FESPA WORLD Issue 40 - English

The Magazine for Digital & Screen Printers

SUMMER 2005 VOL.14 / NO.40 â‚Ź15

Fespa World incorporating European Screen Printer & Digital Imager Translations available at www.fespaworld.com

Fespa World

NEWS ROUND-UP

4 SUPPLIER NEWS Editor’s letter After three years of planning, FESPA 2005 has finally arrived and this issue provides a sneak preview of all of the good things the show has to offer. If you immediately turn to page 38, you’ll find a last minute update on what some of the exhibitors will be revealing on their stands, whilst a glance at pages 54-56 will surely inspire you to visit both the Grønlund and SignTronic stands to see Grønlund’s first fully automatic prepress line in action. On page 34, you’ll discover why, this year, the Saati Group will be fielding two separate stands at the show, as well as learning what the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Alberto Novarese, feels screenprinters will need to do to secure their future.

Those of you who are planning to take in a seminar or two whilst visiting the show, can gain an insight into the presentations which will be given by VUTEk’s Jane Cedrone and our own Michel Caza. Jane highlights all of the many ways in which the acquisition of a flatbed printer can enhance a company’s profitability, whether it is a screenprinter, signmaker, digital bureau or photolab. Michel, on the other hand, tackles an issue that will affect all companies who operate screen and digital equipment: future European Legislation relating to the discharge of air, water and waste. As always, his opinions provide screen and digital printers with serious food for thought.

Elsewhere, you’ll be able to find all of our regular features, including news from around the industry and an especially colourful Showcase.

And just in case you think that once FESPA 2005 is over there’ll be nothing left to look forward to, turn to page 28 to learn more about Fespa’s next innovation, a new digital show that is scheduled to take place at the Rai in Amsterdam next May! Finally, during your visit to FESPA 2005, please don’t forget to visit the Fespa stand (B1 440) when all of the Fespa team will be on hand to greet you and to provide any help and assistance you need to enable you to gain maximum benefits from the show. We look forward to meeting you there!

SPECIAL FEATURES

34 FACE2FACE with The Saati Group

The latest supplier news.

8 WHAT’S NEW IN SCREEN AND DIGITAL PRINTING

10 WHAT’S NEW IN SCREENPRINTING

16 WHAT’S NEW IN

54 THE BIG STORY

DIGITAL PRINTING

24 ASSOCIATION NEWS

Grondlund Shares its Vision

58

FABULOUS FLATBEDS!

The latest association news.

26 NEWS ROUND-UP

62 SHOWCASE

ESMA Up-date Web Watch

27 DIARY DATES 28 FESPA NEWSLETTER

OPINION

32 FESPA FORUM Why a new digital show is vital

FESPA 2005

38 UPDATE TO HALL A1 The Screenprinting Hall

INFORMATION Val Hirst e-mail: val@valhirst.demon.co.uk Fespa World The membership magazine of the Federation of European Screenprinting Associations Vol.14 / No.38 December 2004 Published by FESPA Ltd Editorial office FESPA Association House 7a West Street Reigate, Surrey RH2 9BL Tel: +44 1737 24 07 88 Fax: +44 1737 24 07 70 E-mail: info@fespa.com www.fespa.com Publisher Frazer Chesterman – Director Tel: +44 1737 24 07 88

Advertising Michael Ryan – Sales Manager Tel: +44 1737 22 97 27 Fax: +44 1737 24 07 70

66 RFID The lowdown on Radio Frequency Identification

72 THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT

The General Hall

46 UPDATE TO HALL B2 The Digital Hall

Editor Val Hirst Tel: +44 1623 88 23 98 E-mail: val@valhirst.demon.co.uk Graphic Design Bate Brand Communications 8 St Leonard’s Square, Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 0AR Tel: +44 1491 835835 www.batebrand.com

42 UPDATE TO HALL B1

AND FINALLY…

82 Specmanship – the new digital phenomenon

Printing The MANSON Group Ltd Reynolds House, 8 Porters Wood Valley Road Industrial Estate St Albans, AL3 6PZ Tel: +44 1727 848 440 www.manson-grp.co.uk

Fespa World. Designed by Bate Brand Communications. Printed by The Manson Group Ltd. Editorial photographs supplied courtesy of the companies they feature. The publishers accept no responsibility for any statement made in signed contributions or those reproduced from any other source, nor for claims made in any advertisement.

Fespa World is available to individuals who qualify within the terms of a controlled circulation and by subscription.

FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 3

NEWS ROUND-UP – SUPPLIER NEWS

Autotype wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise…

Autotype, has won the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise 2005 in the Innovation Category. This is the third time Autotype has been granted a Queen's Award, the first time being in 1985 for Export, followed by a Technological Achievement Award in 1994.

The 2005 Award was granted for the pioneering work carried out by the company in the field of formable hard coated films for Film Insert Moulding (also known as In Mould Decoration) and recognises both the level of its long term product research and development as well as its ongoing commitment to manufacture in the UK. Film Insert Moulding techniques have been designed to reduce the number of component parts and process

stages required for the manufacture of a wide variety of products, ranging from mobile phone handsets through to automotive and appliance control panels and provide a unique capability for low cost decorative customisation of three dimensional parts, thus giving designers new opportunities to use both colour and texture.

The success of the Film Insert Moulding technique depends on the film materials and complementary texturing

lacquers used and Autotype has played a key role in the development of films and matched lacquers that are easy to handle and process and that can be used in a wide range of applications.

Autotype's Managing Director, Peter Levinsohn, explains that the Queen's Award for Enterprise, "Recognises the exceptional work carried out by our scientists, technicians, engineers and production team at our headquarters in Wantage

in Oxfordshire, and by our sales, marketing and business development teams around the world. Together with all of our support staff, they have identified the long term potential for Film Insert Moulding and have worked closely with our customers to create an exciting new range of materials that exemplify the dynamism and innovation associated with both Autotype and the UK's global business leaders."

….And so does Inca Digital Printers!

Inca Digital Printers has won two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, which acknowledge its achievements in Innovation and International Trade and highlight the design and manufacture of its flatbed printers, whilst also marking the company’s commercial success and substantial growth in overseas markets.

The Queen’s Awards, which recognise outstanding achievements from UK based industry are announced annually on The Queen’s birthday. Out of 133 businesses set to receive the honour this year, Inca Digital is one of four companies due to receive two awards. Bill Baxter, Managing Director at Inca, says: "We are very proud to receive

4 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

both the UK’s most renowned business award for Innovation and recognition for our global success in the International Trade category.

He continues: "Our main focus in the development of digital flatbed technology has always been to produce machines capable of producing quality work with viable print speeds and our exports have increased nearly six-fold over the past three years, to the extent where they account for around 83% of last year’s £14m turnover. The strength of our distributor

network has been key and we would also like to take this opportunity to recognise the role they have played in our success. " Later in the year, Inca plan to hold an official Queen’s Award ceremony at its premises in

Cambridge, where the local Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire will learn how Inca has driven innovation in digital flatbed technology and present the company with a Grant of Appointment and a crystal trophy.

If Encad sales teams are looking even more dapper than usual, put it down to the runaway success of the company’s latest wide format inkjet printer, the NovaJet 1000i.

The printer, the first inkjet solution to be introduced since Kodak’s acquisition of Encad in 2002, has been extremely well received since its launch around twelve months ago, and sales in the EAMER (Europe, Africa, Middle East) region have exceeded forecasts by over 20%.

In fact, the NovaJet 1000I, which was recently awarded the coveted Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) InterTech Technology Award, is now the bedrock of many companies operating within the on-demand, large-format display printing

sector.

Commenting on its success Martin Birch, General Manager Encad Eamer, says, "We were delighted when actual end-ofyear figures proved that sales were significantly higher than we forecast. We put its success down to the months of research and development we undertook amongst industry users to ensure that we delivered a product that would meet their expectations in terms of speed, image quality, reliability, ease of use, and an extremely low cost per print."

But he concedes that it is also

perhaps partly attributable to the European-wide sales incentive that Encad introduced among its sales teams, which offered those business managers who reached year-end sales targets the reward of a hand-made suit and shoes.

As a result of the number of successful installations across the continent, Encad recently

Encad's General Manager, EAMER.

Philippe Lefebvre (centre) Encad's Sales Manager in France &

Dressed for success!

Benelux, choosing fabric for his new suit with Martin Birch (left)

SUPPLIER NEWS

honoured its promise to its business managers with a trip to the world-renowned Saville Row in London. While some members of the team became proud owners of new hand-crafted shoes, one sales executive claimed top prize of a tailor-made suit from gentleman’s outfitters, Dress2Kill!

‘Coopetition’ is the way ahead At the recent IMI Ink Jet Developers Conference, which took place in Geneva, a new word was introduced – ‘coopetition’ – the combination of cooperation and competition.

Speaking about the role of the industrial ink jet integrator at one of the keynote sessions, Marco Boer of IT Strategies estimated that over $4.5bn is spent each year by MACs (Market Access Companies) on contract industrial ink jet integration.

Twenty or thirty years ago, a single company could develop technology, build it into a functional system and often sell direct to the end user in an integrated process. However, today the picture is far more complex and volatile with layers of manufacture and system integration, marketing and distribution. "The winners today are those who are best at positioning, who know their market, who get the timing right, but above all, find partners to help them put all the pieces together," explained Marco Boer, adding that: "The secret to success

is ‘coopetition’ - a mixture of cooperation and competition."

He continued: "Only by sharing technology and expertise and working together will the industrial ink jet market achieve its full potential. Clearly the successful and most innovative companies have already implemented such partnership programs. " One of the highlights of the conference was the introduction of a new Printhead Manufacturer, Picojet. Originally founded in 1997 by Hue Le, the former Director of Technology Development for the Tektronix Printing & Imaging Division, Picojet began pilot production of its new printhead in February this year. According to Ray Veillet, VP Business Development, the PJ-N256 printhead’s special metal-to-metal bond technology means no epoxies are used in the ink channels so that the it "has the ability to jet virtually any fluid with a high level of reliability."

PicoJet is actively looking for system development partners in

industrial printing and fluid jetting applications such as biotech and electronics.

Another highlight was the unveiling of products by two of the industry’s major UV lamp suppliers, UV Integration Technology and Nordson UV. MicroZero is a new micro lamp from UV Integration Technology with a 190W, 25mm cure width.

"Weighing only 130g, the MZero concept model is the smallest, lightest high power UV system in the world," said Clayton Sampson, the company’s Joint Managing Director. The Mzero is available with conventional mercury lamps or with the company’s broadband A bulb and complements its existing products – the highly successful Vzero, which has almost 2,000 units in operation on ink jet platforms worldwide and the SubZero, which is already popular with smaller wide format systems Nordson UV, supplier of lamps to Inca Digital, Dotrix and Sun Chemical, launched TinyCure; a compact, high-powered, watercooled lamphead with a small

footprint of 50mm x 56mm.

TinyCure is available in low power for ‘pinning’ applications or high power (200W/cm) for final cure. Compatible with all types of lamp fill including mercury, iron and gallium, TinyCure offers easy lamp change, is lightweight at 500g, and generates a very low temperature output.

Alan Mills, Business Development Manager commented that: "Nordson has anticipated the trend towards miniaturisation in the market, driven by smaller machine footprints, smaller ink jet printheads and the need for UV between printheads."

The IMI Ink Jet Developers Conference 2005 was the fourth in this annual event, which focuses on bringing key industry suppliers and product developers together. This year over 150 system developers attended from 24 countries. Next year the IMI Ink Jet Developers Conference will be held in Las Vegas, USA. For further information visit www.imieurope.com FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 5

SUPPLIER NEWS

EFI to acquire VUTEk EFI, a world leader in digital imaging and print management solutions for commercial and enterprise printing, has signed an agreement to acquire the privately held VUTEk, Inc., the provider of superwide format digital inkjet printers, for approximately $281 million in cash. EFI expects the transaction to close early in the third quarter of 2005, subject to regulatory approval. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive upon closing, adding approximately $72 million in revenue and $0.11 in pro forma diluted earnings per share in the second half of 2005. The company expects second half

GAAP results to include acquisition-related charges in an amount to be determined upon completion of the customary valuation exercise.

"VUTEk will be an excellent addition to EFI’s range of best of breed innovative solutions for the commercial print market since it is the sales leader in the growing segment of superwide format digital inkjet printing," said Guy Gecht, EFI CEO. "There are many natural synergies between EFI’s core expertise in digital printing innovation and VUTEk’s digital inkjet technology and we are both leaders in the ongoing industry transition from analog to digital printing. With

VUTEk’s profitable business model, we expect this acquisition to not only be accretive immediately, but to provide EFI with new revenue streams in the future."

"We are excited to become part of the EFI team as their worldwide reputation, deep industry relationships and financial stability will allow us to gain greater market reach and provide our valued customers with an even higher quality of service, " said Art Cleary, VUTEk Co-Founder. "Our customers and employees will also benefit from EFI's culture of innovation, allowing us to remain on the leading edge."

Ashland Inc. has announced that Elizabeth "Liz" Potts and Marcello Boldrini have taken up new positions on the company’s senior management team.

Liz Potts has been named Vice President of Purchasing for Ashland Inc. She will be based in Dublin, Ohio, and will be responsible for purchasing across Ashland’s Chemical and Transportation Construction Sectors and serve as process owner for the Chemical Sector’s Supply Chain Source-to-Pay process.

Marcello Boldrini who has been promoted to Vice President, Ashland Specialty

6 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

Chemical, and General Manager, Specialty Polymers & Adhesives will also be based in Dublin, Ohio. In his new role, Boldrini will be responsible for driving the growth strategy for Ashland’s SP&A business group, a global leader in highperformance, pressure-sensitive and structural adhesives, and specialty resins.

ColorGATE has announced the appointment of Daniel Lowicki as Technical Operations Manager, based at the Hanover headquarters of the company. As part of his new responsibilities, Daniel Lowicki will head the support team and take on the

Daniel Lowicki

Marcello Boldrini

Elizabeth Potts

Appointments

task of securing quality assurance (QA) at ColorGATE. Esko-Graphics has recently reorganised its UK team to reflect its strong position in the packaging market and to address new business opportunities.

Thus Paul Bates, who is based at the company’s headquarters in Redditch, has been appointed as national Sales Manager for UK and Ireland. He oversees a team of four area sales managers covering all of the United Kingdom, including Peter Hargreaves for the North of England, Tony Farrell for West of England and Ireland, John Ellworthy for South of England

and Paul Hitchings as Applications Sales Manager /CADCAM. Marketing efforts are supported by Tom Leyden under the leadership of Hubert Scheir, Director of Marketing EMEALA. Alongside this strong sales team there is added support by Lieven Plettinck, who chairs the PDF Ghent Workgroup for Packaging; Jesper Mortensen, Sales Manager for commercial printing and Sean Runchman in the position of Corporate Sales Manager, EMEALA. DuPont has announced the appointment of Georg+Otto Friedrich (GOF) of GrossZimmern, Germany, as a marketing partner for DuPont Artistri digital printing for textiles. GOF will offer polyester fabrics, including products with fire retardant and waterproof coatings, qualified for use with DuPont Artistri. First established in 1950, Georg+Otto Friedrich is now one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of warp knitted fabrics.

NEWS ROUND-UP – WHAT’S NEW IN SCREEN AND DIGITAL PRINTING

Enfocus publish industry-specific certified PDF Profiles Enfocus Software, a world leader in PDF workflow tools, has reported the successful development of Certified PDF Profiles specifically for screen and wide format printing. These PDF Profiles were created and tested by a working group of members of the Dutch Screen Printing and Sign Association ZSO, supported

by Enfocus Software and FESPA and received an enthusiastic response at the September General Assembly of the Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA) in Stockholm.

Certified PDF is a technology developed by Enfocus Software, which guarantees that a PDF file fully complies with a set of technical requirements. These requirements are defined in an Enfocus PDF Profile, and cover a wide series of elements such as image resolution, colour space, fonts and text size and printer marks. Over the last few years, several industry associations have developed such quality specifications for their respective industries. The best known are the PDF specifications developed by the Ghent PDF Workgroup. They are used for offset and web printing, packaging and for advertisement delivery to magazines and newspapers. Certified PDF gives all parties involved in the graphic arts chain the absolute guarantee that files respond to these quality specifications, thus eliminating any uncertainty in file exchange.

These developments attracted the interest of screen and large format digital printers, who also wanted to benefit from the efficiency and time savings offered

by Certified PDF technology.

However, the PDF specifications

8 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

developed by the Ghent PDF Workgroup were not fully suited for screen printers and wide format digital printers, due to differing technical requirements (formats, DPI, and other technical issues). Therefore ZSO, in consultation with Enfocus Software and FESPA took the initiative to develop PDF Profiles specifically targeted at these market segments. Following a history of strong collaboration with the Ghent PDF Workgroup, Enfocus was glad to help in this way and the result is three PDF Profiles that are fully suited for the screen and digital print processes.

The new PDF profiles are: ScreenPrintCmyk_1v1, for full colour screen printing; ScreenPrintSpot_1v1, for full colour screen printing using spot colours and WFDigitalPrintCmyk_1v1, for full colour large format digital printing.

As a result of these developments, screen and wide format printers can now use the Enfocus product range to its fullest extent.

Printers will be able to use Certified PDF.net, Enfocus’ online resource for PDF specifications, to publish their PDF specifications (either referring to the specifications published by their industry associations, or tailoring these to their specific needs), whilst PDF creators can use Instant PDF to subscribe to these specifications and create PDFs according to these specifications.

These PDFs are then immediately certified, so the creator is 100% certain that his PDF responds to the defined quality requirements.

Upon reception of the file, the

printer automatically checks the incoming file using PitStop Server. Should the file need a lastminute correction, he can use Enfocus PitStop Professional when Certified PDF will track the changes and automatically check whether the file still complies to the quality specifications.

Marius Gort, Secretary of ZSO, the Dutch Screen & Sign Association, explains why they chose the new profiles based on Enfocus’ Certified PDF technology. He says: "We were impressed with the PDF standardisation that was achieved in the traditional graphic arts market segments, such as offset and newspaper printing. However, in the screen and digital print market, the PDF file format is still not as widely accepted. We felt that we have a role to play in the interest of our members. Certified PDF has demonstrated substantial benefits in terms of both reduced production time and costs for those who generate as well as receive files. PDF Profiles enable a smoother communication process between printer and print buyer."

Wim Herbold from Point7, Chairman of the ZSO Working Group, was one of the Dutch ZSO members who intensively tested the new PDF Profiles in daily production. He adds: "In

every industry there are hard price negotiations. This is no different in our market segment.

If a file is delivered full of problems, precious time is lost in getting it corrected, which means that the printer ultimately pays the price in terms of lost production. By using Certified PDF profiles, print buyers and advertising agencies know exactly how to create files that are ready for output, which will greatly streamline our communication process."

David van Driessche, CEO of Enfocus, views these new Certified PDF Profiles as a clear indication of his company’s commitment to serving a broader spectrum of the graphic arts domain. He says: "We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with industry associations and were happy to work with ZSO to develop new profiles tailored to their members’ needs. Screen printers and digital wide format printers have a need to establish more streamlined workflow procedures that will save production time and ultimately be more cost effective. They will certainly benefit from maintaining a flawless workflow, as did offset printers."

The profiles can be downloaded from www.zso.nl or www.CertifiedPDF.net

NEWS ROUND-UP – WHAT’S NEW IN SCREENPRINTING

Ritrama introduces the invisible label Ritrama, worldwide manufacturer of self-adhesive materials, has launched a new generation in labelling materials: ClearFlex is a brand new totally transparent label substrate that works equally well on both rigid clear plastic bottles and flexible, squeezable clear plastic tubes.

Up until now, the chances are that design ideas have had to be compromised when decorating plastic bottles and tubes, as no single label material could meet the joint requirements of clarity and squeezability. But now, ClearFlex, which is based on high clarity polypropylene, incorporates even greater flexibility than polythene and what’s more it is also very cost effective.

Not only does it deliver superior performance for long-life squeeze conditions (label adhesion is maintained for more than 80 squeezes); it also creates the ultimate ‘no label’ look on high clarity polyester, HDPE and polypropylene bottles and tubes.

This offers manufacturers the

added advantage of being able to use the back of the container for imagery that can be seen through the transparent label and the clear packaging contents, thus showing the product to its best effect.

The proven top coating of ClearFlex is suitable for flexo, offset, screen and letterpress printing. Ritrama’s specially formulated high tack permanent adhesive is ideal for use with polyolefines and low energy surfaces, and the adhesive and flexible film properties of this new product range mean that creasing or lifting are virtually eliminated – even on difficult or shaped containers.

Thoroughly tested to meet the stringent requirements of the

health and beauty markets, ClearFlex has been trialled under both laboratory conditions and in the field, consistently outperforming PE, conventional PP and co-extruded films.

