information about Flint Group can be found on the internet at www.flintgrp.com or contact info.flexo@flintgrp. com.

DIGITAL Technology

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FESPA CHINA & CSGIA 2013 THE FUTURE FOR PRINT 18-20 NOVEMBER 2013 SHANGHAI WORLD EXPO EXHIBITION AND CONVENTION CENTRE CHINA

WHERE GLOBAL BRANDS MEET TO DELIVER LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRINT BUSINESSES FESPA China & CSGIA is the ultimate fusion of technology for the Sign and Graphics market.

With an extensive line-up of 400 international exhibitors, visiting FESPA China & CSGIA 2013 provides businesses with an opportunity to experience the latest products and technology for screen, digital and textile printing.

Taking place on the 18-20 November 2013 the industries global print manufacturers and suppliers will meet in Shanghai, China to deliver limitless opportunities for print businesses along with an unrivalled programme of visitor features.

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Asia I July 2013 - August 2013 FESPA CHINA & CSGIA 2013,Digital 18-20Print NOVEMBER

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nEWS

Pragati places order for two new Komori presses Hyderabad-based Pragati Offset has ordered for two new Komori printing presses. Both the printing presses are 20x30 inch and 28x40 inch with seven-colour, non UV configuration and are equipped with anilox coaters.

Narendra Paruchuri, managing director, Pragati Offset, said, “We are replacing our current 28 inch and 40 inch Komori presses with new printing presses. So it is an obvious choice to choose the same company as the performance of both the machines was impeccable. Also we wanted both the printing presses from the same company. We went for one Japanese and German manufacturer also but both are not in 29 inch segment. Thus we made the decision.”

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

(l-r)Sangam Khanna, director of Insight Komori Div; Narendra Paruchuri, MD of Pragati; Toshiyasu Kubotera, GM of Komori; Mahendra Paruchuri, director of Pragati and Naomasa Hashimoto, India in-charge Komori

“We are optimistic for fast and authentic pre and after sale services since Insight has been appointed Komori’s pan India dealer. We had some service related issues with the earlier dealer. We have booked the printing presses in this month and hopefully will get both the machines by the end of this calendar year. Both the printing presses will be used for commercial and packaging jobs,” Paruchuri added.

try from the start of this calendar year, strinking a deal with Pragati is great for us. We have created two customer support locations to cater customers from south India at Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Now we are planning to create a strong service network in all major cities of the country. Recently, we have added service personals in Chennai and Hyderabad is under process for the same and are on the way to localise customer support as much we can. A strong team of experienced and talented engineers at Insight will serve existing as well as new customers.”

“Hassle free running and getting all the extras as required from the beginning are the main reasons for the installation of new presses. Both the printing presses we are replacing had been bought new This News article appeared in the 10 July and have served us extremely well. So 2013, Vol VI Issue 3 issue of PrintWeek in a way, buying new presses is cheaper­­ India Magazine than the pre-owned in long run. Being a tax payer, it is a good investment for us. I hope that the order for two new printing presses will create good growth for us,” concluded Paruchuri.

Sangam Khanna, director, Insight Communications, head of Komori division, shared, “Since we have started our operations in southern part of the coun-

PACKAGING Technology

31

Print World Asia • 7/2013

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Digital Technology

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nEWS

KBA takes over

Kammann Maschinenbau GmbH in Bad Oeynhausen Further expansion into the growing packaging market Following the planned takeover of Flexotecnica an Italian press manufacturer active in the growing print market for flexible packaging (film) in February, Koenig & Bauer (KBA) now announces a further acquisition in a luxury segment of the packaging printing sector. KBA is continuing its successful niche strategy with the majority takeover of Kammann Maschinenbau GmbH in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. The world’s second-largest press manufacturer aims to expand into this growing market to counteract the shrinking sales volume of web presses for publications heavily affected by the advance of online media.

Koenig & Bauer takes over 85% of Kammann Maschinenbau GmbH. The previous majority shareholder, private equity firm Perusa in Munich, has successfully restructured and realigned this medium-sized press manufacturer over the last years. Kammann’s two managing di-

Source: www.kba.com

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

rectors will continue to hold a 15% stake.

All parties have agreed not to disclose any further details concerning the takeover at this time. The acquisition is still subject to minor formal conditions.

Kammann mainly offers presses for decorating hollow containers made from premium-quality glass, plastic and metal.

Along with screen printing, Kammann’s precise and flexible transport systems can also be equipped with hot-stamping, digital printing and decorating processes. The company also has a substantial service business. In systems for directly decorating glass containers Kammann is the global market leader. The firm, which has almost no own production facilities, was founded in 1955 and has a total of 175 employees. In 2012 it generated annual sales of over €30m ($39m) and posted a net profit. Directly decorated glass containers are mainly used for cosmetics, perfume and spirituous beverages in the top price class. Premium glass packaging is a growing business even in

threshold countries, such as China, Brazil and Russia. It is regarded as a differentiation medium and is continually gaining importance as a status symbol compared to cheaper alternatives. Market forecasts predict above-average growth for this segment. From a process point of view, direct printing with high-quality screen printing systems is the most challenging and costly finishing method due to the mechanic handling of different forms of glass containers. These technological demands prevent newcomers from entering this luxury segment which is serviced by very few manufacturers. On supermarket shelves directly decorated glass containers for premium perfume or beverage brands compete with more simply labelled containers for cheaper brands.

These are often undervalued by customers looking for luxury goods. While direct printing of containers is a new territory for KBA, the group is already well-established in some areas of label printing and other packaging forms. Management therefore views this acquisition as a useful addition.

nEWS

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Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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nEWS

PaperlinX creates office in

Shanghai Andrew Price, executive director of PaperlinX, says, the Shanghai office will allow PaperlinX to leverage its procurement power globally

Paper merchant PaperlinX has opened an office in Shanghai to serve as a sales office for its international trading business and as an Asian sourcing and procurement base for its global operations.

The company says its decision to open a China-based operation forms a key part of its strategy to be a market leading materials merchant and to expand revenue streams beyond its traditional commercial print offering.

Globally, PaperlinX says it has implemented measures to simplify its organisational structure, revitalise and improve efficiency; moves that underpin its commitment to drive performance improvements,

strengthen the balance sheet and restore profitability.

Andrew Price, executive director of PaperlinX, says, “Within our ANZA businesses, we source significant volumes of product from China. Opening an office in Shanghai gives us the opportunity to leverage our procurement power globally; this will further enhance the Group’s supply chain efficiency and better fits with a Group-wide commitment to streamline processes, as well as eliminate both cost and inventory duplication.”

The company adds that having a single point of contact in China will encourage better collaboration between individual

countries, facilitate information sharing and provide the Group with access to a wider gamut of sales and sourcing options. This resource will also fully support the bespoke branded web storefront initiative recently launched to the Group’s UK customers and which will shortly be rolled out across Europe. PaperlinX says this customised online platform to sell packaging, paper and other media is positioned to help printers open up new business opportunities and deliver an alternative revenue stream without significant investment. PaperlinX intends to expand the existing 500-strong product offering in direct response to customer demand.

source: http://www.i-grafix.com/index.php/news/asia/paperlinx-creates-office-in-shanghai.html

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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Greater

than the sum of its parts.

