Print Innovation Asia Magazine

Print INNOVATION

Asia

Magazine

Printing, Packaging and Publishing Industries across Asia since 1985 Issue 5 2020

Asian PrintAwards 2020 th

PACKAGING EXCELLENCE AWARDS: 2020

2020

_018 020 VIETNAM - November Contents Page 4 Kornit Enables Digital Textile Print Businesses

to Answer the COVID-19 Age 8 iPrintec reinvents with Iridesse

Production Press 10 Virtual Packaging: Digital Solutions for

Green Approaches 12 Expanding markets and print widths widths 14 HP announced winners of 13th HP Digital

Print Excellence Awards 2020 16 Virtual community proves effective during

difficult times from KM 20 Digital printing - enabling the ‘connected

factory’ of the future 24 Xeikon highlights robustness in the face

of crisis 28 Cardbox Packaging values Heidelberg as

partner in packaging printing 32 Printers adapting to challenging market

conditions by successfully launching new

products and services 34 Heidelberg releases new contract options

under Subscription Model 36 What it takes to produce award-winning print 40 Koenig & Bauer Asia Pacific presents OMEGA

Allpro folder gluer 42 ROLAND 700 prints a record 50 million sheets

in just 9 months 44 Product Roundup: Hybrid Printers 48 COVID-19 to change the future of snacking

in APAC 52 drupa to host first digital textile forum 54 Paper Bottles – The Future of Eco Friendly Packaging?

56 News from around Asia and the world

Issue 5 2020

Print INNOVATION

Asia Magazine

Published by Asian Print Awards Management Pte Ltd 65 Chulia Street #46-23 OCBC Centre Singapore 049513 Print Innovation Asia Labels and Packaging Innovation Asia Asian Print Awards Packageing Excellence Awards Label and Packaging Conferences Publisher

Paul Callaghan paul@printinnovationasia.com

Editorial

Elizabeth Liew elizabeth@printinnovationasia.com Editor Sha Jumari sha@printinnovationasia.com Packaging Sales

Elizabeth Liew elizabeth@printinnovationasia.com

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

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Kornit Enables Digital Tex Answer the COVID-19 Ag Versatile Technology Means Adapting to a Disrupted Economy

By Robert Zoch, Global Content Manager, Kornit Digital

In times of emergency, it’s common for manufacturers with production infrastructure in place to repurpose their operations to fulfill demand for vital goods. In times of war, an automotive company will stop making sedans and start churning out airplanes. Facing a pandemic, that same automotive company produces respirators.

Textile manufacturers offer a perfect example in the COVID-19 era.

Since the outbreak, such businesses have answered the call for personal protection equipment in the form of face masks, medical apparel, and other necessary goods for those fighting on the front line.

Being the world’s leading provider of solutions for sustainable digital textile print-on-demand, Kornit Digital has been contributing free ink, as well as continuous technical support, to customers who have shifted their focus to producing gear for healthcare personnel, victims, struggling families, and others in harm’s way. This piece highlights two such businesses that have stepped outside their traditional business models to meet these sudden challenges.

When Social Distancing Shrinks Print Runs, DTG Bears Fruit in Thailand As distributor for Fruit of the Loom in Thailand, Chaiyaboon Brothers has been using digital direct-to-garment (DTG) technology for more than a decade, most recently implementing the Kornit Avalanche HD6 system for industrial-scale decoration of shortand long-sleeve t-shirts. Currently, the

business imprints 600-800 pieces for FOTL Thailand daily, most of them one piece per order. With print-ondemand capabilities, they ensure a consistent profit margin for these small orders.

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

xtile Print Businesses to ge

As supported by Chaiyaboon Brothers, FOTL Thailand caters primarily to three customer types: end-consumers themselves, individual designers selling their t-shirt designs online, and screen-printing shops outsourcing their short runs. In the latter case, screen printers are heavily geared towards mass production that justifies the considerable time and effort the silkscreen process requires; this model of subcontracting smaller orders to DTG shops has generated opportunity for other Kornit customers, as well. In this regard, DTG is not a replacement for screen printing, but rather a practical supplement to it, ensuring an optimal solution for each job type and size.

With the advent of social distancing measures, however, the demand for small orders has skyrocketed, at the expense of larger orders. No large gatherings means no need for bulk orders. Rather, those screen-printing shops have had to turn to limitededition and pre-order apparel, for which DTG technology is better

suited. To eliminate inventory risk—a major concern for apparel brands worldwide right now—they need printon-demand, and Chaiyaboon Brothers answers that need.

In addition to supporting those partners’ business needs in this difficult time, FOTL Thailand has found another way to make the best of their situation: Many of these screen shops sell blank face masks, so FOTL Thailand has been buying them to imprint via Kornit and provide to those in need.

Today, each FOTL Thailand t-shirt order Chaiyaboon Brothers ships includes an imprinted mask—one per parcel delivered. Those using a simple, repeated design are included at no charge. Those using a more complex design, made to match the corresponding t-shirts in the customer’s order, are included for $1 USD apiece, essentially for cost. Furthermore, they have been donating these masks to local community organizations to use as necessary.

In terms of both the garments that have long been the core of their business and the ability to imprint masks as needed, Kornit’s DTG technology has empowered FOTL Thailand to meet the changing demands that have come their way.

Digital Helps Hong Kong Extend a Heart2Heart to the World Grandion Group is a Hong Kong-based manufacturer with production facilities in mainland China, managing apparel production from fabric sourcing to cutting, to sewing, to decoration, to finishing and shipment.

They provide OEM printing services for brands such as Zara, Bossini, and Baleno. In 2015, the company initiated its TML (“To Make Locally”) project, which seeks to make good use of Hong Kong’s competitive advantages, including talented designers, logistics, liquidity, and a well-established legal system for protecting intellectual property. Establishing a brand on the “made in Hong Kong” message has

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

6 enabled them to broaden and enhance their supply chain capabilities while supporting and promoting local culture.

TML produces t-shirts, hoodies, and cushions on demand for Hong Kong theme parks, as well as enterprising designers and end-consumers who create and upload their own images and designs via the Snaptee platform and mobile app. The latter group includes customers as far-ranging as Europe and Japan, and the business has even expanded to include kiosks in shopping centers. To fulfill this demand, TML installed two Kornit Storm II systems at its production center, largely due to the machine’s ability to deliver consistent high quality, as well as Kornit’s customer support infrastructure.

While TML’s operations were not impacted by the onset of COVID-19 to the same extent as many print businesses in other parts of the world (such as Western Europe and the United States), they took the initiative to create the “Heart2Heart” program.

They engaged with a community of Hong Kong designers to create t-shirt designs for 50 countries worldwide, with each printed shirt bearing an “HK Heart2Heart” icon to express solidarity across borders and ethnicities, encourage the global community to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic. All sales proceeds, less production costs, are being used to procure personal protective equipment for local charities and community groups.

As this piece is being written, TML is testing a new production process for fashionable, custom-made protective face masks using the Kornit Storm II systems. These masks will further add to their charitable efforts.

Looking beyond the pandemic response, TML believes their business will continue to grow long-term, and they intend to set up more t-shirt kiosks for the public, in addition to licensing local design brands and pop-up events incorporating custom-made elements to be printed via Kornit technology.

Digital Points the Way Forward It’s no secret COVID-19 has devastated the textile industry, in terms

of disrupted supply chains, infections slowing or shuttering factories, and demand disappearing altogether as both businesses and consumers suddenly reprioritize, with many retail stores worldwide closing and traffic shifting to e-commerce. For manufacturers and decorators who had inventory concerns previously, these disruptions add considerable cost to the bottom line, and in many cases threaten to doom longstanding brands entirely.

Even as the pandemic alleviates across the regions, resulting economic unease is widely expected to linger.

In this “new normal,” the case for digitized, on-demand production— producing only what is sold, when it’s sold, to eliminate inventory concerns and optimize profitability— offers a powerful proposition for a textile industry that today finds itself uncertain of its fortunes. Digital textile print technology, which eliminates setup times, offers a rapid production cycle ideally suited to online business,

generates a reliable profit from the first impression, and delivers greater detail with unlimited colors relative to traditional analog print methods. That it does so using safe, environmentally friendly consumables positions users to win over new generations of buyers who demand socially responsible production.

Finally, the streamlined production cycle digital enables means print operations can more easily consolidate their work to a single location, or, conversely, manage a fleet of print systems across multiple geographies, focusing on proximity production to shorten delivery times. Either way, businesses printing digitally can choose the production model that best serves their needs, and best protects them from the next global disruption.

To learn more about the benefits of digital textile printing, including both DTG and roll-to-roll direct-to-fabric systems, visit Kornit.com.

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

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reinvents Production Press Established in 1987, iPrintec @ Image Printec (M) Sdn Bhd, is a Malaysiabased registered leading printing company. Its core business is to undertake various kinds of printing assignments.

AT A GLANCE

left - Mr. Tan Tiam Teck, Managing Director, Image Printec (M) Sdn Bhd, Mr Mark Tan, Managing Director, Fuji Xerox Malaysia and May Cheong, Sales Manager of Fuji Xerox Malaysia

Company: Image Printec (M) Sdn Bhd Industry Sector: Quick Print Size: 30 employees Website: www.iprintec.com

“Throughout the years, we have consistently upgraded our workforce and equipment to provide our customers with high-quality services and products.

We work with designers & advertising firms, individuals, collaborators, and fellow printers on projects that demand a quick turnaround and close attention to detail. We are happy to consult with you and work on getting your project into print quickly and as economically as possible,� said Mr. Tan Tiam Teck, Managing Director, Image Printec (M) Sdn Bhd. Image Printec (M) Sdn Bhd needed to transform themselves into a more profitable business after being in the highly competitive print-for-pay market for more than two decades. To innovate their existing business, they ventured into providing fulfilment services with quick turnaround with design and consultancy services to capture a new business opportunity.

In order to reinvent their business, iPrintec required a solution that facilitates quick turnaround to meet demanding timelines. The solution needed to handle a wide variety of media substrates, and be able to meet the growing demand for specialty colour printing. The company also

needed a solution that enables them to provide one-stop digital printing fulfilment to customers, which are now increasingly mobile and instant.

The Gamechanging Solution With the Iridesse Production Press (Model-6C-Gold&Silver), iPrintec can now enhance their customers' experience by allowing more specialty colours printing including metallic.

While the conventional offset printing requires mixing silver ink to make metallic ink, this new press realizes simultaneous printing of several metallic colours during a single printing process.

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materials by simply designating the colour codes.

Until recently, brands owners, creative agencies and print service providers have been limited by printing technology and often having to compromise between colours, print quality, material types or print finishes. With the wide array of Iridesse specialty dry inks, notably the white and texture, customers can now enjoy prints not only on texture media but rendering beautifully on coloured substrates.

Benefits Beyond Specialty Colours Armed with the Iridesse Production Press, iPrintec now has the ability to capture new business opportunity with better profitability with print enhancement capability. Customer engagement and confidence has also been increased with the better print quality and productivity.

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The standard colour library equipped in the press contains Pantone+Metallic and Pantone+Premium Metallic commonly used in the printing industry.

By utilizing these colour swatches, the operator can reproduce colours similar to Pantone metallic colours on printing

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with Iridesse

iPrintec is now able to produce more jobs at a shorter time and consistently meet customer deadlines. The company can provide professional advice and valuable consultancy to a customer on document reproduction. The latest state of the art technology enables the designer team to provide professional advice and valuable consultancy services to customers.

With the investment, iPrintec found a strategic business partner with Fuji Xerox Malaysia.

“Outstanding products and superior after sales services bring a unique value proposition for long term business partnership to create more business opportunity with better profitability,” said Mr Tan. Fuji Xerox Malaysia offers an outstanding range of products which offer a new business opportunity to meet customer demand. Mr Tan additionally applauded the superior after-sales services with strong technical and Pre- & Post-Sales support which brings confidence level for

future business partnership. Fuji Xerox Malaysia offered iPrintec a unique value proposition for long term business partnership as knowledge sharing on application to target the right market. “iPrintec will look forward to work with all levels of people to bring prints to life. This will enable better customer

TM

engagement and broaden creativity with high impact print embellishment to further enhance document reproduction on demand, “ said Mr Tan.

