Industrial Dots 02/2016

Industrial Dots - Anno I - n. 2/2016 - € 20.00 - Iscrizione al ROC n° 26062 del 23/11/2015 Poste Italiane SpA - Spedizione in Abbonamento Postale - D.L. 353/2003 (convertito in Legge 27/02/2004 n° 46) art. 1, comma 1, LOM /MI

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Alberto Maestri leads the giant Cefla Finishing Group, now more focused on inkjet

A journey through digital decoration on glass and ceramics

Direct inkjet printing on containers, more than ink on a can

ISSUE 02/2016

Integrate print in manufacturing.

Save money.

Agfa Graphics designs, develops and manufactures high-performance inks & fluids for various industrial inkjet printing applications. Add to this state-of-the-art software for variable data processing, pre-flighting, color management and anti-counterfeiting.

Whatever objects you manufacture, whichever materials you use, we have all the knowledge and experience needed to integrate printing into your manufacturing process.

And the best thing about it? It will save you money.

Visit us at InPrint, booth C40 Milan, 15-17 November 2016

www.agfagraphics.com

TO the fair heart

EDITORIAL Industrial Dots - Year I - No. 02/2016 Iscrizione al ROC n° 26062 del 23/11/2015 Editor-in-chief Silvia Guglielmi Co-publishers Lorenzo Villa - lorenzo@densitymedia.com Editorial board Roberto Bonsignore - roberto@densitymedia.com Elena Panciera - elena@densitymedia.com Collaborators Tim Phillips Jochen Christiaens Technical consultant Gabriele Lo Surdo - gabriele@densitymedia.com

The key to evolution in print is called “decoration”

Advertising marketing@densitymedia.com Administration Manuela Spatola - manuela@densitymedia.com Graphics Genuine Roman Art - info@genuineromanart.com Printing Unigrafica srl - www.unigrafica.it Print run 2,500 copies

Industrial Dots is printed using green electric power, originating solely from renewable sources.

One copy: € 20.00 Back issues: € 35.00 3 issue subscription: € 54.00 3 issue subscription abroad: € 75.00 Subscription department subscriptions@densitymedia.com

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D

on’t call it printing, for goodness sake. Or at least not in those industries where printing an image or a pattern on a surface has little or nothing to do with Gutenberg’s ancient art. It may be stating the obvious, but it’s a mental shift that many professionals - above all many that produce hardware, software and chemical technology for the graphic design industry - have yet to manage. And for this writer too, rooted in those sectors that use printing in communications and packaging, it’s not always easy to change one’s way of thinking, to see an “inkjet printer” (because that’s what it is) as a “digital decoration system.” Or “ink” as a “colourant”, or sometimes as something more complex. Yet it’s an essential exercise that even the editorial team at Industrial Dots now has to do on a daily basis. To fully immerse oneself in the industries that

are soaking up the technology, but also to be accepted by the members of longestablished and specialist communities, like ceramics, glass and wood. Our team attends trade shows, such as glasstec and Tecnargilla, primarily to understand the requirements and learn the terminology of rapidly changing industries; but the greatest satisfaction lies in first perceiving, then clearly observing, and finally seeing the numbers confirm that the industries creating products for the wider public are generating and stimulating an explosive demand and driving extreme developments in technology, even more so than traditional printing businesses. Inkjet technology, specifically, thanks to decorative applications, is making huge strides and is becoming more competitive across the board. Including in those sectors where “printing” is still, and will continue to be, the key theme.

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Tutti i diritti sono riservati. Notizie e articoli possono essere riprodotti solo con l’autorizzazione dell’Editore e in ogni caso ci-tando la fonte. Manoscritti, disegni, foto e altri materiali inviati in redazione, anche se non pubblicati, non verranno, in nessun caso, restituiti. In particolare l’invio di articoli implica, da parte dell’autore, l’accettazione (in caso di pubblicazione) di un compenso puramente simbolico stabilito dall’Editore, salvo accordi preventivi sottoscritti e comunicati a mezzo R.R. Gli articoli firmati impegnano esclusivamente gli autori. Dati, caratteristiche e marchi sono generalmente indicati dalle Case Fornitrici (rispettivi proprietari); non sono comunque tassativi e possono essere soggetti a rettifiche in qualunque momento.

Informativa ai sensi dell’art. 13, d. lgs 196/2003 I dati sono trattati, con modalità anche informatiche, per l’invio della rivista e per svolgere le attività a ciò connesse. Titolare del trattamento è: Density srl - via Carlo Torre, 29 - Milano (MI). Le categorie di soggetti incaricati del trattamento dei dati per le finalità suddette sono gli addetti alla registrazione, modifica, elaborazione dati e loro stampa, al confezionamento e spedizione delle riviste, al call center, alla gestione amministrativa e contabile. Ai sensi dell’art. 7, d. lgs 196/2003 è possibile esercitare i relativi diritti fra cui consultare, modificare, aggiornare o cancellare i dati, nonché richiedere elenco completo e aggiornato dei responsabili, rivolgendosi al titolare al succitato indirizzo.

Spedizione in abbonamento a titolo oneroso Il ricevimento di questa rivista avviene a titolo oneroso secondo il tipo di abbonamento sottoscritto o tacitamente accettato. Chiunque desiderasse sospendere tale abbonamento ne avrà piena facoltà, senza alcun costo e basterà darne comunicazione scritta all’ufficio abbonamenti.

LIST OF ADVERTISERS Agfa

p. 44

INX Digital Italy

p. 3

Caldera

p. 17

KUEI

p. 9

Cefla / JetSet

p. 2

Metis

p. 33

DEV Studio

p. 4

MuchColours

p. 43

Global Inkjet Systems

p. 42

Valiani

p. 25

IMI Europe

p. 37

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inNews

Phoseon: UV LED curing now with FireEdge The first company to use LED technology for curing, Phoseon launches at InPrint the new FireEdge FE400 solution, able to handle both full-cure and pinning applications. Available in multiple curing length sizes (80, 120, 160, 180 and 240 x10 mm) and air-cooled, FireEdge uses its proprietary TargetCure technology for precise and stable curing.

Several modules can thus be combined for handling applications of all sizes, partly thanks to the built-in intensity control of the light sources, adjustable to requirements. www.phoseon.com

Large, end-to-end, inkjet: that’s the Hymmen plant Specialised in industrial inkjet production lines – with 32 installations of its single-pass Jupiter system – Hymmen is ready for InPrint with a booth packed full of applications created using its 7 different inkjet decorator models. From roll-to-roll to rigid materials, the Jupiter range (above, the JPT WS for edge banding) is designed for decorating flooring and furnishings, with a printing width of 230 to 2100 mm, 5 standard colour channels (CMYK + W) and the option of spot colours, a maximum speed of 50 m/min and a resolution of 1000 dpi. www.hymmen.com

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MuchColours launches NanoLux: the ink that can become invisible One of industry’s most visionary and original manufacturers, MuchColours combines its Practika and K86 (see below) flatbed printers with a global mindset, the production of environmentally-friendly inks, and the winning idea to create, alongside its manufacturing, a genuine European University of Design, which welcomes around 300 students annually.

NanoInks are hydro-alcoholic colourants containing resins that polymerise when subjected to heat. The main advantages include the ability to decorate any kind of material (metal, glass, wood, stone, plastics and leather) without the use of chemical solvents, but rather exploiting

the physical properties of the substrates.

Developed by MuchColours’ R&D department, these chemistry is used in all its solutions and, at glasstec 2016, was implemented by the new NanoLux ink, used with the versatile K86 for the first time. A chemistry designed for transparent materials such as glass, it reveals its colours only if exposed to LED light at a specific frequency – 405 nm – otherwise the images are transparent. Available in Red, Green, Blue and White, NanoLux are designed for various applications, including signage, POS materials for large retailers and interior design. www.muchcolours.com

inNews

DEVstudio, tailored industrial software

Record numbers at the third TheIJC event, organised by ESMA The third edition of TheIJC was held in Düsseldorf 5-6 October 2016, organised by ESMA with the support of enabling partner drupa, and main sponsor MS Printing Solutions. The numbers confirm the event’s success: over 400 attending from 131 companies (53 for the first time), 52 technical presentations split into 2 parallel sessions, high-level networking opportunities (with a dedicated area), 6 workshops, and 1 event app offering information, and from where attendees could ask the speakers questions and vote in the Best Speaker Award. For the record, the winners were Paddy O’Hara of Industrial

Inkjet, Angus Condie of Xaar, Debbie Thorp of Global Inkjet Systems and Nick Campbell of Inca Digital: proof of the importance of the “Cambridge cluster” – given the origin of the companies – in the inkjet sector. The speeches ranged from the state of the industry to the state-of-the-art of every key aspect of the inkjet sector: inks, substrates, LED lamps, software, colour management and printheads. The next event is scheduled for 24-25 October 2017, again in Düsseldorf, for the fourth TheIJC: ESMA is already working on it. www.esma.com – www.theijc.com

The Italian software company expert in colour and print management has become highly skilled and experienced in hyper-specialist sectors such as ceramics and textiles, finding its vocation in tailored consultancy. The latest outcome of this research is Power Profiler Multichannel, for creating multi-channel profiles: part of a suite for industrial applications that includes RIP software, tools for processing and analysing measurements and for aligning different printing devices, it interfaces directly with industrial-scale instruments. www.devstudio.it

A new hyper-spectral scanner by ColourService

Cefla Live: the market leader in finishing embraces its partners and celebrates its inkjet debut The seventh Cefla Live, held 12-14 October 2016, was an important opportunity for Cefla Finishing to meet with the approximately 300 partner companies operating in industrial finishing and decoration, including the newly acquired Jet-Set. The event’s experimental and experiential feel is one of its hallmarks, as Managing Director of Cefla Finishing, Alberto Maestri, highlighted:

“During the Live event we give a genuine world preview, often showcasing to customers technologies under development. A bold approach perhaps, but it helps us to define whether a technology is reliable, if it has a sense to it and if it’s responding to a real need. It’s what we’ve always done, and today we’re doing it in inkjet.” www.ceflafinishinggroup.com

The Smaltochimica group company has developed, together with the University of Parma, a hyper-spectral scanner for capturing precise graphic and colorimetric indications in the arts.

