Print INNOVATION Asia Magazine
Printing, Packaging and Publishing Industries across Asia Pacific since 1985 Issue 11 2020
LET YOUR PERFORMANCE MATCH YOUR PASSION FOR PRINT WITH THE NEW CANON PROSTREAM 1800
Read the full article on page 6
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PACKAGING EXCELLENCE AWARDS: 2020
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Designed to push the boundaries of commercial print HP PageWide T1190 Press to Continue Disrupting Corrugated Production Corrugated Producers Gain in Productivity, Quality and Profit Opportunity Global IT Spending to Plunge by $210bn in 2020, a 5.5% Drop YoY Fuji Xerox strengthens synergies within Fujifilm Group to create growth globally Kornit Digital readies for next level growth in Asia Pacific Is Now the Right Time to Gear Up for the Next Era in Digital Print? Young B2B brand is a ‘go to’ online site for customised and ready-made labels and stickers Shield technology on expanding markets with Inkjet Heidelberg unveils new solutions for labels What are the next steps in the new Pandemic World Komori: A millennial dream Digital Print for Corrugated – The Future Condition of Things Boosting overall efficiency in packaging printing with digital integration and intelligent automation Koenig & Bauer Durst announces innovations for Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic 3 Ways to Influence a Dealer or Distributor Sales Force From the first continuous drying oven to a modern decorating line Canon Wins Two Prestigious ‘Product of The Year’ Awards Coca Cola may soon be sold in paper bottles TooLink - connecting tools with die-cutters Awards Success Sparks a Year of Innovation at Z Due Stora Enso & Tetra Pak to look to building a recycling line for used beverage cartons Digitalising and 3D printing spare parts enables manufacturing anywhere and anytime News from around Asia and the world
Issue 11 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
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Designed to push t of commercial print
Canon has today announced the launch of its new ProStream 1800 continuou With increased speeds of up to 133m/ min, the new printer boasts the highest resolution and print quality of any digital printing press at that speed, making it the ideal solution for commercial printers who want to achieve ultimate performance. Supporting customers’ passion for print, the new ProStream 1800 has been designed to push the boundaries of commercial print to meet changing customer demands. Combining new inkjet innovations with proven offset printing techniques, the press strikes a unique balance between high productivity, superior print quality, flexibility and media versatility Commercial printers can now expand their offering by migrating higher volume jobs from offset to digital inkjet. Boost production levels, slash turnaround times and increase profit margins across a wide range of applications, including premium and high volume direct mail, books, catalogues and magazines.
With the higher web speed of 133m/ min (66% faster than the ProStream 1000), the ProStream 1800 produces up to 107,500 A4 images or 11,300 B2 sheets 4/4 per hour while maintaining superior print quality. And increased speeds equate to higher throughput. Have the confidence to handle higher volumes of work for jobs today or in the future. The ProStream 1800 can achieve a very high level of print quality across a huge range of media, including standard offset coated, uncoated and inkjet optimised papers from 40gsm to 300gsm. Print calendars, posters
and point of sale applications with the ability to print up to 556mm wide and 1,524mm long. Eliminate the need to stop production to switch between different format lengths to ensure a seamless changeover - providing additional flexibility and ease-of-use for operators. The press’s air floatation drying system dries all jobs evenly, so you can effectively print on a wide range of paper without compromising the high standards of the finished output. By not coming into contact with the paper, the system protects the print image to ensure an optimal result and to preserve the gloss and paper surface. Artificial intelligence linked to a sensor continuously makes adjustments to the drying system during the print run to ensure the best quality. Whether you’re printing a fashion look book or a high value mailer, you can be sure that it will impress. The added bonus? It also maintains the optimal web temperature, reducing energy consumption. The ProStream 1800 uses native 1,200dpi piezo drop-on-demand print heads and proprietary polymer pigment inks with Canon ColorGrip to ensure colour consistency. Canon’s Inline Quality Control, a high-performance
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
the boundaries t
us feed inkjet printer, the newest model in its ProStream 1000 series.
camera system, also provides automatic print quality assurance, so operators can spend less time on quality control. Philip Chew, Director, Regional Commercial Printing, Canon Singapore, comments, “At Canon, we share our customers’ passion for print and understand that, as their businesses must adapt to changing market requirements, our technology needs to evolve too. With the launch of the new ProStream 1800, we can support customers who are looking to grow their production volumes without compromising quality or speed. Building on our 30-strong installed base, we are excited to be offering a new proposition for customers that want ultimate performance.”
The new press marks an extension of the successful ProStream technology that was launched in 2017. The successful ProStream 1000 remains available and existing customers can easily upgrade to the ProStream 1800 if more volume is required, allowing them to easily adapt to changing market dynamics while maintaining high quality, speed and supporting a variety of media.
This new inkjet press excels in terms of productivity and impresses with its superb print quality on wide media options. It is the ideal solution for Commercial and Direct Mail printers who want to maintain superior print quality at rated speed, helping to support ultimate performance.”
Steve Ford, Managing Director, Production Printing Asia, Canon, concludes, “Canon has established its leadership in continuous feed inkjet production printing with over 1700 inkjet presses installed globally. The launch of ProStream 1800 has undoubtedly enhanced our product portfolio for commercial printing.
Steve Ford,
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HP PageWide T1190 Press to Continue Disrupting Corrugated Production LIC Packaging Spa of Italy, a leading European manufacturer of consumer packaging and display solutions, announced it has purchased a new highvolume inkjet HP PageWide T1190 Press, the world's most productive digital packaging solution. The multimillion-dollar investment makes LIC the first converter to own HP’s complete portfolio of presses for corrugated packaging and display applications, after taking the lead with HP PageWide C500 digital printing services in Europe. The six-color HP PageWide T1190, a 2.8 meter wide solution running at 305 linear metres per minute, will be installed at LIC’s northern Italy factory in the first half 2021. “With this new capability and our existing HP C500 sheetfed press, LIC is uniquely positioned to transform the corrugated graphic packaging and display manufacturing in Europe with an all-digital strategy, offering both mainstream productivity and premium quality,” said Piero Bertoldo, President at LIC Packaging. The HP digital solution allows full flexibility for print on demand to fulfill long-run production as well as customization for seasonal, geographic, and promotional versioning, including with variable data - efficiently. As a result, LIC will be able to offer
enhanced flexibility with scaled packaging and display solutions for orders from several hundred boxes to millions with short lead times, Bertoldo said.
themselves and their brand customers, while providing the flexibility and agility to respond to dynamic market needs,” said Ted Samotis, Director Goto-Market, HP PageWide Industrial.
For brands, the ability to customize packaging offers unique packaging and displays solutions to engage consumers both at point of sale and via ecommerce.
To better serve brands with digital print globally, LIC is a member of Digital Pack, a worldwide network of PageWide owners. Digital Pack members leverage PageWide digital corrugated printing technology to enables brands’ success through highquality digitally printed packaging and displays. Digital Pack member companies meet high standards for color, process management, and print quality.
Additionally, the HP PageWide solutions enable LIC to offer an enhanced sustainability offering to its brand customers with digital ondemand technology, recyclability and water-based inks. LIC creates enhanced value for his brands through stunning graphics on a variety of coated and uncoated substrates. The T1190 press digitally pre-prints corrugated liners, enabling LIC to take full advantage of its corrugator capabilities on site. “LIC’s digital expansion with HP will enable it to continue to disrupt the corrugated packaging supply chain, driving greater business efficiency for
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Corrugated Producers Quality and Profit Opp New EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus’s robust productivity and management advancements are a game changer for the leading single-pass digital corrugated printer platform Direct-to-board digital corrugated printing just got even better, as Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has launched a new version of its awardwinning, breakthrough single-pass digital inkjet corrugated printer. The new EFI™ Nozomi C18000 Plus builds on the already outstanding performance features of the Nozomi C18000 with significant improvements that ensure even greater productivity, quality and versatility for post-print corrugated packaging and display operations.
The new Plus model – which also includes important variable-data, ink savings and cloud-management capabilities for the printer’s EFI Fiery® digital front end (DFE) – is available now. Current users of EFI Nozomi printers can also purchase the Plus model as a field upgrade.
president of Complete Design & Packaging, Concord, North Carolina. “It has provided consistent throughput at higher speeds and with fewer interruptions, and with enhanced print quality. It is now definitely the machine we knew we were purchasing. Thank you, EFI!”
Consistent throughput, higher speeds and enhanced print quality “The new transport of the ‘Plus’ version is a game changer!” said one Nozomi user, Howard Bertram,
Key enhancements for the 71-inch wide, direct-to-board LED UV inkjet printer include new advanced transport feed and patented vacuum table systems that eliminate warping while maximizing printer productivity and uptime. The Nozomi C18000 Plus also features an improved post-print quality inspection system to help users monitor quality and quickly identify inkjet nozzle issues or other defects. The printer can also detect and recover from jams within seconds, with automated continuation of jobs in sequence – an important factor in variable-data work. Busy shops will also appreciate the Nozomi C18000 Plus printer’s improved rush proof feature, which can generate and output a proof within 90 seconds while another job is running on the printer. Operating at speeds up to 246 linear feet (75 linear meters) per minute – producing up to 10,000 35x35-inch (890x890-mm) boards per hour twoup – the printer also features new coater options, including a quickchange anilox coater for improved performance. In addition to its standard CMYK inkset, the printer is available with optional orange, violet or white inks for an imaging gamut of up to 97% of PANTONE® Colors.
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s Gain in Productivity, portunity EFI has significantly enhanced its Nozomi Digital Solutions Program of professional services, including training and support capabilities, with the Nozomi C18000 Plus launch to further ensure users’ success with their investment. The most powerful digital front end for single-pass corrugated printing Job processing for the Nozomi C18000 Plus is 5% faster thanks to the latest version of the EFI Fiery NZ-1000 DFE used to control the printer. In addition to its impressive speed improvement, the blade-server based DFE features Adobe PDF Print Engine 5 for quick, high-impact color rendering and smoother edges on graphics. The Fiery NZ-1000 DFE also features Smart Ink Estimator, an advanced solution that accurately analyzes image data for more-precise control of ink costs. Fiery Edge™, EFI’s nextgeneration profiling technology for Fiery Driven™ printers, is included as well. Fiery Edge provides powerful ink saving technology that combines GCR and black generation controls with proprietary technologies so users can further reduce ink costs with no visible loss to image quality. Plus, a Fiery Intensify solution within Edge is a reliable, high-quality rendering intent innovation that can increase color and saturation while maintaining neutral grays and realistic skin tones. There are several additional Fiery products included with the EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus, such as Fiery JobFlow™ Base, which automates
repetitive job setups; Fiery Spot Pro, which helps ensure maximum accuracy of brand and other spot colors; and Fiery FreeForm™ Create, a visual variable-data print creation application. EFI IQ: Data-driven decision making made easier Nozomi digital corrugated production, the world’s leading choice in single-pass inkjet direct-to-board digital printing, enters the cloud era with another new capability on the Plus model – integration with EFI IQ™, a new suite of free and paid applications. The IQ applications give Nozomi C18000 Plus users the ability to better manage their operations by extracting value from operational data. This includes the EFI IQ Dashboard for a personalized view of the day’s digital printing activities; EFI Insight for deep historical data in an easy-to-use, interactive environment; and EFI Notify, which enables automatic distribution of reports and provides users important alerts for production-blocking events. Across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, some of the world’s leading pulp and paper companies, along with independent corrugators, boxmakers, and display graphics producers, rely on EFI Nozomi singlepass, direct-to-board digital printing for superior high-graphic production. The Nozomi C18000 Plus extends users’ profit potential, accelerating the digital transformation of medium-run and
versioned jobs that are too costly to produce using analog post-print flexo or litho lam processes. “Without exception, users worldwide consistently achieve double-digit increases in production year over year thanks to the Nozomi C18000’s ability to meet or exceed brands’ strict throughput and quality requirements,” said Evandro Matteucci, vice president and general manager, Packaging and Building Materials, EFI. “The Plus printer, its superior Fiery DFE enhancements, and our new, comprehensive service, support and training offering extend the remarkable market advantages our customers have today. “The corrugated packaging world has never been the same after the appearance of EFI Nozomi technology,” Matteucci added, “and we are excited to help our customers achieve even greater successes with the new EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus.” The EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus is part of a complete ecosystem for corrugated manufacturing available from EFI, with leading edge inks, Fiery DFE technology and a complete EFI Corrugated Packaging Suite business and production management workflow.
