PRESSIdeas January 2023 issue

FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK

Convergence In Action- Visitors From Three MP Cities Meet-up At Indore

Gulf Print & Pack returns to Dubai in 2024

EFI announces appointment of new CEO and separation of fiery business unit into independent company

Vinsak’s participation at PLASTINIDA, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Overwhelming response to Printpack India 2025

Biodegradable packing for Bar-U-Eat products

HEIDELBERG turns print shops into pioneers of energy-efficient production

Obituary

Winners of the 2022 South Asian Digital Media Awards announced by WAN-IFRA

Hotpack Announces its Largest Manufacturing Plant in Dubai

For Flagship Press the answer was KODAK

MGI launches its own social network JETforce

Mitigate business risks with Digital

Photo Park adds two new HP Indigo 7K Pressesto expand its digital printing network

Next Level Automation at Hunkeler Innovation Days

Comexi launches into digital printing

Fine Digital Prints goes beyond CMYK with RICOH PRO C7200X

Canon at the CEIF 2023

Kodak to showcase PROSPER ULTRA 520 Press at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023

FUJIFILM India at CEIF 2023

Monotech Systems woos photo labs at CEIF 2023

HP displays new

Jasmeet D. Editor & Publisher (jasmeet@pressideas.com)

Vineet K G. Associate Editor (vineetkg@pressideas.com)

Jasvinder S. Sub-Editor (jasvinder@pressideas.com)

Jacob George Marketing and Sales (jacob@pressideas.com)

M.S. Mukundan

Advertising and Sales Southern and Western India (aims@pressideas.com)

Graphic Designer Anil Kumar

Networking/ Hardware Consultant Sukhdeep Singh

USA Correspondents Tensi M., Preeti

European Correspondent Rimi, Yadhu Morphine

Production Thomas K Alex

Every effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied. All material supplied is compiled from sources believed to be reliable or solely an opinion of the authors. PRESSIdeas is not responsible for any steps taken based on the information provided herewith.

FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK

Dear Readers,

Let us start with the feel-good news about the Economic Survey 2023 giving an idea of where India Inc is heading to in 2023-24 with the nation’s projected GDP growth pegged at about 6.5%. Our nation has already become the world’s fifth largest economy in the 75th year of Independence and will reach the $3.5 trillion mark by end-March, said the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament.

Now, hope that the budget will be tax payer friendly in terms of simplifying the taxes thus broadening the tax collection proportions and making India a charming destination for foreign investments.

As for our industry Pamex had their promotional roadshow at Indore details of which is there in the issue. Gulf Print pack reappears in 2024 in Dubai. The key trend in the MENA market is the transition to digital, not only in terms of print and post-print equipment, but also workflows, said the organiser.

EFI announced it’s new CEO and has shelved out their Fiery business as a separate entity in itself.

Meanwhile, Print Pack India, the premier show in the indian print industry’s itenerary announced 261 bookings as on date after bookings opened on 16th Jan 2023.

Heidelberg, the leading press manufacturer launched energy efficiency campaign for print shops thus bringing in more sustainability in the printing process.

We had two notable departures of friends from this world - Mr.PR Srinivas (Seep-O-Print) and Ramani Vishwanathan (Ex-Kodak/HP). Friends sent in their condilence messages whih we have reproduced in this issue.

We have also listed the Winners of the 2022 South Asian Digital Media Awards announced by WAN-IFRA in the issue along with the success story of Flagship Press with their Kodak ensemble. Kodak’s inkjet press portfolio and how it can help a printer in managing a successful transformation to digital is also included for your reading pleasure.

Photo Park Digital Press installed two HP indigo presses at their Thiruvananthapuram unit. “We want to be India’s preferred photo book production partners”, declared Mr Francis, the company’s owner.

Just a reminder about the Next Level Automation at Hunkeler Innovation Days at Lucerne has a mention too. We have also covered Canon, Fuji Film and Monotech at the Consumer Electronic Imaging Fair (CEIF) 2023 held at Jio WOrld Centre in Mumbai.

Talking of new acquisitions, Reign Green (Tirupur) with their RICOH PRO C7200X and Fine Digital Prints (Hyderabad) with their RICOH PRO C5310S, both from Mponotec have their stories too inside.

Amcor opened China’s largest (590,00 sq. ft.) flexible packaging plant thus strengthening its position in Asia Pacific region. Meanwhile there is an interesting news on Landa’s new ink plant in Europe.

In Vishakhapatnam, Lake Image Systems in partnership with Vinsak installed their inspection system for aluminium foil blister packs at Aurobindo’s Vizag facility.

To conclude, let us hope for a good growth oriented budget tomorrow from Nirmala Seetharaman ji!

- Jasvinder Singh, Sub-editor

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Convergence In Action- Visitors From Three MP Cities Meet-up At Indore

As the dates for PAMEX 2023 are coming closer, the growing enthusiasm around the industry in the country is discernible and was amply evident at the Indore event.

The PAMEX Road show reached Indore on its fourth stop on 24 January 2023 at the Brilliant Convention Centre with registrations crossing 300 in numbers. The event witnessed visitors in large numbers from Bhopal and Ujjain who all converged with local attendees of Indore for the afternoon to evening event, where the Table-top Exhibition started off at 2 PM and the Conference began at 4 PM.

The Indore event was a joint effort of All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) and Indore Master Printers Association (IMPA) and was organised in association with Print-Packaging.com Private Limited and supported by Bhopal Master Printers Association, Indian Plastpack Forum, Federation of Corrugated Box Mfrs. of India (FCBM), Madhya Pradesh Corrugated Box Manufacturers’ Association and Ujjain Print & Media Association.

The Panel discussion was followed by a technical presentation by Rajesh Khatwani (VINSAK India) on ‘Connected Packaging’. Speaking about the importance of track and trace in today’s scenario, he gave a brief on how technology makes it possible to get full information of a product through a simple barcode.

Pawandeep Sahni (OMET India), who has been a part of all the four roadshows conducted gave a presentation on ‘The Convergence Mindset- How to encash on the biggest opportunity in Print’. Premchand Prajapati (Konica Minolta), spoke about ‘Digital printing & the way forward’.

The event concluded with a vote of thanks extended by Pritesh Jain, Vice President, Indore Master Printers Association, (IMPA).

The event included a panel discussion, a couple of technical presentations alogn with a table top exhibition and the last of the series is beign planned on 3rd March 2023 at Haridwar.

Key Notes :

> Over 300 visitors from three Madhya Pradesh cities

> This was the fourth show out of the five planned

> A table-top exhibition too ran parallel to the Conference

After the inaugural lamp lighting by Raveendra Joshi, President, AIFMP, Tushar Dhote, Co-chairman, PAMEX, AIFMP, then gave a presentation on PAMEX, talking about its history and the current status of the 15th edition of the Show which was followed by a Panel Discussion moderated by industry veteran, V Vaidyalingam of Suba Solutions raising some very relevant questions around ‘Convergence in Print - The Way Forward’. The panelists included Aditya Pahuja (Colours Packaging Solutions), Gaurav Nema (Pragati Graphics), Amit Shah (Spectrum Scan), and Amit Khurana (Technova).

A table-top exhibition, running parallel to the Conference, created an opportunity for the attendees to network and talk business. The evening ended with a networking dinner, which allowed the delegates and participants to interact in an informal ambiance. The next destination for PAMEX 2023 Roadshow is Bengaluru, where once again the table-top exhibition and conference will be held on 23 February 2023. The last venue of this series will be in Haridwar on 03 March 2023.

PAMEX 2023 is scheduled to be held from 27-30 March 2023 at Bombay Exhibi″on Centre, Mumbai.

Gulf Print & Pack returns to Dubai in 2024

Gulf Print & Pack is back on the biennial calendar for the first time since the pandemic.

Gulf Print & Pack, the MENA region’s leading exhibition for the commercial and package printing industries, will take place at the World Trade Center in Dubai on 9-11 January 2024.

Barry Killengrey, Gulf Print & Pack event director, commented: “We’re delighted to be back on the biennial calendar for the first time since the pandemic. During this time, the print and package printing industry has evolved immensely, with exciting new trends such as digital embellishment emerging, and this has intensified the appetite to see more advances in digital technology, automation and workflow capabilities.”

The last Gulf Print & Pack event was held in June 2022, when it attracted leading graphic arts suppliers from across the globe and over 7,500 international visitors.

“With the milder climate, January is the ideal time to plan a business trip to Dubai and the best time to kick-start new business here,” says Killengrey. “Dubai is the most populous city in the UAE and has become a center of

trade and commerce for the Middle East.”

Gulf Print & Pack 2024 will give PSPs, commercial printers and packaging converters the chance to see a broad range of new technology in action including wide format printers, digital corrugated, cut sheet inkjet, package printing presses and digital embellishment systems.