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Virtual Packaging: Digital Solutions for Green Approaches The Gronau-based digital signage software specialist Videro AG and Fraunhofer UMSICHT want to exchange real packaging for digital variants in order to protect the environment.

The digital signage software specialist Videro AG and the Fraunhofer Institute for environmental, safety and energy technology Fraunhofer UMSICHT created a new concept in order to reduce plastic waste and protect our environment. The project „Vir2pac – Digital Environmental Protection“ aims to find out how secondary packaging for products could be strongly or completely eliminated and replaced with digital variants.

First Steps: Protection vs. Information The most important function of packaging is to protect the contents – especially when it contains food. In addition, legally prescribed consumer information must be provided on product containers. But packaging is increasingly being used as an advertising medium and became part of the brand image. The idea behind Videro’s and Fraunhofer’s concept: Information and advertising could still be displayed,

while Vir2pac allows to significantly reduce the amount of waste produced at the same time.

brand-specific advertising are displayed – to the consumer it now looks like conventional packaging.

The first step is to separate the functions “protection” and “information”.

There’s no doubt that reduced or adapted packaging is still necessary for product protection. Information, brand image and advertising message are linked via a label and provided virtually via the existing digital infrastructure and transferred to digital interfaces – such as the customer’s smartphone or fixed screens at the point of sale. But the vision goes one step further:

As part of the implementation, Videro AG provides product recognition, allocation, management and, above all, platform-neutral presentation of all digital content with the help of its software.

The Concept of “Vir2pac – Digital Environmental Protection” The new “Vir2pac” concept enables physical packaging to assume only product protection and thus returns to its original function. Packaging can be simplified according to the design-for-recycling principle or, depending on the packaged product, optimized for multiple use. By saving material, packaging waste and energy consumption are reduced.

And this how it works: The consumer receives augmented reality glasses at the entrance when visiting the retail store. The products in supermarkets and similar stores are packaged in simple packaging reduced to a protective function. But as soon as the user puts on the AR glasses and looks at a product, information and

„We are aware of the disruptive potential, which is why we would like to engage in discourse with consumers, politicians and other companies in order to advance digital environmental protection,“confirms Johannes Büld, CEO from Videro AG. Further Possibilities of Virtual Packaging The digitalization in form of virtual packaging offers further possibilities: For example, digital added values such as previous purchases, data sheets, recipe suggestions or background information on production conditions or origin can be visualized in the customer’s field of view. In addition, the optimized design and targeted use of materials as well as digitalization („smart packaging“) enable improved recycling and possibilities for digitally supported material and waste stream management. In order to check the ecological effects, Videro and Fraunhofer created an evaluation matrix within the framework of the project.

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

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Expanding markets and print widths Since its introduction last fall, OEM partners around the globe have used Memjet’s DuraFlex technology to design new custom print solutions.

These OEMs say the flexibility of DuraFlex modules provides them with the resources they need to create powerful and affordable printing solutions for a wide range of applications, including labels, mailing and addressing, and a variety of packaging solutions.

To print these applications, OEMs rely on the A4 and A3+ widths that are available with DuraFlex. Many OEMs, however, also want to expand into markets such as flexible packaging, folding cartons, and corrugated packaging. In these markets, demand for digital print solutions is growing to meet the increased requirements for shorter runs and late-stage differentiation.

OEMs often desire wider print widths for applications with wider downstream finishing options or to increase print

efficiency by printing multiple print images simultaneously. The flexibility of DuraFlex modular technology ensures users can create the wider print widths they need to capture these opportunities.

manage the individual stitch zones in between them. Memjet’s DuraFlex technology delivers the hardware, software and engineering support to create a custom print solution that delivers beautiful precision.

In order to achieve wider print widths in single-pass printing, OEMs can stitch multiple printheads and modules together to create a printbar with the desired print width. Since printheads need to overlap to create stitch zones, the challenge is to keep all the printheads in perfect alignment and

With DuraFlex, OEMs can stitch up to four A3+ printheads in a row to create print widths of up to 1270mm or 50in. With a drop size of 2.1 pL and a true print resolution of 1600 dpi, the DuraFlex aqueous pigment ink provides unrivaled inkjet print quality along with the durability needed to satisfy the most demanding markets.

As the demand for cost effective, digital single-pass print solutions drive new business opportunities for manufacturers, brands, and commercial print customers, DuraFlex technology ensures that OEMs can create solutions that capture those opportunities, including those in the wide format and packaging markets.

By Kim Beswick, General Manager of Benchtop & Minipress at Memjet

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HP announced winners of 13th HP Digital Print Excellence Awards 2020 HP Inc. announced the winners of the HP Digital Print Excellence Awards 2020.

Now in their 13th year, the awards celebrate the invaluable contribution print service providers (PSPs) from Asia Pacific make to advancing the print industry through HP Indigo digital presses.

Grand Winner, Premium Photobook Sri Sivarama Digital Press, India With winners hailing from 14 countries across 25 categories, the judges were impressed by the outstanding imagination, expertise and talent of PSPs who delivered innovative and high-quality prints for brands across the region.

“Each year we are astounded by the caliber of entries for the HP Digital Print Excellence Awards,” said Oran Sokol, director and general manager, HP Industrial business, Asia Pacific, HP Inc. “Our PSPs are doing inspiring work to elevate brands across Asia Pacific by creating bold, expressive and personalized experiences.

Creative Winner, Speciality Printing JinHua Maya Printing, China

Their customers are increasingly demanding on quality and speed of delivery, so we want to support PSPs by helping them to make their creative ideas reality while reaching new levels of profitability. New innovations such as our silver ink and HP SmartStream Collage allow PSPs to not only leverage the efficiency and quality of HP digital print, but also push the boundaries and develop new opportunities to impress their customers.”

goods which, when disposed of, will biodegrade and leave no trace on the environment.

Entries were scored based on overall aesthetics, impact and marketing effectiveness, shelf appeal, design suitability, uniqueness and innovation, and best use of media and substrate.

Judges awarded three Grand Winners and two Creative Winners in recognition of their outstanding print quality, finishing and innovative designs.

Entries showcase the future of print Judges for the awards included senior executives from HP, publishers, marketing consultancies and education institutes. This range of expertise was required as the print industry converges with adjacent industries such as fashion and product design, and trends such as sustainable materials rise in importance.

Countries from around the region were well represented this year. China has eight winners, followed by Thailand with six. Australia and Indonesia both had four winners, while India and the Philippines have two. Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam have one winner each.

This year’s awards included a new category – Environmental Responsibility. The winner, Thai Nam Poly Pack, used the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press to print die-cut bags, adhesive pouches and singleuse aprons using a revolutionary new bioplastics material. Biologically based and combustible, Thai Nam Poly Pack printed three kilometers worth of

Pushing the boundaries of print year-on-year The annual awards also see many familiar names, with PSPs returning year after year to retain their crown or win in new categories. Amongst them are Carbon8, Sri Sivarama Digital Press (Printonica) and PT Bintang who have each won multiple awards over the last three years.

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

15 Grand Winner, Shrink Sleeves SHRINKflex, Thailand

Best Use of Fluorescent Ink PT Bintang Sempurna - Indonesia Speciality Printing Jinhua Maya Printing Co., Ltd. - China

“We are extremely proud to win five awards this year. At Carbon8, we believe strongly in going the extra mile for our customers – whether that is a tight turnaround or something they have never seen before, we love to produce products that make people want to touch, pick up, and want to keep. All this would not have been possible without the constant new solutions from HP Indigo to help us deliver excellence to our clients,” said Carbon8’s co-founders, Kenneth BeckPedersen and Peter Musarra.

Consumer Photobook Beijing Hengmei Culture Communication Co. Ltd. – China

“As a leading print company, we are constantly looking at ways to surprise and delight our customers. One of our specialties is in photo books, where we have been pushing the boundaries using technologies like HP Indigo Vivid Pink and Vivid Green, HP ElectroInk and embellishments to further beautify our prints,” said Mr. Gokul Murli, Director, Sri SivaRama Digital Press (Printonica).

Restaurant Menu Beijing Hengmei Culture Communication Co., Ltd. - China

“We are honored to be recognized for our Best use of Spot Color ElectroInks two years in a row and hope to inspire other PSPs on how they can better connect with brands through innovative creations. With HP Indigo Fluorescent inks, we are creating vibrant prints that just pops on the shelf and attracts consumers. We look forward to bringing more of such creativity to brands to enable them to stand out from the clutter,” said PT Bintang spokesperson.

The full list of winners is as follows: Commercial Press Categories Photobook Art Photo Book Jinan Yiyoumei Cultural Media Co. Ltd. - China Jinhua Maya Printing Co. Ltd. - China B2 Size Photobook Carbon8 - Australia Sri Sivarama Digital Press – Printonica - India

Premium Photobook Sri Sivarama Digital Press Printonica - India PT Bintang Sempurna - Indonesia Commercial Printing Calendar GA Printing - Philippines

Self-promotion Collateral G.D. Propack Co., Ltd. - Thailand Hard Cover Book Carbon8 - Australia Soft Cover Book Cyberprint Group Co., Ltd. - Thailand Self-Publishing Book PT. Bintang Sempurna - Indonesia Limited Edition and Art Reproduction Book GA Printing - Philippines Tianjin Haishun Printing Co., Ltd. – China Technology Category Best Use of SPOT Color PT Bintang Sempurna - Indonesia

Creative Winner, Folding Cartons Teckwah, Singapore

Labels & Packaging Categories Labels Health & Beauty Label Multi Color Corporation Australia Australia Wine & Non-Alcoholic Label QLM Label Makers Pty. Ltd. Australia Food Labels Million Polyseal Industry Co. Ltd. Thailand In-Mold Labels Shanghai Haiying Print - China Self-Promotional Label QLM Labels Makers Vietnam – Vietnam Shrink Sleeves SHRINKflex (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Thailand Flexible Packaging Taiwan Lamination - Taiwan TPBI Public Company Limited – Thailand Environmental Responsibility Thai Nam Poly Pack Co. Ltd. – Thailand Folding Cartons Shenzhen Yutong - China Teckwah Value Chain Pte Ltd. Singapore

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Designed to help customers connect, learn, and grow, Prokom is a virtual platform made up of Konica Minolta’s global community. In these current times of need, it has been especially helpful in connecting and supporting small print businesses.

Running a business during this difficult time is not an easy task, let alone doing it without much support from the industry. While large corporations often have a dedicated team of marketers, market analyst, researchers and strategy professionals to advise, smaller business owners do not have such a luxury. According to the statistics provided by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make up to 97% of all businesses across the APEC economies.

Unlike a trade association or chamber of commerce, Prokom is a global

Minolta

providing the support needed to ensure business continuity.

“Our philosophy is to help Konica Minolta’s customers to connect, learn and grow, so they can secure and establish their businesses and careers for the future ahead. With an everevolving landscape and the sharing of ideas and industry insight, the community will help shape print to business,” said Toshi Uemura, General Manager at Konica Minolta Inc.

Information sharing is powerful The primary purpose of Prokom is to create a community that encourages sharing of information, trends and allows users to participate in discussions. Over the years, Konica Minolta noticed that besides just its team of experts addressing certain questions from members, the company saw likeminded business owners and partners stepping up to share their experiences and what worked for them.

In order to grow the print industry, the sharing of expertise and knowledge across the industry will spur businesses to innovate and excel.

community of Konica customers and partners.

Supporting smaller set ups and local print shops is proving to be more essential. Here's how Prokom is

Being in a global community has the added benefit of allowing business owners from different parts of the world to share print applications that

Toshi Uemura, General Manager at Konica Minolta Inc.

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are suitable for their local market, which in turn could evolve into new opportunities for another business elsewhere.

No second guessing of decisions More often than not, business owners study the capability of the current asset in terms of hardware or manpower, but the real question lies in whether the market is ready for it. Having an idea but aren’t sure if it is feasible or would like a second opinion from our team of experts or the community?

Prokom members can post an idea or question in the forum and get valuable feedback from the industry and experts. Even Konica Minolta’s marketing professionals can chip in to provide constructive feedback from a marketing standpoint.