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Global IT Spending to Plunge by $210bn in 2020, a 5.5% Drop YoY The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is forcing businesses and organizations across the world to prioritize their spending on technology and IT services. Many of them reset their budgets to finance only critical projects over initiatives aimed at transformation and growth, which triggered a significant drop in IT spending this year. According to data presented by BuyShares.co.uk, global IT spending is expected to plunge by almost $210bn in 2020, a 5.5% decrease year-over-year. Spending on IT Devices to Plunge by 13.4%, the Biggest Drop in 2020
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the global IT spending was growing for four years in a row, revealed the Gartner data. In 2015, companies and organizations worldwide spent over $3.3trn on IT technology and services. In the next twelve months, this figure rose to almost $3.4trn and continued growing. In 2018, global IT spending jumped to over $3.7trn, nearly a 10% jump in three years. The increasing trend continued in 2019, with global spending on IT technology and services rising by 2.7% year-over-
year to over $3.8trn. However, the COVID-19 crisis caused a significant cut, with the figure falling to around $3.6trn in 2020. Statistics show that global spending on devices like PCs, tablets, mobile phones, or printers is expected to witness the most significant drop in 2020, falling by 13.4% YoY to around $616bn. IT services spending is forecast to hit $992bn, a 4.6% drop in a year. Businesses and organizations expected to spend $459bn
are on
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
11 IT Spending in China to Grow 6.4% YoY, Japan to Witness the Biggest Drop The IDC data revealed the COVID-19 pandemic is projected to have different impacts on IT spending by region in 2020. China is set to witness a 6.4% growth in IT spending, the most significant increase this year. Latin America ranked second with a 5.5% increase. Statistics show that the United States' IT spending is projected to grow by merely 0.2% in 2020 compared to the pre-COVID-19 forecast of 6.6% growth. enterprise software, 3.7% less than in 2019. Data center systems follow with a 3.2% decrease in spending to $208bn in 2020. The Gartner survey also revealed that communication services, as the market's largest segment, are forecast
to reach $1.3trn in revenue, a 2.9% drop year-over-year. Although the Gartner data indicate global IT spending will grow by 4% to over $3.7trn in 2021, this value still represents a 1.6% drop compared to 2019 figures.
On the other hand, Japanese businesses and organizations are forecast to witness the most significant drop in IT spending in 2020, falling by 6.7% yearover-year. The Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific follow, with 3.6% and 1.4% drop, respectively.
color your process
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Fuji Xerox strengthens synergies within Fujifilm Group to create growth globally Rebrands Asia Pacific Operations to Fujifilm from April 2021 Fuji Xerox announces that its Asia Pacific operations will change to the Fujifilm brand with the changing of Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. corporate name to FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp. on April 2021. This change is brought forth based on the company’s decision to end the Technology Agreement with Xerox Corporation on the agreement’s expiration date, March 31, 2021. The Technology Agreement provides for technology/brand licenses and sales territories applicable to each company. Fuji Xerox and Xerox Corporation have a history of benefiting from the shared use of technologies each company independently developed. Fuji Xerox has thrived in the speed and level of product development and have been establishing its own technologies for many years. As such, Fuji Xerox is well positioned to continue developing and manufacturing its original products
using its own, unique technologies after the expiration of the Technology Agreement with Xerox Corporation. Fuji Xerox will also provide services and maintenances including managed print services to customers in full performance of current agreements with them, without regard to the expiration of the Technology Agreement with Xerox Corporation. With affluent know-how accumulated to date and trust earned from customers, Fuji Xerox aims to foster innovation with the other companies in the Fujifilm Group by accelerating the market introduction of solutions and services that build on technologies related to the cloud, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Additionally, Fuji Xerox will work swiftly to strengthen its document
and adjacent businesses as well as to expand into new business areas, and to bring about business innovations by supporting the use and sharing of knowledge that will enable office workers to further increase their productivity and efficiency. Likewise, on April 1, 2021, the sales departments in Japan and all 31 domestic sales subsidiaries plus Fuji Xerox InterField will integrate as one to establish a new company, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Japan Corp. The new corporate name represents Fuji Xerox’s commitment as part of the Fujifilm Group - which promotes “Value from Innovation” as its corporate slogan - to expand into a wide range of business areas going forward and to always continue delivering business innovations.
[List of major Asia Pacific affiliates] Current company name New company name after April 2021
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (Regional management of sales affiliates in Asia/Oceania countries and regions) Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (Malaysia Operations) (Sales and services of office equipment in Malaysia)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Asia Pacific Pte.Ltd. (Malaysia Operations)
Branch of Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (Cambodia) (Sales and services of office equipment in Cambodia)
Branch of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (Cambodia)
Fuji Xerox Singapore Pte Ltd (Sales and services of office equipment in Singapore)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Fuji Xerox Australia Pty. Limited (Sales and services of office equipment in Australia)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia Pty Ltd.
Fuji Xerox New Zealand Limited (Sales and services of office equipment in New Zealand)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation New Zealand Limited
Fuji Xerox (China) Limited (Sales and services of office equipment in China)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation (China) Corp.
Fuji Xerox Taiwan Corporation (Sales and services of office equipment in Taiwan)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Taiwan Co., Ltd.
Fuji Xerox Korea Company Limited (Sales and services of office equipment in Korea)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Korea Co., Ltd.
Fuji Xerox (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Sales and services of office equipment in Thailand)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
Fuji Xerox Philippines Inc. (Sales and services of office equipment in the Philippines)
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Philippines Corp.
Meet the New Building Blocks of Efficiency With the new Versant® 3100i Press and Versant® 180i Press Are you feeling the pressure to cut costs? Things like print jams and mistakes from misfeeds can seem small at first, but the delays and cost of supplies can start to stack up. The new Versant® 3100i Press and Versant® 180i Press are designed to minimise waste and maximise performance. Our revolutionary Air Suction Feeder and smart automated workflows come together to reduce the risk of human error and avoid costly problems like print jams.
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email - cspl_reg_cp@canon.com.sg
contact - (65) 6799 8888
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
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Kornit Digital readie growth in Asia Pac PIA spoke with Kornit Digital’s newly-appointed president for Asia Pacific, Ilan Elad, as he navigates his first tasks in his role for regional growth. By Sha Jumari. In October 2020, Kornit Digital appointed Ilan Elad as the new president for Asia Pacific. Elad takes over the role from Andy Yarrow, who held the position for almost two years. Elad joins Kornit at a critical time as the company is looking to expand its reach in the region. Currently based in Tokyo, Japan, Elad has experience working and living across continents, including the US, Europe and Asia. In the past 12 years, his specific focus has been on Asia and Oceania. Prior to Kornit, he served Daimler Trucks Asia since 2013, most recently as Vice President of Sales for Africa, SAARC, Oceania. Previously, I was co-Founder and CEO of Vision India, as well as Regional Managing Director NEU with telecommunications company Ciena. Its a high level view of my background, which is diversified industries, different size companies at different regions. I managed businesses in across Europe, Africa and APAC “With small to medium-sized companies, there is always that challenge to go from one level to the next. Ronen (CEO of Kornit Digital) was looking at this when he was looking for someone who has a lot of experience in building markets and teams and moving into areas where the company is looking to grow. The seeds has already been planted , and my
Ilan Elad
job is to take those seeds, focus on the growth opportunities and bring Kornit to the next Level in Asia Pacific.” The E-Commerce Opportunity “There are opportunities for a company like Kornit right now, and if you look at the sales and the stock price of the company reflected that potential, it has gone up so dramatically. This is because the perfect storm fits into our world,” said Elad. The e-commerce market is less about holding stock its more about more on supplying what people want. As stores closed doors due to lockdowns, consumers are turning to online for their shopping needs, giving e-commerce a major boost globally. “E-commerce has now doubled in the past three months not just in the US, but across the world. The e-commerce market is less about holding stock its more about more on supplying what people want. It's the business model where people want to print on demand. It’s not supply and demand anymore; it’s demand and supply,” said Elad. "COVID has changed our retail purchasing habits. A lot of retailers are moving online. And that’s where we come in. We really need to follow the trends and support the growth for retailers online, because that is where we believe the market is heading in the future with the major players. The
focus would be to find the biggest pain points that we can solve and go work with those customers hand in hand,” said Elad. Targeted approach for Growth in Asia In terms of evolving the e-commerce markets within the Asia Pacific region, Elad’s first focuses will be with China, followed by Japan, and then Australia and New Zealand. He highlighted that each market will require a different approach. In Japan and Korea, people want higher quality but affordable. “The top three e-commerce players in China are Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo. Part of the challenges that we’ve had over the years in China is that there are huge differences in quality. The consumer in many cases is willing to accept much lower quality
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
es for next level cific just because of the price. In China, I can sell a cheap product at a cheap price. In Japan, people want a higher quality rather than affordable, in Korea it’s the same. We have to make sure that we know who our target audience is,” Elad explained. China is the current largest e-commerce market, with an estimated $672 billion in online sales each year. Amongst the top 10 largest e-commerce market in the world, Japan comes in at number 4, and South Korea at seventh. Interestingly, Elad added that Kornit Digital has seen movement in Vietnam: “We've started seeing some good
traction in Vietnam, so that will be an emerging market. In India, we have a very good partner as well. So those two markets would be the second stage.” “We have more than a third of the world's population in Asia. We need to adjust our proposition to fit our customer's business model. Our machines are not for the lower end shops, its much more for the industrial
and professional market. Compared to the United States and Europe, there is no coherent strategy for any one country in our region. China is a totally different country than Japan, Japan is totally different than Australia & New Zealand, and they're both different from Korea. India is a totally different beast,” said Elad.
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18 people who are meeting customers. We have to listen to them,” Elad continued. “I think one person can only do so much. And another person you add to the team can only do so much. If you hire the right people, and create for them a sense of belonging, and a sense of purpose, then I think you'll be a very successful company,” said Elad. Kornit Digital has two main product segments, direct-to-fashion (DTF) and direct-to-garment (DTG). Although still relatively new to the company, Elad already has his favourite machines.
Within each market, Elad has the task of segmenting and targeting where its strong potential customers are. Kornit machinery is at the higher end of the investment spectrum. “Our machines are not for the mom and pop shops. It’s much more the industrial, professional space. We are targeting the bigger players who are more industrial with higher capacity, that's where we can add more value. The economies of scales will lower the total cost of ownership for those customers,” Elad continued. The Pull to a Dynamic Company Prior to being offered the role, Elad served as a consultant to Kornit Digital. According to Kornit, he was present in supporting several expansion opportunities in the recent months. Not only did he become acquainted with the global business in those months, it gave Kornit the confidence in Elad’s capabilities to offer him the role. For Elad, Kornit was an attractive company due to a few factors. "Kornit ticket a lot of boxes for me I wanted a dynamic company that was in a new area that was thriving, with high-end technology. Digital printing is something that's growing at a very fast pace. It's a disruptive force,” said Elad. Kornit’s high-end technology was also a deciding factor: “If you look at the mechanics, there is the machine, and there is the software that runs it. It’s also the chemistry. It’s the ink, and how does that connect to the t-shirt, and how the image comes out at a high quality and resolution.”
“And finally, to come into Asia you need to be serious. It’s not like the US. I don’t mean that you don’t need to be serious to go into the US, it’s just that the US is a market for early adopters,” said Elad. “Asia is not – Asia is more complicated. And the region is so diverse, and so big. It takes more time. It costs more to penetrate the market.” “The CEO convinced me that the company wants to invest heavily in Asia in order to make it successful. I was not looking for a start-up that would struggle and just jump on everything. I was looking for a company that behaves like a start-up, but is mature and has advanced technology that I’m excited and passionate about to grow in the region,” Elad said. It’s all about the People When asked to describe his management style, Elad pointed towards the importance of building a successful team first. “I don't have a recipe of exactly what I do but at the end of the day, it's the people. We can talk about the best technologies, about the most sexy product in the world, about everything else, but the only way to be successful is through the people,” said Elad. “I would like to create a team and work on trust and good communication. It has to be an inclusive process, so I try to create a lot of diversity in the team. Listen to all the different people and allow them to run with their ideas so that they're successful. Most of the knowledge is not in the headquarters; most of the knowledge are with the
“For DTF, I love the Presto. I think that especially for Asia, it will be a game changer. In India, we have sarees which are fascinating and have amazing colours. Then you go to places like China, where there are beautiful Qipaos. In Japan, we have Kimonos. There’s a lot with fabrics that we can do in Asia.” The Kornit Presto is a one stop shop, direct-to-fabric digital print system that utilises Kornit’s proprietary single-step print process. It eliminates the need for external process steps and can print on a wide variety of fabrics. In the DTG segment, Elad picked the Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro, a singlestep process for printing on polyester. First launched in April 2019, it prints directly to polyester and polyester blends. The printer is directly aimed at the sports segment, and the growing athleisure and functional apparel markets. “I think the Poly Pro is a cool product, because I wear a lot of polyester when I work out, and they’re much more comfortable. I think the fact that now we can print on that and we can play around with the designs and the quality of what comes out makes it a super cool product,” said Elan. “Those are the two that I connected more with. I’m still new, so I hope I don't hurt anyone with my choices!” he quipped.