+

XMPie® uStore® Xerox® FreeFlow® Automation

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TM

StoreFlow™ - A New Formula for Success Two powerful solutions have come together to create an affordable, end-to-end, Web-to-print solution with built-in pre-press automation. XMPie StoreFlow brings Xerox FreeFlow workflow automation to uStore, XMPie’s popular Web-to-print solution - creating a unique and synergistic offering.

Create online storefronts with uStore, enabling customers to order personalized/customized documents from a catalog or upload their own documents such as Adobe® PDF or Microsoft® Word. Built to meet the challenges of receiving, producing, and delivering high volumes of short-run jobs through the Web, StoreFlow provides a truly automated, touch-less workflow for increased efficiency and profitability. To find out more, visit: www.xmpie.com/rbl/storeflow.html

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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nEWS

China probes

Tetra Pak for misuse of market

China is investigating global packaging giant Tetra Pak over the possible misuse of its market dominance

China is investigating global packaging giant Tetra Pak over the possible misuse of its market dominance in the world’s second biggest economy.

According to worldwide reports, Zhang Mao, director of the state administration for Industry and Commerce said that the agency has enlisted more than 20 provincial and municipal industry and commerce agencies around the country to look into Tetra Pak. The investigation comes as China is looking into possible price-fixing by foreign dairy suppliers and examining drug costs by 60 foreign and domestic companies.

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

Tetra Pak has more than 23,000 employees worldwide and its packages are available in 170 countries, it is part of the private Tetra Laval group, which is owned by the Swedish Rausing family.

According to Forbes’ latest billionaires list, four members of the family are among Sweden’s six richest people. Several of them live in Britain.

Tetra Pak entered China in 1979.

DIGITAL Technology

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Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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nEWS

Walmart says cannot meet India’s local sourcing rules: Report

MUMBAI - Walmart has told India that it is unable to meet local sourcing requirements for foreign supermarket groups wanting to open stores in the country, a report said Wednesday.

Under rules introduced when the government opened up the sector in 2012, foreign supermarkets are required to buy 30 per cent of their products from local small-scale industries.

Walmart has “orally conveyed its stand” to the government over the policy, the Press Trust of India reported, adding to complaints from US companies that they are unable to operate in India.

US Vice President Joe Biden is in India this week to urge New Delhi to further open its doors to US companies and press their case in the nuclear, defence and retail sectors among others.

Walmart, which said last year it wanted to launch its first supermarket within two years, has said it can procure only about 20 per cent of its goods from small Indian industries.

exist for FDI.” Walmart India officials were not immediately available to comment to AFP.

“We are still very early in the process on FDI (foreign direct investment) but are excited by the opportunity in front of us,” a Walmart spokeswoman was quoted by PTI as saying.

India’s left-leaning government has opened up or proposed opening the banking and insurance, airline, energy and media sectors to foreign investors but has imposed conditions in each case.

Experts have warned some of the conditions, designed to protect local industries and counter criticism India is “selling out” to foreign multinationals, are often too restrictive and will scare off foreign investors.

“We continue to work with the government to better understand the rules that

The US supermarket group already operates in India as a wholesaler via apart-

nership with Bharti, owner of India’s top mobile phone firm, but it isunable to sell directly to consumers.

Last year, New Delhi allowed foreign supermarkets to establish 51-per centjoint ventures in the country as part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s driveto seek outside investment to perk up a sharply slowing economy.

India’s opposition lawmakers in the past have expressed concern over Walmart’s entry, saying it will hurt local “mom and pop” stores.

Source: AFP http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/walmart-says-cannot-meet-indias-local-sourcing-rules-report?page=0%2C0

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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nEWS

Müller Martini

faced with long-term reform of the company The Müller Martini Group is suffering from the difficult economic conditions and continuing structural change in the graphics industry. Although Müller Martini has successfully preserved its position as a market leader, revenues have fallen massively over the last four years.

Müller Martini is therefore looking at a fundamental restructuring over the months ahead.

The aim of the reform of the company is to preserve its future role as a leader in the shrunken global graphics industry through innovative printing and print finishing products together with a high-quality customer service, and to put the company on a sustainable and future-oriented foundation. In addition, Müller Martini must adapt the size of the company to a scaled-back market to enable it to continue investing in future-oriented product developments.

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

Commitment to the industry in the contracted market The reason behind the on-going difficult situation is the fundamental transformation of the graphics industry. The resultant consolidation among printing companies has significantly reduced the customer base. Many existing and potential customers are holding back on investment - or are being prevented from investing in new equipment due to the lack of credit. There is significant pressure on prices and margins; in addition the strong Swiss franc exchange rate is having a detrimental impact on profit margins.

“In order to survive in strong shape, we cannot avoid the need to operate on a smaller scale,” says CEO Bruno Müller, adding, “However, by concentrating our forces, we will do our utmost to contin-

ue to intensify the comprehensive advice we provide to our customers on new investments and in particular in the service area. Our sales and service network regionalization program, which was initiated last year, gives us a good starting point in this context.”

Over the coming weeks the search for solutions will be focusing on all manufacturing locations and areas of the group at home and abroad. This will include an indepth look at consolidating the two main sites in Zofingen and Felben which are not operating at sufficient capacity. In total up to 550 jobs worldwide could be affected by the restructuring. A decision is expected in the next few months.

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4th Edition of

PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL registers a record breaking 40% increase in exhibition space

Increased demand in exhibition space cements PPI’s position as the leading trade fair for Southeast Asia’s printing and packaging industry PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2013’s trade floor is set for the much anticipated biennial staging of the world’s top companies in the packaging and printing sector from 28 to 31 August 2013. The 4th International Packaging and Printing Exhibition for Southeast Asia brings together leading brand names, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors that are set to move the industry to Thailand’s Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC). Jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf Asia (MDA), The Thai Packaging Association and The Thai Printing Association, the trade exhibition will come to life with multi4range product displays and robust exhibitor4visitor engagements across three exhibition halls at BITEC. A wide range of exciting on site activities including product

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

demonstrations, interactive seminars and workshops conducted by industry experts representing the exhibiting leading brands will be available to trade professionals attending the trade fair.

PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL is an industry focused exhibition that is the top choice for industry leaders and rapidly emerging companies to showcase their latest technology, pioneering innovations and timely product offerings that cater to current market needs. It provides an excellent collaborative platform for leading companies and their authorized distributors, suppliers and certified dealers to meet targeted clients.

Mr Gernot Ringling, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf Asia shared that

“PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL rides on the back of strong industry development that is full of potential amidst a positive economic outlook. We are delighted that the trade exhibition has grown by 40% in space with even more live machinery on display. We will continue to bring the world’s best market leaders whose technologies meet the industry’s current expectations, both globally and from Thailand.”

Exhibiting companies will be featuring novel, higher grade or newly improved products with enhanced technical aspects that can combine high production reliability and performance capability with cost4efficiency. In response to swift market momentum that pushes for faster turnaround of fresh introductions into expanding markets, PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL will promote complete range of customized, multi4functional products as well as integrated services that reflect the expanded business environment across the packaging and printing sectors.

