12 minute read
NEWS IN PRINT
PBL PRINT ENHANCES PRODUCTION WITH HORIZON SPF-200L
PBL Print has elevated short run landscape book production capacity and versatility with investment in a Horizon SPF-200L bookletmaker from Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS).
The Chester-le-Street operation runs two Heidelberg XL 75 five colour presses, two Heidelberg Versafire digital colour presses, and Ricoh and Konica Minolta mono presses. Its core business is the provision of quality, cost effective solutions for the public sector.
Eric Stevenson, Managing Director, explains the investment: “The industry is generally heading towards smaller orders and the new landscape bookletmaker will help manage those more effectively and efficiently.
“We were completing A4 landscape jobs on a system more suited to longer runs but we wanted to be able to offer greater flexibility in terms of run lengths. The Horizon system is better suited to smaller quantities.”
He continues: “We didn’t look at any other suppliers because we have quite a lot of Horizon systems. Our team are used to operating them. They have the same easy set up so running a new addition did not require much training at all.”
The 4,500bph Horizon SPF-200L landscape feed bookletmaker combines stitching and folding with the ability to handle sheets up to 640mm in length. JDF-ready, it offers instant set-ups via a large icon based colour touchscreen for user friendly operation. The screen can be used for on the run fine tune adjustments as well as the storage and recall of up to 200 jobs.
Eric concludes: “It is running really well and doing exactly what we thought it would do. We chose it to help with growth and we know it will help us achieve that.”
The Horizon SPF-200L landscape feed bookletmaker joins a BQ-470 EVA four clamp perfect binder, a StitchLiner 6000 book production line and a SPF-200A bookletmaker. www.ifsl.uk.com
EFI REGGIANI CONTINUES DIGITAL GROWTH AND INNOVATION
EFI™ Reggiani, the industrial textile printing business of printing technology company Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFI), has broken ground on a new textile campus to accommodate ongoing growth. The new 20,000 square metre campus in Comun Nuovo, Bergamo, Italy, is expected to be completed mid year in 2023.
“EFI Reggiani has always worked diligently to take our offerings to the next level, thinking ahead and developing high-tech, high-quality and reliable textile solutions,” said EFI Reggiani Senior Vice President and General Manager Adele Genoni. “The new campus is an important step in our journey, and it is proof of EFI’s strong commitment to continued development of the textiles business unit. Not only will this provide us more space to continue our growth, but it will also be a welcoming and sustainable environment for our employees.”
The new facility was designed with environmental sustainability and employee wellbeing in mind. That focus includes plans to install 400 kilowatts of solar panels supplying 60% of the facility’s total energy requirements. Moreover, the building will benefit from superior thermal insulation that will ensure a reduction in heating and cooling costs. Numerous skylights in the facility will provide better natural lighting and a reduction in artificial lighting usage.
Green space on the campus was a priority in the design process, covering an estimated 20% of the total area. For a more welcoming work environment, the campus will also feature a canteen and gymnasium for employee use. A 3,000 square metre demo centre in the new facility will be nearly twice as large as the current EFI Reggiani demo centre in Grassobbio, Italy, offering a high-end, high-tech showcase for state of the art EFI Reggiani printers, as well as Mezzera pre and post treatment and Jaeggli yarn treatment products. The demo centre will also feature EFI Reggiani’s recently acquired portfolio of Inèdit raster image processing (RIP) and workflow software solutions.
TRANSFORMING THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY THROUGH INNOVATION IN GREEN
Since the launch of its first analogue printer, to its newest digital solutions, EFI Reggiani has at its core a heritage and expertise that have contributed to the transformation of the textile industry worldwide. With its total commitment to providing “Innovation in Green,” EFI Reggiani’s leadership is the result of extensive research targeted at improving productivity, quality and sustainability in its customers’ operations. Building on Reggiani’s 75+ year legacy, the company is focused on optimising the textile manufacturing process – and reducing energy use, water consumption and overall environmental impact – to ensure customers’ business growth and profitability.
Over the years, EFI Reggiani’s product portfolio has continued to expand, ranging from rotary and flatbed printing machines, to scanning/multi-pass digital printers, to the world’s fastest digital textile printer – an award winning EFI Reggiani BOLT single pass inkjet printer that operates at 90 metres per minute. Additional leading edge, best in class solutions in the portfolio include the world’s fastest scanning printer for textile, an EFI Reggiani HYPER model that can output up to 20 linear metres per minute at peak speed.