The ClearFlex range consists of three products: ClearFlex featuring a clear BOPP film and a glassine liner, ClearFlex Crystal with a clear BOPP film and ultra transparent polyester release and WhiteFlex for flexible non clear containers.

Samples and detailed product information are available through your local Ritrama agent - a full listing is available at info@ritrama.it - or through the company’s website www.ritrama.com

Visitors to the BASF stand will also be able to see seat covers which BASF has developed In a joint project with Hänsel Verbundtechnik GmbH. The cover significantly improves the microclimate of the seat, as unlike conventional seat-covers, which consist of a flame-bonded laminate with PUR foam, a textile substitute of 100 % PES is used. This conveys moisture away from the passenger to a highly efficient functional material based on special super absorbers that can absorb many times their own weight in water vapour. Once the seat is vacated, the cover quickly releases the water vapor back into the environment. Super absorbers are crosslinked polyacrylates market-

ed worldwide by BASF’s Performance Polymers operating division.

Together with customers, BASF has developed specially adapted textile coatings to facilitate heat regulation, moisture protection and elasticity, which are of benefit to everyone, since they make outdoor clothing durable and pleasant to wear and protect the wearer from cold, snow, wind and sun. Being waterbased, the products are highly compatible with the environment and in addition, BASF customers can apply the coatings more efficiently in production, thus giving them significant advantages over competitors.

For further information visit www.basf.com/textile.

Textiles of the future BASF will be introducing several new product innovations on its stand at the Techtextil Exhibition, which is scheduled to take place in Frankfurt from 7th to 9th June.

The first of these is a new system for colouring and coating polyolefin textiles that is proving its worth in terms of colour fastness and flexibility. It permits polyolefins to be coloured, printed, coated and used in standard textile processes – and all with water-based formulations. Since special pretreatment is unneces-

10 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

sary, the system opens up many new applications for polyolefin fibres, which up to now, were used mainly for nonwoven fabrics.

Another new development is the Lurotex TX range. Textiles finished with these fluorocarbonbased products repel water, oil and dirt and can also offer the dirt repellency and easycare properties that are now in such demand. The repellent effect of the fluorocarbons generally depends on the type of pretreatment as well as on auxiliaries and effect chemicals used in the finish and since Lurotex TX products ideally complement BASF products for pretreatment, finishing and coating, the best possible results can be achieved.

WHAT’S NEW IN SCREENPRINTING

New material innovation using Spectar

Plastics processing company Heinz Fritz Kunststoffverarbeitung of Herbrechtingen, Germany, has introduced two highly innovative product ranges that are all set to dramatically change the material choice and design options for trade shows, exhibitions and permanent retail displays.

The two product ranges, Transsatco and Transquieto have both been developed using Heinz Fritz proprietary technology in order to meet both the demand for high aesthetics and design freedom in combination with excellent performance characteristics and fire classification B1. The basis for both product ranges is sheet made from Spectar copolyester, made by Eastman Specialty Plastics.

Transsatco is a series of transparent sheet products with a matt finish – available in a choice of colours as well as uncoloured.

The range was developed to offer designers an alternative to PMMA – with the necessary fire classifica-

12 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

tion to make it suitable for exhibitions and public buildings.

According to Heinz Fritz, the company’s owner, Transsatco, which is available in a range of thicknesses, can be used in applications where currently only wood, metal and glass meet the necessary criteria. He says: "The Transsatco range can help to produce stunning displays, using colour, transparency and light to great effect. These lightweight panels can be glued like PMMA – however, in use they are more robust and durable."

Transquieto, which also has the same fire classification, is a range of transparent sheets in various thicknesses and colours, designed

to dampen sound. This is achieved by a patented process of creating many tiny holes (ranging from 0.5 - 2 mm) in the surface – as many as 40.000 per m2 resulting in a high degree of sound absorption.

Heinz Fritz continues: "We invested in this technology, because we believe that there are many uses for this particular product range. We see a huge potential with many possible areas of application, from busy offices to noisy transport terminals – in fact anywhere in the world where people and machines are active."

Both ranges are available as flat panels for customers who want to

create their own designs and offer excellent secondary fabrication characteristics. The lightweight sheets are incredibly strong and have no need for complex or expensive frameworks or supporting structures. As with all sheet made from Spectar copolyester, both Transsatco and Transquieto are easy to fabricate, thus allowing greater design freedom. They can be thermoformed without the need to pre-dry the sheet, cut with saw-blades, routed, drilled, die-punched, glued or joined by screws or bolts. Screen-printing, painting and hot-stamping are also possible too.

For further information visit: www.Heinz-Fritz.de.

HEADING

NEWS ROUND-UP – WHAT’S NEW IN DIGITAL PRINTING

Speedflow offers profitability options OneVision Software has introduced the next generation of its software solutions for commercial and digital printing.

The main focus of the new generation of OneVisions’s Speedflow is its enhanced colour control.

Several new options, including automatic TAC identification and reduction, rich black removal and enhanced automatic grey detection can all be implemented without special colour management skills or software, and can significantly increase image quality, whilst also using substantially less ink.

Thanks to enhanced TAC detection, users of Speedflow 2.5 are now able to automatically detect if ink coverage might cause problems during printing, whilst ignoring small areas such as crop marks. Once a problem has been identified, users have the option to apply a TAC reduction, which reduces the amount

of ink in the areas that are over TAC, leaving the remainder of the page untouched. Speedflow users can therefore control the amount of ink being used without actually changing the colour of the image. or element. In addition, Speedflow 2.5 now offers the option to transfer rich black into pure black, whilst automatic grey detection has also been enhanced. Windows applications often construct grey from red, green and blue instead of CMYK or black, but the enhanced grey detection in Speedflow 2.5 now permits the detection and conversion of Lab data in greyscales. Pictures can also be processed in CMYK colours and empty image channels can be identified and eliminated.

Flexibility, high service and

standardisation all go hand in hand. In the interests of its customers, OneVision has agreed with leading associations such as the Ghent PDF Workgroup, PPA UK (pass4press version 5) and VFG and VÖZ (ÖNORM A 1503) to incorporate specific queue settings that correspond to their respective requirements. It is now possible to adapt incoming PDF, EPS, and PostScript files to conform to particular specifications. OneVision users can thus offer their customers the highest possible flexibility and service at data transfer and still produce files that are 100 % compliant with the preferred norm or specification.

For further information visit www.OneVision.com or Tel: +49. (0)941.78004.0

DuPont Artistri all set for soft signage

DuPont’s Artistri digital textile printer was one of the undisputed stars of the recent ISA exhibition in Las Vegas. The company used the show to demonstrate a new and unique solution for

16 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

rapid digital printing of soft signage products when it unveiled capability extensions to the Artistri.

Originally designed for use in the home furnishing and apparel

markets, DuPont Artistri has been enhanced to meet the specific needs of the rapidly growing soft signage market and now, brilliant, full-color graphics, signs, flags, banners and displays can be printed directly on to a wide variety of fabrics including polyester, nylon, cotton, silk, Solar Max and Lycra – without the need for transfer paper.

"We’ve worked closely with several flag and banner customers to tailor the system to meet the needs of these industries," said Mike Sanford, Global Product Manager, DuPont Ink Jet. "We’ve introduced new DuPont Artistri Solar Brite ink, which is specifically designed for printing on to Solar Max fabric to provide superior ultra-violet resistance, durability and exceptional colour penetration for outdoor applica-

tions. And we’ve added two new colours – red and green - to the ink set since its introduction in July 2004 "To meet the needs of the graphic arts customer, DuPont Artistri GA software was developed to enable users to continue working with familiar Postscript or composite workflows (CMYK or EPS). Our latest development permits soft signage manufacturers to print and finish high-quality products in minutes when they use the Artistri with our disperse dye ink and digital-ready polyester fabric with existing transfer press equipment. We have customers printing at speeds up to 60 square metres per hour at 360 dpi, which is quite impressive."

For further information about visit: artistri.dupont.com.

WHAT’S NEW IN DIGITAL PRINTING

We R Signs installs first Columbia printers in Russia Outdoor display specialist We R Signs has acquired two Inca Columbia digital flatbed printers, the first installations of the machine in Russia, with one already having been installed in Kiev. The company now offers the full gamut of print technology with six roll-to-roll digital printers, two screen print lines and an offset press completing its equipment roster.

We R Signs, who employ 600 people worldwide, specialise in billboards, posters and signage and its principal clients are advertising agencies as well as owners of major brands such as Coca-Cola, Samsung, and DaimlerChrysler. In a move designed to give the group the greatest possible flexibility and to meet the full range of promotional demands, the company aims to secure its position as market leader in Russia.

Business Development Director, Andrey Nicolin comments: "We chose the Columbia because it is the best machine in its field—it offers

18 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

the best quality, as well as being the fastest. We wanted to invest in the very best."

Established over ten years ago, We R Signs launched straight into digital printing, later broadening into screen printing—a reversal of the typical screen-to-digital path taken by companies in western Europe. The company had the opportunity to start business operations from scratch using the latest technology. It is now able to boast a longer pedigree in digital printing than rivals in most western European countries.

Speaking of the need for relia-

bility, Nicolin said: "We have a great many clients for whom timing and deadlines are critical. So we have to buy printers that are reliable. We are very happy with the performance of the two Columbias."

The Inca Columbia is distributed by ink manufacturer Sericol, with whom We R Signs has built a strong commercial bond. The company bought Sericol inks when it moved into screen printing. Having acquired its first digital flatbed, an Inca Eagle, from Sericol two years ago, it is now the Russian distributor of the Sericol digital inks Color+ and UVijet.

WHAT’S NEW IN DIGITAL PRINTING

Seal wraps it up!

SEAL Graphics, has introduced a new Inkjet Solvent Cast Premier Vinyl, which has been specially designed for vehicle wrapping and other applications which demand high performance, highly flexible films. 50 PA, is a top quality 50micron polymeric vinyl, which is suitable for use on even the most challengingly shaped and riveted surfaces and offers excellent outdoor durability.

At the same time, Seal is also introducing Inkjet Solvent Cast Clear Vinyl 50, a 50 micron

complementary vinyl laminating film, specifically designed for use as a matched solution with the Solvent Cast Premier Vinyl 50 PA. When used in tandem, SEAL Graphics warrants that these two products will not delaminate, crack or bubble for five full years, if correctly applied and finished in normal mid-European climatic conditions.

A further new innovation is an inexpensive liquid lamination system designed specifically for the protection of solvent and light

solvent printed images and intended as a realistic alternative to traditional hand- and spraycoated applications.

Consisting of a coating unit with matched coating and cleaning solutions, the new AquaSEAL Sign Coating system enables end users to use low cost substrates, such as uncoated vinyls, and will enhance and protect cut sheet images up to 1372mm (54ins) wide. Operating at speeds of up to 1.5 metres per minute, the laminator itself is described as ‘plugand-play’ and is so simple to use that it requires no training whatsoever. It uses a Meyer bar to ensure an even coating of approximately 14 microns making the finished images ideal for a whole range of short- and mid-term indoor and outdoor applications to flat or simple curved surfaces.

The AquaSEAL Sign Coat is an environmentally-friendly, waterbased clear gloss liquid laminate

ColorSpan 72SI production performs dual role One of the most popular products at the recent ISA show in Las Vegas, was the ColorSpan DisplayMaker 72SI wide-format solvent inkjet printer, which was being debuted for the first time.

Developed as an extension to the highly acclaimed DisplayMaker 72S and 72SR Gator printers, the DisplayMaker 72SI offers the ability to print on to both rigid sheets and flexible roll stock up to 73" wide. Designed around sixteen 600-dpi Micro-Quad piezo-electric printheads, the 72SI offers three 600 x 300-dpi resolution print modes for near double the print speed with no noticeable loss in print quality when viewed from three or more feet 20 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

away. For most applications, users will be able to turn out 400 sq.ft. per hour of high-quality, saleable prints using the 600 x 300-dpi production print mode.

Bruce Butler, ColorSpan’s Director of Marketing, comments, "We’ve built on the tremendous success of the DisplayMaker 72S and 72SR Gator printers and listened to

containing low levels of volatile organic compounds and giving low odour emissions. It is touchdry within 30 minutes at normal ambient temperatures and cures in 24 hours. It is compatible with a host of solvent and light solvent inks from manufacturers such as Mutoh, Mimaki, Roland Soljet and Arizona.

SEAL Graphics claim that the AquaSEAL Sign Coat should produce a coating cost of around £1 per square metre and, for extra value, the cleaning fluid can be recycled and used several times over.

For further information visit: www.sealgraphics.com

Sew a perfect seam

feedback from our customers to come up with the next generation of Gator solvent inkjet printers. This machine sets a new standard for solvent printing performance and value, combining production speed with awardwinning quality, ease-of-use and low cost of operation."

For further information visit: wwwwww.colorspan.com.

To assist the increasing number of digital printers now producing flexible outdoor signs and banners, Miller Weldmaster has introduced a new seaming machine for use in conjunction with wide format digital printers. The C-MIT 1000 is a sign-finishing machine that creates beautiful, almost invisible seams between panels and finishes edges with a variety of hems and pole pockets.

Based on the same technology that has made Miller Weldmaster’s Cross Seamer so popular the C-MIT 1000 now offers wide-format users similar benefits in a more affordable table-top version.

For further information visit: www.weldmaster.com

SPECIAL SCITEX FEATURE

Three ways into digital Scitex Vision’s solutions for the challenges facing screen printers Screen printing is about size, colour and quality. The process has become identified with vibrant images that have even become part of popular iconography and fine art.

However, as an industrial process, the demands of today’s advertising, marketing and other commercial graphics applications have put unprecedented pressures on screen printers.

It is now an inescapable fact that digital technology offers real solutions to the screen print sector, but myths, legends and prejudices continue to prevent some printers from adopting the new process. For them, taking the first step into industrial inkjet production is a daunting prospect.

FESPA 2005 presents an ideal opportunity to view three different solutions on the Scitex Vision stand and see for yourself that the step into the digital world is easy, logical and profitable.

Integrating Industrial Inkjet The first step is to see how industrial inkjet addresses the challenges you face. These challenges are universal and are the same in other sectors of the graphic arts industry: faster turnaround times, shorter runs, demands for increased quality, use of more varied – and often problematic – substrates, and downward pressure on prices.

With all its digital technology, the lengthy preparation of screens is eliminated, representing especially high 22 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

time- and manpower-savings when printing jobs of multi colours. Digital files, in standard formats (including PostScript, TIFF, EPS, JPEG, PSD and others) can be fed straight into the digital printer’s system controller.

Here files can be checked and last minute corrections made as the job parameters are set.

As a conventional industrial printing process, screen printing follows the same cost model as other traditional printing processes: the first copy is very expensive, but the unit cost goes down as the run lengthens.

Digital printing, without the expensive prepress, make-ready and start-up stages, has little unit cost variation, so runs as short as one are economically viable.

Using digital printing’s ability to integrate artwork with standard database files, value can be added by localising or personalising print. It also makes very largescale unique projects like special event signage or building wraps – all one offs – possible, opening new markets for screen printers.

The quest for quality has created not only new technologies, but highly competitive markets. Scitex Vision’s printers have been developed to meet the demands of a wide range of applications and markets. The printers operate in a variety of modes, offering four, six and eightcolour print (variously) at resolutions up to 740 dpi. The Scitex Vision TURBOjet, for example, can print sharp text as small as 8-points (ideal for graphics that are viewed close

up).

Today’s large format graphics demand high-performance substrates that weren’t dreamt of a decade ago. These substrates are key to some of the new applications. Scitex Vision’s range of printers on show at FESPA 2005 can image coated and uncoated paper, flex, banner, canvas, mesh, Tyvek™, textiles, vinyl, corrugated and compressed board, foam PVC and other rigid substrates up to 10mm thick.

Improving margins is something all printers want to do. Without offering additional services, based on new technology, this is essentially impossible in today’s market.

Adding a wide format digital capacity is a one-step way of entering lucrative new markets.

An open market There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for industrial inkjet printing, but there is great flexibility. The Scitex Vision XLjet+ comes in three widths from 2.2m to 5m and offers up to 8-colour printing and a highspeed mode of 95m2/hr. The XLjet+ uses solvent-based pigmented ink and is ideal for billboards, banners, backlit applications, double-sided banners, exhibition graphics, truck side curtains, theatre and TV backdrops, textiles, vehicle wraps and almost any other dream you have for a super-wide format application.

The Scitex Vision TURBOjet handles low cost materials printing them at speeds up to 400 m2/hour with six colour

images, using two speed/quality modes. Its ability to produce crisp images makes it especially suitable for visual branding solutions, pop-up displays, POP/POS posters, SAV billboards, backlit indoor and outdoor signage, floor and window graphics, vehicle wraps, theatrical applications and more.

The Scitex Vision CORjet Premium holds a special place in the range, being designed to meet the needs of corrugated printers. The CORjet Premium can print full 160cm x 320cm sheets in six colours, in thickness up to 10mm thick at the rate of 29 sheets per hour and has three different printing modes. The CORjet Premium moves corrugated and board printing from a commodity to a specialty product enabling cost-effective production of trial packaging and POP/POS display materials, short runs for re-prints, or high-value personalised/localised POP displays. The press uses waterbased ink that has been approved for food packaging in Europe and in the USA. These are but three of Scitex Vision’s range of industrial inkjet solutions that are helping printers of all types around the world step into the digital marketplace.

Visitors to FESPA 2005 may also learn about Scitex Vision’s other solutions including the VEEjet+ (a flatbed printer designed to print on rigid materials with UV ink); the Grandjet Classic and the GOjet (entry-level solutions for superwide format market), and more.

NEWS ROUND-UP – ASSOCIATION NEWS

Greek seminars set a trend Two, hugely successful Pre-Fespa seminars entitled "Screen & Digital Printing" were held in Greece during the run-up to FESPA 2005.

The seminars, which were the result of a collaborative effort on behalf of the Materia Grigia company and ‘Visual Communication Greece’ magazine were supported by Fespa and the Association of Greek screen printers, SEME. The most recent event took place on 16th-17th April, at the Macedonia Palace Hotel in Thessaloniki. and enjoyed the participation of eighty-two screenprinters from all over

Northern Greece, whilst a small accompanying exhibition attracted a further 60 visitors.

Speakers included Michel Caza, President of the Academy of Screen Printing Technology and a former president of Fespa, and Franco Lo Giudice, the Italian screen printer/researcher and ink manufacturer, together with representatives from many of the companies who sponsored the event. Michel Caza opened the proceedings with an updated preview of FESPA 2005 which provided all those present with a small foretaste of the good things the exhibition has to offer. He also made a further presentation centering on the, "Benefits of

UV inks in Screen Printing" and hosted an open discussion entitled "The Future of Screen Printing in a Worldwide Perspective".

One of the most lively and interesting items was a further open debate entitled: "Digital Printing: Treat or Professional Chance?" which enjoyed the participation of Michel Caza, Franco Lo Giudice, Vasilis Psaridis, Kohei Tanabe and Vivien Darbon. A lively discussion took place before all present conceded that screen printers are first and foremost, professional image makers and that the technology they use is merely a secondary factor, which is dependant on the specifics of

the application and the client’s requirements.

All of the sponsoring companies declared themselves delighted with the success of the event, whilst Michel Caza, speaking on behalf of Fespa, revealed that several similar seminars will take place all over Europe during the run up to FESPA2007 in Berlin.

The first Greek seminar, which was equally well received, took place in February at the Imperial Hotel in Athens.

For further information, please contact Materia Grigia company: +30-210 -9215023, +30 210-9215639, +30-2109215287, e-mail: materia@otenet.gr

Visit the SPA UK Group Pavilion The British Screenprinting Association, the SPA, an accredited trade organisation of UK Trade, is once again hosting a UK Pavilion at FESPA 2005 and is looking forward to welcoming all visitors who want to find out more about British printers, products and services.

For the duration of the show, the Pavilion is ‘home’ to ten British companies who between them produce the full spectrum of screenprinting equipment and materials.

Visitors to the Pavilion will 24 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

be able to meet: Apollo Colours, who

manufacture a large range of conventional and u.v. curing screen, pad printing, and offset litho inks, as well as distributing emulsions, cleaners

and chemicals produced by Thanet Coatings. Apollo currently offer 26 ink ranges for use in conjunction with most flat substrates, bottles, textiles and metals. www.appollocolours.co.uk

ASSOCIATION NEWS

The company supplies Plastisol, solvent based and UV inks and varnishes, together with the full complement of ancillary screen materials. In addition, the company also supplies new, reconditioned and secondhand equipment.