Now it is also used in the ceramics industry, and can be integrated with Colour Profiler software, with a 3D HEAD that detects the structure of the object and a RGB HEAD that captures the graphics file directly. It allows the best print file to be processed in relation to production line and inks, so as to ensure a perfect colorimetric consistency over time. www.colourservice.net

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inNews

Not just Haptink: KUEI grows, combining its bestselling ink with the production of on-demand and customised chemistries One year after the success of InPrint 2015, KUEI’s popularity continues to grow. The significant impact on the market of Haptink inks for digital embossing – both single and multipass – has allowed the company to grow, further increasing its investment in R&D. KUEI is thus increasingly being perceived by customers as a real solution maker,

able to produce ink chemistries on-demand, customised according to specific requirements. Clearly, home decoration is where most of KUEI’s business is focused. Important customers include Skantrae from the Netherlands, which uses Haptink for single-pass door decoration, and Jomsons from India, that combines single-pass door decoration with

that of PVC wall coverings. Its ability to produce ad hoc high performance chemistries has allowed the company to even break into varied and highly vertical sectors – such as automotive – for which it successfully produces chemistries able to stick effectively even to extremely challenging substrates. www.kuei.it

Inca Genius: ideas become reality thanks to industrial inkjet printing

IMI Europe, 5 high-level training and networking events

A division of Inca producing industrial technologies and applications, Inca Genius shows visitors at InPrint the potential of waterbased and UVcurable inkjet solutions, for purely industrial use, for the decoration of a multitude of furnishings, including parts for kitchens, as well as components such as membrane switches, and common objects such as drinks cans. Together with leading ink manufacturers and developers of printheads and software RIP, Inca Genius can offer the considerable expertise of its team of engineers, developers and designers that make Inca the ideal partner for developing complex industrial inkjet projects. www.incadigital.com

2016 is not yet over for IMI Europe. It still has two prestigious events in store for us: Digital Print Europe 2016 (28 November-1 December, Amsterdam), which will include both the Digital Printing Conference 2016 and the Inkjet Academy, and Digital Print Japan 2016 (13-14 December 2016, Tokyo) which will be a chance to attend the WTiN Digital Textile Conference and the IT Strategies Executive Conference. Regarding 2017, have your calendar ready for the Inkjet Winter Workshop (23-27 January, Barcelona), Inkjet Engineering Conference and Inkjet Ink Development Conference (14-16 March, Lausanne), and for the annual Inkjet Summer School (12-16 June, Ghent). www.imieurope.com

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HAPTINKâ„¢

the digital-embossing solution

www.haptink.com

inShows

INKJET A KEY PLAYER IN THE FUTURE OF GLASS DECORATION An increasingly diversified market is seeing a growth in demand for customisation and just-in-time manufacturing, encouraging the adoption of digital decoration systems that look set to reinvent the glass industry

BY DENSITY EDITORIAL TEAM | EDITORS@DENSITYMEDIA.COM

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ven within the macrocosm of industry, the greatest revolutions still need the insight of visionaries. Pioneers go beyond known techniques, adopting technologies and procedures able to innovate even in sectors now considered mature and not always open to innovation. This is the tendency that emerged at glasstec, which marks a decisive change of gear for a market that, after several recent attempts, seems to have found in inkjet printing a functional tool

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able to work alongside – if not replace – analogue glass decoration technologies. The ink chemistries and inkjet print engines used by manufacturers have shown great progress both qualitatively and in terms of the physical and mechanical properties of the finished products. Nevertheless, a major step forward has also been made thanks to the determination to integrate inkjet decoration platforms into real smart factories, optimising the transport of material, the software and the pre

and post-treatment techniques. Manufacturers such as Durst, Dip-Tech and System have once again demonstrated highly advanced and scalable systems that can also compete on medium quantities. But strong signs of innovation have also come from small integrators, such as Italian companies MuchColours, Ghelco and SmartColor, focusing on high-end manufacturing and high added value, designed for a hyper-vertical market searching for digital solutions.

inShows

Dip-Tech, or the history of digital decoration on glass Israel is well known for its high level of talent in the digital printing industry, where some of the most innovative companies of the past thirty years were founded. Leaders like Scitex and Indigo, and the more recent Landa which still has great things in store for us. Conceived by a group of

inventors, Dip-Tech was founded over 10 years ago with the aim of innovating glass decoration with a range of inkjet printers and special inks. Experience counts, and at glasstec we saw three brand-new machines in action, designed for three different market segments: the superfast NEra

V for the automotive industry, NEra D designed for use in architecture, and GPi, which combines high quality and outstanding production with an attractive price. Dip-Tech has gained a market leading position not only through its patents (now 17), but also by strengthening its brand with excel-

lent services and customer care, as well as offering sales and marketing tools able to support its customers in growing their business. As well as this year’s launch of a double catalogue of patterns and possible applications for decorators and end-users. www.dip-tech.com

Tecglass celebrates the merger with Fenzi Group, new products and patents Now part of the Fenzi Group as of this year, Spanish company Tecglass demonstrated in Düsseldorf the versatility of its technology with three machines: two flatbed printers, the VITRO-JET F TYPE and D TYPE, and a new single pass compact printer, for which a patent application has been

filed. For the trade show, all three were fitted with print heads able to supply large amounts of ceramic ink, making multiple passes unnecessary to ensure good coverage and doubling the speeds of previous models.

The VITRO-JET F TYPE, designed for large volumes, has a new feature in

light of its use in the automotive sector (the Patented Fast Frame Printing Tool – FFPT), for printing on the border of a glass plate by moving the carriage along the edge in the X and Y axes, thus optimising handling and printing times. Seen for the first time at the trade show was the single pass

VITRO-JET F TYPE SP, designed for the automotive and home appliance sectors. It combines high productivity (4 seconds to decorate a 800x800 mm sheet) and compactness: only 5x1.2 meters, including loading, positioning, printing and unloading. www.tecglassdigital.com

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inShows 500 D is an inkjet printing genius by Thieme, not just for printing on glass The German manufacturer demonstrated the versatile 500 D platform together with Sun Chemical’s new sol-gel inks for digital printing on glass, debuted during glasstec on Thieme’s inkjet printer (CMYK and White available). This

industrial flatbed printer has an adjustable vacuum printing table of 400x600 mm and can be fitted with up to 7 colour channels, each with a Konica Minolta 1024 M head with a 360 dpi native resolution and 8-bit greyscale. The fixed

printing-engine architecture allows the ink chemistry to be rapidly changed, making the printer a real laboratory able to test various combinations of printheads, inks and substrates. Particularly suitable for prototyping and standalone small

runs, the 500 D prints on glass, wood, composites, metals and plastics up to a maximum thickness of 55 mm. Equipped with one or two UV lamps for curing, it can achieve a maximum output of 60 m²/h. www.thieme.eu

The Rho Vetrocer from Durst takes digital decoration to an industrial level Rho Vetrocer has packed all of Durst’s technology and experience into a high performance inkjet platform. It uses highly resistant inorganic pigment inks and a sheet transport system based on the use of suction cups, with a magnetically driven carriage for maximum precision. It is

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available in three formats, with a print width of 1600, 2500 or 3300 mm, and allows up to 6x2167 mm transport modules to be combined, for a maximum length of 12 metres. The Quadro Array printheads, developed

by Durst, an Italian company, have a maximum resolution of 800 dpi and a

proprietary variable droplet system – Variodrop. Designed to operate 24/7, Rho Vetrocer can perform high-precision processing, such as multilayer dual-vision. Vetrocer is designed for both standalone production and integration into automated production lines thanks to its feeding and

stacking systems, with optional pre-printing washing systems and post-printing drying systems. Available in Basic, Presto and HS models, with the number of print heads variable from 6 to 24, it can achieve a maximum productivity of 120 m²/h. www.durst.it

inShows System brings innovation and industrial automation into the glass industry The giant from Modena, specialising in manufacturing automation systems for the ceramics industry, is exploring new markets. We met them in Düsseldorf among the big names in glass, along with partners Studio 1 Automazioni Industriali, another company from Emilia that specialises in machinery and systems for ceramics and glass. The big news at glasstec was the prototype of a high productivity single-pass digital printing system, which exploits the great expertise developed

by System in ceramic inkjet decoration and has an innovative approach to printing with temperable ceramics colours on flat glass. Thanks

to the patented Creavision image scanning and self-centring system, the machine exhibited at glasstec can decorate the same glass plate in several stages, obtaining similar coverage levels for both the architectural and automotive sectors.

Creavision also responds to another important need from the sector – to keep the surface of the glass sheet absolutely clean during its movement inside the printer. This is because the image can be perfectly aligned on the substrate without mechanical or human intervention, thus limiting contact with the lower surface of the sheet. www.system-group.it

SmartColor never ceases to amaze, and demonstrates its potential in glass decoration SmartColor exhibited two very versatile solutions at its booth, based on Roland printing technology, for the inkjet decoration of glass objects and plates: SmartFlat – a flatbed – and SmartBelt – equipped with a conveyor belt. Both are able to feed substrates with thicknesses of up to 500 mm and can manage 5 or 6 colour channels, adding white and varnish to the four-colour process, with a UV LED curing system and a maximum productivity of 53 m²/h. If both use a 1600 mm

print width, the flatbed model can decorate glass sheets up to 4 metres long, or greater upon request.