Keeping abreast of the latest trends While there are plenty of information available online, not all may be relevant

to our industry. There are also not as many blogs and forums that curate content based on the individual business needs. Prokom puts together a one-stop information portal that covers everything that is needed to know for a business; from crisis management toolkit, printing technologies, business management, sales and marketing to even digital transformation topics such as automation and how to bring a business towards web to print.

An extended virtual training arm Prokom has an e-learning feature that is designed to help print companies educate and train their staff in a variety of different topics. This ranges from technical subjects like colour management and workflow, to management subjects like hiring digital sales staff and business planning.

Besides training staff, business owners can also learn from management courses. The subjects range from business planning to marketing, sales

and social media. Prokom aims to be a one-stop shop for businesses to grasp the essential components for achieving success in the future.

Industry Partners Partnering industry experts for a holistic knowledge base Prokom works with trusted industry partners and tap on their expertise to generate content for specific subject matter. Some of the industry players that the platform has on board include Antalis, Brotech Graphics Ltd, EFI, GBC, GM, KIP, Kodak, Markomi, MGI, Plockmatic Group and Vpress.

Together, the companies provide a wealth of industry knowledge as subject matter experts, to help users grow their businesses together.

To find out more about the Prokom community, visit: www.prokom.org. Be part of the Konica Minolta community and partner us to grow your business to the next level.

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embrace the future in 2021 nt: e m t n i o p New ap 021 2 , 0 3 – 0 April 2

Experience innovations as well as fascinating technologies of the future. Be inspired by top speakers and the drupa highlight topics.

Be part of the digital transformation and take advantage of opportunities for your business. Experience the future at the world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies. drupa 2021 – embrace the future

April 20–30, 2021 Düsseldorf/Germany www.drupa.com #drupa

Messe Düsseldorf GmbH P.O. Box 10 10 06 _ 40001 Düsseldorf _ Germany Tel. + 49 211 4560 01 _ Fax + 49 211 4560 668

blog.drupa.com

www.messe-duesseldorf.de

See video now!

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Digital printing - enabli factory’ of the future The world of packaging is facing many changes. The drivers behind these changes include new routes to market such as e-commerce, new supply chain models like multichannel supply, but also new regulatory and sustainability requirements and new customer demands for more customised and personalised products.

New technologies and materials are required for — and indeed enable — these changes to occur. Digital printing is one such breakthrough within the packaging world and one in which Nestlé has invested in recent years, observing developments and driving them towards the specific needs of food packaging for their businesses.

What a privilege to see how the centuries-old ‘analogue’ printing industry is reinventing itself ‘digitally’ in such a short time: it has only taken about twenty years for digital printing to enter every sector of printing per se. It is fast getting real even in the challenging area of food packaging, where volumes together with compliance aspects were once considered unsuitable for ‘digital’.

At Nestlé we are confident that digital

printing is a long-term trend that has come to stay, not just a fad that will fade, such that the digitalisation of printing is itself a major step in reshaping the whole converting industry.

As the last drupa exhibitions have shown, nowadays it is all about digitalisation. The main print-press vendors are well advanced on their digital roadmaps and newer players are entering the scene on the same road.

This said, while the digital printing industry is very lively, it is still quite fragmented and so we expect a phase of business and market consolidation in the coming years, driven by the need to adapt to new technology needs or usages. We are also witnessing a strong surge in print-in-production, with history seemingly repeating itself as

‘printing’ comes back to ‘production’.

This has all to do with late-stage customisation: customisation that is itself achieved at a late stage in the process (I’ll come back to this again later).

As our journey advances, as technologies mature and prices fall, we will always find new opportunities to leverage the benefits of digital printing, from modest to bold as well as small to large. But we will also be confronted by new requirements and barriers to overcome. Currently we foresee two specific aspects that are becoming ever more critical for the efficient adoption of digital printing: Sustainability The first aspect is all to do with supporting the need for more environmentally sustainable production – and this includes print production. In our case, we have made a commitment to use only recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025. To help us meet our commitment, we established the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences, which together with suppliers and other external partners is exploring alternative packaging materials. We can already anticipate that these materials, such as paperbased laminates, have lighter barrierproperties compared with materials in use today. This presents a challenge to the related printing processes and will constrain their usage. It’s true, of course, that digital printing inks

HP Indigo V12 Digital Press, Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

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ing the ‘connected

have made huge progress in foodcompliance and are still improving significantly.

becoming a primary decision-making criterion and the printing industry must prepare for it.

However, on new packaging materials with lighter barrier-properties, some printing systems (the combination of a printing process, an ink and its finishing process) will need to be adapted to meet our strict requirements for food packaging. Additional requirements will also affect targeting, for example, reusability, recyclability or compostability. Are today’s ink formulations, developments and finishing processes ready for this transition? There are only a few years left to crack all this; sustainability is

Data-management The second aspect underlying the promise of digital printing has to do with variability in the printout (output) as well as flexibility in the printing (process). Print jobs are more and more related with data management as each output is potentially unique with its own variable data that is managed flexibly within an agile printing process.

And so, I return to the topic of late stage customisation, which appears in so many presentations, media articles and literature on digital printing.

What does it mean exactly? Well, it means having the ability to customise the output at the latest stage, which itself means moving printed packaging from a conventional rigid supply-chain to a networked supply-chain where different players can print different static and variable layers of an artwork in one or several locations. It means moving away from a monolithic approach, where the full printing and converting processes are entirely outsourced, to where there will be a variety of supply-chain options to cover the high variety of products, business models and routes to market (ranging from fully outsourced supply to fully internalised printing and converting, with mixed approaches in-between). This is our definition of variability and flexibility, derived from data-driven print production and late stage customisation.

In order to achieve all this, the dots need to be connected, meaning the print-job data as well as the printing and converting process must connect seamlessly into an integrated endto-end supply-chain workflow. This integration and connectivity happen in two dimensions, namely horizontally and vertically.

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Horizontal integration involves the progressive digitalisation of the complete converting machinery and processes, streamlining the repro whilst still ensuring colour matching and consistency. This digitalisation has already occurred for the artwork and prepress, is happening for the printing step, and will progressively include the decorating, cutting and folding-gluing steps as well as any more particular converting steps. Vertical integration relates to the print- and convertingdata. It ensures that the right output is achieved from the right data in a make-to-order or print-to-order model.

Both static as well as variable artworkdata must be aggregated dynamically together with production-specific data coming from a production order, making in the end every pack literally unique if so required.

At first glance, this degree of integration and connectivity to achieve a batch-of-one might sound futuristic and it is definitely ambitious, but

the reality is that all the necessary technology building-blocks already exist today. Digital Front Ends rip dynamic artwork for the printer.

Manufacturing Execution Systems dispatch production-order information to the various assets of a production line.

Dedicated servers ensure additional functionality, such as serialisation or aggregation. For each and every type of data, a dedicated and well optimised channel exists. In addition, connectivity standards are maturing and being adopted to ensure both horizontal and vertical communication between all the modules of a production environment.

All these channels, which are today mainly independent, can start to be interconnected to combine, on-demand as and when needed, the relative data, rip it accordingly, and finally print it to produce every unique packaging item.

by the famous “GAFA” companies.

The ability to create, collect, handle, combine, extract, analyse, process and convey data is what will drive the most efficient businesses. Printing is no longer about accurate colourmatching and process-efficiency. It is rather about conveying to buyers and consumers digital information that has been applied physically on the pack.

Some call it the blended reality, it is nonetheless a paradigm-shift enabled by combining digital printing with connectivity. Such a shift is a prerequisite for achieving personalisation and customisation, the “holy grail” of the digital transformation in Consumer Package Goods (CPG) and it envisions the connected production-floors and factories of the future. Let’s look forward to seeing much of this at drupa 2021.

Data is the fuel of today’s economies, as shown so quickly and efficiently

Touchpoint packaging at drupa 2021 Packaging printing continues to be a sector with tremendous growth potential.

At drupa, its market relevance is reflected in the special touchpoint packaging forum. touchpoint packaging serves as a stage for presenting the future world of packaging, especially packaging design.

Examples include new substrates, customer-specific solutions that reduce environmental impacts, networked packaging and more.

As a highlight, visitors can look forward to a presentation of specially developed prototypes incorporating innovative design and packaging solutions, which were developed in response to the needs and demands of future consumers and brand owners.

Author - Alvise Cavallari With a background in mechanical engineering, Alvise Cavallari spent nearly 20 years in the machine industry which is where he first discovered and fell in love with the fascinating world of packagg printing. He then joined Nestlé R&D where he now heads Nestlé’s corporate digital printing programme as well as other related activities.

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highlights robustness in the face of crisis We chat with Xeikon’s CEO, Benoit Chatelard, to cover the company’s restart in Asia in correlation with COVID-19, acceleration of Industry 4.0 and the new drupa launches. By Sha Jumari.

Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has put the global economy into a tailspin. While the crisis continues to impact supply chains all over the world, China has already begun shifting gears to get back to normal.

Xeikon CEO, Benoit Chatelard, echoed this observation: “What we see is a slow start from China. My people are able to go and visit customers. We have many activities in Singapore, and in Australia too. But Taiwan has really been the most active in the business, since the very beginning.”

“We are growing in Asia. This year, the business is stunted from the COVID-19 pandemic. China closed quickly, followed by Singapore and some other Asian countries. We are just restarting, in fact, Taiwan has been very active,” Chatelard continued.

“Right now, we are experimenting our robustness as a company and our will to weather the storm. This is a good stress test for a company to see

Xeikon’s CEO, Benoit Chatelard if Xeikon can pass this crisis without damage and have a very good business continuity,” said Chatelard.

In December last year, Xeikon announced the opening of the Innovation Centre in China at the Shanghai University of Printing. With the new facility, Xeikon now has two Innovation Centres in Asia to better serve the region. The first centre is

in Tokyo, Japan. As the COVID-19 lockdown has lifted in some cities in China, Chatelard confirmed that the Shanghai centre has already reopened.

“The centre is fully open and operational. We have our own infrastructure to watch demonstrations, to benchmark, and show proof of concept,” said Chatelard. “For local demonstrations, we invested in more people. But I would say at the beginning of the year we've not gotten the fruits of that because of the current situation.

I’m confident that when we restart we'll have a good perspective in Asia.”

The pandemic has catalysed changes in the industry. Most businesses have had to restructure how they operate.

Industry 4.0 and automation are trends which have been accelerated.

Companies that used to be resistant or slow in its adoption has had to make quick decisions to adopt the technologies to stay productive.

Xeikon CX300

Chatelard highlighted the growth of digital technologies in these times: “There will be a stimulation for digital,

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

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Xeikon SX30000

firstly due to the uncertainty of the business because of this crisis. You need to be more on-demand, so I think digital will give more flexibility for the future.”

customers will probably have learnt that for future investment, I would cross it out even more than before digital than conventional. I think that would be what will happen,” said Chatelard.

“The other thing is, you’d see that we have to survive without your people being necessarily in the plant, so there's a lot of thought about Manufacturing 4.0,” Chatelard continued. “You could say that digital needs far less labour than conventional. So, right now is a simulation to seriously consider more on-demand technology, and more nonlabour technology.”

The Possible New Future: Xeikon Café TV Due to the current situation, open houses, relevant events and tradeshows are put on the back burner for now.

The company’s signature Xeikon Café events, typically held at its Innovation Centres are also on hold. To mitigate the effects of not having personal face time and live demonstrations, Chatelard revealed the company will be launching Xeikon Café TV.

“With the grouping of jobs into a platform, you go digital to digital and eliminate the manual preparation of a plant. It’s far less labour intensive.

When your labour workforce cannot be on site or you are far, digital gives you an edge. At this time I think many

“Last month we invested into live streaming equipment in all our centres’ stations and learning how to make online demonstrations for customers,” Chatelard said. “We are now developing

the methodology to make it more professional. In June, it will be even more interactive. For that you need to implement some smart technology to make it functional, efficient and not boring so you can retain the attention of an audience for a couple of hours.”

In the last week of April, Xeikon ran the first two Xeikon Café TV live streaming in the US, one for the label industry, the other for the graphic arts.