“The key trend in the MENA market is the transition to digital, not only in terms of print and post-print equipment, but also workflows,” commented Andy ThomasEmans, Strategic Director of the Tarsus Labels and Packaging Group, which organizes Gulf Print & Pack.

“Conventional offset printers are now looking closely at cut sheet inkjet presses, while both flexo and conventional printers are seeing increased automation in plate making, fully integrated with end-to-end color management. Corrugated printers also have new digital options, both at the high volume end and in continued development of wide format presses and cutting tables.”

Thomas-Emans points out that although the commercial print market as a whole faces challenges, there are niche areas showing sustained growth, including on-demand book and photobook production and digital printing of fabrics and floor tiles. All these applications will be represented at Gulf Print & Pack 2024.

“Commercial printers are also looking at opportunities in the booming package printing market, particularly in folding cartons and labels,” said Thomas-Emans. “We expect to see suppliers of flexo converting equipment and digital presses and finishing equipment in force at the show.”

Another key trend to watch out for at the show is digital embellishment of cut-sheet commercial work, folding cartons and labels, said Thomas-Emans. “The replacement of conventional tooling by high build inkjet varnishing, laser die cutting and digital metalization technologies will transform the value proposition for both commercial and packaging printers.”

EFI announces appointment of new CEO and separation of fiery business unit into independent company

Sharpens EFI’s focus as a leading industrial inkjet pure-play and Fiery’s position as the leading DFE provider

as an industrial inkjet leader and Fiery as the leading digital front end (DFE) provider. Jeff Jacobson, a 35-year veteran of the digital imaging sector who led EFI as CEO following its 2019 take-private by Siris, will remain Executive Chairman of each business.

EFI to Operate as an Industrial Inkjet Pure-Play

Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFI), a global leader in digital industrial imaging and portfolio company of Siris Capital Group LLC today announced the appointment of Frank Pennisi, a veteran of the industrial and technology sectors, as Chief Executive Officer. In tandem, EFI’s Fiery business unit has been separated as an independent company that will remain wholly owned by Siris.

As separate companies, EFI™ and Fiery® will have distinct areas of strategic focus that will enable them to serve their customers better and grow over the long-term, with EFI

Headquartered in Londonderry, N.H., EFI will be solely focused on driving the analog-todigital transition across the packaging and corrugated, display graphics, textile, and building materials/décor end-markets for industrial inkjet.

Mr. Pennisi comes to EFI from Orora Packaging Solutions, a leading provider of custom packaging solutions with an emphasis on corrugated. While managing Orora Packaging Solutions as its President and CEO, Mr. Pennisi was an EFI customer, using EFI’s industry-leading Nozomi singlepass inkjet, superhigh-speed digital printer. His experience with EFI solutions extends to the close collaboration and consulting he has done with Orora Packaging’s sister company, Orora Visual – a leading display graphics provider that is among the largest

North American users of EFI VUTEk® display graphics and EFI Reggiani industrial textile digital printers. Previously, Mr. Pennisi spent two decades in leadership positions at FLIR Systems (now Teledyne FLIR), Honeywell, and GE.

Fiery to Operate as Independent Company Driving Digital Print Innovation

As an independent company, the marketleading Fiery business will continue to provide industry-leading DFE technology for digital production and industrial printing. Toby Weiss, long-time Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Fiery, will continue to lead the business as CEO of Fiery. “Fiery will remain focused on working closely with our OEM partners, including the EFI Inkjet business, to continue developing cutting edge technology that drives the next generation of automation, accuracy, and profit potential in digital printing,” said Mr. Weiss. “We look forward to accelerating our investment as a standalone company, while driving our expanding product portfolio, incorporating world-class color algorithms, and developing advanced cloud technology.”

Vinsak’s participation at PLASTINIDA, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Vinsak is delighted to announce the launching of DIGI-Jet Wide Format Digital Printing System at PLASTINDIA, (01 TO 05 FEB 2023) @PRAGATI MAIDAN. AT Hall No.11 H, Stand No. B-3-A.

VINSAK’s mission is to design, manufacture and distribute products and services with emerging technologies that meet or exceed the unique needs and expectations of each customer. To be valued by our customers for bringing competitive solutions, reliability,

comfort and convenience to their lives and businesses. Our guiding principle remains ushering in an era of high technology in the packaging industry.

VINSAK Digi-Jet 1000 offers high printing speed, high quality results and the highest level of performance and production.The system can print in exceptional quality variable data matrix, QR codes, barcodes, texts, numbers, marking applications. This is the ideal solution for created “connected packaging“which the brands are demanding today.

UV Low Migration Inks enable jobs for food

applications to be carried out. Low migration inks allow the work to be printed on all surfaces and on previously printed material as well. Under special request, the system can also be created with Water based ink jets systems which offer direct food contact as well .

In addition to the this product launch, Vinsak will showcase it’s entire range of solutions for printing of short run flexible packaging as well as brand protection solutions. Looking forward to your visit to witness these relevant technologies.

Overwhelming response to Printpack India 2025

64 Bookings in the first Minute, 198 bookings in the first hr & day 1 closed with 261 Bookings.

IPAMA started booking for the 16th PRINTPACK INDIA 2025 exhibition on 16th January 2023 and saw an overwhelming response from participants. The exhibition will be held at India Expo Centre, Greater Noida from February 1st to 5th in the year 2025.

64 companies booked their space within the first 60 seconds and 198 companies in 1 hr, and till the end of the day, a total number of 261 companies had already done the advance booking. The speed of booking shows the trust, popularity and the importance of PRINTPACK INDIA Exhibition amongst the companies representing manufacturing or dealing in printing, packaging, and allied machinery and solutions. The first day booking is 135% more than what it was for the last PRINTPACK INDIA.

The space will be allotted to the Exhibitors based on priority numbers generated on the basis of Bank Statement showing the receipt of the advance booking from the respective companies.

The profile of 16th PRINTPACK INDIA Exhibition includes Pre-Press, Press, Digital, Screen and Textile Printing, Label, Paper, Post-Press, Corrugation, Converting, Packaging, Service & Software, Consumables & Spares, Signage & LED and other related segments of the Graphic Arts Industry. The Halls will be earmarked segment wise, keeping in view the convenience of Exhibitors and Business Visitors. The Exhibitors will also be provided number of complimentary services during the Exhibition.

Mr. Rakesh Sodhi, President IPAMA said,

Biodegradable packing for Bar-U-Eat products

BAR-U-EAT, is now available in an all new wrapping which is Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) Certified, which means that the entire packaging is able to break down properly in commercial compost systems.

The new packaging is composed of plant-based materials from FSC Certified sustainably managed forests. It additionally complies with the specifications established in the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6400 to be aerobically composted and is biodegradable.

BAR-U-EAT is the first bar company in the world to offer packaging that is fully biodegradable, which puts the company in a rarified air when it comes to sustainability, as most energy bar companies still rely on

“PRINTPACK INDIA is poised to be unique, highly innovative and a trend setter. I am sure that PRINTPACK INDIA 2025 will showcase the world’s latest technologies. It will be a promising show with great opportunities.”

The last edition was organised at India Expo Centre from May 26-30, 2022, in which 487 Indian and Foreign companies had participated on a net area of 25342 Sqms. It was visited by 1,03,412 business visitors. IPAMA representatives will also visit some of the important foreign Exhibitions like Interpack, Drupa etc. to invite Exhibitors and Business Visitors for 16th PRINTPACK INDIA Exhibition. The Marketing Unit of IPAMA has already started attending Exhibitions, Conferences, Workshops etc., which are being organised by other domestic & international exhibition organisers to interact with the Exhibitors and the Business Visitors.

single-use plastics for their packaging.

Plastic waste has been an issue for energy bar companies, as it is estimated that millions of pounds of non-renewable, nonbiodegradable refuse are produced every year by the industry.

Consistent with the company’s mission to create food that is free of unhealthy oils and preservatives, BAR-U-EAT’s new packaging will allow the wrappers to become energy for the planet, just as the bars are for people.

HEIDELBERG turns print shops into pioneers of energy-efficient production

Company launches energy efficiency campaign for print shops; brings more sustainability in the printing process.

Back in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol stipulated that, by 2020, industrial processes should be at least 20 percent more efficient than they were in 1990. Today, due to the general trend for more sustainability across the whole of society, ambitious climate protection targets, and the present energy crisis, there is growing pressure on the print media industry to make the entire production process even more energy-efficient – and to do so quickly.

Heidelberg has therefore launched a campaign for print shops featuring information, advice, and tips from experts on how to considerably increase energy efficiency in printing companies while simultaneously driving down costs. The company will be focusing on several headline issues in its communications over the next few months.

