Fespa World Editor’s letter This magazine will no doubt arrive on your desk at the precise moment that you are thinking about winding down for the summer vacation. For industry suppliers at least, the last six months have been busy ones, with a plethora of Spring shows to attend, starting with ISA in Orlando at the beginning of April, moving on to IPEX and then through all of the national sign and screen shows. The season finished in grand style with FESPA Digital Printing Europe, which, thanks to the joint efforts of the FESPA team and all of the participating companies, was a resounding success. For full details turn to pages 22-29. Michel Caza’s idea of the perfect holiday ought to be a couple of quiet weeks at home, lying down in a darkened room. However, I have no doubt that he is planning something far more challenging and exciting! Michel manages to pack more into a day than most people manage in a year, yet still finds enough time to share the benefits of his wisdom and expertise and even to write about his experiences too! Last March, he visited Australia to find out how screen and digital printing are faring down under. His report starts on page 32. On page 30 you can read the first of a new occasional series which highlights the activities of screen and digital printers in the different European regions. The series starts in Latvia, where three printing companies and an industry supplier provide some interesting insights into their daily routines. As the MACtac Awards reach their culmination (see pages 42/43) there is news of a new open-to-all Awards scheme designed to highlight excellence in the area of Digital Printing. FESPA, in association with HP, has announced the launch of the FESPA Digital Print Awards, the results of which will be announced next Spring. Find out more by turning to page 27. Come to think about it, deciding which work you are going to enter could be an extremely worthwhile, but not too onerous, summer project and one which you could profitably contemplate whilst relaxing by a pool with a long cool drink. And, since the closing date isn’t until 1st December of this year, you also have plenty of time to bring your plans to fruition! Good luck!
NEWS ROUND-UP
4 SUPPLIER NEWS
SPECIAL FEATURES
20 THE BLOCKBUSTER!
The latest supplier news.
FESPA DIGITAL PRINTING EUROPE THE REVIEW
8 PRODUCT NEWS 14 CHRIS’S COLUMN The latest association news.
16 OBITUARY Alex de Gelsey.
17 DIARY DATES OPINION
18 MAKING A STINK
22 SHOW HIGHLIGHTS 26 DIGITAL DETECTIVE 29 FESPA DIGITAL PRINT AWARDS
ABOUT INK!
Dr. Sem Seaborne, Chairman ESMA HSEP Committee, cautions everyone to beware of chemical products originating from outside Europe.
30 SPOTLIGHT ON EUROPE
Baltic beauties!
32
FOCUS ON AUSTRAILIA
Last March, Michel Caza undertook an epic trip to Australia in order to see how the antipodean screen and digital sectors are faring. Here he shares the many insights that he gleaned in excerpts from his Antipodean Diary.
INFORMATION
48 FESPA CONTACT LIST AND FINALLY… Val Hirst e-mail: val@valhirst.demon.co.uk
50 This month, Spandex’ Jim Rich is the man in the hot seat.
Fespa World The membership magazine of the Federation of European Screenprinting Associations No.44 Summer 2006 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 Karen Pooley – Group Marketing Manager Tel: +44 1737 24 07 88
Advertising Michael Ryan – Group Sales Manager James Ford – Sales Manager Tel: +44 1737 24 07 88 Fax: +44 1737 24 07 70
41
Editor Val Hirst Tel: +44 1623 88 23 98 E-mail: val@valhirst.demon.co.uk
42
Graphic Design Bate Brand Communications 8 St Leonard’s Square, Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 0AR Tel: +44 1491 835835 www.batebrand.com
44
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
INDIA ODYSSEY
Michel in India. MACTAC AWARDS
Flair and originality rewarded! INSTALATIONS
A competitive advantage.
46
COLUMNIST PETER KIDDELL
New regular columnist Peter Kiddell urges screenprinters to wake up and smell the coffee…
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/06 3
NEWS ROUND-UP – SUPPLIER NEWS
Awards galore for Epson
The leader of the project responsible for inventing Epson’s Micro Piezo printhead, Minoru Usui, has been awarded the prestigious Perkin Medal in recognition of his achievement. Currently Seiko Epson Director and the General Administrative Manager of the Production and Engineering and Development Division, Minori Usui received the award, which was established by the Society of Dyers and Colourists, in recognition of his outstanding technical development within the realm of colour science. First developed to honour William Henry Perkin who discovered mauveine (vivid purple) 150 years ago, the Perkin Medal is the highest honour the Society can bestow and only 22 such medals have been awarded since the accolade’s inauguration in 1901.
Kenneth McGhee the Society's CEO, comments: "The SDC is delighted to honour Minoru Usui of Epson for his striking scientific contribution to the development of piezo inkjet printer technology." Epson has also recently won three prestigious accolades for its photo printing and scanning technology at the TIPA Awards 2006, following TIPA’s annual review of the best products in the digital photo imaging arena. The awards relate to The Epson Perfection V750 Pro scanner, which was voted the "Best Flatbed Photo Scanner in Europe 2006", the Epson Stylus Photo RX640 as the "Best A4 Multifunction Photo Printer in Europe 2006" and Epson UltraChrome K3 ink as the "Best Printing Technology in Europe 2006"
A strong start for Esko Esko, a specialist in packaging pre-production solutions, has announced a strong performance in the first quarter of 2006. Consolidated net revenues increased by 20%, and EBIT was up by 1.5 Million Euro compared to the first quarter of 2005. The first quarter of 2006 saw all the company’s product lines continue their performance above expectations. The strongest sales increases were noted for
software (+28% compared to last year) and CAM table (+41% compared to last year). Esko’s Cyrel Digital Imager (CDI) product line grew by 15% and maintained a global market share in excess of 70%. All regions contributed to the revenue increase, with North America and Japan growing by 25% and 40% respectively, compared to last year.
Esko's Board of Directors, from left to right: Karl Kristian Hvidt Nielsen (CEO Brüel & Kjaer), J. André de Barros Teixeira (Chairman BBL Partners LLC), Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen (Partner/Director Axcel), Jean-Claude Deschamps (Dir. BioAlliance Pharma, Finocas/Finindus), Klaus Holse Andersen (EMEA VP Microsoft Business Solutions), Raf Decaluwé (Chairman LSG, ex-CEO Bekaert nv).
establishes UK office Fillink Technologies has established a UK sales office to help extend the European sales and support network for its growing range of wide-format inks. The new company, which will be jointly headed by Sales and Marketing Director Robin East and
Operations Director Jon Price, both of whom have extensive experience of the UK digital inkjet printing market, is based in Wokingham, Berkshire, from where it will supply Fillink’s range of eco-solvent, solvent and UV inks.
Nazdar underlines its In Brief commitment to Lyson brand Since the acquisition of Lyson Ltd and its subsidiary Lyson Inc., by Nazdar, there has been much speculation as to the future of the Lyson brand. Now however, Nazdar has reemphasised its commitment to building upon the position which Lyson brand inks already occupy and its UK site in Stockport will be the global headquarters for development and manufacture of the Lyson 4 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
aqueous product ranges, whilst also continuing to develop and manufacture many other inks types. Nazdar has further stated that it intends to ensure that the Lyson brand will continue to be a strong, innovative and pioneering force and looks forward to further improving this position through the increased capabilities brought on board through the acquisition.
Asian printers in the sign, display and wide format markets received a spring technology briefing by HP Scitex in Hong Kong that also demonstrated the market potential for flexible and rigid industrial inkjet applications. The day-long programme included presentations, customer visits and a chance to see the newly installed HP Scitex FB6700 in action at HP Scitex’s Demonstration Centre.
DuPont has recently announced an extension to its partnership with GretagMacbeth, by selecting the Eye-One Pro spectrophotometer as the colour measurement instrument of choice for its new digital proofing and UV Cure printing system.
SUPPLIER NEWS
Trident establishes partnership with iTi Trident Industrial InkJet has announced a partnership with Imaging Technology International ( iTi ) to integrate Trident’s industrial inkjet printhead technology into digital manufacturing and printing solutions in response to growing market demand. Trident’s industrial inkjet printhead technology is ideally suited for emerging inkjet applications in many industrial sectors and the company will team with iTi to produce development and production equipment to satisfy the need for evaluation tools, production manufacturing and short run printing. The ability to jet printing inks or specialized fluids reliably at micron accuracy onto a moving substrate will characterise systems jointly developed by iTi and Trident – a combination of iTi’s integration expertise and
Trident’s robust stainless steel printhead technology. The companies will jointly develop an Inkjet Drive Engine (IDE) to provide an intuitive, self contained control unit for driving Trident printheads, including software to control the printhead firing patterns, an ink supply system incorporating ink degassing, a graphical user interface and an applications programming interface (API) to enable integration of Trident printhead technology with a variety of development and production printing systems. iTi will integrate its complete family of inkjet development tools, including the XY Materials Deposition System, Drop Watcher and the Inkjet Web Press with the Trident family of printheads. The Drop Watcher is available immediately for the 768Jet printhead.
New laser cutting service from Spartanics Printers who want the benefits of tool-free cutting technology, but seek a cost-effective alternative to purchasing laser cutting equipment can now use Spartanics Laser Cutting Contract Manufacturing Service, which is also designed to be an extended production trial of Spartanics Klemm Digital Die Cutting Systems for companies considering investments in laser cutting technology. Spartanics Laser Cutting Contract Manufacturing Service will take on jobs of any length and
VUTEk forms exclusive partnership with Códice VUTEk has entered into an exclusive partnership with Códice Transfer Factory of Malaga, Spain for its Double System Control Visual (DSCV) technology, specifically designed to produce eye-catching graphic effects for interior and exterior advertising applications. The Double System Control Visual (DSCV) technology consists of DSCV Static and DSCV Dynamic. DSCV Static technology prints one-way seethrough graphics, which are useful for privacy, security, or visual interest applications. This software enables users to print images with the PressVu UV printer using VUTEk’s regular CMYK UV inks and a specially formulated white UV ink. On one side there is a crisp, clean image, whilst viewers on the
other side enjoy a clear view right through. DSCV technology offers this capability at a reasonable price and on any rigid or flexible transparent substrate. DSCV Dynamic offers the ability to display two or three images with exposure times of between two and 14 seconds. Due to the level of light, along with spectacular transitions of video quality, it creates a visual sensation of a plasma screen, making it the perfect system for use in many different applications. DSCV technology is now standard on all PressVu UV printers and earlier printer models can be easily and affordably upgraded to provide this capability. For further information visit: www.vutek.com
Inkjet lab for rent! include the full range of special features possible with the Spartanics Klemm Digital Die Cutting System. The new laser cutting service will also be able to handle the full gamut of different substrates. It is available to companies worldwide. For pricing on specific jobs and applications, send material samples and jobs specifications to the regional Spartanics sales associate listed at http://www.spartanics.com/d isplay/reps/reps_map1.cgi
Imaging Technology International (iTi), is planning to offer its newly opened Inkjet Development Laboratory (IDL) for rental to customers. The IDL will enable developers to test inkjet materials and processes on iTi's complete line of development tools at a fraction of the cost of purchasing such equipment, thus providing a cost-effective solution to the high entry costs associated with industrial inkjet development. The laboratory is comprehensively equipped with
iTi products and also provides access to microscopic evaluation and measurement tools for image analysis, and to a variety of devices for fluid curing. It also supports a variety of printhead vendors, including Dimatix, Trident and Xaar. Customers can rent the IDL in full day increments and can also purchase the time of an iTi engineer to assist them with the use of the equipment. For further information, visit www.iticorp.com
FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 5
SUPPLIER NEWS
Printing Practice at the Machine with Simone Schmid.
Marabu keep screenprinters up-to-date
As one of the leading manufacturers of screen, pad, and digital printing inks, Marabu is committed to helping printers to get the most out of its products. Accordingly, since the autumn of 2001, it has run a regular series of seminars, covering the three different printing technologies, in its modern training centre. The comprehensive programme is especially designed to help novice printers assimilate the basics of the process and to enable the more experienced to keep abreast of the latest developments. So far, Marabu has run 100 seminars covering an
interesting mix of topics, which have attracted over l000 delegates. To celebrate this success, the company recently held a special jubilee seminar. Taking as its theme ‘Four-colour processing technology in screenprinting’ it attracted participants from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and covered both the practical and theoretical elements of four-colour process printing. Lead by Marabu’s Michael Jansen, the seminar also featured speakers from mesh manufacturer SEFAR and the specialist screen printing chemicals company, Kissel and Wolf. Participants declared the event a total success and reported that they learned much more than they expected. The company plans to continue its seminar programme – for further details visit: www.marabuinks.com
Thieme KPX to extend market Specialist screenprint machinery distributor, Thieme KPX, plans to repeat its success with largeformat multi-colour screenprinting lines by introducing the German-manufactured SPS Rehmus range of cylinder presses to the UK market. Following five years supplying the THIEME 5000 series machines, the Huddersfieldbased company has taken on the sole SPS Rehmus agency at a time when the market for cylinder presses is wide open. Four high-speed versions of the SPS Rehmus cylinder machines will be supplied by Thieme KPX – the CyberPress, Vitessa XP, Vitessa Star and
Vitessa Multistar. Manufactured to the highest build quality in a range of formats from 520 x 720mm to 1420 x 1820mm, they are suitable for printing on a wide variety of flexible and rigid substrates and can be installed with complementary dryers and stackers. In addition, a comprehensive sales and service package will be extended by Thieme KPX to existing SPS Rehmus users as well as new customers, with technical support provided by sister company, H G Kippax & Sons. Trained sales and service personnel are already in place and the Huddersfield parts depot is fully stocked
Esko has announced the appointment of Kurt Demeuleneere as Chief Financial Officer, replacing Carsten Knudsen who became President and CEO after Esko’s ownership transitioned to Axcel. Kurt Demeuleneere has a background in economics and has built up his experience in different financial areas. Before joining Esko Graphics, he worked for Siemens, first as Finance Director for the telecommunications division, responsible for Africa and the Middle East and later as Head of Corporate Finance in The Netherlands, where he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions, as well as the
finance and strategy process. The company has also appointed a new independent Director to the Esko Board. Raf Decaluwé, who has been the Chairman of the Board of Laundry Systems Group (LSG), the market leader in commercial and heavy-duty laundry systems, since 2002, is also the former CEO of Bekaert, the world’s largest steel wire producer. Prior to his 16 years at Bekaert, Raf Decaluwé held senior positions at Black & Decker and Fisher Price Toys. He is a Board member in different companies, throughout the world.
Cartucho Group Limited, the developer and manufacturer of ink refill kiosks, has appointed Christopher George Dietemann to the Board of the Group as Head of Supply Chain and Engineering with immediate effect. The company has also appointed Robert Clark as Director of Field Operations, with global responsibility. Delta Display, a leading European specialist in the design and print of point-ofpurchase and large format print materials, has recently appointed Mike Bowman to head up its Northern office in Beverly, UK as Business
6 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
Mike Bowman
Appointments
Development Director. With over 15 years experience in the retail and POS industry, including six years in screen printing, Mike Bowman, who previously worked for Image Data Systems will take on the responsibility of building Delta Display’s client base in the North of England.