Personal interactions are still crucial, as Chatelard added that the company hopes to eventually participate in local trade shows or relevant ones by the end of the year, and kickstart Xeikon Cafés as soon as possible. Xeikon had organised a Café event in its Tokyo centre right before the lockdown, and the next step would be to do an edition in Shanghai.

“However, if we cannot plan for a Shanghai edition, we'll do it online.

I think the technology will be used even more so to avoid traveling. As you know, going from North China to South China alone is an investment of time,” said Chatelard.

The technology can develop into a discussion platform with the customer: “It would be good to connect online in order to expand and progress the discussion. I think the crisis has helped us to learn and visualise how to have better connections with our customer.

That's my vision.”

Asia Strategy for drupa launches In late March, Xeikon announced

new products that meant to use the originally-planned drupa dates as an official launchpad. The company had stated that it will still launch as scheduled. The SX30000 digital press based on new Sirius technology will be launched in June 2020, while the new CX300 based on Cheetah 2.0 technology will launch in April 2020.

“With the two launches, we are introducing high end, high throughput, high speed products for both graphic arts and label. We will be bringing some new products to market prior to drupa in order to make the latest technology available to our customers.

By drupa 2021, we expect to have even more innovation available to announce and exhibit so customers can be wellprepared for the recovery that is sure to come,” said Chatelard.

The Xeikon SX30000 press based on the new generation of dry toner technology for the graphic arts industry, Sirius. The single pass duplex machine that is able to run at a printing width of 508 mm on a broad range of substrates at 30 meters/minute, 404ppm on A4.

It boasts an average speed increase of more than 50% throughout the range of 40-350 gsm versus the previous platform.

“In digital printing, the heavier the paper, the lower the speed. This has been fixed very nicely. The machine can deliver two to three times more into the high grammage. The way it is positioned now, this is something that can only happen every five to seven years. We are now addressing a segment that is not existing for us,” said Chatelard.

Chatelard added that Xeikon’s graphic arts presses are experiencing a good demand in Asia driven by Japan’s need for high quality. There is also demand in China and Taiwan, driven by the need for books on demand and large volumes of direct mail.

“There was always this compromise: do you go a little bit lower quality with expensive investment inkjet, or do you go with the offset quality of Xeikon?

With the throughput of this machine, we can now address the very high volume segment, so I think we have a high demand for the Xeikon SX30000

for Asia. And in fact, we are already in proposal for both Taiwan and Japan,” said Chatelard.

The dramatic reduction of activities in graphic arts now due to COVID-19 has potential to delay the progress of the launch, though Chatelard remained optimistic: “I hope this will be resolved by drupa. We still have the intention to release sales by then. At this stage we should have already done much more external testing, but to balance it out we have done much more homework with internal testing.”

On the other hand, the label industry is very active at this time, “because we serve the pharmaceutical and food industry. We are what we call an essential industry part of the supply chain, for supermarkets as an example,” said Chatelard.

Xeikon also released the new digital label press based on next-generation Cheetah 2.0 technology. The Xeikon

CX300 is designed to achieve the highest possible OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) and is even more productive than the Xeikon CX3 first generation of Cheetah presses.

With Cheetah 2.0 technology, Xeikon focused on combining high production speeds with a high OEE, ultimately resulting in maximum sellable output.

“Our focus has always been label industry for China mainland, more than graphic arts. What I observed is the trend of relatively entry level in the label industry,” said Chatelard.

“I believe the digitalization of digital printing for label is still relatively small compared to the rest of the world. This is because of the ratio of manpower in conventional; the costs is still low compared to Europe or the US. The volume of digital label activity in China is not that big at all, so for us it's a high growth potential. It’s very unique to China,” Chatelard concluded.

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Cardbox Packaging values Heidelberg as partner in packaging printing Cardbox Packaging is an international manufacturer of high-quality and technically sophisticated folding cartons with an annual turnover of around 45 million euros. The company operates production sites in Austria (Wolfsberg and Pinkafeld), the Czech Republic (Zádveřice), and most recently in the United States (Pittston, PA).

The management team of Cardbox Packaging – (from left to right) Florian Scharl, Managing Director Czech Republic, Klaus Hockl, CEO Holding, Michael Schaid, Managing Director USA and Roland Schöberl, CEO Holding – works with Heidelberg as their strategic partner. The USA site was equipped with an overall solution package, including a Speedmaster XL 106.

Heidelberg supported the setup in Pittston with extensive consulting services and an overall solution package comprising machines, service, and consumables. Cardbox Packaging is supported and advised by the Global and International Account Group at Heidelberg.

The goal of Cardbox Packaging is to expand the business through the addition of new sites and to give each

location a sustainable orientation.

From the beginning, the company has counted on strategic partners for this purpose. “One of the main reasons for the success of our expansion strategy is that we brought the right partners on board, Greiner Packaging and Heidelberg. Both are innovative and customer-oriented – and that’s how we see ourselves too,” says Roland Schöberl, CEO Cardbox Packaging Holding.

The joint venture with Greiner Packaging, one of the world’s leading providers of plastic packagings with sites around the globe, paved the way into the North American market.

When another major customer, a brand owner based in Europe, indicated its intention to have its folding cartons produced at Cardbox Packaging in the future, the move across the Atlantic was a foregone conclusion.

However, the market in the US works differently to Europe in all regards, whether consumers, clients, or

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

30 In postpress, the USA site of Cardbox Packaging relies on the Promatrix CSB die cutter. Michael Schaid, Florian Scharl, Klaus Hockl and Roland Schöberl (from left to right) are more than satisfied with their decision.

flexibly to our customers’ wishes and offer customized, tailored solutions.

However, the price is the ultimate deciding factor,” says Klaus Hockl, CEO Cardbox Packaging Holding.

suppliers. Cardbox Packaging therefore intensified its collaboration with Heidelberg as a global partner.

Highly productive overall system At the same time as it was moving into the new building, Heidelberg supplied the equipment and established a lean production system with short supply chains and an efficient material flow. All processes were thoroughly analyzed and geared to economic efficiency. A Suprasetter CtP system is used for imaging in prepress, while a Speedmaster XL 106 six-color press runs with double coating and full logistics in the pressroom. The sheets are finished with the Promatrix CSB die cutter and the Diana Easy folder gluer in postpress. The Prinect Production Manager workflow provides for integrating these processes. The CtP system was delivered with a plate supply contract, Saphira Pressroom Consumables are used and Cardbox Packaging also relies on the service of Heidelberg. “With the 36 Plus service

agreement, we’re buying ourselves production reliability.

We know from experience that it’s definitely worth it, because it helps us to avoid unscheduled downtimes,” says Roland Schöberl. The service package also includes production analyses of where and how further saving potentials can be realized.

Cardbox Packaging also benefits from a streamlined supply chain and much lower complexity. “Instead of negotiating with several suppliers, we get everything from one source, from Heidelberg. This makes a lot of things easier. We save process costs, and the reduction of the workload in day-today business frees us up to focus on key topics such as new offerings for our customers,” says Roland Schöberl.

Cardbox Packaging also built on the positive experience with Heidelberg equipment at its Austrian sites, with a Speedmaster XL 106-6+L with full logistics in operation in Wolfsberg, and a Diana Pro as well as a Promatrix CSB in Pinkafeld.

Around 20 employees work at the Pittston site, producing packaging primarily for brand manufacturers in the confectionery, food and cosmetics industries. “We respond

The management team of Cardbox Packaging at the USA site is impressed by the high performance of the Diana Easy folder glue

Due to the intensive competitive pressure, costings are done very precisely and the effort involved in the job change is very accurately analyzed. Particularly with short runs, every second counts. All print jobs – even non-food jobs – are therefore produced using food-safe, lowmigration consumables. This shortens the changeover times and reduces the amount of makeready required. At the same time, Cardbox Packaging can reliably meet the high requirements of its food customers.

Growth through know-how transfer and digitization of processes Cardbox Packaging plans for further growth. “We know that our success depends on people to a large extent.

On our employees and our partners,” says Klaus Hockl with conviction.

Cardbox Packaging therefore attaches great importance to a modern working environment, a pleasant working climate, and continuous training. The company-wide transfer of know-how on technical and operational issues in printing plays a central role.

Cardbox Packaging regards the trusting partnership with Heidelberg as another lever for long-term success. “Heidelberg is actively driving digital topics like big data and the Internet of Things.

This gives us many opportunities to enhance our performance and grow further – without having to make new investments,” says Klaus Hockl. Thus, integration of the Heidelberg Assistant is in the planning stage, as this software interface allows for coordination of the desired level of transparency, knowhow transfer, purchasing via the eShop, and service.

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Printers a conditions by successfully launchi 3rd drupa Global Trends Spotlight Report:

This year’s drupa Spotlight report, Strategic choices in a competitive and converging marketplace, will be published in May. In a survey (conducted before the coronavirus outbreak) over 500 printers and almost 200 suppliers described the challenges and successes of launching new products and services.

For many in the industry, planning their recovery from the coronavirus recession may well necessitate such launches, so lessons must be drawn on how best to do so.

In most market sectors and most regions there are very challenging conditions. As for suppliers, they are only as healthy as their customers and they too must respond to the declining prospects for traditional products and services. For many the answer must be, at least in part, to launch new products and services.

“Commodity printing is overtraded, move away from commodity printing or close your doors.” Commercial printer, South Africa Roughly 60% of printers launched major new products or services in the last four years into their existing markets. About half the launches were successful and very few went badly wrong. Diversifying the range of products/services and gaining new

customers were chosen as the top benefits. As for the drawbacks, most reported that the launches sucked in far too much staff time and other resources and often ran well behind schedule.

About 30% of printers had launched into new market sectors. This is clearly a more difficult challenge and the results reflected that, with c.40% of the launches going well (compared with 54% for existing markets).

Turning to suppliers, approximately 80% launched new products/ services over the last four years. The results were clearly better the larger the company with a success rate of 40% for the smallest suppliers up to 80% for the largest. The top benefits were diversification and gaining new customers. The biggest problems by far were launches running late and sucking in too many resources, while building the correct channels to market was a common challenge.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, 76% of printers and 85% of suppliers were either definitely or possibly launching new products or services in the next four years. Clearly that will mean investment, with digital print technology followed by finishing being the most popular targets for printers.

The report will draw four key lessons on how best to succeed when launching new products or services: • Launching new services and products needs proper well-prepared processes • Careful selection and development is essential – no knee-jerk reactions • Plan conservatively – expect delays and complications • Manage your expectations – be realistic These two quotes from panel participants underline them: “The most important lesson has been to define plans with the ability to

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

adapting to challenging market ing new products and services

adapt to rapid changes in market and customers’ demands. The challenge is to grow by introducing new product or services areas while maintaining the existing ones.” Packaging printer, Puerto Rico “The switch from print to print + digital is essential for the survival of the graphic industries. Customers are no longer waiting. If you cannot provide the service they request, they will leave you, because a competitor, who has been able to adapt and develop new services, will take the market.”

Commercial market supplier, France The full report in English will be released by the end of May and available for sale on www.drupa. com. The Executive Summary will be available for free in German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.

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Heidelberg releases ne under Subscription Mo • Data-based lifecycle solutions support Smart Print Shop concept • Taking partnership to a new level with Print Site Contracts – contract business placed on new footing and portfolio further expanded with value-added contracts • Global market launch of Heidelberg Subscription on schedule Heidelberg announces new options for its subscription model. With the subscription model, customers no longer pay for the equipment they use, but simply for the number of sheets produced.

The company is expanding its databased contract business and adding to its existing Heidelberg Subscription portfolio, placing greater emphasis on its partnership-based approach.

All the new options support the Smart Print Shop concept developed

by Heidelberg. The now available Print Site Contracts provide a variable combination of consumables, services, software, performance consulting, training, and equipment solutions in a single package with the aim of further improving print shops’ machine availability and overall performance.

Print Site Contracts – four contract packages aimed at making customers more profitable Print Site Contracts are available in the form of lifecycle agreements or subscription. Customers have a choice of four packages with different scopes of services and methods of payment.