The work table, made by the Italian company entirely in aluminium, is extremely solid and fitted with a vacuum pump system optimised for handling glass. Thanks to the electronic reversal of the air flow, as well as securing the material to the table during the printing stage, its movement can be handled easily even with very heavy plates. www.smartcolor.it

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inShows Valjet 1600 R H20 – a waterbased inkjet printer that gives a nod to design One of Italy’s digital printing pioneers, Ghelco is again causing a stir with the Valjet 1600 R H2O, an inkjet printer equipped with conveyor belt and able to feed materials of up to 1600x6000 mm and with a maximum thickness of 100 mm.

Valjet is designed to decorate modules for high-end interior design, on materials such as glass, wood and metals. With a maximum resolution of 720x1440 dpi, the printer can handle up to 6 colour channels (CMYK, White and Transparent) and uses water-based inks, together with a heating system for pre-print and post-print materials, along with IR curing. Optimised after years of

research and testing, the ink chemistries are developed by Ghelco itself, and have a certified outdoor resistance of up to 4,000 hours of UV exposure without undergoing colour decay. The feed table has spheres that rotate 360° to assist the handling and positioning of the glass sheets during printing, up to a maximum weight of 200 Kg. At the end of the printing phase, sheets are taken up by an unloading system that uses rubber rollers, able to handle even the most delicate substrates, such as glass; it can be used both as a standalone platform and integrated into a production line. www.ghelco.it

KBA-KAMMANN K15 CNC series, the direct-to-glass modular inkjet printer KBA-DIGITAL is increasingly convinced that digital printing complements traditional printing. While faithful to its analogue roots – since the 50s, it has been one of the pioneers of the direct silk-screen decoration of glass and plastic medical and pharmaceutical packaging – it

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also brought an inkjet decoration system to glasstec with series K15 CNC, UV-curable organic inks. Just one example of the German company’s ability to produce high-end customised machines according to customer requirements. While the structure is unchanged, consisting of a plate-

loading system and a robust circular structure, there have been changes to the stations (12, 15, 16 or 18) that perform various operations, not necessarily digital. There is the option, for example, of a screen printing module for creating backlayers, or a module for hot foil printing. The version for

decorating glass – there is also one for decorating plastics – supports up to 10 colour stations. One innovation presented at glasstec was a newly designed system that reads any type of mark on the bottom of the item, so as to align it accurately. www.kba-kammann.com

inShows Machines Dubuit 9250: here is the inkjet printer for “direct-to-packaging” decoration Machines Dubuit, part of the Dubuit Group, is a well-established French manufacturer with a long experience in screen printing. For almost ten years, the company has focused intensively on digital decoration, and at glasstec it presented the 9250, a versatile inkjet printer

for decorating cylindrical, conical or parallelepipedal containers. Glass printing is used for decorating perfume bottles, but the 9250 is also designed for decorating all types of plastic cylindrical containers, such as those used for cosmetics.

Built entirely by Machines Dubuit,

it is fully configurable according to the customers’ needs, from colour channels (CMYK, white and varnish for the trade show) to integration on existing production lines. The print heads are 6-picolitre Konica Minolta KM 1024, with a native resolution of 360 dpi and 8-bit greyscale, and

a UV or UV-LED curing system with pinning stations and final drying module. Able to feed containers of a maximum diameter of 140 mm, it can achieve productivity levels of 200 or 400 units per minute (glass or plastic respectively). www.machinesdubuit.com

Fermac’s inkjet printer – an Italian innovation in hollow glass decoration Fermac, based in Parma, is certainly not unknown in glass decoration.

After thirty years of experience in the manufacturing of automatic and semi-automatic high-precision machines for the silk-screen decoration of hollow glass, it has used its expertise to create JET ART, the first fully digital rotary machine.

Expectations are high in a rapidly expanding sector such as this, and Fermac has made use of its highest-level partnerships, such as that with the German ink manufacturer Mankievicz: the new machine uses CYCONJET liquid organic inks for direct-to-glass printing. JET ART has a radial structure, in which 12

stations (2 stations for white and 4 for CMYK, which mount Konica Minolta heads) take care of all printing, coating, pinning and UV curing – both operated by Phoseon Technology UV LED lamps – as well as the automatic loading and unloading of objects. All hardware and software is proprietary, including the sophisticated system for moving heads, and is designed to obtain accurate results even on curved surfaces. JET ART can print images up to a maximum height of 210 mm, thanks to an invisible “stitch” obtained by shifting the printheads horizontally. www.fermac.it

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inShows

Marabu’s hybrid solutions overcome the rivalry between digital and screen printing Among the main obstacles encountered by inkjet printing in glass decoration is the problem of the ink’s adhesion to the substrate as well as working on non-level surfaces. Marabu, long-standing manufacturer of ink chemistries for traditional and digital printing on various materials, has grappled with this challenge

and, at glasstec, demonstrated its inkjet inks for both direct singlepass printing on objects and for multi-pass flatbed printing. In both cases, it uses UV-curable organic chemstries, which are then deposited on the glass surface and do not require tempering, but special primers or coatings can enhance their

adhesion and resistance. Marabu has in fact made use of liquids from the MaraShield range also to develop this type of chemistry, which can be used both as primers and as protective finishers. Marabu’s cross-sector experience has led the manufacturer to offer a hybrid solution designed for touch screens,

exploiting the advantages of the various technologies: digital for welldefined images, and screen-printing for large homogeneous surfaces, saving ink. In this specific application, we are dealing with an opaque white layer behind the image, which brings out the colours. www.marabu-inks.com

needs. In printing and digital decoration (glass, but also ceramics, paper and many other media), quartz glass is used to produce lamps for the pinning and curing stages. This makes Helios Quartz a partner with some of the leading manufacturers of printing and decoration machines looking for

customised, quality solutions, both in the West and in Asia. At glasstec, it exhibited IR modules up to 6,500 mm long (left), ready to install both in new plants and existing production lines. The modules are fitted with cooling, control and temperature regulation systems. www.heliosquartz.com

70 years’ experience in quartz processing: Helios Quartz brings Italian excellence to UV lamps Small but globalised, Helios Quartz is one of the groups exporting Italian excellence to the world.

Founded in 1939 and now in its third generation, the company has successfully used its expertise in processing quartz – transparent to ultraviolet and infrared radiation, it has applications in many sectors – by adapting to market demands

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while maintaining its own brand.

The company manufactures at its own sites in Italy and Switzerland, and sells its products around the world – thanks to a sales network in the USA, China, Turkey and Hong Kong. It produces UV and IR lamps in high-end quartz glass, but mostly designs customised solutions based on customer

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inPeople His engineering skills and ability to manage processes and push people to “be concise” have brought him to lead the finishing division at Cefla, a giant with 1,900 employees, 26 sites and 55,000 customers worldwide, now focusing on inkjet decoration

ALBERTO

MAESTRI

BY LORENZO VILLA | LORENZO@DENSITYMEDIA.COM

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inPeople

WOOD AND FINISHING IN ITS DNA The Cefla brand is known to the “general” public for its undisputed leadership in the design and manufacture of finishing systems, particularly for the wood industry. From there it has gained experience in many sectors, including plastic and print finishing, which led Cefla Finishing to develop the theme of decoration

Let’s talk about you and your ties with this industry...

After graduating in mechanical engineering, I moved into the sector of wood-processing machinery, going on to manage the foreign sales and services branch of a major Italian group.

My career at Cefla began 4 years ago, first as sales manager and then, in January 2015, as MD of the Finishing business unit. I can’t therefore consider myself a veteran, neither at Cefla nor in inkjet technology, where acquiring expertise takes time and a great deal of experience in the field. But I believe I have a highly-skilled team on my side, which, if listened to and pushed to be concise, can win through.

How did your interest in inkjet technology begin?

My personal approach to digital printing began and developed here at Cefla. Actually, as far back as 2011, before my arrival, the company had understood the potential of inkjet printing and offered digital decoration systems as ad-

ditional solutions. An addition, in fact, in line with Cefla’s approach, and it has a long history of partnerships, later going on to become joint ventures. Ours is a company that offers solutions, whose strength remains its proprietary technologies conceived, developed and created in-house – that’s true – but Cefla is also an engineering company, able to offer turnkey solutions and to coordinate and handle third-party technologies.

What characteristics differentiate Cefla’s approach to its customers?

First of all, great flexibility and a willingness to work with the customer to find solutions. Often we formulate proposals, and willingly, but even more than that, we listen. And then, together with the customer, we develop a solution, offering our expertise. With over 70 years’ experience, Cefla Finishing has perhaps a longer history than any other company in the finishing sector, and without doubt has the most complete product range. As well as commercial branches in North America, China, Middle East, Europe, Russia and

India – to name but a few – we also have local production facilities. In China, for example, we manufacture for the Chinese market, while our two factories in Germany produce finishing and profile wrapping systems for the global market.

In the US, on the other hand, we produce a specialized finishing product. That makes us a small multinational company.

Does each factory produce its own individual product or is there some overlap?

The only overlap is in China, where we produce a part of our range for the Chinese market, with some local customizations. The Chinese market is highly demanding and developed, where local production is supplemented with that from Europe.

Have you thought of the Far East as an offshoring market?

On the contrary. For Cefla, China represents genuine localization. We manufacture some of our best-selling products there, benefiting from local

PRODUCT EXCELLENCE, FOCUSED ON SOLUTIONS That’s Cefla’s formula. A company that focuses on innovation and technological excellence, but that knows how to successfully coordinate and integrate third-party products in terms of solutions

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inPeople

WITH JETSET, INKJET BY CEFLA IS NOW PROPRIETARY JetSet’s technologies, subject of the recent merger, were among the highlights at Cefla Days 2016. Left: Sergio Ferrari, founder of JetSet between ColorGATE’s Andrea Panizzut and JetSet’s engineer Diego Baggi

“When Cefla takes a new direction and accepts a challenge, it’s because the whole company was on board from the start. The whole company is involved from the outset” production and covering a local customer base that is now truly vast.

Is this tailor-made, consultative approach recognized by the market?