NEWS ROUND-UP – PRODUCT NEWS
UV curing for sensitive substrates Developed specifically to overcome the problems of UV curing on plastics and other heat sensitive substrates, TwinRay from AdPhos AG is a new indirect radiating UV module. In a totally new concept for UV curing, a triangular rotary reflector reflects UV radiation from a dual lamp system on to the substrate. By using only indirect UV energy, TwinRay eliminates practically all heat radiation, leaving only pure UV and visible light remaining. TwinRay delivers efficient, high-power curing up to 240W/cm, whilst eliminating heat-related issues such as wavy
Vandalproof film from McDermid Autotype MacDermid Autotype, has introduced a special film that combines both anti-glare and anti-graffiti properties in a single material. SIGMAGraF Anti-Glare incorporates a robust polyester base protected by a tough hardcoat upper, or outer, surface layer, with an inkjet printable underside layer, for reverse 8 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
sheets, high pile temperatures, registration problems and stacking. Further, the press and its surrounding environment remain cooler than with standard UV or other drying technologies. The dual-emitter design enables standard and speciality lamps to be used side-by-side in the same unit, ensuring optimum cure and extending the process potential. For example, a
printing. This creates a material that is dimensionally stable under a variety of storage, production and end-use environments, yet can easily be handled and printed using standard equipment. Two different inkjet primers are offered, the 'Plus' coating is suitable for aqueous pigment inkjet, and the 'UVjet' primer is recommended for UV curing ink jet printers. As the hardcoat layer is formulated to eliminate the need for filler materials, levels of image definition and colour rendition are far higher and brighter than those of many competing materials. The formulation of the hardcoat layer also plays a crucial role in providing the unique combination of anti-glare and anti-graffiti properties. To eliminate the problem of glare, MacDermid Autotype has modified the surface characteristics of the hardcoat, producing a nano-roughened finish that reflects less than 55% of light at 60 degrees angle. Similarly, the hardcoat surface layer has been specially developed to be scratch, scuff and abrasion proof and Graffiti paint can easily be cleaned with conventional isopropanol solvents or aqueous detergents. For further information visit: www.macdermidautotype.com
WhiteCure lamp can be used for depth cure of opaque white inks with a standard lamp for surface cure. Service and maintenance of TwinRay modules is simple. The design includes replaceable ‘easy
change’ dichroic reflector inserts and tool-free technology ensures that the plug-in lamps can be changed in as little as 30 seconds. For further information visit: www.adphos.com
New performance warranty for 3M digital films
The range of approved 3M digital materials for both interior and exterior sign and graphics applications is now being supported by a powerful new 3M Performance Warranty, which will cover specific durability and graphics’ componentcompatibility issues for up to 10 years. The materials covered by the warranty have been developed for short-, medium- and longterm digitally generated graphics when applied to both flat and curved substrates (including those involving rivets and corrugations). They are compatible with most of the leading solvent-based piezo inkjet printer platforms, including those from Seiko, Mutoh, Mimaki, Roland and Océ. The strength of the new 3M Performance Warranty stems from the rigorous testing
procedures employed at 3M and cover performance criteria for both graphic component and printer compatibility. Typically, they include physical property testing protocols to determine the dimensional stability of materials and substrate compatibility when subjected to weathering and other environmentally induced factors. Mindful of how materials can react differently during transportation and printer handling, the complementary mechanical property testing protocols also cover related performance requirements such as ink compatibility, colour settings and media-to-substrate adherence. For information on specific ink and RIP’s for each printer profile, visit: www.3m.com/uk/graphicsolu tions
PRODUCT NEWS
New Jeti3324 UV ensures speed and innovation
Gandinnovations has launched another new printer - the Jeti 3324 UV roll-to-roll – which offers many extra options that anticipate the needs of customers operating in the grand-format sector. A fully automated sixcolour printer, it comes in 300 or 600 dpi format options, maintaining the true production capabilities of a grand-format printer, whilst the head carriage hosts 24Spectra print heads. Ink designation is four heads per colour allowing for six colour
combinations. The Jeti 3324 UVRTR also offers blistering print speeds - 60 sq. metre/hr in best mode and 98 sq. metre/hr in production mode with 300 dpi. With the 600 dpi option, print speeds begin at 33 sq. metre/hr in best mode and 60 sq. metre/hr in production mode. The printer can be used in conjunction with frontlit, backlit and, adhesive vinyl, as well as virtually any rolled substrate. For further information visit: www.gandinnovations.com
VUTEk printers now feature Fiery XF RIP software VUTEk has introduced the new EFI Fiery XF RIP software to its range of super-wide format printers to help deliver highspeed processing, exceptional colour quality and increased productivity. The Fiery XF software, using Bestcolor Technology, facilitates the addition of multiple proofing devices to the production equipment, and integration with EFI Print Management Information Systems (MIS) and Web2Print products. EFI Fiery XF software also provides VUTEk users with advanced production capabilities through an intuitive, easy-to-use graphic user interface and preview feature with sound zooming to simplify work. Dragand-drop functionalities and wizards shorten the learning curve and make job start up easy, whilst the software’s nesting function saves material and money by allowing users to
output any number of files together, in one single job, even files with different colour spaces. Further, by using a step and repeat function, which facilitates the creation of any number of images, it quickly generates patterns by defining whether or not images are repeated horizontally, vertically or should be mirrored. This new RIP will also be the pathway for integrating EFI’s Print MIS solution in the future. The next release of Fiery XF will support the exchange of job information from the MIS to the Fiery and the return of job costing from the equipment back to the MIS. This will allow users to track materials usage, machine performance and labour utilisation automatically – all with the goal of making a printer’s operation more efficient and profitable. For further information visit: www.vutek.com/fieryxf.
In Brief ProfileMaker 5, the latest version of the popular GretagMacbeth colour management software, has been selected by Epson to develop and distribute premium ICC profiles for the award winning Epson Stylus Photo R800 printer. For further information visit: www.gretagmacbeth.com or www.i1color.com.
GBC Professional has launched the Saturn 8556, a high-speed lamination system which is designed to increase productivity and maximise profit for printers producing packaging. This versatile system uses GBC’s wide range of films and finishes, including gloss, matt and silk, linen, metallic and Alu Brush options - all of which provide the print finisher with multiple choices to offer his customer. With significant reliability and accuracy at high
speed, the Saturn 8556 offers consistent output and cost effective operation. For further information visit: www.gbc.com
HP has launched the HP Indigo Commercial Job Estimator for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). As the newest component of its ‘Capture Business Success’ program, this software tool calculates job costs for digital and conventional
presses and compares and contrasts the cost and timing profiles, as well as identifying crossover points, to assist the user in constructing a commercial print estimate. For further information visit: www.hp.com/go/capture
Xaar has extended its successful partnership with Fujifilm Sericol with the approval of another of the company's inks for use with Xaar's piezoelectric drop-ondemand inkjet technology. The new UV-curable general purpose ink, Uvijet Versa, has been developed to achieve vibrant, lightfast and durable colours when used in conjunction with
Xaar's XJ-126 and XJ-500 highperformance printheads. Formulated specifically for wide-format graphic and flatbed printer applications, the Uvijet Versa ink offers excellent adhesion and a tough, scratchresistant finish on a wide range of rigid and flexible substrates. For further information visit: www.xaar.co.uk FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 9
PRODUCT NEWS
More colour indoors and out Who hasn’t dreamt of a deeper black or a more brilliant cyan? Now it’s a dream that can be realised with the addition of two new colours to BSF’s Bafixan P 100 HS sublimation ink range for inkjet printing. The deep Xtra Black shade ensures strong contrasts and an intense colour experience. Its brilliant counterpart, turquoise, can be printed directly with the new cyan shade. This greenish blue is equivalent to a real process colour and appears fresher and greener than comparable inks. The Bafixan P 100 HS range as a whole, which comprises nine colours, including Yellow, Red, Light Red, Brilliant Blue, Light Brilliant Blue, Cyan, Black, Xtra Black and Grey, covers the entire colour gamut for sublimation printing and can also be used for
VUTEk goes natural!
direct printing. These lightfast colours, which can be used indoors or outside, are ideal for use on nearly all polyester and polyamide surfaces and excellent results can be achieved even at the highest printing speeds. Bafixan P can be used in conjunction on large-format digital printing machines with Epson heads, such as Mimaki, Mutoh and Roland. For further information visit: www.basf.com/textile.
Although end users are increasingly demanding environmentally friendly inks and the freedom to use uncoated superwide substrates without having to endure bothersome fumes or the expense of costly ventilation systems, they aren’t prepared to sacrifice any shortfall in versatility and performance. However, the new, environmentally friendly BioVu ink from VUTEk succeeds in addressing all of these concerns. BioVu is the first solvent-based ink to be made from a renewable resource (namely, corn), and the only one recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Created by VUTEk, BioVu is made from food-grade ingredients, yet delivers all the benefits of traditional solvent inks without the compromises inherent in eco-solvent and aqueous inks. Like other solvent-based inks, BioVu provides extreme durability, strong bonding to
New ink range for Xaar’s Omnidot Greyscale printheads
A better product at a better price!
Following rigorous testing, Xennia's new XenJet Vivide range of CMYK pigmented UVcure inks has been approved by Xaar for use with its OmniDot 760 greyscale printheads. The inks offer outstanding jetting, colour and mechanical properties, and when used in conjunction with Xaar's OmniDot 760 printheads set new standards of quality on a wide range of flexible graphics, packaging and label substrates. XenJet Vivide UV cure inks are the first Xennia inks to be approved by Xaar under a new ink partnership, building on the
Seal’s new Optimount, is a double-sided clear adhesive which is used for face mounting images onto acrylic substrates to produce optical graphic applications such as backlit displays. Besides the obvious economical benefits, the new Optimount features independent dual release liners, with one side clear polyester and the other a white polypropylene, making it much easier to handle. Not only is it now easier to find the edge of the liner when applying the adhesive, static is reduced and consequently, the risk of
10 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
existing preferred integrator relationship between the two companies. Further inks for Xaar printheads are planned for launch by Xennia during 2006. XenJet Vivide inks are optimised for colour gamut and vibrancy, speed of cure and low odour. The cured inks demonstrate excellent adhesion and durability on many substrates, together with high levels of chemical, abrasion, temperature resistance and UV light-fastness. For further information visit: www.xaar.co.uk
uncoated surfaces, as well as great resistance to both UV light and mechanical wear. They are also designed specifically to run in high-production environments and provide high print quality. Other business benefits include lower disposal costs, since there are no hazardous materials, the reduction of odour on final printed materials; and a more pleasant working environment for employees. The patent-pending, environmentally preferable chemistry inks include VUTEk’s BioVu in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and BioVu Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Light Yellow and Light Black for superwide format inkjet printing operations. They can presently be used on VUTEk’s UltraVu II 3360 solvent printer and the company plan to extend their usage to its other solvent models later in the year. For further information visit: www.vutek.com
attracting airborne particles. While still maintaining the unique optical clarity required for backlit displays, the new product has been specifically designed to work with both modern water-based as well as solvent-based printing technologies. For further information visit: www.sealgraphics.com
PRODUCT NEWS
Two new textile presses from M&R
M&R has launched two new automatic textile presses. The first is the Gauntlet Z, which features M&R’s Direct Digital Control and represents a milestone in user-friendly operation. Direct Digital Control enables operators to electronically manage features such as off-contact, stroke length, flood and squeegee speed, and flash curing from the main panel touch-screen and from LED panels at each printhead. Like its predecessor Gauntlet II, Gauntlet Z’s colour capacity and large print size, high production speed, user-friendly design, and compact footprint make it the ideal addition to any printshop. Gauntlet Z is available in 12 and 14-colour models with a 41 x 56 cm (16" x 22") maximum image area. It offers virtually everything a printer could want, including a super-fast, ultra-quiet servo-driven indexer, electric printheads, and Job Recall, which allows storage and recall of numerous standard and optional functions and settings, including print and flood speeds and front and rear carriage-stop positions. Direct Digital Control allows print parameters to be used as an overall default or to be shared with other printheads at the 12 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
touch of a button. Challenger Z is the second press to incorporate M&R’s new Z-Series features. Designed for quick setups and high-speed production, it’s loaded with timesaving, output-enhancing features. Challenger Z is available in 12, 14, 16, and 18-colour models with a 50 x 70 cm (20" x 28") maximum image area. Its huge standard feature set includes digitally-controlled stroke length, pneumatic and mechanical squeegee pressure control, tool-free calibrated angle adjustments, and compatibility with M&R’s pre-press registration systems, such as the Tri-Loc and Double Tri-Loc. Both Z-Series presses also feature touch-screen controlled servo-driven central off-contact and independent mechanical head off-contact, which increases individual head off-contact adjustment by a total of .79 cm (5/16") in .04 cm (1/64") increments. Individual head offcontact is invaluable when printing with thick inks or specialty high density inks and gels. For further information and to download pdf.format brochures visit: www.mrprint.com
Inkjet technology moves forward The XY 2.0 Materials Deposition System 2.0 from Imaging Technology International (iTi), delivers fully integrated inline curing functionality in a scanning, inkjet printing system, that offers extreme drop placement accuracy for demanding industrial applications. It is the first inkjet printing system to provide user control over both printing and curing, when developing inkjetbased processes and complements the company’s existing materials deposition system – the XY 1.0. iTi’s XY Materials Deposition Systems provide developers with a flexible and sophisticated platform for the development of jettable fluids, the analysis of the interaction between fluids and substrates and the development of pilot production processes. They are highly accurate systems with positional repeatability of
±1µm, suited for emerging inkjet applications in sectors including flat panel displays, coatings, precision deposition of biomedical, conductive and resistive fluids, and full colour process printing. The XY 2.0 adds user controllable curing and allows customers to specify their preferred curing device. iTi’s software controls the platen movement through the curing area to control the duration of cure exposure, whilst the print process allows arbitrary insertion of curing passes into the deposition order, thus enabling multilayer, multi-fluid processes to be developed within a single contained unit. The XY 2.0 currently supports Dimatix and Xaar printheads. Future support for Trident and other industrial printheads is planned. For further information visit: www.iticorp.com
New window film for perfect images Continental Grafix Ltd has expanded its range of selfadhesive window films with the introduction of panoRama 1530 in Optima quality. Up until now, most European printers have used the perforation pattern 1550 for advertisements on vehicle windows which combines a 50% printable area with 1.5 mm hole size. However, in practice this means that there is often a huge colour discrepancy between the printed vehicle and its window area. But, although the new
range features the same 1.5 mm hole size, it offers a 70% printable area to provide much more acceptable results. PanoRama1530 Optima is 120 microns thick and has a higher tack. As with all other products from Continental Grafix, it is easily removable without residue. It is offered with either a polyester or paper liner in 300m master reels and 100 and 50m converted rolls. For further information visit: www.continentalgrafix.com
NEWS ROUND UP – CHRIS’S COLUMN
Chris’s Column Following a spectacular and very well attended FESPA Digital Printing Europe show in Amsterdam, here’s a brief round up of what else has been happening within FESPA and in the Associations. Polish Seminar – Poznan FESPA supported events continue, the latest being in Poznan, Poland, where around 50 printers attended a two day conference with the theme "Screen and Digital - together or enemies?" This event took place during the Euro-Reklama Exhibition, a fairly large advertising show that was very well attended. PSSiDC had organised a varied programme consisting of a mixture of technical sessions and supplier presentations over the two days. Certainly, the conference hall was very impressive; custom built, it offered stateof-the-art audio visual systems, lighting controls, inbuilt translation booths, and a magnificent theatre, with space for 250 delegates - a wonderful venue. However, in a hall this size, the 70 delegates seemed to be rather thinly spaced although all credit must go to the PSSiDC for managing to attract 70 attendees to its first event. However, whatever the event lacked in numbers, it was certainly made up for in quality. Speakers included our own Michel Caza, whose presentation was entitled "Screen and Digital printing - More brothers than enemies". As always, Michel’s session was lively, interesting and packed
with his considerable personal experience of using both technologies. He demonstrated how the evolution of screenprinting had helped digital printing to develop and ably listed the many business opportunities that could be supported by both these technologies. Other presentations from FujiFilm Sericol, Avery Dennison, Rutland, Thieme - Agfa, MacDermid Printing Solutions and MacDermid Autotype, Lüscher, JetMedia and Roland were followed with a presentation on e-learning by Peter Kiddell of PDS Consulting. The e-learning course is to be translated into Polish and delegates thus had the opportunity to see how it will eventually be presented in their own language. Our Polish hosts, Michal Kridel and Jacek Stencel from PSSiDC made everyone feel most welcome and their hospitality was truly wonderful. I hope that with FESPA Projects Committee support, we shall be able to plan another purely technical seminar in Poland, either later this year, or early next year as many delegates requested. Meanwhile a full report of this event, in English, can be found on the FESPA website. www.fespa.com
Slovenian 3D Print Forum I was honoured to help judge the models entered for the youth awards in the Slovenian 3D Print Forum held during FESPA Digital Printing Europe. It seems that the judges’ conclusions were almost universally unanimous and I hope the winners were pleased. The aim of the forum was to focus attention on the exciting possibilities offered by 3D printing. Though the concept is not entirely new, the prospects, especially in the area of industrial applications, art, technology, medicine, architecture and engineering, are considerable. Those people who attended this free seminar in the showcase theatre, were given a vision of how this technology will affect us all in time. The models, all designed by young people, demonstrated how concepts could be planned, designed, produced and printed for presentation to a client. One of the uses, was a model of Piran showing the geographical relief. It was designed to help town planners visualise this picturesque area of Slovenia and thus present their ideas more effectively. A second model (illustrated) is a handy mobile multifunctional medical device with an integrated system of functions for determining and registering a patient's vital signs and blood type. This helps provides medics with an efficient and effective diagnostic tool. Well done to Edvard Stenard, David Skrl and CESdT for their vision and for enabling us to gain a small foretaste of what the future holds!