They range from a “Lifecycle Smart” contract that includes services and consumables to a “Subscription Plus” package that covers consulting, training, service, consumables, Prinect software, and equipment solutions. All four packages aim to maximize customers’ overall equipment efficiency (OEE), which represents the actual added value when compared to purchasing individual components.

Along with reducing makeready and throughput times, the overall focus

is on increasing net output while also generating less waste. In addition to state-of-the-art equipment solutions and on-site process consulting, customers also benefit from the many years of experience and expertise on which Heidelberg application specialists base recommendations, such as the appropriate consumables for a particular situation.

Monthly Fees The monthly fees for the standard “Lifecycle Smart” and “Lifecycle Plus” packages are determined by the services used. In the case of the “Subscription Smart” and “Subscription Plus” options, on the other hand, they depend on the actual output. The packages can be combined with the purchase of a

ew contract options odel

new press or based on the customer’s existing equipment.

Customers opting for one of these contracts can rest assured that only coordinated consumables and services of the usual high Heidelberg quality are used. They also avoid the considerable expense of obtaining each of the offerings included in the contract individually. The Heidelberg Assistant digital portal plays a key role, too, providing contract customers with a digital link to a whole host of additional services such as a vendormanaged inventory, important real-time information relating to their company’s performance, and easy access to the Heidelberg eShop.

“Heidelberg is helping to improve the print shop production process

with our new range of partnershipbased Print Site Contracts, leaving customers to focus more on their market, and on developing service and product innovations,” said Garo Derderian, head of Lifecycle Business at Heidelberg.

With its expanded contract portfolio, Heidelberg is making an altogether more active contribution to improving print shop performance. “Perfect interaction of the various components is the only way of optimizing the production process. The extensive wealth of data obtained via the link to machines in the service environment, which Heidelberg makes a point of utilizing for the new contracts, plays a key role in this regard,” explained Derderian.

Global market launch of Heidelberg Subscription on schedule The worldwide market rollout of Heidelberg Subscription is progressing according to plan. The company has now won over numerous packaging, label, and commercial printing customers on every continent. With this model, Heidelberg is following the growing equipment-as-a-service trend in mechanical engineering and moving further away from simply selling presses.

Customers only pay for the number of sheets actually printed, which reflects the level of industrial productivity.

Under the top configuration level of the model, Heidelberg offers a complete smart system comprising equipment, software, all the necessary consumables – such as printing plates, inks, coatings, washup solutions, and blankets – as well as a comprehensive service and consulting portfolio geared to availability. If customers so wish, the company will also take care of all aspects of automated logistics operations for consumables as part of a subscription package (vendor-managed inventory).

“The ongoing development of data-based capabilities is creating a performance profile that is unique in the industry. The contracts’ focus on optimizing Heidelberg products during the operating phase has now become a vital focal point of the company’s strategy and ensures the innovative edge of its high-end equipment solutions is put to good use,” underlines Dr. David Schmedding, who is in charge of the new business models at Heidelberg.

In the medium term, Heidelberg is planning to generate around 30 percent of its total sales from contract business.

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What it takes to produce award-winning print KODAK FLEXCEL NX Plate user, Perfection Packaging, Australia, has just scooped the prestigious (North American) FTA Best in Show wide web category Award for Print Excellence. Their Eta Uppercuts Corn Tapas Bag was hailed by the judges as a truly exceptional piece of print, specifically mentioning the excellent overall tonal range, standout ink coverage and highlight reproduction.

We spoke to Selwyn Hyman and Hylton Hodes, Managers at Perfection Packaging to find out more about the application and to get the lowdown on what it takes to produce award-winning print: Can you share a little background on Perfection Packaging?

Established in 1978, we have expanded over the years and now occupy a purpose-built 10,000sqm facility in Dandenong South, near Melbourne. We have five state-of-the-art flexo presses and offer flexible packaging solutions for the FMCG industry, including food, health and personal care. We’re focused on providing quality innovative

products with unrivaled customer service and produce work that regularly wins local and international printing awards – though this recent Best in

Show win at the FTA is the icing on the cake!

Tell us a little more about the production of the winning bag: The first thing you need to know is that the job was printed as any job that goes through our plant. This included normal press speeds together with the standard process controls that are applied to every job printed at Perfection Packaging. This job was not treated any differently. It’s printed at 133lpi screen ruling. We don’t push high line screens – that way we minimize the challenges on press.

The key to producing such a highquality job is maintaining consistency on press with ink density targets, which we were able to achieve by using KODAK FLEXCEL NX plates.

The reprographics, provided by our prepress partner Kirk Group, are produced to a press color profile specific to our presses and substrates.

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This allows proofs to accurately match the press outcomes. The KODAK FLEXCEL NX plates with Advanced surface patterning allow for ink densities to be quickly achieved and maintained throughout the run without the need to increase impression. This is coupled with the KODAK Advanced Edge Definition technology used on the plates, which keeps the type crisp and clean with both positive and reverse text.

Were you working to a specific client brief ?

The client did not provide any specific direction – they probably didn’t even realize or appreciate the complexity of the design for the flexographic process.

They did have a very similar product that had been produced in gravure, so we knew running a minimum dot across the front of the pack wasn’t an option.

This is where KODAK MAXTONE SX screening became critical.

“The key to producing such a highquality job is maintaining consistency on press with ink density targets, which we were able to achieve by using KODAK FLEXCEL NX plates.”

What obstacles did you have to overcome with this job?

The design of the packet is challenging for traditional flexography as the image background of a colored woven

material has large areas where the background softly fades to white, with copy in these areas.

Running a traditional minimum dot across these areas was not an option, as it would have reduced the product’s shelf impact. So, to achieve gravurelike results where the tone starts at 0%, Kirk Group utilized Kodak’s MAXTONE SX screening – which is tailored to the imaging of the KODAK FLEXCEL NX plate – to deliver the visual effect of fading to zero. This was applied across the entire job, which allowed for all colors to be very ‘clean’ by starting at 0%.

Why do you think your application won an FTA Best of Show Award?

The results we achieved with this job challenges the traditional expectations of a flexible package printed by the flexographic process – something we aspire to with every job we do!

The design of this job placed all of the traditional limitations of flexography in sharp focus, with fine reverse text, fine positive text, images and background that required the tone to start at 0%.

The end result could only be defined as being flexo by viewing the result under a magnifying glass, something brand owners and consumers do not do.

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Koenig & Bauer Asia Pacific presents OMEGA Allpro folder gluer The OMEGA Allpro folder gluer by Koenig & Bauer Duran is now available to the Asian region.

Koenig & Bauer Asia Pacific announced the availability of the Omega Allpro folder gluer, a high technology and yet still economical line of folder gluers.

The line comprises of 27 different models in three different series; the most popular of which is the Omega Allpro 110, the world’s most versatile folder gluer, providing for endless type of carton styles production.

Handling a wide range of substrates from cartonboard to corrugated, OMEGA Allpro gluers are extremely versatile and capable of producing the most complex range of carton styles, minimizing make ready and maximizing productivity and profitability.

Presented in nine sizes from 35 to 185 cm width, Allpro gluers produce straight line, double wall, crash lock and optional 4&6 corner with single finger servo backfold system as well as inner partition, Z-fold, conical crash lock and CD boxes at a maximum belt speed of 400 m/ min.

Omega Allpro gluers have memory versions available, providing for fully automated set-up. In addition to the above, Allpro folder gluers can be equipped with Omega Turnpro, Duran’s turning section which allows the carton flow to be turned by 90 degrees to produce complex fold styles

in a single pass. This ability allows for the production of special cartons styles such as e-commerce envelopes with inline tape applications, chocolate cartons, beverage multi-packs and many more.

Furthermore, Allpro folder gluers can also be customized to meet the requirements of special projects. The team at Koenig & Bauer Asia Pacific has strongly started representing Koenig & Bauer Postpress products with its own experts in this field, and are happy to look into the endless possibilities the Allpro folder gluers bring to their customers.

“You can now design your carton box as you imagine it.”

Bespoke Folder Gluers - Koenig & Bauer Duran In 2018, Koenig & Bauer bought a stake in Istanbul’s Duran Machinery to form Koenig & Bauer Duran. Backed by 30 years in the design and manufacturing of high-quality specialty carton and corrugated folder gluers, Koenig & Bauer Duran is the latest addition to Koenig & Bauer Sheetfed family.

Its world-popular line of products is the widest equipment range in the field making the Omega folder gluers the favourite of many multi-national

companies in Europe and USA - thanks to Duran’s specialty in committed R&D and bespoke design, as well as the favourite of many independently owned family business thanks to Omega folder gluers’ easy to operate features and maintenance free design.

The unique approach by Duran comes from their roots; in late 1980s the company Duran Offset was looking for a special design folder gluer and when suppliers at the time were reluctant to provide for this requirement, they decided to design and build a machine for their own use. With the success of the first machines, Duran established the machinery business as a separate company.

This interesting start enabled the new company to see the point of view of customers and this has become a strong suit and helped it to become one of the world's most successful brands.

Omega folder gluers are designed from the users’ perspective with a wide range of usage and production advantages.

This also reflects very brightly in the service approach of Duran.

The company is well known for its extraordinary service and support throughout its customers in 70 countries all around the world. Now with the strength of Koenig & Bauer teams worldwide, the company is expanding its presence to new markets.

Our World-class Post Press Innovations European made, with all of the quality and support you expect from Koenig & Bauer The Optima 106 K die-cutter and the Omega Allpro folder-gluer are capable of producing the most complex range of carton styles minimizing make ready and maximizing productivity and profitability. All this combined with the ultimate service and support from Koenig & Bauer.

Contact your agent to learn more.

Koenig & Bauer (SEA) Sdn Bhd +60 3 7885 8860 digitalsalescenter@koenig-bauer.com koenig-bauer.com

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ROLAND 700 prints a record 50 million sheets in just 9 months South Korean printer sets new record with the installation of ROLAND 705 3B EVOLUTION.

Gabwoo MoonHwaSa, the highend South Korean printer, has set a new record by achieving 50 million impressions within the first nine months of installing its latest press, a ROLAND 705 3B EVOLUTION. With annual revenues of €130 million, Gabwoo MoonHwaSa specialises in high quality magazine and book printing.

In 2018 the company began expanding its business scope to the high quality packaging printing sector by installing their fourth ROLAND 700 press.

“Thanks to Manroland’s advanced printing technology and strong service support, our company has maintained a rapid growth momentum,” says company CEO, Mr. SoonKwan Jeon.

“We are extremely satisfied with the amazing performance of this machine..... our ROLAND 705 3B EVOLUTION has already printed 50 million sheets in just 9 months!”

The machine went on to print 62 million sheets in the first year of its operation.

Gabwoo MoonHwaSa attaches great importance to the maintenance of its presses and operates Manroland Sheetfed’s ProServ 360° maintenance regime.

“Honestly, we could not afford any machine breakdowns, as we always have tight schedules with our customers,” says Mr. SoonKwan Jeon.

“Our printing machines are always kept in the very best condition thanks to the ProServ 360° maintenance contract and Manroland technicians are always available.”

Mr. SoonKwan Jeon. CEO, Gabwoo MoonHwaSa and Mr. HyungJoon Ahn, Managing Director, Manroland Korea with the record -breaking ROLAND 705 3B EVOLUTION . The press achieved 50 million impressions in the first 9 months of operation and went on to make 62 million impressions in its first year.

Mr. HyungJoon Ahn, Managing Director of Manroland Korea: “From the beginning, we were aware that Gabwoo MoonHwaSa are particularly concerned about machine availability.

In order to prevent any critical failure, we provide them with Proserv 360°, our highest level of maintenance support.

For sure this was a major factor in achieving this remarkable performance record for our press”.

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SPEED UP YOUR PROCESSES with optical systems for UV curing and drying

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

44

Product Roundup: Hybrid Printers Hybrid wide-format flatbed/roll-to-roll printers are machines that allow print shops to print graphics on both rigid sheets and flexible rolls of materials.

Hybrid printers offer flexibility, because they are capable of printing roll-to-roll, flexible sheets and rigid substrates in a single footprint. Hybrid printers can be equipped with roll-feed mechanisms that enable flexible materials to quickly be positioned beneath the moving printheads on the vacuum table. The printers are especially useful for those with limited floor space to maximise the use of their equipment and applications.