“The subject of sustainability and energy efficiency has become a crucial competitive and cost factor for suppliers in the print media industry – and that applies equally to our customers and to Heidelberg itself,” says Dr. Ludwin Monz, CEO of Heidelberg. “Alongside its customers, Heidelberg aims to extend its leading role in the industry to include energy efficiency as well. Due to our technological and data expertise, we are able to offer our customers attractive options for achieving energy-efficient production and can provide comprehensive advice and consulting. We all need to work on these

issues if we are to hit climate protection targets.”

Speedmaster XL 106 – energy efficiency as standard

To launch the campaign, Heidelberg is showcasing the energy efficiency of the Speedmaster XL 106. For example, a comparison between the Speedmaster CD 102-6+L from 1990 and the current Speedmaster XL 106-6+L reveals that energy consumption per 1,000 sheets has been reduced from 13.8 kWh to 8 kWh – a reduction of 40 percent. A whole range of innovations and improvements throughout the entire system is responsible for this achievement.

A printing press is at its most energy-efficient when running at full capacity, as this ensures its basic energy requirement is spread out over more printed sheets.

Besides investing in cutting-edge equipment, print shops can also further boost their energy efficiency by optimizing the way they use their equipment. This is where one principle in particular comes into play – one that highlights a key difference between printing presses and automobiles, for instance, which consume more energy the faster they travel. By contrast, a printing press has a basic level of energy consumption that covers the fundamental operating functions. Beyond this, energy consumption increases

in line with rising printing speed, but since the basic level of energy consumption is spread over more printed sheets, overall energy efficiency improves. This means a press is at its most efficient when a job is being printed at full speed – ideally on a fully automated basis – and when, after that job, the system either moves on immediately to the next job or switches to standby mode if there is nothing else to be printed.

“When it comes to energy efficiency in print shops, although the equipment being used is an important basis, operating that equipment in the best way possible is at least equally as important. This is often where companies can really make a big difference. It is at precisely this point that the Heidelberg campaign for greater energy efficiency comes in and creates a basis for fully utilizing pre-existing potential,” says Dr. Eva Boll, head of ESG at Heidelberg.

Speedmaster XL 106 with energy measuring device

Starting April 2023, the Speedmaster XL 106 will be supplied with an energy measuring device as standard, albeit only in Germany initially. This will enable users to permanently monitor the energy consumption of their press – measured in kilowatt-hours per 1,000 sheets – from the control station. This readout encourages operators to run the press in an energy-efficient way – in other words, at maximum speed. All in all, various energyefficiency measures also help print shops reduce the CO2 emissions associated with their industrial processes.

The second theme of the campaign highlights the potential in terms of savings offered by peripheral units for the Speedmaster, which makes energy-efficient production possible. Next, the campaign addresses the issue of “maintenance”, revealing the extent to which regularly maintained machine systems can conserve resources and improve the energy balance. To complement the campaign, Heidelberg offers relevant consulting services so it can work with customers to identify potential for energy savings in the print shop and draw up plans for leveraging that potential.

Mr.P.R.Srinivas, a one of his kind personality who lead Speed-O-Graphics India to it’s heights, is no more. His brand of “Printorama” sheet fed offset machines has a place of it’s own in our country. The gentleman peacefully passed away yesterday night. Cremation is being done today in Bengaluru. Mr.Srinivas was a Past President (First President from southern part of India) of IPAMA and was decorated with the Lifetime Achievement awards in the year 2019.

Sharing his grief Mr.Rakesh Sodhi, President IPAMA said that it is indeed very heart wrenching to know of the demise of our respected Mr.P.R.Srinivas who was not only a leading manufacturer of sheet fed offset printing machines but also a past Preseident of IPAMA. “I pray to almighty to provide eternal peace to the departed soul and to give enough strength to his family and friends to bear the immense loss” he addded.

Mr.Dayakar Reddy Sripathi, immediate past-President of IPAMA said “Srinivas sir was a legend for the printing industry in general and a mentor for me in addition to being the first president of IPAMA from South India. “Even today as I travel across the coutry I see many satisfied users of his machines and have only heard praise from his customers not only about his machines but also about his humble dealings with them” he added.

Mr.N.S.Mankoo, the then General Secretary of IPAMA while Mr.Srinivas was the President said “Extremely sad and pained to learn that Sh.PR Srinivas has left for his heavenly abode. Having known him for over three decades, a man of few words, always very courteous & warm, I had the privilege of working under his Presidency as a General Secretary from 1996-98. It was his perseverance and sociopolitical networking

that the team then was able to successfully organise IPAMA’s – Printpack Expo’97 that too in an open palace grounds in Bangalore. Our heartfelt condolences to his wife, family and friends. Om Shanti Om.”

Ramani Vishwanathan – RIP our beloved friend! A gentle soul from our industry passes away in his sleep. We at PRESSIdeas were in touch with him during his Kodak days. An ireparable loss for the industry and for people near and dear to him. We pray to the almighty, to give strength to the family to carry on. A few friends from our industry shared their grief –

Bhalchandra Nikumb, Print Solutions

Sales Director – Kodak India Yesterday afternoon got the shocking news of Ramani’s sad demise & it disturbed me immensely. The gentle soul worked with Kodak for more than 4 years in the realm of Digital Printing and was very passionate about his job. A man very well versed with photo book industry & related business with compassionf or his colleagues. Aggressive in his sales approach but equally kindhearted with people in general and extremely popular with his office buddies and well accepted as a natural leader by the entire team. Me on behalf of entire Kodak team will always miss

him. May his soul rest in peace. Kodak family shall keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.

Abraham Prabhakar, Managing Director (Asia) – iMSGLOBALAlas my friend Ramani! He never knew the word NO, always said will do, can be done, not difficult, can get, can sell, will close the deal. What a practical optimist he was! Whether he won or lost, he used to try and always gave his best! Our prayers and sweet remembrance for the departed soul. Shall meet in the next world.

Arun Gandhi, Director – CGSASP I became friends with Ramani while working together on the project of Repro India together with Kodak in through Ajay Bhatia. Since then, we worked on many projects together and built a lifelong relationship. The gentle soul always developed close bonds with everyone he worked with in his entire career and had his own special way with his positive & happy personality and left an indelible impression on every life he touched. I was in touch with till he was with a print magazine based in Noida and thereafter suddenly lost contact because of his illness. When he recovered, he worked

with us at CGSASP as a consultant. He had a tough time in life with his health but was a true professional till his last day. He was one of the the few persons in the country who understood the Hunkeler Digital Business and that is where we used as his inherent strength. Very unfortunate to have lost him at such a young age. My heartfelt condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace.

Ranesh Bajaj, MD – VINSAK India & UAE Ramani was a very gentle soul. Soft spoken and an excellant sales man, he was also an excellent human being. The industry surely will miss him.

Om Shanti

Jacob George, MD – PRESSIdeas

Knew the gentleman during his days at Kodak and then during his brief sojourn at IPP and later in CGSASP. A soft spoken and knowledgeable being, Ramani had his approach leave an indelible mark on any conversation we had in person with him. May almighty give courage to the bereaved family and provide eternal peace to the departed soul. Life goes on as it always does, but we all shall miss you RV!

Winners of the 2022 South Asian Digital Media Awards announced by WAN-IFRA

The Quint, The Hindu, Prothom Alo, Indian Express emerged as the SDMA winners, from more than 100 entries from news publishers across South Asia.

The World Association of News Publishers (WANIFRA) announced the winners of the South Asian Digital Media Awards 2022, the sixth edition of digital media awards for South Asia. These prestigious awards recognise the outstanding digital media projects delivered by news publishers from across the region. An eminent panel of international judges evaluated the entries.

The winners are:

Best News Website

• Gold: https://www.thequint.com/, The Quint

The 2022 edition saw news publishers competing under 13 different categories for ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Bronze’ awards. The ‘Gold’ winners automatically enter WANIFRA’s World Digital Media Awards competition.

• Silver: Best News Website - Hindi, TV Today Network

• Bronze: Best News Website - English, TV Today Network

Best Use of Video

• Gold: ABP CENTENARY CAMPAIGN, ABP PVT. LTD.

• Silver: Rising Waters and Sinking City, The Quint

• Bronze: Dhal Char, Deutsche Welle

Best Newsletter

• Gold: Morning Expresso, The Indian Express

Best Data Visualisation

• Gold: Islamophobia 365, The Quint

Key Notes :

> The sixth edition of digital media awards for South Asia.

> An eminent panel of international judges evaluated the entries.