The PSSiDC stand at the at Euro-Reklama Exhibition
One of the stunning 3D models
L.to r. Chris Smith, Michel Caza, Jacek Stencil from PSSiDC and Ludovit Bartos of the Slovakian Association Secretary
displayed at the Slovenian Print Forum
14 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
The DMI Bhargav Mistry, Managing Director of Grafica Flextronica and President of SPAI (Screen Printing Association of India), an Associate Member of FESPA, has invested in a major project in India that will be of considerable benefit to everyone connected with screenprinting, including those companies who are interested in exporting to India. Called the DMI (Dhirubhai Mistry Institute) after Bhargav’s father, the Institute will provide first class facilities for both novice and experienced printers. The Institute includes a live demo area, for Grafica’s holistic range of machinery and solutions; a print, education and training facility for students and professionals and a conference room and business facilities for PR and marketing purposes. This initiative will encourage students to
Serbian Seminar and new showroom FESPA Board member Gyorgy Kovacs (from Hungary), paid tribute to the work being done by Serbian Secretary, Dusan Golubovic, at the official opening of his new showroom in Belgrade in early May. This took place during a two-day seminar, which attracted about 30 visitors each day. Following a welcome speech from Dusan, Gyorgy explained the importance of seminars and how FESPA is enthusiastically supporting such projects. Indeed, Gyorgy himself, has been responsible for actively promoting seminars, workshops and mini-FESPAS in Eastern Europe, many of which have been extremely successful. Speakers at the May event included Hans Bense from machine manufacturer A.W.T.’s Dutch office and the Scarltritti brothers from the Italian E.T.S. company. Presentations on fabric printing, covering direct, transfer, sublimation, and special effect – metallic applications, were very well received and overall, the event succeeded in promoting both screenprinting, FESPA and Dusan's new business!
enter into the screenprinting sector by providing access to the latest advanced technology and will enable India to field highly qualified practitioners. It will provide free education by offering students a payback scheme when their training is complete. Initially, students will be asked to pay a deposit of Rs.25000 (about €465) and in return, will receive hands-on training for between three to six months. This will be followed by a year long work placement with a company located in their home city, once they have finished their training, after which they will receive a certificate confirming completion of the apprenticeship. At this stage their deposit will be returned You might be thinking why train for free? It is anticipated, however that the incentive of free training will encourage more young people to enter the sector.
gain access to the ‘members only’ area of the FESPA website where they have the opportunity to pose any technical screen, digital or pad printing question. The answer will be provided by e-mail normally within 24 hours of the question being asked and the service is completely FREE! Why not try it today? If you haven’t yet received your password, please contact your Association Secretary or, alternatively, e-mail me at chris.smith@fespa.com
Turkey Lack of sufficient educated and qualified personnel in the Outdoor Advertisement Sector is one of the major problems facing Turkey. Now, finally, ARED’s efforts for training and educating qualified personnel for the screenprinting sector, as included in its working schedule of this year, has resulted in a satisfactory outcome. Last year ARED submitted an application for initiating an "Outdoor Advertising and Screenprinting" programme at Iozmir Aegean University Vocational Studies School, undertaking to provide all the
Technical Questions and Answer Service Although unbiased, expert advice on the main technologies used in our sector is hard to obtain, this isn’t a problem that will trouble members of FESPA National Associations (and Associate members) for much longer. Everyone should by now have received their passwords (from their National Association) to enable them to
(From left to right) 1) Mr. Erkan Güldoan / Say Sign Company, Ared member 2) Prof.Dr.Ülkü Bayındır / Rector, Aegean University 3) Akın Kazançolu / Vice President, Izmir Chamber of Comerce 4) Birol Fedai / Sistem Print Company, Ared member of board
A technician shows off the new facilities at DMI
CHRIS’S COLUMN
This is certainly a scheme that other countries might like to consider in the future. Bhargav is also keen to provide European companies with access to stateof-the-art facilities, including showrooms and conference facilities, fully staffed with trained personnel, to enable them to promote their products and services to potential customers in the Indian continent. Further information on this can be found on the FESPA website, www.fespa.com
necessary tools and equipment needed for training and even arranging employment afterwards, along with a detailed study on the status of Outdoor Advertising in Turkey. As a result of this, the Iozmir Chamber of Commerce promised to make a financial contribution of €l00,000 and The General Assembly of the Council of Higher Education of Turkey approved the project, which will now take place in the 2006-2007 educational year. The money will be used to provide classrooms, laboratories, workshops and so on. Accordingly, the first 40 students will start on their studies later this year. FESPA may be able to assist with some of the activities being planned through the Projects Committee, subject to an application being made and supported.
FESPA Website I hope that by the time you read this copy of Fespa World, we shall have our much improved website up and running after making a number of revisions both to the content and layout. This website is designed primarily for the use of FESPA members, so if you have any ideas or suggestions as to how it might be further improved, please do let me know. Well, that is about it for this issue but we are anticipating more project submissions for a wide range of activities throughout the summer, so I shall report on these next time. Meanwhile, if anybody wants further information on any FESPA activities, please do contact me, preferably by e-mail at chris.smith@fespa.com FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 15
NEWS ROUND-UP – ASSOCIATION NEWS
FESPA welcomes Italy to the fold FESPA has welcomed a new Italian national association to the organisation, with immediate effect. SIOTEC (Serigrafie Italiane Organizzate Tecnologie Correlate), headquartered in Milan, was recognised by the Italian authorities in February this year. SIOtec board from left to right: Alberto Consalter, printer and Treasure - Agostino Musitelli
The new association, whose President is Claudio Frassinelli of Frassinelli Serigrafia, has a board of eleven, consisting of four suppliers (Saati; Chiossi e Cavazutti; Grafco; and Kiian) six printers, and a chairperson. The association has already attracted members from Toscana, Puglia, Piemonte, Lombardia, Veneto, Friuli, Emilia Romania and Campagna, making it truly representative of Italian printers and suppliers the length and breadth of the country. FESPA General Secretary Nigel Steffens comments, "Italy has a dynamic and vibrant screen, sign and digital printing community, and we at FESPA are delighted that print service providers there can once again
OBITUARY
Alex de Gelsey, the founder of Broadstairs based ink manufacturer Sericol died on Sunday 16th April 2006. 16 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
count on a highly engaged business support organisation. The new team at SIOTEC is committed, focused and eager to become involved in FESPA activities, and we would encourage printers all over Italy to give the organisation their support." In addition to the national business support initiatives offered by SIOTEC itself, members of the new association will also have access to the range of educational, training and best-practice development tools available via FESPA. These include FESPA Certified PDF in association with Enfocus, FESPA’s online training and education, the new FESPA online technical Q&A service, and many other
printer - Emanuele Albani, Kiian - Claudio Frassinelli, President printer - Paolo Lorusso, printer Daniela Rizzardi (Saati) - Massimo Poli, secretary - Ugo Chiossi (Chiossi e Cavazzuti) - Roberto Posarelli, vicepresident - Gianpaolo Coin (Grafco) - Paolo Santi, printer.
international projects currently under development. Secretary of SIOTEC, Massimo Poli comments: "As a not-forprofit organisation, SIOTEC can offer member companies a positive alternative to commercial isolation, giving them access to new opportunities, opening doors within the market and raising awareness of the sector’s capabilities. "SIOTEC welcomes the advantages and responsibilities that come with membership of the FESPA organisation. Through FESPA, SIOTEC can maintain constant dialogue with like-
minded organisations worldwide, beginning with Europe. The Italian screen and digital printing community is vibrant and fast moving, and is recognised by many as a positive international benchmark. However, Italian printers need fresh ideas and resources from other European players to help them confront today’s economic challenges and reinforce their world-class reputation. From my point of view, FESPA is to SIOTEC as the EC is to Italy impossible to do without!" The new organisation’s website can be found at www.siotec.it
Alex de Gelsey CBE, DL Alex de Gelsey left his native Hungary in 1946 for England to escape oppressive Communist rule and to pursue his education and passion for science and colour photography. After graduating from Cambridge University he joined Kodak's Research Department. In 1951 he left Kodak to set up his own business, Photo Colour Laboratories which later became Sericol. Following the acquisition of Sericol by Burmah Castrol in 1983, Alex remained active as the Chairman of Sericol and as an Executive Director of Burmah Chemicals. Through his entrepreneurial leadership style, focus on product development, customer driven mentality, single-minded determination, and deep pride in the accomplishment of others, he assembled a company that became the
unqualified leader of the screen printing industry. Alex approached everything in his life with vigour, enthusiasm, tremendous energy and high achievement. In addition to his Sericol career he was very active in the community both in the UK and in Hungary. He held several Chairmanships of senior regional civic committees in the UK. He was honoured by the Queen as a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and was appointed a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kent. In Hungary and the UK he worked tirelessly to assist the unemployed by promoting the Small Business Foundation and Enterprise Agencies. The Prince of Wales acknowledged his work, and the President of Hungary awarded him with two decorations in recognition of his efforts. He will be greatly missed.
Diary dates for 2006/7 Sign Africa 16 - 18 August 2006 Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg Organisers: Practical Publishing Tel: ++27 11 609 8899 Email: dyelan@practicalpublishing.co.za www.signafrica.com
FESPA General Assembly 14 -15 September 2006, Bratislava, Slovakia Radisson Carlton Hotel www.fespa.com
Visual Communication Europe 20 – 22 September, 2006 Hall 7/3 Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Paris Organiser: Reed Exhibitions Tel: ++31 (0)147 56 24 33 e-mail: alexandra.bouvard@reedexpo.fr www.visualparis.com
SGIA 2006 26 -29 September, 2006 Las Vegas convention Centre Las Vegas Organiser: SGIA Tel: 001 220 313 489 Fax: 001 703 369 1328 e-mail: sylvia@sgia.org www.sgia.org
Visual Communication Graphic Arts & Packaging Balkan trade expo. October 2006 – Date to be confirmed Salonica, North Greece, Organiser: Materia Grigia Tel.: +30-210-3640197 (2 lines) Fax: +30-210-3608903
17th Europäisches Siebdruckertreffen/17th Meeting of European Screenprinters 12 – 14 October 2006 Bregrenz, Austria Organiser: Glatz Schilder GmbH Contact: Alexander Eberle/Kurt Kusternig Tel: +43 5574 802 806 e-mail: kurt.kusternig@glatz.at www.glatz.at
PRO Sign 2006 19 -21 October 2006 Exhibition Centre Frankfurt Messe, Frankfurt, Germany Organiser: Reed Exhibitions Tel: +49 (0) 211 90191-128 Fax: +49 (0)211 90 191-138 e-mail: egeef@reedexpo.de www.prosign-messe.com
Visual Communication Italia
FESPA 2007
Milan Fairgrounds, Milan, Italy 9 -11 November, 2006 Organiser: Reed Exhibitions Tel: ++ 0744 400544 Fax: ++ 0744 403708 e-mail: beatrice.cavalletti@reedexpo.it www.visualcommunication.it
5th - 9th 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
Screen Printing & Signs China Digital Printing China 2006
FESPA World Expo India 2007
16 -19 November, 2006 INTEX Exhibition Centre, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China Organisers: CSGIA Tel: 86 10 84043402 Fax: 86 10 64034996 e-mail: shenchunyan@csgia.org www.csgia.org
Sign Istanbul, International Digital & Outdoor Advertising Fair, 7 -10 December 2006. Tuyap Beylikduzu,Turkey Organiser: IFO Istanbul Fair Organization Tel: 90 212 2757579 Fax: 90 212 2883611 e-mail: ifo@ifo.com.tr www.ifo.com.tr
7th – 9th December 2007 Pragati Maidan New Delhi, India Organiser: FESPA www.fespa.com
FESPA Digital Printing Europe 2008 1st – 3rd April 2008 Geneva Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland Organiser: FESPA www.fespa.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
OPINION
Dr. Sem Seaborne, Chairman ESMA HSEP Committee, cautions everyone to beware of chemical products originating from outside Europe
Making a stink about ink!