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Is Now t for the N
Commercial printing has been in decline for the last decade, yet it is still a huge, multi-billion-dollar industry. While the total commercial print volume will continue to slide, digital printing’s share of the pie will continue to grow both in terms of volume and value. This article looks at three HP Indigo 100K Digital Press customers and the steps they took to push their businesses forward, even as they are dealing with the effects of the global pandemic. Commercial printing has been in decline for the last decade, yet it is still a huge, multi-billion-dollar industry. While the total commercial print volume will continue to slide, digital printing’s share
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
the Right Time to Gear Up Next Era in Digital Print? ONLINEPRINTERS Group ONLINEPRINTERS Group, based in Germany, is one of the leading online printing companies in Europe and one of the largest offset houses in Germany, owning HP Indigo presses and extensively using PrintOSX— HP Indigo’s cloud-based, production automation and management system that is helping to shape the smart print factory of the future.
of the pie will continue to grow both in terms of volume and value. Savvy print business owners understand this—and are readying for the growing increase in share of digital print. For those print businesses with a mixed fleet of analog and digital equipment, transitioning some of their offset jobs to digital can be exactly the panacea they need to deliver shorter runs with fast turnaround times. By analyzing job baskets and calculating TCO, one can build an optimal coexistence between analog and digital technologies, maximizing end-to-end floor efficiencies and boosting the overall bottom line. Even before the crisis, shorter run lengths with faster delivery times were becoming the norm, and print service providers have been increasingly asked to respond with speed and agility. This has made digital printing primed for the moment, and more printing companies are moving offset jobs to digital and embracing new digital printing and workflow technologies.
Ecommerce overall has accelerated to unprecedented levels. According to the US Department of Commerce, it took 10 years for e-commerce to grow 10% (2009–2019) and a mere eight weeks to grow another 10% during the Spring of 2020. The recent long stayat-home days have bolstered consumer demand for products such as family photobooks and personalized greeting cards. Convenient web-to-print storefronts offer 24/7 availability, but the challenge these days is being able to deliver products within Amazonlike timeframes that consumers have learned to expect.
With more than 1,600 employees, ONLINEPRINTERS sells approximately 5,000 printed products ranging from business cards, stationery and flyers to catalogs and brochures to more than 1,000,000 customers across 30 European countries. Many of their print products are sold and marketed through 22 online shops in 11 different languages. Onlineprinters was the first beta site for the HP Indigo 100K and has expanded their digital printing footprint with HP Indigo presses over the years to adapt to the changing behavior of customers. The ability to print on a variety of different substrates without interrupting production was Bennett Graphics
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an essential requirement so they could efficiently process many different orders with maximum flexibility. "Customers are changing their behaviors, ordering smaller runs for a few years now, but ordering them more frequently. Nobody wants to keep an annual supply of brochures in the warehouse anymore," said Roland Keppler, CEO, ONLINEPRINTERS. “We assume that by 2021, almost half of all print orders will be produced digitally.” Bennett Graphics Bennett Graphics, located near Atlanta, recently installed the new HP Indigo 100K Digital Press. The press is capable of continuous printing of tens of thousands of duplex B2 sheets every day, setting a new benchmark in digital sheetfed productivity. With increased digital power, Bennett has more flexibility to capture business opportunities for last-minute orders in high quantities, driving growth in their direct mail business. “The ability to run jobs digitally saves makeready time and reduces waste associated with offset printing, while the 30% increase in process speed impacts everything; so the more digital volume that we can push towards the Indigo 100K, the better we are as a plant, the more efficient we are, and the more money we save,” said Adam Seiz, VP of Operations at Bennett
Graphics.“The press helps to free up our offset presses for the longer runs and does a really good job of delivering outstanding quality at amazing productivity levels.” Wihabo Wihabo, another long time HP Indigo customer based in The Netherlands, recently decided to add an HP Indigo 100K Digital Press to their current fleet. Wihabo, a family owned business founded in 1986, is known for printing unique and personalized high-volume prints for local and international customers, including Tony’s Chocolonely.
Wihabo Engineered with offset users in mind, the HP Indigo 100K offers striking print quality that matches an offset look-and-feel and prints at speeds that, until now, have been unheard of in the B2 digital print space. Although it’s not known how long the disruptions of the global pandemic will continue, the ability to be agile and efficient won’t be going away any time soon—or ever. Automation will be paramount in keeping labor costs at bay and productivity up to snuff.
Their new HP Indigo 100K replaces the current HP Indigo 10000 to deliver mass production printing while their three other HP Indigo presses—one HP Indigo 12000 and two HP Indigo 7900s—that Wihabo also has in its printing fleet will focus primarily on specialty prints.
Growth in AI, Industry 4.0, and e-commerce along with the expanded bandwidth of 5G communications will continue to speed us towards a new age in digital printing. The crisis has magnified the far-reaching effects of these technologies, and not being adequately prepared might make it harder to pivot as the “new norm” continues to play out.
"We are very happy with the energy and resource savings we will achieve with the HP Indigo 100K. Due to the speed and quality of the EPM mode on the digital press, we can migrate an even larger part of our offset volume to digital. Together with HP PrintOSx, we can use real-time data to improve our workflow and efficiency so that we can adapt more quickly to the needs of our customers," said Joris Bosch, Technical Director at Wihabo.
As with most disruptions, those with a vision and can-do attitude will see this difficult time as a window of opportunity for innovation and growth and will take steps to push their businesses forward, even as they are dealing with the effects of the pandemic. This may be the best time ever to take a step towards building that future. As author William Arthur Ward said, “Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.”
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Young B2B brand is a ‘go to and ready-made labels and Xeikon has announced that Sticker Gizmo and School Stickers, based in Redditch UK has invested in a Xeikon 3030 REX, entry level, factory refurbished, digital label press. This young B2B brand is a ‘go to’ online site for customised and readymade labels and stickers in almost any shape and any material – from laminated and foil effect labels to recyclable paper labels and magnetic vinyl stickers – for a wide variety of uses from window stickers, signage and POS and marketing to packaging and party-favours and games, stationery and personalised gifts. Sticker Gizmo provides the educational sector with a number of unique products.
printed rewards and software. We have a strong technical pedigree and developed software to link physical printed rewards to an online experience which really adds a unique angle to our education proposition. We launched our B2B brand, Sticker Gizmo, about 18 months ago as we were keen to expand into new markets. We used our technical skills to develop our own online design tool and pricing engine and we have been really pleased how this part of the business has grown”.
The Executive Chairman of the Redditch-based business, Alistair Tillen, takes up the story: “School Stickers is the leading brand in school rewards in the UK selling both
It quickly became apparent that Sticker Gizmo needed to expand its printing capabilities to compete on larger and quality creative orders. Tillen continues, “We embarked on a period of research
where we looked at several different options including outsourcing. In the end we decided it was important to own the whole customer experience and be solely responsible for quality and delivery times. We were keen to invest in a machine which would help us expand and keep pace with our aggressive growth plans. A Xeikon machine was always near the top of our list but when we found out about the factory refurbished REX machines, we knew we had found the right solution for us.” Jeroen Van Bauwel, director of product management explains the concept of
o’ online site for customised d stickers
installed at Sticker Gizmo’s Redditch site less than three months ago in August and already the company is beginning to see its business changing for the better. Alistair Tillen says, “We are already seeing the benefits of the speed and width upgrades on the Xeikon machine with improved productivity helping us to cut delivery times to our customers. We are also delighted with the print quality and have started to benefit from lower substrate prices as we move away from pre-cut sheets.”
the REX programme: “Every Xeikon REX digital press has been updated to the latest revision of both hardware and software. Used for demos or sold to the commercial market by Xeikon, these presses have been supported throughout by Xeikon engineers, who know the ‘ins and outs’ of each press regarding it’s age, usage, and service history. Every press considered for the REX program goes through a detailed technical “condition scoring” examination. Our factory engineers then replace and optimize every critical component required to extend the life of the press and ensure perfect print quality -
making it ready for many more years of production. Only after going through extensive testing and upgrading to the latest Xeikon versions and standards, is the product boxed and shipped to the customer.” Xeikon’s 3030 REX digital label press can print on substrates up to 330mm wide and up to 9.6 meters per minute (31.5 feet) at a true 1,200dpi. This equates to around 190 square meters per hour. Printing on standard substrates with no need for pre-coating, the press uses Xeikon’s environmentally friendly, dry toner technology, which is water resistant and has a high light-fastness for outdoor work. The machine was
Sticker Gizmo has a number of new developments in progress including an update to its online design tool to make it easier for users to create their own library of label designs, along with its digital label service which uses the same technology developed for the schools’ market to link labels with an online experience”. Tillen concludes, “For now, we are delighted that the company is seeing business growth and label demand steadily increasing, even during this difficult period with the current Covid pandemic. We believe the combination of our software pedigree and the improved print execution that the Xeikon digital label press provides is an excellent platform for future growth.” The Sticker Gizmo web site illustrates the wide range of labels that the company can now produce, take a look on https://www.stickergizmo.com/.
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Shield technology on expanding markets with Inkjet Memjet’s inkjet printhead technologies provide a solid foundation for OEM partners to develop printing solutions at a much lower cost and with less complication than other alternatives – and provide the speed, simplicity, profitability, and beautiful precision print providers need to succeed. The markets and applications that are migrating to inkjet are now broader than ever. Memjet’s DuraLink technology was designed primarily to support the requirements of higherproduction rated commercial and industrial systems, like those that Shield Technology recently launched. We met with Mr. Wang Gang, General Manager of Shield Technology to get his input on the market evolution and how his company and Powered by Memjet print solutions will play a role in meeting the market needs. Q: Tell us about Shield Technology. A: Shield Technology is a leading supplier of digital inkjet printing solutions. We were established in 2004 in China and have over 15-years of industry experience. We develop our own core technologies in-house including design, R&D, manufacturing, sales and service. Our print solutions are widely used in the packaging industry, and for security products, publications, cosmetics and more. Q: What trends do you see in the Chinese market this year and in the years ahead? A: In the past, many Chinese printing companies would not consider digital printing due to its high investment cost and high running cost. However, Chinese digital printing systems are now meeting the print quality and production performance of imported systems and prices are much lower. We have already seen a big surge in demand from Chinese customers for our products. Consumer needs are changing and so are the requirements for packaging.
The market now has new demands such as faster time-to-market, greater number of short-run jobs, declining print run lengths, higher variety, personalization, and variable data. Digital printing technology will replace traditional offset printing as customers are required to meet the current market demands. Digital Printing will also be the next big thing in packaging. Q: Tell us about your partnership with Memjet. A: For our Print on Demand (POD) printing systems, we evaluated several inkjet solutions and ultimately concluded that Memjet has the most advanced technology in the market. Memjet treats us like a partner. Our R&D team is in constant
communication with the Memjet support team to assure that we can get the best out of our print solutions. Q: What products did you launch at All in Print China 2020? A: We launched our M680c which is a duplex color inkjet web press for the publishing market which we designed from the ground up. It includes Memjet’s DuraLink technology which features 1600 dpi print quality. This press supports a media width of up to 680mm and runs at up to 203 m/min. In addition, we also launched the M440 which is a duplex mono inkjet web press developed primarily for the POD market. It also uses Memjet’s DuraLink technology.
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DIGITAL PRINTING TECHNOLOGY THAT POWERS THE WAY WE PRINT TODAY. https://www.memjet.com/partners/shield/
Powered with DuraLink® Technology The M680c digital inkjet printing system for commercial & book publishing features high-quality 1600 dpi and print speeds up to 203 m/min.
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Heidelberg unveils new Heidelberg introduced a new Push to Stop Cut Star for in-mould labels, a new Foil Star Cure for metallic finishes and a new Speedmaster XL 106-D with just one diecutting unit. Heidelberg is continuing to systematically focus on its core business. In the growing labels sector, it will be concentrating on end-to-end digitised solutions in sheetfed offset printing. Speedmaster sheetfed offset presses, the XL 106-DD rotary die cutter, and the label systems of Heidelberg partner Polar are perfect for making wet-glue labels, cut-and-stack labels, and also inmold labels (IMLs).