I think it is, and it’s because of the critical mass that we’ve reached, to the point of being recognized as global leaders. We estimate that Cefla’s market share has exceeded 30%, putting us in a position to deliver both industrial machinery and components for more standardized and uniform systems, as well as extreme customizations designed around the customer’s specific process. For that reason, we don’t shy away from requests from sectors that are totally new and unexplored. Cefla is a company with two souls, one industrial and one sartorial. In fact, we produce the machines that make up a system, but what the customer sees is a solution. The degree of customization is modular, and can go from zero to a hundred.

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A difficult combination to pull off...

Absolutely. It’s a balance that must be maintained through an internal organization that rises to the challenge every day. Managing it well means a high level of communication and sharing across all company departments. When Cefla takes a new direction, and accepts a challenge, it’s because the whole company was on board from the start. The whole company is involved from the outset.

Going digital ranges from prototyping to medium and large quantities. How does Cefla interpret these requests in the sectors where it operates?

Cefla applies a consolidated business model to different sectors. While it may be true that our core business is closely linked to the wood industry, we have always invested in all those industries where finishing plays a key role, espe-

cially since the crisis highlighted the danger of focusing on a single sector. Here, however, we have set ourselves an ambitious goal: to become leaders not just in finishing, but in decoration as a whole. And digital technology, especially inkjet, is as decorative as it gets. We’re talking about a technology that it would be reductive to describe as complementary. Analogue already allows effects and patterns to be created, but digital is a fresh and enabling technology. That’s why we’ve been investing in partnerships for years, and why we realized that, to implement our business model successfully, we needed a digital partner with a similar approach to our own; and that we found in JetSet. That’s what I used to think. And now, working together, I’m even more convinced of the benefits of this partnership. The strength of Cefla and JetSet together is our ability to offer a process solution to a myriad of sectors.

inPeople

“It’s not always the big players leading the revolutions, on the contrary, sometimes they have to endure them, tolerate them, overwhelmed by the level of innovation coming from small and medium-sized businesses” Yet it’s difficult to give a clear answer to such diverse sectors...

That’s the challenge that, without feigning modesty, I don’t believe all companies are able to meet. Offering process solutions for decoration on wood, glass, fibre cement, plastic, metal – to name just a few – is not for everyone. Digital printing is a part of the process, which always involves preparing the substrate, decoration and protection. If Cefla has always been expert in the first and last step, with JetSet we are filling in the missing link in digital terms. JetSet, because of its nature, vision and business model, decided to do the same. To venture into all sectors. It’s not easy, but the goal is to serve those industrial sectors that are looking at digital and trying to understand if inkjet will be the disruptive technology, able to sweep away the competition and radically change production methods. Or if it will remain a high-end technology for specific processes, extreme customization, high quality and specific effects. Today, Cefla and JetSet offer solutions, without making it the absolute priority to create an industrial business boasting huge numbers, as happened with mixed success in other sectors.

We remain focused, open and flexible in creating solutions for customers for whom digital printing can play a role. We are aware that, for some sectors, digital printing will almost certainly be a

disruptive technology, while for others it won’t.

Do you see inkjet technology more as a tool to streamline traditional processes or a way to build new business models in the wake of mass customization?

The theme of customization is already important.

But turning it into an opportunity for everything and everyone is something else. It’s with that excuse that digital is entering all sectors, but I’m convinced it will only become disruptive in those markets where the benefits will be greatest in terms of production efficiency, reduced inventories and reduced time-to-market. Without forgetting that all this almost always makes sense if it meets the need for low production costs.

On that subject, the rapid analogueto-digital transition in many sectors has resulted in a sudden reduction in costs, sometimes equalling those for analogue. Is price the real driver?

In all sectors, various factors coexist to some extent. In all markets, there is always a high-end target, sensitive to customization, quality, distinctiveness and variety of materials, which are thus the typical drivers for digital printing. But it is equally clear that in any sector the most

BIOGRAPHY Alberto Maestri Managing Director at Cefla Finishing Alberto Maestri is the Managing Director of Cefla Finishing, a position he has held since January 2015. Born in 1973, Maestri graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bologna in 1999, with a thesis on innovative solutions in technology for the construction industry. Immediately after graduating, he accepted a technical position at a major

important slice of the market is one where the industrial aspects and product cost-effectiveness are decisive. Finally, I am sure that brand owners’ requirements and expectations will drive this transition. They are the trendsetters.

How can one help to educate and generate demand?

There are certainly conditions where the balance can be shifted, or even upset completely. And when there is demand from the customer, it must be met. But the key to this revolution is not just held by those who produce technology: it has often been a request from a customer that has changed the existing paradigm. I would add that it’s not always the big players leading the revolutions, on the contrary, sometimes they have to endure them, tolerate them, overwhelmed by the level of innovation coming from small and medium-sized businesses. That’s why Cefla’s approach involves constant and direct contact with the users of our technologies, which range from global aircraft manufacturers to small and medium producers of furniture and objects for architecture and construction. On a practical level, I’m convinced that within a few months we’ll have to invest ever more time and energy telling our customers about the enormous opportunities to be found in going digital.

international group that designs and manufactures machinery and systems for processing wood, glass, stone and composite materials. His time in the group enabled Maestri to gain an in-depth knowledge of all corporate areas, from technical, business and marketing right up to managing a branch in the United Kingdom, where he lived for 4 years.

Following that position, Alberto Maestri spent two years gaining experience in innovative technologies for the construction of earthquake-resistant buildings with a low environmental impact. In 2012, he joined Cefla as Sales & Marketing Director of the Cefla Finishing Business Unit, a position he held for three years before being appointed MD.

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inExperts

INDUSTRIAL INKJET INTEGRATION, NOT A SIMPLE TASK Most people tend to underestimate the many challenges and the key components involved in the integration of industrial inkjet solutions

BY TIM PHILLIPS | TIM@IMIEUROPE.COM

T

he first thing to understand about any solution development in digital printing is that a true solution includes all aspects of the technology that leads to a satisfactory printed result. It is not just a printer or an ink or any other subset of the whole. While the key components of a solution are the ink, the printheads that eject the ink towards the substrate, the motion system that moves the printheads and/or the substrate and finally, the substrate itself, even these components are only part of the story. All four of these key components need to work together as a seamless solution, which means understanding what makes each component work together: the behaviour of the ink on the surface; the details of the ejection of the ink from the printheads; and the hardware and software ensuring that the printheads and substrate are moved correctly; all need to be understood and controlled (Figure 1).

Solution development starts with defining the required output – how the printed result should appear (colour, sharpness, resolution etc. – parameters that make up the ‘print quality’) and how it should behave (the durability of the printed result under the conditions expected for its use). The solution is simply the process that takes the unprinted substrate and outputs printed substrate to the required quality. Everything else is just detail!

The importance of numbers The next degree of that detail is to define the parameters of the solution. Which substrates will the solution work for? How good does the quality need to be? How fast does it need to work? Under what conditions is it required to work? For how long does it need to work without intervention?

How large can it be/does it need to be? How much can it cost? Once the fundamentals have been defined, it is time to dig further into the details. The speed or productivity of the solution is a function of a number of variables including the printhead/ink drop ejection frequency (not the theoretical maximum of the printhead but the real frequency with the ink to be used), the total number of nozzles in the system, the required resolution, the capability

of the drying or curing system required and the limitations of the motion system amongst others. The ability of the system to deliver the required quality depends on the printhead nozzle positioning, alignment, jetting straightness, substrate handling and positioning and the motion system accuracy and consistency. Solution reliability depends on many things and could be the subject of an article in itself, but central to this is the interaction between the ink and the printhead in the nozzle.

Other issues can impact reliability but the solution will never be more reliable than the limit set by the ability of the printhead to eject drops of the ink time after time in a consistent manner. Finally cost needs to be defined: both the cost of developing and building the solution (comprising develop-

Wetting, drying, curing

Fluid control

Ink chemistry

Substrate

Printheads

Motion system

1. THE BIG CHALLENGE Success depends on the seamless integration of the different solution components 22 •

Encoder/products detect

Drive electronics, software

inExperts

2. TYPICAL INDUSTRIAL PRINTHEADS

ment time and materials costs) but also the cost of running it (ink cost and usage, productivity, consumption of other consumables, maintenance and spares, consumption of utilities such as electricity).

Variables to consider Another important aspect to handle is effectively the economics and politics of the development. Almost all developments take longer and cost more than expected, and even when this is understood the result still takes managers by surprise! So how over budget or late can you be before the project becomes unworkable? Will the requirement change during the development (it often does)?

Another consideration in solution development is in integrating the printing solution with other processes, which is particularly an issue for industrial printing applications where the final product is not just a printed substrate. When additional processes need to be considered either before or after the printing process, this adds factors that must be taken into account to ensure that the printed substrate meets the requirement for compatibility with prior and subsequent manufacturing steps. These issues are extremely dependent on the particular details of a manufacturing process, making it difficult to make generalities.

Key components As we have seen, the key to a successful integration project is to make sure all components of the solution work together as a whole. This makes it important to understand in more detail how the most important components contribute to the solution. One vital component is of course the printheads (Figure 2), and printhead selection is a highly important element of solution design. This in turn is strongly affected by ink choice (as some printheads are not designed for use with all inks), and affects in turn the mechanical design of the print carriage and its dimensions. The major factors in printhead performance are pumping rate, drop size, jetting quality (including jet straightness, mass and velocity uniformity), operating window and cost. Ultimately the printhead choice is a limiting factor in print quality, but choosing a high quality head is far from the only requirement. For most industrial applications the choice of technology is clear – piezo drop-on-demand printheads give the best compromise in speed, quality, robustness and range of ink types that can be used, and so are used in almost all applications of interest. Depending on the application, some printhead models dominate, for example in textiles where there has been a strong leader for high end printing systems

for many years, which is only just being challenged by new market entrants. Often ignored but highly significant in influencing the performance of a solution is the software that manages the different parts of the printing system and controls the supply of data to the printheads (Figure 3). The printer manager is key to ensuring the system is both powerful and easy to use, and can make all the different to a successful solution for mass adoption, especially in a non-specialist printing environment.