> The award ceremony will be held on 16 March 2023 at Delhi

• Silver: Seeds of Protest, The Quint

• Bronze: Artemis Moon Mission, India Today Group Digital

Best Digital Subscription Initiative

• Gold: Indian Express Subscription, The Indian Express

• Silver: TH Newsletters, The Hindu

• Bronze: New Subscription Model, The Daily Prothom Alo

Best Trust Initiative

• Gold: Women in Journalism, Afghanistan Women News Agency

• Silver: Sach Ke Sathi Flagship, Jagran New Media

• Bronze: BBC Young Reporter India, BBC News

Best Podcast

• Gold: Shet Market, Sakal Media Private Limited

• Silver: Ankahee Baatein, People Like Us Create (Pluc)

• Bronze: 3 Things, The Indian Express

Best in Audience Engagement

• Gold: ABP CENTENARY CAMPAIGN, ABP PVT. LTD.

• Silver: Padma Bridge Inauguration Campaign, The Daily Prothom Alo

• Bronze: Kanneerakaruthu Kalyanam Campaign, M M Publications Limited (Vanitha)

Best ePaper-Concept

1. Gold: The Hindu e-Paper,The Hindu

2. Silver: Interactive epaper, DT Next

3. Bronze: The Daily Prothom Alo eEdition, The Daily Prothom Alo

Best Digital Advertising Project

1. Gold: Bkash Eid Ayojon, The Daily Prothom Alo

2. Silver: Abashon Mela (Real Estate Fair), The Daily Prothom Alo

Best special project for COVID-19 / Pandemic Reporting

1. Gold: India’s Girls Out Of School, The Quint

2. Silver: Breaking News, Dainik Jagraninext

3. Bronze: HH Covid Actions, Hindustan Media Ventures Limited

Best Use of Short Form Video

1. Gold: Trending & Current Affairs, The Hindu

2. Silver: Mini profiles during UP Election, BBC News

3. Bronze: Breaking News, Dainik Jagraninext

Best Native Advertising / Sponsored Content Campaign

• Gold: Banega Swasth India, NDTV Convergence

• Silver: COIMBATORE UNLIMITED, The Hindu

• Bronze: Ask Him Today, The Quint

Panel of jury

The entries were evaluated by an international panel of jury that included Corinne Podger (Director – Digital Skills Agency- Australia), Adam Tinworth (Consultant-Reed Business Information), Juan Velasco (5W Infographics LLC, USA), Simon Scarr (Singapore), Murdoch Davis (USA), Frank Denton (Vice President – Journalism, Morris publishing groupsUSA), Ola Henrikkson Independent media consultant (Sweden), Robb Montgomery (Mobile journalism author, Founder, USA), Kavita Chandran (Singapore), Dean Arnett(Independent and freelance-Video production specialist-UK) , Kevin Anderson (Director of professional services at PugPig- UK), Danny Spears (Chief Operating Officer, The Ozone Project), David Warmsley (Editor-in-

Chief, The Globe and Mail, Canada), Javier Garza (Editor, EnRe2 Laguna, Mexico), Kathy English VP (Content Integrity & Editorial Standards Dotdash MeredithCanada), Margret Muller (Director, Digital Publishing – RP Digital GmbH- Germany), Aileen Rae Perez (Social Media Manager – GMA Network Inc., Philippines), Cahyo Listyanto (GM Technology, Product & Data, Harian Kompas- Indonesia), Cherish Leow (Assistant VP, Branded Content & Editorial Solutions – Astro Awani Network Sdn Bhd-Malaysia), Chris Janz Media AdvisorAustralia), Lyn-yi Chung (Deputy Chief Editor, CNA Digital-Singapore), Karen Lim (Supervising Editor – Mediacorp, Singapore), Lee Williamson (Regional Editorial Director, Tatler Asia Limited, Hong Kong), Eoghan Weeney (Digital Media Consultant-Germany), Rebecca Skippage (Disinformation Editor BBC News– UK), and Kuang Keng (Data editor Pulitzer centre, Malaysia).

Award ceremony

WAN-IFRA congratulates all the winners. The award ceremony will be held on 16 March 2023 during the Digital Media India 2023 Conference in New Delhi.

Hotpack Announces its Largest Manufacturing Plant in Dubai

Hotpack Global, the UAE-based global leader in food packaging products, has launched its largest manufacturing plant in National Industries Park (NIP), Dubai. The company announced that it has invested an estimated AED 250 million into the facility. The new plant marks a significant step in Hotpack’s vision to emerge as the premier global food packaging manufacturer by 2030.

The purpose-built manufacturing plant will produce Hotpack’s high-performance and sustainable PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) packaging products. The facility is also going to function as a centre for various Hotpack arms with manufacturing, e-commerce, logistics, and marketing being localized in one building.

Hotpack Global is recently certified as a ‘verified exporter’ by Dubai Industries and Exports, the trade promotion entity of the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). The NIP facility will further augment

Hotpack’s logistics capabilities and provide a major boost to its export growth strategy. In line with its global vision, Hotpack has exercised an aggressive expansion strategy in the Middle East. Most recently, the company opened its first manufacturing plant in Doha, Qatar to produce Hotpack paper products. Moreover, the company has also expanded its e-commerce store to all GCC countries and launched numerous sales

centres in Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain to augment Hotpack’s manufacturing and logistics operations.

Hotpack Global will continue expanding in the middle east with a focus on supply chain optimization. The company announced that it will soon be launching new manufacturing plants in Saudi Arabia, India, Malaysia, and Serbia in the coming months.

For Flagship Press the answer was KODAK

Flagship Press achieves efficiency and sustainability with KODAK PRINERGY, COLORFLOW Pro, and INSITE horsepower.

Flagship Press can do everything from books to direct mail, large format to promotional products because they embrace their range of offset and digital equipment. But their current workflow was beginning to let them down. It was slow, hard to maintain, and needed more of the features their volumes demanded. They started the search for a faster workflow that could enable more automation. They wanted a customer portal to enable 24/7 communication options throughout the job progression. And they wanted better colour management to support their G7 program. The answer was Kodak.

streamlined automation. As work volumes grew, the only answer was to add more staff, adding cost and complexity that wasn’t sustainable.

As business more than doubled, they were processing more than 2500 plates a month with hundreds of jobs moving through the workflow. Their processes took too long, often up to 30 minutes to get a single plate ready initially, and the same again if any changes were needed. They needed more efficiency to break the cycle of adding people to processes. They turned to Kodak for an integrated solution.

Flagship Press added KODAK COLORFLOW Pro for color management to support its G7 program, Kodak PREPS to create imposition and ganging layouts, and KODAK INSITE Prepress Portal and Creative Workflow to create a closed-loop file approval process with the customers.

Key Notes :

> The current workflow of Flagship was beginning to let them down.

> They started the search for a faster workflow for more automation.

> Installs KODAK COLORFLOW Pro, KODAK PREPS & KODAK INSITE Prepress Portal and Creative Workflow.

For over 70 years, Flagship Press has served its customers with the highest-quality print products. As their offerings expanded and their volumes grew, their existing workflow struggled to meet demands. It was challenging to use, and it created islands of production automation. Every task, including color management and correction, required a different software application, and there was no path to

Efficiency through Automation

The efficiencies gained with the Kodak solution eliminated the requirement to add people for new work. The new, slim team is six people where there had been 12, and each is handling 25% to 50% more work thanks to the automation. Growing the business no longer means expanding the staff to keep up, driving more revenue to the bottom line.

KODAK PRINERGY Workflow with RulesBased Automation (RBA) has been their new workflow solution. They added KODAK COLORFLOW Pro for color management to support their G7 program, Kodak PREPS to create their imposition and ganging layouts, and KODAK INSITE Prepress Portal and Creative Workflow to create a closed-loop file approval process with their customers.

Meredith Nichols, Director of Technology Development, stated: “The proof is in the numbers. For Flagship Press, PRINERGY balances the playing field between the newest and most experienced operators. Experienced staff learned what they needed in less than three days. The previous workflow servers were unplugged within a month of the PRINERGY installation, eliminating duplicated server and licensing costs. Some of the staff already had experience with Kodak solutions from previous jobs, leading to rapid acceptance. Everyone was involved from the start, contributing to the definition of rules for the workflow. Everyone had ownership, removing the fear of the unknown.”

The addition of KODAK COLORFLOW Pro allows them to do their colour management upfront before any other processes begin. They decided on COLORFLOW Pro because it integrates into the workflow and honors the client color profiles. As a G7 shop, they have a process to follow to ensure that every job meets specific colour guidelines, but the files arrive from clients and their

designers in many states with many colour models. COLORFLOW Pro automates the normalization processes so they can print the best color based on the substrate and the output device. And they can print it consistently within the job, as well as for every reprint, regardless of the output device.

COLORFLOW Pro also saves time and money by dramatically reducing the number of color corrections needed for each job. For customers, that means an equally dramatic reduction in color correction charges and faster time to print.

Savings in Every Step

By integrating PRINERGY and INSITE with their PrintMIS, Flagship Press enabled file uploads through the portal. Customers can

now preflight and correct their files, and soft proofs are automatically available as jobs move seamlessly from INSITE through prepress. No one touches a file unless an event triggers an email to the production manager to say something needs attention. Today it takes as little as five minutes to get from job entry to production-ready versus hours with their previous workflow. Waste is eliminated, operator time is reduced, and there is no more risk of mismatched job specifications.