Speedmaster XL 106-D
highly flexible production based on efficient workflows. The Push to Stop concept from Heidelberg for navigated, automated end-to-end production of print jobs in conjunction with the Prinect workflow is therefore also
Heidelberg is now using an innovation initiative to step up its activities in this segment and is also further expanding its position on the growing labels market.
“With its digitized sheetfed offset printing solutions, Heidelberg will continue to play a leading role on the growing labels market in the future. We remain a reliable partner and supplier for our customers in this segment, working with them to overcome the challenges of this demanding market,” said Markus Höfer, Head of Product Management Label at Heidelberg.
Like all print shops, label printers are faced with the challenge of completing increasingly complex orders in less time. Shorter runs, faster delivery times, ever more specific customer requirements, and sustainability demands all call for
New Push to Stop CutStar for growth market of in-mold labels The IML Performance Package for the Speedmaster 106 is now also used in the new CutStar Gen. 4 for high-quality results on foils as thin as 50 µ, combined with an impressive production output. The fourth-generation sheeter is fully integrated into the Prinect workflow and also the Intellistart system on the press for production based on the Push to Stop principle.
CutStar Gen. 4
“Customers’ growing demands in terms of print speed, stable sheet travel, level of automation, and ease of handling when processing thinner substrates on the CutStar sheeter prompted us to develop a new generation of this system. The result is the new Push to Stop CutStar, which is based on a completely new platform with the latest drive technology, state-of-theart control technology, a new blade geometry, and brand new peripherals,” said Markus Höfer, Head of Product Management Label at Heidelberg.
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
w solutions for labels system, which has been available for a number of years. The XL 106-D and DD process the thinnest of materials at a high speed of 12,000 sheets per hour. They punch even the smallest injection holes, which are stripped and extracted straight away thanks to the high-precision magnetic cylinder with 1 µ pressure adjustment. This high precision resulting from the cylinder design and uniform cutting die dispenses with the time-consuming makeready required when using the flat-bed process due to differences in level within the cutting die. This means far shorter setup times. Tooling costs are also up to 50% lower than with a flat-bed die cutter and the production speed is three times higher.
Air/format settings and format changes take place fully automatically, which means shorter setup times. The surface treatment integrated into the CutStar is another new feature, ensuring high end-to-end quality by improving ink adhesion. What’s more, optimization geared specifically to low grammages for both paper and IMLs increases the production speed by up to 2,000 sheets per hour. FoilStar Cure for surface finishing with a metallic look The new FoilStar Cure, in conjunction with another Heidelberg innovation – the DryStar LED Pro dryer – enable high-gloss metallic effects to be produced. In the FoilStar Cure, drying for the first time takes place right through the foil, which enhances gloss levels. Cold foil is
the perfect solution for a wide range of effects, combining an attractive price with an impressive processing speed. It also has environmental benefits over aluminum-coated material because it saves on aluminum and makes labels easier to recycle. Thanks to customized indexing lengths during production, and because only the specified parts of the label are foiled, up to 80% less material is used. New Speedmaster XL 106-D with just one die-cutting unit makes it easier to move into rotary die cutting The new Speedmaster XL 106-D with just one die-cutting unit makes it easier for label printers to move into rotary die cutting and complements the successful Speedmaster XL 106-DD with magnetic cylinder and extraction
Service agreements with digital maintenance management ensure measurably higher availability Service agreements complementing Heidelberg equipment and software are also available for the labels sector, which ensures continuously high availability of all systems. Digital maintenance management and performance analyses increase uptime by as much as seven percent. Like all other Heidelberg customers, label producers benefit from the industry’s largest service network, with global availability of spare parts and access to the Heidelberg Assistant digital collaboration platform. Even following the announcement of the sale of the Gallus Group to Swiss packaging group benpac holding ag, Heidelberg will work closely with benpac in the future, providing service and sales support for narrow-web flexographic presses. In the case of the Gallus Labelfire, Heidelberg also still supplies both the digital printing unit and the associated consumables, which means the company will continue to offer its customers an attractive solution for digital label printing.
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What are the next steps in the new Pandemic World As the impact of the pandemic continues and looks set to shape all our working lives for the foreseeable future, what steps should Print Service Providers (PSPs) now consider? Many initially responded quickly with what they hoped would be a necessary, but short term, approach. They adapted to drops in market demand and pivoted towards new opportunities. This resulted in imaginative and creative applications being quickly added to existing production capabilities. It saw enlightened print businesses work with their clients to understand their needs and develop fresh, innovative, and responsive solutions and services.It saw many supporting working from home while maintaining high quality service delivery. Now eyes are turning to the longer term outlook. Harvard Business Review says manufacturers worldwide will be under greater political and competitive pressures to increase their domestic production and employment and reduce, or even eliminate, their dependence on sources that are perceived as risky. At the same time consumers will continue to want low prices, even if products are manufactured in higher-cost home markets. Also, unrelenting pressure will remain for operational efficiency and the frugal use of capital and manufacturing capacity. Against this backdrop are the encouraging findings of a recent InfoTrends Analysis for Keypoint Intelligence subscribers that collected information from 350 respondents. COVID-19 First Trends & Insights During a Pandemic Year discovered
print buyers have seen the relevance and effectiveness of print during a crisis. In fact, a third of print buyers increased their printing purchases to enable business stability and 50% of respondents stated they will increase their online print purchases while a further 34% are considering it. There has also been an acceleration of the trend towards consumers purchasing printed material online. So, what should Print Service Providers do next to ensure operational stability and even growth? They should: - Ideate - consider new business opportunities by encouraging all members of the company, including business owners and C-Level management, to brainstorm all ideas
– no matter how strange they initially seem. For example, who would have thought that adding glue to a sticky note would have such strong appeal? - Create - develop the idea and understand how it can be created and transformed into a working prototype or business concept. - Validate – test the idea? Is the product or service needed? Does it have value and is there a large enough opportunity? Through valuing everyone’s input, rigorously reviewing the idea and setting out a plan, the impossible becomes possible and PSPs can imagine change. Change that enables them to adapt and create new wealth.
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Komori: A millennia Investment in Komori press has prepared Omega Printopack for the challenges of business on a larger stage. Located in Haridwar, India, the company defied the odds during the difficult days of the coronavirus pandemic with its vision of upgrading despite the odds. And the results? Omega has won overwhelming support from its clients.
strives to gain strategic leadership in pharmaceuticals packaging, we have diversified our portfolio to include fastmoving consumer goods, automotive products, and electronics. Printing and packaging have evolved into value added innovative packaging," he says.
A blessing in disguise "We have established our company as a progressive, reliable and innovative partner. Our aim is to focus always on enhancing the printing experience of our customers," says Managing Director Sandeep Jain. "Omega's business during the pandemic yielded an increase in the first half of the current financial year. The decision of our board to invest in a Komori press was a blessing in disguise because our investment paid off very well at the perfect time -- when we needed it most."
Komori Lithrone G40: Unsurpassed productivity A business always needs a strong foundation and reliable partners. When the Indian government announced a complete lockdown, Omega had just installed their second Komori Lithrone G40. During this critical time, Komori technology and automation proved to be a savior. The machine is equipped with state-of-the-art software technology and offers a maximum printing speed of 16,500 sph, printing on a wide range of sheet thicknesses.
"The concept behind acquiring the new Komori press is to offer clients the freedom to execute their business plans with the enhanced technological capabilities of Komori. As Omega
The Asynchronous Automatic Plate Changer (A-APC) significantly improves working efficiency and greatly reduces makeready time. The KHSAI (Advanced Interface) integrated control system cuts paper waste and
reduces printing time. The Lithrone G40 ensures high print quality with unsurpassed productivity and can easily handle increasingly frequent short turnaround jobs. Komori India: Our first choice The timing couldn't have been better for Omega. After installing the press in early 2020, the world was hit hard by the coronavirus and everything was shut down. The printing business was particularly impacted as printers had to close their factories for a period. Around 10 million impressions have been printed by Omega since the installation of the Lithrone G40, which demonstrates the increased production capacity during this critical time. Komori was Omega's first choice because the company was aware of the machine's quality and after-sales service. "We always got great service. This gave us confidence because it meant a lot if we could get such aftersales service support in a small town like Haridwar," Jain adds.
Mr. Akshat Jain (left) and Mr. Sandeep Jain, Proprieter, with family
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al dream
India's first PQC-S V6 The Lithrone is equipped with the Komori Info-Service Display and the PDC-SG system that digitizes and automates color matching with upgraded Version 6 software. The single-monitor touchpanel print quality control console displays all press operating conditions and related KHSAI and PDC information. The ability to specify various parameters according to the job makes work smoother and assists the operator. The operator can easily monitor the status
of the press by checking settings, KHSAI information, air and register data as well as job information. The system also provides detailed information about maintenance, the operation log and trends. Omega: Steps toward a new horizon "After going through several stages of evolution and growth, Omega to date has achieved an 800-fold increase in sales turnover since 2003. We had invested in several used machines before finally purchasing a Lithrone S32. Omega, a first-generation
printing company, has opened its third production plant in Sidcul, Haridwar. The first plant, dedicated to mono cartons, was established in 2010, and the second, for corrugation, in 2018. The company has equipped the 2,700sqm shop floor in the new plant with the five-color Lithrone G40 printing press with in-line coater," says Jain. From left: Amitabh Jha, Komori India Service Head, and Jitender Rohilla, Komori India National Sales Head, with Sandeep Jain and Akshat Jain, Owners of Omega Printopack
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Digital Print for Corrugated – The Future Condition of Things by Nick Kirby My great grandfather, Thomas Kirby, once said: “Wisdom lies not in regretting the inevitable but in adapting oneself to the altered condition of things”. He printed this statement in his publication, “Saddlery and Harness”, in response to the uproar from his readers after the first car was seen in Walsall, UK in 1896.
The internal combustion engine was perceived as the beginning of the end for the local allied horse trades and consequently his readers wanted to destroy its threat to protect their equine related businesses. Thomas was a brave man to challenge his customers’ cynicism by urging them to change! In many ways I relate Thomas’ statement to the digital world we live in today as it has challenged traditional analogue methods. From smart phones to the internet and Amazon, we have witnessed dramatic change in the last 25 years or so as a result of digitised technologies. Buying a digital printer is not like buying early cars where the choice in 1896 was very limited. Manufacturers, brave enough to invest the vast sums required for the R&D to develop the latest digital print technologies, have been met with trepidation from potential buyers of their equipment due to a history of failed or unstable installations. This has not been good for the future confidence of digital in the corrugated sector, but the tide is turning. So, which digital print machine do I buy? Despite the technology’s relative infancy, the choice of digital printers is already so widespread that you have to understand every detail of what you are buying before making a decision. Getting it wrong is likely to be very costly! Consequently, let’s start by
looking at the platform technologies in brief: Multi-Pass These machines were developed specifically for the large format signage and POS sectors and they have played a big part in the demise of new ultra large format litho machine installations. Typically, the most modern multi- pass machines will happily run at between 500 and 1,000 m2/hour using UV inks at very high quality. Single Pass Sheet Fed These state-of-the-art high-volume production machines use single pass technology where the sheet passes under the print heads once and is
finished. More suited to packaging and long run PoS specifications, the print quality is slightly lower than their multi-pass brothers, but with output at between 5,000 to 7,000 m2/hour, it is good enough to challenge mid-quantity, high-quality post print (HQPP) and litho laminated alternatives. Machines are available with UV, water based or hybrid inks. Web Digital Wide web digital (2.8m) is the Formula 1 for digital print output at over 25,000 m2/hour, but maybe controversially, I do not see pre-printed web digital reels being aligned with the corrugating process. Using water-based inks, this impressive marvel of innovation
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36 meets its nemesis when introduced to a corrugator where the manufacturing principles have ostensibly remained the same for over 100 years. Steam, heat, pressure and waste are all enemies of digital, so I relate it to putting a Ferrari engine in a Model T Ford – surely, somewhat futile on compatibility grounds! Corrugator technology has to evolve to unlock the pinnacle of opportunity that digital brings. Inks Sustainability will be the focus for generations to come, but how does this influence which machine you should purchase? UV ink facilitates a more stable control of the equipment
during printing but it is carcinogenic and not suitable for direct food contact packaging, although in some cases it is food compliant for secondary packaging. There is also an inherent odour with UV ink, it is glossy and I’m not so sure these factors will be tolerated in the market for the long term. UV ink for display products is widely accepted and does not pose the same concerns. Nevertheless, water-based ink technologies are developing rapidly but the machinery to cater for the deliverance and drying of the ink is more complex and expensive. Despite water-based inks being less expensive than UV inks, the energy required to dry them at high speed can be alarming. So, weighing up the many pros and cons of water-based or UV technology
before investing is critical to the market you are most focused to serve in the longer term.
never discount analogue from being a positive contributor to your digital journey.