BMP Ltd, a worldwide manufacturing group that specialises in the production and conversion of engineered textiles and elastomers and also provides specialist light assembly and re-manufacturing services to OEM’s across diverse industrial market sectors. Its services include product innovation, technical sales, procurement engineering, supply chain management and asset recovery, as well as worldwide project management and manufacturing support. www.bmpeurope.com Colenso Screen Services, who

is introducing its Colegraf ranges of UV and Solvent based universal screen inks for resale both in the home market and worldwide. Both of these ranges are extremely versatile and come complete with their own colour matching systems, adjustable gloss level and adhesion modifiers. www.colenso.co.uk

www.nesms.co.uk Integration Technology Ltd, a leading world-wide supplier of UV lamp units for inkjet and digital printing applications, who supplies a wide range of standard products in addition to offering a bespoke design service. It will be showing its VZero and SubZero lamp variants, together with a full display of the company’s other products and services. www.uvintegration.com Nanojet Ink Ltd a UK based ink manufacturing and refilling facility specialising in the supply of high quality speciality ink dispersions for wide format digital printers.

With a strong PHD research and development team and over 35 years experience; Nanojet supplies ink to end users in the UK via its online ordering facility and through distributors throughout the rest of the world. www.nanojetink.com

Dave Renton Screen Printing Supplies, who are agents for

Nordson UV Ltd, a subsidiary

Hopkins/BWM, and aim to provide a one stop shop service for all screen printing equipment and consumables.

of Nordson Corporation, has brought together some of the UV industry’s most trusted names, such as Spectral

Technology, Wallace Knight, Colordry and ACT, to create UV curing and drying systems.

It now offers a complete range of inkjet curing systems using both classic UV arc and microwave UV technology, range from compact lightweight air-cooled shuttered systems, to compact cool running ultra high powered water cooled systems operating at up to 270 watt/cm. www.nordsonuv.com Packtex Ltd a UK based

company specialising in the manufacturing of Glitter powder. Using the brand name ‘Glittergo’, Packtex produces its product in a wide variety of different shapes and sizes, which range from the smallest microparticles for use in the cosmetic industry, through to a multitude of different shapes for the arts and crafts sectors. www.packtex.com PDS Consulting, who is

launching its web based, print learning package, which delivers practically based information for screen and pad printers. PDS will be demonstrating the course on the stand.

RSK Tech Ltd, who specialises in providing e-commerce and production management software, which is specifically designed for textile printers. It is demonstrating its LPF Logobank and LPF Commerce products and is offering a special FESPA deal that will entitle users to a FREE sixmonth trial. www.rsktech.com

In addition to the above, three other companies, who are exhibiting elsewhere at the show are also part of the UK Group. They are Adelco Screen Process (Stand A2 555); Contra Vision (Stand B2 442) and Web Consulting (Stand B2 442).

Michael Turner the Director of SPA is extending a warm welcome to all visitors, whatever their nationality. He says: "Whether you want to enquire about specific products or services, exchange information or just have a chat, the SPA team will be delighted to welcome you to the stand and assist you in any way that we can. Further, we’ll also be happy to advise where you can find any specific product or service that is being offered by any of the British companies exhibiting at FESPA2005."

See the SPA UK Group on Stand B1 520 For further information visit: www.spauk.co.uk

www.pdsconsulting.co.uk

FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 25

NEWS ROUND-UP – ESMA UPDATE AND WEB WATCH

Can you trust the information you get on chemicals?

Dr. Sem Seaborne, of ESMA’s Health Safety and Environmental Protection Committee poses the question EU legislation on chemicals requires information to be provided to users for the protection of workers’ health and safety, safe transport and protection of the environment. This is normally provided through the product label and material safety data sheet.

In the mid 1990s, an organisation was established by the European Commission called CLEEN (Chemicals Legislation European Enforcement Network) to ensure appropriate standards are being maintained. The secretariat for CLEEN is currently provided by the Austrian Umweltbundesamt and the German Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin.

Last year CLEEN reported on a project known as ECLIPS aimed at looking at the quality of labelling and datasheets relating to substances and preparations (mixtures of chemicals) of the type used by printers; ECLIPS stands for European Classification and Labelling Inspections of Preparations.

The findings were quite alarming for any printers putting trust in the datasheets and labelled chemicals they use. ECLIPS concluded that labelling on one third of the preparations on the European market does not comply with regulations and around 40% of safety data sheets are incorrect or incomplete.

Over 1500 preparations were examined in 12 member states.

Only 22% of those examined showed no problems at all, with 69% containing some degree of errors. These errors related to incorrect classifications, wrong risk phrases, erroneous chemical

Web Watch All-new Website for NUR NUR Macroprinters has launched a new and highly interactive website, which replaces the company's previous presence on the Worldwide Web. The site has been designed as a comprehen26 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

names, wrong danger symbols and incorrect safety advice. The study showed that the information prepared by small suppliers was particularly suspect and especially those who did not belong to trade associations.

Labelling and Data Sheets are vital information sources for printers to take the stipulated safety protection actions and first aid. Incorrect interpretation could lead to worker exposure, health effects, injury, or in the case of incorrect waste disposal, even prosecution. The importance of a reliable data sheet, chemical classification and label cannot be over emphasised.

The information from the ECLIPS project has been reviewed by the ESMA Health Safety and Environmental Committee. Representatives from all ESMA members have signed commitments to maintain the correct legal standards for the supply of chemicals and chemical preparations, and this is assured through the meetings of the Health Safety and Environmental Protection

Committee. We are confident that if you are buying from an ESMA supplier you are getting the correct information. The ESMA HSEP Committee meets on a regular basis to review information on chemicals and of course we also maintain vigilance on each other’s products. We do not allow incorrect use of safety information to be an opportunity for commercial advantage.

The message from ECLIPS was clear. Where suppliers are members of a trade association like ESMA, where members have a vested interest in keeping all members activities up to the required legal standards and regulatory expertise is shared between members, the information will be more dependable.

Smaller suppliers without professional expertise and the breadth of experience within ESMA are more likely to have erroneous or misleading data. So do make sure your inks and chemical suppliers are ESMA members if you want dependable advice and information on safety and environmental protection.

If you would like to nominate a site for inclusion here, please e-mail full details to val@valhirst.demon.co.uk. And remember, the FESPA website at www.fespa.com provides a wealth of useful information too!

sive information resource for both companies considering investing in a wide-format inkjet production printing and those looking to learn more about NUR Macroprinters products specifically. NUR customers and prospects alike will find value-added information and a range of useful tools they can put to immediate use in their businesses.

The site directs visitors to four main menus: Printers, Inks, What's New, and Customer Support. The "Printers" section of

the website provides information about the complete range of NUR printers, and also allows visitors to access information on wide format print production.

‘The "What's New" section of the website directs them to NUR's monthly e-magazine, NUR Big Time’, which contains news about selected industry happenings, new products, and application tips, whilst the "Inks" section provides information about NUR Spirit inks as well as NUR's automated ink inventory manage-

ment system. Customers who are registered users of the website can also order inks online and download a handy ink consumption calculator that determines how much ink an individual print job requires.

The Customer Support section helps NUR customers to locate the support call center for their region and to access a variety of downloads.

Visit the new NUR Macroprinters website, at www.nur.com

NEWS ROUND-UP – DIARY DATES

Diary dates for 2005 VISA 2005

SGIA

1-3rd September 2005 Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia Organiser: The Visual Industries Suppliers Association (VISA) Tel: +61 07 3852 3111 Fax: +61 07 3852 3133 e-mail: enquiries@dezuma.com.au www.visa.org.au

28th September – 1st October Ernest N. Morial Convention Centre ~New Orleans Organiser: SGIA Tel: 001 703 385 1335 e-mail: sgia@sgia.org www.sgia.org

Viscom 2005 FESPA General Assembly 16 - 18 September 2005, Slovenia Organiser: FESPA Tel: ++44 1737 240 788 e-mail: info@fespa.com www.fespa.com

Creativity: Designer meets Technology Europe 26th and 27th, September 2005 Skt. Petri Hotel (Copenhagen Organiser: Creative Institute for Design and Technology at KrIDT (Denmark) and The Center for Excellence of Digital Ink Jet Printing of Textiles at Philadelphia University (USA), Tel: +45 7022-7232 email: Helle@kridt.dk

29th September – 1st October 2005 Dusseldorf Messe, Germany Organiser: Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH Tel: +49 (0) 2 11 90 191 197/-218 Fax: +49 (0) 2 11 90 191-149 www.viscom.-messe.com

GlassPrint 2005 26 October 2005 NH Moerfelden Hotel, Frankfurt, Germany Organiser: ESMA/DMG World Media (UK) Tel: +44 1737 855 172 e-mail: sianmcconnell@uk.dmgworldmedia.com

If you would like your event to feature on this page, please send full information via e-mail to Val Hirst at val@valhirst.demon.co.uk

Screen Printing & Signs China 2005 21st-24th November , 2005, Guangzhou City Exhibition Centre (Huacheng Avenue East, Guangzhou) on Organiser: ASGA and CSGIA) Tel: ++86 10 84043402, Fax: ++86 10 64034996 e-mail: shenchunyan@csgia.org or visit www.csgia.org

Fespa World Expo India 05 1st-4th December Pragati Maiden Fair Ground New Delhi Organiser: FESPA Tel: ++44 1737 22 97 27 Fax: ++44 1737 24 07 70 e-mail: info@fespa.com www.fespa.com

FESPA Digital Printing Europe 16 – 18 May 2006 RAI Exhibition Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Organiser: FESPA Tel: +44 1737 229 727 Fax +44 1737 240 770 e-mail: info@fespa.com www.fespadigital.com

FESPA 2007 5 – 9 June 2007 Messe Berlin, Berlin, Germany Organiser: FESPA Tel: +44 1737 229 727 Fax +44 1737 240 770 e-mail: info@fespa.com www.fespa.com

FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 27

NEWS ROUND-UP – FESPA NEWSLETTER

FESPA assembles exhibitor steering group for Digital Printing Europe Feedback from key digital manufacturers will assist strategic planning and development of latest initiative FESPA can report that some constructive and useful feedback was obtained from its recently held steering group for the association’s latest initiative – FESPA Digital Printing Europe 2006.

initiative offers the growing industrial sector of the digital printing industry.

Christian Duyckaerts of Print and Display raised the point that many printers are now ‘hybrid’ businesses, running both screen and digital equipment successfully alongside each other to enhance their overall service offering and respond more efficiently and effectively to customer needs. This was generally acknowledged by the group, as was the notion that, increasingly, printers need to be more technologically diverse in order to survive.

Belgium-based graphics company, Print & Research undertaken by FESPA amongst Display, played host to the assembled group leading screen printers suggested there was a of FESPA exhibitors who attended the real desire to know more about the diverse meeting on 9th March, when Frazer applications that can be achieved digitally.

Chesterman, FESPA’s Exhibition’s Director, Max Linder of MACtac Europe, commented explained the concept of FESPA’s latest show, that the very fact that FESPA saw it of benefit which is set to take place at the RAI in to involve exhibitors in the development of Amsterdam in May of next year. the show, was encouraging. Like many within This provided the opportunity for some the industry, Max commented that digital open discussion and allowed the assembled technology is advancing quickly. “Digital company representatives to ask questions and printers need to be kept informed of new present their own observations on what the developments in the industry and I think

28 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

FESPA’s digital show will help fulfil this need”, he said. Max’s comments were echoed

by Herman Van de Haar of Epson: who said: “Digital is the future. We need a separate show and we are interested in exhibiting at the RAI next May.” The issue of an increasingly packed industry exhibition calendar was something that all attendees agreed is an irksome problem to contend with. Timo Keersmaekers of Roland DG believes that some of the smaller, domestic shows that cater for a national audience will eventually cease, with the industry instead accommodating one larger show – a sentiment that Patrick Pitoors of Gandi Innovations also concurred with.

Indeed, as Frazer Chesterman commented, this is one of the main reasons that FESPA shows are increasingly so well attended by more and more major industry players. "The ability to pull in a guaranteed multi-regional audience is one of the key differentiators that FESPA has over other, more ‘local’ shows. As such, exhibitors find they get more ‘bang for their buck’ than they would at a smaller show

The first Pan European event focused on the emerging digital technologies within industrial print applications

For further information contact Mike Ryan – Email michael.ryan@fespa.com or James Ford – Email james.ford@fespa.com For more information about visiting go to www.fespadigital.com Tel: +44 1737 240788

www.fespadigital.com

FESPA NEWSLETTER

whose visitorship is both less extensive and diverse."

Chesterman added that the current timeframe of the digital product cycle lends itself to a more regular show. The existing three year pattern for the main FESPA exhibition doesn’t align itself to such a cycle.

However, he also pointed out that FESPA isn’t seeking to alienate its traditional core exhibitors from the screen industry. Indeed screen technology will continue to be an integral aspect of the next ‘main’ FESPA exhibition.

As an independent observer of FESPA’s digital show developments, respected and recognised industry consultant, Stewart Partridge, presented recent research to reinforce the argument that a digital show is necessary. Importantly his research suggests that, given the constant improvements in inkjet and ink technology, a number of

growing opportunities exist in new digital industrial applications. It is these areas that extend the breadth and diversity of a printer’s service offering and in turn, offer them greater commercial strength. Partridge cited such applications as marking, coding and packaging, home furnishings and electronic and consumer goods as being key growth areas. Crucially, he points out that there is currently no proper forum available for these emerging technologies.

The FESPA exhibitions team were able to take some very useful observations from this latest steering group assembly, which will enable the strategic development of the event to move forward. Perhaps the best and most succinct observation came from Max Linder of MACtac, who suggested simply that: ‘If FESPA is running a show, then manufacturers need to sit up and take note!’

List of attending companies Mr

Christian

Duyckaerts

Print & Display

Mr

Jaco

Kramer

2-Some

Mr

Pedro

Martinez

Afford Industrial

Mr

Dave

Gray

Agfa Europe NV

Mr

Nico

Jansen

Avery Dennison

Mr

Herman

Van De Haar

Epson

Mr

Enrico

Steijn

Imaba

Mr

Ricardo

Rodriguez Delgado PANORAMA SA

Ms

Esmeralda

Desart

Fillink Technologies

Mr

Lagziel

Shmulik

Fillink Technologies

Mr

Patrick

Pittoors

Gandi Innovations

Mr

Philippe

Renquin

Grafityp

Mr

Max

Linder

MACtac Europe

Mr

Timo

Keersmaekers

Roland DG Benelux

Mr

Tony

Atkinson

Sericol Ltd

Mr

James

Rich

Spandex NV/SA

Mr

Laurent

Ghillebaert

Sun Chemical Screen

Mr

Stewart

Partridge

Web Consulting

Mr

Marius

Gort

ZSO

Mr

Peter

Jansen

Signtronic

Mr

Michel

Caza

FESPA

Exhibitors at FESPA in Munich 2005 will be invited to attend the FESPA Digital party on Thursday 2nd June at 5.30pm in the Digital Showcase Theatre Hall B2, where they can find out more about this exciting new event, whilst enjoying a drink and nibbles with the FESPA organising team.

FESPA NEWSLETTER

James Ford.

FESPA WORLDEXPO INDIA 2005 Over the last decade screen and digital printing have seen considerable growth in India and the surrounding countries of the Middle East and Asia. Printers in these regions are producing award winning printed products in textile, commercial graphics, electronics and industrial applications. Held at the premier exhibition complex in New Delhi, FESPA World Expo India 2005 is set to be the marketplace to develop these unquestionable skills and the general practice of screen and digital printing.

Exhibitors from across the globe will be participating in FESPA World Expo India 2005, to share their knowledge and products with an audience of more than 15,000 visitors from India and the surrounding regions, all eager for information, the latest product innovations and process knowl-

edge.

The exhibition and comprehensive seminar program will be organised by FESPA, in conjunction with SPAI, the Screen Printer’s Association of India.

So far there has been interest from both International and Indian exhibitors, such as Sericol, Encres Dubuit, Saati, Marabu, Fimor, VFP, Thieme, MHM, Grafica, Dhaval and Sunstar.

Exhibition Sales Manager, James Ford is very positive about the event. He says: “Early signs show that the exhibition will be a huge success, with signed up exhibitors from both Europe and India.

Currently over 1658 sq.metres have been reserved for this event, which we expect to be a total sell out.”

The FESPA team went out to Delhi in January to visit the Print Pack show, which they describe as

a very interesting experience’.

Their time was well spent meeting contractors, visiting the local hotels, presenting to potential exhibitors and press at the launch party and experiencing the local driving conditions!

“Organising a show in India is very different to running an event in Europe and it was important for the team to meet the local contractors and understand the culture and the different ways of working. We now have a much greater understanding of the marketplace and consequently, are in a much stronger position to organise a successful event in December,” comments Exhibition Director, Frazer Chesterman.

For further information about the show please visit: www.fespa.com Or call James Ford on Tel: 0044 1737 240788

FESPA WORLD EXPO INDIA Manufacturers and suppliers, are you interested in breaking into this market place, a land of unexploited opportunities?

Come to FESPA WORLD EXPO INDIA next December and demonstrate your products and technology to this keen audience, thirsty for your knowledge and experience.

What will be on show?

Screen and digital printing: Machinery Inks Substrates Consumables Pre-press technology Finishing equipment Services

Contact Michael Ryan – Exhibition Sales Manager for further details Email michael.ryan@fespa.com

www.fespaindia.com

Tel: +44 1737 240788

FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 31

FESPA FORUM

Opinion The immediate reaction of most exhibitors and visitors, when faced with the prospect of another new show is seldom one of unbridled enthusiasm.

Most companies are only too conscious of the time and cost exhibition participation involves and often feel nervous about committing a share of their precious marketing budgets to a new and unproven event. However, if an independent survey, carried out by the highly respected industry consultant Stewart Partridge is to be believed, many printers operating within the screen and digital sector not only feel that a dedicated digital show is necessary, they regard it as vital. And when one considers the constant improvements that are taking place in relation to digital technology, it’s hardly surprising.

Now you might think, as even a cursory glance at the show calendar would confirm, that there are more than enough digital shows already. After all, digital printing technology is an important part of the plethora of national sign, screen, visual communication and print shows that run throughout every year, most of which attract exhibitors and visitors a plenty. Of course, FESPA is the only truly international event in the market.

But when one examines the current show portfolio more closely, it becomes glaringly obvious that an important niche remains unoccupied. Currently, all of the above shows are directed at visitors who are producing graphic output in all of its various guises. Now, this indeed is a huge market, which is increasing all of time as digital technology opens up a stream of new graphic applications. However, in real terms, this is just the tip of the digital iceberg. According to Stewart Partridge’s research, there are a growing number of opportunities for digital printers in the industrial sector, where they can use their skills and their kit to print on to such diverse items as home furnishings and packaging. And that’s to say nothing of the full gamut of electronic, commercial and consumer goods that require coding

Over to you

Everyone has an opinion about exhibitions – their timing, their frequency and their content – all this and more is subject to frequent heated discussion and a host of contradictory views. Val Hirst examines the case for FESPA’s new show Fespa Digital Printing Europe. and marking.

These applications, whilst perhaps not initially appearing quite as exciting as some of the visually stimulating graphic applications that we are more familiar with, already provide much work for screenprinters and as digital technology develops, will offer many potentially lucrative new business opportunities for digital printers too.

The difficulty here is identifying this vast untapped resource – since most industries are potential users of digital printing the possible visitor list is infinite.

And a digital exhibition, which is structured to include industrial, as well as traditional sign and graphic applications, will also attract new exhibitors whose product offerings are, as yet, unknown within the graphics sector. Such a show will certainly offer something very different from the current crop of exhibitions and therein lies its true value.

This is why it is so fortunate that Fespa has built its reputation on the successful organisation of the largest international show in the market, with visitors from over 120 different countries worldwide and representing over 5000 screen and digital printers through the associations.

For exhibitors, the FESPA name and brand really does guarantee a world class event that delivers a truly global audience.

It is a fact, that these days, time away from the office has to be justified and as much as one might like to visit every show, there simply aren’t enough hours available. However, a FESPA event always attracts the participation of all of the major industry manufacturers and suppliers, many of whom designate the show as their chosen launch-pad for the introduction of new products and concepts.

This will almost certainly be the case with Fespa’s proposed new digital show at the Rai in Amsterdam next spring – it will be a unique event offering a unique experience and furthermore, one that carries the seal of credibility provided by the tried and tested expertise of the Fespa team. As well as coming out top as the

choice of venue in recent industry research.

And as well as the prospect of another exciting FESPA exhibition, the FESPA brand ensures that other, equally stimulating, ancillary events and features will surround the show. At present, the Fespa team is working hard to ensure that the new exhibition will be complemented by a series of workshops, which highlight case studies based on the different types of application, together with a seminar program that features all of the industry’s leading experts as speakers. Fespa is also hoping to link up with specialists such as Stewart Partridge, IMI and ZSO, all of whom will be sharing their knowledge at a series of innovative ‘learning and experience’ sessions. As always, the show will be much more than just another exhibition – it will be a full-blown industry event that is designed to attract every denomination of digital manufacturer, supplier, practitioner and specialist.