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            

                        

Technological Trends advancement of Thailand’s food, drink  and healthcare packaging sectors, the That Drive  the Printing   world’s  market   the     can expect introduc& Packaging Sectors tions of new products, improvised pro

duction from quality producers in the       According to Smithers Pira (Printing In- country.”

The food and beverages sector  dustry Research Association), global dig- remains the key growth driver, supportital printed packaging has a forecasted ed by high export demand and easy ac CAGR growth rate of 20.6% through to cess to raw materials that pave robust          2016 and is expected to reach a mar- growth in the domestic market for pro ket value of US$12.26 billion. Given the cessing and packaging equipment. Drivpromising future of digital printing for en by these promising market indicators,  packaging, PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL the exhibition has attracted innovative             2013 will feature printing themes ear- packaging materials and label solutions       marked for greater expansion such as manufacturers that include  C.G.S (Thai-   packaging printing, digital printing, auto- land) Co Ltd, C.I.Kasei Co Ltd, Idemitsu mation and web4to4print applications, Unitech Co Ltd, MPS Maschinen4 & Pack           all of which play significant role in sup- 4Systeme AG, PMC Label Materials Co., of       porting the development digital flexi-Ltd., Polyplex (Thailand) Public Company ble packaging needs.

Exhibitors presentLimited and etc.  ing the integrated applications include Global Graphics Machines Co Ltd repre- Thailand’s position as an essential base      senting Kodak etc, Muller Martini (Thai-  for the regional printing and  production   

land) Co Ltd, Nationwide Co Ltd who will sector will be further strengthened with       be showcasing products from Konica Miincreased technological investments con-              nolta, CRON CTP and Rotary Technology tributed by international manufacturers            Limited Partnership featuring machines and  their  local distributors and suppliers. from Edale Ltd. As this sector thrives by Mr Pornchai Rattanachaikanont, Presan average of 5%  annually, reaching 37 ident of The Thai Printing Association     million tonnes of materials globally by pointed that “Thailand has a strong in 2017, Thailand’s dynamic packaging mar- dustry representation of over 5,000 local  6.41% CAGR to USD companies and 500 publishing houses. ket is set to grow at 11.1 billion by end  2016.

As such, global players who partner local          companies can look towards gaining a           The rapid development of Thailand’s larger market share of the industry, both  players     packaging sector will allow local locally and across the region.” Some of    to optimize the opportunities available the multi4national brands and compa in Asia’s US$114 billion worth packaging nies who will be exhibiting alongside  industry. Mr Chaivudhi Pungthong, Pres- their local partners include Page Canon ident of The Thai Packaging Association Marketing (Thailand) Co Ltd, Ferrostaal highlighted that “With the technological (Thailand) Co Ltd, Fujifilm (Thailand) Ltd, 

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nEWS Fuji Xerox Thailand Co Ltd, Heidelberg Graphics (Thailand) Ltd, Hewlett Packard Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Ricoh (Thailand) Ltd and many others.

Industry projections indicate that the digital print market will reach USD$187.7 billion by 2018, these companies are set to present their digital print solutions that complement the offset printing sectors with equally high speed and quality outputs. Sheetfed printers looking to acquire offset presses with the ability to handle a range of formats can visit Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA), Eltromat GmbH, Worldly Industrial Co Ltd, Sanxin Printing Machine Material Co Ltd, Tradeally (Thailand) Co Ltd, Large Format Systems Co Ltd and many more at the exhibition. These companies will present their latest technologies ranging from small to super4large web offset presses for commercial and newspaper printing, as well as presses and systems for banknote printing, metal4decorating and coding.

With impressive growth trends expected across both the printing and packaging sectors, Thailand will be amongst the first country in the region to reap the benefits of the potential investment outpour from this trend as it prepares to enter the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. As the country gears up to become the integrated printing and packaging hub of Asia, such conducive market activities will prompt producers to start planning for business expansion to support increasing demand resulting from increased foreign investment. Mr. Salanroj Sutaschuto, Director of Administrative Department, the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) expressed that, “It is befitting that PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL should be hosted in Bangkok as it plays a significant role in

building essential business relationships among Thai companies and their global printing and packaging counterparts. As the exhibition attracts both global performing companies and local conglomerates, their participation reinforces Thailand’s strategic position as an important commercial and innovation hub to nurture further growth for thriving business around the region.”

“TCEB, as a government organization, has supported incentive programs and buyer appreciation programmes such as “100 A4HEAD” campaign. Under these programmes, TCEB as the strategic partner role has been helping PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2013 to attract qualified international buyers and extend more opportunities for overseas marketing promotion and networking opportunities with industrialist in the target countries. TCEB has provided visitor promotion campaigns to attract group visitors from associations, federation chambers of commerce of ASEAN plus six countries as well as a buyer appreciation program called “Be My Guest” to attract key buyers around the globe. We are certain that our subsidy campaigns will help drive growth in creating new economic value and increase revenues, especially, this year we are expected that PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2013 will be generate revenue over 107.5 million baht to Thailand.” added Mr Salanroj Sutaschuto.

Complementary Value-Added Activities on the Trade Floor Over 20,000 trade professionals from all over Asia are expected to visit PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2013 to experience a one4stop platform that offers the opportunity to establish new business

partnerships, network with local and international trade insiders and engage potential distributing agents. Apart from the main exhibition, PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2013 will also present a line4up of concurrent events consisting of product demonstrations, seminars, technical workshops and onsite presentations. These concurrent events feature the industry’s best creative minds who will present the latest trends and innovations that have inspired change whilst harnessing the thriving business environment for the packaging and printing industry.

The Design and Engineering Consulting Service Center (DECC), NSTDA, THAILAND will be sharing its perspectives on ways to provide ‘Cost4saving Improvement by Engineering Design’ alongside the co4organizer, The Thai Packaging Association’s seminar on ‘Packaging for Ready to Eat’ products. Local industry experts from various supporting associations and regional trade delegations will be present to network with trade visitors and share knowledge on the latest developments that impact packaging and printing companies in the region. Visitors are encouraged to optimize their onsite engagements with exhibitors for industry insights and identify viable products or services to augment operational competencies. Visitors can also look forward to obtaining practical insights on current trends that would inspire them towards making better business decisions from these events.

Visitors interested in attending PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2013 can pre4register at www.pack4print.de. Online visitor pre4registration is open until 20th August 2013.

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For more information on PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2013, please visit www.pack4print.de



Press contact: Exhibitor contact: Rabita Jamal Beattrice Ho Tel: (65) 6332 9620 Tel: (65) 6332 9642 E4mail: rabita@mda.com.sg E4mail: beattrice@mda.com.sg

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Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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nEWS

hubergroup Expands in Southeast Asia Two new members have joined the Huber Group team since June 2012, taking both Huber Inks (Thailand) Ltd and Manila-based Micro Inks Limited to new heights.