Customers are happy, too! Firing up the INSITE portal saves Flagship Press hours of interaction, and saving time is saving money. Flagship Press made adoption as easy as possible by building Quick Start guides and offering demonstrations to show customers how the portal benefits them.

Moving to a PDF-centric workflow enabled by the INSITE portal, inbound PDFs now arrive ready to print. Working with Flagship Press is more accessible for clients because they have any time access through their desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone to approve files for production.

Flagship customers have embraced the power of the always open communication portal and the savings they get from reducing the number of proof and approval loops. Now there are fewer calls and emails, leading to faster progress into production. Every aspect of the PRINERGY, COLORFLOW Pro, and INSITE implementation brings savings to Flagship Press that will continue for years to come.

MGI launches its own social network JETforce

With thousands of users worldwide, MGI Digital Technology has decided to connect all of these graphic arts professionals by providing them with an official space for sharing and learning. JETforce is a kind of social network reserved exclusively for owners, operators and managers of its JETvarnish digital printing and finishing presses.

Translated into 19 languages, JETforce offers forums, regularly updated technical tutorials, monthly conference calls on practical topics in printing and finishing of packaging, labels and printed materials, downloadable content such as videos and images. It is possible to develop contacts like a social network.

“From passive, you become active, even proactive. You feel connected and your ability to learn and be creative is increased tenfold,” says Matt Redbear, one of the JETforce facilitators.

Mitigate business risks with Digital

Kodak’s inkjet press portfolio provides more options for a successful transition to digital.

Kodak recently introduced the KODAK PROSPER 7000 Turbo Press. This new addition has expanded the company’s portfolio of high-speed inkjet web presses for an almost infinite range of commercial applications. Kodak is thus following its strategy of providing innovative printing solutions that enable customers to take advantage of diverse business opportunities in the commercial printing market, improve profitability and shift more jobs from traditional offset to digital.

With market trends towards shorter runs and tighter deadlines, KODAK PROSPER Presses require no lead time for platemaking, can start production with virtually no makeready, and provide advantages over offset in many applications. Furthermore, PROSPER’s streamlined press operation means fewer operators when compared to offset, resulting in tangible labor savings and enhanced productivity. And compared to sheetfed offset, PROSPER Presses score additional points in that they do not use paper sheets, but rather more cost-effective roll paper.

Powered by KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology, the presses use air deflection of the nonprint drops, generates 9 pL drops for printing and lays the foundation for the extremely high productivity of the presses.

In view of rising raw material costs, ongoing supply chain issues and the global trend toward greater sustainability, one aspect comes into focus: The transition to digital from offset can help printers avoid today’s aluminum supply issues and thus mitigate business risks. Unlike offset presses, PROSPER Digital Presses do not require printing plates, which are mainly made of high-quality aluminum – a valuable resource produced in an energy-intensive process. Likewise, the complex production as well as the transport and storage of printing plates are eliminated. Also, PROSPER Presses use water-based inks, eliminating oil-based inks as well as printing chemicals with problematic ingredients, chemical dampening additives or solvent-based ink train and blanket cleaning agents. This means the switch to digital brings sustainability improvements in addition to risk reduction.

Key Notes :

> Kodak introduces PROSPER 7000 Turbo.

> High-speed inkjet web press for unimaginable range of commercial applications.

> Switch to digital brings sustainability improvements in addition to risk reduction.

With some of the lowest operating costs and the fastest speeds on the market, KODAK PROSPER Presses are much more cost-effective and quicker to run than other digital presses, especially at larger volumes and high ink coverage.

Continuous inkjet technology from Kodak makes all the difference

All PROSPER Presses use Kodak’s continuous inkjet (CIJ) technology which provides high-quality, high-speed color printing with eco-friendly, waterbased inks. The advantages of CIJ result from the technology’s ability to control placement and dot uniformity extremely accurately at very high speeds. CIJ printheads produce a non-stop curtain of ink drops. The printing drops go directly onto the paper

and the non-printing drops are deflected and recirculated for reuse.

Kodak’s continuous drop generation practically eliminates clogged jetting modules and maximizes uptime and productivity of the press. Other benefits of CIJ include that drops travel to the substrate faster than with Drop-On-Demand (DOD) technology, which targets them exactly for better quality. Moreover, CIJ drops are round and precise, unlike DOD that creates misshapen drops and actually undesirable satellite drops, leading to jagged edges on text and lines and less sharp images.

KODAK ULTRASTREAM Inkjet Technology is Kodak’s latest generation of continuous inkjet technology. It provides the ultimate in

line straightness, highlights, detail and color fidelity as well as consistency over long runs. ULTRASTREAM works by electrostatically charging and deflecting the non-printing drops, creating tiny 3.75 picoliter (pL) drops that enable a high print resolution.

In contrast, the new PROSPER 7000 Turbo Press and the PROSPER 6000 C (Commercial) and P (Publishing) Presses are powered by KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology. Stream uses air deflection of the non-print drops, generates 9 pL drops for printing and lays the foundation for the extremely high productivity of the presses.

Universal water-based pigment inks

The properties of the inks used are a decisive

factor for the versatility, productivity, color quality and cost-effectiveness of an inkjet press. Kodak’s approach is to supply just one CMYK ink set for all presses and papers. Kodak utilizes proprietary micromilling technology to manufacture all of its inkjet inks. The water-based nanoparticulate pigment inks are optimized for maximum efficiency with ULTRASTREAM and Stream Inkjet Technology.

Kodak’s pigment milling process means the presses deliver a much larger gamut than heatset web offset and sheetfed offset and can match 93% of Pantone colours (within 4 dE). This enables PROSPER Presses to print vivid images with vibrant colours, reliably render the CMYK offset gamut, match brand colors and exceed customer expectations.

In addition, PROSPER inks have lower levels of humectants than inks from competitors. That translates into faster drying, even with high ink coverage on coated and glossy papers. The low humectant inks, together with interstation near-infrared (NIR) drying which is adjustable depending on volume and ink coverage are enablers for printing heavy ink coverage on coated and glossy papers at top speeds. This combination of fast-drying inks and efficient drying technology ensures that PROSPER Presses manage with comparatively low energy requirements for drying and thus lower energy costs, even at their highest speeds.

Optimizer Agents – the key to simple ink concept and substrate diversity

To offer commercial printers independence from expensive pre-treated inkjet papers and the ability to print on a wide range of substrates with the uniform ink set, Kodak supplies various ink-receptive primers known as Optimizer Agents, that have been optimized for PROSPER aqueous pigment inks. For example an Enhanced Optimizer Agent for coated papers and a Standard Optimizer Agent for uncoated papers are available. Precoating substrates with Optimizer Agents does not affect ink runability on press and ensures the best print quality in every application.

Precoating paper with Optimizer Agent, which can be done inline in the press or nearline, is a much more cost-effective option than printing on standard offset

Photo Park adds two new HP Indigo 7K Pressesto expand its digital printing network

HP Indigo’s unique Vivid Pink & Vivid Green inks allows users to have high-quality printing for photo applications.

Photo Park Digital Press, one of the largest colour labs in India, has become the first customer to purchase the two most recent HP Indigo 7K presses. With this, Photo Park Digital has expanded its use of the technology, taking the total fleet of HP Indigo presses to eight.

Established in 1979, Photo Park started the first color lab in 1983 in Trivandrum and for almost two decades, they did try every available technology in Photo printing space. But the quest for high quality printing and expanded colour gamut ended their search with HP Indigo Technology.

Photo Park is one of the biggest Photo printing companies in India today and have been continuously enhancing its expertise and capability. HP Indigo 7K presses have only helped them increase their reach both in terms of quality as well as quantity.

Key Notes :

> Established in 1979, Photo Park started the first color lab in 1983 in Trivandrum.

> Serving more than 25% of the photo industry requirement directly and indirectly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

> HP’s digital technology helps them achieve the highest standard of print quality.

“PHOTOPARK stands for “Symbol of Quality” which has helped us to serve more than 25% of the photo industry requirement directly and indirectly in Tamil N″du and Kerala. With the new technology growth, we have started to serve the domestic and international market too”, Mr. Francis, Managing Director, Photo Park Digital.

“Now with HP Indigo technology we have extended our service in the printing press industry with a real color printing solution, which is an all-new redefinition for offset printing solution. With the objective to be one of the highest quality printers of the industry,

offering uncompromising customer satisfaction and best-in-class robust services. Photo Park is one of the biggest Photo printing companies in India today and continuously enhancing its expertise and capability. We want to be India’s preferred photo book production partners”, added Mr Francis.