“
Just recently the ESMA Health Safety & Environmental Protection Committee has become increasingly concerned about inks and other chemical products for the screen and specialist printing markets being sold within Europe from nonEuropean origins. So much so that we are launching an initiative, the objectives of which are to inform both our members and FESPA members about the problems we face, at the same time as informing customers about the potential health risks to their employees. We will also be informing the press and other trade associations and will be lobbying MEP and civil servants on relevant committees. Here is the problem. We all realised during FESPA 2005 in Munich, how enormous the pressure of competition from Asia is becoming for European manufacturers of chemicals. The ink manufacturers especially were aware of the launch by Asian competitors of a wide range of screen printing, pad printing and digital printing inks to compete on the globalised market. The main focus is to convince that the cheaper, the better and the more welcome to the user, irrespective of possible risks, which may exist for the customer and the environment. Let's look at the facts. The labelling of many of these products, according to the EU laws, is either wrong or missing completely, whilst the European safety data sheets are also either wrong,
18 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
incomplete or not available at all. The ingredients are doubtful and have probably not been tested and certified in Europe with regard to the European chemical substance inventories EINECS and ELINCS, nor would they comply with the forthcoming REACH regulations for controls on chemicals. There is a clear legal situation with European laws for all these issues, which are applicable for ESMA members, as consciencious chemical manufacturers of preparations made and distributed in Europe and are designed to protect the user, but there is a lack of implementation procedures by local authorities. Already at the borders we see a total lack of control of incoming substances and preparations made outside Europe. This certainly applies in Germany, but also for many of the other 25 members of the EU. Let's have a look at the example of printing inks, country of origin: The Peoples’ Republic of China. The only issue that the customs officer is interested in is the customs tariff number. If he has this number, he rates such printing inks so that the customs and excise office is able to´charge duty on them before passing them on to the importer without further control. So the products come into our countries easily, with or without labelling, with or without Health and Safety (Material Safety) Data Sheets and with or without certificates of conformity relating to the registration of the
ingredients in the chemical substance lists ELINCS or EINECS. The importer (who often doesn’t know the law, or does not want to know it) is the one who brings the product into the market, specifically to the customer, the printer. To verify that all importers comply with the law, each country has an authority that is supposed to ensure, that companies trading in this way are complying with all current laws and regulations. In Germany this is the Trade Supervisory Office; in the UK it is the Health & Safety Executive. But, this authority will only take action when there is a precise and filed suit against such an importer, in particular when there are indications of a breach of the laws and regulations. This is extremely difficult for a screen printer to do without precise and specialised knowledge. The last link of the "supply chain", is the customer, the printer. According to the current regulations he must not accept, or even use a product without a proper safety data sheet and without adequate and correct Health & Safety labelling. The background of correct labelling is always described in detail in the Material Safety Data Sheet. We see either a lack of knowledge or a total ignorance by many printers on this subject, thus they risk the health and life of their employees simply because they don't know such rules and regulations exist. The Workplace Safety Authority of each
OPINION
European country is responsible for policing customers. In Germany this is the Employer’s Liability Association Print (BGDruck), and in the UK the HSE. However these authorities will only control according to their normal visit schedule. The only way to force the issue and provide the control a printer needs, would be to point out such offending users to the authorities. We all know that this is a difficult issue: by pointing out such non-compliant customers we certainly won’t win or keep goodwill! We therefore believe that information flow to customers about their current obligations is the better way. Hence, we are trying to encourage everyone in the supply chain and especially the printer to help identify distributors/importers of chemical products that are not adequately labelled or carry false information and notify the authorities. After all, these companies are putting your workers, colleagues and the environment at risk. All ESMA members have confirmed compliance with the Code of Conduct of ESMA on joining the association. Now please help us io identify and pursue those who have decided not to respect our law and regulations here in Europe. To help you find the authority in your country, which is controlling the laws and regulations relating to the sales and distribution of chemical products, we have prepared a complete list of the European authorities per country, so that you know who to contact. For a copy of this simply visit www.esma.com
Only by providing these details will you enable your country's Health & Safety authority to pick up upon and pursue this case. Manufacturers, distributors and importers who have decided to sell inadequately labelled products and/or provide deliberately false information, endanger the health of everyone. Collectively we must act, before we are endangered by a flood of cheap and dirty products! It must be emphasised that ESMA members are not against competition per se, from non-European countries. Our appeal has nothing to do with protectionism. Serious, reliable and lawabiding manufacturers, like the ESMA members, make the effort to comply with current laws and regulations for sales of chemical products in Europe, which some of our non-European competitors simply are not willing to do Please help us to make Europe a safer and healthier working environment."
”
What do you think about the import of cheap chemicals? Do you have a horror story, or indeed a positive experience that you’d like to share? If so e-mail: val@valhirst.demon.co.uk
FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 19
FESPA DIGITAL PRINTING EUROPE – THE REVIEW
The Blockbuster! Returning from Fespa Digital Printing Europe, it was hard to believe that, less than a year since the record breaking FESPA 2005 exhibition in Munich, FESPA had managed to organise another truly blockbusting event. During the three days of the show, over 12,000 visitors descended on the RAI , Amsterdam’s premier exhibition centre, to view the very latest products and services offered by 234 of the digital sector’s leading manufacturers and suppliers. The show’s success was, to some at least, all the more surprising because for the first time in FESPA’s 43 year history, it was hosting a purely digital event. Indeed, when plans for the show were first announced last year, some questioned the wisdom of launching a new exhibition into an already crowded spring show schedule. However, the show immediately found favour with potential exhibitors and FESPA had sold all available stand space by the end of March, at which point it started a waiting list. In the event, the RAI was able to release further space and all of the 20 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
companies on the waiting list were successfully accommodated. But despite this obvious enthusiasm on the part of the exhibitors, the big question was, would the visitors turn out? Happily the answer was a resounding yes! Over the three-day period, 9317 individual visitors, from 103 different countries, flocked to Amsterdam, with many returning to the show for more than one day. The total attendance was a staggering 12,323 and for the duration, Halls 8, 9 and 10 of the RAI were packed full to bursting point and generated a truly buzy atmosphere. Visitors variously described the show as ‘vibrant’ and ‘exciting’, with at least one veteran show visitor claiming that it was the best exhibition he’d ever attended. Certainly, visitors showed no sign of the predicted
www.fespadigital.com
exhibition fatigue. Instead, they eagerly took the opportunity to examine everything on offer. This included the 12 free seminars and product demonstrations that took place in a specially built showcase theatre on site. Others opted to attend FESPA’s high level conference programme, which took place on the second and third days of the show and featured no less than 22 world class speakers, discussing every aspect of digital printing. Whether you visited the show, in which case the next few pages will serve as an aide memoire, or simply want to catch up on everything you missed, you’ll find my show highlights and Mark Godden’s own inimitable take on the event beginning overleaf.
"We have been overwhelmed by the interest and the traffic on our stand. This show is digitally focussed and our stand has been permanently crowded‌‌ it really has really proved to be a fantastic sales and marketing opportunity." Gordon Hendriks, Marcom Manager Benelux,Agfa
FESPA Digital Printing Europe 2008 On the last day of the show, exhibitors were already descending on the FESPA stand in order to ensure their participation in the next FESPA Digital Printing Europe. Scheduled for 1st-3rd April, 2008, it will take place at the Geneva Palexpo, Switzerland, an international exhibition centre, conveniently located only a 10 minute walk from the airport. Ideally situated on the banks of the largest lake in Central Europe, Geneva is a beautiful city with plenty to offer visitors. There are 130 hotels, offering 14,000 beds and excellent connections via air, rail and road from most European cities. Further, travel throughout Geneva during FESPA Digital 2008 will be FREE to all visitors and exhibitors! For further information visit www.fespa.com
FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 21
FESPA DIGITAL 2006 – TO UV, OR NOT TO UV?
Show highlights So much to see, so little time! With such a dazzling array of equipment and materials on offer, visitors to the show can be forgiven for missing out on some of most noteworthy items. Val Hirst provides a whistle-stop tour of the show’s highlights
As the show marked a year of phenomenal growth for Fillink Technologies it wasn’t surprising that it had decided to mark the occasion with the launch of a trio of new products designed for use with the ColorSpan DisplayMaker, Mutoh Spitfire and NUR Fresco. For the Mutoh Spitfire, Fillink introduced the first ink solutions available in 220ml and 440ml cartridges and in 1litre bottles, all with ‘smart card’. Over on the VUTEk stand, visitors were able to see the new Fiery XF RIP, which is now a standard feature of all of the VUTEk machines, the company’s new BioVu environmentally friendly solvent ink and the PressVu UV 320/400 flatbed printer’s new 600 dpi mode which delivers sharper text for applications requiring close viewing. VUTEk, in association with its exclusive partner Codice also introduced the 22 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
Double System Control Visual (DSCV) Static and Dynamic technologies, specifically designed to create eye-catching graphic effects for interior and exterior advertising applications. NUR showcased its roll-fed and flatbed UV-inkjet presses, together with a new RIP option, and new 3D lenticular printing application which incorporates HumanEyes Technologies software for the creation of lenticular content, specialty lenticular substrates, plus the NUR Tempo II flatbed UV-inkjet press for printing. This new application can be used to produce a variety of lenticular products giving digital print service the ability to enter new and lucrative markets. The high quality imaging system of NUR Tempo II optimises the 3D print quality by ensuring precise alignment between the substrate and the printer.
HP sought to use its presence at the show to demonstrate how its digital printing solutions help screen printers to embrace exciting new opportunities for variable data printing, cost-effective shorter runs and greater scope for customer creativity. HP’s current printer portfolio is its most comprehensive ever, spanning the large format, speciality and wide-to-superwide markets. There was lots of enthusiasm for Luscher’s JetPrint, large format inkjet printer, with one visitor confirming his order on the first day of the show! Other visitors will shortly be visiting Luscher’s plant in Switzerland to conduct in-house tests prior to placing their orders. Durst announced another new addition to its Rho Family of UV inkjet printers. The Rho 600 Pictor is a compact version of the Rho 600 and uses the same technology as other
members of the Rho family. Durst claim that it is the first low priced industrial standard, UV curing flatbed on the market and that it is particularly suited to signmakers and smaller graphics houses who already have a certain level of flatbed business, but would like to expand it. Smaller than the Rho 600 at 160 cm wide, the Pictor features Durst’s own proven Quadro Array printhead technology, and is ideally suited to printing small items typically produced by sign companies. This feature is further enhanced by special software, which facilitates the printing of different small items alongside each other, maximising productivity and profitability. The extremely compact size of this brand new machine means that it will fit into a customer’s premises with minimum disruption.
FESPA WORLD SPRING/06 23
Fujifilm Sericol showed its impressive line-up of Inca equipment and consumables for wide and super-wide format printing, deploying an international team to inform and entertain visitors, while all equipment ran at full production pace. there was a tremendous amount of interest in the Columbia Turbo and Spyder 320, the six-colour enhancement and practical implementation of white in the Spyder 320 being particularly well received. Presenting the Virtu RS35 – a 3.5 m wide UV inkjet digital printer for flatbed and roll-toroll applications Spühl AG reported that it had received countless requests for customer demos and sample prints and revealed that it plans to introduce a number of industrial printing machines in the future. Matan Digital Printers launched the Matan Spot36, its newest printer, which is designed for the production wayfinding and traffic signs and windows graphics. The printer is, in fact, a wider format version of the Matan Spring and is equipped with innovative durable print heads, which enable miles of non-stop 24 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
quality printing at a high speed. It can print up to two colours in one pass in up to 400x1200 resolution on widths up to 930 mm and offers a printing width of up to 924 mm. Ribbons for this printer include a wide spectrum of spots, special traffic red, blue and green, shiny metallic gold and silver, etched and opaque white. It also supports a wide range of media, including reflective traffic media. The new Jeti 3324 UV Roll To Roll printer from Gandinnovations attracted a lot of attention. This newest six colour addition to the Gandinnovations product line features 24 Spectra print heads and blistering speeds of up to 60 sq. meter/hr in best mode and 98 sq. meter/hr in production mode, with 300 dpi. With the 600 dpi option, print speeds begin at 33 sq. metre in best mode and 650 60 sq. metre/hr in production mode. The Jeti 3324 UVRTR is designed to print on a wide variety of different media types and virtually any rolled substrates. The show also provided an opportunity for MacDermid ColorSpan to unveil its newest flatbed UV inkjet
printer, the ColorSpan 9840UV. This industrial-grade product offers the capability to print on to rigid sheets or flexible roll stock up to 2.5 metres wide and 70 mm thick. Designed around a belt driven media feed system and sixteen 600dpi Micro-Quadô piezo-electric printheads, the 9840UV delivers true 600x 600-dpi quality and print speeds up to 811 ft2 (75.4 m2) / hour. The machine represents a departure from current MacDermid UV printer designs in that it uses a belt driven media feed system with 15 vacuum zones to ensure accurate and consistent feeding of media through the printer, regardless of media size, placement or quantity. Two heavy-duty 36 91 cm x 257 cm roller tables are attached to the front and rear to accommodate sheets up to 2.5 metres wide and 2 metres in length. The tables can easily be removed to accommodate an optional rollfed media supply and take up
system for printing of roll-toroll flexible media. The Gerber Solara UV2, shown on the Spandex stand, is targeted primarily at screenprinters and signmakers who are looking for more versatility and added value. The Solara UV2’s unique sixcolour (CMYK, plus violet and green) UV-ink range opens up a completely new array of applications, whilst eliminating a significant number of production steps and finishing materials. The printer easily switches between flatbed and roll to roll printing and prints directly on to a wide variety of rigid and flexible materials up to 13 mm thick and 152 cm wide. These include most rigid substrates and a wide range of flexible materials. The instantdry UV-curable inks provide increased UV durability and abrasion resistance without producing irritating odours or harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
FESPA DIGITAL 2006
Digital detective… Visitors often need the nose of a detective to get the best out of a big, busy show like Digital FESPA. But if you take the time to ask every exhibitor a few questions and watch everything that’s going on, you’ll inevitably get to know more than just the obvious. Mark Godden investigates How many orange snails were at the show? I only saw two. I have a simmering suspicion that there were more, but the species only travels in pairs. The owner/shepherd of the slimy herd is SnaiLtex, hence the snails. The company had a self-adhesive textile on display; print it and stick it. It’s as simple as that. Given that FESPA’s audience will print anything that moves, the ‘phone at SnaiLtex should be ringing continually by now. Note to SnaiLtex: next time, consider having the snails leave adhesive or ink trails to the stand! (visit: www.snailtex.com) I’m willing to bet that Hans Tielen only sleeps for about two hours a night. Hans is the driving force behind Décor Plus and is also overflowing with ideas. He sells an inventive and stunningly attractive range of engineered card display products. Some are box-like and clip together into a neverending range of sizes and shapes; others have curved faces and magically assemble themselves the moment they are freed from their restraining packs. Hans receives lots of enquiries from companies wishing to print his products themselves. He very politely declines, preferring to keep control of print in house. It’s a formula that works for him and evidently works for his clients too – everyone comes back for more. (visit: www.decor-plus.com) You may have noticed there were a few digital printers at FESPA but there’s a chance you’ve overlooked the one that stopped me in my tracks. Tucked away near the entrance to one of the smaller halls, was an anonymous looking cream coloured box being demonstrated by the endlessly cheerful Andrej Zuzek of Pro Cadd from Slovenia. (Please forgive the dropped accents Andrej, they’re nowhere to be found on my keyboard!) Upon setting eyes upon Andrej’s wares, the seasoned show goer’s brain signals 26 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
"…photo-copier – photo-copier… avoid! avoid!" Big mistake. It’s not a photocopier it’s a very clever printer and it works like this. You start out with an idea for a design, let’s say it’s a mug. You create your imagined mug using a 3D CAD programme of which there are many. Press the print button, and the printer will go through the motions and eventually finish. You then open the lid, put your hand inside, and fish out the mug. Not a picture of a mug you’ll note – the mug! It gets better. The printer can produce things in colour too! A pink ball for example. Or a blue orange if the mood takes you. One of Andrej’s exhibits was a gear cluster. An assembly of six or so gears disposed in deeply convoluted 3D on a white frame work. Elements of the framework passed through the axial centre of each gear, returning to define the edge of a cube, which in turn was disposed on a little post with a circular plate at its foot. Each cog was a different colour and the white frame was intact. Here’s the really scary bit – the gears actually worked! Turn one and you turned them all. Nothing was assembled post print, and it came out of the printer as a working machine – seriously. I really, really wish I needed one of these printers. If you attended the show and missed it, my point is made – talk to everyone – watch everything that’s going on. (visit: www.ib-procadd.com) I watched people barrelling down the aisle next to the Madico stand, stop abruptly and then take several steps backward. Why? Madico had an otherworldly film applied to a window, behind which a printed poster was displayed. As you walked past, the poster was in clear view one moment, and then animatedly dissolved into milky nothingness the next. Potential? I should say so. An animated