This addition came after the founding of Huber Inks Indonesia in late 2010 – with Sandor Janos Meszaros as Director, and Sambasiva Pasumarthy as President Director. Meszaros’ knowledge of Asia dates back to 1997 where he was responsible for the Asian market – both in offset and packaging sectors.

“Demand for Huber Group products have risen steadily and customers expressed requirements for both support and service over the years; mandating the knowledge of Asian markets,” Meszaros explains.

The two companies supersede the activities of the Hostmann-Steinberg GmbH in Thailand. It was then developing the direct business of hubergroup Europe since 1999 and for Micro Inks Limited (MIL).

Hubergroup is one of the market leaders for UV offset special inks in packaging in Thailand. The country has one of the biggest packaging markets in Southeast Asia. Apart from Indonesia, Thailand exports a lot of consumer goods in the food area. It is also one of the largest beer and liquor producers in Asia. The lifestyle of Thais has increased substantially, resulting in stronger domestic demand for consumer goods and packaging.

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In the Philippines, Hubergroup is the market leader via supplying mainly to the biggest printers in the main business district in the country. With establishment of the branch office, the company is able to extend reach now in the north and the south of the country as well by appointing respective dealers and partners and also establish further product groups in offset.

Meszaros adds, “In the Philippines, the packaging market is strong as there is a well-established and expanding export market, based on the vast variety of agricultural and seafood products. With the recently-declared extension plans for the infrastructure within the the country, we are ready to reach the neighboring Southeast Asian countries in GDP ratio and middle class development in short.

“That fuels also the local market for packaging products, as the lifestyle in the Philippines has improved tremendously over the last five years.”

Hubergroup’s target and strategy for these two new companies will be supporting the existing and established business of partners and customers in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

It will also additionally build up and enlarge the sales of Hubergroup products with focus on commercial and packaging,

offset color matching, HS, CS, UV offset, and adhesive business plus oil/aqueous/ UV varnishes as well. Hubergroup is well geared up for the move with its reputed consistency rate.

“That helps us to reduce our local operating costs tremendously, as the need to establish own manufacturing facility is elminated. We can work in teams of up to max 40 - which are based on experts in printing application, colour matching, sales and marketing and back office support.

“Logistics also have improved in costing and timing worldwide, we can ship shortly any product from our manufacturing facilities in Asia. Additionally, from our larger entity in Indonesia we are able to source respective products within short for the region. Currently Indonesia also caters to Malaysia and Singapore,” he shared.

Another major edge Hubergroup has is the strategic geographical location of Thailand – allowing the ink player optimum network coverage within the country. Hubergroup also has several warehouses in industrial zones, and an active relationship with dealers. The company also hosts regular seminars and consultation sessions to educate customers on products and technologies.

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nEWS

WAN-IFRA

India Expo draws elite exhibitors WAN-IFRA India Expo 2013, the second largest expo in the world for trends and practices in newspaper printing and publishing, has already attracted leading suppliers to the industry who are signing up in large numbers to exhibit at the show.

Companies including ABB, Atex, CCI Europe, Ferag, Goss, Kohli Graphics, Manroland, Manugraph, Mitsubishi, Newstech, PPI Media, Tolerans, Q I Press Controls, Quadtech and more than 50 other exhibitors have confirmed their participation in the event, to be held from September 11 to 13, 2013 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, in Bangalore, India.

The Expo this year will be enhanced by WAN-IFRA’s major Asian conference, Publish Asia, which will be held alongside

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

the event. More than 1,500 Expo visitors and 600 conference delegates from Asia and the Middle East are expected to attend.

WAN-IFRA India Expo takes its lead from the mother of all industry expos, the World Publishing Expo 2013, which will be held a month later, from 7 to 9 October, in Berlin Germany. Both events, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), bring together innovators with thought leaders and decision makers. In addition to the exhibitions, which showcase the latest technologies, the events feature conferences, workshops and other opportunities for participants to focus on today’s best practices and future strategies.

Among the variety of events at the India Expo is a series of “quick learning sessions” on 3D printing, digital story telling, publishing on tablet devices, and more.

These sessions will be held in the dedicated, open-stage “Media Port” in the Expo, and will be available to participants without charge.

The twenty-first annual India Expo will be held this year with WAN-IFRA’s major Asian conference, Publish Asia, and with the Asian Media Awards Gala. The conference will have three parallel tracks: a Printing Summit for production and technology executives; a Newsroom Summit for senior editors; and a Cross Media Advertising Summit for advertising and business executives.

“WAN-IFRA India Expo 2013 comes at a time when the industry is looking for innovative solutions to augment growth,” said K N Shanth Kumar, Director of The Printers Mysore and a WAN-IFRA Board member. “Suppliers and publishers can expect to benefit from mutual interactions. Bangalore as the city provides the ambience necessary for such interactions and new learning. We invite everyone to come to Bangalore and to be inspired by new ideas that the event promises to provide.”

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Bencis to acquire Xeikon Bencis Capital Partners is the organisation to take over of digital print specialist Xeikon, after agreeing a deal with Punch International to acquire its 65.68% stake in the company for a price of €5.85 per share. The price offered for the 18,856,298 shares in Xeikon held by Punch International amounts to a value of €110,309,343.30.

Bencis Capital Partners is an independent private equity firm targeting medium-sized companies in the Benelux countries. Its portfolio ranges from sports and outdoor retail operations, construction and facility services, to personal care products, confectionery and printing. Its investments have occurred through management buy-out (MBO) and institutional buy-out (IBO) deals, including Stork Prints, which it acquired a majority stake in during November 2007. Bencis took full control of Stork Prints in March 2013.

The Gimv-XL fund will co-invest alongside Bencis and, upon completion of the transaction, acquire an indirect minority interest of approximately 20 percent in Xeikon. Bencis and Gimv-XL hope to reinforce Xeikon’s competitive position by supporting the company’s strategy and growth plan on an independent basis, with the goal to create long-term value.

The agreement is subject to a number of conditions that must be fulfilled by no later than 17 September 2013. Among other things, the transaction is subject to the effective provision to and reception

by Bencis of the necessary financing and that Xeikon’s half-year figures as at June 30 are in line with the average of the previous two years.

As part of the agreement, Punch International will acquire customer receivables from Xeikon for a maximum amount of €6 million. These receivables relate to

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machines supplied by Xeikon that customers have not yet paid for in full. As the receivables are repaid, Xeikon can transfer up to €1.5 million of extra receivables per year on condition that the total outstanding balance does not exceed €6 million. This facility reinforces Xeikon’s working capital and would be made available until 2019.

price of €9.6 million. Xeikon is taking over Point-IT, which provides it with IT services, at a price of €800,000.

A further condition is that the remaining ties between Xeikon and Punch International must be severed prior to the transfer of the controlling interest. For this reason, Punch International is acquiring all of Xeikon’s interests in Accentis at a

If the sale as detailed becomes unconditional, and the transfer to Bencis of Punch International’s share interest in Xeikon is consummated, Bencis will be obliged to make a mandatory offer for all remaining Xeikon shares.

The property on where the offices and production facilities of the Xeikon prepress division are based will be transferred, as planned, by Accentis to Xeikon for a gross price of €9.2 million.