Hybrid printers can typically print on a wide range of rigid materials, such as foamboards, foam PVC, cardboard, fluted polypropylene, solid plastics, aluminum, wood and glass among others. It can also print on flexible display films, and roll substrates such as PVC banner, adhesive vinyl, synthetic and coated paper, polypropylene, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyester, textiles, and canvas.

This is our roundup of the best hybrid printers on the market:

HP Latex R Series The HP Latex R Series is the first, true hybrid latex technology that merges HP’s flexible printing capabilities into rigid printing. The portfolio consists of the 2.5m-wide HP Latex R2000 Plus, the 1.64m-wide HP Latex R1000 Plus, and the 1.64m-wide entry-level Latex R1000 2020 edition.

The HP Latex-R series of hybrid printers use thermal inkjet printheads and latex inks. A single ink set delivers HP Latex colour gamut along with white. HP’s White Latex Ink is based on an innovative system that recirculates the white ink to avoid settling.

Unlike UV printing technology, which creates a thick layer of ink that completely covers the material, HP’s water-based Latex Inks preserve the look and feel of the media, and delivers odorless prints that are both safe for the environment and the printer operator.

EFI VUTEk h3/h5 The high-volume EFI VUTEk h3/ h5 hybrid LED printer is part of the VUTEk h series of devices that global EFI R&D teams developed from the ground up. It is the company’s latest offering for high-volume, superwideformat hybrid inkjet platform. The award-winning VUTEk h series is targeted at display graphics PSPs moving further into higher-volume, premium-quality applications.

The VUTEK h3 consists of three printheads, while the h5 has five printheads. The 3.2-metre wide hybrid printers offer resolutions up to 1,200 dpi. The h3 model offers maximum throughput of up to 74 boards per hour. The h5 model, which is available direct from EFI or as field upgrade to the h3 model, can produce up to 109 boards per hour.

EFI Pro 16h For an entry level option, EFI has the EFI Pro 16h hybrid roll/flatbed LED printer. The EFI Pro 16h is an affordable entry point printer aimed at mid-level or smaller sign and display

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

46 shops, and at commercial printers looking to enter or grow wide format.

According to EFI, it has been strategically designed with a complete stimulus package of features for the lowest total cost of ownership, superior image quality and access to the widest range of substrates/applications.

The EFI Pro 16h can print CMYK plus white on substrates up to 165 cm wide and 5.08 cm thick at 1200x1200 dpi. It features cool cure LED curing technology, which reduces operating costs and environmental footprint.

Fujifilm Acuity LED 1600 II The Acuity LED 1600 II is designed for the printer new to wide format inkjet printing or for users who wish to save costs by printing with LED UV curing technology. The large format hybrid printer is ideal for a wide variety of promotional tools, from wide format posters to window displays, back lit signs, point of purchase materials, and product packaging.

size graphic screen printers that want to combine board and roll-to-roll print jobs.

The 1.65-metre-wide hybrid printer utilises Agfa’s thin-ink-layer technology for low ink consumption. The white ink function allows for printing on transparent material for backlit applications or for printing white as a spot colour. An optional automatic board feeder can increase productivity even more.

Durst P5 350 The P5 350 is the all-in-one hybrid solution for flexible roll and board printing up to 138-inches. The printing system is targeted towards high-volume industrial production in large-format markets. Besides standard materials such as paper or PVC, others include metal, banners, folding carton, soft foam board, corrugated boards,

platform. Consultancy, integration services and applications training support to manage this new Durst ecosystem.

Mimaki UJV-160 Mimaki has announced its new 60inch, UV-curable inkjet printer, UJV160, using environmentally-friendly UV-LED technology, which does not generate heat and has a flexible UV ink that has been developed together with 3M. The UJV-160 will offer 4- or 8-colour printing, handle rigid media up to 7mm thick and offer print resolutions up to 1200√ó1200 dpi.

The new 7-colour UV flexible inkset (CMYKcmW) will offer high pigment density and minimal VOCs. Roland VersaUV LEJ-640FT The Roland VersaUV LEJ-640FT offers both flatbed and roll-fed printing in a single device. Printing CMYK,

The Acuity LED 1600 II converts quickly from roll media to rigid. It gives excellent results on PET film, PETG, self-adhesive vinyl and conventional PVC, stock paper and board. The printer uses the same ink for both rigid and roll applications, avoiding duplicate stock and shelf-life concerns.

Print to roll for banners, window displays or backlit applications, and then seamlessly switch to directly print to rigid boards (including PET, acrylic and polycarbonate substrates) for highquality POP or sign applications.

polycarbonate, polypropylene, styrene, fabrics, acrylic and plastic hard foam board up to 3.5-m wide using LED technology.

White and Clear Coat inks on virtually any substrate up to a half-inch thick, the printer is capable of producing a massive range of large-format graphics.

AGFA Annapurna H1650i The H1650i is the smallest engine in Agfa’s Anapurna hybrid range and is an entry-level industrial machine.

The wide-format hybrid Anapurna LED series is targeted at sign shops, digital printers, photo labs and mid-

The maximum print speed is up to 358-m2/h in continuous printing. The printer is equipped with the Durst Print Workflow software and the monitoring tool Durst Analytics. Durst software turns the printer into a production unit and results in a comprehensive

Print on rolls of paper and film and then simply attach the rear and front folding tables in minutes to enable printing on full-sheets of rigid media like Coroplast®, Gatorfoam® and other display substrates.

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

48

COVID-19 to change the future of snacking in APAC Product choices prior to COVID-19 were often shaped by the demand of ‘on-the-go’ lifestyles, which is no longer applicable as consumers are in lockdown. With self-isolation changing the dynamics of snacks for the consumers, brands are on the constant look-out for new ways to meet the personalized health consumer demands, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tracker, Week 6(28 April-3 May), about 36% of Chinese consumers and 25% of Indian consumers are influenced by how their safety and well-being is impacted by the product and services. The survey also reveals that 32% Chinese and 24% Indian consumers are buying savoury snacks more than before.

Shagun Sachdeva, Consumer insight analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, highlights the healthy snackification trends that are going to shape up in Asia-Pacific (APAC) amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Reprioritization of Consumer Basket While the idea of snacking still revolves around killing boredom or to find solace, the idea of ‘what to snack on’ has changed. Health still remains the leading priority for consumers and the concern has just heightened during the pandemic. With social distancing, workfrom-home and reduced opportunities for ‘on-the-go’ consumption and exercise, health-positioned snacking products are an obvious choice to meet consumers' health needs.

With these unique conditions spurring concerns over nutrition and over-

existing lifestyle-related diseases like obesity and diabetes, plant-forward and nutrient-dense snacks that offer supplemented vitamins will remain much in demand. Brands are taking note of the changing consumer needs and replacing artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners and other preservatives with natural, plant-based and clean label items to realign their portfolio.

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50 offer value to their customers. Due to the uncertain economic environment and supply chain disruption due to COVID-19, many consumers initially bought food out of panic. Consumers have essentially moved from a ‘just-intime’, ‘on-the-go’ model to a ‘just-incase’ stockpiling model. This means that value, rather than premiumization, is the current key priority for consumers. Special offers, gift cards, or loyalty programs by brands are a straightforward way to court this consumer desire.

For instance, in China, KFC has launched plant-based fried chicken made by Cargill in selected chains.

Starbucks also debuted a new plantbased menu featuring Beyond Meat and Oatly.

Focus on Value As consumers are trying to restrict contact with others as much as possible and embracing home-life and new activities, life under quarantine has created new scenarios for brands to

New Channel Choices COVID-19 and the resulting quarantine pushed some brands to diversify their audience channels and learn to sell directly to their consumers online. This shifting focus birthed by lockdowns in various APAC countries will continue, further encouraging brands to look at the realignment of sales channels.

Manufacturers are focussing on online marketing, targeting, deals, and delivery. They are well aware that e-commerce should be the number-one priority for securing regular payments and deliveries on proprietary websites and third-party platforms makes it

easier for the isolated customers to buy more and conveniently. Along with e-commerce, brands are also considering subscription-based models to maintain steady sales during the pandemic.

What’s Next?

So far, we have reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the sector. When the crisis wraps, we can expect to see a new generation of consumers, ecosystems, new rules, products and experiences.

Indonesian hot drinks sector expected to grow at 7.7% value CAGR through 2023, says GlobalData The Indonesian hot drinks sector, which includes coffee, tea and other hot drinks, is forecast to grow from Rp30.1 trillion (US$2.1bn) in 2018 to reach Rp43.7 trillion (US$2.9bn) by 2023, recording a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7%, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

South Korean hot drinks sector expected to reach US$2.3bn by 2023, says GlobalData The South Korean hot drinks sector, which includes coffee, tea and other hot drinks, is forecast

to grow from US$1.8bn in 2018 to US$2.3bn by 2023, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4%, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

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drupa to host first digital textile forum drupa 2021 will be premiering Touchpoint Textile, a new special show for digital textile printing applications. The forum will be held in Hall 4.

With the textile industry spawning technologies for numerous industries, touchpoint textile connects these various sectors, offering them a platform for cross-industry collaboration, new projects, as well as product and manufacturing ideas that will be demonstrated on-site in a microfactory. drupa introduces Touchpoint Textile to reflect the rising significance of digital textile printing and to underline its importance as a driver of innovation and growth in new fields of business for the printing industry.

The special show is an indicator of how drupa is gaining ground in new markets, which apart from textile printing include packaging, large format printing, industrial and functional printing. All of these segments are going through the same transformation processes, offering tremendous potential for growth.

Support from leading industry experts Touchpoint textile is backed bythe German Institutes for Textile and Fibre Research (DITF) and the non-

profit European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association (ESMA).

Together with cross-industry partners, DITF is setting up a Digital Textile Micro Factory at drupa, a fully networked, integrated production chain from customer specifications and design to fabric finishing.

The microfactory will demonstrate how digital textile printing, cutting and

colour management can be integrated in a fully connected production environment. A variety of products, such as flags, t-shirts and bags, will be fabricated “hot off the press” each day.

Networked production chains of this

kind, fuelled by a combination of agility, creativity, flexibility and productivity, empower the textile industry to respond ever more promptly and specifically to customer demands and trends, even in small quantities.

Rising significance of textile printing “Continued digitalisation and crosssectional technologies are accelerating innovation,” said Sabine Geldermann, Director of drupa and Global Head of Print Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf. “drupa’s role is to be a source of momentum for our industry, fostering and shaping change. We’re committed to identifying all relevant issues and integrating them in our forums. The growth potential in textile printing is phenomenal. It’s against this backdrop that we’re dedicating a special platform to these applications.”

Even beyond the touchpoint textile special show, digital textile printing will be an important focus of many exhibitors. drupa visitors are thus assured of getting a 360- degree view of current developments and trends in this important sector.

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Paper Bottles – The Future of Eco-Friendly Packaging?

Could paper be a new sustainable type of bottle packaging?

Maybe it is. Paboco (The Paper Bottle Company) grown from the start-up and innovation expert EcoXpac, has developed a 100% bio-based and recyclable paper bottle.

Could paper be a new sustainable type of bottle packaging? Maybe it is.

Paboco (The Paper Bottle Company) grown from the start-up and innovation expert EcoXpac, has developed a 100% bio-based and recyclable paper bottle. The wood fibres used come from sustainable, well-managed forests and for each tree logged two to three are (re)planted and enabled to grow to an optimal size.

There Must be an Inner Barrier The Paper Bottle Company is a venture between the paper packaging material developer BillerudKorsnäs and the bottle manufacturing specialist ALPLA, who recently announced that Avantium will be one of the technology providers for the Paper Bottle Project.

In order to use it for various purposes, the bottle needs an inner barrier that contains liquids and prevents gas permeability through the bottle, which is necessary for beverages such as beer and carbonated soft drinks.

There are two prototypes of the paper bottle: One uses a thin recycled PET polymer film barrier, while the other has a 100% plant-based PEF

(polyethylene furanoate) polymer film barrier by Avantium. PEF’s barrier and thermal properties are claimed to be superior to conventional PET and may become the next-generation polyester.