A good user interface allows easy access to the most important controls, while enabling more detailed changes to be made by qualified users.

Meanwhile the image pipeline is responsible for converting an input image file into the data that determines whether each nozzle fires (or doesn’t) as the substrate is being printed. This involves a number of steps including colour management (to ensure the printed colours are as expected), screening (to reproduce continuous tonal variations in the best possible way using a matrix of dots), and splitting (deciding which data to send to each printhead depending on the printer configuration).

In some cases, variable data printing also needs to be handled by mixing static and variable elements during the printing process. Also often dismissed as an unimportant item is the ink supply system

3. TYPICAL SOFTWARE COMPONENTS A schematic representation of typical digital printing software architecture

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inExperts that ensures the ink is delivered to the printheads.

While simple in principle, in practice this is often a source of problems that can be extremely difficult to track down. The ink supply (which includes ink reservoirs, pumps, filters, tubing and other components) has to maintain the correct ink temperature, pressure and flow rate under varying external conditions, while also avoiding particles and other contaminants reaching the printhead, and avoiding chemical interaction and other reliability problems.

It also needs to be easy to use and refill under factory conditions. Inks are complex chemical fluids with a wide range of possible constituents, including pigment particles, binder resins and a variety of solvents. This makes it very difficult to find materials for the parts of the ink system in contact with the ink that are guaranteed not to interact with that ink chemically. This interaction can lead to slow degradation issues that only manifest themselves over weeks or months, and are extremely difficult to diagnose. Inks containing particulates depend on chemical dispersion technology to create stable fluids, and this stability can be affected by chemical or physical changes within the ink system. The consequence of this is that a fluid that is stable under laboratory conditions can become unstable in the supply system and precipitate particles that then block the system filters and pumps.

Even a conceptually simple part like a length of tubing needs to be compatible chemically with the ink over at least a five year period, not allow diffusion of air into the ink and be flexible enough for the physical configuration of the pipe. Long pipe runs are notorious for allowing temperature drops that mean the ink temperature at the printhead is not optimum. Piping in scanning systems has to be carefully designed to avoid pressure fluctuations that lead to banding in the printed result.

Simplified maintenance as an enabler Maintenance design is often mistakenly left until after the main system is designed, and in response to problems that arise during print testing. This is of course too late, and is one of the factors that lead to overruns and budget increases. A properly designed system for maintaining the printhead nozzles in good working order is fundamental to most industrial systems, especially those with a large number of printheads, as manual maintenance becomes impractical at best and impossible at worst.

Nozzles become compromised due to satellite ink and misting collecting on the printhead faceplate, debris being trapped in non-printing nozzles, vibration leading to ink seepage, dust and fibres from the substrate and other contaminants from the printing environment, air bubbles either being drawn into the nozzle or in suspension in the ink, and ink changing properties in the nozzle due to drying or curing. All of these can cause jetting to be impeded or stopped altogether. The general principle of maintenance is to prevent nozzle failure rather than cure it after it has occurred, but both scenarios need to be accounted for. The four key techniques for nozzle maintenance are capping, purging, wiping and spitting. Capping involves physically protecting the nozzles when they are not being used, in order to prevent dirt and other contaminants reaching the nozzles and to prevent access of light (in the case of UV curable inks) and evaporation (in the case of solvent or aqueous inks). Purging is the pumping of ink through the printhead and nozzles by applying an increased pressure to the ink supply system (sometimes in combination with applying a vacuum to the nozzle plate). This is highly effective for removing air and contaminants from the system, at the cost of ink usage. Wiping is self-explanatory, using an external cleaning system to remove excess

ink and other debris from the nozzle plate, often after a purge cycle. Spitting is similar to a purge but uses the ejection of ink by the actuators to eject additional ink not used in printing. This is employed to refresh nozzles and mitigate drying problems with volatile inks, and is useful because it can be performed during printing (in some cases) and with minimal disruption of the production process.

Moving substrates is an issue The last component to be considered in this overview is motion – the movement of the substrate or printheads, or both, in order to scan the entire substrate and produce the printed result. There are a number of common configurations of printer depending on the substrate and the speed required.

In designing a robust industrial motion system for digital printing, no matter what the configuration, important criteria are the smoothness and consistency of motion, accuracy of positioning, handling of substrates to ensure dimensional stability during printing, and absence where possible of vibrations and resonances that lead to visible print artefacts.

There are a number of specific problems faced by motion system designers, as systematic errors in dot placement are highly visible to the human eye and generally undesirable. Motors inherently involve some stepping in their motion, and if this is not handled correctly it can lead to visible artefacts, especially when amplified by resonances in the mechanical structure of the printer. A combination of sound mechanical design and (in some cases) compensation for issues using software is required for optimum print quality. In summary, a successful solution integration for digital printing requires a good overview of the required goal, which should not be lost as the development process digs further and further into the details.

“Maintenance design is often mistakenly left until after the main system is designed” Tim Phillips Managing Director at IMI Europe Tim is Managing Director of IMI Europe with responsibility for commercial and operational management. Tim is also Founder & Director of Catenary Solutions, the technology marketing consultancy.

Tim has worked in the industrial inkjet industry since 2007 when he joined Xennia Technology (which was bought by Sensient

24 •

Imaging Technologies in 2015). Before that he worked in technical, marketing and sales roles in technology areas including liquid crystals, compound semiconductor devices and specialist materials. Tim has an MA Honours degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, a PhD in liquid crystal physics from the University of Bristol and an MBA from the University of Warwick. As well as a keen cyclist undertaking cycling challenges to raise money for charity, he creates electronic music and loves films, music and vinyl records.

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inShows

THE FUTURE OF CERAMICS DECORATION LOOKS PROMISING. WITH INKJET PRINTING Over the last decade, the ceramics industry has undergone a epochal revolution, and today is thriving more than ever. While inkjet printing is growing and Europe is focused on quality, China, Africa and Latin America will achieve high volumes

BY DENSITY EDITORIAL TEAM | EDITORS@DENSITYMEDIA.COM

T

he data is clear: in the ceramics industry things are going well.

ACIMAC presented a more than encouraging report during the International Conference held at Tecnargilla.

Here, the dynamism of the sector, now largely transformed into digital decoration, emerged. In 2015, world production of ceramic tiles contracted slightly compared to 2014 (-0.1%), but the trend is positive, especially in rapidly developing areas such as South America,

26 •

Africa and Asia, which are showing a 15/06 Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5%, 5.1% and 7.7% respectively. In a world dominated by Asian products (69.8%), the best European companies, with a decade-long tradition and, above all, thanks to state-of the-art technology, have earned second place in worldwide ceramics production (9.9%, or 14.5% if we include production in Eastern Europe). Here, Spain and Italy are in fifth and sixth place respectively in the world rankings

for ceramics manufacturers, after China, Brazil, India and Vietnam. The prospects for the future of European production, with a negative 15/06 CAGR, are apparently less encouraging than for outside Europe. In fact, this data should be read in the light of the significant investments in process innovation and automation by Western companies, which aim at high-quality production rather than large quantities, and retain 31.3% of exports (36.4% with Eastern Europe). Now, let’s explore ceramics inkjet decoration.

inShows System introduces the virtual factory and embraces Industry 4.0 System has selected five key themes to present its offering in its hall at Tecnargilla: Smart Manufacturing, Human-Machine Interface, Digital Industrial Design, Process Analysis and Interconnected Automated Solutions.

Based in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, the company is indeed an excellent example of “Manufacturing 4.0”: a new phase in industrial manufacturing involving ever closer interaction between production processes and IT. Firstly with Prime, a proprietary multifunction platform that manages every phase of the production process via an intuitive 3D interface, which becomes a

genuine virtual factory. Creavision, a powerful image self-regulating system, plays a leading role in inkjet decoration systems and is much used in the Creadigit lines, as well as in the more compact Crealab.

Creavision allows users to monitor a tile’s position when it enters the machine. The image can thus be lined up with the surface of the material to a tenth of a millimetre.

Other new products from System are Multipack and Multiflex, platforms that make packaging processes faster and more flexible thanks to a digital printing system that prints directly onto the tile packaging. www.system-group.it

Durst unveils the first 100% inkjet system for glazing and decorating Durst unveils the Gamma DG 4.0, the first inkjet solution for ceramics glazing. The new inkjet printing engine can apply both matt and gloss finish glaze with a precision and versatility until now impossible with analogue solutions. With 1000 mm or 1400 mm printing widths, the Gamma DG (Digital Glaze) uses printheads specifically designed

and created by Durst, able to apply waterbased glaze containing largesize pigments, depositing up to 1000 g/m² of glaze at a top speed of 30 linear metres per minute.

Durst is proud to be able to provide a fully digital production line thanks to the Gamma DG for the glazing phase, and the Gamma XD 4.0 for the decorating phase. The latter is

equipped with a patented system for extracting the colour bars on both sides. Durst’s integrated digital line, the first installation of which is planned for early 2017, has been designed to work 24/7, with just one operator. The printing-bar automatic lifting system is one of the Gamma DG’s many safety solutions. The system is activated when it detects

an anomalous thickness, caused by defective tiles or overlapping substrates: if the system detects an incongruity, it raises the print bars to allow the object to pass safely through and, immediately after, returns to the normal printing position, with no break in production. The product’s final effect is truly impressive. www.durst.it

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inShows Sacmi breaks down dry decoration barriers with digital Sacmi presents the new Digidrawer DGD245 for digital dry decoration with spray-dried coloured powders, discharged through the special DGD head system in the printer cavity: so, for the first time, digitally replicable three-colour decorations can be created. DGD245 joins the DHD wet decoration system and the DDG system for digital dry ap-

plication on the glazing line. The latter technology is already present in various production lines, in the DDD (Digital Dry Decoration) version and the CONTINUA+ single-pass system. Capable of handling almost infinitely long decorations, with a maximum width of 1600 mm and up to 20 mm thick, the model displayed at the trade

EFI Cretaprint unveils the new D4: 12 colour channels and infinite application possibilities EFI Cretaprint exhibited new digital ceramic printing solutions in Rimini, including the new D4, a single-pass printer with a 710-mm printing width able to decorate two tiles simultaneously, even with different sizes and designs, and thicknesses of 3-30 mm. It has 12 configurable colour channels, based on a print bar fitted with Seiko RC1536 heads with a native resolution of 360 dpi.