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Avery Dennison Expands Production in Malaysia Avery Dennison has added wide web, highspeed coating capabilities to its plant in Bangi, Malaysia, on the back of strong growth in South East Asia.

Avery Dennison currently has two manufacturing locations in the ASEAN region, the Bangi plant, opened in 1997, and a plant located in Rayong, Thailand. Both facilities serve customers in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The addition of the 1.5m-wide highspeed coater will enable Avery Dennison to keep pace with the rapid growth it has experienced in the ASEAN region. The technology offers higher coating speeds

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and filmic capability, providing the company with the capacity to meet increasing demands.

David Martin, vice-president and general manager of Avery Dennison, Materials Group in the ASEAN region, Australia and New Zealand, said: ‘Our growth in the region has been robust, and we are excited to deliver such innovative technology in an increasingly competitive region.

‘Our customers expect high-quality solu-

tions and a competitive value proposition, which we will continue to deliver through our latest investments in the ASEAN region. We are supporting our customers’ growth through industry leading coating technology, capabilities and a team who are excited to deliver on our promise.

‘Not only are we increasing our capacity in line with demand, but we are also investing in the capability to offer a broader product offering and make ourselves more competitive.’

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nEWS

Southern Graphic Systems

spreads network in Asia

With an already-robust operation in Hong Kong, the renowned artwork agency has recently established their branch in Singapore in a bid to be closer to clients.

Christel Lee reports.

SGS (Southern Graphic Systems), is one of the largest global end to end artwork agencies, with branches strategically located across North America, South America, Canada, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Their clientele (and ever-expanding) include Proctor and Gamble, Wrigley, Unilever and Philips.

In 2012 SGS increased their capacity in a purpose build state of the art facility just outside Manila in The Philippines. This operation already runs a three shift pattern, offering round-the-clock services to global and national clients. The company is still aggressively hiring talent to cater to their large client base. SGS enjoys currently over one hundred team members in both their Hong Kong and Philippine locations, added to this they have a healthy number of employees located in smaller branches around the region, including Shanghai and a purpose built 15,000 sqft Photography Studio in Kowloon.

In mid-July this year, the company opened their sixth Asia Pacific branch, this time in Singapore. Paul Hornsby, Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific, spearheaded the project. He explains the rationale of Singapore¹s setup. SGS has

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

been in the region for several years, we have an aggressive strategy of organic growth coupled with a number of strategic acquisitions. We are at the stage of development where we wanted to grow our footprint further across the region”.

“Over the years our industry partners have been shifting to Singapore, if not there already. We obviously want to be as close as possible to our partners ­ supporting them with SGS solutions coupled with our talented people who have been driving our success. SGS feels a Singapore presence has huge significance to be able to do that better,” shares Hornsby.

Jim Dahmus, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, commented: “Asia is extremely important to us. It¹s pertinent we have a successful presence in Asia to maintain our global consistency of service. We will deliver this with the brightest and best talent within the region.”

If you are suspecting the Singapore office having the potential to “replace” Hong Kong¹s operations, Hornsby stresses it¹s nothing more than being where the clients want SGS to be. “We are growing aggressively, NOT consolidating. Hong Kong is our regional corporate head office and will remain so for years to come.”

Hornsby adds: “The SGS branch in Singapore will predominantly deliver strategic leadership, project management with business development”. In response of

speculations of the company going headon against the next biggest competitor, Hornsby is quick to smash it with “We have an estimated business segment enjoying billions of dollars of opportunity.

There¹s enough work to go around!”

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Management/General 31

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Omet announces order for Variflex and X-Flex at recently held LMAI conference Omet, the Italian manufacturer of narrow web flexo presses, announced at the recently held LMAI conference in Goa that it has received orders for Omet Variflex and X-Flex narrow web flexo presses.

The manufacturing company bagged the orders from Zircon Technologies for Variflex and Sel-Jegat Printers for X-Flex.

There are multiple variants in the process.”

Meanwhile, Omet recently installed X4 label press at Hyderabad-based Arunodaya Print Pack.

Paolo Grasso, area sales manager at Omet, said, “India is a growing market and we believe in it. The installation at Zircon will be one of the biggest in India.”

The 300+ strong organisation currently has three label presses and four sheet offset presses and specialise in production of mono-cartons, labels, leaflets etc. and their clientele is spread across varied industries like liquor, pharmaceuticals and FMCG product segment.

Grasso added, “With the advent of new technology, we need to educate the Indian label convertors, as the label printing business is not simple. It is complicated.

Suresh Varma of Arunodaya who along with his brother Vijay Varma manage the business which is housed in three separate units at a massive size of 70,000sq/

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

ft, said, “With acquisition of Omet X4, we are better equipped to meet the exacting demands of our valuable customers especially with its innovative register control system which we think makes it best in the class.”

The sale of the Omet presses is handled by the New Delhi-based Weldon Celloplast, the Indian representative.

Pawandeep Sahni of Weldon Celloplast, said, “We are happy with the response for Omet. The Indian label convertors can expect value for their money and look forward for the innovations in Omet at the upcoming Label Expo Europe 2013 in September.

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Sheetfed Offset 33

...new Magnum Compact

Combining compact inker modules with powerful automation and agility features, the Goss Magnum Compact press introduces advantages never before available in the single-width sector. The result is a versatile, cost-effective option for newspaper, semi-commercial and book production, including multi-product business models and ultra short run lengths.

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Getting Uglier in I ndonesia Despite protestations to the contrary the steady destruction of Indonesian rain forests continues. A few weeks ago Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), one of Asia’s larger pulp and paper companies requested the FSC to withdraw their Chain of Custody certificates (COC). A COC confirms that wood and wood-based products originate from sustainably managed forests. Serious stuff indeed, but this is more than a local squabble between FSC and APRIL. And as always with forests and mega corps, it is not a simple matter.

The dispute began when Greenpeace, WWF Indonesia and the Rainforest Action Network complained to the FSC that APRIL was violating the FSC’s rules. APRIL continues to tear down natural forests in Indonesia, replacing them with plantations. Over the last few years APRIL has turned 200,000 hectares of Sumatra’s rainforests, much of it home to endan-

gered elephants and tigers, into plantations. The group is also trashing High Conservation Forests, forest the FSC designates as having rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems or that are necessary to meet the needs of local communities. APRIL’s argument is that this is fine because “APRIL [is] … working towards developing a renewable and sustainable plantation fibre supply to meet the fibre needs of the future, which is what was done by companies in developed countries in the past.”

This is the nub of the problem. How can developed countries disallow undeveloped ones the same rights that they enjoyed? So goes the argument, but it’s a specious one. Mistakes made in ignorance should not be repeated in the light of new knowledge: we know what the losses will be, unlike in the past when the implications of resource and species loss were not fully understood. The focus

should instead be on identifying business models based on sustainable practises, not resource destruction.

The WWF and its cohort are asking APRIL to simply stop what it is doing, which is silly and rather pointless because natural forest destruction is a fundamental part of the company’s business model. Subjective values are always tricky to share so further dialogue between APRIL and FSC is imperative. APRIL has publically stated it is open to dialogue with the FSC and the FSC is considering its response.