display and the only moving part, is you! I applied my ruthlessly honed journalistic detective skills to one of Madico’s men to find out how it worked - he soon cracked and told me – it’s magic apparently. FESPA visitors were also taking a forensic-like interest in a next generation Contra Vision sample on the Madico stand. Think Contra Vision – think perforated vinyl – then think again. Madico’s product is an exemplary demonstration of the good things that result when Contra Vision, the architects of the one-way vision artifice, join forces with a towering competence in technical materials manufacture. Yes, you get a oneway vision product, but not as we know it. (visit: www.madico.co.uk and www.contravision.com) At the centre of Aellora’s FESPA stand was its Hybrid UV-Cured Jetting Inks. I got my product orientation from Aellora’s President Michael Stoudt, who showed me a sample print in white on black rigid PVC that had been printed earlier – much earlier. The opacity of the white ink was an improvement on anything I’ve seen before and held very fine detail without any of the gloss banding artefacts generally associated with UV inkjet print. Michael told me that the sample had been printed about four hours earlier and that it was, as yet, un-cured. Uncured jetable UV ink has a rather endearing habit of swimming all over the surface of non-absorbent materials and bleeding through absorbent substrates. Once printed, the accepted strategy is to pin the droplet in place by initiating the curing. That wasn’t the case with the Aellora output – the detail was there, no bleeding or absorption. To prove the point, Michael wiped his thumb across the output and the print was readily removed in a single, smudgy swipe. Aellora’s approach is to print its
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FESPA DIGITAL 2006
remarkable ink at elevated temperatures, somewhere around seventy degrees Celsius, in fact. As the jetted droplet cools on contact with the substrate, the viscosity profile changes so the drop behaves itself. The drop must be behaving itself in flight, too, because the output looked fundamentally right. Michael then took me to his print station and did a live print on the black substrate. The result was stunning and resisted any effort to shift it. Aellora’s Hybrid UV curable jetting inks are 100% solids, containing no VOCs or flammable solvents and are available in white, spot or process colours. Add to these inks, Aellora’s highly flexible SureFire print engines and you have a system capable of reliably printing more or less any receptive substrate, including those reserved for pad-printers. The difference is that with the Aellora set-up, you can change the image on every impression. Aellora’s parent, by the way, is Markem. Great technology and impressive credentials – you should find out more. (visit: www.aellora.com) If you produce promotional print, the chances are that you’re going to be asked to print something that has to be stuck on a window. Hazard a guess as to how much of your distributed output will be, "screwed up" in the application stage? Let’s just say, a lot! Drytac presented the cure for poorly applied printed window graphics. It’s called WindowTac and it consists of a permanent adhesive upon a clear, polyester film with a specially textured removable adhesive on the other side. The permanent side is mounted to the print, which can then be sent to the point of application. When the time comes to apply the print, the textured adhesive supports the easy evacuation of trapped air and it’s 28 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
temporarily repositionable too, allowing minor adjustment. At the end of the applied graphic’s life, removal is clean and easy. It’s a great way of adding value to print without adding much in terms of cost. (visit: www.drytac.com) Of course, the industry is familiar with inkjet printers originating in the Far East and new entrant GCC comes from Taiwan. New to the inkjet market it might be, but GCC is a company with a real history and a well deserved pedigree, having sold countless thousands of its cutting plotters, many with shiny OEM badges on them, together with its LaserPro engravers. Now it has entered the inkjet market and unusually, has elected to drive its development efforts along the UV route, attracted by the substrate flexibility and the broad range of hardware configuration possibilities. Recognising that ink is a critical component that governs performance, reliability and quality overall, it has decided to build its printers around Sericol designed and manufactured ink, a move which clearly demonstrates a quality ethic that is further reflected throughout the design of the machines. GCC’s new inkjet is the StellarJET 2500UV. As the model number suggests, the printer handles materials up to 2.5 metres wide, both rigid and roll, and it can print the full width of the loaded material. Maximum length is limited by the media type, and in the case of rigid substrates, the printer has feed and run-out tables supporting the material. These are positioned against the printer’s feed bed, a continuous, perforated belt, maintained under tension by the printer. The belt is incrementally indexed during printing, while the substrate it carries is held with vacuum. The vacuum is relieved at the front of the moving bed, thus allowing the
substrate to roll onto its take-up bed. The material-loading scheme comfortably supports 100 kilograms. Despite printing a 2.5 metre media width, the printer is over four metres in physical width. This wide footprint presents some very positive advantages in the real world, intensive production environments it will occupy. The width allows the inclusion of covered access points at either end of the printer, which in turn makes any maintenance very straightforward, because access is so open and there is plenty of room. The StellarJET’s appetite for media is a healthy one. It’ll happily print on practically any substrate up to about 50mm in thickness. It’ll handle delicate and heavily textured substrates too, such as corrugated card. There is no print surface contact with the StellarJET, so material that other printers would simply crush, can be printed with great looking results. It’s draft print mode covers about 42SqM/Hr, with its normal quality coming in at about half that. Other quality options are available, taking resolution to an apparent 720dpi and producing excellent results even at A4 sizes – not bad for a 2.5 metre wide printer! Ink is replenished to the head supply sub-tanks during printing and is totally automatic. The Sericol ink set includes white, which can be used in a variety of ways - as a base layer or an overcoat so compensating, when required, for the colour of the substrate. Anyone looking for a 2.5 metre UV printer is not exactly spoiled for choice and the GCC contribution is a machine that should be on everyone’s shopping list. (visit: www. www.gccworld.com) So that’s it from me – I’ll leave the rest of the investigations to you!
FESPA DIGITAL 2006
FESPA Digital Print Awards
FESPA used the occasion of the show to announce the launch "FESPA Digital Print Awards – Europe 2007" supported by HP. Not to be confused with the long-standing, traditional FESPA Awards, which are open only to FESPA association members, the FESPA Digital Print Awards are open to all printers across Europe. Designed to both champion excellence and to promote application opportunities across the broad spectrum of digital printing, in both commercial and industrial sectors, there are no restrictions as to the equipment, substrates or inks used. Entries will be sought from Autumn 2006 whilst the results, involving a high level independent jury, will be announced in the Spring 2007. The closing date for entries is 1st December, 2006. The Awards will be celebrated in a special Awards publication, which will feature each of the 32 winning entries in depth and will also include as many as 250 commended entries, as selected by the independent award jury. This publication will be distributed to thousands of design studios, agencies, advertisers and industrial goods
manufacturers to help expand the future market for print service providers, and to provide recognition for the outstanding projects that are included. Every print provider who submits entries will also be listed and will receive a free copy of the publication. Winners will receive 20 copies to distribute in any way that they wish. Making the Awards announcement Nigel Steffens, FESPA Secretary General commented: "It is clear that digital print technology is developing at a fast pace, and that a realm of new
opportunities, especially in industrial print applications, are now available to printers. With this unique awards programme, FESPA is providing European print service providers with a forum for setting standards and stretching creative and technical boundaries in the digital arena." Manel Martinez, HP Large Format Printing General Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa stated; "HP is thrilled to be supporting Fespa’s Digital Print Awards, this is part of HP’s commitment to innovation and excellence in digital
printing and continued support to print service providers and their customers. The awards will offer a great platform to showcase the application possibilities available on current technology from HP and other players in the industry encouraging ingenuity across the whole market". For further information on criteria and categories and to download entry forms visit: www.fespa.com
FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 29
SPOTLIGHT ON EUROPE
Baltic beauties! Following membership of the EU and the formation of a new FESPA member Association, the Baltic United Speciality Printing Association (BUSPA) serving screen and digital printers and suppliers throughout Latvia Lithuania and Estonia, the demand for printed signs and graphics has surged. In the first of a series highlighting different European markets, Fespa World meets four Latvian companies
Our first stop is at SIA Sietspiedes Serviss where owner Agris Sondori confides that his passion for screenprinting was originally ignited whilst he was still at university in the early 90s, during which time he printed posters promoting motor bike events. Agris then went on to complete his training with a German screenprinter before forming SIA Sietspiedes Serviss, in 1998. This young business has grown at the same speed as the Latvian economy has prospered and continues to provide its clients with a full repertoire of services, including the production of stickers, decals, labels and promotional materials, as well as industrial screenprinting applications. The fact that one of its biggest customers is an international manufacturer, for whom it prints around 40,000 items per annum, goes some way towards illustrating the scope and quality of its operation. In Latvia, many screenprinters chose to specialise in one area and, because the overall market is presently fairly limited, they don’t have vast sums of money to invest in all of the latest equipment. At Sietspiedes Serviss, all prepress processes are 30 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
carried out manually and it uses a combination of manual and semi automatic screenprinting machines. Finishing is outsourced. Agris trains all production staff himself, but in common with screenprinters throughout Europe, he bemoans the lack of competent and qualified new recruits. It seems that in Latvia, as elsewhere, young people need some encouragement to persuade them that a career in screenprinting will be worthwhile! Looking to the future, Agris hopes that as EU funding begins to kickstart local manufacturing industry, there will be more opportunities for the company to demonstrate its prowess in the area of industrial printing applications. He also believes that by becoming a member of the FESPA community, his company will be able to take advantage of a greater number of international opportunities. Situated in the heart of Riga, Latvia’s beautiful capital city, Reklamdruka, which is recognised as one of the region’s leading screenprinters, specialises in promotional print and decoration and is particularly proud of its
achievements in the area of garment printing. The company operates from a modern office building which houses the sales, marketing and design departments, whilst printing takes place at a second facility on the outskirts of the city. Managed by Andis Sarkans, Rekla¯mdruka was first established in 1994, and has grown to become a very forward looking and dynamic company. Since most of it’s work is fairly low volume, it operates a large-format manual screenprinting press, together with a 12 colour fully automatic M & R Sportsman textile carousel. It also offers pad printing and is equipped with wide format inkjet printers, complemented with a number of engraving, embossing and offset machines. The company has also invested in transfer and embroidery equipment to help it further extend the services it can offer to its customers. Andis Sarkans comments: "Our screenprinting team, which is made up of experts in all of the screenprinting disciplines, is the largest in the country and we pride ourselves on both the speed and quality of the operation." Ten of the company’s 40 staff are engaged
in the production process, and once again Andis complains that finding new staff is always a problem. This is compounded by the fact that there is no official screenprinting training programme in Latvia, so all staff are trained in-house. Reklamdruka’s impressive client list includes, Lattelekom (Latvia’s leading mobile phone provider), Air Baltic and Zelta, the large brewery and it makes a point of working closely with its clients. Andis continues: "We forge very close relationships with our customers and almost become another division of their marketing team." One recent project, which the company has worked on for a leading bank, included printing a life size model of the first Latvian Olympic medal winner. Luckily, Reklamdruka’s had the foresight to print on to a very durable substrate, as the campaign proved so popular, that the model was constantly being grabbed and photographed! Reklamdruka’s work for Zelta has grown organically; the company started by simply printing beermats but now the account has grown to include many other promotional items and tens of thousands of t-shirts.
a b
Raivo of Magnuum NT The sort of work commonly seen in Latvia
c&d
A selection of work from
SIA Sietspiedes Serviss
e
Kristine Zakalovska(BUSPA and Rigas Sesoma) and Mr Agris
a
Sondors, SIA Sietspiedes Serviss
e
b d c
Reklamdruka’s prides itself of the quality of its print and believes this has provided it with a great competitive advantage. Andis explains: "We use only the highest quality materials and equipment and In pad printing, we are finding that Marabu inks provide the results that both our screenprinting team and our customers demand. The M & R carousel has also been one of our best investments and is in almost daily production". With the Ice Hockey championships coming to Riga this year, the demand for print and promotional items has been phenomenal and happily Reklamdruka, has used its skills and all round professionalism to capitalise on the event. "What I’ve learned about printing is that with the right tools and techniques, coupled with a little foresight and a lot of drive, you can enjoy real success!" So says Raivo Armuliks who runs Magnum NT. Currently located in an amazingly colourful building in the centre of Riga, the company is shortly due to relocate its production facility to new premises just outside the city. This move will be cemented
with the installation of a new VUTEk wide format inkjet printer, the first in Latvia, an acquisition which will further serve to strengthen the company’s position as one of the leading digital printers within the Baltic States. First established in the late 90’s when Raivo left art college and identified a gap in the market, Magnum now specialises in the production of signage and large format digital printing, servicing both regional and international customers, including those in neighbouring Estonia and Lithuania. "Since Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, have a joint population of over eight million, we are talking about quite large printing volumes," explains Ravio. He adds that digital printing is becoming a very competitive sector, with many signmakers setting up in all corners of the three states. However, he also believes that whilst it is relatively inexpensive to establish a digital company, it is important to find a market niche. He says: "If we have a particular niche its that we are able to offer a high quality of print and customer service, which is particularly important now that we are dealing with international companies who
are establishing headquarters in Riga, Tallinn or Vilnius in order to service the Baltic area and who expect high quality work as a matter of course." He continues: "To some extent, we have also helped fuel the demand for quality promotional materials. We take a very modern and proactive approach to business – rather than simply sitting back and waiting for the work to arrive, we believe in going out and seeking business opportunities for ourselves." Obviously, the company’s investment in new equipment has also enabled it to take full advantage of the increasing number of potential customers. The new VUTEk printer will join its present line-up of assorted Mutoh printers, a McDermid Colorspan flatbed and a Seal laminator. When asked whether he would ever consider adding a screenprinting facility, Ravio enigmatically replies: "Anything is possible!" The final company in this Latvian quartet is Rigas Sesoma. First formed in 1997 and lead by Alvis Butans, Rigas Sesoma, is part of the SesomaSericomex group, a leading
supplier of equipment and materials for the visual communication sectors in Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, where it serves more than three thousand customers. In Latvia, Rigas Sesoma represents many international manufacturers, such as Lechler, Rutland, Autotype, Sun Chemicals, Coates, M & R, VUTEk, Mutoh, ATMA and Siasprint to name but a few. It also numbers at least 100 screenprinters as customers. Alvis Butans concludes: "Of course, screen and digital printing are still in their infancy in the Baltic States, but as printers here gain access to the same technology as their competitors throughout Europe, the market is rapidly growing. And it won’t be long before we are giving our rivals throughout Europe a run for their money!" For more information on BUSPA activities please contact: Ms Kristine Zakalovska on Tel: +371 750 1141 or e-mail to: kristine@sesoma.lv
FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 31
FOCUS ON AUSTRALIA
Last March, Michel Caza undertook an epic trip to Australia in order to see how the antipodean screen and digital sectors are faring. Here he shares the many insights that he gleaned in excerpts from his
Antipodean diary Friday , March 3, Sydney Obviously, from wherever you start, Australia is very long way away! But after a mammoth journey, comprising a 13hour flight from Paris to Singapore and a further seven hour flight to Sydney, we finally have the opportunity to explore this amazing country and to get to know its inhabitants, who the English affectionately refer to as ‘Aussies ‘. And there is at least one nice surprise – having left Paris where the temperature was a cold and shivery 2°C, we arrive to find that Sydney is basking in 35°C heat! A good start! Therese and I receive a very warm welcome from my old friend Bill Porteous, the well-known Australian screen and digital supplier, who whisks us off to our hotel in Sydney for a restorative nap before we embark upon a weekend of sightseeing. We take in Darling Harbour, with its spectacular big bridge, the Opera House, many of the surrounding beaches, eat at a fish restaurant and visit Bill’s stunning house. Greatly refreshed, we spend the following day at a magnificent wildlife park, which offers us a paradise of koalas, kangaroos, and emus as well as Tasmanian Devils! There is even a crocodile, although without a Dundee!