By the next issue, Fespa will be able to provide a progress report on its endeavours to date. Current exhibitors and the new companies who have already been approached are highly enthusiastic, but to be considered really successful, a show also needs to attract both the right quality and quantity of visitors. Which is why Fespa is canvassing opinions. This is your opportunity to articulate your views on this new show, or indeed, exhibitions in general.

What would you like to see there? What knowledge would you expect to gain?

Would you be interested in seeing how digital technology is being applied to a more diverse range of applications that, up until now have always been screenprinted? Hopefully a selection of your views will appear on this page in the next issue.

So when you are visiting FESPA 2005 this week it will be comforting to know that you won’t have to wait too long before the next FESPA show; even better, this time, you are being offered the chance to help style and shape it - don’t waste it!

What would you like to see at a new digital show and which ancillary events should be planned around it?

E-mail your views to Val Hirst at val@valhirst.demon.co.uk

32 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

FACE2FACE – WITH THE SAATI GROUP

The screen stars With separate print and chemical divisions, the Saati Group offers screenprinters a virtually one stop service. Val Hirst travels to the company’s Headquarters near Lake Como in Italy, to interview Alberto Novarese, the Chairman and Chief Executive of this family business to discover the secrets of its success.

Alberto Novarese is a lucky man and what’s more he acknowledges his good fortune. Although he still remains passionate about the future of the business that was originally started by his Grandfather in 1935, he freely admits that as he enters early middle age, he has the luxury of choice. He declares, with disarming frankness: "I love what I do and feel a great sense of responsibility for the people who work for me. But if I woke up one day and decided that I didn’t want to do it any more, I know that the company would carry on just as well without me."

He adds, that in business, passion for one’s work should always remain unclouded by sentiment and that, perhaps is one of the secrets of Saati’s continuing success. Alberto is able to run the company in a totally clear-sighted and forward thinking way without feeling hidebound by previous traditions. As he says: “I never regard myself as being the third generation of a family business - I am simply the person who is holding and building the business for the fourth generation!”

In fact, the company has progressed dramatically during the past 75 years and now has three main divisions. As well as SaatiPrint, which produces the precision woven fabrics used in conjunction with screens, there is SaatiChem, which offers a wide range of materials for screen preparation. The third division is SaatiTech, which manufacturers synthetic fibres used for filtration, together with its offshoot, Seal, which produces the composite materials used for, amongst other things, protective clothing.

The Saati Group’s main headquarters are located just outside Lake Como, which is of course, the heart of Italy’s textile industry and the place where much of the silk destined for use in haute couture is printed. It was this location which dictated the company’s original direction, but nowadays Saati also has a number of subsidiary companies, which offer production facilities in North America, Brazil, France and China plus commercial headquarters in Spain, Germany and Holland.

34 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

In Alberto’s view, diversification is no bad thing.

“Companies need to undergo a continuous process of revaluation and evolution,” he says, adding: “It isn’t so much a case of us working to meet the needs of a specific industry or sector, rather we can use them in any market where they would be valued. Sometimes this means entering a new areas, or it might simply mean extending a range to include all sorts of extras, which is how SaatiChem started.”

He explains that this division was the result of a natural progression.

“Customers who bought our screen meshes, also needed to purchase coatings and emulsions and by supplying these and the whole spectrum of ancillary items, we were able to fulfil customer demand, whilst also ensuring that the products worked in tandem with each other, to produce the best possible results.”

SaatiPrint now offers more than 70 meshes, which are application dependent and the range continues to expand as further new applications are introduced. The fabric weaving process can take a staggering six months to complete, from start to finish and although infinite mesh variations are held in stock, SaatiPrint also undertake a bespoke service for large volume orders. The SaatiChem range is also growing, with new products being added in response to customer demand. “We like to think in terms of being a ‘one-stop-shop’,” remarks Alberto. In fact FESPA 2005 marks something of a coming of age for SaatiChem. For the first time, the division will have its own stand, something which visibly marks the fact that it is now regarded as a company in its own right rather than just as a subdivision of SaatiPrint. “Of course, our ultimate aim is for customers to buy everything from us, but SaatiChem has grown to become an independent entity which offers products that can more than hold their own with those of its competitors,” says Alberto.

The consistent excellence of Saati’s offerings is largely due to the work carried out by its established research and development department,

FACE2FACE – WITH THE SAATI GROUP

which sets itself the onerous task of producing the necessary products in advance of actual demand.

This process is assisted by the fact that Saati sells direct to its largest customers, and is thus able to keep a close eye on all of the latest market trends as they unfold.

Technical support and education are also an important part of the overall Saati mix, with the company offering training courses that are designed to both initiate the novice screenprinter and to keep the more experienced up to speed with the latest techniques.

Such training programs are essential Alberto believes, if screenprinters are to evolve as applications change. He says: “Many screenprinting companies start out as family run businesses who primarily service other local businesses. Gradually they are facing competition from larger companies and also from companies who are offering all sorts of other complementary services such as signmaking and exhibition graphics. To ensure their continued survival, screenprinters will have to rethink their strategies. One option is to concentrate on providing a very good and sophisticated service for a niche market, work for which they can charge a premium price and to concentrate on becoming excellent specialists rather than mediocre generalists. But there are very

many different models of operation which are more or less appropriate to different industry sectors.”

We talk about the challenges generally posed by digital printing and Alberto espouses the view that this is the more viable technology only in areas where customisation and flexibility is a real issue.

He says: “In the graphics sector, digital printing is popular because it enables the production of more individual and precisely targeted output. However, in most industrial sectors, we are looking at long runs on more challenging substrates, such as glass for example, and for these, screen in still the only real choice.”

Alberto does acknowledge however, that once the parameters are correctly set, digital printing does have the advantage of consistency, something he feels very strongly about. As one of the founder members of ESMA, he is determined that screenprinting should become a more standardised process.

He says: “Screenprinting is still regarded as an art, but in a business world which is becoming increasingly slick and systemised, customers expect consistently reliable results. At present, I don’t believe they always get that.”

He admits, with a sense of frustration that this lack of standardisation begins with the suppliers of screen consumables, saying: “Presently each FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 35

FACE2FACE – WITH THE SAATI GROUP

manufacturer produces his products in isolation, without reference to any particular specification.

However, slowly that is changing. The whole industry has traditionally been very secretive and protective of its manufacturing processes, but eventually even the most unenlightened companies will begin to realise that it is in everyone’s best interests if we pool our collective knowledge to make products which conform to a basic set of criteria.

I really feel that if we don’t move forward in this way, we will be contributing to the eventual death of the screen process.”

Alberto remains confident however, that things are changing, albeit slowly. He continues: “If we look around, we can see that there are already some unlikely-sounding alliances, with some manufacturers already working together to provide ultimate solutions. Interestingly, it is the companies operating in those areas which are being most threatened by other technologies – notably digital printing methods - who are capitulating first. The dynamics of the marketplace are, after all, a much more efficient motivator than any sense of altruism and the lofty ideals which surround it, but I think this new pattern of collaboration is a trend that we will see continue.”

Alberto also feels that screenprinting would benefit hugely from an influx of people from outside the industry. “People who are unfettered by the weight of tradition see things more clearly and they come with a different perspective. There is no value in doing something the same way just because that’s how it’s always been done. We need to be thinking ‘quicker, easier and more effective’ and exploring avenues that will help us to achieve those aims. The final result will be a more streamlined, automated process which depends less on individual interpretation and more an a 36 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

prescribed course of action – one which guarantees similarly good results every time.”

When asked to comment on emerging markets, Alberto shakes his head. He says: “I don’t believe that manufacturers like Saati are in a position to be anything other than proactive. We have to produce what is needed at the appropriate time and of course we use the feedback that we get from our customers at shows like FESPA to help us predict what will be required. Of course markets move geographically and one of the advantages of being a global company is that you can follow them. We have seen some markets vanish totally but it isn’t usually too long before a new kind of application arrives to fill the void.”

As the father of two daughters, I ask Alberto whether he feels that there will be a Saati family member at the helm of the company in 20 years time. He laughs and says, “Whether there is or not, it doesn’t really matter. I have a very strong management team, who can run this company equally well with or without me.” He concedes, however that he adds ‘value’. “I am committed yes, in the way that people always are when they own a business and it’s true that I do regard the staff as an extended family, especially since most of them devote a lot of their working lives to Saati.”

Finally I ask him to tell me his immediate plans for Saati. He smiles. “That’s easy. We are planning to have an excellent FESPA and to use the exhibition to meet both current and potential customers. To us all of our customers are equally important, whether they are small or large companies – after all, they are the most vital component in the future of screenprinting.”

See SaatiPrint on Stand A1 610 and Saati Chem on Stand B1 305 at FESPA 2005 For further information visit: www.saatitech.com

FESPA UPDATE – FESPA 2005 HALL A1

FESPA 2005 The element of surprise is a vital component of all successful exhibitions and many companies are anxious not to spoil their thunder by revealing too many details in advance of the show. However, using all of the powers at our disposal, we’ve managed to persuade at least some of the exhibitors to provide readers of this magazine with special sneak previews of the products they’ll be showing in Munich.

As before we’ve divided the exhbition into separate halls. Some of the highlights you’ll be able to find in Hall A1 are listed below, and you can also find information on some of the latest releases in Halls B1 and B2 over the next several pages.

Hall A1 Rolt is showing its new 5BZ roll to roll screen printing machine, which combines UV and rewinding capabilities with high speed and 'X Y Theta' registration. The show machine is the small format 14" x 20"/ 350mm x 500mm, and will be running single lamp GEW UV. It incorporates special switching, with new control of the material, improved squeegee arrangement, to aid rapid and consistent running, plus laser micrometer registration. This enables the machine to be run with full registration at very high speeds, and is a considerable improvement over its CCD camera operated predecessor, which was much slower.

In addition, Rolt provides finishing equipment and diecutting, kiss cutting and through cutting with sheeting or rewinding and with laminating and foiling as required.

The standard widths of Rolt machinery are 350mm, 500mm and 600mm, but other sizes are available on request and print lengths can be tailored to suit customers’ requirements.

With suitable adjustments, any roll wound material can usually be printed through a Rolt, even metal shimstock, bringing simplicity and productivity to many diverse applications.

The company is also showing 38 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

details of its RFID printing, silver conductive printing, and other high performance applications, all of which are suitable for processing on the 5BZ. See Rolt on Stand A1140.

For further information visit: www.rolt.co.uk Screen-printing machines can be so large it is only possible for manufacturers to provide a small sample of their capabilities at Fespa, so H G Kippax & Sons Ltd – which manufactures machines in all sizes up to 6m x 3.3m – is focusing on two of its most popular models: the KPX 2000T multi-purpose press and the KPX Paramatic largeformat, heavy-duty machine.

The KPX 2000T on display is a hand-fed automatic version equipped with an integral UV dryer and automatic take-off unit. The KPX Paramatic (print area 3m x 1.5m), which is available as a semi- and threequarter automatic, has a mechanical parallel-lift frame and is designed for front screen loading. It can also be fitted with a complementary take-off unit. Both Kippax machines feature full PLC control, hightech pneumatic squeegee, adjustable vacuum printing base and patented Thieme print head.

See Kippax on Stand A1 240 For further information visit: www.hgkippax.co.uk

Thieme is showing three brand new cutting-edge printing systems, including the muchawaited large-format flatbed inkjet production line, which it has developed in close collaboration with Agfa Gevaert. Combining the expertise of Agfa in imaging and inkjet applications with Thieme’s system know-how, the flatbed machine will usher in a new generation of digital printing technology and set new standards with regard to quality and speed.

Thieme’s close collaboration with another industry leader, Schott AG, has resulted in a wholly new system for printing on to architectural glass. The computer-to-glass flatbed machine employs an electrophotographic process to print ceramic or duraplastic toners and can be adapted for other industrial applications.

To complete its hat-trick of new products Thieme will also show for the first time the newgeneration THIEME 5000 XL super-large format multi-colour screen-printing line that we featured in our January issue cover story.

See Thieme on Stands A1 400 and 510 For further information visit: www.thieme-products.com/ Esc Europa Siebdruck Maschinen-Centrum is showing its innovative

automatic ESC-PERFECTA IC series for screen washing and reclaiming, which was launched at the beginning of the year. The system, which is designed to save money whilst also increasing productivity, incorporates modules for inserting, screen washing, drying, reclaiming, developing and removal and can even be transformed into an allautomatic system, with the addition of an automatic screen insertion and removing (ROBOT) installation.

An important part of the program is the automatic screen washing machine, which offers the advantage of permanently cleaned solvents via the integrated filtration method, even when there are only a few screens to be cleaned. Since the machine only works on the effective screen area, the significantly abbreviated processing time saves chemicals, solvents and water. An even faster Professional version, with maintenance-free vacuum distillation is also available. All models feature high-grade configuration and improved production security.

See ESC on Stand A1 526 For further information visit: www.esc-online.de Fimor is announcing a partnership agreement with Courage Competition, a prototype race car

FESPA 2005HEADING HALL A1

manufacturer, based near Fimor in Le Mans, France, who both engineers and races its own race car prototypes. The company has developed car bodies for many internationally known race teams in the European and American "Le Mans Series" as well as the world’s most popular endurance race of the same name. Fimor believes that its association with the company will enable it to capitalise on what it considers to be the three core values which underline both its products and corporate ethos – performance, endurance and assurance.

Amongst the half a dozen products that have recently been launched, visitors can see Serilor TEX grade, a great value squeegee designed for the textile market; Serilor MR4, Fimor’s own version of a moulded edge squeegee for all applications requiring a smoother or thicker ink deposit; Serilor Diamond X-2 upgraded automatic sharpener,

a heavy duty look and dual diamond wheel grit size and Serilor FG, a fibre glass backed squeegee for use on fast, cylinder presses.

See Fimor on Stand A1-410 For further information visit:www.serilor.com Grunig, an innovative Swiss family enterprise, which is well-known as the manufacturer of printing screens, is well aware of the need to match quality with cost effectiveness and consequently concentrates on all the processes involved in screen manufacturing and preparation. Its wide product range is based on the three core competencies of stretching, coating and washing.

For stretching, it offers the unique single duplex clamps G201, mechanic, pneumatic and fully automatic stretching machines as well as equipment for any screen size and application. Its stretching machines can also be

combined with gluing robots, grinding machines for frame preparation and various measuring instruments for checking the mesh tension.

When it comes to coating, Grunig offers its customers the G-401patented single coating troughs and automatic coating machines for any screen size and application. These products can be complemented by in-line systems with feeder technology and dryers.

For washing, Grunig can supply washing, de-coating, degreasing and developing machines for any screen size, which can be complemented by fully automatic modular inline systems with feeder technology, blow-out and transfer devices as well as drying chambers.

With the growing awareness for environmental protection, systems for solvent conditioning and waste water treatment are becoming more important; Grunig provides several options for solvent

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preparation, using sedimentation or distillation processes or inclined filtering technology. For water treatment purposes, recycling systems, inclined filtering technology and emulsion cracking equipment are available.

Visitors can also see Grunig’s in-line cleaning system, the GWASH 140, a modular, costefficient and powerful in-line processing installation, which bridges the gap between individual machines and the modular G-170 in-line system.

It is available in a number of different configurations to suit individual requirements and has been designed to facilitate hassle-free maintenance and checking.

Another highlight on the Grunig stand is the very successful G-404 plug & coat and G-104 plug & wash. This new generation of Grünig initiation models offers automatic processes, good quality and simple and

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Kippax will be showing its latest automatic printer.

b The ESC-PERFECTA IC series. c, d & e Fimor will be showing a variety of different products.

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Grunig’s in-line cleaning system.

FESPA WORLD FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 12/04 39

FESPA 2005 HALL A1

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c

d a&b

Grunig will be showing a wide

range of equipment.

c&d

Nicomatic serves the membrane,

touchscreen and EL markets.

efficient handling at a very competitive price.

The G-104 PLUG & WASH is now available in four different sizes and offers three different options for washing out printing dyes with solvents or for developing the screens with water, whilst the G-404 PLUG & COAT is now available for coating smaller screens and also in a larger version.

See Grünig-Interscreen AG on Stand A1.320For further information visit www.grunig.ch Nicomatic is showing its range of conductive screen printable inks that are ideally suited to the membrane, touchscreen and EL markets.

The NCS-540AG has been specially formulated as a general purpose Polymer Thick Film Silver containing conductor ideal for use in Electro Luminescence (EL sheet) and other flexible applications. With excellent adhesion to indium tin oxide (ITO), polyester and polymide substrates, the NCS-540AG using a unique combination of 40 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 SPRING/05

silver flake and the latest in resin technology - also possesses excellent conductivity, abrasion resistance and printability.

Carbon resistive ink can also be added, if required, to give a specific level of conductivity.

With an adhesion/tape pull of 100/100 and an abrasion resistance, pencil hardness of 2H, the NCS-540AG can be used with semi-automatic and manual printers and offers excellent residence time on the screen in excess of 2 hours.

Nicomatic is also introducing a new range of high intensity LEDs in water clear white and super bright blue in an extensive variety of chip and package sizes.

The new, white Nicomatic "NO" series, available in chip sizes 1206, 0805, 0805 low profile, 0603 and in side-firing versions comes as standard in GaInN (with the exception of theNO-S170WC which comes as InGaN/SiC). With a viewing angle of 140° across the board and a lumin intensity of 400mcd for the 1206 version, the white LED offers an

additional versatility in that different coloured filters can be placed over it.

Compatible with automatic placement equipment and with the infrared and vapour phase reflow solder process, the package is available in 8mm tape on a 7" diameter reel. The SMD taping facility is also much smaller than lead frame type components, thus enabling a smaller board size, higher packing density and reduced storage space. This lightweight formula therefore makes them ideal for miniature applications particularly within the automotive and telecommunications industries.

The blue LED has also become increasingly fashionable, particularly within the hi-fi and electronics sector.

This too is also now available within the "NO" series, again in an InGaN, super blue chip dye with a water clear lens colour.

See Nicomatic on Stand A1.551 For further information e-mail: james.hevey@nicomatic.co.uk

It was three years ago – at FESPA 2002 in Madrid to be precise - that SPS Rehmus introduced a new division in its range of cylinder presses: the CyberPress CP swing cylinder series, a somewhat surprising departure for the inventor of the STOP cylinder.

However, the CyberPress CP presses offer many advantages: an offset style feeder separator head, fibre- optic registration control, a superior solution for screen adjustment and cleaning and, of course, the famous SPS pneumatic / hydraulic squeegee bridge – to mention just the most important features.

SPS Rehmus is inviting visitors to its stand to see demonstrations of both the CyberPress CP machine, and a line combination of SPS VITESSA STAR, the new UV+C ultra violet dryer, together with an automatic sheet stacker from the AS series.

Visit SPS Rehmus ON Stand A1.435.

For further information visit: www.sps-rehmus.de

FESPA 2005 HALL B1

Hall B1 Esko-Graphics is demonstrating a number of new innovations. The first of these is the Kongsberg iXL24, which, thanks to its excellent tooling versatility, is ideally suited for cutting, creasing and scoring low-volume corrugated and folding cartons. The second new innovation is the multi-purpose toolhead MultiCUT, which will be shown integrating the new icut vision control system, developed by Mikkelsen Graphic Engineering (MGE).

This not only creates new opportunities in the sign sector, it also enhances the cutting capability of the Kongsberg XL tables for packaging, sign and display applications.

Also on display is EskoGraphics’ workflow environment, Scope, which covers a wide range of functions, from job and product specification, through graphic and structural design and expert pre-production operations, to platemaking for printing and toolmaking for converting.

See Esko Graphics n stand B1.430, For more information, visit www.esko-graphics.com

The main attraction on the Luscher stand is the JetPrint 3530 UV, which was first shown at Drupa last year. This flatbed printer, which is designed for very large format digital printing is mounted on a unique fixed vacuum table and uses Spectra piezo print heads. It is available in various colour configurations and also offers a white ink option.

Using UV curable SunJet inks, the JetPrint prints on to almost any rigid and flexible material of up to an 80 mm thickness and can even print on to several substrates at once. Its 50 pico litre drop size corresponds to a true resolution of 400 dpi and it offers resolutions of up to 800 x 800 dpi. Visitors can see a four colour version of the machine printing with approx.

2000 nozzles per colour, at a maximum print speed of 200 m2 per hour.

In addition, the company is also demonstrating its acclaimed JetScreen Computerto-Screen System for filmless stencil production, which can accommodate frame sizes of up to 8 x 3.8 m. and now features a new print head which offers a true resolution of 900 dpi. This latest version of the JetScreen has an automatic screen

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handling conveyor belt and an automatic frame centering system for inline screenmaking.

Also on display is the XPose!