A Appadurai, Country Manager, Indigo & Inkjet Business Solutions, HP Indiasaid, “Over the last decade, the digital printing industry has undergone a tremendous transformation. With the revolution of HP’s digital printing press for photo and commercial printing industry, today, our customers can innovate and technologically advance their offerings to meet the evolving needs of the market. Photo Park is a classic example of how they have expanded over the years, and we are proud to collaborate with them once again. We are confident that their trust & faith in HP’s digital technology helps them achieve the highest standard of print quality, which will be their competitive differentiator.”

HP Indigo Digital Presses are designed to help print owners become the smart, industry-leading supplier that customers will prefer, with access to a wider variety of materials, more versatile media options, and an increased colour gamut beyond CMYK while

reducing waste. With advancements in A3 printing’s speed, adaptability, and operating efficiency, customers can now employ an HP Indigo Digital Press to meet any need - today, tomorrow, and years into the future.

HP Indigo 7K Digital Press is a printing solution providing printers with endless applications, premium quality, and colour for photo and commercial printing which lasts for 200 Years. As photographers are sensitive to facial tones, HP Indigo Digital Press usually prints using the 6-colour process to capture specific hues. Unlike conventional printing methods, HP Indigo 7K Digital Press allows high-quality printing for photo applications, allowing the users to achieve its maximum colour gamut using the most innovative invention of Vivid Pink and Vivid Green Inks. With the use of different papers and HP Indigo 7K Digital Press, Photo Park can produce the best quality albums that are Lightweight, Waterproof & Nontear, giving its customers memories they’ll cherish forever.

Next Level Automation at Hunkeler Innovation Days

Industry 4.0 is no longer a vision of the future, but already a reality in many production companies. Today, state-of the art information and communication technology networks people, machines and products. Thanks to new forms of organization and control of the entire value chain, experts forecast a productivity increase of up to 30 percent by 2025. Figures that no company in the digital printing industry can ignore.

So NEXT LEVEL AUTOMATION no longer just means the automation of machines, plants and systems, but the complete interlinking of all corporate processes and the challenges that the new reality also poses for people.

Consequently, NEXT LEVEL AUTOMATION is now the motto and dominant theme of the Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023, the international industry get-together of the digital printing industry. Live demonstrations and discussions with many implemented solutions will be held from February 27 to March 2, 2023 in Lucerne showing how fragmented processes can be combined by the intelligent linking of work steps and how this leads to greater efficiency, better quality

and absolute planning reliability.

Due to the different challenges and needs of companies in digital printing, there is no universal or general solution. The focus is therefore not on off-the-shelf technological solutions, but on the customer-specific use of current technology and information modules – jointly developed and tailored to the specific requirements of the individual company.

NEXT LEVEL AUTOMATION therefore always stands for scalable systems and the individual customer benefit that is noticeable throughout the entire value chain:

• through optimization and rethinking of all company processes

• through the ability to be more innovative

• through massive increase in efficiency

• through the creation and optimization of interfaces

• through production monitoring

• through the competence to react immediately to complex requirements, deviations or failures

and ultimately through enormous growth

opportunities and concrete competitive advantages

Solution providers like HP, Canon, Muller Martini, Kodak, Screen Hunkeler, Horizon, Ricoh, Xerox, Guk, Meccanotecnica, Xeikon, Duplo, Riso, W+D, Kyocera, Scodix, Fuji Film, Koyabashi, Contiweb, Baumer, Imaging SOlutions, Heidelberg amongst many others will be showing their latest innovations at the show. Experience the NEXT LEVEL AUTOMATION – the future of digital printing and finishing. Visit https://www. innovationdays.com/en for more details.

papers with so-called enhanced – and more expensive – ink sets, as promoted by some press manufacturers. And thanks to the unique nature and properties of KODAK inks, PROSPER Press users can achieve acceptable results in some applications on conventional offset papers even without a precoat.

Top quality with maximum speed for all applications

Kodak’s PROSPER Press portfolio offers solutions across a broad range of applications from high end commercial work to publishing and also newspapers. The specific press a customer would be interested in will depend on their print volume, quality, and width requirements (see the table for some key specifications).

Taking full advantage of KODAK ULTRASTREAM Inkjet Technology, the KODAK PROSPER ULTRA 520 Press delivers outstanding, offset-quality print at speeds faster than competitive solutions. It is aimed at the mid-volume market segment and printers that would have production volumes around 10 million A4 images per month. Operating at top speed for all supported paper weights and grades, PROSPER ULTRA 520 provides the highest image quality.

It is available in two versions: PROSPER ULTRA P520 with two driers per side of the web is designed for transactional and transpromotional printing, publishing applications and commercial print up to moderate ink coverage. PROSPER ULTRA C520 (four dryers per side of the web) is

the perfect choice for applications such as direct mailings, inserts, catalogs, promotional brochures and books – even those with high ink coverage on coated and glossy papers.

Turbo speed and flexibility

The brand-new PROSPER 7000 Turbo Press and the PROSPER 6000 C (Commercial) and P (Publishing) Presses are powered by KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology. PROSPER 7000 Turbo offers unmatched flexibility to move between high quality applications and turbo speed productivity and anything in between. In addition to its Turbo mode, which is suitable for low ink coverage applications, the press offers Performance and Quality print modes to produce any application with the optimal combination of speed and resolution. Performance is ideal for textbooks, fiction books and other medium ink coverage applications while PROSPER 7000 Turbo’s Quality mode is perfect for direct mailings, brochures, catalogs and magazines.

One thing has become very clear: Today there are more arguments than ever for savvy commercial printers to base their production on a future-oriented platform with a PROSPER Press and to prosper with Kodak’s inkjet technology in the long term.

Comexi launches into digital printing

After 70 years in the manufacture of flexo and offset presses for the flexible packaging sector, the Spanish manufacturer Comexi launches its first digital press, the Digiflex machine. This UV press of 132 cm of width with black ink is conceived for the printing of variable data.

“The Comexi Digiflex is the machine that currently offers the best digital printing of variable codes, such as Datamatrix codes, QR codes, bar codes, alphanumeric text, as well as other numbering and marking applications with high quality requirements.” explains Pedro Jiménez, the digital technical sales manager at Comexi.

The Digiflex reaches a speed of 220 m/min and offers a print quality with a resolution of up to 1200 x 1200 dpi and a code size of up to 8 x 8 mm.

Fine Digital Prints goes beyond CMYK with RICOH PRO C7200X

Monotech installs RICOH Pro C7200X Digital Production Press at Hyderabad’s digital printing firm.

Monotech Systems has installed a new RICOH Pro C7200X Digital Production Press at Fine Digital Prints based in Hyderabad, Telangana. “The adoption of the new RICOH digital press has empowered us to leap into innovative graphics with a new colour gamut beyond CMYK,” says, J C Krishna Reddy Panyala, Managing Partner, Fine Digital Prints.

Since its inception in the year 2008, Fine Digital Prints has been one of the popular commercial printing corners engaging in the production of high-end commercial graphic prints as well as stunning graphic designing jobs. “We work for a huge population of customers who are from varied market segments, diverse walks of life, and different cities and towns of India,” mentions Mr, Reddy, adding, “Though we are based in Hyderabad, almost 90 percent of our customers are from the neighbouring and far-flung cities and towns.”

There are many reasons why Fine Digital Prints has become a hugely popular commercial printing corner that pulls the attention of customers from all over India. One main reason is the company’s production setup which keeps upgrading from time to time with the installations of new and ultra-modern machines with RICOH Pro C7200X being the latest addition to the portfolio. “The new RICOH digital press from Monotech Systems is indeed a ‘workhorse’

with which we are now galloping to discover the innovative range of new applications and colours beyond CMYK,” emphasizes Reddy.

He adds, “We have been working for several big corporate brands from every all across the country. Our customers are very quality conscious and often come to us for outof-the-box graphic ideas and applications. To meet their demands and expectations, we need to get equipped with high-end machines like RICOH Pro C7200X. The RICOH machine has advanced features that we don’t find in any other digital press in its class.”

Apart from the RICOH Pro C7200X, the production facility of Fine Digital Prints is equipped with other digital presses such as Xerox Versant 180 and Xerox B9100, backed by a strong team of 12 well-trained printing and graphic designing professionals. “Unlike the other digital presses we have used so far, our new RICOH Pro C7200X has the versatility to explore a new colour gamut comprising ‘white ink’ and use of a range of unconventional printing media like Tyvek and others,” informs Mr Reddy.

RICOH Pro C7200X can take up media up

to 360 gsm and it can run at speeds up to 85 ppm (pages per minute) in banner sheet duplex printing mode. “Other than the usual applications, we are now planning to change the game of commercial printing to another level using the 5th colour station of our newly adopted RICOH Pro C7200X. We have set a target of six months down the line to utilise the prowess of this RICOH digital press to explore all new possibilities of innovative applications,” says Mr Reddy.