Nevertheless, both prototypes are an important step towards a circular approach to packaging.

Major Brand Owners Joined the Paper Bottle Project Carlsberg Group, Coca-Cola Europe, Absolut Company and L’Oréal climbed on the bandwagon and joined the Paper Bottle Company. Carlsberg founded a Together Towards Zero Initiative, which includes a commitment to reach zero carbon emissions by 2030.

At the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen on the 9th to 12th October, Carlsberg said that the “Green Fibre Bottle” prototypes will be produced from sustainably sourced wood fibres and can be recycled completely. Carlsberg already replaced their plastic wrap for six-packs with a snap-pack and was able to reduce the plastic content by up to 76% compared to conventional multipacks.

The Coca-Cola Company formulates its vision of working towards a “World Without Waste”, which includes goals to make all packaging 100% recyclable and to ensure that at least 50% of plastics bottles consist of recycled materials. The paper bottle concept could make a valuable contribution to achieving those goals.

Paper bottles could also be an ecofriendly alternative in the cosmetic industry. Since October, L’Oréal is the first cosmetics company to be involved in the Paper Bottle Project and announced the launch of the paper-based cosmetic tube in 2020.

The development of the paper bottle is already underway and the market launch is planned for 2021.

“A Paper Bottle in Every Hand” The Paper Bottle Company Paboco wants to become part of the solution and have the vision that there is a paper bottle in every hand. Although there is still some work to be done, the sustainable and commercial potential of paper bottles is immense: packaging that can be recycled or returned to nature without harm. Paboco said: “By changing the bottling industry for good, we have the opportunity to impact people’s choice of sustainable packaging and indirectly spark the beginning of an everyday movement.”

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Nothing herein should be construed as a warranty in addition to the express warranty statement provided with EFI products and services. EFI, FabriVU, Fiery, the Fiery logo, and VUTEk are trademarks of Electronics For Imaging, Inc. and/or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or certain other countries. ©2020 Electronics For Imaging, Inc. All rights reserved.

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

56 Heidelberg releases weekly COVID-19 report on print industry Heidelberg is presenting its Print Media Industry Climate Report to the public for the first time. The company provides weekly updates on the development of print volumes in the packaging and label printing and commercial printing market segments.

The representative basis of the anonymized data is formed by around 5,000 selected offset presses of all format classes at customers worldwide who are connected to the Heidelberg Cloud.

The current data for around 50 countries per segment is determined from this and displayed on a world map. The colours shown on the country map are indicators of how the estimated current production in print shops is compared to the previous year. The scale ranges from 1 (serious impact of COVID-19 on production) to 8 (production above last year's level), with 7 representing production at last year's level.

"With the Print Media Industry Climate Report we have our finger on the pulse of our customers," said Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg. "The weekly climate in the print industry was developed to support print shops during the Corona pandemic in particular.

It is important for all participants in the printing industry to understand which market segments and countries are currently most affected. The basis for this added value is the extensive data pool of our cloud, to which

almost all newly delivered presses are connected. We publish this information without access restrictions in order to set an example for the industry and are happy to exchange information with printing associations and partners worldwide. Together we are mastering this crisis."

Heidelberg's estimates provide a timely representative picture of the current state of the print media industry and indicate where priorities and efforts are needed to support those involved in the industry.

The most important findings of the past four weeks were: • During the corona pandemic, print production in China fell by up to 80 percent compared to normal volumes, but recovered as the infection curve fell and is now back to last year's levels in both the commercial and the packaging/label segments.

• The packaging and label segment is very stable in the corona period, mainly due to the increasing demand for food and pharmaceutical packaging. Nevertheless, local supply problems such as the discontinuation of paper production in India are having a negative impact on this segment in some countries.

• While print production in all other countries was stable until mid-March 2020 and was above the level of previous years, the outbreak of the corona pandemic and the shutdown in the countries has led to a significant reduction in print volume worldwide, especially in the commercial market.

With the PMI Climate Report, the

Heidelberg Digital Unit, which was founded in 2018, is making its data science capabilities available.

Heidelberg customers can monitor the productivity of their presses in the Heidelberg Assistant. The new Heidelberg Performance Benchmark presented at the drupa press conference provides Heidelberg customers with detailed insights into the position of their presses.

Heidelberg Cloud - extensive IIoT network in the print media industry By applying the connectivity solution in a single cloud for all product lines and increasing the connection rate of all newly delivered products, the Heidelberg cloud continues to grow.

In financial year 2019/2020, over 13,000 presses and 25,000 Prinect modules will be connected to Heidelberg via IIoT. IIoT networking is becoming increasingly important for all Heidelberg business processes and the use of the database.

• Every month, over 4,000 remote sessions on machines are used to resolve service issues • More than 4 million data records are transferred from machines and Prinect every month as measured values.

• In addition, 2 TB of data from machine logs and file transfers are transferred every month.

• As PMI's comprehensive benchmark database, the HDCloud contains anonymized data from 50 million print jobs.

Weekly update under www.heidelberg. com/PMI-climate.

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

58 use drupa 2020 as a launchpad for new products will still launch in June 2020. The exhibitors include HP and Xeikon.

The online ticket shop for drupa 2021 is now open. For further information and regular updates, please visit www. drupa.com.

Toppan is ISO 14298 Certified Further global market expansion enabled as first Japanese company to receive highest level security certification for the manufacture of holograms used in banknotes, ID cards, and passports.

The Countdown to drupa 2021 begins The countdown to drupa 2021 has begun. Originally planned for June 2020, organisers made the decision to postpone the mega-fair due to the COVID-19 pandemic. drupa is now slated to occur from 20 to 30 April 2021 at Messe Dusseldorf.

Exhibitors supported the postponement, and stressed the importance of direct interaction with existing and new customers at the global trade fair.

"We were already in the final stages of preparing for drupa 2020. However, given the current exceptional situation, we believe the decision to postpone was both right and unavoidable,” said Hiroaki Shimosaka of Fujifilm Corporation.

“The announcement in March has minimised the economic damage to exhibitors and we are grateful that the decision was made before the impact could become even more drastic.

However, while the Coronavirus is causing social-distancing and general caution, the communication infrastructure provided by the printing industry, and the role of print remains unchanged.

We are therefore preparing for drupa 2021 to be successful, when the extent of the Coronavirus has subsided,” Shimosaka continued.

According to Messe Dusseldorf, some exhibitors plan to make the most of the additional time and complete and redevelop further innovations – and thus ask for a greater presence at the trade fair in 2021. drupa is an indispensable platform for industry participants, providing orientation, impetus and, above all, meeting the demand for face-to-face meetings to a high degree.

"At the first drupa in 1951, Bobst sold 43 machines. 70 years later, in 2021, we will be shaping the future of the packaging world at drupa by actively driving change in the industry, sharing our vision in a changing world is essential, and drupa 2021 will be the right place to do so," said Jean-Pascal Bost, CEO of Bobst.

Claus Bolza-Schünemann, CEO of Koenig & Bauer added: "drupa is the leading trade fair and the highlight of an entire industry. We at Koenig & Bauer have already put a lot of energy and passion into drupa. We would like to share this with you – also in 2021 – and of course on the way there. Stay tuned, it's worth it!”

In the meantime, drupa invites its community to take advantage of the website's various features to present themselves, publish company and product information free of charge and keep up to date via the newsroom and social media channels.

Some exhibitors that had planned to

Toppan Printing (Toppan) has become the first Japanese company to receive ISO 14298 certification, which specifies requirements for security printing management systems.

Certification enables Toppan to offer holograms manufactured in line with ISO 14298 process management standards to countries around the world for use in banknotes, passports, ID cards, and other secure documents.

The accrediting body for ISO 14298 is Intergraf, which promotes certification of security printers around the world in order to contribute to the fight against counterfeiting of government ID documents. Intergraf has so far certified in excess of 140 manufacturing locations in more than 50 countries.

Counterfeiting and falsification of banknotes, passports, and ID cards present a serious issue for public and private sector security printers, end users, and authorities. The security

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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

60 remoistening, however the process generates high temperatures during drying, resulting in significant loss of moisture and diminished quality of the printed matter, a difficulty we’ve been determined to resolve.”

market is seeing an increase in the number of countries requiring ISO 14298 certification as a common global security standard for the awarding of government ID contracts.

Toppan has an extensive track record in the production of IDs for government authorities throughout the world and supplies holograms and other security features for the passports and ID cards of numerous countries.

With ISO 14298 certification, Toppan anticipates growth in opportunities to serve such needs and drive global expansion of its diverse security solutions for holograms, government IDs, counterfeit prevention, and more.

“We are very pleased that Toppan has received the first Intergraf ISO 14298 certificate in Japan and thus has become the 150th member of the exclusive circle of security printers and hologram manufacturers. We congratulate Toppan for meeting all the ambitious security management system requirements, thereby strengthening its position as a recognized reference for governments relying on ISO 14298 in combination with the Intergraf Certification Requirements, ” said Beatrice Klose, Secretary General of Intergraf.

“Toppan's holograms are already used in the passports and ID cards of multiple countries,” said Takeshi Kabayama, head of Toppan's Secure Business Center. “Being the first company in Japan to be ISO 14298 certified by Intergraf further bolsters our quality assurance and the integrity of the manufacturing process. We hope to contribute to the elimination of fraud in the official document sector by taking advantage of world-class security printing process management and cutting-edge anti-counterfeit technologies.”

Launch of its Digital Fluid Applicator Contiweb, a specialist in state-of-theart technologies for printing, advanced drying and web-handling, announces today the launch of its Digital Fluid Applicator (DFA), a standalone remoistening applicator for digital web presses, developed to significantly improve the quality of digitally printed products.

Based on the popular Contiweb Fluid Applicator for heatset web offset applications, the DFA is an innovative and user-friendly system, which uses tap water and a surfactant to intelligently and very precisely remoisten the paper on digital web presses. Silicone can also be added as an option, decidedly advantageous if inline finishing is being employed.

“Common quality issues such as loss of signature flatness, growth of cut books, curling and broken folds are overcome with our new DFA system. Furthermore, damage on the printed surface due to friction from inline finishing modules can be overcome by the integrated siliconizer,” explains Rutger Jansen, CEO at Contiweb, adding: “There may be a perception in the market that digital inkjet printing does not require

The Contiweb DFA mixes tap water and a surfactant within the system, which is then continuously circulated, rather than using specially treated deionized water. The amount of remoistening can be adjusted quickly to suit requirements, and due to a sophisticated control system, are steadfastly consistent. The system ensures constant coverage, even with changing press speeds, and can be set differently for each side of the paper if desired. Settings can also be saved, slashing set-up times for repeat jobs.

“The Contiweb team has developed a Plug and Play system that is compatible with digital web presses from all well-known manufacturers.

Using economical, easy-to-access tap water, with high performance pure silicone, the Contiweb DFA will provide a step-change in the quality of digitally printed products. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the results for our customers,” concludes Jansen.

How to convert spot colors precisely for color-accurate packaging proofs Spot colors are an integral part of packaging printing. But their use brings certain disadvantages. Read how you can resolve many problems easily.

Spot colors are an integral part of packaging printing. They create visual impact, maintain brand awareness and contribute to product counterfeit protection.

But their use also brings certain disadvantages – special inks are associated with higher costs and longer production times due to additional ink volume, more ink changes and extended make-ready times.

These problems are resolved with ORIS X Gamut. The award-winning, fully automatic color management software accurately decodes the individual DNA of each spot color and converts it to a fixed ink palette

5th INTERNATIONAL PACKAGING AND PRINTING EXHIBITION FOR ASIA

22- 25 SEP 2021 BITEC • BANGKOK

www.pack-print.de

325

National Pavilions and Groups

leading exhibiting companies from

from Germany, Taiwan, Thailand, China and Singapore

30

countries and regions

International Visiting Delegations

More than

19,000

from the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Korea, Japan and many more, as well as local group visits from Thailand's printing and

trade visitors from

63

countries, making up a 30% overseas participation Supported by:

I

Messe DUsseldorf / Organizer of:

packaging industries

For enquiries:

Within Thailand:

Exposis Co., Ltd Tel (66} 2559 0856 _ Fax (66} 2559 2893 info@exposis.co.th

Overseas:

Messe DUsseldorf Asia Tel (65} 6332 9620 _ Fax (65} 6332 9655 ppi@mda.com.sg

Jointly organized by:

8* au1Aumsuss,il'irurllna

THE THAI PACKAGING ASSOCIATION

The Thai Printing Association

f Messe Diisseldorf Asia

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

62 two-month shutdown. A three-member service team from Shanghai was able to provide them with quick and seamless assistance.

of up to eight colors on digital or conventional presses.