190, the latest model in the Xpose! range of thermal Computer-to-Platesetters, which is even further to the VLF end of the scale. The 190’s super large format of 2060 x 1560 mm enables it to image 32-up, which makes it the ideal partner for such machines as the new VLF KBA 205 sheet-fed presses used for poster production. When imaging at 600 dpi, the XPose!190 is the fastest manual CTP device currently available.

Visit Luscher on Stand B1.505 For further information, visit www.luescher.com Sericol is unveiling a collection of products for both screen and digital printing, and has chosen as its theme for the show: Screen + Digital = Profit2.

Making its first appearance on the world stage is the new Spyder 320, a digital, wide format (3.2m x 1.6m), fixed flatbed printer. To enable a more compact ‘footprint’ it features a moving print carriage and static bed. Top speed is

50m2 per hour with an optimum production rate in the 30-35m2 range. The new model has the usual advantages expected of Inca flatbed printers, such as ease of handling rigid materials, a vacuum table to anchor a wide range of substrates, and precision registration, making it ideal for POP display and double-sided or lenticular work.

Spyder 320 uses a Sericol Uvijet ink that offers better flexibility and adhesion, as well as a vibrant satin print finish.

The Spyder 320 sits alongside a Columbia Turbo – reputedly the fastest digital flatbed printer in the world. This powerhouse machine has a flatout speed of 160m2 per hour, offering excellent resolution cruising at 80-90m2. Already Columbia Turbo has raised the bar of economic crossover between digital and screen print, offering owners using both technologies a genuine choice of print methods for many jobs.

Both digital machines use Sericol’s Uvijet range of UV curing inkjet inks, but, the company is also showing a number of new UV screen ink developments. Uvispeed Multiflash UZ is already the

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The MultiCut feature

on the Esko-Graphic’s Kongsberg iXL24, pictured far right.

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Luscher will be

showing a selection of products on its stand.

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42 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

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PAST AND PRESENT PRESIDENTS

FESPA 2005 HALL B1 a

See the Inca Spyder on the Sericol stand.

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Caldera Graphics is releasing its Version 7 software.

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largest selling screen graphic ink in Europe, and is a benchmark for ink performance in the POP/Display sectors, offering best-in-class characteristics of versatility and ease-of-use. Sericol has now upgraded the performance of this 100% UV screen ink to a wider range of POP materials, thus boosting its attractiveness.

Uvispeed Multiflash UZ offers a vivid satin finish; low-build for sharper definition; excellent performance on paper, board or PVC; and unlimited screen stability.

Uvispeed Gloss UG is another new addition and is designed to give an outstanding level of quality and finish to producers of packaging and 3 dimensional displays. This conventional UV curing ink gives a supreme high-gloss finish on paper and board and withstands the rigours of cutting, creasing, folding and punching, making it ideal for corrugated and cardengineered applications, incorporating both line and trichromatic inks.

A new development that reinforces Sericol’s commitment to water-based screen UV technology is Aquaspeed Display YZ, an easy-to-use trichromatic ink, offering high quality, satin-finish print and combining exceptional stability on-press as well as a quick-start gel structure. Low ink-build ensures high definition on a range of substrates, including paper, board and PVC. Making its first appearance at a major show is Color+, a new series of solvent-based, piezo drop-on-demand inks specially formulated for wide and 44 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

superwide format, roll-fed inkjet printers. The ink, which combines brilliant colours and maximum light-fastness, is made using an innovative production method: A unique Micro V fine-dispersion technique ensures that the pigment stays in solution longer and eliminates settlement. Inks in the Color+ range are suitable for use with commonly used most makes of roll-fed superwide digital presses.

The Micro V dispersion technology behind Color+ is also used to produce Sericol’s Flexo JD, the latest addition to the Uvivid family of UV-curing narrow web inks. Micro V gives highly pigmented colours, low viscosity and formulations that accurately match to Pantone colours. As a result, narrow web printers benefit from better print quality, as well as lower ink consumption, reduced downtime and better mileage.

Also on show is Texopaque Pioneer OK, a phthalate and PVC-free, plastisol ink designed to meet the rigorous standards of textile printers, whilst also addressing environmental concerns. The formulation of Pioneer OK has been enhanced to improve on-press performance and the range includes fluorescent and metallic finishes.

Seridisc, Sericol’s premium brand of UV-curing inks designed for optical media printers has now been enhanced with the addition of LS 916, an inkjet receptive layer for printing over existing Seridisc UR UV-curing whites, and accepts water-based inkjet inks, thus allowing printers to

personalise small quantities of recordable CD-R and DVD-R disks after they have been recorded.

Also on show is Sericol’s Dirasol family of screen emulsions and the Xtend range of screen cleaners.

See Sericol on Stand B1 530 For further information visit: www.sericol.com Encad is exhibiting its award winning NJ1000i in partnership with key distributor, Tepede, With two NovaJet 1000i printers on show, one running pigment ink and the other, dye, visitors to the stand will be able to experience first-hand the outstanding performance of Encad’s flagship wide-format printer.

The NovaJet 1000i, designed to specifications compiled from extensive customer input sessions, uses a number of innovations to improve speed, image quality, reliability, ease of use, and provides an extremely low cost per print.

See Encad on the Tepede Stand B1 645/ 646 For further information visit: www.encad.com Caldera Graphics is showing its new version 7, a major upgrade, which includes such features as enhanced EasyMedia, VisualCUT, Nest-OMatik and RIP thus offering a brand new interface to Caldera customers.

Live demonstrations will be taking place on a number of stands including ATP Color / B1.250; Gandinnovations / B2.505; Luscher / B1.505; Mutoh / B2.625; Seiko Infotech / B2.347; Tepede Globe B1.645

and Zünd / B2.215.

For further information visit: www.caldera.fr Afford Industrial of Madrid is demonstrating its new high tech digital inks for the first time in partnership with PIT and its Sprint Machine, a UV flat bed digital printer capable of printing on almost any substrate at speeds of up to 260 sqm/hr.

Visitors will see water based, dye and pigment inks, for use in conjunction with HP, Roland, Mimaki and Epson printers, plus dye sublimation ink and inks for screen positive production.

Also on show are Afford’s solvent based inks for both superwide and large format printers such as NUR, VUTEk, Scitex, Jeti, and Oce, together with UV based inks for flat bed printing machines.

In addition, the company is introducing four new ranges for screenprinting which include the 93 series, a cost effective, versatile UV ink solution for printing on to PVC and cardboard and the 96 series, a range of UV thermoformable screen inks. Also on show is the 98 series, UV ink that produces excellent results when applied to glass and which offers good resistance to water and cleaning cycles. Finally, the 82 series is designed for application to CDs, CD-R’s and DVDs. A broad range of colours, metallics and special effects are also available.

See Afford on Stand B1 640 For further information visit: www.argadiel.com

FESPA 2005 HALL B2

Hall B2 Durst is using FESPA as the launch pad for two new digital printers. The Rho 600 Series represents the next generation of flatbed inkjet printers, and combines exceptional quality of print with the highest output speed available. Like the market leading Rho 205, it is modular in design so that it can be upgraded with a range of speed and special colour options.

The Durst Rhopac is the world’s first dedicated UV curing flatbed inkjet printer for the packaging print market.

Capable of printing at high speed directly onto corrugated packaging material, the Rhopac is designed for fast turn round, short run print that maximises profit and business opportunities within the packaging market.

Both products feature new print head technology called Durst Quadro Array Technology, designed and manufactured by Durst, which, the company predict, will firmly establish it as the technology leader in the UV curing flatbed inkjet market.

See Durst on Stand B2 620 For further information visit www.durst-online.com NUR’s presence at FESPA will be dominated by its commitment to the UV curable inks’ market, with its latest machines showing how this technology has been incorporated into its roll-fed Expedio as well as the established flatbed Tempo.

Additionally, the company now offers a white ink option along with spot colours and varnish.

This is a buoyant and positive time for NUR Macroprinters as the company has improved its financial stability and is set to continue on its growth path. Its confidence in the Expedio has been endorsed with a new manufacturing facility for the printer in a 720 square metre dedicated production area.

Sited in the same industrial park near Tel Aviv, Israel, as the company’s Fresco and Tempo assembly lines, NUR Macroprinters’ wide-format printer production area now totals some 3,100 square metres.

The NUR Expedio sets a new standard in high-speed superwide-format roll-fed output, and this piezo drop-ondemand ink-jet machine has been acknowledged as the first of its kind to incorporate UV curable inks. Combining high speeds and good environmental properties with quality of output, the Expedio is ideal for a broad range of applications, including signs and displays designed to be viewed from a close distance, as well as posters and billboards.

With a maximum print width of 5 metres and a choice of either four- or eight-colour output modes, with quick and easy change-over between the two, the Expedio is a true multi-purpose printer. For example, it can print in eight colours and at a resolution of

720 dpi for jobs where fine detail is required yet it can also work at super-fast speeds of up to 150 square m/hour. This makes it a true production printer for grand-format applications. Additionally, a multi-roll printing capability increases its versatility and productivity, providing the option either to print one file on different rolls to speed throughput or to print several files simultaneously for, say, tiled applications.

However, as well as its ability to print high quality jobs quickly and efficiently, the incorporation of UV curable ink technology in the Expedio means that output is dry when it comes off the printer. UV curable inks also offer excellent adhesion across a wide selection of printing materials, with accurate colour density and clean gamut, and output is outdoor durable for up to two years.

NUR’s use of UV curable ink technology in its Expedio confirms the company’s commitment to the environment and, as these inks contain no VOCs (volatile organic compounds), users do not have to worry about harmful emissions and the penalties often imposed when solvent-based inks are employed. An extra benefit can be seen in reduced maintenance procedures for the printer; because UV curable inks stay liquid until they are cured onto the material, they do not dry on the ink-jet print-

heads.

Joining the Expedio on NUR’s stand at FESPA will be the well-established Tempo, the company’s successful flat-bed machine which, again, incorporates UV curable inks and is now available in new modular configurations. Users can opt for four-, six- and eight-colour models, with the ability to add features as and when needed, including white ink, spot-colour and UVselective varnish options.

See NUR on Stand B2 For further information visit: www.nur.com Avery Dennison Graphics’ extensive professional signmaking and display product portfolio can be found on a visually-different and highly-interactive stand.

Products include Avery 700 Premium Films, available in 120 standard stock colours; and Avery 800 Premium Cast films, offered in 81 standard stock colours, plus the option of colour matching for low minimum order quantities.

These two ranges offer the best price/performance ratio for everyday signage and vehicle graphics. They are complemented by the top-ofthe-range Avery 900 Super Cast films, which are uniquely available in Pantone-approved colour matches as well as standard stock colours.

The extensive choice of Avery Graphics digital print substrates – which give firstclass results with solvent-, eco-

a & b NUR’s Expedio and Tempo printers. c GBC’s new signmaker system.

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46 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

FESPA 2005 HALL B2

solvent and water-based inkjet – is also on show, with a particular focus on Avery Easy Apply films for perfect vehicle wraps, which are now available in both cast and polymeric calendered qualities. Visitors can also enjoy live product application demonstrations, and gain ’hands on’ product experience.

See Avery Dennison on Stand B2. 225, For further information visit: www.europe.averygraphics.c om ASLAN, Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG is showing its wide range of self-adhesive films and is focusing particularly on its extended range of films for digital printing which includes materials suitable for use in conjunction with solvent, eco solvent and waterbased inks.

These include ASLAN DF 16, a new translucent film that is ideal for all illuminated applications such as light boxes. This white polymeric film, which is 90 µm thick can be printed with all solvent inks and complemented with a film from Aslan’s wide range of laminating materials.

Aslan is also showing many innovative speciality products, such as new metal effect films and different glass decoration films, as well as the world´s largest program of stencil films including ASLAN 85 K, a highly flexible film for painting and lacquering on vehicles and awnings.

See ASLAN, Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG on Stand B2 418 For further information visit GBC Films Group Europe is demonstrating three innovative wide format finishing solutions for the finishing of signs, displays, posters, banners, graphics, pop-ups and roll-ups.

These include the new Signmakersystem, which combines a table-top laminator with a new AccuShield film to finish vinyl banners for shortterm outdoor use and the new 48 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

SecurFilm film, which is a single-product solution, being both an inkjet printable media and a protective laminating film, when combined with the Signmakersystem. Available in gloss or matt finishes in 965 x 30mm format, SecurFilm creates quality mounted boards in one step, and is an excellent choice for indoor signage applications, A third new solution, the versatile Talon 64 laminator, is designed for mid-range volume finishing and is being demonstrated as a finishing solution with the new costeffective GBC self-adhesive Arctic High-Volume film for finishing indoor and outdoor applications for medium term use.

See GBC Films Group Europe on Stand B2.782 For further information visit: www.gbcfilm.com

a

Some of the highlights of the HP stand.

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HP offers a broad portfolio of applications for the screen printer and visitors to its stand will see demonstrations of membrane switch applications, POP' and carton box materials that are cut on Esko-Graphics and MGE cutters. In addition, HP prints web based signs and membrane switches, dye cut by the Klemm laser cutter.

On the SMAG stand, visitors will be able to see labels being printed on a ws4050 and enhanced with the use of tactile screen inks.

See HP on Stands B2.220, B1.430 and A1.325 For further information visit: www.hp.com

applications, trade show graphics and point of sale applications. The product delivers high image quality and durability and has a universal matte banner/outdoor coating.

In addition, it can be finished with InteliCoat’s unique DMFTP-Fluorex Transfer Protector as well as hot and cold laminates. Magic POS-PRO is also available in a 350 micron version, ideal for expandable, ‘nomadic’ pop-up displays, whilst an additional 260 micron version provides increased flexibility for wrapping around corners and edges of pop-up displays.

Another new product is Magic SBL-7SIJ, a 7 mil backlit film compatible with all leading Solvent Ink Jet printers.

Designed to be printed on its front surface, SBL-7SIJ works for both reflective and backlit displays, offering a bright white printing surface and water resistant coating with maximum ink density, vivid colours and outstanding image resolution. In addition, Intelicoat will also be launching further new products during the course of the show.

See Intelicoat on Stand B2 415 For further information visit: www.intelicoat.com

InteliCoat Technologies is launching more ‘first in inkjet media’ products, including Magic POS-PRO printable block-out polyester film and Magic SBL-7SIJ backlit film for solvent inkjet printers.

Magic POS-PRO 200 is a 200 micron printable block-out polyester film, which is ideal for high quality indoor applications, including promotional roll-up

MACtac Europe is demonstrating the printing quality of two new films in its IMAGin series for eco solvent inks. IMAGIN JT 5899 RM gloss clear film, is suitable for short term displays such as window graphics, vehicle liveries and floor graphics, whilst IMAGin JT 5529 PM is a white gloss highly conformable film for long term vehicle wraps and applications to

recessed, riveted or corrugated surfaces.

They will be complemented by three new IMAGin selfadhesive papers for digital printing on thermal and piezo printers with dye or pigmented inks, which offer a high print quality for vividly coloured graphics, coupled with a friction and scratch resistant surface. What’s more, they also offer a 30% ink saving when compared with similar top coated products.

MACtac is also taking the opportunity to launch the fifth edition of its WorldWide Awards competition, which is designed to honour the most impressive visual communication applications.

See MACtac on Stand B2.240 For further information visit: www.mactac-europe.com Matan Digital Printers is showing the Matan JetSet, a wide format printer, which uses Hitachi inkjet technology and is available in both 2.5 and 3.2 metre versions. It offers six colours and a resolution of 600dpi, together with multi roll and backlit features and includes supreme inks from Matan. New accessories include a jumbo media roll feeder and media collector.

The Matan SpringPro is an industrial level printer which uses up to six colors including spot colours such as opaque white, metallic silver, metallic gold and many more. It prints variable data on to pre-printed reels from other printing platforms and comes complete with a digital finishing system for a total converting process.

See Matan on Stand B2.426 For further information visit: www.matanprinters.com

FESPA 2005 HALL B2

a

b

c

d a b c d

The latest version of the Shiraz RIP. Europoint’s Oracal range in action.

KPMF’s popular Glitter fil.

Kuntsduenger’s Ghost mounting system.

AIT is aiming to repeat its success at Sign UK, where it sold 24 new large-format solvent and water-based ink printer systems off its stand.

FESPA will provide AIT with its first European opportunity to show off the new release of its popular Shiraz RIP, with its improved colour correction tools, enhanced print layout facilities and easier printing from a Mac server platform.

Shiraz V6.1 is the first new software release since AIT’s transformation of the RIP into a comprehensive multi-server, multi-user display print tool in the autumn of 2003. It is being shown with drivers for the new Mimaki JV22, the best-selling Mimaki JV3 and all the latest models from Canon, Encad, Epson, HP and Seiko.

See AIT on Stand B1.571 For further information visit: www.applied-image.com Familiar faces from Europoint Display will be seen on the PaperlinX stand, where UK visitors will be greeted with important news about the latest developments to the Oracal range of self-adhesive vinyls and receive an update on the company’s diverse array of display, screen and digital print products. By good fortune, Orafol has the Fespa stand next to PaperlinX, so providing the Europoint team with a complete showcase of Oracal products right on their doorstep.

See Europoint Display on Stand B2 340 For further information visit: www:paperco.co.uk 50 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

Digital media specialist, Folex, has something for everyone on its stand. For screen printers there is the new Folex Repro Jet P inkjet printable repro film for the production of directexposure stencil artwork. This offers UV image densities of 4 or more and has an instant-dry top coating suitable for pigmented as well as dye-based inks. For those involved in the production of membrane switch panels, there will be a coated film for printing prototypes using the HP Indigo digital print system.

Large-format inkjet display printers will be interested in Folajet Stoplite, a 280 micron, non-reflective white polyester film specifically designed for producing pop-ups. This is having its first airing at Fespa, together with the Folajet backlit, banner, self-adhesive vinyl and cotton canvas products recently re-formulated with waterfast coatings.

See Folex on Stand B2 646 For further information visit: www.folex.co.uk Innovation is the theme of the KPMF presentation – as it was at Madrid – with a whole raft of imaginative and ingenious new marking films that have been developed since the 2002 Fespa. Star billing is shared by the practical KPMF cast and calendered vinyl products that help make the production of signs and vehicle graphics easier – and the decorative, that make them more exciting.

In the former category, the two brand new vehicle wrapping film systems – VWS II

and VWS III – will probably excite most interest as, coupled with VWS I, they cover every possible production and enduser requirement. The huge extension in the range of masspigmented colours in which both the KPMF cast and calendered films are now available will also be welcome.

KPMF has a reputation for inventiveness when it comes to films with special visual effects.

This is highlighted by the “Glitter” range, that has now been extended to 11 different colours, the etched glass films, which now number seven variously coloured products, and the four iridescents – all of which are exclusive to the UK manufacturer.

See Kay Premium Marking Films on Stand B2 105 For further information visit: www.kpmf.com Italian design company Kuntsduenger intends to keep spirits high on its stand with the introduction of Ghost, a new, invisible wall mounting system for glass, mirrors, acrylics or metal, which does away with the need for visible spacers and quickly fixes lighter signs without drilling holes.

Designed to make life easier, with leafs that instantly measure the right distance from the border, together with stickers that mark the right drilling place, Ghost’s special click-in system can also be attached with double sided adhesive tape or super glue, which facilitates almost instant sign replacement.

See Kuntsduenger on Stand B2.448

ColorGATE is presenting several new production solutions for the screen printing, sign and imaging sectors. Digital colour prints and digitally generated screen printing films will be output on systems from Agfa, Epson and Seiko, using a wide range of different materials and can be seen in action on many stands around the halls as well as ColorGATE’s own stand in Hall B2.

The ColorGATE products ScreenGate4 and ProductionServer4 can be seen at the ColorGATE stand of the manufacturer as well as at the stands of the many sales partners: The popular solution Screen&Sign3 is superceded in its fourth version by Screengate4, which is designed to help printers by simplifying the change from analogue to alternative solutions for the generation of screen printing films. New functions include an enhanced screening technology which offers the capability to output stochastic FM screening.

It also contains further linearisation functionalities for screen printing films and PDF separation support.

For those who need to output large format inkjet images, Productionserver4, with its new screen module, offers many new features which help to both simplify the daily work load and increase overall efficiency.

See Colorgate on Stand B2 349 For further information visit:www.colorgate.com.

THE BIG STORY

Shared Vision It isn’t often that a customer’s vision of what he wants coincides with a manufacturers’ idea of what he would like to produce, but on the rare occasions when this happens, the result is something very special indeed. Val Hirst visits Italian screenprinting company Pubblicentro to discover just why it is so pleased with its latest acquisition from Danish manufacturer, Grønlund.

As the Managing Director of Pubblicentro, a screenprinting company located just outside Venice, William Favaro found himself facing an increasingly vexing dilemma. Having invested in a six colour Svecia SAM-X screenprinting machine, some three years ago, William was finding that his prepress operation couldn’t keep up with the increased speed and efficiency of his automatic printing line. So he did the most logical thing he could think of – he sat down and designed his ultimate wish list – a fully automated line which included washing, coating, computer to screen, exposing, processing and drying facilitates and eliminated the need for time consuming – and costly – manual intervention.