Throughout Fine Digital Prints’ journey till date, they have established a firm foothold in the commercial printing arena with a vast customer base. “We are proud to be able to maintain a vast pan-India customer base, which continues to expand day by day,” says Reddy, adding that the role Monotech Systems plays by providing the highly versatile and advanced RICOH Pro C7200X digital press is vital to enhance the company’s overall production prowess and creativity to impress and attract customers from all over India.

Canon at the CEIF 2023

- exhibits its technology prowess across imaging and printing segments at the recent Consumer Electronic and Imaging Fair.

Digital imaging company, Canon India showcased its robust range of products across segments at the World’s largest, ‘Consumer Electronic and Imaging Fair’. Organized by ‘All India Photography Trade and Industry Association’, the interactive platform took place in the form of a mega three-day event at the Jio World Convention Centre from the 5th-7th of January 2023. The event targeted professionals, enthusiasts, filmmakers, students, and educators in the field of photography and videography.

Canon actively engaged with its customers via experiential demonstration zones incorporating the right amalgamation of technology showcase, educational sessions, and networking at the mega event. Keeping in mind the exponential growth of online content consumption, Canon’s latest range of cameras are set-up for consumers for an in-depth demo and experience, highlighting the brand’s true imaging potential across Wedding, Wildlife, Fashion and Vlogging depicting speed, slow-motion, action, and video capabilities, under different lights and moods. These include the most recent and game changing EOS R6 Mark II as well as Canon’s entrants into the APS-C Sensor market - the EOS R7 and EOS R10 alongside a special VR Zone for the RF5.2mm f/2.8L Dual Fisheye lens.

On the printers’ front, Canon displayed its wide range of printers be it for consumers or businesses through live product display. The two demo zones targeted photo studios and design shops and jobbers shedding light on product USP’s. The printing technology showcased at CEIF includes high performance Ink Tank G Series, as well as Canon’s flagship professional printers including the imagePROGRAF series –imagePROGRAF TM-5200, imagePROGRAF PRO-541, and imagePROGRAF GP-540.

Sharing his thoughts, Mr. Manabu Yamazaki, President, and CEO, of Canon India, said, “The Consumer Electronic and Imaging fair is one of the most opportune platforms for us to connect with our customers and exhibit our technological supremacy in imaging

and printing solutions. At Canon, it is our endeavour to make superior technology accessible to our customers and offer them product experiences that are par excellence. With the consumer landscape evolving at a rapid pace since the pandemic, we have strived to empower the growth of many segments especially those of vlogging, professional photography, videography cinema, OTT as well as cater to the printing needs for home and professional segments. As we continue to support growing segments, we aim to consistently connect with our customers face to face so that they get to truly experience the potential of our products. Over the past editions of the show, we have been overwhelmed with the positive response received and we look forward to marking yet another milestone through our

association with this premium interactive platform.”

The best companions for filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts, the Cinema EOS range with its star performers EOS R5C, EOS C70 and C300 MARK III were also showcased. On the other hand, Canon’s four new professional-use camcorders XA75, XA70, XA65 and XA60 that seamlessly fit into multiple professional workflows, were attractive highlight as well.

With this year’s exhibit, Canon created wider awareness about the brand’s extensive product portfolio through unique booth concepts to guide visitors about product potential that are inspiring, accurate, and cutting-edge.

Kodak to showcase PROSPER ULTRA 520 Press at Hunkeler Innovationdays

2023

Kodak’s latest technology for high-speed digital production printing & end-to-end workflow management on show at the event.

Hunkeler Innovationdays, Kodak, prosper ultra 520 pres, Kodak ultrastream, continuous inkjet technology, UW8 unwinder, RW8 rewinder, WI8 web inspection system, prosper 7000 turbo press, doxnet, Jim Continenza,

Kodak will showcase its latest technology for high-speed digital production printing and end-to-end workflow management at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023 (February 27 to March 2, Lucerne, Switzerland).

The KODAK PROSPER ULTRA 520 Press will be the highlight at Kodak’s booth P5 in Hall 2. The recently launched inkjet web press will be on display for the first time in Europe. Taking full advantage of KODAK ULTRASTREAM Continuous Inkjet Technology, PROSPER ULTRA 520 delivers offset-quality print at high speeds, offers great application flexibility and enables printers to profitably shift more jobs from traditional offset to digital.

Kodak will present a roll-to-roll configuration in which PROSPER ULTRA 520 is integrated with a Hunkeler UW8 unwinder and RW8 rewinder along with the Hunkeler WI8 web inspection system via its open architecture interface. The press will print live three versions of a “magalog” (blend of magazine and catalog) with different editorial and marketing content. The demanding application includes large high resolution images and a compelling design that leverages PROSPER ULTRA 520 Press’s ability to print heavy ink coverage on standard offset paper at 150 mpm (500 fpm).

Show attendees can also expect to see an extensive collection of finished applications printed on the PROSPER ULTRA 520 Press as well as the PROSPER 7000 Turbo Press, the world’s fastest digital press with speeds of up to 1,345 fpm (410 mpm). The impressive range of samples on display will include trade publications, colour books, newspapers, catalogs, postcards, and direct mail.

To enable efficient and profitable production in the digital print environment and to realize a “smart factory” concept, a powerful overarching workflow is needed. Kodak will be demonstrating KODAK PRINERGY On Demand Business Solutions, the first end-to-end workflow solution for the printing industry. Powered by PRINERGY On Demand workflow automation and Microsoft Azure cloud, PRINERGY On Demand Business Solutions removes complexity by bringing together print-specific E-commerce, MIS/ERP, and collaboration software solutions, fully integrated and solely managed by Kodak. At Hunkeler Innovationdays, PRINERGY On Demand Business Solutions manages the digital print workflow and tracks the entire production process of the magalog job all the way to the saddle-stitched end product.

In addition to its activities on the exhibition floor, Kodak will talk about its solutions for

seamless and efficient workflow integration in the digital printing environment at the DOXNET on-site Conference, which will be held on February 28 as part of Hunkeler Innovationdays.

“We are excited to use Hunkeler Innovationdays for the European premiere of the KODAK PROSPER ULTRA 520 Press. This breakthrough inkjet press eases printers’ transition from offset to digital production with its quality, productivity and application capabilities,” said Jim Continenza, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kodak. “KODAK PROSPER Presses, with their highspeed architecture and use of proprietary water-based nanoparticulate pigment inks and optimizer agents, provide complete solutions for high-output, cost-effective printing of a broad range of applications in all segments of the print market.”

FUJIFILM India at CEIF 2023

At Consumer Electronic Imaging Fair 2023 Fujifilm showcases its wide range of imaging and other products and solutions.

FUJIFILM India exhibited its technologically advanced products at the Consumer Electronic Imaging Fair (CEIF) 2023. CEIF is one of the largest Imaging exhibitions across the World which witnessed participation and representation from top global brands in the field of imaging and photography. Starting on 5th January 2023, the exhibition continued till 7th January 2023 at Jio World Centre, Mumbai.

FUJIFILM India has a wide range of Imaging solutions, and it has positioned itself as one of the few manufacturers in the world which has created total solutions that can support professionals and businesses with end-toend solutions. Some of the key products and technologies displayed at the exhibition are:

Digital Still Camera & Instant Cameras: Fujifilm’s entire range of digital still cameras like the GFX and X series was on display. The versatile X-T5, an exclusive device for all the photography enthusiasts, X-H2S & X-H2 , a true hybrid for video and photography purpose along with high-resolution XF lenses like XF-30mm, XF18-120mm, XF 150-600mm, XF-56mm were also on display. From the GFX series the GFX 100s II, GFX 100 along with GF 20-35mm, GF Lenses were showcased. The entire range of INSTAX cameras along with the Smartphone Printers was also on display.

Graphic Arts Solutions: The Revoria Press PC 1120, a 6-colour print engine which brings unrivaled expressive power to digital printing was on display. The machine has garnered phenomenal traction among the photo lab community in the recent past with its ability to transform the production printing market with its functional efficiency, precision and the ability to create overlays and underlays with additional colours. Fujifilm’s Revoria Press PC 1120 is a high-definition, high-output resolution device which is a preferred choice among photo labs in India.