Muller Martini Provides Service for Customers in Wuhan

The result is an exact reproduction of spot colors which, through the seamless integration of ORIS Flex Pack, can be matched to the color space of the target press and visualized on a hardcopy proof.

Shortly after the measures to combat the Covid pandemic were eased in Hubei, the hardest hit of China’s provinces, Muller Martini began a free service program to support its customers in the region.

Ink changes and clean-up times on press are greatly reduced. More jobs can be throughput on the same machine and paper wastage is significantly lowered. There are even more advantages in that several customer orders can be batched together on one print run. End effect: A substantial increase in productivity with lower costs and huge time savings.

“Muller Martini appreciates the excellent partnership and collaboration it has enjoyed with our customers in China for many years,” says Sven Olsen, Head of the Muller Martini Asia Pacific region, explaining the launch of the special assistance program. “During these difficult times, we want to do something to show our appreciation.” For this reason, Muller Martini is offering Chinese customers who have been most affected by the novel coronavirus a free service package for the month of April.

In addition to packaging and label printing, ORIS X Gamut has found great application for photobook printers. Introducing extra colors into the process increases picture ink saturation and produces brilliant photo reproduction of RGB images.

Immediately after the launch of the program, Muller Martini received responses from several customers in the city of Wuhan who needed help in restarting their machines following a

The members of the management team at Hubei Xinhua Printing are very grateful for the service provided by the Muller Martini staff (from left): Ken Dong and Li Zhihua (Muller Martini) with Yunliang Yang (General Manager of Hubei Xinhua Printing) and Jie Li (Head of the Machine Department at Hubei Xinhua Printing).

Barely a week after the last restrictions were lifted, experienced staff from the sales and service management department Li Zhihua, Tony Liao and Ken Dong set out from Shanghai by car and reached customers in Wuhan following a two-day drive. When they arrived, they carried out inspections, adjusted production settings, conducted maintenance and provided training for the machine operators.

Yunliang Yang, General Manager of Hubei Xinhua Printing, was very grateful for the support that was provided: “Many thanks to Muller Martini for the extraordinary assistance it has provided during these difficult times.

This commitment moved us deeply.

Muller Martini is currently the only machine manufacturer to offer this sort of support.

Roland DG announces two new products.

The new VersaUV LEF2-300D has been introduced to enhance print possibilities, while the latest version of Roland’s renowned RIP software – Ergosoft Roland Edition 3 – enhances the user-experience for Texart customers.

Discover the new potential of the LEF2-300D First introduced in 2011, the VersaUV LEF series has proved incredibly popular, witnessing years of evolution to allow for larger bed sizes and finer finishing details. Today, Roland DG has released the VersaUV LEF2-300D, a new model with 200mm height, which not only supports taller items, but adds capacity for a wider variety of jigs, expanding the print potential on offer. The VersaUV LEF creates vibrant colour and realistic textures, allowing for on demand customisation across a range of products and substrates, including leather bags, shoes, phone cases and other promotional items and gifts.

Francisco Lozano, Product Manager Roland DG EMEA adds, “given

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

63

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

64 London] fairly regularly,” says FD Signs founder and director Fintan Delaney. “But we’ve never done anything for them on this scale. We were delighted to get the opportunity and all of our suppliers really stepped up to make sure we had everything we needed to finish the job.”

the versatility of the VersaUV LEF, we’ve seen fantastic success stories from a range of users. They come not just from the print industry, but also from retail, manufacturing and other industries - many of whom previously only relied on screen printing processes, without a complementary digital device such as the VersaUV series.”

Ergosoft Roland Edition With a variety of new features and improvements, including a redesigned user interface for intuitive operation and enhanced user experience, the ability to quickly find and reach target spot colour, automatic spot replacement and overall improved user efficiency and productivity, this latest edition of Roland’s RIP software is a perfect match for high quality textile printing. Existing Texart XT-640/ RT-640 users who have activated editions 1 and 2 are eligible for a free upgrade between 24th March and 30th September 2020.

Part of the latest products being unveiled Director of Business Development & Product Management, Roland DG EMEA, Paul Willems comments, “We’re so excited to be able to finally introduce our latest developments, created not only to assist current users and printers, but also to inspire creativity and print potential for future use.”

100,000 social distancing floor graphics for use across the London West London signage company FD Signs successfully delivers nearly 100,000 social distancing floor graphics for use across the London transport network “We do jobs for TFL [Transport for

The Acuity LED 1600 was used alongside anther roll-to-roll machine to produce the work, which was printed to Polar Grip vinyl supplied by Drytac.

“As our ink and media requirements went up exponentially during this job we were really impressed that, despite the logistical challenges posed by the coronavirus lockdown, our suppliers managed to get what we needed to us. Our distributor, CSL Digital, was reliable as always, and Fujifilm also stepped in to send ink to us directly when our requirements exceeded what CSL was able to supply within the very tight timeframe we were working to.”

FD Signs’ five permanent staff normally work a nine-to-five, five-day week. This job turned that on its head.

“We were all working 18-hour days for ten days straight,” says Delaney.

“And we had a guy coming in at three o’clock in the morning to change the rolls on the printers every night – so they could keep printing right through.

I even celebrated my 50th birthday on the job!”

By 20th April, the FD Signs team had delivered 6,000 graphics a day, for 10 consecutive days, to 30 different installation teams around the capital who installed them in London Underground stations during overnight closures. On top of this, similar graphics were created over the same time period for other parts of the London transport network, including the Croydon Tramlink and Network Rail.

Through FD Signs have had their hybrid Acuity LED 1600 for nearly two years, this was the first time they had used its roll-to-roll function, and Delaney was suitably impressed: “We bought the Acuity for printing to rigid board primarily, as we have a separate, dedicated roll-to-roll machine.” he explains. “We’ve been very impressed with its quality and reliability (we’ve never had a customer complaint about an Acuity-printed sign) but this was the first time we’d used its roll-to-roll function for a big job.

“It is a little slower than our other machine – but the quality is noticeably better, the ink is more durable and it is also very well-built and reliable. We were working it extremely hard – 24 hours a day – for ten days straight, and we had no problems with it whatsoever. We’ll certainly be using the roll-to-roll function much more in the future. I would even be tempted, with hindsight, to have bought this machine alone and not have bothered with a dedicated roll-to-roll printer, given how well it handles both rigid and flexible substrates.”

With the TFL job delivered, FD Signs is now working on other, similar jobs for major retailers and brands as they begin to anticipate an easing of the lockdown. “Clear signage to ensure people keep their distance from one another is going to be increasingly important as people slowly return to everyday life,” says Delaney. “We’re anticipating quite a few jobs like this in the coming weeks and months and we’ve also been providing some of this sort of signage free of charge to small local businesses and to the NHS.”

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 5 2020

65

Quality Printer?

Then go for GOLD The 2020 Asian Print Awards Awards Dinner Manila Philippines Oct 2020

16

th

FREE ENTRY FORM DEADLINE 5PM SEPTEMBER 3RD 2020

SINGAPORE - THAILAND - INDIA - MALAYSIA - JAPAN - HONG KONG - CHINA - KOREA - TAIWAN - VIETNAM - INDONESIA - SRI LANKA - PHILIPPINES - CAMBODIA - MYNAMAR The annual Asian Print Awards was founded to recognise outstanding achievement in the print and packaging industries across Asia.

With more than half the world’s population represented in this fast growing area, communication in the form of printed matter links Asia’s diverse cultures. It is imperative that such print achievements do not go unrecognised, especially among the population base that Asia enjoys.

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

The Independent Judging Panel comprises highly qualified personnel from within Asia and around the world. The independent judging panel has no knowledge of the actual entrants details. ALL ENTRIES ARE NUMBER-CODED. Entries must be commercially produced work.

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

Categories 1-8 : Offset Printing Only

20. Digital Labels

1. Calendars – any format

21 Digital - Outdoor Billboard

2. Sheetfed Magazines

Categories 22-26 : Specialty Categories

3. Book printing – less than 4 colours

22. Multi–Piece Productions and Campaigns Any substrate or print process: Multi–piece Production must be 3 or more items such as folder, leaflets, ring binders, inserts, envelopes including their contents.

Campaigns must be 3 or more items with a consistent theme produced during the year by the same printer for the same client.

4. Book printing – 4 or more colours 5. Limited Editions & Artwork Reproductions (under 1000 print run) 6. Web Offset – Coated stock 70gsm and above 7. Web Offset –LWC (light weight coated) 65gsm or less 8. Offset Packaging products

Categories 9 - 21 : Digital Printing Only

9. Book Printing 10. Calendars 11. Personalised photo books – any format.

12. Posters 13. Showcards & Point-of-Sale material 14. Digital Magazines

23. Embellishment Any substrate – any combination - for example: embossing – diecutting – foil stamping –laminating coating.

24. Innovation / Specialty Printing The entry must exhibit any innovative and/ special application of machinery, process, substrate or finishing.

A short description must be provided for the judges, detailing reasons for entry into this category.

25. Company Self Promotion Any item printed to promote a product or company involved in the graphic arts industry. Self promotion cannot be entered into any other Category.

26. Judges Special Award (A job that catches all the Judges’ attention)

15. Gold, Silver and Special colours 16. Restaurant Menus 17. Limited Editions & Artwork reproductions (under 500 print run) 18. Digital Proofing (must supply the digital proof and the prinnted product)

Best in Digital Award

19. Digital Packaging * If your company wins an award, a representative(s) from your company MUST be present in Manila to receive the award on stage, we will not send any awards to you if you are absent!

The Awards Dinner Presentation will be Friday Oct 9th in Manila, Philippines and held alongside the leading PPP Trade show also in Manila.

Best in Offset Award Best Use of Colour Award

FREE ENTRY FORM ASIAN PRINT AWARDS 2020

Deadline for Entries Submission: 3rd September 2020, 5pm Remember to submit 2 copies of each job! Why? - Just in case one is damaged.

SECTION A (This will not be shown to judges). Please fill the form in capital letters.

Entered by (company name): ______________________________________________________________________________________ Contact Person: ________________________________________________ Email______________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telephone: __________________________________

Country________________________________

Category entered __________________________ Title of entry (ie: " Paul's Ice Cream" ): ____________________________________________________________ Printed by (Printers name): ________________________________________________________________________________________ Client name: ________________________________________________________ Designer Pre Press House: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Brand of Printing Machine used: _____________________________________________________________________________________ Stock supplied by (Merchant’s name): ______________________________________________________________________________ Brand name of stocks Coated Uncoated: ____________________________________________________________________________ By signing here you accept the rules and conditions of the Asian Print Awards

Signature over printed name_____________________________ Name_____________________________________________________

SECTION B Production information to be shown to judges

( tape this securely to the back of your entries)

Category entered (Same as above): __________ Entry number (Administrative use only] ____________

Title of entry (ie: " Paul's Ice Cream" )__________________________________________Print method: _______________________

Number of ink colours (4-6-8 etc) ________

Any Embellishment (foil stamping etc) __________________________________

Quantity produced (Print run copies): ___________ Other technical details (finishing processes etc) ________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

16th Asian Print Awards 2020 ENTRIES SUBMISSION CLOSES 3rd September 2020, 5pm

Send all entries to: APAM Pte Ltd, Level 28, Office 28-31 - Clifford Centre, 24 Raffles Place, Singapore 048621 Email: paul@printinnovationasia.com Additional entry forms can be downloaded at www.printinnovationasia.com Please note that entries are non-returnable unless a self addressed courier pack is supplied.

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