Adding Value Having purchased your new asset, requiring the forethought and vision to upsell digital capabilities are fundamental to success. Make no mistake; digital is not a replacement for your existing HQPP or litho processes, rather a complementary addition to your sales weaponry that will give newfound opportunity.
Mixing analogue and digital technologies can often provide the ultimate solution; for instance, an e-commerce box could have litho lamination on one side and then the personalised, interactive or topical subject matter digitally printed on the inside. Voila! The best of both world’s working in harmony to provide a value-added solution. Nonetheless, be aware because digital ink costs can disproportionately skew the ability for it to compete with analogue.
More often than not, multiple prints for traditional corrugated packaging, e-commerce packs, personalisation needs, print-on-demand and greater consumer interaction are all areas
that can be serviced by digital more efficiently than traditional analogue. Nonetheless, creating such a solution to generate greater consumer demand through the print innovation should never be undersold. After all, digital has provided the opportunity that would otherwise have been missed. It is for this reason that commoditised pricing for digital should not be driven by the misguided strategy for it to replace traditional analogue print. Sales Know How Knowing your target markets and understanding the foibles of digital are fundamental to the successful development of hitherto untapped opportunities. An analogue mind-set has no place in the digital world, so understanding where each technology prevails is a good place to start, but
This can be problematic at enquiry stage where ink coverage on a litho laminated specification doesn’t impact the unit cost whether it is 25% coverage or 100% coverage, but digital ink does. This then gives a problem right back at enquiry stage where more often than not, ink coverage is not known for a printed box and therefore the commercial offering is wisely based on 100% coverage unless the artwork is existing. Clearly then, estimating all digital specifications at 100% ink coverage is going to prevent it replacing analogue even before the full artwork facts are known! The solution here is to re-educate the individuals and processes that take place pre-press. For instance, packaging sales representatives, brand owners, buyers, artwork creators and marketers need to understand that digital price sensitivity can often be impacted by poor forethought. It is for this reason that all parties must be aligned to maximise the digital advantage. The Consumer Notwithstanding the above considerations, do not underestimate the power of the consumer. The need for sustainability, waste reduction, greater product knowledge, interaction, convenience and brand recognition in packaging are all demands that we see being driven by the consumer. Digital print on corrugated satisfies all of these trends and it is here to stay! Author Nick Kirby Nick Kirby is a 40-year veteran of the corrugated packaging industry forging a career that encompasses production, sales and general management.
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Zest it up with our New Pink Ink Turn opportunities into breakthroughs. Boost your service portfolio with the versatile new Specialty Colour for the Iridesse™ Production Press. Combining our breakthrough Pink Dry Ink with existing white, metallic and CMYK inks enables you to produce so much more. It’s a delicious time to rethink what’s exceptional. www.fujixerox.com.sg/en/Beyond-Imagination
Xerox, Xerox and Design, as well as Fuji Xerox and Design are registered trademarks or trademarks of Xerox Corporation in Japan and/or other countries.
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Boosting overall efficiency in p integration and intelligent auto The trends in packaging printing are obvious: everdeclining run lengths, an ever increasing number of stock keeping units and more demanding embellishments are used in order to attract attention at the point of sale, and all of this against the backdrop of extremely short delivery times and sustainability. Special applications and the need for flawless production add to the complexity. How can folding carton manufacturers manage this in a costeffective way? How can they fully exploit the potential of their machines and achieve transparent and repeatable production? “The growth market of packaging and especially folding carton manufacturing are part of our core business. Heidelberg offers innovative and customized solutions for converting operations: from job creation all the way to the finished folding carton. The Prinect workflow connects the various machines and processes and allows navigated folding carton production, or, in the ideal case, even autonomous production. The tried and tested consumables from the Saphira family and digital services ensure a stable production environment and the highest possible machine availability. Innovations for Speedmaster presses – increased productivity with automation and digitization The new operating concept based around the Heidelberg User Experience UX makes packaging printing easier than ever, across all format classes. An example is the Speedmaster CX 102. This press boasts innovative solutions from the Peak Performance class, including the new operating concept. The Speedmaster CX 102 from the new 2020 generation combines flexibility with navigated printing. It all starts with efficient production planning via the Prinect Scheduler: production is
optimized for multiple print jobs with the same or similar spot colors, materials, or die-cutting tools, and placed in the Job Queue of the Speedmaster CX 102 fully automatically and in the correct order – without manual intervention. With over 50,000 printing units sold, the Speedmaster CD/CX presses are the most successful press series on the market and perfect for packaging printing. The Wallscreen XL guides the operator through the individual processes. With Intellistart 3, up to 50 upcoming job changes can be prepared on the press while production is underway. Intelliguide navigates the operator through the complete job change and always selects the fastest makeready process. Intelliline visualizes the process phase at the individual printing and coating units and indicates when and where a manual intervention is required. Assistance systems like Color Assistant Pro and Wash Assistant use artificial intelligence for continuous improvement. Good sheet production starts as quickly as possible thanks to precise ink presetting and an intelligent selection of the most suitable washup programs. This reduces paper waste and costs. Even repeat jobs can be set up quickly and reliably. With Intellirun, the relevant production information is shown at the right time fully automatically on the Wallscreen throughout the production run. Data feedback to the Prinect Production Workflow allows precise reporting for each individual job, including quality documentation.
Autonomous printing with standardization – Anicolor and Multicolor as a package The Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor with Multicolor technology offers an interesting bundle for packaging printers tackling digital production run lengths. With Anicolor technology the good sheet is reached very quickly, thanks to fast inking by the format-size screen roller. The inking unit design ensures an even ink application across the entire sheet and the entire run. By using seven colors – the four process colors plus orange, green, and violet – the Multicolor technology
World premiere: the new Mastermatrix 106 represents top performance in postpress w sheets per hour.
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packaging printing with digital omation
The Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor with Multicolor technology offers an interesting package for packaging printers. can reproduce a very high number of spot colors. This cuts the time for job changes down since it is no longer necessary to change spot colors. Multicolor also opens the door for autonomous printing with Push to Stop in packaging printing as well. It is also an extremely economical way of producing short runs in packaging printing, for example for special editions. New standards in industrial packaging printing For highly industrialized folding carton printers Heidelberg expanded the capabilities end-to-end: Innovations
6 CSB high-performance die cutter, which with a production speed of up to 9,000
for the Speedmaster XL 106, a new diecutter and several innovations for the Diana folder gluers were demonstrated. The Speedmaster XL106 of the 2020 generation redefines peak performance once again: It systematically reduces touch points and relieves the operator of routine tasks, thereby significantly increasing efficiency. A good example of an intelligent assistance system is the Wash Assistant: It selects the most suitable wash-up program by taking into account the differences in brightness of consecutive inks in the same unit. Especially in folding carton production with its many spot colors, this reduces make-ready times significantly. The Wash Assistant also reduces consumption of wash-up solution; all in all, this can increase the production capacity of a press by up to 125 hours annually. The new presetable CodeStar at the feeder ensures full traceability throughout the production. It marks each sheet with a unique number, barcode or batch number so it can be identified again at any time during production. Another innovation is Hycolor Pro, the Speedmaster XL 106’s automated dampening system.
The dampening solution is metered between pan roller and metering roller. The pressure/squeeze required for this purpose can now, for the first time, be controlled from the Prinect Press Center. The operator can now quickly confirm the correct settings in all units – that saves time and effort while also enabling targeted corrections during production: The printer can address dampening issues on either side of the sheet. This results in fewer waste sheets at start-up and a more stable production run. Eye-catching wow effects for point of sale Complex jobs for special effects often involve elaborate and time-consuming makeready processes that must be planned and carried out meticulously. To illustrate the capabilities of the new User Interface, a demanding job change was shown in less than 5 minutes on a Speedmaster XL 106-8+LYY-1+L (eight printing units, one coating unit, two dryer units, another printing unit, and a second coating unit) with FoilStar. Intellistart 3, Intelliguide, and Intelliline navigate the operator through the various makeready processes for complex jobs. Even less experienced operators are guided through elaborate make ready tasks: complexity is mastered and can be managed.
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The new Promatrix 145 CSB die cutter This 13-unit press can produce a wide variety of embellishments, offering economical flexibility coupled with high process reliability and short makeready times. Automation features such as the Hycolor Multidrive intelligent inking unit drive allow the blankets and the inking units to be washed while the plates are being changed. If an inking unit is not required for the next job, the washup program can continue to run while the press resumes printing. Eye-catching metallic effects can be achieved in one pass with the FoilStar cold foil module. The most economical way of applying cold foil is using indexing and multi-reel capability. Foil consumption can be reduced by up to 80 percent. The cold foil can be partially overprinted to produce a wide range of metallic and color effects. All in all, this is a more sustainable solution than foil-laminated cardboard, which also can have long lead times. Depending on the desired effect, different inks, varnishes and coatings are required along with a press configuration that provides the flexibility for many applications. The 13-unit Speedmaster XL 106 serves as an example for a press that can produce stunning effects for high impact folding cartons at the point of sale economically in a single pass. Heidelberg installs 40 to 50 of these special presses with customized configurations per year. Fully integrated workflow with new MIS concept for packaging printing From summer 2021, Prinect Business Manager Packaging will be launched specifically for packaging printing. Together with the Prinect Production Manager and the tailored packaging add-ons, the result will be a fully integrated packaging workflow. Job data, presetting or repeat job data for the Speedmaster, and for example
printing plate handling will be linked in an automated process, thereby reducing makeready and downtimes. The integration of postpress will also be possible. World premiere: new Mastermatrix 106 CSB die cutter The event attendees witnessed the world premiere of the new Mastermatrix 106 CSB: the new flagship die-cutter from MK Masterwork and Heidelberg with a production speed of up to 9,000 sheets per hour. The machine is designed for high speed and fast make-ready times. For example, a new quick-lock clamping system for the cutting plate shortens the setup time without affecting tool compatibility with existing plates. The setup time is further minimized by MasterRake: the non-stop swords in the delivery are locked pneumatically and can be disengaged at the push of a button and moved by the operator. This shortens the setup time at the delivery by up to 70 percent. The Mastermatrix is integrated in the Prinect workflow. Job specific data is received at the die-cutter from Prinect. Data such as the sheet format is transferred and - after confirmation by the operator - the MasterFeeder sets itself automatically to the sheet format without further manual intervention. During production, the MasterSet optical register system ensures perfect registration between the print image and cutting tool for each sheet individually with the utmost precision. The camdrive of the Mastermatrix ensures a smooth and quiet production. Two other new die cutters were launched earlier this year to complete the portfolio – the Powermatrix 106 CSB and Promatrix 145 CSB.
For short runs in packaging and commercial printing the Digimatrix line will be added in future: the Digimatrix 80 LR and the Digimatrix 106 LR. These digital die-cutters are integrated in the Prinect workflow and employ laser cutting technology; they are currently scheduled for launch in 2021. Both machines provide the option of an inline rotary creasing station and achieve speeds of up to 3,000 sheets per hour. Discover optimization potential – reporting and analysis of production data With the web-based Prinect Portal, the jobs in progress on a connected diecutter can be tracked on a smart device in real time while production is still underway. After the job is completed, the production data is available for reporting and an analysis of short-term and long-term trends is possible. Folder gluers with new functions Heidelberg offers now four series of the MK Masterwork Diana folder gluers. New features and options were added for each series. The Diana Smart is now available with a high-speed package, allowing it to run up to 33 percent faster at up to 600 m/min. The second generation of the Diana Braille unit now offers an option for cross adjustment of the braille tools. The positions of the upper and lower tools are shown on a digital indicator – this shortens each make-ready process by several minutes. The packaging market will continue to grow in importance for Heidelberg. Folding carton manufacturing requires peak performance of our machines and solutions. Thanks to digital integration, we unlock completely new optimization potential along the entire process chain – for the benefit of our folding carton customers worldwide.