A conversation has to happen but ultimately it is up to the Indonesian government to preserve the country’s natural resources in the interests of its people and of future generations. It’s also up to market dynamic but this is tricky too as the balance between cost and value gets more complicated.

– Laurel Brunner

This blog is yours to use if you want, as long as you fully credit the Verdigris supporters who make it possible: Agfa Graphics (www. agfa.com), Digital Dots (http://digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EFI (www.efi.com), Fespa (www.fespa.com), Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com), Kodak (www.kodak.com/go/sustainability), Mondi (www.mondigroup.com/products), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Shimizu Printing (www.shzpp.co.jp), Splash PR (www.splashpr.co.uk), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).

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De-inking Innovations It looks like a spelling mistake but adsorption de-inking is real and apparently could be a very effective alternative to flotation de-inking. If it works, adsorption de-inking could be another positive step in the environmental sustainability of the printing and publishing industries.

De-inking is one of those touchpaper topics, guaranteed to get those who care about it well and truly steamed up.

The discussions tend rapidly to get very technical and very passionate. Combatants often clothe their arguments in concern for the environment, but they basically come down to concerns about money. For instance there are the regular attacks INGEDE makes on HP. INGEDE ,whose members are mostly European paper mills, claims that HP Indigo prints

cannot be de-inked and therefore are a source of pollution that renders digital printing environmentally hostile. HP of course begs to differ on the basis that the INGEDE claim might possibly be true for single loop de-inking systems but isn’t true for the latest generation of triple loop de-inking systems. It comes down to technology and economics and now we have something new, and possibly very exciting, to add to the mix: adsorption de-inking.

The European Fibre and Paper Research Organisations (EFPRO) and the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) have been looking at a new approach in order to achieve CEPI’s environmental impact goals. Adsorption de-inking apparently has none of the disadvantages of

conventional flotation de-inking, regardless of the number of loops. It borrows from the dry cleaning washing machine concept that uses 90% less water than a conventional washing machine. Tiny plastic beads mixed in with the wash, capture dirt through adsorption whereby molecules from one surface (the dirty clothes) are held in the surface chemistry of another (the polymeric beads). Researchers working at Dresden University have looked into applying the same principles to de-inking printed papers.

They found that using adsorption de-inking instead of flotation reduced water usage by 90% and energy usage by 30%. It also improved the brightness of the pulp by 10% and showed a clear reduction in dirt specks, all with reduced fibre loss.

The savings are obviously massive and this is only the beginning of this technology’s evolution which has yet to be optimised.

– Laurel Brunner

Image source: www.all-wallpapers.net This blog is yours to use if you want, as long as you fully credit the Verdigris supporters who make it possible: Agfa Graphics (www. agfa.com), Digital Dots (http://digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EFI (www.efi.com), Fespa (www.fespa.com), Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com), Kodak (www.kodak.com/go/sustainability), Mondi (www.mondigroup.com/products), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Shimizu Printing (www.shzpp.co.jp), Splash PR (www.splashpr.co.uk), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).

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L e av i ng

fraudsters a bad taste

n Fake wine has caused a major stir in the Republic for connoisseurs.

Winemakers have resorted to printing verifiable barcodes to differentiate themselves. Christel Lee reports.

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

We last watched Chinese companies get busted for producing fake wines in Chateau Lafite Rothschild’s name. Some 10,000 bottles of the questionable liquor were uncovered in the eastern city of Wenzhou in Shanghai, China. The owner denied any involvement in the counterfeit production and was appalled his property was a place to stash the loot. Analysts have estimated some 70% of wines sold in this name are fakes. To date, legal actions against Chinese firms over fake wines have been successful.

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gapore, on a pushcart. Obviously, a Chinese national mends the stall. However, picture the same error on another label.

People like us will need no effort to call the retailers’ bluff. Atrocious print quality can easily give the fake away.

A QR (quick response) code is a two dimensional barcode invented by the Japanese corporation Denso Wave. Information is encoded in both the vertical and horizontal direction, thus holding up to several hundred times more data than a traditional bar code. Data is accessed by capturing a photograph of the code using a camera (e.g. built into a smartphone) and processing the image with a QR reader.

Barcodes have been around for decades.

They are versatile with a large variety of uses — especially in retail and manufacturing settings, and in transport and shipping. We’re used to seeing the common barcode printed on packaging at the grocery store or in other retail outlets, when items are passed over the barcode reader at the checkout counter to ring up a sale. Barcodes are valuable at the pointof-sale, also for managing inventory and raw materials internally.

Common in shipping, barcodes enable greater accuracy and speed in getting packages delivered. And barcodes are used to manage large filing systems, library books, and a host of other purposes where large numbers of items need to be tracked efficiently.

However, barcodes have achieved a new role in their purposes – verifying authenticity, corroborating the seriousness of counterfeiting in foods. Castel, the largest producer of French wine, uses the technology on 13 million bottles for the Chinese market as well on exports to other emerging markets such as Vietnam where counterfeiting is most prevalent.

“The Chinese are asking for a lot of information and for reassurance regarding the origin of the product,” said Franck Crouzet, spokesperson for Castel. However

Chinese crooks are by no means the only perpetrators of wine scams. “China is the most notorious but the problem is worldwide,” said Christophe Chateau, spokesperson for the Bordeaux Wine Council.

Security-printed bottling?

It’s becoming an appalling norm a simple brand such as “Adidas” can appear as “Adidadas” on shoes bearing a strong resemblance to the authentic models. I saw this with my own eyes in a big mall in Sin-

The barcoded wine has been aggressively demanding attention in the market – especially with drinkers who are too paranoid with “hangover juice”. Castel, the largest producer of French wine, uses the technology on 13 million bottles for the Chinese market as well on exports to other emerging markets such as Vietnam where counterfeiting is most prevalent.

“The Chinese are asking for a lot of information and for reassurance regarding the origin of the product,” said Franck Crouzet, spokesperson for Castel. But Chinese crooks are by no means the only perpetrators of wine scams. China is the most notorious but the problem is worldwide,” said Christophe Chateau, spokesperson for the Bordeaux Wine Council.

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The Changing World of Label Printing

by Mike Fairley, on behalf of FINAT With the next edition of Labelexpo Europe around the corner, Mike Fairley looks at how label printing technology has changed over the years and considers some of the press investment decisions that label converters are facing today.

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It’s now more than 400 years since the first recorded printed labels were being produced. At that time they would have been printed on hand-made paper using relief letterpress type or images cut into wood or metal, with impression pressure applied through a wooden hand press and simple screw mechanism.

The ‘Pre-‘ History of Labels It was a further two hundred years before much began to change. Yes, the hand presses were now being made of iron with a lever system to apply pressure, but the paper was still made by hand. However, by the early 19th century the industrial revolution was bringing significant changes to the world of printing – the first cylinder printing presses (powered by steam), the offset printing process, continuous papermaking machines.