Thanks to 8 variable droplet levels – from 13 to 98 pl – the D4 combines versatility and productivity, laying down up to 45 g/m² of ceramic inkjet inks at a speed of 25 linear metres per minute. A performance that, combined with solutions such as the vacuum system and automatic printhead cleaning function (technologies also found in the C4 series), make it suitable

28 •

for around the clock productions.

M4SOL, on the other hand, is for high-performance technical porcelain decoration, and uses oil based soluble-salt inks – laid down with Toshiba TEC CF1 print heads – that deeply penetrate the ceramic material, offering an extensive colour range and high image definition for a product that, after the final firing, is extremely resistant to wear and corrosion. The versatile C4 was also on display at the booth, with the new 720 dpi Xaar 2001 printheads, which extend the application possibilities. Finally, there was the multipass H1625 with UV-curable inks and printing width of 1600 mm, able to make on-demand customisations and decorations. www.efi.com/cretaprint

show comprised a dual loader for the APB powders, a DDD2000 dry decorating machine, PCR compactor, TPV cutting machine, MDX (X-ray density measurer) system for the real-time monitoring of plate density and thickness, DVS (Digital Vision System) for geometric image analysis, and a DHD1806 wet decorating machine with Dimatix

heads and E7P dryer, the final step before firing in the kiln. For ceramics decoration after the third firing, Sacmi presented the COLORSCAN multipass printer at Tecnargilla, which prints directly onto pre-fired ceramics or onto decal paper, to enable the decoration of concave surfaces. www.sacmi.it

inShows

KERAjet brings in-line grit and glaze, pushing the multi-printhead approach to the limit The Spanish company decided to amaze the discerning, extremely mature and digitized audience at Tecnargilla, by displaying a vast collection of ceramics applications developed in partnership with the major ink manufacturers. Their star machine was the KERAjet MASTER S7 K700, which

can mount 6 different printheads.

The feature is not merely technical wizardry, but seeks to meet the needs of a market that expects ever better performance from digital technology, not only in terms of productivity but also quality and creative potential. The specific configuration demonstrated at

Tecnargilla combined Xaar, Dimatix and Seiko heads with the new KERAjet K8 and K9. These decoration systems are the result of months of research and development and are entirely built at the plant in Almazora, Spain.

The K8 responds to the need to apply large amounts of glaze (up

to 4000 g/m²) at high speed and with three levels of greyscale, while the revolutionary K9 enables the application of solid materials, like grit and powders, spray dried with a maximum grain size of 350 microns, breaking through the former limits of the technology. www.kerajet.com

VivaJet and VivaJet MP, TecnoFerrari’s inkjet decoration is both single and multi pass VivaJet and VivaJet MP are TecnoFerrari’s inkjet decoration platforms for ceramic applications, and much more besides. VivaJet is a single-pass printer with a maximum printing width of 1400 mm, able to handle up to 8 colour channels. It can use Kyocera KJ4C-0360 printing heads or heads from

Xaar’s 1003 range – depending on the customers’ needs – reaching a top speed of 70 linear metres per minute, with extremely low maintenance and the ability to run 24/7. This was the first ever presentation of the new VivaJet MP, a multipass available with printing widths of 1200, 1600 or 2500

mm, for ceramic decoration with UV inks but also able to decorate glass, wood and metal, up to a maximum thickness of 200 mm.

The version exhibited is equipped with a vacuum conveyor belt but, depending on the customer’s needs, can also be configured with bands (for particularly heavy mate-

rials), or with a mobile table for the flatbed version. There are 6 colour channels (CMYK, white and transparent), and the MP can currently be configured with Xaar 1003 or 2001 printheads, although it will soon be possible to choose from a wider range of options. www.tecnoferrari.it

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inShows

The leaders in ceramics boost the new Xaar 2001 and 2001+ printheads The Xaar offering continues to grow, with the Tecnargilla debut of the 2001 and 2001+ series of inkjet heads on some of the major ceramic decoration inkjet systems. Such rapid adoption by some of the market’s leading manufacturers is a significant boost for the new printheads, which seem able to fill a gap in

the existing technology landscape.

Designed to efficiently handle particularly viscous liquids, such as oil-based ceramic inks, both the 2001 and the 2001+ offer Xaar’s now famous reliability and robustness, with the plus of 720 dpi resolution. The 2001+ version allows two different colours to be managed simultaneously, with the

resolution obviously halved. The 2001 is available in two versions: of these, the GS12C is an excellent compromise for those who don’t have specific needs, thanks to 8-bit greyscale that allows it to lay down droplets up to 84 pl and deposit up to 41g/m² of ink at a speed of 25 linear metres per minute. The 2001+ series, on the

other hand, offers three variants, with native droplet sizes of 6, 12 and 40 pl, aimed at promptly meeting the full range of quality requirements in industrial ceramic decoration, again using variable droplets and laying down as much as 78 g/m² of ink at a speed of 25 linear metres per minute. www.xaar.com

From art to industry, the 2D and 3D scanners from Cruse extend the application possibilities of inkjet Cruse brought two different solutions to Tecnargilla for capturing 2D and 3D images. The German company, with extensive experience in the capturing of documents and works of art, has created the Portal 2D + 3D primarily for capturing images from flat materials, such as fabrics, leather, wallpaper and documents, with maximum dimensions of 1800x2000 mm. The Synchron Table, on the other hand, is a scanner designed for the industrial sector and suited to handling heavy materials, available in 6 different configurations and able to perform scans of surfaces with maximum

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dimensions of 1500x2500 mm and up to 120 mm thick. From wood and stone, to paintings and works of art, of course, this device is able to capture both the 3D map and the colour image of the object, using a 2D camera with a resolution of between 250 and 1000 dpi, and an LED system that provides excellent illumination of the surfaces to be scanned. Both scanning systems use proprietary software, optimised for an extremely faithful reproduction of the object, and offer a wide range of customisations thanks to the many options available. www.crusescanner.com

inShows With Fingerprint and Rapid Spectro Cube, ColorGATE colour is unique Ceramic Productionserver is a suite developed by ColorGATE to assist ceramics professionals in colour management: from the design, on-screen evaluation and test-run on paper, to the final production and the faithful reprint of designs already realised, even on different decoration lines. Integration with Rapid Spectro Cube HD (RSC HD SP) was presented for the first time at Tecnargilla. RSC is a scanning and colorimetric measurement system with a high-resolution CCD made by Spanish company ColorinLab. The device is able to read more than 5,000 patches per minute, creating a small revolution in colour management, but

also simplifying all design, colour management and manufacturing operations. Indeed, this hardware and software package ensures accurate scans and colour tests, plus the ability to reprocess files with Adobe Photoshop, thanks to the RGB and CMYK profiles. It supports all print systems from 3 to 8 channels and offers interesting features such as the Ink Saver, designed to reduce ink consumption.

Other advantages include faithful reproduction of the decoration, even after some time, on different lines and using different inks and glazes, thanks to the patented Fingerprint technology. www.colorgate.com

Metis 3D scanners add a new dimension to ceramics production At its debut at Tecnargilla, Italian company Metis introduced its innovative technologies for capturing 2D and 3D images in the ceramics sector, after its outstanding success in the wood sector. Star of the event in Rimini was the bestselling DRS-2000-DCS, the industrial scanner able to handle materials of

up to 2000x1330 mm, and up to 500 mm thick, based on the exclusive DC-SynchroLight technology.

This is a patented system that enables separate capturing of the 3D map and the colour images at very high resolution of the captured materials, remaining two separate but perfectly superimposable ele-

ments, creating a single file that contains all possible combinations of light on the captured surface.

This feature of the Metis systems is particularly important in the ceramics sector, where the combination of the image, the visual perception and the tactile dimension of the material is a key factor.

To even better meet the needs of professionals in the industry, the Metis R&D team is also working to implement its Scan Director proprietary software into a new module fitted with features exclusively designed for ceramics, which will be released in the coming months. www.metis-group.com

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inShows Torrecid is a (stylish) leading figure in the ceramics digital revolution The Torrecid Group was founded over fifty years ago in Alcora, Castellón, the heart of the Spanish ceramics district. The company’s international expansion, which began in the 80s with the export of goods and services linked to the ceramics and glass industries (the opening of the first Italian branch dates back to 1989), shows no signs

of stopping, and the Group now has 35 companies in 26 countries.

One of the pioneers in the ceramics “digital revolution” in recent years, Torrecid chose to showcase its product and solution offering at a key trade show like Tecnargilla.