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Koenig & Bauer Durst announc SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic - Water-based orange and violet inks, new automation features and digital primer introduced - The updates for SPC Delta 130 FlexLine Automatic will exceed market needs - Koenig & Bauer Durst presses meet stringent requirements for food safe primary packaging with positive impact for brand owners Koenig & Bauer Durst has unveiled further updates for its Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic corrugated production press that provides industrial solutions for run lengths from one to millions. New water-based orange and violet inks have been launched to ensure food safety compliance for primary packaging and extend the color gamut. This will positively impact upon brand management for brand owners, particularly in producing colour saturations on packaging samples and spot colors. With around 50% of corrugated packaging in food and beverage, the ink set also ensures that converters can invest knowing they will be ahead of the increasingly complex regulatory change curve. Koenig & Bauer Durst has also announced new automation features for
the Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic that will ensure high productivity and can be integrated into existing customer workflows. Enhanced image quality and special effects, as well as cost reduction, are among the benefits from a new digital primer. New effects that are possible include print embellishment on corrugated board with uncoated media. The Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic combines a well-engineered mechanical design with easily accessible subassemblies and selected components to guarantee durable quality, high performance and reliability. It can manage small formats from 500 x 600mm through to very large formats with maximum dimensions of 1,300 x 2,800 mm and print a maximum thickness of 12 mm with water-based, food safe inks. The Delta SPC 130 FlexLine Automatic machine includes
non-stop feeder, four-colour singlepass printing, drying and cooling section and non-stop stacker. The Delta SPC 130 is part of the Koenig & Bauer Durst portfolio of solutions for corrugated converters. Another is the CorruJET 170 that post-prints sheets of corrugated up to 1.7m wide at up to 135m/min. The B1 6,000sph VariJET 106 completes the line-up and targets the folding carton market. The presses meet the stringent requirements for food safe primary packaging utilizing proprietary waterbased ink technology and are designed with core technologies to provide automated, productive, food safe printing systems. They deliver shorter response times, more variants, shorter run lengths, individualization and enable more and more small value orders. They also answer the increasing customer demand for brand security, sustainability and the ability to meet brand owners’ requirements for multichannel communication including e-commerce. Robert Stabler, Managing Director, Koenig & Bauer Durst, said: “All these innovations for our Delta SPC
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130 FlexLine Automatic are designed to exceed market needs. Food safety and packaging is a constant topic of conversation. These new water-based inks will ensure food safety compliance
for primary packaging and extend the color gamut, which, in turn, will impact positively on brand management for brand owners. Brand owners are demanding that new production
methods are reliable, compliant and cost effective while converters need to have the capabilities and competencies to mass customize without any compromise on quality.�
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Canon South & Southeast Asia https://asia.canon/en/business CSPL_REG_WF_Marketing@canon.com.sg (65) 6799 8888
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3 Ways to Influence a Dealer or Distributor Sales Force Question - Is there a proactive way to implement a program from manufacturers to encourage distributors to have their sales force sell our product instead of another? My intention is to have the salesperson give quotes for our product more frequently? And how can we appeal to retail users more? Especially ones that are taking bids from competitors that are not represented by our distributor? Historically, we’ve shown favor to our distributors and given them discounts. Unfortunately, the benefits seem to end up in their gross profits. They have not been passed along to retail. It then appears that we are either not competitive, or don’t have a price advantaged. Furthermore, our distributor network has come to expect lower costs on a regular basis. Your thoughts, please. A. I think too many of us operate on the assumption that money is
the only motivator, whether it is for a sales force or a group of dealer or distributor salespeople. I’m coming to appreciate more and more the power of other kinds of motivators.
Let’s start there. Don’t assume that more money in the deal is going to get you the results you want. What else can you do?
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DIGITAL PRINTING SOLUTIONS LIKE NO OTHER Ready for the next turn. Just like you. As truly direct and dedicated printing technology specialists, we believe you should deal with your challenges in your very own way. That is why we offer a wider range of digital technologies for a wide range of applications. From wine labels to wall decoration; from toner to inkjet – how can we help you to make your business ready for the next turn? www.xeikon.com
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The best thing, of course, is to have a product that uniquely solves some of the end-users’ problems, so that you and your dealers are selling a unique solution. While that may be ideal, it’s very rarely the real situation, and most products have competitors which, at least in the mind of some customers, are thought of as equal. Let’s assume that’s your case. Now what? There are three ways to influence a distributor sales force to become more active with your product line: relationships, education, and “easy, secure money.” 3 Ways to Influence Dealers or Distributor Sales Forces: 1. Relationships Think of the distributor reps as your customers. Work at creating close business relationships with the good distributor reps in the same way that you would with end-user customers. Focus on the good ones and spend little time with the mediocre. With the higher quality reps, discover their interests, uncover their values, find things you have in common, get to know their spouses and families, spend non-business time with them, etc. As you build strong relationships with them, you’ll find your distributor reps naturally becoming more involved with your product lines.
2. Education Focus on the concept of “comfort zones.” Most distributor reps have a virtually unlimited number of products that they can promote. Most eventually settle on those products and applications with which they feel most comfortable with selling. They develop product/customer/ application comfort zones. If your product or application doesn’t fit into a specific rep’s comfort zone, they’re going to spend little time with it. So, you must get to know your good distributor reps (see above) and then you must help them expand their comfort zones to include your products and applications . That means that you must lead the way, showing them how to find the opportunities, how to specify and present your product lines, and how to close and services those sales. Until the distributor rep is comfortable with your products and sales processes, you’ll be swimming upstream. 3. “Easy, Secure Money” Yep, money is still important. But notice the emphasis on the first two words. “Easy” means that you make it as easy as possible to deal with you, to sell your product. You have the best selling literature, a generous sample policy, the quickest and most responsive inside people to respond to the distributor’s
questions and requests, the simplest price list, the easiest policies and procedures in each of these issues. When your company is easy to deal with and when your product is easy to sell, you’ll find more and more support for it among the distributors. “Secure” means that you provide some security for the salesperson who decides to spend time promoting your product. You protect that investment of time by making sure that none of his competitors can come into an account and low bid it after the salesperson has done the work to get your product trialed and accepted. If a distributor rep invests in selling your product and experiences a competitor who did nothing to sell it, comes in and steals the business out from underneath him just once, you will likely lose that rep’s loyalties forever.
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The new two-colour MetalStar 3 UV decorating line • The first metal decorating line was installed at Beiersdorf in 1932 • Metal tins for Nivea Creme have been decorated on Koenig & Bauer presses ever since
From the first continuous drying oven to a modern decorating line The loyalty of the Beiersdorf company as a customer plays a special role in the history of metal decorating and is closely linked with the very roots of Koenig & Bauer MetalPrint. LTG Lufttechnische GmbH, a specialist supplier of industrial air conditioning systems, entered the metal decorating market with the first continuous drying oven for metal sheets in 1932. The newly designed oven was an absolute innovation and was paired with a metal decorating press from the Mailänder company which printed the distinctive blue Nivea Creme tins. The first metal decorating line was born. In the past, the sheets had been transported to a
batch dryer and then unloaded again by hand, but now they could be conveyed to the oven automatically, carried through the thermal drying process by way of a chain drive and subsequently unloaded automatically. A letter of recommendation dating from 1937 proves just how much Beiersdorf appreciated the LTG oven. Quote: “We are very satisfied with the drying oven for metal sheets supplied by your company. The best proof of this was our decision to follow the installation of the first oven with an order for two more.” The two companies – Mailänder and LTG – worked together for many decades and installed hundreds of metal decorating lines worldwide until Mailänder was bought up by LTG in 1994. In 2006, LTG Mailänder was acquired by the Koenig & Bauer Group, and integrated into the company which today operates as Koenig & Bauer MetalPrint.
Beiersdorf has remained loyal to the machines of Koenig & Bauer to this day. And the famous Nivea Creme tins are still produced on one of our presses – albeit now on an ultramodern high-performance MetalStar 3 decorating line which was installed at the beginning of the year. In place of a thermal drying oven, the metal sheets are today cured with a UV system. Modern features accelerate makeready and enhance productivity. For example, the MetalStar 3 incorporates fully automatic plate changing. With CleanTronic Synchro the blankets and impression cylinders can be washed at the same time, or the blankets can be washed using two washing beams. CleanTronic SRW permits simultaneous washing of the ink rollers, blankets and impression cylinders. The time required for the washing process is thus significantly shorter.
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• Production speeds of up to 90 ipm • Maintains rated speed on uncoated stocks up to 80 lb. Cover • 7,650-sheet1 feeding capacity with up to six different sources2 • Wide array of productive Canon and third-party in-line accessories2
• 2400 x 2400-dpi print resolution utilizing the unique R-VCSEL imaging technology • Intuitive calibration process that uses internal sensors to measure test patches • Translucent CV Toner produces vibrant images on a wide variety of stocks • Multi D.A.T. helps to achieve consistent color across long runs automatically
• Supports stocks up to 130 lb. Cover2 • Runs a variety of envelopes and long sheets2 up to 51.2” • Helps achieve highly accurate and consistent registration, even on large and heavy stocks • Meets ENERGY STAR® standards and rated EPEAT Gold
CANON SINGAPORE PTE. LTD. 1 Fusionopolis Place Galaxis #15-10 Singapore 138522 Tel: +65-6799 8888 | Fax: +65-6799 8882 | www.canon-asia.com | www.canon.com.sg
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Canon Wins Two Prestigious ‘Product of The Year’ Awards Canon has won two ‘Product of the Year’ awards in the ‘Digital Inks – UV’ and ‘Automation Equipment (print/post-print)’ categories in the annual competition hosted by the PRINTING United Alliance.
Selected from over 200 entries across 85 categories, Canon’s UVgel 460 inks and the UVgel Wallpaper Factory have both been chosen for their customer benefits and innovation in the large format market. Judged by a panel of industry experts, the PRINTING United Alliance annual Product of the Year competition showcases products that are integral to moving the printing industry forward. Selected for the ‘Digital Ink – UV’ award, Canon UVgel 460 inks are a core component of the Colorado 1650 roll-to-roll large format printer. Canon UVgel inks utilise a unique, instantaneous ‘gelling’ action upon contact with the media for exceptional ink drop placement accuracy and consistent colour quality. The UVgel printing process does not rely on evaporation or heat, so prints are instantly ready, even on heat-sensitive media. UVgel inks are extremely resistant and durable, meaning no additional lamination is required, and their flexibility makes them ideal for long lasting applications such as vehicle wraps. Winning the ‘Automation Equipment (print/post-print)’ category, the UVgel Wallpaper Factory is a fully integrated end-to-end solution enabling the digital
mass-production of customised wall décor. Introduced in May 2020, the Wallpaper Factory seamlessly integrates the Colorado 1650 UVgel printer with the media handling and finishing capabilities of several Fotoba modules, including the Fotoba Jumbo Roll Loader, the Fotoba Cutter XLD170 WP and Fotoba Rewinder REW162, to achieve production efficiencies and 24/7 fully automated production. This new solution allows print service providers, print factories and interior décor specialists to diversify their business and enhance their offering with customised wallpaper. Dimensional stability and colour consistency are critical in wallpaper production to ensure a precise match from panel to panel. The benefit of UVgel inks is that they do not require heat to dry, so there is no media distortion with prints produced with the Colorado, resulting in a high quality finished product. When it comes to producing large volumes of multi-panel wallcoverings, UVgel technology offers maximum control of dot gain and delivers optimal colour consistency print after print, even when produced across multiple printers and at different times. Reprint orders with guaranteed colour
consistency, an essential in the digital wallpaper printing market, are now easier than ever with UVgel technology. UVgel inks are odourless and certified GREENGUARD Gold by AgBB, and Type II by ASTM, so wallpapers printed on the Colorado are safe to use indoors. With the unique FLXfinish technology, a new approach to LED curing which enables both matte and gloss finishes without the need to change inks or media, print service providers can be assured of producing customised wallpaper with a velvety matte finish to stand out from the competition and fuel growth. Steve Ford, Managing Director, Production Printing Asia, Canon, said: “UVgel ink and FLXfinish technology are at the core of our unique roll-to-roll printer and is highly beneficial to our customers. With the wallpaper factory in partnership with Fotoba, we have developed a highly automated workflow solutions that enables our customer to print exceptional quality wallpaper in quicker turnaround times. Last year, the Colorado 1650 printer was awarded for its print quality, versatility and ease of use, and we are delighted to see that this year Canon’s UVgel inks and the UVgel Wallpaper Factory have been recognised as well.”