Monday, March 6th Today, the serious things begin, because of course, the real purpose of this visit is work and will culminate, in several days time, with the seminar in Coolum. But until then, my aim is to collect as much data as possible on our new associate FESPA member, the Australian Association of Screen and Digital Printing (SGIAA), and of course, on some of the Association’s member companies. Today we have a non-stop schedule, which includes much travel, because of the great distances to be covered. Certainly, even just travelling to the outer suburbs of 32 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
Sydney takes an inordinate amount of time. Our trip begins with a visit to Britescreen International, which was originally established in 1946 and is now known as Brite Solutions. The company’s General Manager, Peter Hilliez welcomes us to the Sydney factory where the company has been headquartered since l990. Here more than 4.000 m2. is devoted to the production of POP, encompassing everything from the smallest item to the largest! Brite Solutions employ a combination of screen and digital technologies, using equipment, which includes multicolour Thieme and other presses and a NUR Fresco, using both UV and solvent inks. Peter explains that in Australia, signmakers have adapted to digital technology more enthusiastically than screenprinters, and adds that Brite Solutions was probably the first Australian company to enter the digital arena around l0 years ago, when it purchased its first Encad printer. It now has three factories, all of which use both screen and digital presses. The prepress area is also very well equipped, with different technologies being used in tandem for the same application. In its Sydney factory, Brite Solutions employ a total of 76 people, 10 working in the digital section, 40 working in the screenprinting section and 26 in finishing. The rest deal with the administrative and sales functions. When producing four colour halftone screenprinting, the company doesn’t exceed 75 lines / inch (30 / cm), working mostly in 46 / inch (18 / cm) and always use an analogue projector for large format films. Using either its Svecia or Thieme multicolour press its offers a maximum screen size of 1,5 x 3,5 with screen coating being carried out on a Harlacher. Our next stop, at GSP, offers a delightful surprise, as the Director of Special Projects
turns out to be a very old friend and former pupil, George Krasulak, who welcomes us along with the DG, Peter Helft. When I first met George, many years ago, he was the Director of Sony’s printing department in Australia and together, we devised a way of printing CDs stochastically in 150 lines. Following the political changes in George’s native Poland, he returned there in the early 90s only to come back to Australia a few years later. By joining GSP, his horizons have broadened both literally and figuratively, since he has graduated from overseeing the production of CDs to huge billboards! It is wonderful to meet him again and although we are both a little older, it is also a great joy to discover that, like me, he is still completely passionate about his work! The GSP HQ is a quite new and extremely large factory, spanning some 5.000 m2, and sports a very ‘in your face’ kitsch looking entrance sign – certainly advertisements in Australia tend to be the opposite of subtle! However, once again the factory is very well equipped, offering high quality prepress facilities, a large four colour Thieme press - 2,6 x 1,5 m - which operates in two shifts, plus a large SIAS, together with Mutoh and other digital printers. GSP use solvent and UV inks from Sericol and Coates to print on to the French Chantaffiche paper, polypro, Chinese PVC and also employ direct projection and automatic screen washing and drying. The company is looking at changing to CTS and either UV or ultraviolet laser, rather than inactinic wax. And what’s more, they are also considering the purchase of a French reclamation and decoating system! Peter says: "We are gravitating more to the POP market which we think offers better opportunities, but our biggest problem is finding suitably qualified people." He adds, that most of GSP’s
clients are advertising agencies and not actually end-users, which is a situation that he would like to remedy. Our third stop of the day is Allprint Graphics, where we find our third Thieme multicolour press, as well as equipment from Argon and Serifast and one very old McCormick, similar to the first machine I used in Sweden 52 years ago! Allprint, also uses a Komori machine for offset-litho printing. General Manager Grant Cunningham, confides that the secret of the company’s success is its "From Concept to Completion" philosophy, which has been honed over the 40 years it has spent in the visual communication sector. Of the companies we have seen today, this one is by far and away the most POP orientated, producing everything from the biggest display to the smallest. It is also very service lead. Grant tells us that screenprinting accounts for 60 percent of the company’s business, with offset accounting for about 30 percent and digital for just l0 percent. Nearly all of the finishing is done on site, using both classic die-cutters of various sizes and a very old Heidelberg typographic press, which has been converted to deliver automatic diecutting. The company’s very attractive sales brochure, produced in house, certainly provides a very clear resumé of its comprehensive range of services and fully illustrates the full scope of its operations. I ask Grant what precipitates the decision to print traditionally or digitally. He responds: "Usually it just depends on
the quantity involved, but sometimes durability is an issue – the sun can be extremely strong in some areas of Australia - and when that’s the case, we find that screenprinting provides a superior result". He goes on to say that he sometimes uses inkjet to print polyester film positives for screenprinting and has experienced some yellowing, or a decline in the opaqueness of the ink layer. So for Allprint, digital printing isn’t the number one choice. On to the last visit of the day, which in some ways is the antithesis of everything we have just seen! Acme Preston is a company, which employs 28 people and where originality rules. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet the owner, because he was busy in his vineyard making organic wine, which, as far as I am concerned, marks him out as someone very special! However, we were welcomed to the plant by the Production Director, James Allen and the Financial Director, Rex Wood, both of whom I know well and both of whom are also complete originals who are able to turn their hands to anything! This Includes building a four-colour machine, three and a half tones in weight, complete with a carousel. It is used for printing sheets of paper or plastic up to 70 x 100 cm with UV ink, at a speed of 250 sheets per hour. In fact, Umberto Brasa at SIAS tried, unsuccessfully, to launch a similar machine at FESPA ’92 and the idea has reappeared again recently, with M&R showing one at Viscom Italia in Milan last year. This homemade machine is used in
conjunction with a small and indestructible General cylinder press, 50 x 70cm, circa 1967 and a very old typographic press which is used for cutting! Another press is used for vertical cutting and the company has also intelligently adapted a whole selection of motley tools to carry out various other functions! Acme Preston specialise in converting PVC or polypro, using high frequency welders for shaping and then adding gilt embossing. It also produces smaller POP items such as digitally printed flags and banners, whilst offset-litho work is subcontracted. It is here, in the Acme prepress room that I meet a Mauritian who speaks perfect French – a rare occurrence in Australia! The airconditioning comes courtesy of a giant ventilator, which looks exactly like (and probably is!) the propeller of a hydroplane! However, this company proves that in Australia at least, screenprinting is alive and well and certainly not lacking in terms of creativity and inventiveness! FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 33
FOCUS ON AUSTRALIA
Tuesday March 7 Brisbane Back on a plane today to fly the relatively short distance to Brisbane before departing for the Seminar in Coolum around one hundred kilometres to the South of this big city. Clem Johnson, the President of the Australian Association welcomes us and we prepare to spend another two very busy days! But first of all, some relaxation! We travel to the North coast of Brisbane, to an incredible and improbable town called "Surfer Paradise". This is a town that has about a million inhabitants during the weekends and holidays! We are reminded of Miami, with the combination of very tall buildings, the highest of which is more than 330 m, and the surrounding beach. It is a crazy city and the Australians continue to surprise us! We meet up with Howard Everson, Vice-President of the SGIAA at his summer residence. He gives us a guided tour of this surprising city.
34 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
Thursday March 9, Today we visit two companies and a school. It is a busy programme and Marci Kinter, an old friend, and Vice President of the SGIA, which also has affiliations here, joins us. Marci will be a speaker at the Seminar and is thus involved in this Australian adventure! Other old friends who will also be participating in the Seminar are the President and Vice President of the ASGA, C.Y. Lee, and the perennially cheerful Yuichi Nishida, together with Mrs. Pei Guifan, Vice President of - the Chinese CSGIA and her inseparable translator Zang Bo. We will also have the chance to become better acquainted with Celina Viray, the President of the Association of the Philippines, and three further members of the Board of ASGA, the Messrs. Iijima, Kochiya, and Terakoa. But first on the agenda is a visit to Reid, Clem Johnson’s company, which he manages with his wife Judy. It specialises in screenprinting on high-tech electronics, producing printed membranes, contact plates, supple and multi-layers circuits, EL lamps, testing devices, keyboards, and all sorts of connecting systems, together with
contact and liquid crystal screens. These items are part of the Reid "Visipoint" range and are printed in accordance with the demands of ISO 9001 certification. Reid uses classic techniques and finishes, and offers "in house", forming and foil mounting, using the processes that it has itself devised. Of course, a factory where screenprinting is used exclusively and which is equipped with several SIAS presses plus a Grunig screen-reclamation unit, together with laser cutters, found full favour with me. I was also impressed by the fact that there were many ingenious systems used to weld the different components. Reid uses a mixture of UV and solvent inks and post printing, a lot of complex finishing and shaping takes place, with every individual item undergoing a strict quality inspection – an indispensable part of the overall process when specialising in high technology items. Strangely, Reid continue to use old fashioned stencils from indirect films rather than direct emulsions, although Clem is now slowly introducing high quality Capillary films such as Autotype’s CX, which ensure high definition.
FOCUS ON AUSTRALIA
Once again, we board the Minibus and travel to Colorcorp, which is owned by Howard Everson the Vice-President of the SGIAA. This is a family business, with Howard as Manufacturing Director and his brother Ray, the Director of Marketing and Sales. Howard’s wife Patricia, is also one of the partners. Colorcorp occupies a huge and extremely impressive factory, which is more than 7.000 m2, and employs 160 people. Here, the main focus is on POP production using both screenprinting and digital methods, but Colorcorp also undertakes some textile printing and fleet decoration too. This time we see a five colour Thieme press - the fourth multi-colour Thieme line in Australia - a machine which is finally as popular here as the multi-colour SIAS is in Canada and as both brands are in the UK! Naturally, there are other presses too, including the Jumbo Sias for very large format work and a Svecia. Colorcorp has a stencilling department but Howard confirms that a CTS system will be installed soon. The company already has a very large Grunig screen reclamation unit that recycles water – everything is very large here! On the digital side, Colorcorp was one of the first companies in Australia to integrate digital printing technology and it is currently using a battery of Mimaki 36 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
machines for dye sublimation on to textiles. It also has an eco-solvent Roland printer and a Kodak printer for the production of high quality POP, together with a range of cutting plotters and, rather unexpectedly, a Scotchprint 2000 and an Inca Columbia Turbo, which uses UV ink. T-shirt printing and the production of vehicle graphics take place in two other factories that, alas we don’t have time to see. On the other hand, a whole area is given over to the production of textile transfers, which as well as being very impressive, is also very, very hot! Howard shows us something he has designed for Coca-Cola: a novel system, which enables partial change of the bottle decoration so that distributors can insert details of their own local campaigns. Even in Europe and the USA, there are very few companies who can offer this dimension of scope and scale and the magnificence of the factory helps with Colorcorp’s own marketing strategy. Howard says: "When we bring a customer here, it usually seals the sale!" Back into the minibus for the journey to the Queensland School of Printing and Graphic Arts - Southbank Institute, which has a grand frontage and seems to be a vast school! However it isn’t long before we are disillusioned. The Director and the staff of the "Sign and Screenprinting"
Department welcome us, whereupon we quickly discover that digital technology hasn’t permeated this far! In the signmaking section we find that the work is being carried out mostly by hand, in the traditional fashion, with digital printers and even plotters in very short supply! The Prepress section fares a little better – students are using MACs and PCs and the staff are competent. The offset section is reasonably well equipped with Komori, Roland, and Heidelberg presses, but the work! There are examples of the archaic skill of bookbinding, although I must say that this does show the students’ creativity off to its fullest extent – there are some remarkable examples on display. On to the screenprinting facility, which is of course, our premier area of interest, but this is no more inspiring. At first sight, it all looks quite interesting, with stencilling equipment, batteries of both semiautomatic and manual presses, T-shirt carrousels, and the requisite "long table" for textile printing "a la Lyonnaise". But when we look closer, we see that on average the material is 12 years old at least and the two UV curing units are even older and not very operational according to current standards. There is no way to measure the sum of light electronically when stencilling. Also obvious is the profound sense of disillusionment of the
FOCUS ON AUSTRALIA
teachers who are perfectly aware that they are teaching screenprinting from a different era. And strangely we are seeing at first hand the same educational problems, which, more predictably, face companies in Eastern Europe and Central and Southeast Asia. All of the companies we have visited have complained, at length, about the difficulty of employing competent and qualified staff. And here we are seeing the other side of that equation. The crux of the problem apparently lies in the fact that the provision of technical education comes under the jurisdiction of the seven Australian provinces, rather than federal government. And when one remembers how sparsely populated Australia really is, one realises that none of these provinces can maintain a comprehensive education system at all levels. The tremendous geographical distances between the various Australian cities, doesn’t help either: for example, if FESPA was to organise a seminar to "update" the screen and digital printing teachers in Australia, it would involve both delegates and speakers in an enormous amount of travel. However, FESPA will have to address this problem because the SGIAA is already becoming very vocal on this point!
38 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
Friday 10th March Coolum The following morning, we depart for Coolum, which is still on the coast, but this time to the South of Brisbane and bears no resemblance to the incredible Surfer Paradise in the North! It resembles perhaps the French Riviera or Southern California and we arrive to find ourselves in a different sort of paradise entirely – one made up of bungalows, swimming pools and various restaurants. Another Australian surprise and wonderful, unexpected luxury for us! Delegates arrive and there are many happy reunions, as old friends, who only ever seem to meet in improbable places such as this, get another chance to catch up with each other!
Saturday March 11 The Seminar begins with an address from Marci Kinter, who as well as being the Vice President of the SGIA, is also the ASPT Secretary and a passionate advocate for the environment, a critical topic for screen and digital printers the world over. I succeed her and speak about the way that screen and digital printing is now working together in Europe, thanks in part, to the efforts of FESPA, and explain what FESPA is now doing for its member associations worldwide. I also explain that there is no rivalry with the SGIA, since FESPA is a federation of associations, whilst SGIA is an association of individual companies and I stress that both organisations have a common aim, in as much as we both promote the screen and digital sectors, worldwide in every possible way.
In the afternoon, Bruce Lowry of Agfa talks about the use of digital inks for large scale outdoor applications and delivers a very objective presentation, which outlines the benefits and disadvantages of both solvent and UV inks. It is then the turn of my wife Thérèse who was for many years, the Manager of our ex-company, Graficaza, which specialised in POP. She speaks on a topic which she knows very well: how to transform a company from a mere screenprinting business into a company specialising in the creation of point of purchase materials for the luxury cosmetic and perfume sectors.
Sunday 12th March I kick off the debates with a lengthy presentation on colour management both in screenprinting and digital printing. Another old friend - Werner Deck succeeds me and explains how to reclaim and re-process screens in the most environmentally friendly way. The next speaker, Liz Corbelli from Fuji Films Sericol, delivers a very interesting presentation on digital work flow, whilst Les Venus chooses an entirely different and less technical topic for his presentation, namely the various purchasing and leasing options currently available and how they can be used successfully. The afternoon session starts with an extremely interesting and admirably unbiased presentation from Patrick Turner, Sales Manager for Oceania and a proponent of HP Scitex, on the possibilities offered by digital printing, particularly when using piezo UV ink jets.
FOCUS ON AUSTRALIA
Amir Klienstern of NUR who succeeds him, also extols the virtues of digital printing technology, but includes much more about the particular efficacy of NUR printers, as opposed to other machines. A pity because some of the very valid points he has to make are somewhat clouded by the partisan nature of the presentation.