Meanwhile, several hundred miles away in Copenhagen, Neils Grønlund, the principal of Grønlund Machine Works was ready to realise a long cherished dream. Having spent more than 40 years working in the area of graphic reproduction, Neils started out as a screenprinter himself, but found that he was spending increasing amounts of his time designing and modifying his screen equipment to make it more effective.

When other screenprinters began to ask him to carry out similar modifications for them, he realised that he had the basis for a lucrative new business and thus Grønlund Machine Works was established in 1964. Since then, it has earned a reputation for producing a wide range of practical and functional pre and post 54 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

press equipment which carries the ‘Dane’ brand, but Neils has always harboured one unfulfilled ambition. He confides: "I have always felt that the development of a fully automatic pre-press operation would be the ultimate achievement and it has been my ambition to produce one for the last 25 years."

Imagine his delight then, when Pubblicentro invited Grønlund to do just that!

In many ways it is ironic that the first company in the world to adopt this ground breaking solution is a comparatively modest, family run business, rather than a huge screenprinter. But then again it is quite obvious that William Favaro intends to propel Pubblicentro to the top of the screenprinting league. The company was originally founded by William’s father some 30 years ago. In those days, Daniel Favaro’s main activity was printing graphics on to T-shirts, using a secondhand bench in a back room of the family home. Now, William, who runs the company with the help of his brother Christian, employs 18 staff and operates from a purpose-built 3000 sq.metre factory unit, where he produces the full gamut of advertising displays and signs.

He explains that the acquisition of the Svecia printer enabled the company to significantly broaden its scope in terms of both applications and customers, but that Pubblicentro was unable to use the machine to its fullest capacity because screen preparation took so long. William

THE BIG STORY

"I have always felt that the development of a fully automatic pre-press operation would be the ultimate achievement and it has been my ambition to produce one for the last 25 years."

says: "There was always a bottleneck on the pre-press side of things which meant that the machine was often waiting for the next screen to be ready. I realised that in order to develop the business further, I would have to do something to alleviate this and then I thought – we have an automatic printer – why not an automatic pre-press line?"

So it was that William’s original sketches, outlining how the line might work, became Grønlund’s blueprint. Neils Grønlund remarks: "We already manufactured most of the different elements as stand alone machines – the challenge for us was to get them working in tandem so that the whole operation became totally seamless."

The final result has exceeded everyone’s expectations and in the year since it was installed, William has seen his company’s business increase by a massive 51% over the previous twelve months.

A visit to his spotlessly clean headquarters provides an opportunity to see the line in action. It stretches down one side of the factory, with the Svecia machine directly opposite it and a single operative directs its operation via a central computer terminal. There are now only two manual operations: the initial ink stripping, which takes place at an adjacent table and screen inspection.

The stripped screens are delivered to the first inlet magazine, which accommodates 10 screens, using an ingenious pulley system which William devised himself. Once in the magazine,

the screens travel into the Grønlund Dane Wash, a high capacity ink and stencil removal system. Designed to fulfil all current legislation relating to the environment, this fully automated closed system cleans screens thoroughly and effectively in a single working process and recirculates the chemicals. From there, the screens pass into an inspection magazine so that the operative can check that all residues have been satisfactorily removed. The next stop is the Dane coating machine, which is back illuminated with a light wall. The screens’ journeycontinues as they pass into another inspection magazine, before moving on to the Luscher computer to screen press, which William was keen to retain as part of the line. From there, they are sent into a Dane Exposure Processor and thereafter on to the Dane stencil processor. The screens then pass though a drying machine before finally arriving at an outlet magazine, where they remain until the Svecia.operator Is ready for them.

The whole process is very quick and William confirms that it has certainly benefitted Pubblicentro’s overall productivity. He says: "Before we had the line, we were struggling to process 20 screens in a day – now we can process up to 91screens during an eight hour shift, which has made a tremendous difference to us. It means that when we have tight deadlines to meet, we can run 24 hour shifts. What’s more the line can be operated by one person, whereas before, FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 55

THE BIG STORY

"But in each case they will be transforming a labour intensive and time consuming process into a fast and efficient one – I truly believe that is is the way forward for all screenprinters, whatever their size."

56 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

it took three people."

He adds that there is a further saving on screen mesh. "Cleaning is now more thorough and efficient but less damaging – I estimate that we now get 30% more use from our screens."

This is all very encouraging, but what sort of investment is initially necessary before these savings can be realised?

Actually it’s surprisingly modest. "A lineup of this kind costs somewhere in the region €400,000," says Neils Grønlund, "or to put it into perspective, about that same as you would expect to pay for a super-wide format digital printer.

Obviously the cost will vary slightly from company to company, depending on the sort of work they are specialising in, and any items they want to retain. Wherever possible, we try to incorporate their current equipment, as with Pubblicentro’s computer to screen press."

He continues, "Of course the savings that William is now realising are just part of the story. One of the things that immediately strikes you when you walk into this factory is how quiet, clean and organised everything is – in fact you could say that it is the very antithesis of most screenprinting companies, where people are rushing from one place to another! It makes for a much more conducive working environment and that in itself promotes greater efficiency."

He feels too that any automation of the screen process leads to greater overall consistency and quality. He says: "Screenprinting started as a craft based cottage industry and in some instances the inconsistency of output adds to the overall charm of the final product - this is particularly the case when people place a high premium on originality. But when it comes to commercial applications it’s a different thing altogether. The customer needs to know that the first poster you produce is going to be of the same high quality as the 100,000th poster. When parts of the process are carried out manually it’s very difficult to guarantee precisely the same result because there are too many elements which are open to individual interpretation. For instance, one person’s clean screen, would be rejected by someone else. Automating the process helps to iron out all of those idiosyncrasies. Once the parameters have been set, they remain rigidly in place and total consistency is thus assured."

He continues: "Screen and digital

printing technologies are often compared these days and very often, the screen process comes off worse. But I think that if people could extract from the digital process those elements that they find most attractive – i.e its speed and comparative ease of use and apply them to screen, many would agree that screen remains a highly competitive process and indeed it is still the only viable process for use with most industrial applications."

And despite its sleek sophistication Pubblicentro’s new line is very easy to operate. "Every action is controlled by the computer," explains Neils. "All the operator has to do is enter the required information – everything then happens automatically."

In fact so easy was it for Pubblicentro to get to grips with its new acquisition that it did so without referring to a manual! "Because we were the first customer, the manual hadn’t been written when the machine was installed," remembers William. "However, it didn’t matter at all – the software was pretty much self-explanatory and so very little training is needed."

Since the Pubblicentro installation, Grønlund has been commissioned to produce five further automatic lines for customers in America, France and Sweden. "All are slightly different because they are tailored to meet each customers’ precise requirements," says Neils, "But in each case they will be transforming a labour intensive and time consuming process into a fast and efficient one – I truly believe that is is the way forward for all screenprinters, whatever their size."

Certainly, it’s a process, which ideally needs to be seen to be fully appreciated, and one which exerts a strangely hypnotic fascination. However, Fespa visitors will be able to judge its efficacy for themselves. Grønlund's automatic pre-press line will be in operation on two stands. The first part of the process will take place on Grønlund’s own stand, whilst the remainder will be accommodated on the Sign Tronic stand.

I’d advise that Stands A1 750 and B1 110 should be one of your first ports of call!

For further information on Grønlund Machine World and it’s automatic pre and post press machines visit: www.ggroup.dk

FESPA 2005

Fabulous Flatbeds!

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Anyone who owns a flatbed digital printer or who is thinking about acquiring one, should be sure to catch Jane Cedrone’s presentation during the Seminar Program at FESPA 2005. As VUTEk’s Marketing Communications & Public Relations Manager, Jane has probably seen more imaginative flatbed applications than anyone else in the industry. Here, we provide a brief resumé of the topics that she covers during her talk. b

"VUTEk has a history of innovation in super-wide printing since 1988 and arguably offers the broadest selection of industrial super-wide format printers and inks currently available. Over the years it’s been both my pleasure and privilege to meet many of our customers, including commercial/billboard printers, photo labs, signmakers, screenprinters and digital service bureaus, and to witness at first hand the innovative and imaginative ways they are using our equipment, to produce graphics of real distinction.

Now, I think that the advent of digital flatbed printers has really added another dimension to our customers’ applications.

And what has been really interesting is, that in addition to the applications that we thought would benefit when we first devised the technology, our customers are producing all sorts of other adventurous projects that we had never even dreamt of!

It seems to me that once they acquire a flatbed, there is no stopping them!

We originally estimated that ideal applications for flatbed printing were high quality POP, signs and banners, outdoor displays and exhibition graphics. Now they have been augmented by all sorts of specialist POP applications, such as the increasingly popular pop-ups, 3-D displays and variable shapes, particularly when these are being produced in higher volumes.

They are also being used to print backlit

58 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

fabric graphics.

In addition, flatbed printers are being used to print on to wallpaper, ceiling tiles, wood, flooring, fabric, glass and other substrates used in the area of interior decoration. They can also be used for industrial applications such as printing on to both wooden and aluminium doors, and to produce items as diverse as warning stickers, sails and moneybags. Flatbeds have also been eagerly adopted by companies working in the packaging sector, where they are used for prototyping and producing short runs economically.

What people like about flatbeds is that they can be used to produce high quality output on to a wide range of different substrates quickly and easily, thus increasing the potential for profit. Typically we find that our customers run their flatbed printers for between l0 to 16 hours a day and are using them for applications that have a total run of between 25 and 150 items. For some companies there is a steep learning curve – they have to get to grips with the new technology, organise their workflow procedures and make room for substrate storage. But more importantly perhaps, they also have to get to grips with marketing these new product offerings and pricing them correctly if they are to reap the maximum financial rewards. The question we are most often asked is: "How do I decide when to use a flatbed and when

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FESPA 2005

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Gigantic Color printed a reproduction of a renaissance painting on to glass and

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ceramic tiles for a retail counter

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IPS produced advertising graphics on ceramic tiles

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Store DĂŠcor's Hispanic themed graphics enliven a supermarket

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to stick to the screen process?" A lot actually depends on the printing stock. If we are looking at a l00 off run on cheaper material, it is probably easier to screenprint it. However, if the material is expensive, flat bed is the best option, because there is little or no waste, whilst screening could result in 20 or more wasted sheets due to a bad screen or erroneous density checks.

One thing is very clear - the most successful customers are the ones that use their machines to produce applications for current clients whilst also forging into new markets. This is illustrated by the experiences of customers such as Gigantic Color. Established some 15 years ago as a traditional typesetter, the company moved into postscript and service bureau work, then into large format printing using the electrostatic process and finally into superwide inkjet. It first acquired a flatbed printer about a year ago and now offers a bureau service to screenprinters who provide it with a lot of POP and custom work of the kind that commands higher margins. Gigantic Color advises that its customers appreciate the fact that digital printing provides the same effect as screenprinting, but offers greater scope. The company recently used its flatbed to complete a project for the Fiesta Restaurant, which involved producing decorative counter graphics directly on to glazed white tiles, which were coated with polyurethane

to ensure durability. When another client asked them to produce graphic effects for a home interior, Gigantic Color printed a replica of an Old Master painting directly on to glass, first applying a special bonding agent so that the ink adhered properly. A third project involved an exhibition stand that included soft signage and window graphics. The light fabric banners were made from polyester taffeta, which Gigantic Color laid on a paper backing prior to printing, so that the surplus ink would be absorbed. The window graphics were achieved by printing on to clear selfadhesive vinyl using screen printing inks.

Another VUTEk customer, IPS is a family run business, which started out as an offset printer some 30 years ago. It later acquired a screenprinting company, advertising agency and a fulfilment house. Its move into digital printing was gradual but within five years, IPS had purchased six inkjet printers and now produce everything including billboards. The company acquired its flatbed because it wanted to inject some excitement into its offerings and to experiment with different rigid substrates. Nowadays, it uses the flatbed in conjunction with a router to produce contour cut graphics. It initially had to work hard to persuade both current and potential customers of the flatbed’s capabilities and although this initially met with scepticism, within a few months, IPS’s

FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 59

FESPA 2005

a

a

Color Graphics uses its flatbed to produce dramatic wall graphics.

b and c

Groupe Corlab print promotional

graphics in-store.

a

The P & R Group are responsible for these striking window graphics.

order book began to fill up.

One of its most imaginative projects has been the unusual ceramic tile advertising it has undertaken for small corner shops each application is designed to suit its immediate environment. The tiles were first coated with an epoxy resin o facilitate better ink adhesion and then, after printing, a topcoat of the resin was applied to produce an attractively glossy finish.

Store Décor is a retail specialist who has earned itself a reputation for producing exciting themed graphics in-store. It originally bought its flatbed printer to reduce setup and labour costs and reports that it is now helping to attract new clients.

In fact, the company has recently landed a super contract with a major sports retailer who is supplementing its current 80 stores with 15 new openings every year.

Typical of the work Store Décor supplies is the Hispanic themed signage that is illustrated here. The signs, which make good use of the rich browns, reds and yellows associated with Mexico, transform the previously staid looking supermarket.

Color Graphics started out as a repro house in 1966 but over the years has added electrostatic, photographic, and large format inkjet to its equipment inventory. It first purchased its flatbed printer six months ago and has already benefitted

60 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

from an increase in its workload. The company reports that it is printing ‘better, faster and cheaper’ – a winning combination indeed! It admits that it had to experiment with the pricing structure and also had to provide more storage space to accommodate rigid boards but now prints onto window clings, as illustrated at the KFC outlet pictured here, and ceramic tiles as well as producing dramatic wall displays.

Express Color started using thermal inkjet but invested in a flatbed printer two years ago to improve quality and save time. They now produce short run work for regional retail promotions, as illustrated by the directional and marketing signs inside The Georgia Dome and the trapezoids in a local convenience store.

Groupe Corlab is another company who started out as a Photo Lab but recognised that the acquisition of a flatbed printer would help it to secure retail contracts.

Groupe Colab became a beta test site for the new VUTEk UV 200/600 earlier this year. It is now printing directly on to styrene and cardboard to produce such items as the promotional boards illustrated.

The P & R Group started a photo business in the l950s and first embraced superwide format five years ago. Since the company purchased its first flatbed machine last year

it has reported that it can now fulfil much of its production in-house without having to resort to outsourcing. It also believes that flatbed technology has enabled it to become much more creative – which has also helped to attract new customers. For the Hard Rock Hotel Retail Show, its has produced striking graphics of instruments in electric flames, which have been printed directly on to milky PETG. These are complemented by logos printed on to sintra, which were contour cut and applied to the PETG prints. Another recent project involved the production of magnetic menu boards and stand signs for a retail concession within a theatre.

This diverse array of applications goes some small way towards illustrating all of the myriad possibilities of flatbed production. In each case the company involved has found that its business has benefitted tenfold from its acquisition of this technology, but all agree that the best is probably yet to come. As one user commented: "The more we do the more we find we can do – and I don’t believe we’ve even scratched the surface yet!"

To hear Jane Cedrone’s full presentation, which is entitled: "Flatbed Printing: Markets and Applications?" visit the lecture theatre in Hall B2 at 2pm at FESPA 2005 on Wednesday 1st June, 2005.

SHOWCASE

a

Showcase b

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Image Options produced graphics

for the Porsche Boxster launch at the LA Motor Show.

62 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

When high-end exhibition graphics specialist, Image Options installed it's fourth VUTEk printer, a new VUTEk UltraVu II 3360, one of the first jobs it produced was the exhibition graphics for the launch of the new Porsche Boxster at the LA Motor Show. This was the first opportunity for US customers to catch a glimpse of the newly revised Boxster and the exhibit featured the various milestones throughout the company's history, providing an overview of key Porsche models produced since 1948. It also highlighted the company’s major innovations and its biggest victories and championships within motor sport.

The graphics were printed on to selfadhesive vinyl, which was applied to ten 3.66 m tall light boxes suspended from the ceiling and helped to draw attention to the current models on display. Image Options also used self-adhesive vinyl to print a dramatic panoramic sepia image of an open desert road, which was mounted on to a 62.48 m2 curved wall. Over-laying the image, were the names of key Porsche

cars featured throughout the company's history. The wall also featured 1.2m x 1.5m light boxes, incorporating dye-cast models of the highlighted Porsche cars.

Image Options also used the rigid substrate capability of the PressVu - an image of a Porsche speedometer featured on an 11.9 m2 screen, made from 6.4 mm Plexiglas. An optically clear film was applied to reduce glare from the highpowered spotlights used in the exhibit hall, and to also provide a slight textured feel. To get the exact effect Porsche desired, Image Options had to adjust the density of the printed image to match a high-resolution photographic print.

Ginaca Corporation, used its Scitex Vision VEEjet flatbed printer, a powerful, industrial level inkjet machine, to shake up opinions of inkjet printing at the recent Publicitaria exhibition. The company's 50m2 stand took the form of a bar, which as well as providing an oasis in the midst of a busy trade show where print buyers could sit with a cool drink,

SHOWCASE

d

c

c&d

Ginaca produced stunning graphics for its

stand at the Publicitaria exhibition.

e f

e

also enabled them to watch a short video illustrating how Ginaca is revolutionising printing.

Using its VEEjet, Ginaca produced the 5m long bar with its inkjet-printed metal front, and printed leather benches and chairs, together with eye-catching side tables featuring printed glass. The walls were made from a variety of different materials including backlit glass, acrylic, cardboard, textured metal plates, foam board, wood and rough plaster. The 27m2 ceramic floor had also been printed, as had the cardboard drinks coasters, all on the VEEjet!

excellent fit for Printer’s Cove’s operations, product mix, and customer base. The new company has already delivered vehicle wraps for Hard Rock Café, Miami’s Telemundo Spanish language television outlet and local radio stations and billboards for customers, which include Walt Disney World and the Miami Zoo. Building a supplier relationship with major event planning companies has also resulted in the production of banners for corporate events and grand openings as well as banners and wall murals – some as much as 78 ft. in length – for new shopping centres.

Printer’s Cove recently launched its superwide format digital printing business using the new Scitex Vision GOjet press for which it was the North American beta test site. The GOjet, a 3 metre wide four-colour press, was designed to be cost-effective and to deliver a quick return on investment, while printing high quality billboards, banners, wall murals and other wide format products. It has proven an

Retail design and installation specialist, Palladeo, has really pushed the boundaries of store decoration for the refit of four new Jelly Belly stores following the purchase of its flexible new VUTEk PressVu UV 180/600 EC printer which it used to produce graphics on virtually every rigid and flexible surface.

The company’s brief was to create a fun, interactive, shopping experience that

This dramatic wrap was for the Hard Rock Café.

Colourful graphics enhance the Jelly Belly store.

f

would wet customers’ appetites for Jelly Belly products, which are aimed predominantly at children. Visitors to the newly refitted stores are immediately drawn to a set of brightly coloured backlit transparency boxes, featuring images of hundreds of jellybean flavours. Printed onto translucent styrene, five 1m x 1m printed graphics were installed in box shells and mounted on the walls. With the use of internal lights, the brightly coloured jellybeans set the mood for each shop and entice customers in from the street. To guide customers around each store, 2m x 5m red and yellow graphics were printed on self-adhesive vinyl and installed on each shop floor. Product images printed on PVC were also used to decorate the side panels of reception and payment counters, with POP display stands being used to stimulate sales on each counter top. These are complemented with a host of additional jellybean shaped ceiling danglers, light fittings and many other promotional items, all of which were printed on the PressVu. FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 63

a

P+R Group, used its portfolio of VUTEk printers to produce a variety of exhibition graphics, including six presidential seals for the American Bar Association’s Museum of Law. The 298 sq m travelling exhibit entitled, ‘America’s Lawyer Presidents: From Law Office to Oval Office’, features a plethora of printed graphics, including 250 official photos, illustrations, documents and artifacts on a variety of substrates. The exhibit was split into six different sections, each designed to present a chronological insight into the lives and legal careers of 25 former presidents of the United States, from John Adams to W.J Clinton, who were also lawyers. Discussing the issues and events of their times, the exhibit’s graphics help to show how the legal experiences of each president shaped their term of office. To stimulate visitors’ imaginations and create interest for the subject, the P+R Group was asked to print high quality, colourful graphics in the style of each era - but with a contemporary twist.