They encompass the entire supply chain – from ceramic-pigment inkjet ink chemistries (the INK-CID

range) to the finished products, which represent a particular vision for ceramics based on development and new trends (STYLE-CID). The products, techniques and innovative approaches give rise to a fully digital process, called “Full Digital”: glazes, inks creating texture, metallic effects (gold, platinum, etc.), gloss/matt contrasts, grit, including

on large-format tiles (1600x3200 mm) that are thin, light (4-5 mm thick) and flexible. Through continual research, both technological and aesthetic, Torrecid can claim to have “taken ceramics out of the bathroom and kitchen”, allowing it into the Olympus of luxury coating materials. www.torrecid.com

Personas & Tecnología is service and intelligence for the digital ceramics industry This Spanish company is the other side of the coin of digital ceramics decoration. Demonstrating – as it were – its now undisputed supremacy in the face of analogue, the company offers a series of accessories for printers, either functional or used for their maintenance and enhanced use. Let’s look at a few up close: spinINK keeps the inks in motion and the ceramic pigments in suspension, which otherwise tend to settle, and heats them to the perfect temperature for printing CLEANJECTOR automatically cleans up to 3 printheads at the same time, without damaging them: this

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is thanks to a system that recirculates (pressure and suction) the ink carriers normally used with those printheads. Special housings are available, different for each manufacturer, to correctly position the printheads in the machine. Finally, BACKTRACK, a solution conceived following the manufacturer’s “outside the box” thinking. It enables manufacturing information – required by law in certain markets, such as the US – to be printed directly onto the back of the tiles from the bottom upwards, thus avoiding having to turn them over. www.personasytecnologia.com

METIS HIGH QUALITY SCANNERS

The decisive turning point in 3D scanning of surfaces!

Innovation born from passion

The revolutionaries DC-Syncrolight and PM3D patented technologies with the sophisticated but user friendly software in METIS scanners are capable to satisfy the most challenging demands of DĂŠcor industries.

METIS scanners enable the capturing of extremely high quality color images from the material to be reproduced and faithfully detect the three dimensionality of the surfaces.

The faster scanners that detect 2D and 3D based on an exclusive combination of the best high definition photographic technology with a patented lighting system.

The only technology capable of acquiring RGB data, analyze 3D surface/embossing data and create real 3D depth-map. Color images and 3D depth map remain a two separate yet perfectly overlapping files.

One step ahead... always!

www.metis-digital.com - info@metis-digital.com

inExperts

INDUSTRIAL INKJET FOR DIRECT CONTAINER PRINTING: MORE THAN INK ON A CAN If packaging remains a huge, vital and innovative market, the printing processes involved are growing at all levels, especially when the output is completely digital

BY MARC GRAINDOURZE | MARC.GRAINDOURZE@AGFA.COM

UV inkjet printing is the ideal solution for printing ‘direct-to-shape’. It perfectly matches the trends and needs of the growing packaging market: shorter product cycles, customization & variation and less waste. Inkjet printing has become the major print technology for wide-format applications (posters, billboards etc.). In this segment UV inkjet is the fastest growing technology because it offers high-speed and reliable printing, as well as high image quality and high image durability (adhesion, scratch resistance, solvent resistance…). UV inkjet printing is, however, not limited to typical sign & display jobs. It is also suited for many other applications, where print is part of the product, e.g. a phone cover or an interior decoration panel. For these ‘industrial printing’ applications, both printing solutions

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based on wide-format printing (multi-pass printing) and printing solutions based on customized single-pass printing solutions are being used. The reach for industrial printing is growing everyday as new possibilities are being explored, tested and implemented.

Meeting the needs of the packaging market The packaging market is a growing business segment too, for obvious reasons. For their products to stand out on the shelves, brand owners attach more and more importance to attractive designs, product diversification and even seasonal variations. All this leads to shorter product cycles for almost the same product volumes. Also, packages need to contain lots

of consumer information these days (just think of nutritional tables or allergen information), which can be region or market-dependent.

Conventional printing is the most efficient method only when printing high volumes, as it requires extensive prepress work to create a master (print plate, flexo sleeve, gravure cylinder…), and thus comes with a considerable set-up time. Digital printing is not hampered by these constraints and is more suitable for shorter run lengths, mass customization and variations. The packaging world is a much segmented market, where a wide range of materials are used (glass, plastics (rigid or flexible), metal cans, laminates, foils, paper and board), in many different shapes (bottles, cans, tubes, pouches, bags, and many more). This requires a

inExperts just in time becomes possible. UV curing is very energy efficient and there are no VOCs released from the ink during the curing step. Last but not least, the brand owner and the consumer profit from digital printing through improved versioning, easy communication in different languages, health information and customization.

Direct container printing – the process Digital direct container printing with UV inkjet is based on customized single-pass print solutions (certainly when high output is needed for production printing), and the handling of the container shape is a crucial aspect. For constant image quality it is important to handle the surface in such a way that the throwing distance (distance between the printhead and the substrate) is constant and precise – preferably in the range of 1 to 4 mm.

The print process and ink formulation are tuned towards both jetting performance and functional requirements of the decoration on the container.

Often a pre-treatment is used on substrates which are difficult when it comes to ink wetting and/ or ink adhesion. Next to the shape and surface requirements, the ink is an extremely important component in the process as it offers color, quality and jettability. UV inkjet inks comprise the compounds that are needed for the photochemical reaction that is started by the exposure to UV light: monomers and photoinitiators. The photoinitiators form radicals when exposed to UV light. These radicals in turn start up the polymerization of the monomers. The UV ink derives its color from the pigment dispersion. Many additives are needed to achieve the required quality, including surfactants, in-can stabilizers, adhesion promotors, etc.

1 The print process from an ink perspective

2 UV inkjet ink formulation basic compounds

range of printing solutions that either print during a pre-step (e.g. printing on roll or sheets) before the packaging is finalized, or that print ‘direct-to-shape’ on the packaging in its final format. Direct-to-shape or direct container printing allows decorating at the last possible moment and results in significantly lower waste.

It is the ultimate solution for efficient packaging production if the printing machinery is precisely adapted to the container shape and if the ink is tuned both to the printing system and to the functional needs of the specific container. This is where UV inkjet printing enters the stage, offering a series of advantages. UV inks allow for printing directly on the container, without the need of a label or an ink-receiving layer or primer. Applications include direct printing on containers for the packaging of general nonfood related products, as well as for food and

beverage packaging. Both types of applications require a dedicated UV ink design though.

Saving time, money and the environment Direct container printing is a sustainable process as it invokes less production steps and dependencies: it avoids the production and transport of label material, while introducing build-to-order workflows, which reduce overproduction, warehousing, recycling or scrapping of overstock or waste of label material and printed labels. The digital printing process can be in-line or off-line, in or close to the packaging line or at a nearby partner. There is only a short set-up time as there is no need of a master. Run lengths can be fully variable taking into account the exact print amounts needed, thus eliminating waste–also because the first print is ready for use. Also printing

Low-migration inks tuned to guarantee safe food and beverage packaging Since food and beverage packaging accounts for a dominant share of printed packaging, it is very important that food safety is guaranteed.

Standard UV-curable inkjet inks are not suited for direct printing on food packaging (unless for small ink amounts, e.g. only printing a batch code or expiry date). The so-called low-migration UV-curable inkjet inks however are well suited, given they are correctly used on a food-safe container. Agfa has developed unique and patented low-migration ink concepts for printing directly on food packaging. UV inkjet inks need to have low viscosity to be able to be jetted through the small nozzles of the printhead; typical viscosity is 10-15 cP at 40°C. To achieve this, the standard UV inkjet inks are based on reactive low molecular weight monomers and photo-initiators resulting in a curing degree not higher than 95% (conversion % of monomers to polymer).

Un-reacted monomers and photo-initiators may still migrate through the substrate and/or set off

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inExperts to the food side when it gets in contact with the printed side (e.g. by stacking printed food cups).

As a consequence standard UV inkjet inks are not suited for printing directly on food packaging.

Both the compounds and the formulations of UV inkjet ink that is used for printing directly on food and beverage containers (=low-migration or LM ink) need to meet specific requirements in order to comply with legislative guidelines (e.g. the Swiss Ordinance Lists–concerning the ink compounds allowed for food packaging printing, or TSCA (USA) and REACH–concerning the formulations). The purity of the ink compounds is an important factor in the LM ink formulation for it to be free of solvents, heavy metals etc. and they are selected based on low toxicity, low skin irritation, etc. This is especially important when selecting monomers and photo-initiators.

And still the initial constraint of low viscosity for the jetting process through the small nozzles of the print head is an important selection criterion, limiting the use of high molecular weight compounds. The design of the LM UV inkjet inks needs to aim for both a high degree of curing, in order to have low residual amounts of ink compounds that may migrate in the cured ink layer, and the use of compounds that are low in viscosity but cannot migrate. LM UV inkjet inks need the combination of low viscous yet highly reactive monomers with diffusion-hindered photo-initiators. The result is that the polymerization degree is very high and that migration is low, inherent to the design of the LM ink.

Low-migration inks – reality check Today Agfa’s LM UV inkjet inks are being used for many different types of direct printing. Take printing on PET beverage bottles as an example: Ultra-thin PET bottles become more and more popular these days. The dedicated LM ink is designed for high image quality when directly printed on PET (no label, no pre-treatment), good physical properties (adhesion, flexibility, scratch resistance), food safety (low migration), while it should also allow for recycling (in the existing recycling processes). Other examples include direct printing on plastic food/beverage containers

3 Food-safe packaging printing requires a controlled process

4 All compounds are designed to result in low-migration levels, and – for inkjet – are also designed to have low viscosity

(polypropylene substrate, which has low barrier quality, taking into account stacking of the printed containers shortly after printing, as well as adhesion and scratch resistance), and direct print on HDPE (High Density Poly Ethylene) closure caps (immediate adhesion on the caps, low

Marc Graindourze Business Development Manager Industrial Inks at Agfa Graphics Marc Graindourze has a PhD in Science (Physical Chemistry) of the University of Leuven (K.U.L.) (1988) and joined Agfa in 1988. He has been R&D project manager for

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migration, high image quality). Each of these applications requires specific LM inks to meet the various functional requirements. This is only possible by fine-tuning the LM ink formulation case by case. A growing number of projects for direct food container printing are being explored today.

various projects in the graphic art industries, including product development of graphic films, proofing materials, inkjet media and inkjet inks. Since 2008, he has taken up the role of business development manager for Industrial Inkjet Inks. In this role he connects the needs for the industrial applications with the requirements for inkjet inks, and this in close cooperation with the inkjet system integrators, printhead suppliers, industries etc.