Known for high quality, flexibility and reliability, EFI Reggiani is also an innovator in ink – a recognised leader as one of the only companies to manufacture the full range of inks used in industrial textile manufacturing. www.efi.com/reggiani
SOS, GMG and Vivid are teaming up for an Open House Event aimed at packaging printers and designers, to be held on 14th and 15th September at Vivid’s showroom in Ashby De La Zouch, Leicestershire.
“THE 3D PROOF” event will produce packaging mock-ups with accurate colour, on real substrates, in real time including cartons, labels and foil packs. Printing will be done on two of the latest Roland machines supplied by SOS, namely the LEC2-330 — driven by GMG colour management — and LEF2-300. Samples will then be cut and folded on Vivid’s VeloBlade range of equipment, enabling visitors to take away a finished product.
SOS Sales Manager Ashley Fleming: “The latest equipment and software for packaging proofs can achieve levels of speed and accuracy which a decade ago would be unheard of. This is a must see event for anyone in the packaging industry!”
The LEC2-330 is Roland’s latest UV printer cutter, which has made an industry wide impact as an ideal machine for packaging proofs directly onto the production substrate, and premium labels. It has a maximum 762mm media width and can print, cut, perforate, varnish, emboss and add textured UV. A larger 1,265mm width version (LEC2-640) is also available.
The LEF 2-300 is an award winning direct to object benchtop UV printer, for objects up to 100mm thick. It enables the printing of photos, graphics and finely detailed text with stunning quality onto PVC and plastics, canvas, wood, leather, fabric, acrylics and glass.
The event will showcase GMG colour management on the LEC2-330, which enables accurate and reproducible proofs on packaging production substrates, incorporating white ink – particularly useful for printing on transparent and metallic materials. Thanks to reliable calibration and profiling, users can easily create specific media profiles for any media used with the printer.
GMG OpenColor creates a consistent CMYK and multicolour press simulation with GMG ColorProof. Plus, the award winning Calibration Creation Wizard enables management of output conditions in GMG OpenColor, streamlined configuration of printing parameters, and printing and measuring of test charts for visual evaluation.
The event will utilise the wide range of cutting edge print finishing equipment at Vivid’s showroom covering lamination, digital foiling, cutting, creasing and folding, including the VeloBlade range of digital die-cutting systems. Vivid will also be demonstrating their recently launched Zip Core Packaging Software, that has been created to optimise every aspect of packaging design from start to finish.
As well as box, label and foil samples, the SOS/GMG/Vivid team are happy to produce real life customer work. Visitors who would like to provide files upfront to produce at the event should email paul.barnes@gmgcolor.com
Opening times are 10am to 5.30pm 14th Sept, and 10am to 3.30pm on 15th Sept. To register for the event please go to https://3d-proof.live www.gmgcolor.com • www.serviceoffsetsupplies.co.uk www.vivid-online.com
THEMAGICTOUCH EXPANDS
TheMagicTouch has acquired additional warehouse and offices adjoining their current Dunstable, Bedfordshire base. The company this year are celebrating 30 years of trading and continue to develop and market the latest in image transfer technology with their four unique brands TheMagicTouch, MagiCut, DyeSubMagic and DTFMagic.
Jim Nicol, Managing Director commented ”The additional building and space will enable us to further expand our training and marketing facilities which continue to be popular with both existing and prospective customers. This has been highlighted by the increase in customers attending detailed training for white toner printers, print and cut and more recently Direct to Film (DTF) transfer printing prior to having their equipment installed and commissioned. Our other marketing support programmes for CRM and target sampling continue to be well received”. 01582 671444 • sales@themagictouch.co.uk • www.themagictouch.co.uk
PROFILE OF THE MONTH: TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS SERVICES
Specialists in new and refurbished Xerox Digital Printers, Xerox consumables including toners and parts. Providing maintenance and service contracts delivered by highly trained engineers and analysts. Technology Business Services stock drum and toner reset chips and can supply Xerox parts. They pride themselves on exceeding customer expectations, delivering the best possible service and always finding a solution to any problem. Their remit is to help you keep printing. 01474 747575 • 01376 433300 info@techxerox.com www.techbusserv.co.uk
NEW TRIPLE HORIZON COLLATOR INVESTMENT AT HARLOW PRINTING
Harlow Printing Limited of South Shields has enhanced service delivery for a long term customer with investment in three Horizon VAC-1000 collators from IFS.
Since 1947 the general commercial operation has been providing a print and print management service to an evolving and increasing customer base that includes the NHS, public sector organisations, local and national businesses. It has recently taken on additional bingo and promotional games work as well as direct mail following the closure of nearby Edward Thompson.