As the exhibit was to travel from the American Bar Association’s Museum of Law, to eight additional museums, graphic durability was as important as image quality. Accordingly, the images for the 1.8m round presidential seals and 4.5m high columns were printed directly on to 6mm Sintra, using the P+R Group’s PressVu UV 180/600 EC. Meanwhile, the complementary 3x 5m wall graphics were produced on the UltraVu 2360 EC and the UltraVu 3360 EC. Despite using different machines, the P+R Group was able to utilise VUTEk’s colour management system and inks to maintain colour consistency throughout.

a&b

Durability was an important

consideration when planning the graphics for this travelling exhibition.

b

64 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

INFORMATION – RFID

The Lowdown on Radio Frequency Identification Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID as it is more commonly becoming known, opens up all sorts of new avenues for screenprinters, including the screenprinting of RF Antennae. François Chirol, Regional Segment Manager Europe, DuPont Microcircuit Materials, who manages the DuPont product range of screen-printable compositions for the manufacturing of RFID components, explains how its done.

“Screenprinting is an ideal process for high-volume manufacturing of low cost RFID transponders. But even in the EPC (Electronic Product Code) era, only a few players in the RFID industry have taken the big step towards additive manufacturing technology. Is the situation likely to change in the near future?

Screenprinting is in fact an easy to manage, one-step process which has been successfully applied to the production of high-volume, low-cost RFID transponders.

According to some big players in the RFID industry, using conductive inks for the production of RF antennae and for the assembly of electronic units is likely to become the preferred manufacturing method for UHF tags. Those manufacturers that will want to take 66 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

advantage of the growing market opportunity offered by the RFID revolution in retail and supply chain management could soon find it necessary, for a number of reasons, to abandon the use of currently popular subtractive technologies.

A well-known technology “When we talk about screen printing in the area of high-tech component manufacturing, we are certainly not talking about something new. As a matter of fact, it is a commonly used technique in many areas of electronics manufacturing, and there are many examples of its successful use at different levels of the production cycle.

Decades of experience have made it

possible to optimise screen-printing machines in terms of reliability, stability and cost-effectiveness for high-volume and low-cost manufacturing applications. For example, reel-to-reel screenprinting processes are commonly used in the production of membrane touch switches (MTS). In terms of consumable materials, compositions have been optimised to reach the best cost/performance ratio. In the area of RFID, the basic advantages offered by screenprinting are related to: • Stability and reliability • Cost-effectiveness • Low environmental impact • Ease of use • Performance of the tags • Flexibility in terms of substrate materials • Easy and reliable Flip Chip assembly.

INFORMATION – RFID

technology.

It should also be mentioned which screenprinting technology allows for the creation of crossovers when manufacturing complex antenna designs.

Some manufacturers who have installed copper etching lines for the realisation of their antennas use the screenprinting technique exclusively for this purpose.

Optimised conductive inks for RFID antennas

Today, most manufacturers of RFID transponders are still using more costly and difficult to manage manufacturing technologies, even while trying to achieve lower costs per unit in order to meet the emerging market requirements. The reason for this is simply that many have already made significant investments in that direction. I am convinced that any new player entering the RFID transponder manufacturing arena, and starting from scratch with his investments in capital equipment, will go for the screenprinting option. There is no good reason to choose copper etching when you are looking for a manufacturing solution that offers high stability, performance and the possibility of offering the product to clients at the lowest possible price.

A low-cost, user-friendly technique Screenprinting is a ‘green’ and userfriendly process. Compared to subtractive methods – such as the etching process currently used for the production of the antennae for low cost RFID transponders – it is a one-step process that does not involve the use of aggressive chemicals.

If we look at the economic advantages offered by screenprinting with respect to copper etching, we discover that not only is the equipment less expensive to buy at the outset, but it is significantly less expensive to maintain, as no extra investments are needed to meet environmental regulations. Maintaining etching lines and treating waste material, such as the residue of chemical baths, is in fact a very expensive fixed cost, which impacts on the cost per unit of the electronic component processed. Of course, there is also another well-known ‘green’ manufacturing technology used for the production of RF antennae, which for economic reasons cannot be seen as a

viable alternative to screenprinting: the technique of winding copper wire. This method remains the preferred option only in the areas of Low Frequency (LF) RFID components, where antennas have a very high number of loops, and in market segments where the issue of cost of RFID transponders is not the first priority that needs to be addressed.

DuPont has over 30 years of experience in serving clients who apply screenprinting technology and DuPont conductive inks in the manufacturing of membrane touch switches (MTS) for keyboards. In recent years, the company developed and optimized a more efficient composition specially designed for high-volume, lowcost manufacturing of RFID tags. This conductive ink offers high conductivity through the use of a unique combination of a silver flake powder and a resin binder.

We are now launching a new silver composition specially optimized for UHF antennas (5033).

Flexible RFID tags…

Another key advantage offered by RF transponder antennae assembled with additive technology is that the electronic unit produced will be more flexible. In other words, the antennae can resist a higher mechanical stress, allowing for the tagging of objects that feature different types of surfaces (curvatures, acute angles, etc.).

In fact, as the conductive pastes used for screenprintng antennae are composed of metal flakes or grains dispersed in a thermo-plastic polymer binder or resin, the resulting antenna is more elastic, with the characteristics of a very viscous fluid.

The transponder, when subjected to bending, will feature better performance and higher reliability than RFID tags manufactured with copper etching or EAS tags produced with aluminum etching.

…on any material Additive Polymer Thick Film (PTF) technology can be used to manufacture antennas on different kinds of materials.

On the contrary, copper etching will only work on substrates that can withstand the highly aggressive chemicals used during the process. The polyester generally used as the base material in the case of copper etching is also a more costly material than, for instance, the paper used for the manufacturing of electronic tickets for public transportation with screenprinting

What’s next?

If I look into the future, and at the growth barriers that need to be overcome to pave the road towards mass production of RFID transponders. The most evident are related to the fact that there are too few players out there that offer a complete portfolio of RFID components – in other words: tags and readers. I think this is going to change rapidly.

There is, furthermore, a lack of established standards and of infrastructure for volume production. Regarding this last point, I think some of the existing players involved in the manufacturing of RFID transponders will be more reluctant to decide for a shift in technology. They will stick with copper etching, as that is the technology they already have in house, and will miss the opportunity to be among the first players who will be able to offer RFID tags at significantly lower costs.

New players will soon enter the scene to take advantage of the emerging opportunities offered by the RFID-driven revolution, and I have no doubt that they will go for the manufacturing technology that gives them the greatest number of benefits. At this point, the war on prices will evidently be a war between different manufacturing concepts and visions." *This article first appeared in OnBoard Technology (October 2004). www.onboard-technology.com FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 67

INFORMATION – RFID

Which machine!

If you think that screenprinting on RFID antenna is your sort of project, you may be wondering just how to go about it and the first question on your lips must surely be, ‘What sort of printer do I use?’

Having supplied roll to roll screen printing machines for twenty years, Richard Rolt of Rolt Marketing has a lot of experience when it comes to building machines for many different applications. When Fespa World posed the question, this is how Richard responded: “Recently, we have sold several machines which are used for RFID, a rapidly evolving field, where screen printing very definitely has a place. This is the sort of application where our machines come into their own, because their modular construction means that a customer doesn’t need to commit to a particular configuration throughout the life of the machine, but can change it as and when the market dictates.

Typical modules that would be incorporated in a RFID machine would include:

The Printer I would recommend the tried and tested flat bed machine with its special control pressure squeegee. Whilst this started life as a label press, it is none the worse for that, and has provided many years of sterling service with clients throughout the world. I would, however suggest incorporating a few changes. Most particularly the addition of an "X Y Theta" registration kit. The technical matters concerning registration have changed over the past few years and it is now possible to offer a very high degree of accuracy, very economically, if this is what the customer requires. . Basically, we can make the accuracy of the machine in "X Y and Theta" as accurate as the screens and the customer's materials allow. In my view, levels of accuracy should be determined by 68 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

the customer’s visual requirements, (which can, none the less, be quite demanding) to the mechanical requirements of a process like RFID. This Rolt 5BZ printing machine, incorporates laser edge guidance, together with a special material handling facility and would be my current recommendation for an RFID application.

The Dryer System Obviously no RFID machine would be complete without a proper drying strategy.

The dryer normally supplied for RFID is hot air, but at Rolt we have come up with a series of hot air dryers, and now market three models. There is the THD, a low temperature label dryer, the 5M-2, a middle temperature graphic industry type dryer with some insulation and isolated drying sections for special performance, and finally, the 594, a high temperature cascade dryer which incorporates front and back heat, as well as controlled drying chambers throughout its length. Obviously it is the latter dryer which we recommend for the inks being used with RFID. It's important to point out, though that we are not limited to hot air drying - approximately half of our machines are supplied with UV drying systems and we regularly fit both GEW and Fusion UV systems, as well as working with other manufacturers.

Additionally we are always happy to look at other types of dryer when the customer

requires it.

The Finishing System To complete RFID type machines, we would provide a finishing system, which would be capable of rewinding the material prior to subsequent processing, or alternatively, we can design the machine to complete subsequent processing inline.

Features can include inline inspection of the pieces which have been made, laminating, slitting, sheeting up the material into individual parts for subsequent processing, diecutting, kiss cutting or through cutting.

Traditionally, we manufacture machines that are 350mm wide on various repeat lengths from 500mm up to one metre, however in the last five years we have made much larger machines, including 500 and 600 mm widths.

One of the great strengths of a Rolt machine is that the simplicity of the design means that it can be used by many different operators, following a minimal training period. In addition, they are easy to run and maintain and can be continually adapted for use on new types of application. In fact nothing proves this as much as the recent trend towards RFID and many of our machines are now being used for this sophisticated application."

For further information visit: www.rolt.co.uk

INFORMATION – RFID NEWS

RFID News DuPont MCM launches new ink for RFID cards and labels DuPont Microcircuit Materials has launched the 5033, the newest addition to the DuPont family of conductive inks specially designed for clean, costeffective production of antennas for RFID (radio frequency identification) transponders.

Featuring lower Silver content, higher performance and higher coverage, the new 5033 is the ideal material solution to drive down the costs of manufacturing high frequency (HF) and ultra high frequency (UHF) antennas.

This development is in direct

response to industry needs following the increasing standardisation, globalisation and cost-competitive pressure across technologies and regions. The successful completion of the standardisation process led to the development of the Electronic Product Code (EPC) and recent mandates by major retail companies are fostering the mass adoption of RFID technology by their suppliers on a global scale. Thus, the RFID industry is now preparing to drive down the cost of manufacturing RFID tags and to take advantage of the emerging market opportunities.

Manufacturers will therefore need to reconsider the costly subtractive processes widely used

for the production of antennas for RFID cards and labels. This will result in a natural shift towards environmentally friendly manufacturing concepts, such as the screen-printing of conductive inks, giving significant savings which impact directly on the cost of the units produced.

The new DuPont MCM 5033 screen-printable conductive ink allows the production of low-cost RFID labels based on any substrate and destined to any application in any business and is set to accelerate and catalyse mass adoption of RFID technology for cost efficient card and label production.

For further information visit: www.dupont.com/mcm.

Precisa Partners with Impinj to launch RFID products Precisia LLC, a leading developer of advanced printed electronics technologies, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Flint Ink Corporation, has announced that it is partnering with Impinj, Inc. to launch a line of RFID products using Impinj's family of chips.

Precisia's products delivered through the partnership will use Impinj's Monza, EPCglobal Generation 2 compliant RFID tag silicon, as well as its ZumaRFID Class 0+ chips. Precisia will design, prototype, test and print 70 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

its own antennas for the inlays it produces with the chips, or will print existing antenna designs developed by Impinj.

Impinj has used RFID antennas designed and printed by Precisia for more than a year. Precisia’s experience with inline webfed and sheetfed printing processes has consistently demonstrated the performance and high production efficiencies of printed antennas.

"Precisia is a highly responsive company and we are impressed with their RFID products and printed electronics technologies," said Dr. William Colleran, President and CEO of Impinj.

"We're very pleased that they have selected Impinj's Monza and ZumaRFID chips to use with their

innovative printed antennas for their products. We anticipate our collaboration will deliver maximum performance to our customers."

Dr. Graham Battersby, president of Precisia, noted, "The addition of Impinj as a valued partner further demonstrates Precisia's customer-responsive, multi-partner, multi-option operating philosophy. In an RFID market that is growing and changing rapidly, we are continuing to pursue partnership opportunities for Precisia with combinations of resources and solutions to meet our customers' specific applications needs."

For further information visit: www.impinj.com and conductivesolutions@precisia.net

SATO and Tagistics tackle RFID source tagging of Chinese manufactured goods SATO and Tagistics Corporation has announced a partnership for the cross-marketing and distribution of each company’s products.

Tagistics will include SATO’s RFID Printers as standard equipment for their RFID Central solution, while SATO will market RFID Central worldwide.

Herbert P Goertz, CEO of Tagistics commented: "SATO is the perfect fit for Tagistics. In our tests, their printers outperformed the competition. Plus, they are a leader with a global presence in the RFID market, which means we can deploy SATO products anywhere in the world at our customers’ request. And by standardising our RFID Central solution with SATO printers, we dramatically reduce our support costs."

SATO, a leader in industrial label printing solutions, has a major share of the world’s print engines used in automated print-and-apply solutions today. It was the first company to introduce a complete, multiprotocol EPC-compliant UHF RFID Solutions to the industry.

According to Vic Barczyk, SATO International’s Vice-President of RFID Business Development, "SATO’s business is based on solutions designed to resolve customers’ problems. Tagistics’ RFID Central is a truly unique offering that dramatically reduces the cost of retailers’ mandate compliance, and streamlines the supply chain for immediate savings. This makes it an affordable solution for our customers."

For further information, visit www.tagistics.com and www.satoworldwide.com

INFORMATION – ENVIRONMENT

The protection of the environment The problems of legislation and possible solutions Michel Caza reviews screen and digital printers’ obligations with regard to the current – and possible future – EC regulations regarding the safe discharge and disposal of air, water and waste.

72 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

If, rather egoistically, we start with our own problems within the EC, the first thing that strikes us is the existing disparity between the European Directives and their application, something which is generally handled by the government body responsible for enforcing the regulations and sometimes, as in France, also the agency responsible for enforcing local regulations too.

Such disparities can give a very misleading picture, as we shall see. Certain countries have what I refer to as ‘chemical phobias’ or ‘psychological fixations’ as to what is dangerous, which are often encouraged and consolidated by the media as the result of some calamitous, but unusual episode. For example, we only have to remember the German phobia relating to PVC, the Danish fear of Phthalates, the widespread irrational obsession relating to NVP in UV inks and the general fixation on eco-solvents to realise that nowadays, we are expected to be afraid of almost everything!

On the other hand, certain national or local tolerances are also equally responsible for fostering a terribly dangerous latitude, which encourages the idea that, "if the law doesn’t actually forbid it, we can do it". Unfortunately it seems that it is a basic part of human nature to take everything to the wire. If, for example, we take the case of air - nil discharges to outside air for VOC (Volatile Organic Components) as specified according to the size of the company and/or its location, we find that whenever the Health and Safety department are involved, it’s the same as inside the

factory. In France this is often a local decision, because the inspectors often apply such enforcements at their own discretion, which is largely dependant on their own staffing levels or the relationship they have with the company concerned.

However, the general tendency is to apply the European directive of 1999 (1999 / 13 / CE), which implies, in the short term at least, (31 - 10 - 2007) that a decrease of 66 % of discharges into the air is permissible. When we look at water, the situation is not much better and indeed, it can be worse, to the extent that it engenders extra costs. There is an enormous disparity of treatment and costs between those countries that decree nil discharge, which means that the water that comes out of a factory must be chemically pure, and those that interpret the principle of a controlled ‘discharge’ as happens when a factory is located in an industrial park that is equipped with a treatment site which offers a "collective", recovery. When it comes to waste, the authorities are pretty much the same everywhere – they exhort us to sort out, separate, select, value if possible and/or treat! This is the reason that the ESMA Committee, which takes charge of such issues, is known as HSEP (Health, Safety and Environmental Problems).

So, the internal discharge of air is controlled and a very fine analysis takes place on chemicals that threaten the wellbeing of human and animal life, which results in them being graded as irritating, downright carcinogenic, or as posing a danger to the unborn child. The

FESPA 2007 in

Berlin 5th-9th JUNE

FESPA

THE POWER OF IMAGING WWW.FESPA2007.COM

same goes for water and all the subtle graduations of what is likely to affect animals and/or humans. In the area of waste, we hear about cocktails of separately harmless compounds which, none the less, can become detrimental to health when combined and in some cases even lethally explosive!

When faced with such difficult dilemmas, the natural response has been: "Yes, but that only concerns screenprinting - not digital printing. Digital printing is clean!"

However digital solvent ink is also just as big a concern: used ink contains 50 % or more solvents, which are not only very volatile, they are often also extremely dangerous. Indeed, for a long time, their use in inks and paint was strictly forbidden. I can remember that this was a big issue at FESPA 2002, when the Spanish authorities enquired as to the exact nature of the ‘solvents’ being used. And in fact, they had a valid case when you consider that the eventual users of the equipment were often operating in small and badly ventilated offices and workshops.

This probably goes some way to

explaining why eco-solvents have become such a popular concept in terms of digital printing. But let us be clear – the term ‘eco-solvent’ is very misleading. Japanese, American, Korean, Chinese and Israeli manufacturers try to sugar the solvent pill by offering inks that use cocktails of less volatile, heavier solvents. However, these products can be very dangerous when people are exposed to them over a long period, even though they manage to stay within the legally recognised limits. What is more, they are seldom supplied with proper data sheets warning of the risks.

From the cost angle, most of these heavy eco-solvents require the use of modified materials, which increases the overall manufacturing cost. The manufacturers of substrates defend themselves by pointing out the necessity of fulfilling the demand, but the buyers of eco-solvent inks are lulled into a false sense of security. The very description ‘eco-solvent’ encourages them to believe that such inks don’t damage the environment or pose a threat to their staff, which couldn’t be further from the truth – they do!

However, there is worse to come! Very soon all national regulations will be superseded by the implementation of European Directives. EU members who fail to comply will receive punitive fines. And it is as well to remember here that Brussels always tends to use the most stringent national legislation as the basis for its Directives. Which brings us on to the whole topic of REACH, which people talk about glibly without fully knowing what it involves!

REACH is a typically Eurocratic initiative in so much as no one has considered the full impact of its implications. Whatever else it does, REACH will certainly increase our manufacturing costs, as it will affect the price of many of the consumables that we use on a day to day basis.

So what is REACH? It is an acronym for the Registration, Evaluation Authorisation and Limitation of Chemicals, which will take 11 years to establish – quite an undertaking when you consider that there are presently some 100,000 synthetic products! REACH seeks to harmonise all the existing rules and

INFORMATION – ENVIRONMENT

control their implementation. It may appoint a central agency, which will record all of the necessary data and further extend its scope to cover all chemicals.

There are on-going discussions between the chemical manufacturers who will have to establish that their products aren’t toxic and bear the cost of doing this. In summary, REACH will ensure that all product data collected is available to everyone and that the most dangerous products are only produced under license.

On the surface this seems to be rather a good idea, but we should remember that the road to hell is often paved by good intentions! The whole undertaking is certainly going to be very expensive as it will take forever to examine and quantify every single product currently manufactured. At the end of all of this bureaucracy, we will be left with a much smaller choice of materials, as it will become uneconomical for manufacturers to continue offering products with a small profit margin. Further, the loss of confidentiality will surely impact on the overall competitiveness of suppliers, which could also limit future product options.

REACH will therefore threaten the whole European chemical industry and also impact on practically every industrial and graphic sector, all of which will find that they are limited by the decisions taken by a bunch of ‘environmentalist’ technocrats!

The worst of this is that European manufacturers will find it increasingly difficult to withstand competition from those countries not bound by the same regulatory processes, with SME’s being particularly affected, as there will be no exemptions at all.

At the moment, nothing has been definitely decided, due to the enormous resistance that has already been mounted by the manufacturers and a new body, the European Council of Painting, Ink and

Colours, has been set up address this issue.

It is an umbrella organisation – in much the same way as FESPA is to the national associations – and represents hundreds of companies, of all denominations, across 17 different European countries, which surely reflects the fact that nowadays, more than 85% of chemical production takes place within the EC. It is expected that the EC will make a final decision regarding the REACH proposals next year so for now, we will have to wait and see what happens.

Meanwhile, let us not forget that in screenprinting - and this problem becomes even more crucial when we include applications requiring enamels for glass and ceramics - even if one disregards the evident problem of solvents and VOC emissions, pigments are used in combination with a host of other chemical elements, all of which are pollutants either singularly or when used in combination with other substances. Very often the pigments themselves are not squeaky clean to begin with, despite the fact that they are derived from the earth and other natural components. They usually contain heavy metals, which are regarded as pollutants. But if we don’t use pigments what are we left with? No colours, no paint, no prints, no art!

So what then, can we do?

Those in favour of a minimalist solution advocate the clear and correct labelling of all products and this is the very least that we can do. After all, we know if the products that we are using are potential irritants, whether they are corrosive, flammable, explosive, or generally damage the environment. In fact, ESMA already requires its members to provide sufficient information, so that users are fully au fait with the risks involved and can take any necessary precautions.