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Coca Cola may soon be sold in paper bottles In a collaboration with its partner Paboco, Coca Cola has been working on a paper bottle for the beverage. The company announced that the first prototype of a paper bottle packaging is ready. “Our vision is to create a paper bottle than can be recycled like any other type of paper, and this prototype is the first step on the way to achieving this. A paper bottle opens up a whole new world of packaging possibilities, and we are convinced that paper packaging has a role to play in the future,” said Stijn Franssen, EMEA R&D Packaging Innovation Manager at Coca-Cola. Coca Cola has been at work to create a bottle made 100% from paper. The innovation is part of the company’s environmental initiative: “World Without Waste”. Coca Cola has pledged to be able to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one it sells by 2030, while also substantially reducing its use of virgin packaging materials,
and only using packaging materials that are 100% recyclable. The first generation paper bottle, while 100% recyclable, still contains plastic. Coca Cola acknowledges that there is still work to be done to achieve its vision of a bottle that can be recycled like paper. “This first-generation paper bottle prototype still consists of a paper shell with a plastic closure and a plastic liner inside. The plastic we use is made from 100% recycled plastic that can be recycled again after use. But our vision is to create a paper bottle that can be recycled like any paper. The next step is to find a solution to create a bottle without the plastic liner,” said Stijn.
Thorough testing going on Just like other types of packaging, a paper bottle of the future must adhere to the same high safety and quality standards for food packaging that currently apply. Stijn and his team are putting the bottle through comprehensive testing in the lab to see how it performs in the refrigerator, how strong it is, and how well it protects the drinks inside. “We also reflect on how our consumers will react to this paper bottle. Topics like when and where it could be sold and how it can be recycled are all considered. The bottle must be explored from every perspective to ensure that we make the bottle the best it can be,” said Stijn. He is optimistic that future technological solutions will help achieve the vision of a paper bottle that is recyclable as paper, a type of packaging technology that can be part of Coca-Cola's packaging and portfolio mix, and which could be used for a wide range of beverages. “This is all part of our journey to find the most sustainable packaging solutions for people to enjoy our drinks in a way that is right for them, and that is right for our planet,” said Stijn.
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SPEED UP YOUR PROCESSES with optical systems for UV curing and drying
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TooLink - connecting tools with die-cutters BOBST’s latest digital solution – TooLink – is drastically reducing changeover times by connecting tooling, machinery and processes, helping converters who are under pressure to deliver smaller runs with a quicker turnaround time. TooLink-prepared tools are manufactured by a BOBST Certified Die-maker, ensuring that both the quality of the tool and the compatibility with the die-cutter is maximized.
Reflecting BOBST’s vision to shape the future of the packaging world, tools connecting with die-cutters sets a new standard for efficient and agile box converting. Thanks to the utilization of digitalization and connectivity, converters have the means to become more productive. TooLink simplifies the change-over by automating the recipe management, which saves time for the operator and removes the risk of human errors. “In our discussions with customers, we hear that the downtime from one job to another is still taking too long, which is reducing valuable production time,” says Alex Volery, Head of the Tooling division at BOBST. “We saw the opportunity to develop a digital and automated solution to help overcome this issue, hence we have developed TooLink.” A secured data chip is built into the die and creates a unique ID for every tool. When the tool is inserted in the machine the chip is read and the
production-ready recipe with correct alignment and settings is automatically transferred to the machine. All it takes for the operator is two clicks on the die-cutter’s HMI, allowing a significant saving of changeover time on repetitive jobs, as well as potential operator mistake when inserting the recipe.
“This is the first phase in our development of the TooLink technology”, continues Alex Volery. “We are hard at work developing future added-value services and solutions related to tooling connectivity. The various stakeholders will be connected, tooling and recipe management will be done remotely and access to tooling data will leverage insights. These digital solutions will empower better decisionmaking and deliver increased control, automation, and efficiency.” All new BOBST 106 format die-cutters are TooLink ready and in combination with Matic Plus the saving of repetitive job changeover time is estimated to an average of 15 minutes. It provides converters with valuable additional production time and flexibility.
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Awards Success Spar Innovation at Z Due In May last year the senior management at Italian packaging prepress company Z Due travelled to Istanbul for the awards ceremony of the first Global Flexo Innovation Awards. They returned with much more than a Gold Award, because in the space of a few days the Modena-based business, along with fellow awardwinner Reproflex3, from the UK, laid the foundation of a collaboration that has already yielded significant benefits to both companies. Giorgio Cattani, technical manager (R&D), describes Istanbul as “a spark” that started a year of innovation at the company that even the global COVID-19 pandemic has failed to halt. While the outbreak did cause the postponement of an international conference on flexo technology that Z Due had scheduled for February, in Fall the company is staging a major webinar at which it will announce the latest products resulting from the Z Due/ Reproflex3 partnership.
Both are patented technologies that exploit the enhanced ink transfer control possible of the KODAK FLEXCEL NX System, supplied and supported by Miraclon. The benefits for brand owners, printers and converters extend from the printroom, where start-up times are shorter and plate and ink costs lower, to final packaging featuring the highest quality, consistency and optical density. The first of these, Z Due’s BlueEdge® solution, is based on the Project Blue technology developed by Reproflex3 for its flexible packaging customers, which Z Due has adapted for the corrugated postprint market. Full details of the second technology, Vortex®, will be announced at the webinar, but in extensive beta-testing over the spring and summer it has delivered exceptional quality and consistency and significant
cost-savings. Says Cattani: “Add to this the fact that it requires no modification to converters’ existing equipment and we believe it will be a hugely important development for flexo packaging, with broad appeal across regions and applications.” Speaking to the world of flexo Z Due acknowledges that it’s unlikely any of this would have happened so quickly without that “spark” that the Global Flexo Innovation Awards provided, which makes Z Due and Reproflex3 great examples of the benefits that can result from entering industry award programs. In Z Due’s case, however, it took a while for the company to start seeking recognition for the excellent work its strong R&D department produces, as Marco Mingozzi, internal manager, explains. “Until a few years ago our focus was 100% on producing the best work we could, but as our reputation grew we decided to test ourselves against our
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rks a Year of Z Due managed to keep working throughout. In keeping with its optimistic, ambitious outlook the company has found benefits in the situation. “It has been difficult to meet customers, of course,” says Giorgio Cattani, “but that gave us time to think about the future — about our products and how best to organize the business. Historically, crises are an opportunity to change and do some things better, and we are trying to do this.
competitors. And since we have, we’ve discovered that we have something to say to the flexo world.” The “Future of Flexo” event in February, organised in partnership with Miraclon, would have provided the biggest platform so far for Z Due to talk about flexo. The venue chosen for the conference — the iconic Museo Ferrari in Maranello — demonstrated Z Due’s ambition, as did a program of presentations that covered all aspects of the latest flexo trends in both flexible and corrugated packaging. “It would have been a major event for flexo, and Italy,” says Marco Mingozzi, “but we certainly haven’t given up on the idea and hope to hold something similar when the time is right.” The Modena area was among the first to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but despite the difficulties
“Everything we are doing to raise our profile in the market has one goal,” he continues, “and that’s to become a big enough player that we have a seat at the table with the large international brands. We believe we can get there if we have a technology and a product that the industry recognizes as the best available. We want brand owners to say, ‘We want our packaging produced using FLEXCEL NX plates and either the BlueEdge® or Vortex® technology.’ That’s our dream. It won’t happen overnight, of course, but through our partnership with Reproflex3 we’re on the way.”
Going for gold again Unsurprisingly, one of the next steps along the way will be entering the second Miraclon Global Flexo Innovation Awards, which are now open for entries. First held in 2018 to mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of the FLEXCEL NX System, the program is notable for “looking beyond the package” and evaluating the impact of submissions on the entire value chain. With high quality considered a precondition, the independent panel of judges — chaired this time by Christopher Horton, formerly senior vice-president of SGS — will be assessing entries against four categories of innovation excellence: creativity in graphic design; conversion from other print processes; workflow efficiency; and commitment to sustainability. This time around Z Due have a hard act to follow after an outstanding performance in 2018. No less than eight of the company’s submissions were successful, winning the company not only a Gold Award but also elevating it to the select group of four companies that were awarded the highest honors.
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Stora Enso & Tetra Pak to look to building a recycling line for used beverage cartons Stora Enso and Tetra Pak are joining forces to explore the possibility of building a new recycling line to significantly increase the recycling of used beverage cartons in Central and Eastern Europe. The two partners are initiating a feasibility study to assess the viability of building a large-scale recycling line for Used Beverage Cartons (UBC) at Stora Enso’s Ostroleka Mill in Poland. In the model Stora Enso would pulp and separate the fibers from used beverage cartons at its Ostroleka Mill and use the recycled fibers as a raw material, while Tetra Pak would secure the recycling and reuse of polymers and aluminium which shall be processed by a dedicated partner. If realised, the annual capacity of the new recycling line would be 50 000 tonnes of UBC. This would be a significant increase in recycling capacity for beverage cartons across Europe, boosting the European beverage carton recycling rate from the current 51%.
In the first stage the recycled postconsumer beverage carton material would come from countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Aseptic and CUK, Stora Enso.
“A new line would be the next step in the circularity of packaging materials, in helping make our customers’ brands circular. Beverage cartons are widely recycled in Europe today and we want to use our knowledge of fibers and board to promote and accelerate the recycling and collection of beverage carton materials. Our process at Ostroleka Mill already uses recycled (OCC) materials.
“Working with partners along the value chain is our number one priority when it comes to driving collection and recycling of used beverage cartons. We are confident that this partnership will allow us to improve Europe’s recycling infrastructure and further increase the recycling rate of UBC in the region. It is through synergies like this one that we will be able to lead the sustainability transformation and achieve a lowcarbon circular economy,” says Guillaume Latourrette, Managing Director, Tetra Pak East Europe.
We are interested in developing the already well functioning recycling system and using high-quality UBC fibers,” says Markku Luoto, VP LPB
The feasibility study is expected to be completed in six months, after which the possible decisions about the project and timeline would be confirmed.
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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
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Digitalising and 3D printing manufacturing anywhere an The digitalisation of spare parts is a step towards more sustainable business and reducing the carbon footprint of industry. It also reduces costs and improves the availability of spare parts with quicker access. VTT and Aalto University have been conducting first-class research for five years now to promote digitalising and 3D printing spare parts.
make use of additive manufacturing, says Tero Hämeenaho, Department Manager responsible for 3D printing at Etteplan.
- We had two extensive research projects where we solved problems related to the introduction of digital spare parts and developed different tools and operating models while working closely with the companies involved in the projects. Many companies have already had successful trials of 3D printing spare parts, and in the next phase, the aim is a wider implementation of digital spare parts, says Senior Scientist Sini Metsä-Kortelainen from VTT.
Digitalisation of spare parts has significant benefits Companies that manufacture machinery and equipment are becoming more interested in the digitalisation of spare parts: maintenance services make up a significant part of the business of these companies and spare parts tie up a lot of capital. Companies are particularly facing issues with old equipment that no longer have spare parts available, but repairing them is the sustainable choice both economically and environmentally.
- The new business from digital spare parts project by VTT and Aalto University is a great example of Finnish research on 3D printing. Companies have huge potential to grow and improve their maintenance business with 3D printing. In the recently completed research project, we identified new ways for industry to
- Since based on digital data, 3D printing makes it possible to produce individual parts or small series quickly and cost-effectively, as there is no need for separate tools such as moulds. Storing digital spare parts does not take up shelf space, and manufacturing can
be carried out according to need and close to the end user. The availability of spare parts is improved, transport distances are shorter, and natural
g spare parts enables nd anytime technologies, and in many cases, the properties of printed materials are different from traditional materials. The manufacturing process must take into account the special features of 3D printing, and proper documentation and quality control as well as property testing of the components. The research report provides extensive data on 3D printing materials and related heat treatments, differences between processes, and corrosion and UV resistance. The report also includes summarised instructions on the documentation of manufacturing and testing critical parts as well as ways to embed intelligence in 3D printed parts, which opens up routes for more efficient condition monitoring and the traceability of parts. The new business from digital spare parts follow-up project concluded at the end of September 2020. The final report summarises the results of the project and contains links to other project publications that focus more extensively on each research topic. resources are not wasted on parts that end up on storage shelves indefinitely, says Mika Salmi, Research Director at Aalto University’s ADD Lab. Comprehensive data on 3D printing materials The first bottleneck in the introduction of digital spare parts is the difficulty of automatically identifying the parts whose size and shape make it reasonable and economically viable to manufacture them by 3D printing. It has been estimated that it would be profitable to digitalise roughly 10% of all spare parts. A recent research report presents methods of identifying parts in spare parts libraries that are suitable for 3D printing. For example, one spare parts library can contain 200,000 parts,
and methods for examining this data have been developed using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Another major challenge is to find the right material for a specific spare part among the 3D printing materials available. There are notably fewer 3D printing materials available than for conventional manufacturing
The project was funded by Business Finland, Kiwa Inspecta Oy, KONE Oyj, Valmet Technologies Oy and Wärtsilä Services Switzerland Ltd. In addition, 3DTech Oy and Etteplan were involved in the consortium and the steering of the project, and they also received funding from Business Finland for their own projects.