IMI Europe facilitates learning and collaboration within the community of inkjet technology developers and users for digital printing and deposition applications.

We organise high quality conferences and courses aimed at strategic and commercial executives as well as technical developers in the digital printing industry.

Upcoming events: 28 November – 1 December 2016 Amsterdam | Netherlands

IMI Europe Digital Print Europe Including the flagship strategic IMI Europe Digital Printing Conference and supporting events.

See www.imieurope.com for more information and further event announcements.

inExperts

TRANSFERRING INDUSTRIAL ANALOGUE PRINT ENVIRONMENTS TO INKJET New print technologies enable digital printing systems to be used in new industrial print areas, which were mainly covered by screen or pad printing so far. To make sure an implementation of digital print systems works well, a multitude of influencing parameters need to be uncovered and analysed

BY JOCHEN CHRISTIAENS | J.CHRISTIAENS@INKJET-CONSULTING.DE

Industrial screen printing environments have existed for decades. Pre-press workflows and print processes have been optimised throughout that time. Also the inks have been undertaking optimisation and so became perfectly adapted for their application. From decorative or functional printing onto papers and cardboards, textiles, plastics, metals and flat and hollow

glass or wood, the application range has become widely spread. Inkjet printing has evolved over the years, from the graphical large format printing market to a viable alternative printing solution in many of mentioned applications.

Newer printhead technologies, new chemistries and inks and substrates made it possible for inkjet to evolve to a flexible, short run, eco-

Inkjet potential for glass decoration is prominently illustrated by the decorated glass walls for indoor use in bathrooms, saunas and pool areas. Hotel Excelsior Munich. Source: skara/arbucomp

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nomic and industrial print solution. However, in order to implement this technology into an existing screen printing production environment and fulfil all its requirements, a lot of questions need to be answered.

Crucial elements influencing print quality There is a multitude of factors influencing the print quality in a printing process, we are all aware of that. But how can I correlate these elements between printing processes such as screen and digital printing? What influence has a substrate pre-treatment or a change of inks and how important is the print head selection on the functionality of a dedicated print system?

Select the right print technology There are many digital printing technologies available, which allow printing smaller production runs, variable data, doing quick job turnarounds and offering great technical features. But the key factor in industrial deposition or decorative printing is, to select the right printing system for a dedicated application. One of the most crucial elements is to define the right print head technology. In screen printing the influencing factors that define the print quality and functionality of a printed ink layer, are the selected mesh, the squeegee, the stencil and the ink, just to name a few. Each of these factors has its proper parameters, which will change the print quality. The hardness, the pressure, the angle and the speed of the squeegee for example will define how the ink is pushed through the stencil and the mesh onto the substrate. The analogies of these elements with Inkjet Piezo Technology are for example fire frequency, Volt

inExperts levels and pulse shapes or in short: “waveform design” which will define droplet formation.

Can I use the ink manufacturer I want?

Inks make incredible things possible, therefore they are an enabler but also a limiting factor, especially in inkjet. In screen printing there are numerous ways to alter viscosity, adhesion, drying and robustness of the ink by adding thinners and additives to make an ink perform better in the mesh and stencil, whereas for inkjet these tools area not available. Changing inkjet ink formulations by adding thinners or additives will have enormous impact on droplet formation and on print quality. Screen printing inks are formulated with very high viscosity (can range between 20.000 to 50.000 cPs). These viscosities allow a big window of tolerance for late stage ink modifications on the print floor.

Inkjet ink formulations need to be a lot thinner to be jettable (firing viscosities can range between 5-12 cPs depending on head type) and cannot be altered. The challenge of reaching the right performance of inkjet inks during printing, lies already in the initial formulation phase of the ink.

I have a print head and an ink, what about material pre-treatment?

To promote adhesion of inks to the material surfaces, a wide range of pre-treatment solutions can be selected depending on the material you are printing on. Solutions for material surface pre-treatment can either be physical or chemical treatments or apply printable or spray-able primers and coatings. About inkjet ink I often state, that they do not have “a lot of body”, this means they do not contain a lot of resin, which make them very robust. Therefore it is often necessary to use additional top-coats to promote the robustness of the ink. Applying protective layers onto the ink can either be done by using an additional piezo print head or by spray gun or even by coating techniques. Very often the needed solutions are not available off the shelf.

Therefore formulating new jettable primers and

Result of masking liquids for sputtered mirror glass. Each glass sheet has different images. top-coats require to invite the right development partners around the table.

So how can I find a good digital solution for my screen printing process?

Digital printing technologies are continuously taking over parts of production volumes from analogue printing processes. Thanks to the raised productivity of inkjet printing systems, it is becoming the preferred production process for many industrial applications. However, there are still a lot of industrial screen printing applications, which have not been shifted over to this technology, since they have been too challenging for ink and printing system design. Instead of going through a time consuming thin path of raw materials screening to formulate the best possible inkjet ink, a much easier approach can be to go through a print head technology screening and

Jochen Christiaens owner at InkJet Consulting Christiaens Jochen Christiaens has over 15 years experience in inkjet product development and supports in chemistry development, colour management and defining dedicated inkjet print systems. He works with a network of print head manufacturers,

find out which technology can be used with the existing screen printing ink formulations. Some inkjet print technologies are specifically designed for higher viscous liquids. This way the ink characteristics are not influenced that much, and the advantages of a digital print solution can still be accomplished.

Recommendation In order to get access to specific know-how on suited inkjet solutions that match your printing process end environment and to the get answers to your questions quickly, the easiest thing to do is to address a consultant and have him do a screening and make a condensed proposal for you. This will help you move forward quicker, since you do not need to gather und understand all information yourself and it allows you to concentrate on daily business.

system integrators, software developers, institutes, strategic consultants and ink manufacturers. With international customers in Asia, USA and Europe, Jochen has led development projects and steered multi level commercial and technical teams. Current projects include developments of inkjet printable glues and masking liquids for architectural glass decoration, single pass industrial and large format printing.

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inSoftware

FINGERPRINT MODULE: A COLOR REFERENCE IN DIGITAL SURFACE DECORATION ColorGATE presented the Fingerprint Module (FPRM) for the first time at Tecnargilla 2016 in Italy. Its objective is to ensure color consistency of re-runs of the same design and it is based on a patent that was recently granted to the firm.

BY THOMAS KIRSCHNER | THOMAS.KIRSCHNER@COLORGATE.COM

New methodology for synchronous design specification and process characterization So far ICC profiling was only applied for devicespecific color characterization to achieve an optimal representation of arbitrary artworks, digital imaging or document files on an ICC-profiled device. Meanwhile it is widely experienced that the standard ICC color management approach is not sufficient for managing colors suitably in ceramic production.

How does the Fingerprint Module work exactly?

It creates a Fingerprint Production File that in-

cludes a colorimetric specification of the initial print run which afterwards provides the reliable base to reach a color consistent reproduction in future. The colorimetric specification contains all design colors which allows future print runs to minimize interpolation errors during color transformation into output device color spaces of any given digital printing system. A color consistent re-print can be performed on any alternative production system or line as long as its gamut covers the specific color space of the individual specification. Therefore it provides an ideal approach to ceramic wall and floor tile producers that need to ensure that each new production lot

Thomas Kirschner founder and CEO of ColorGATE ColorGATE has been developing software solutions, RIP software and printer driver technology for Commercial Printing and Industrial Printing since 1997. ColorGATE’s core product, Productionserver, a modular RIP, workflow and color management software is used daily around the globe

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color matches the design reference. The software provides an intuitive user interface and is a practical application that is easily trained and requires no expert knowledge.

What is so special about the Fingerprint Module?

Fingerprint is to date the only available procedure to make reprints of specific designs to match their references without manual retouching effort. The company is therefore also offering this unique technology to interested OEM´s such as printing machine vendors and ceramic ink and design suppliers.

by thousands of digital imaging users.

ColorGATE has been successfully active on the up-and-coming market of Industrial Printing since the beginning in 2000. With the Industrial Productionserver solutions for specific application areas of industrial production of decor, ceramic, textile and packaging, ColorGATE supplies modular software solutions since 2016. Read more about ColorGATE and its software solutions online: www.colorgate.com

inSoftware

EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL, FROM DESIGN TO DELIVERY At Tecnargilla ColorGATE launched a new total solution for color management and digital print data creation for ceramics.

Fingerprint in a ceramic production workflow ColorGATE has been debuting the Rapid Spectro Cube HD SP (RSC HD SP) a colorimetric scanning and measuring system that features a high-resolution CCD and is connected to the firms Ceramic Productionserver a completely featured color management software dedicated to color-accurate print data generation for any digital ceramics printer. The combined

package serves as an ultra-fast and highly precise color capturing solution to provide color profiles that can be used for printer calibration and color characterization as well as for color separation purposes in order to prepare any image or even whole design series automatically into the necessary ink channels depending on intended production method

or individual line set up. In addition the system is able to obtain highest quality scans in seconds that can be retouched with standard image editing applications or it clones original materials such as marble, wood or existing tile surfaces color accurately and directly into multichannel output files to be reproduced on a digital ceramics inkjet.

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GIS software and electronics - the driving power for industrial inkjet printheads & ink supply systems.

Any number of inkjet printheads Any number of inks Process colours Spot colours XY scanning Interleaving, multipass strategies Single pass expertise Ultra-high data handling capability No limit on print width No limit on image length Variety of print modes Binary, greyscale, drop size selection Advanced Front End technologies Customisable user interfaces GIS RIP supplied as standard 3rd party RIP compatible Ink system components Recirculating & end shooter Supported printheads Fujifilm, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Ricoh, Toshiba, Xaar www.globalinkjetsystems.com - info@globalinkjetsytems.com