INFORMATION – ENVIRONMENT

It also suggests that we use any delaying tactics that we can, so that further modifications can be tabled and that exemptions be made for smaller companies who simply won’t be able to afford to make any immediate changes to their manufacturing and waste management procedures.

Then there is the palliative solution, which decrees that the polluter should be responsible for cleaning up his own pollution.

In the GPSF (the French Screenprinting Association), we formulated a comprehensive brochure, entitled "How to Produce Screenprinting Cleanly", a guide to good environmental practices, which has been updated in line with recent legislation. For air, as for water, the current techniques available are horribly expensive, to the point of being downright unaffordable, and even more so for very small companies!

Internally, we use captation to clean the air – there is a hood over the press, whilst externally, we filter the VOC using oxidation or biological treatments (involving bio-filters, filter percolators and bio-washers) and/or the recovery by condensation, adsorption (activated charcoals) and absorption.

For water, we use electro-floculation, with coagulation, micro-filtration, and absorption via active charcoal. At some stage we will be able to use the oxidation process using cold plasma and photochemicals, but this is still at the research stage and for now, remains terribly expensive. The truly innovative solutions are those that imply a change or a modification of the basic technology.

For air, the true solution is obviously the same as I have advocated for 25 years - the use of UV technology,which serves equally well for both screen and digital printing.

This technology can be used for all of the classic screenprinting applications from the graphic to the industrial, and now also includes vacuum-forming and conductive inks - the only exceptions are textiles and certain enamels, which are used for glass and ceramics. In addition to its enormous technological and management advantages, UV technology is not polluting because solvents don’t evaporate during the drying period, although some free radicals do escape.

As for water, the pollutants here relate to the cleaning and recovery of screens and to a lesser degree, their stripping after exposure. The stripping rejects only rests of film or emulsion and diazoïc salts 76 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

which are in fact, biodegradable. But nil discharge is nil discharge! A simple filtration system is all that is needed most of the time.

More gravely, the washing/de-coating, separately or simultaneously, of inks and emulsions and the other products used for stencilling, can lead to the rejection of solvents, pigments, additives, rests of emulsion, and inks, whether they are solvents, UV or aqueous.

Already, when using automatic systems, one can limit the damage by using emulsifiers rather than solvents (which is also less dangerous when it comes to fire risk). But the only true solution, and naturally, a rather expensive one, is to use devices, which work in a closed circuit.

The last cycle of rinsing can be directly evacuated because as a rule, only very few pollutants still remain and a simple filtering should suffice at this stage.

Will solvent inks disappear completely?

In the longer term and given the different usages between countries, I should say, yes, eventually they will. However, I don’t think that this will be the result of formal bans, except, maybe in certain environments; rather the limits placed on discharges will become increasingly stringent and the whole process will become uneconomical. In the first instance, such limits will concern VOC emissions or other heavier solvents (group 2 and 3), which are tolerated today.

Broadly speaking, UV technology is therefore, the only general-purpose solution, but ceramic and glass applications will certainly become problematic if REACH is applied, since certain pigments contain irreplaceable heavy metals.

Soon, the discharge of only pure water will become an obligation – in fact this is already the case in certain places and countries. In some areas the choice will become very simple – either you will have to stop polluting the water, or you’ll be ordered to close your factory!

What about waste?

In many ways this is much easier to deal with and often, the problem has already been solved - it is no longer a question of ‘should’ but rather one of ‘must’ and the sorting of ‘Not Dangerous Industrial Waste’ (NDIW) and ‘Dangerous Industrial Waste’ (DIW), is often already an obligation. In France for example, the municipalities are not responsible for the

INFORMATION – ENVIRONMENT

collection of any industrial waste. The NDIW, which includes papers/boxes, plastics, wooden palettes and so on, can often be recycled and generally companies are eager to reclaim any money that they can or at least eliminate such rubbish and clear the space. DIW includes ink rests, soiled rags, discarded ink, cleaning chemicals, lubricants, emulsions, together with such items as neon tubes, halogen lamps, adhesives, and acid or alkaline cleaners, etc. This all needs to be collected and dealt with by specialist companies, who will cremate and/or bury it once any toxic items have been properly cleaned. Of course some harmonisation is desirable, but in the first instance, this should be done nationally.

One speaks about European legislation, but there are still numerous regional disparities, due largely to different local privileges and customs. Depending on where they are located, companies are going to have to spend more or less money and accordingly, their costs will increase more or less too. This is an inequitable state of affairs, especially if the obligations also vary from district to district and province to province and they will obviously limit a company’s competitiveness.

So which technology changes should we implement and how much will they cost?

The first new notion to be considered, is the concept of ‘environmental management’. This relatively new phenomenon will doubtless be taken up by many entrepreneurs, if only to help them manage their costs. Official seals of quality, such as the ISO 14001 standard, or the Eco-audit sometimes accredit it.

Basically, it ensures that all possible ecological eventualities are taken into account at the outset. In the first instance, it examines all current legislation and then formalises all of the necessary actions that need to be taken to achieve conformity in the areas of environmental, health and safety controls.

Three core values define the whole system: • Obedience to the law, • The prevention of pollution • The principle of permanent improvement It advocates different codes of best practice, and may be endorsed by trade associations or by commercial and professional bodies such as ESMA, or by governmental bodies such as Ademe, or by 78 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

certain Chambers of Commerce. Such Codes of Practice uphold and follow the legislation as it evolves and are updated in real time.

When it comes to air, the best solution is a radical change of the basic technology: the renunciation of solvent ink systems, and the widespread adoption of UV (or aqueous whenever that is technically and economically possible). For water, the best option is a closed system for cleaning and emulsifying as discussed previously. For waste, we need to implement selective sorting, recovery and reprocessing.

However, before I conclude, we have to look into the future once again and anticipate what will happen in years to come. It is obvious that we are moving into an era when the polluter will be called upon to pay for his pollution, either in terms of paying large fines, or preferably, by taking such measures that are necessary to protect the environment from the effects of his pollution. This will happen more quickly in the EC, although other countries such as Brazil, Japan, Singapore, Shanghai and Hong-Kong, plus certain states in North America, are also now very concerned about environmental issues generally.

I also have to say here that I have been issuing warnings about this for the last 25 years and finally the moment has arrived!

In my ex-company I initiated the move to l00% use of UV in 1980, having worked with Dubuit to develop the ink technology since 1976 and with Sefar to develop calendered fabrics, since 1979. A little later, I began collaborating with both SIAS, with respect to UV curing units and Fimor, in relation to squeegee blades. Added to that, I began using Buisine’s screen cleaning and de-coating systems as soon as they were available and have been an advocate of Remco’s emulsifiers for the past 12 years.

What we have to remember is that the whole thing is unstoppable and irreversible! These palliative solutions are often expensive and outside the reach of many companies. On the other hand, the threat of absolute legislation advances slowly, but surely and it is not always easy to quantify our future level of obligation with complete certainty. However, our National Associations, AEDES in Spain, GPSF in France, FEBELGRA in Belgium, together with FESPA and ESMA are there to inform and guide us, even if the journey remains a long, expensive and difficult one!

INFORMATION

FESPA ‘contact list’ The following list of Telephone, Fax and E-mail numbers will help you when you need to contact a colleague in FESPA.

FESPA board

Telephone

Fax

E-mail

Ricardo Rodriguez Delgado – President

34 914 85 28 70

34 916 71 02 73

rrd@panorama-sa.com

Hellmuth Frey – President Elect

49 408 50 40 21

49 408 537 18 12

siebdruck@aol.com

Michel Caza – Past President

33 1 34 67 16 79

33 1 34 67 28 89

michelcaza@aol.com

Lascelle Barrow

44 207 537 42 00

44 207 531 12 77

las.barrow@amartin.co.uk

Gyorgy Kovacs

36 28 51 66 15

36 28 51 66 16

imago@vnet.hu

Anders Nilsson

46 493 130 40

46 493 121 20

info@gamlebyscreen.se

Enrico Steijn

enrico@imaba.nl

31 79 343 5353

31 79 343 5354

Kurt Sperisen – International Ambassador 41 44 910 5150

41 44 910 3866

kurt.sperisen@bluewin.ch

Nigel Steffens – General Secretary

44 1737 22 53 21

44 1737 24 07 70

info@fespa.com

Frazer Chesterman – Exhibition Director 44 1737 22 97 26

44 1737 24 07 70

frazer.chesterman@fespa.com

Val Hirst – FESPA Magazine Editor

44 1623 88 23 98

44 1159 81 81 99

val@valhirst.demon.co.uk

Rudi Röller – ESMA Chairman

49 62 22 57 80

49 62 22 57 82 00

rudi.roeller@kiwo.de

David Parker

44 12 35 77 11 11

44 12 35 77 11 96

dparker@autotype.com

Pedro Rodriguez

34 944 02 27 47

34 944 71 11 82

rodriguezpj@sunchem.com

Sem Seaborne – HSEP Ctee. Chairman

44 12 35 77 11 11

44 12 35 77 11 96

sseaborne@autotype.com

Heinz Brocker – IA Ctee. Chairman

41 71 24 28 686

41 71 24 28 989

Heinz.brocker@gallus.ch

Bryan Collings – General Secretary

44 12 27 28 25 73

44 12 27 28 25 74

bryan@brycol.demon.co.uk

Ralph Roschlau

49 71 41 69 11 26

49 71 41 69 11 03

ros@marabu.de

Daniele de Rosa – EPP Ctee. Chairman

39 03 19 711

39 03 19 33 392

DDerosa@saatiprint.com

Bob Watson – Digital Ctee. Chairman

44 1843 87 21 10

44 1843 87 21 26

bob.watson@sericol.com

Mandy Goldfinch – PA to Nigel Steffens

44 1737 22 97 23

44 1737 24 07 70

mandy.goldfinch@fespa.com

Michael Ryan – Sales Manager

44 1737 22 97 27

44 1737 24 07 70

michael.ryan@fespa.com

James Ford

44 1737 24 07 88

44 1737 24 07 70

james.ford@fespa.com

Karen Pooley – Group Marketing

44 1737 22 97 25

44 1737 24 07 70

karen.pooley@fespa.com

44 1737 24 07 88

44 1737 24 07 70

lorraine.harrow@fespa.com

44 1737 24 07 88

44 1737 24 07 70

ruth.fahie@fespa.com

44 1737 22 97 24

44 1737 24 07 70

sarah.willcox@fespa.com

ESMA board

FESPA secretariat

Manager Lorraine Harrow – Sales and Marketing Assistant Ruth Fahie – Sales and Marketing Assistant Sarah Willcox – Accounts Department

Secretaries of FESPA national associations

Telephone

Fax

E-mail / Website

Christian Handler

43 15 12 66 09

43 15 13 28 26 19

verb.druck.u.medientechnik@aon.at

Austria

www.druckundmedientechnik.or.at Isabelle Lefebvre

Belgium

32 25 12 36 38

32 25 13 56 76

isabelle.lefebvre@febelgra.be / www.febelgra.be

Eugeny Ivanov

Bulgaria

35 96 082 39 48

35 96 082 39 48

ett@popovo.net

Mirjana Bjelan

Croatia

38 51 45 52 327

38 51 45 52 327

mirjana.bjelan@zg.htnet.hr

Vladimir Havel

Czech Republic

420 487 71 27 12

420 487 72 63 55

vladimir.havel@sca.com

Finn Obbekaer

Denmark

45 63 12 70 00

45 63 12 70 80

fo@ga.dk / www.ga.dk

Regina Aas

Finland

35 89 71 72 99

35 89 73 84 52

regina.as@kolumbus.fi / www.seripainoliitto.fi

Arnaud Couvreur

France

33 1 53 89 25 31

33 1 53 89 25 26

gpsfr@noos.fr / www.gpsfr.org

www.sitotisk-serigrafie.cz

Torben Thorn

Germany

49 611 80 31 15

49 611 80 31 17

tt@bvdm-online.de / www.bvdm-online.de

Kimon Papas

Greece

30 210 52 39 41 6

30 210 52 48 23 7

papath@ath.forthnet.gr

Janos Buranyi

Hungary

36 28 51 66 15

36 28 51 66 16

mszsz@vnet.hu

80 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

INFORMATION

Bhargav Mistry

India

91 250 248 0998

91 250 248 0786

bhargav@graficaindia.com / www.s-p-a-i.org

Giuseppe Scozzi

Italy

39 06 44 18 82 71

39 06 44 24 95 15

siaf@cna.it / www.cna.it

Marius Gort

Netherlands

31 20 5 43 55 56

31 20 5 43 55 35

zso@kvgo.nl / www.zso.nl

Jon Halvorsen

Norway

47 33 07 15 30

47 33 07 15 31

jeh@ahml.no / www.serigrafer.org

Wojciech Kwinta

Poland

48 12 29 60 385

48 12 65 60 132

biuro@ssp.com.pl / www.ssp.com.pl

José Carragosela

Portugal

35 12 18 49 10 20

35 12 18 43 87 39

geral@apigraf.pt / www.apigraf.pt

Marius Codirla

Romania

40 722 28 21 22

40 264 59 71 39

viking@mail.dntcj.ro / www.arsitd.homestead.com

Artem Nadirashvili

Russia

7 09 53 65 38 96

7 09 52 32 18 66

info@midiprint.com / www.rspa.ru

Dusan Golubovic

Serbia and Montenegro 38 11 63 21 23 49

38 11 13 61 50 23

tehnologika@beotel.yu

Ludovit Bartos

Slovakia

42 1 32 74 43 589

42 132 74 30 434

bartos@bartos.sk / www.sietotlacovyzvaz.sk

Mateja Skrl

Slovenia

38 65 36 66 010

38 65 36 66 022

info@efekt.si

Pablo Serrano Cobos

Spain

34 91 307 74 44

34 91 307 76 08

pserrano@aspack.es / www.asibnet.org

Else-Britt Lindeborg

Sweden

46 87 62 68 17

46 86 11 08 28

else-britt.lindeborg@grafiska.se

Hans Peter Weiss

Switzerland

41 18 37 10 40

41 18 37 10 42

hp.weiss@wemedia.ch / www.vss-apss.ch

Ibrahim Demirseren

Turkey

90 21 22 22 83 30

90 21 22 21 69 46

ared@ared.org.tr / www.ared.org.tr

Michael Turner

United Kingdom

44 1737 24 07 92

44 1737 24 07 70

info@spauk.co.uk / www.spauk.co.uk

SGIA

1 70 33 8513 35

1 70 32 73 04 56

miker@sgia.org

www.screentryck.org

Other associations Mike Robertson

List of advertisers 2 Way Vision LLP 65 Aeroterm as 30 Afford Industrial SA 69 Autotype International Ltd 69 Chim 92 41 Coveme Spa 51 & 52 Durst 19 Europa-Siebdruckmaschinen-Centrum GmbH & Co KG 45 Esko Graphics 25 FESPA World Expo India 31 FESPA Digital Printing Europe 29 FESPA Berlin 2007 73 Fimor 14 & 15 Gandi Innovations 65 GIGA 47 Grünig Interscreen AG 27 Anton Hurtz AG 54 & 55 Impulsewear 77 InteliCoat Technologies 71 J-teck3 srl 49 Julius Heywinkel GmbH 79 Kissel + Wolf GmbH inside front cover Lea Sportswear 43 Manoukian/Argon/Lechler 21 Marabuwerke GmbH & Co.KG 7 MHM Group inside back cover NUR 17 RKS Siebdrucktechnik GmbH 79 Saatiprint 11 Saatichem 37 Scitex Vision 23 Sefar AG 13 Sericol outside back cover SGIA 57 Sign Tronic 71 Spühl AG 79 B & C The Cotton Group 51 Thieme GmbH & Co.KG 9 VFP 33 Vutek 61

Magazine coupon for ordering Fespa World All members of FESPA receive this magazine every three months free. If you are not a FESPA member and wish to order a copy, the annual subscription for four copies, including postage, is €63.00.

Please complete the following order form to ensure your copy for the future. The magazine is published in English with selected summaries in German, French and Spanish. Full translations are available on www.fespaworld.com to members and subscribers.

I enclose my cheque for €63.00 payable to FESPA for issues 41, 42, 43 and 44.

Future issues Issue 41 September 2005, Issue 42 November 2005, Issue 43 March 2006 (Block capitals please)

Name Company Address

Tel: Fax: Photocopy this sheet and send by post or Fax to: M. Goldfinch, FESPA, 7a West Street, Reigate, Surrey RH2 9BL, UK, Tel: +44 1737 240788 Fax: +44 1737 240770 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05 81

AND FINALLY…

Specmanship – the new digital phenomenon "There are lies, damned lies and then there’s inkjet printer literature…………" or so says Digital Specialist Extraordinaire, Mark Godden, who cautions visitors to FESPA 2005 to take promises regarding machine speed, with a large pinch of salt.

Lies? Isn’t that a bit strong? Who am I to say? Is it a lie to suggest that the Proteus-XXR can do 060 in less than three seconds when the best that the mere mortals who buy and drive it can manage is a rather pedestrian five? Okay, let’s look at this a bit more charitably, tone it down a notch or two, and agree that some of the claims made in some of the product literature and also espoused by some of the sales professionals you may consult on the subject, stretch the point. Just a bit. And then some.

In fact I’ve invented a new word to describe this phenomenon: ‘Specmanship’ whose dictionary definition would read ‘the art of outdoing your competitor in print.’ You know how it goes – it’s a variation of the old ‘your car does 0-60 in less than three-seconds, mine does it in less than two,’ Your printer produces 10 square metres of output an hour, mine… hang on, that’s rubbish!

Everyone knows that your lame hardware struggles to get five square metres out an hour!

What’s going on here?

What’s going on is this. The Proteus-XXR might just about deliver ten square metres an hour; but just don’t expect to describe what you get out of it as "print," or more pertinently, expect your customers to pay for it.

When buying a new inkjet printer you owe it to both yourself and your customers to do a very thorough due diligence on any machine you’re thinking of 82 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/05

buying by getting under the skin of what’s claimed. Don’t worry, you will be welcomed with open arms by any reseller that really knows his product and is interested in your application for it, and that’s fine. However, you may not get the warmest reception from someone that just sells off the page and then leaves it to you to deliver what he has promised, although you will be able to live with that much more easily than you can live with an under-performing machine. And you’ll also have done the health of the industry a favour without knowing it.

All good inkjet printers have a sweet-spot, an area in the overall performance spectrum in which they produce sensational-looking, fit-for-application prints, at speeds you can live with. You can practically bet the speed that works best for you is nothing like the hysterical top-speed that’s quoted in pursuit of the specmanship cup though. That speed is very often a theoretical quantity, the fastest the printer can actually get ink onto a given substrate – no matter what the output actually looks like.

Ink usage is another area where some liberties can be taken with the facts. Some suppliers actually use a reference image to weigh ink to determine usage rates and so present a meaningful case and numbers you can take to the bank. Others throw out claims that take some believing. What’s certain is that you couldn’t cover a piece of toast the size of the pitch at Old Trafford with a teaspoon of

butter. Ink has the same issue; it can only go so far before the image suffers. All images differ; some need a lot of ink and some less. All I’m saying is watch out for ink clearly masquerading as some otherworldly material that can cover the planet with a few tiny drops – it’s not going to happen in my lifetime or yours.

Printer manufacturers obviously set the bar in terms of things like speed, ink-usage, resolution and so on. They have a point to make in the market and are between a rock and the proverbial hard place when it comes to making performance claims in printed literature. I don’t think we’re going to see a recognised, universally adopted method of testing a printer’s speed, among other things, any time soon. It’s up to you to do your homework with the help of your chosen supplier, who will be more than willing if he wants the chance of winning the printer sale, not to mention your friendship and its alter ego, your material business.

In order to ensure that your

shortlisted printers will work with the real-world jobs you’ll have to do, and thus help you to make the real-life living that sees you safely through the supermarket checkout every week, put your candidates through their paces. Time them, compare the results you get and run the numbers. One will be right for you. Make sure it works with the materials you need to work with and factor those into your business base case. Add something to your cost basis for support and maintenance, with maybe a bit extra thrown in for wastage.

Many printers come with attractive first year operating costs and then the wolves come knocking.

There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you’ve budgeted for it.

By operating within this simple framework you’ll have every chance of getting a printer that does what you expect it to do, not something which you will have to fight every minute of the day and will never live up to your expectations.

About the Author Mark Godden worked for Spandex PLC for more than 20 years, during which time he was initially responsible for formulating and implementing the company’s marketing and public relations strategy, and subsequently in charge of product development.

He now runs his own company, Wildfire Innovations Ltd, which offers imaginative solutions to common digital problems and remains passionately interested in the development and application of digital printing technology in the graphic arts sector.