Monday 13th March A day of relaxation with most of us choosing to enjoy a boat trip and a picnic. This takes us to an area, which reminds me of the Florida Everglades and provides glimpses of giant lizards and a selection of colourful birds. And very enjoyable it is too, even though the sun is mercilessly hot! Other more energetic souls enjoy a few rounds of golf – truly this seems to be the chosen sport of image makers everywhere!
Tuesday 14th March All too soon, our Australian Adventure is over. We leave with some sadness, not least of all because we are returning to a cold and damp Parisian March, but also 40 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
because we are leaving the many charming new friends we have made from Australia and New Zealand and also many old friends from all over the world. But all in all it has been a fascinating trip and certainly one to remember.
Epilogue Australia was indeed a discovery! We started our trip with many preconceived, ideas - some of which turned out to be erroneous – and found a very beautiful but vastly demanding country. The Australians who are in the main, very kind and friendly, are in short supply, especially when you consider that although Australia is of a similar size to India it has only 25million inhabitants in total, whilst India has more than 50 times that! The companies that we visited during the trip, all of which could be designated as medium to large, had managed to integrate digital technology into their production processes much more smoothly and satisfactorily than many of their European counterparts and the divisions between screen and digital
printing were noticeably less marked. The need for companies to think of themselves as Image Makers, using a number of complementary processes, as applications demand, rather than simply as screenprinters or digital printers or signmakers, is as imperative in Australia as it is elsewhere. Indeed, I believe that it is vital that we all concentrate on providing a complete service for our customers which covers every aspect of visual communication, from design through production and when necessary, final installation. The key purpose of the Coolum Seminar was to impress upon all companies, of whatever size, that their future survival depends on them fully realising this concept. On the whole, I believe that this is something that the Australians have grasped rather better than many European companies – perhaps it is something to do with the sunshine! Whatever, the "Aussie" optimism should be a lesson for us all!
Michel Caza
MICHEL IN INDIA
Indian odyssey Following FESPA World Expo India 2005, Michel Caza visited the factory of Divine, one of the FESPA India Awards winners to gain an insight into screenprinting processes in India. Divine, which is managed by two brothers Rajeev and Sanjiv Jain, is one of three companies which they own and specialises in the manufacture and distribution of small images printed on the magnificent perforated gold plated sheets that won awards both at FESPA2005 in Munich and at the Indian show. The tiny but exquisite images are individually printed manually, before being UV cured. The brothers’ two other companies, OM Decals PVT and Fine Art Decoration, produce ceramic decals of high quality, which are mounted on to faience tiles and fired in-house at 750°C. Some of these are very large decorative pieces, measuring 120 x 240 cm and 120 x 180 cm.
Unusually, OM Decals PVT and Fine Art Decoration coats its own decal paper, using a huge roll to roll machine! The decals are then printed in the classical size of 60 x 80 cm on semi-automatic presses, using solvent enamels, before being dried on racks. The companies’ stock of images and films is absolutely fantastic: it holds more than 5,500 different designs and 45,000 films, which are used for both the tiles and the golden images. These are either created in house or by free-lance designers and the films are imaged locally by another of the family’s businesses. The company employs 90 people in total, 55 of who work in an old-fashioned plant within the city, with a further 35
being located in a new facility that it has established outside New Delhi. Later this year, the business will move, in its entirety, to the new premises. Since we are in India, art and religion are close companions and thus a good 80 percent of the objects printed and manufactured here relate to the Hindi Gods, of which there are some 600 or so! However, as Rajeev comments, in India everyone has his own God, which when added to the vast number of revered gurus, philosophers, poets, the Virgin Mary, Mother Theresa make for very brisk business!
FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 41
MACTAC AWARDS
Flair and originality rewarded! The jury at work rest and play!
The climax of the European section of the fifth edition of the MACtac Worldwide Awards took place in Athens recently, with the jury passing judgement on more than 200 projects, that had been selected from the thousands of entries received this year.
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The jury was made up of editors from some of Europe’s leading sign, digital and screen magazines, plus FESPA President Helmut Frey, together with a panel of experts who were on hand to assess and explain the technical and creative intricacies pertaining to each project. Entries were received from screen and digital printers, signmakers and their clients from all over Europe and were submitted in four different categories: Vehicle Graphics, Interior Signs, Exterior Signs and Technical Achievements. The overall winner of the Vehicle Graphics Category was a UK company, Raccoon Signs & Display, who covered Southwark Council’s 60-strong fleet of refuse trucks in designs created by local artists, to produce moving works of art! The graphics also served as intriguing and
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&
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Raccoon Signs & Digital Display used
MACtac’s IMAGin JT 5529 and IMAGin LF 3699 protective film to achieve its ‘Art on a Cart’ project for Southwark council in London
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Latsign used MACtac IMAGin JT 5929 to cover Aluminium panels with a wood grain effect at a shopping centre in Latvia.
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Blow Up Media used MACtac’s MACmark 8900 Pro IMAGin JT 5920 P for its wrap on Berlin’s Deutsche Telekom tower
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G&G Studio chose MACtac IMAGin JT 5822
and MACmark 798-01 (Glass Decor film) for its impressive Nike window decoration
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ATO’s material choice was MACtac’s
MACmark 9800 Pro, 8300 Pro, 9700 ProIMAGin JT 5800, JT 5915 P (one-way-vision) and Permacolor :
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c
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Achievement was awarded to ATO an Italian company, who produced a whole range of graphics for a Virgin Fitness Club. Using a selection of techniques and materials to provide different decorative effects, the company supplied and installed floor graphics, window and door decorations, king size visuals, interior and back-lit signs and display units, all to dazzling effect.
competition. It used 3.000 sqm of vinyl (half the size of a soccer field!) on a round surface, and scaled the 200 metre building to apply the vinyl! The height combined with the freezing temperatures and high wind in evidence on the day of application only added to the difficulties faced, but Blow Up Media achieved all of their objectives with aplomb!
highly visible advertisements for the various art projects and exhibitions that were taking place in the Southwark area. In the field of Exterior Signs, Latsign from Latvia was the winner of the Exterior Sign Category for its wrap for a shopping centre, which it covered with 1512sqm of printed vinyl to provide an extremely pleasing and completely original wood grain effect. The Polish company, G&G Studio won the Interior Signs category, producing an impressive window decoration for Nike using a stunning visual, which progressively decreased in terms of density in order to simulate the impression of movement. The European prize for Technical
Permaflex 6400, Permagard 7281 for its plethora of
a
Two other companies were also highly commended in this category: New Jev Screen from Belgium screenprinted some very sophisticated stickers for bicycles, using special inks, glitters and varnish, whilst the German company, Blow Up Media, wrapped the Deutsche Telekom tower in Berlin, to promote the Football World Cup
decorative effects for a Virgin Fitness club
In addition to the overall winners, the top three companies in each geographical area were also honoured and will be presented with their prizes at a series of special presentation ceremonies which will take place nationally during the summer. Judging will take place in respect of the Asian and American Awards shortly. For further information visit: www.mactac.com FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 43
INSTALLATIONS
A competitive advantage Last August, Fahnen Herold, one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial banners, decorative banners and textile display-systems, installed the first large-size screen-imaging machine, using patented DLE technology from the German company, CST GmbH.
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44 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
First established in 1947, Fahnen Herold is managed by Kai Frauenhoff, who belongs to the third generation of the family who originally founded it. With a printing capacity of more than 100.000m2 per day, the company is one of the leading manufacturers of textile-based advertising media. Its clients include blue-chip names from the automotive, leisure, fashion and cosmetics sectors, all of which appreciate the combination of short lead times and high quality that it offers. This is particularly the case in the area of decorative banners and display-systems, where more precise raster resolution is required and extremely tight deadlines mean that there is no time for endless proofing. As a general rule, the first proof is expected to be perfect! Fahnen Herold first contacted CST GmbH at the beginning of 2005, by which time CST’s film plotters/scanners and screen imaging machines were already well known within the textile sector. Now there was an opportunity for CST to also make its mark in the graphics sector. Fahnen Herold had already worked with projection camera systems and was eager to invest in new technologies that would enable it to increase both its productivity and its quality. Instead of the traditional production of screens with film and the new techniques, such as ink- and wax jet, CST’s DLE option means that the photo-sensitive emulsion is directly exposed digitally and polymerised. A DMD-chip (digital mirror device from Texas Instruments) projects the pattern with more than 800.000 mirrors, each
measuring 14 µm, directly to the emulsion and cures it. Depending on the optical system used, the capacity lies somewhere between 500 dpi up to 1.800 dpi, with speeds of more than 30m2/h. All wellknown film/emulsion manufacturers offer emulsions which work with the DLE (Digital Light Engraver) from CST. The so-called scrolling provides for continuous movement, which considerably simplifies the mechanics and also increases the imaging speed. Instead of stopping the projected rectangular each time for the light exposure, the exposurehead runs continuously over the screen. During this procedure, the micro mirrors are moving in such a way, that each spot on the screen is constantly illuminated for the same period. CST GmbH has patented this scrolling technique. CST offers three different production machines and a choice between established methods such as wax jet, or alternatively, inkjet, (which has proved to be very expensive) and DLE. It is the only company in the world to offer all three techniques of screen imaging. Trial runs with the DLE-machine in February 2005 confirmed that this particular technique would best meet Fahnen Herold’s requirements, and the company decided to go ahead and purchase it from CST. Kai Frauenhoff explains: "At the beginning of August the machine was set up in our facility in Wuppertal and five days after installation, we decided to use it for full production. In the event, this decision proved to be a sensible one, as
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a, b, c & d Examples of the work that Fahnen Herold produces
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The DMD-Chip - Digital Mirror Device from Texas Instruments - with more than 800.000 mirrors with a size of 14 µm each
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The leg of a fly makes the 14 µm size of the mirrors obvious
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CST: the first large-size screen imaging plant 7m x 3m stands at Fahnen Herold at Wuppertal Germany
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h & i Concept of the DLE-technique Digital Light Engraver from CST GmbH
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the promised speed of 20m2/h was exceeded by far. Currently it images 30m2/h!" He continues: "We are now in the happy position of being able to produce, amongst other things, sophisticated large scale prints of a brilliant quality. The sharpness of the detail, the edge definition, the inverse image and the precision achieved are all excellent. Printing raster motifs with very light/bright portions had previously caused problems in textile printing, with skin tints, beer froth and raster-made pastel shades causing particular concern. Shade values below 5% were almost untenable and broke away uncontrollably. However, with the new machine, the exposure is so precise that even a dot of less than 3% can be accurately reproduced. In the textile printing industry this equates to a small revolution." "Also with regard to image definition, a new standard is set. The optimal raster resolution can be applied to any kind of material and the maximum possible raster resolution is no longer limited, as it is when exposing screens and stencils. Now, it is simply the texture of the fabric that
sets the limit. Such fine raster resolutions were not previously achievable. The new technology thus represents a real quantum leap. "Generally speaking, image definition is four times better, than that achievable using more traditional methods, particularly when producing high-quality decorative banners, so there are lot of new possibilities. Even very difficult motifs can be realised competently”, adds, Klaus-Peter Müller, Fahnen Herold’s Production Manager. Future collaborations between the two companies will, they believe, lead to further improvements in imaging speed, as the full benefits of the DMD-technique have not yet been fully optimised, but it is estimated that engraving speeds up to 40m2 are achievable. Kai Frauenhoff concludes: "With the considerable savings on the expenditure of the materials we used to use in conjunction with wax-jet machines, which amounted to between €50.000 to €100.000 annually, together with improved quality and imaging speeds, we now have a real advantage over our competitors."
FESPA WORLD FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 06/04 45
PETER KIDDELL
New regular columnist Peter Kiddell urges screenprinters to wake up and smell the coffee…….
Wakey, wakey!