Managing director Richard Walker explains: “We made the investment for one of our core products – the red book child health record. We have three towers running inline to produce these books and they are more than ten years old. It was time to upgrade them to ensure we continue to provide the best service possible.”
He adds: “We did consider other solutions but we know and trust Horizon and can be sure the collators will be reliable. They are a lot quieter and will give us more efficiency and accuracy.”
Harlow’s three VAC-1000 collators take advantage of Horizon’s unique feeding technology that continues the Horizon development concept of ‘high speed’, ‘high performance’ and ‘high quality’. They can manage a wide range of applications at high productivity, with flexible but powerful programming and user friendly operation. They feature high power double feed detector sensors and an image checking system that stores and checks the printed image of each page on each feed cycle to insure page order and integrity. Production is supported by a Horizon ST-40 stacker.
The new additions join a raft of IFS supplied systems at Harlow Printing including a Horizon StitchLiner Mark III, a Horizon StitchLiner 5500, two Horizon AFC-566FG folders, a Horizon SPF/FC 200A bookletmaking system, a Horizon BQ270V perfect binder and a Horizon CRA-36BU creaser, a Durselen PB-04N drill and two Perfecta 115TS guillotines. www.ifsl.uk.com
Plockmatic Group has acquired Intec Printing Solutions Ltd, headquartered in Poole, Dorset, a major global supplier of unique equipment solutions for the print and graphic arts markets.
The current star of Intec’s product line-up is the company’s ColorCut range, which includes entry level large format production flatbed cutting products. Additionally, Intec offers the ColorFlare range of desktop and professional devices to enhance prints with both foils and laminates.
The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Plockmatic International AB and part of the Plockmatic Group, which includes the well known Morgana and Watkiss ranges of offline finishing systems. The Swedish firm’s CEO, Jan Marstorp, will continue to head the expanded group of companies.
Commenting on the acquisition, Jan Marstorp said: “Intec are well known in the industry for providing quality products at competitive prices. The ColorCut range of cutting systems have been well received by the market, with sales in the UK, across North America, and many other international territories.
“These systems are ideal for small to medium sized print based operations that need to provide professionally cut and finished promotional display boards, boxes, labels and more. This is a sector of the market that has grown rapidly in recent years, and one that Plockmatic is keen to further explore and expand.
“We also see a good match for these products with our large OEM customers who provide printers. These products will enable more applications and allow them to grow further into the light packaging and labelling market segment.”
With regard as to how these products fit within the current range, Ray Hillhouse, VP Sales & Marketing for Plockmatic’s Offline Business Unit adds: “Our UK Morgana sales team has enjoyed considerable success with the Valiani range of large format finishing systems in recent years. We see the ColorCut suite of products complementing these in the UK and providing a terrific opportunity in this expanding market segment for our international dealerships worldwide.”
The Plockmatic company will seek to expand sales of these devices through the existing Intec and Morgana international dealer networks, Plockmatic’s OEM partners as well as through its subsidiary operations in the UK and USA. Intec Printing Solutions will continue to design and configure products at its Poole headquarters, and all current staff will be retained. The acquisition includes the company’s US operation, Intec Printing Solutions Inc., based in Tampa, Florida.
The Intec business was founded by Ian Melville back in 1989. Commenting on the sale to Plockmatic International, Ian said: “Having started the business focussing on Apple Macs and prepress products back in 1989, we’ve travelled right through the printing process to our current range of post-press equipment. I can safely say that it has been a long, eventful, highly enjoyable, and, ultimately, very successful journey. It has been a great delight to meet with printers and print equipment suppliers from all around the world — they are all great people. It has been a pleasure to be a part of this fantastic and highly adaptable industry. “As the owner of a successful business there comes a time when the question of where the business goes after I’m gone has to be posed. The sale of the business to Plockmatic has come at a good time for me, for Intec Printing Solutions, and for my fantastic team. This transaction will give me the opportunity to spend more time on several charitable projects that I have been involved with, as well as enjoying some well earned holiday time. For the business and the staff, it will provide the solid backing from a successful international manufacturer.”
The Plockmatic Group of companies is part of Grimaldi Industri Group, a diversified Stockholm based holding company. “The acquisition of Intec Printing Solutions further demonstrates our commitment to our customers, and to the document finishing business,” says Salvatore Grimaldi, owner and CEO of Grimaldi Industri. www.plockmaticgroup.com
From left: Jan Marstorp, Ian Melville, Ray Hillhouse and Salvatore Grimaldi