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
62 EFI launches two new printers for soft signage
truly differentiate themselves in a highly competitive marketplace.
The high volume EFI POWER and COLORS printers create profit opportunities in soft signage. EFI introduced two new printers for the high-end, high productivity soft signage market help display graphics producers reach new heights in productivity and extend their capabilities.
With their extreme speed and reliability, the EFI POWER and COLORS printers can often replace multiple soft signage printers, producing more premium signage work with a single footprint.” The new printers follow the market successes with VUTEk FabriVU® soft signage dye sublimation printers. There are more than 250 FabriVU printers installed worldwide.
The EFI COLORS 340 printer prints at up to 9,149 square feet per hour (in a four-colour x 4 configuration) while providing unmatched colour capabilities for premium-quality soft signage. For even higher-volume production environments, the EFI POWER 340 prints up to 16,835 square feet per hour. Leveraging technology from EFI Reggiani’s 70+ year legacy of best-inclass fabric printing, the new offerings have the ability to print with higher quality on a wider range of materials than other soft signage inkjet devices, with 100% penetration on both sides of the material. The printers are able to print either direct to fabric or to transfer paper using the same inkset, eliminating the significant cost and downtime related to switching over inks. “EFI, through our Reggiani division, has decades of experience bringing to market the highest quality in fabric printing in the industry,” said Scott Schinlever, COO, EFI Inkjet. “These two new printers are specifically designed to meet the most stringent quality and productivity needs in soft signage for companies that want to
A new level of quality in premium soft signage The EFI COLORS 340 printer is ideal for many applications, from table throws and pop-up promotional tents to SEG backlits, flags and retail fixtures. At 11 feet wide with the ability to handle different fabrics up to 450 gr/m2, the printer uses genuine EFI water-based CMYK dispersed dye inks. The printer gives users entrée into an ultra-premium point-ofpurchase category for soft signage, producing smoother colour transitions and ultra-realistic skin tones. Available with up to 24 printheads, the COLORS 340 offers greater versatility in colour capabilities to print in four-colour x 2, four-colour x 4 or six-colour x 4 configurations, as well as an eight-colour configuration featuring standard CMYK and light CMK colour inks, plus a penetrating agent. The EFI COLORS 340 produces high quality prints at speeds up to 9,149 square feet per hour. The printer’s 2,400 dots per inch (dpi)
resolution with four level grayscale printing and drop sizes from 4 to 18 picoliters can deliver 100% penetration on both sides of the material, making it ideal for the production of national flags. Its precision sticky belt feeding mechanism ensures near-perfect, continuous tone image quality at high speeds with no wrinkle artifacts on a wide range of materials. EFI’s unique continuous ink recirculation system for textile printing improves ink yield, reducing the need to purge while eliminating downtime associated with printhead maintenance. Extreme POWER meets maximum productivity needs The EFI POWER 340 digital soft signage printer has most of the capabilities of the COLORS 340 but at a faster speed of up to 16,835 square feet per hour. The POWER 340 is also capable of printing direct-to-fabric or onto transfer paper using genuine EFI water-based CMYK dispersed dye inks. Like the COLORS 340 model, it employs the proven, reliable sticky belt feeding mechanism. The POWER 340 features up to four colours, in either four-colour x 4 or four-colour x 8 configurations. With its remarkable speeds, users can profit from producing the appropriate quality at the highest speed with a lower total cost of ownership for high-volume demands. Reduce your footprint, increase your output With these two new solutions, soft signage producers can reduce their production footprint while also increasing their output by replacing multiple, slower devices with a single high-volume, premium-quality production powerhouse. Both printers employ a powerful EFI Fiery® proServer Premium digital front end, which means operators can take advantage of the ultimate in colour management, job management, and powerful tools for nesting, step and repeat, scaling, cropping, barcode creation and tiling.
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
63 Durst launches air disinfection system Durst announced it is introducing a solution for reducing the viral load in indoor environments, the Durst UVCR Air Disinfection System. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the digital print manufacturer first started production of community masks as a first preventive measure in April. The Durst UVC-R Air Disinfection System is a solution for reducing the viral load in indoor environments. Over the last few months, Durst has put its expertise in production and UV technology to come up with the Durst UVC-R Air Disinfection System. In the Durst Labs, the main transmission paths and descent rates of droplets and aerosols that transport virus-containing liquid particles were analyzed, as well as the effectiveness of countermeasures with continuous air exchange and UV irradiation. The solution is the Durst UVC-R, which combines both air exchange and UV irradiation in one system, effectively reducing infectious aerosols, viruses and germs in indoor environments. Through an antiviral membrane, the room air is led into a closed system and irradiated with UV-C light. The disinfected air is continuously released back into the room through an air outlet. “We checked the efficiency of the UV-C sources in our laboratories and analyzed the ideal exposure time and volumetric flow," said Christoph Gam-
per, CEO and co-owner of the Durst Group. “An external laboratory for medical technology and disinfectants in Germany is currently in the process of verifying our results. At the same time, the efficiency of the Durst UVCR is tested in real mode with "pseudoviruses" or so-called bacteriophages.
Shutterfly is investing in more than 60 new high-performance HP Indigo Digital Presses to drive higher productivity for its range of highquality, photo-based and personalized products including photo gifts, photo books, school portraits, holiday cards, and home decor.
Durst offers the 1st series of the UVC-R as a Limited Edition for preorder. Within the next weeks the entire UVC-R portfolio will be available in a webshop. Start of delivery of the 1st series is planned for early December.
The agreement with Shutterfly, the leading US supplier of HP Indigo digital print, is the largest single customer order to date for the HP Graphics business. Now underway, the rollout includes next-generation, high-productivity B2 sized HP Indigo 100K digital presses, high versatility HP Indigo 12000 digital presses, as well as significant investment in web-fed photo presses to transform photo portrait printing to digital.
HP and Shutterfly Announce Record HP Indigo Digital Press Rollout to Accelerate Personalized Gift and Photo Printing Markets HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) and Shutterfly, the world’s leading online retailer of personalized products, today announced a landmark expansion of their strategic relationship to deliver next-level productivity to supply the growing ecommerce market of photo gifts and photo products.
“Over our 20+ year legacy, Shutterfly has committed to investing in the best and most innovative technology to fuel our business, delivering high-quality products to our customers, hosts and partners,” said Shutterfly Inc.’s chief operating officer Dwayne Black. “This latest upgrade of our HP Indigo fleet continues that investment in quality, productivity and innovation, with significant advancements in speed and automation that help us deliver even higher quality products to our customers, even faster at a time when sharing tangible memories is more important than ever.” The annual global photo printing and merchandise market is expected to reach a value of $3.117 billion by the end of 2026, with a CAGR of 8.1% during 2021-2026, compared with USD 1.7960 billion in 2019.1
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
64 The NiceLabel software previously offered out-of-the-box label design, allowing business users to quickly and easily design and print labels. The new version builds on this capability, enabling users, especially those working in factories or warehouses, to seamlessly design and print related supply chain documents, including delivery notes, pick lists, packing slips and invoices, from a single platform. “As always, we are strongly focused on listening closely to customers and adapting our labeling solutions to meet their needs,” said Ken Moir, VP of Marketing NiceLabel. “We know it has been possible to design and print these documents before, but it has been complex requiring people with the highest levels of technical skills. With the latest version, we have made it easy for users to design these documents.”
“Today more than ever before, tangible, personalized experiences are becoming more precious. Consumers are looking for quick turnaround, alongside real-to-life photo quality. We at HP Indigo are proud to be Shutterfly’s provider of choice in making this a reality,” said Haim Levit, general manager, HP Indigo.
range of inks and materials up to 24 pt, including synthetic, metalized and canvas applications.
In this latest wave of installations, Shutterfly is investing across three HP Indigo press generations and formats. Shutterfly was one of the first customer beta sites for the new 29-inch format HP Indigo 100K, engineered for high productivity and nonstop printing while delivering Indigo’s renowned digital offset look and feel. Shutterfly’s new HP Indigo 12000 presses loaded with a value pack deliver higher end prints using a wider
To keep production at the highest level, Shutterfly takes advantage of HP PrintOS, the cloud-based PSP management solution, to monitor productivity of presses in real-time to keep press uptime to a maximum.
The presses will be installed across four manufacturing facilities in Shakopee, Minnesota; Fort Mill, South Carolina; Tempe, Arizona; and Plano, Texas over the next 18 months.
NiceLabel launches new version of labeling management portfolio to streamline production of supply chain documents NiceLabel, a leading global developer of label design software and label management systems, has launched a new version of its label management solutions portfolio: version, 2019.3. The new software update will enable organizations to use just a single platform for designing and printing their labels and supply chain documents (something many struggled with before), thereby saving them time and costs and streamlining their whole production process.
“The result is something that we believe is a real differentiator in the marketplace,” added Moir, “a userfriendly way for businesses to design and print their labels and supply chain documents all in one label management system.” The 2019.3 release of the NiceLabel software also features a connector to cloud-based software from Workday. This is an example of a cloud-to-cloud integration that also supports cloud connected printers (IoT printing). Businesses that adopt this functionality can print driverless, completely eliminate their on-premise labeling footprint and save costs as a result. Their existing Workday process remains the same, but they gain the benefits of streamlined label printing through NiceLabel Label Cloud. “With any cloud-based system, there is an expectation of ease of integration with other cloud-based applications,” continued Moir. “Users anticipate that Label Cloud will be able to interact seamlessly with other cloud-based applications. That’s exactly what this new release delivers through its connectors and cloud-to-cloud integration capability.” The release also includes enhancements to NiceLabel’s SAP advanced business application programming
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Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
66 during product development, Ricoh customers can now enjoy the benefits of a DTG turnkey solution. The Ri 2000 meets the needs of innovative digital print providers, custom apparel online retailers, as well as traditional businesses offering added value by printing on garments. It joins Ricoh’s DTG portfolio that already includes the Ri 100 and Ri 1000 devices as the production flagship.” The Ri 2000 sets a new benchmark in terms of productivity and efficiency in its class. This is achieved by integrating hardware and advanced software endto-end. (ABAP) package including the ability to print supply chain documents more easily; and exporting data sources for streamlined design. The new 2019.3 release additionally features a web-based manager for the NiceLabel integration system that allows users to centrally manage all integrations. In parallel with the 2019.3 launch, NiceLabel is also introducing a brandnew edition of Label Cloud. Label Cloud Compliance is vertically aimed at regulated companies including medical device manufacturers, pharmaceuticals businesses and chemicals companies which require a compliant labeling process to meet evolving US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Union (EU) regulatory requirements.
Next generation direct to garment technology available Ricoh is responding to the needs of the modern garment decorator for
heightened productivity, best-in-class operation and ease of use with the launch of the Ricoh Ri 2000 Direct to Garment (DTG) printer. The next generation system supports the production of promotional and personalised goods locally. The Ricoh Ri 2000 prints 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution on a wide range of garments, from traditional t-shirts or tote bags to an extended application range of canvas shoes, baseball caps or long sleeve shirts. It also supports the production of textile face masks and safety vests via the flexibility of the quick-change magnetic platen mechanism and the automatic table height adjustment that easily switches between garment types. "The new generation of DTG printer represents Ricoh's continued commitment to deliver industry leading inkjet solutions, empowering
our customers to grow their business," said GrahamKennedy, Director Industrial Printing, Ricoh Europe. "Working closely with early adopters in the continuously growing DTG market
Enabling colour consistency, automation of production workflows and creation of white layers for printing on dark garments with ColorGATE’s Textile Productionserver.
Continuously monitoring ink supply, temperature and humidity levels, reducing human interaction whenever required. Intuitively guiding the operator with a 7-inch colour touchscreen display providing maintenance alerts, for all tasks that are not automated. Simplifying maintenance with automated cleaning and an innovative head cleaning jig that eliminates the need to manually maintain print head nozzles.‘Genko-Itchi’, Fuji Xerox Singapore believes in a bespoke approach in empowering their customers’ digital journey. The company’s dedication is also reinforced as it launched 19 new models from its digital multifunction printer ApeosPort and DocuPrint series recently, to support customers in accelerating efficiency while enhancing security, document management and remote working capabilities.
5th INTERNATIONAL PACKAGING AND PRINTING EXHIBITION FOR ASIA
Printing Innovation Asia Issue 11 2020
67
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
www.xeikon.com