PETER KIDDELL
COLUMNIST
46 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
If a print buyer landed from Planet Zog and proceeded to read the print-industry related press, or visited numerous print focussed exhibitions, he could be forgiven for believing that digital printing is the only printing process on this planet. Why? Because that is what everyone is currently shouting about. Screenprinting would appear to be at best, a minority process and at worst, virtually extinct. Admittedly the screenprinting sector was an easy target for digital printing equipment sales people. Short lead times, large format, a mix of short medium and long runs, a print literate workforce, a desire to get away from the perceived vagaries of the screen printing process and a range of customers who like to buy print complete with support services, rather than just screenprinted output. The "in" phrase is "Graphic Solution Providers." Screenprinters discovered very quickly that digital printing was far less problematic than screenprinting. Inks, fiendishly expensive though they may be, came in neat cartridges. There are no stencils to produce or reclaim, no squeegees to worry about and no photopositives to produce or store. Instead, single prints are viable, thanks to total digital workflow and push button operation. Most importantly of all, digital printing was hugely profitable, just like printing money in fact!. But In a very short time, reality struck. The pace of technology means that printers are quickly superseded by newer, better and faster models. Thus, the photographer down the road, who has minimal overheads, can lease the improved version and undercut prices. This has lead to a different market, one where profits shrink and equipment capabilities accelerate, in precisely the same way as desktop PC’s have done in recent years. Life changed for screenprinters. Previously, they had
prospered by using their practical printing skills and making the best of what they perceived to be a variable process. The results achieved were, at times, remarkable in their quality and at other times remarkably inept, so digital printing seemed to be an answer to their prayers. So we abandon screenprinting as a process! Sell the machines for scrap. Set up a dry cleaning business with the solvents and use the screen mesh to keep the mosquitoes out! Or at least that is what the digital equipment salesman will have you believe. If you were fortunate enough to have attended FESPA Digital in Amsterdam you would have seen that there were a lot of them about, along with a phalanx of digital presses. Please don’t think I am against digital printing - it is a wonderful process that has a multitude of valuable characteristics. What I am against, is the castigation of screenprinting. It has become almost fashionable to deride the process. It is so easy in the over developed markets to forget the hundreds of thousands of companies and the millions of people throughout the world who are engaged in screenprinting. Huge numbers only have hand benches, which is where most of us started and the vast majority would not be able to consider the capital investment required for digital printing. One of the many snippets of conversation that I overheard at FESPA Digital was: "These machines now start at below €100,000! ", said as though this was a give away price! Yes, markets have changed and will continue to do so, but screenprinting still has vital roles it can fulfil better than any other printing process. The core of this is the ability to apply controlled film thicknesses, up to 300 micron. Not only does it have this capability, but the
PETER KIDDELL
printing medium (ink) can be almost any material that can be suspended in a fluid and which has a particle size that is ideally one third of a mesh opening. This makes it the most versatile printing process available. It is the simplicity of screenprinting that makes it so attractive. It harnesses the natural phenomena of mechanical movement, flow and the interaction of liquids and solids. But do not be fooled. As with anything in nature, the purity of a process is underpinned by very sophisticated physical and chemical relationships that are influenced by electrical forces. Several Doctorates have been gained during studies of the squeegee and other elements of the process. A lot of clever mathematical modelling has been done to explain it, linked to thousands of hours of experimental research. One of the outcomes of this is to underline the credibility of screenprinting as a robust industrial process. This is in spite of the fact that screenprinting practitioners tend to insist: "You can’t control the process you have to guide it through a print run and adjust it to deal with the variables." Rubbish! The scientists and the best screenprinters know it is controllable and predictable and their strategy is to avoid the problems by reducing the variables to a minimum. Point of Sale is the sector where digital printing has achieved its greatest penetration in the overdeveloped economies. It still has a long way to go in developing economies, but the expansion in this sector means that screenprinting is still growing. It is also clear from my recent travels around Europe that there are some very good screenprinters in the post Soviet states and work printed in Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary is as good as any I have seen in the mature markets. These guys know what they are doing and, more importantly, they have belief in the process. Additionally, the thirst for knowledge in these countries is inspiring. Industrial printing covers a huge range of applications, from printing nameplates to electroluminescence. Throughout the world, companies are now adopting screenprinting as a high-speed production tool. Initial development can be done with digital technology, but the advantages of large area printing of thick films, in high
volume with screenprinting are very attractive. In addition, the need to engineer the ink to suit the printing mechanism is far less costly with screenprinting than with digital printing. That is not to say digital printing is not expanding the opportunities for printing in manufacturing, but it is a mistake to ignore the advantages of the screen process. The drawback with screenprinting is always the production of the stencil. People sometimes think that reclamation is the deciding factor, but in many industrial applications, stencils are treated as a oneuse item. Disposal of the mesh and imaged emulsion takes place after first use. Unlike graphic printing, there is no tolerance of changes in stencil performance. In the long term, the ability to produce an image carrier that can be single use in most applications is very attractive. Imaged on the press, just prior to printing and automatically positioned on the machine, the digitally imaged carrier would be disposed of after the print run. Conventional mesh does not lend itself to this, particularly in large format applications, because the cost of the mesh is prohibitive. Thin films that have been imaged by a laser could well be suitable. Just imagine a four colour line printing 3000 square metres per hour, image changeover in a couple of minutes, no need for conventional stencil production or reclamation and images with the vibrancy of screen printing. Maybe someone is working on that at this very moment! Back to today, the interim stage of the disposable digitally imaged stencil is Computer to Screen. This has come in several forms. Initially a screen coated with emulsion had an image printed onto it with either ink or wax, using a piezo digital printing head. This removed the need for photopositives and meant that there was no undercutting when the imaged screen was exposed. Suitable for many applications, the savings in the production of photopositives gave a fast return on capital. The limitation in resolution of the image printed onto the coated screen meant that the finest applications were beyond its scope. The use of direct exposure and focussed Ultra Violet light was a further improvement and is highly likely to take over from
digital printing onto a coated mesh. This technology is accelerating in screenprinting, with equipment from KIWO, Signtronic, CST and soon Luscher, whose thermal wax based, direct to screen system has held sway in large format stencil applications for several years. The co-operation between Signtronic AG Switzerland and Proditec GmbH & Co. KG is particularly interesting. Proditec has the long established PROKA range of Direct Projection cameras. The Signtonic system will sit nicely in the Proditec automation system. This overcomes the need to use white mesh and special fast acting emulsions. Also 60 l/cm 150 l.p.i. line rulings are attainable. The Signtronic system can’t yet achieve the 18 large format frames per hour of the direct projection cameras, but the 28 m2 per hour it offers still gives a reasonable throughput for high-resolution stencils. The heart of the direct exposure systems is a Digital Micromirror Device or DLP chip, a remarkable component. developed by Texas Instruments. The DLP Digital Light Processing technology chip is probably the world's most sophisticated light switch. It contains a rectangular array of up to two million hinge-mounted microscopic mirrors; each of these micromirrors measures less than one-fifth the width of a human hair. The technology is already used extensively in High Definition Television and Projection systems. The use as a means of focussing Ultra Violet Light, exposing a stencil, is one of many of the adaptations of this technology. The reliability of the system is proven since its invention in 1987. So rather than lying on their backs with their legs waving in the air, screenprinters must make use of digital techniques in all aspects of their operation, ranging from managed workflow to Direct to Screen and digital instrumentation for measuring all the key elements of the process. Amazingly, many screenprinters still do not apply calibrations to their four-colour process origination. Their time in the industry is short, as the copy shop with a wide format digital printing press will put them out of business. And when then this happens, the copy shop proprietor will buy the redundant screenprinting equipment and print the jobs that are less profitable when using digital printing! FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 47
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
Hellmuth Frey – President
49 408 50 40 21
49 408 537 18 12
hfrey@frey-siebdruck.de
Anders Nilsson – Vice President
46 493 130 40
46 493 121 20
anders@gamlebyscreen.se
Ricardo Rodriguez Delgado – Past President 34 914 85 28 70
34 916 71 02 73
rrd@panorama-sa.com
Michel Caza
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
Enrico Steijn
31 79 343 5353
31 79 343 5354
enrico@imaba.nl
Christian Duyckaerts
32 34 57 90 20
32 34 57 03 81
Christian@pnd.be
FESPA secretariat Kurt Sperisen – International Ambassador 41 44 910 5150
41 44 910 3866
kurt.sperisen@bluewin.ch
Nigel Steffens – General Secretary
44 1737 22 97 22
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 1159 81 81 99
val@valhirst.demon.co.uk
44 1623 88 23 98
Chris Smith – New Projects & Member Services Manager 44 1737 22 97 20
44 1737 24 07 70
chris.smith@fespa.com
Mandy Goldfinch – PA to Nigel Steffens
44 1737 22 97 23
44 1737 24 07 70
mandy.goldfinch@fespa.com
Michael Ryan – Group Sales Manager
44 1737 22 97 27
44 1737 24 07 70
michael.ryan@fespa.com
James Ford – Sales Manager
44 1737 22 83 54
44 1737 24 07 70
james.ford@fespa.com
Karen Pooley – Group Marketing Manager 44 1737 22 97 25
44 1737 24 07 70
karen.pooley@fespa.com
Samantha Yardley – Operations Manager
44 1737 22 83 52
44 1737 24 07 70
samantha.yardley@fespa.com
Lorraine Harrow – Marketing Executive
44 1737 22 83 50
44 1737 24 07 70
lorraine.harrow@fespa.com
Claire Goodchild – Sales and Marketing Assistant 44 1737 22 83 53
44 1737 24 07 70
claire.goodchild@fespa.com
Sarah Willcox – Accounts Manager
44 1737 22 97 24
44 1737 24 07 70
sarah.willcox@fespa.com
Mirela Agolli – Accounts Assistant
44 1737 24 07 88
44 1737 24 07 70
mirela.agolli@fespa.com
Secretaries of FESPA national associations
Telephone
Fax
E-mail / Website
Christian Handler
Austria
43 15 12 66 09
43 15 13 28 26 19
verb.druck.u.medientechnik@aon.at
Kristine Zakalovska
Baltic States
371 750 11 41
371 750 11 42
kristine@sesoma.lv
Peter Robberecht
Belgium
32 25 12 36 38
32 25 13 56 76
peter.robberecht@febelgra.be
www.druckundmedientechnik.or.at
www.febelgra.be Eugeny Ivanov
Bulgaria
35 96 082 39 48
35 96 082 39 48
Mirjana Bjelan
Croatia
38 51 45 52 327
38 51 45 52 327
ett@popovo.net mirjana.bjelan@zg.htnet.hr
Vladimir Havel
Czech Republic
420 487 71 27 12
420 487 72 63 55
vladimir.havel@sca.com www.sitotisk-serigrafie.cz
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.aas@suomeseripainoliitto.fi /
Julie Chide
France
33 144 086 422
www.seripainoliitto.fi contact@gpsf.fr / www.gpsf.fr
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
Massimo Poli
Italy
39 02 71 04 05 98
39 02 71 09 24 46
segretario@siotec.it / www.siotec.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
halvorsen@hortensadvokatene.no /
Michal Kridel
Poland
48 12 296 03 85
48 12 656 01 32
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
www.serigrafer.org
48 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
INFORMATION
Artem Nadirashvili
Russia
Dusan Golubovic
Serbia and Montenegro 38 11 63 21 23 49
74 95 232 99 65
74 95 365 38 96
info@midiprint.com / www.rspa.ru
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
Edo Sternad
Slovenia
386 1 565 72 50
386 1 568 45 78
edo@ib-procadd
Pablo Serrano
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
90 212 212 41 16
90 212 212 41 07
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
91 250 248 0786
bhargav@graficaindia.com / www.s-p-a-i.org
www.screentryck.org
FESPA Associate Members Mr Bhargav Mistry
The Screenprinters Association of India 91 250 248 0998
Mr Clem Johnson
The Screenprinting and Graphic Imaging Association of Australia
Mrs Pei Guifan
The China Screenprinting and Graphic Imaging Association
0061 02 8789 7362 0061 02 8789 7387 clem@reidindustrial.com.au / www.sgiaa.asn.au + 86 10 6401 5007 + 86 10 6403 4996 peiguifan@csgia.org Mr K Chaiyaboon
The Thai Screenprinting and Graphic Imaging Association + 66 2509 66 53
+ 66 2509 66 54
contact@thaiscreenprinting.or.th / www.thaiscreenprinting.or.th
Other associations Mike Robertson
SGIA
1 70 33 8513 35
1 70 32 73 04 56
miker@sgia.org
List of advertisers
Magazine coupon for ordering Fespa World
Aeroterm ..................................................................................................................19
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 â‚Ź63.00. Please complete the following order form to ensure your copy for the future. The magazine is published in English. Full translations in German, French and Spanish are available on www.fespaworld.com to members and subscribers. I enclose my cheque for â‚Ź63.00 payable to FESPA for issues 45, 46, 47 and 48. Future issues: Issue 45 September 2006, Issue 46 December 2006, Issue 47 March 2007, Issue 48 June 2007
BASF
............................................................................................................................13
FESPA 2007 ............................................................................................................27 Fimor
........................................................................................................................ 39
Gandi Innovations ..........................................................................................23 HP Scitex ..................................................................................................................58 J TECK ........................................................................................................................17 Marabuwerke
..............................................................Inside
Front Cover
Membrana ..............................................................................................................39 Mimaki ................................................................................Inside Back Cover Nazdar ........................................................................................................................26 Saatichem ................................................................................................................35 Saatiprint ..................................................................................................................11 SGIA
(Block capitals please)
Name
............................................................................................................................37
Spandex ..........................................................................Outside Back Cover
Company
VFP ..................................................................................................................................7
Address
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
Tel: Fax:
FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06 49
AND FINALLY…
Fespa World quizzes This month, Spandex’ Jim Rich is the man in the hot seat Q. How long have you worked for Spandex and what is your area of responsibility?
Q. In which ways are these companies different from your core signmaker customers?
A. I’ve been with Spandex since 2004 and as the Director for Hardware Product Management, I have a wide responsibility to ensure the correct selection, introduction and marketing of the broad range of hardware and software products we sell across the globe.
A. With the convergence of markets we see more and more similarities between the different types of companies. They’re different in the way that they all have their own specialities.
Q. What did you do prior to joining the company? A. I’ve held various management positions across various disciplines including sales management, product management, service management and research management over the last 30 years. Most of my working life has been spent in the computing, printing and imaging industry, having worked with such companies as Toshiba, Panasonic and KonicaMinolta. Until the mid80s, I was more focused on the engineering aspects of these industries, but during the 90s, I moved into sales and product management, which culminated in my appointment as Australian Marketing Manager for Konica Business Systems in 1998. I moved to Belgium in 1999, and before taking up my current role with Spandex, I worked as the Global Research Manager, for a Brussels-based technical advisory firm for legal and government institutions. Q. Spandex built its reputation on serving the sign industry. Has your customer base now expanded to include other companies operating within the visual communications sector?
A. Our customer base has definitely grown into different sectors of visual communication. Thanks to our product portfolio and convergence of industries, we now do business with all types of companies in the visual communication sector, including screenprinters, digital print bureaux, quick printers and copy shops, wide-format offset printers, repro houses and professional photo labs. … 50 FESPA WORLD SUMMER/06
Q. Spandex, through its long association with Gerber, has earned something of a reputation for introducing innovative machines. Are you able to provide any hints as to what is being planned for the future? A. Spandex and Gerber are definitely undertaking to introduce new and productivity-enhancing solutions in the future. The first major release for this year will be GerberCUT anan optical positioning option for the Gerber SABRE routers that facilitate contour routing of rigid graphics. The GerberCUT vision system automatically and accurately detects registration marks on the printed graphics and even large and complex images can be routed at very high precision. Combining this simple and efficient workflow process with, for instance, the Gerber Solara UV2 creates a wealth of new applications for sign shops, screen printers and other image providers. And you can of course expect further advancements with UV-technology as well! Q. At Fespa Digital Printing Europe you launched the Solara UV2, a digital inkjet flatbed printer which uses UV inks. What advantages do you feel this machine offers your customers and what sort of applications is it best suited to? A. With the Gerber Solara UV2, we introduced the first affordable hybrid, wide-format UV-curable inkjet printer. Using UV inks has many obvious advantages, such as providing instant-dry prints that are ‘ready-to-go’, increased UVdurability and abrasion resistance. And of course UV guarantees instant outsoor durability of up to three years without lamination and without producing irritating odours or harmful VOCs, Our customers
report that the significant reduction of labour time, the richness of printed colours, and customer demand exceeds their expectations. The UV2’ has a unique six-colour CMYK plus violet and green configuration, producing a depth of colour which far supersedes that of other UV-printers. It can also be easily switched between flatbed and roll-to-roll mode, thanks to the stepless head height adjustment and media sensor. Customers have been ruding acrylic, foamex, glass, PVC, polycarbonate, aluminium, MDF, chipboard, floor vinyl, mesh (even on mesh backing to use as table cloth or drape), flags (it provides great double sided colour!), banners, glass, cardboard and escaboard (white-faced cardboard), cork tiles, foamboard (even coloured), correx, Some customers have enven achieved good results on photoluminescent vinyl and Lexedge, magnetic materials.
Q. Do you believe that UV will overtake solvent inks in terms of popularity and how long do you think it will take for them to supersede solvent inks? A. At the moment solvent inkjets are still dominant in grand format printing and their popularity is still growing in the wide format segment. It’s a mature and cheaper technology. But the environmental issues remain, and will inhibit growth in the end. I expect solvent inkjet to keep growing for another five years or so. Meanwhile UVprinting is growing up. The first roll-fed high-speed grand and wide format printers are already on the market. UV has a few obvious advantages: clean, instant-dry, more and less expensive materials. I’m convinced it will overtake solvent inks in the future.
aftermarket portfolio. We will be successful because we will deliver superior value, satisfying the unique needs of our customers in the areas of product solutions, applications support and aftersales care.
Q. Do you anticipate spending the rest of your working life working within the graphics sector and if not, what other areas inspire your interest? A. If I could, I would become a professional golfer! But seriously, it’s the industry that I’ve worked in for the last 30-years, and I don’t see any compelling reasons for moving to a new field. Q. In a business sense is there anything you regret doing, or conversely, anything that you wish you had done? A. No. I have always taken risks and lived with the consequences, good or bad. But, perhaps I should have moved to Europe sooner! Q. What do you do to relax? A. I’m always relaxed. Only golf makes me feel tense.
Q. Give our readers a hot tip for the future A. If I were a sign-maker I wouldn’t give away the secret benefits of Solara UV2 to my competitors! Jim Rich, thank you.
Q. How will Spandex react to this market convergence? A. Spandex aims to be one of the top three companies in each Spandex-country providing solutions for small to medium customers for their sign and graphics applications. We will do this through the provision of a broad range of leading hardware platforms supported by first class services and a comprehensive
Jim Rich , originated from Katoomba, in Australia’s Blue Mountains. He is married with one daughter, holds a Bachelor of Arts (Computer Studies) degree from Canberra University and an MBA from the University of New England.