The 1800s also brought coated paper, the halftone process, colour printing – and a whole host of new label market application requirements that were to see the early beginnings of what we now call the label industry. These new 19th century applications included automatic volume production of standard-sized glass bottles and bottle filling lines, the first canning factories, the rapid growth of pharmacy products, labels on boxes, labels on luggage, labels on cigar boxes and bands, matchbox labels and all at this time now being printed on sheet-fed offset or letterpress presses.

The first part of the 20th century saw the introduction of the first narrow-web presses for printing gummed and self-adhesive tape. The key innovations for the narrow-web printer were developments

by Stan Avery that enabled self-adhesive materials to have a backing carrier and be cut to shape on the press. It was die-cutting materials on a liner that now enabled sticky labels to be produced on a roll. It was not long before press manufacturers such as Gallus, Nilpeter, and Mark Andy were producing the early dedicated roll-label letterpress and flexo presses.

Late 20th Century: emergence of self-adhesive in Europe Later came narrow-web screen, hotfoil and combination process presses, UV-curing inks and more advanced plate-making technology. By the late 1970s self-adhesive labels had already attained a 7% share of the European label market – with all printing processes being used. Today, self-adhesive labels make up around 40% of label usage, fuelled by a whole host of technology and press innovations over the last thirty years that have enabled labels to be printed faster, on wider webs, using rotary and wrap-around tooling, servo-drive presses, and press controls that include web inspection, register control, colour management, and much more.

Unbelievably, it was not until 1978 that the first retail bar codes were being produced for the Fine Fare Supermarket’s own label products, and the very first time that a velocity code was incorporated on the film masters for the production of the dark vertical bars on the codes. Today, bar codes are an essential element of every label sold through retail outlets across Europe.

At this time bar coded labels for labelling fresh produce in store and at pre-packers was being undertaken with heat-sensitive label stocks. It was not until the 1980s that thermal direct and then thermal transfer printing of bar coded priceweigh labels using self-adhesive materi-

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als began to take place and grow rapidly by the later part of the decade.

At about the same time the use of new types of polypropylene and polystyrene (later polyethylene) film materials for more demanding label applications were being introduced. High quality printing of filmic materials used for labelling shampoos, toiletries, industrial products, etc, were now required by the leading brand owners. This presented more demanding label printing and converting challenges for press manufacturers and converters.

Three decades of evolutionary changes in label printing technology To meet changing label printing requirements over the past 30 years the dominant label printing technology of the time has undergone several changes: in the 1980s it was rotary letterpress that dominated new press sales. Then came growth in the flexo process during the 1990s. Much of the early part of the 21st century has seen UV flexo as the dominant technology for new label press sales. Since the mid-2000s, digital printing has also begun to evolve quite rapidly, initially with electrophotographic liquid and dry toner technologies and, most recently, with new generations of UV and water-based inkjet.

In the pipeline for launch in 2014 is the newly developed Landa nanographic printing process, an offset inkjet process that has already created significant mar-

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ket interest amongst label, folding carton and flexible packaging printers.

Without unduly wishing to worry the label converter, there is also considerable development work being undertaken at the present time with the longer-term aim of eventually using inkjet technology to print direct onto glass or plastic bottles or onto a variety of can shapes and sizes. Maybe not a concern for today, but possibly a more real threat for the future.

What will the future bring? Factors to consider Put together, the key challenge today for any label printer is to decide what his new label printing press investment will be this year, next year or the year after.

Will it be another conventional UV flexo analogue press? Or maybe an offset or combination process press? Some converters are perhaps still deciding whether to go digital. If so, will the investment be in toner or inkjet technologies?

In the past, the decision, which press to invest in was perhaps rather simpler.

Today there are even more factors to be considered – even with conventional analogue press technology. A press’s environmental footprint and energy consumption might be an important factor.

So might the press colour gamut and the number of colours or print stations available on the press.

What added-value finishing options are available? What inspection or control technology is required on the press?

What kind of output speed is demanded for the type of work being produced?

How long does the press require to changeover from one job to another?

Does the converter want to print other products as well as labels, such as flexible packaging, tube laminates, folding cartons, sachets, etc. These factors may well influence press investment. Each of

the main press manufacturers undoubtedly has their own technology variations and solutions they wish to promote and offer.

Going Digital: Additional Factors When it comes to investing in digital there are various other factors to be considered as well as just investment in a press. Digital printing is all about new ways of working. It’s about enhanced colour management. It’s about making decisions whether to go conventional or digital as late as possible. What throughput of different jobs can be handled each day without getting bogged down in administration and paperwork? All these factors are likely to require more sophisticated Management Information Systems (MIS).

Yet another key investment decision to be made.

Then there is the additional challenge with digital of what dpi resolution to go for; does the work produced need a white ink in one of the printing heads; does the press have an extended colour gamut. Press running speeds between all the digital label press technologies also vary quite considerably. How important is speed with many short-run job changes?

Go digital and the converter also needs to decide whether to invest in in-line or offline finishing. If in-line, every job change may mean a press stop to change cutting dies. If there are multiple short run jobs to be produced the die-changes can take up a considerable part of the press day and offer reduced press running time.

That means reduced output and potentially lower profitability. Off-line finishing can mean that one finishing line can handle the output of several digital presses, so maximizing press production time.

For more information, please contact duomedia pr Lut Verschueren Tel. + 32 474 04 49 40 - Lut.v@duomedia.com FINAT Jules Lejeune / Taco Zevenbergen / Jakovina van Haeringen Tel. + 31 (70) 312 39 10 – info@finat.com jlejeune@lejeune.nl / tzevenbergen@lejeune.nl / jvhaeringen@lejeune.nl

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

Another finishing investment option for the label converter might be laser die-cutting; a higher-cost investment, but offering significant benefits where multiple short runs are required each day. Used with say, inkjet, laser cutting technology combined with inkjet (or Xeikon) technology where there is no fixed repeat length, offers the exciting potential of batching jobs across or along the web for maximum economics and performance.

Accelerating Changes in Technology: What is There to See at Labelexpo Europe 2013?

Looking back, it seems that more changes in printing technology, particularly for self-adhesive label printing processes and technologies, have occurred over the past 50 years than at any other period in the last 400 years. Even today, change in label printing and converting technology is still continuing to take place. This will become evident at Labelexpo Europe this year, where new makes and models of label presses will be launched, including ever more printing machinery emanating from Asia and the world of digital printing technology.

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Wide Format / Proofing Technology

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The Fuji Xerox PIXI Awards are now open for entries From 10th June - 31st August 2013 Now in it’s 6th year the Printing Innovation with Xerox Imaging Awards are again ready to recognise Asian excellence and innovation in printing.

Anyone can enter as long as they fulfil one basic qualification .... you must be a Fuji Xerox user!

For your Entry Form (or to order a printer) please contact:

mike.braggins@fujixerox.com or your local Fuji Xerox representative.

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Green Shoots or Are You in the Weeds? V

If you’re in the northern hemisphere, are you enjoying sleepy summer days, when not much seems to be happening? Or perhaps you’re struggling through cold and rain in the southern hemisphere. Either way your business hopefully is part of the busy cohort that is helping to produce signs of growth in the world economy. Worldwide economic data points to slender signs of improvement and this can only be good news for printers and publishers. Mixed in with the financial improvements there are signs of a revived environmental impact reduction awareness. The two go hand in hand. The most dramatic environmental news we’ve heard lately is that the Chinese government has committed a staggering $275 billion to cleaning its extremely dirty air over the coming five years. This is almost the total GDP of Norway!

upgrading equipment and processes so that the business can take advantage of improving confidence in their markets.

Now is also the time to take the opportunity to invest in kit that reduces a company’s environmental impact.

substrate waste. This saves money and waste through using inks and substrates more efficiently. Ink control software modules can also help improve colour consistency, producing a superior printed product.

Many companies are planning new hardware investments, from computers to energy efficient printing systems, in the hope that banks will make good on promises of easier credit. But we often overlook the improvements that software upgrades can make, for instance in RIP systems which drive output devices such as platesetters and digital printing engines. Software upgrades can be a less expensive and less risky option than new hardware, and although the disruption to the business is about the same the return on investment is likely to be faster.

The problem for many companies though is understanding what their software actually does and in having the confidence to invest. RIP technologies designed to manage multiple output devices are more efficient and use less energy to manage several machines than a hodge-podge of RIPs each driving a single device. Using a single powerful RIP system to drive them all is a way of improving process control and energy efficiency, however it requires an understanding of what the technology does and how it can improve workflow efficiency.

Not many organisations, governmental or otherwise, have the scope to spend the readies on such a scale as China, but change comes through lots of little investments as well as the massive ones. Canny printers and publishers who want to take advantage of improving growth prospects should be considering their next round of investments. Now is the time to consider

This is because software developers are improving their systems all the time to help customers improve cost controls.

Sticking with the RIP example, developers are adding process management modules such as tools that help manage consumables cost effectively. They’ve added techniques to maximise media usage by nesting or ganging jobs thereby minimising

Recognising a problem is easy enough, but working out how to solve it is not necessarily simple. Understanding that investment into new technology will improve a company’s environmental impact is the start. The next step is working out what the best option will be for the business, something that takes rather more effort.

Agfa Graphics (www.agfa.com), Digital Dots (http://digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EFI (www.efi.com), Fespa (www.fespa.com), Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com), Kodak (www.kodak.com/go/sustainability), Mondi (www.mondigroup.com/products), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Shimizu Printing (www.shzpp.co.jp), Splash PR (www.splashpr. co.uk), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).

Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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Enfocus Connect exists in two flavors: one for the individual, Connect YOU; and, one for companies who need to collaborate with many outside clients, Connect ALL. In both editions, the Connect application is used to define and create Connectors.

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For large design workgroups, publishers or printers who work with many outside clients, Connect ALL allows unlimited numbers of Connectors to be easily set up, and distributed to any number of clients. In addition, Connect ALL offers custom branding, time limited activations of Connectors and updating functions that make managing many clients easy.

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Sheetfed Offset

Debut for Rapida 106 and RotaJET 76 The KBA Roadshow is already a well-established tradition for the print branch in the People's Republic of China, the Asia-Pacific region and India. In March, the successful series extended its list of venues to include also Taiwan.

Old newspaper era is over, Obama says via Kindle

Three events attracted a good such as Wu Weng Hsiung, chairman of Alex Hong from Shining Graphics attendance in each of the country's the Just Shine Printing Company, and explained the press features and process most important print centres: Tainan in Chen Cheng Hsiung, president of the sequences in more detail during a print the south, Taichung in the central region Printing Technology Research Institute. demonstration on the Rapida 106, and drew attention to the extremely fast and Taipei in the north. The technical highlights placed in the spotlight were In Taipei, the managing director of makeready achieved with the dedicated UV technologies for sheetfed offset, KBA Greater China, Walter Zehner, plate cylinder drive system DriveTronic WASHINGTON - President Barack the Obama management of the Glory SPC. Subsequently, the gathered print in-mould label printing, the digital web thanked acknowledged the problems facing Group for two special professionals were able to take a closer, press RotaJET 76, and the Rapida 106, Innovations the US newspaper industry on Wednesday, the world champion press in terms of “firsts”, namely the installation of the first-hand look at the press. an interview thatRapida was dis106 in Taiwan and the makeready and ironically productioninspeed.

The first tributed via online retail giant Amazon’s process developments and product opportunity to present this high-tech Walter Zehner presented a model of Kindle e-reader. innovations were presented in proven press live in action to other Taiwanese the six-colour Rapida 106 to David inimitable manner by Jürgen Veil, KBA printers. Walter Zehner: “The Rapida Liu, managing director of the Glory With the Internet dominant and print the Glory Innovations Innovations Group, as thanks for the 106 has brought head of sheetfed marketing. sales in decline, Obama Group said traditional a significant productivity boost company's confidence and outstanding media was grappling with a new reality competitive advantages. hospitality. David Liu reaffirmed his Akio Pong, managing director of and distinct as freelancers and satisfaction without the and, much like the manufacturing and with the local KBA flexibility enables great KBA sales partner Shining Graphics, The high degree ofcases same benefits that they had in a regular retail sectors, the old way of doing busiteam and said that he looked forward welcomed the guests and introduced response to the most varied demands job for a paper.” ness was gone forever. to further expanding his business with the KBA group as a broadly based, of future markets. KBA aims to serve the new Rapida. innovative and financially very sound the company as a long-term and reliable US newspaper “People trying toprint get into the and middle partner of the international partner, that willThe benefit both sides industry has suffered the same problems which have hit paclass are having a tougher and tougher industry. The importance attached to in the end.” pers worldwide, notably falling sales and time,” Obama said. the meetings was reflected in addresses a collapse in advertising due to “You see that in every profession.

You given by the presidents of the printing Walter Zehner (right), managing director ofrevenues KBA Greater China, thanked see that in journalism.

It used to be there the growth of online classified ads. associations in the three regions, and managing director David Liu from the Glory Innovations Group for his were local in the presentations by newspapers KBA users everywhere. confidence and hospitality Several major metropolitan newspapers “If you wanted to be a journalist, you have closed their doors in recent years or could really make a good living working ceased publishing print editions. Others for your hometown paper. have slashed editorial staff.

“Now you have a few newspapers that make a profit because they’re national brands, and journalists having to scramble to piece together a living, in some

“What’s true in journalism is true in manufacturing and is true in retail,” Obama said. “What we have to recognise is that those old times aren’t coming back.”

Source: AFP http://www.digitalone.com.sg/news/article/26140

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IST METZ presents: The new MBS®-6 Most efficient UV system of the world

Thanks to the completely new URS® Duo Reflector Geometry the MBS®-6 sets new standards. The system requires a lamp output of just 120 W/cm in order to achieve the same curing results as standard 200 W/cm UV units. The energy saved has a direct influence on electricity bills.

For further information please visit our website www.MBS-6.com.

IST METZ GmbH Lauterstraße 14-18, D-72622 Nürtingen Tel. +49 7022 60 02-0, Fax +49 7022 6002-775 info@ist-uv.com, www.ist-uv.com Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013

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Digital Print Asia I July - August 2013