Photo Imaging Solutions: The ApeosPro for Photo C810 / C750 / C650 Printer which is built on a next-generation hybrid platform designed to enable businesses to print more

with outstanding quality on a wider range of substrates was on display, along with a versatile and long-lasting product Frontier DE100-XD which can meet the industry’s diversified needs. Also on display was the ASK-400 Dye-sublimation Printer which is a highly durable compact dye-sublimation printer, which has a compact size of 170mmhigh and 0.1m2 footprint and it has a High Speed of 8.4 secs which is majorly used for Sticker Printing

Speaking about the exhibition participation Mr. Koji Wada, Managing Director, FUJIFILM India said, “FUJIFILM has a legacy of over eight decades in the imaging business and we have always been at the forefront of driving innovation and pioneering the latest technologies to fulfill the dynamic needs of consumers. FUJIFILM is a total solutions company since it has a strong presence in the entire value-chain of imaging from Capture to processing to devices and printing paper. We believe CEIF is among the best avenues for exhibiting our bestin-class products and ideas. It is the trust and belief of all our valuable customers that have contributed to our growth, and we are committed to Never Stop innovating and providing them with the best.”

The FUJIFILM India stall also had a free service camp zone for its Digital & Instax camera customers who got their cameras serviced at no-cost and enjoyed hassle-free service experience.

To make the exhibition experiential, FUJIFILM India crafted interesting experiential zones to provide consumers with first-hand experience of the products with the theme of Indian Weddings. The stall of FUJIFIM India located at Pavilion 2, Stall C1 comprised of a video zone with a wedding Mandap showcasing its X-H2s, X-H2 & GFX 100SII cameras along with a GFX Zone that displayed the GFX100, GFX 100SII, GFX 50S II models for shooting Portraiture and Close-up shots of Jewlery which displayed the large format superiority of Fujifilm Cameras. There was a Mehandi zone with multiple props for photo-ops along with a Wedding Zone which had Photo-ops for wedding couples with the complete Fujifilm X series line up of 8-9 cameras. There was also an Instax Zone that had a selfiebooth which showcased the fun of instant camera photography.

Monotech Systems woos photo labs at CEIF 2023

Targeted at the photo labs and photo album manufacturers the company boasts a complete portfolio of digital printing, large format printing and digital embellishment solutions.

Indian manufacturer of advanced printing machines and one-stop solution provider to diverse segments, Monotech Systems exhibited an array of machines and photo imaging solutions at the Consumer Electronic Imaging Fair (CEIF) 2023 held from January 5-7 at Jio Convention Centre in Bandra (E), Mumbai. The exhibits comprised products from top global brands like RICOH, Canon and Monotech Systems’ widely acclaimed own brand PixelGlow digital UV and foiling system.

The company targeted the photo labs and photo album manufacturers with its complete portfolio of digital printing, large format printing and digital embellishment solutions. Among the key products and solutions, the company exhibited at CEIF 2023 the RICOH Pro C7200X – 11 Colours Digital Production Press, RICOH Pro C9200 –High-Speed Digital Production Press, Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-541 Large Format Printer, and PixelGlow – Digital UV and Foiling Systems performing live. The four demo zones targeting photo labs, and jobbers demonstrated product USPs.

All the products displayed caught the attention of the visitors and footfall on the booth was high for the entire show. RICOH Pro C7200X is a highly versatile digital

production press, which is designed for photo labs to deliver more colours and diversify printing capabilities. With its fifth colour printing capability, this colour production press increases the range of special colours including gold, silver, white, clear, invisible red and various neon options. It can print up to 85 pages per minute (ppm), compatible with media up to 360 gsm.

Yet another key RICOH product from Monotech Systems, RICOH Pro C9200 Graphic Arts Edition is a colour production digital press for high-speed, high-quality, and high-volume colour printing. This digital press is perfectly engineered as an affordable digital printing solution for print houses that want to beat their market competitors. It can run at the speed of 115 pages per minute (ppm) to churn on 470 gsm media (18,100-sheet max input, 350,000-sheet APV).

An ideal digital large-format printer for photo printing, Monotech presented Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-541 at CEIF 2023. This 44″ photo printer captures the imagination of every professional photographer with its finesse in vivid colour reproduction and sharp print quality. Equipped with 12-colour LUCIA PRO pigment ink, Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-541 features an advanced automatic

media handling system, which makes it highly user-friendly and frees up physical time spent by users on print preparation through intelligent automatic media feeding, automatic media detection and automatic estimation of remaining roll amount shown on the operation panel.

Crowd-pulling PixelGlow at CEIF 2023 is an indigenously ‘Made in India’ digital UV and foiling system from Monotech Systems. Visitors around the company’s stall got enthralled to witness the printer’s prowess to deliver brilliant and high-quality graphic communication products with tangible dimensions in spot UV and CMYK WV texture.

To make the expo experiential, Monotech Systems crafted impressive experiential zones for SCODIX, PixelGlow, RICOH, and Canon. Visitors got the chance to touch and feel the print samples produced on these highly advanced digital printing and enhancement presses. The print samples with special effects developed on RICOH PRO C7200X, PixelGlow, and Scodix proved they can make any business stand apart from competitors.

“Monotech Systems has a legacy of providing best-in-class digital printing and enhancement solutions for photo imaging. The company has always been at the forefront of driving innovations and pioneering the latest printing technologies to fulfil the dynamic needs of their customers from different market segments including photo labs and photo printing businesses. In CEIF we have differentiated our offerings which are unique and best-in-class and can transform any print business. We have already done the installation is photo segment and the customers are vouching the quality, productivity, and reliability of the engines. All the photo labs visited us are impressed with the quality of the photo albums developed with the help of our solutions and we look forward to a promising business ahead. The CEIF is a great platform to interact and exchange the ideas with the photo enthusiasts,” says Akash Kumar, Marketing Lead, Monotech Systems Limited.

HP displays new Indigo presses at the 2023 Photo Fair

New Indigo presses to strengthen HP’s offerings in the photo printing segment.

HP India displayed the latest HP Indigo 7K Digital Presses at the Photo Fair 2023 recently held (from 5-6 January 2023) at Mumbai. HP India also showcased HP Indigo-printed premium-quality photos and automation technologies through live product demonstrations, experiential zones, and HP Indigo discovery sessions for certain brands throughout the event.

The HP Indigo digital press, which delivers great ink performance for up to 200 years, is a reliable and durable device for the photo print industry. Photobooks printed by HP Indigo have received multiple digital print awards and earned recognition on a global scale during the past ten years. To enhance the quality of printing further, HP indigo has also introduced two new ElectroInks–VividGreen and Vivid Pink – especially designed for Indian Weddings.

The HP Indigo 15K Digital Press offers highdefinition printing at a new standard in print quality for a broad range of applications for commercial and photo printers. HP Indigo 15K Digital Press has FM screens, a broader selection of substrates, and extra options up to 600 microns (24 pt.). There are now two brand-new inks to go with it – ElectroInks Premium White and Invisible Yellow.

The HP Indigo 7K Digital Press offers multiple uses, top-notch quality, and colour for commercial and photo printing that lasts for up to 200 years. As photographers are sensitive to facial tones, HP Indigo generally uses the 6-color printing method to capture certain hues. The HP Indigo 7K Digital Press, in contrast to traditional printing

techniques, enables high-quality printing for picture applications, enabling users to print across a truly wide color spectrum using the revolutionary new Vivid Pink and Vivid Green inks.

A. Appadurai, Country Manager, Indigo & Inkjet Business Solutions, HP India said, “India is a biggest Professional Photo Printing market for HP Indigo in the world, HP Indigo presses have revolutionized the photo industry completely in the last 15 years by taking our products and its capabilities to the amazing photographers. Along with the finest photo labs in the country (our customers) we have been able to transform the lives of the photographers by offering world class products like non tearable, waterproof, light

weight, vivid colour albums that last for over 200 years. Our revolutionary digital printing press solutions are designed to meet the evolving needs of the photo and commercial printing industry. As the market leader in our segment, we try to stay ahead of the curve by anticipating future trends and requirements and offering relevant solutions to meet those needs.”

The HP India exhibit at Photo Fair 2023 was hosted by HP and AIPTIA. HP showed the wide possibilities and the newest sizes of 14 X 20 photobooks. Over 50 finest photo labs of India showcased the new products at HP stall. They took visitors through a live demonstration, with an engaging display of samples printed utilizing HP Indigo digital presses. Visitors interacted with HP Indigo customers, media partners, and solutions vendors at the HP Booth.

Reign Green expands power of printing with RICOH PRO C5310S

Monotech Systems installs RICOH PROC5310S at Tirupur’s gift specialist Reign Green.

Reign Green at Tirupur in Tamil Nadu is a gift specialist, known for offering gifts of all kinds, especially wedding return gifts. In a bid to expand its production facility and power of printing, the company has recently installed a RICOH Pro C5310S digital press from Monotech Systems. The newly adopted press helps Reign Green in gaining ground in printing brilliant graphics for gifts and cards.

Despite being a young player in the commercial printing market of Tamil Nadu, Reign Green has achieved fame and fortune in the gift and card market. “We have expertise in printing and production of gift items for different occasions, such as weddings, birthdays, housewarmings, baby showers and many other anniversaries,” said Ramasami P, Managing Director, Reign Green.

He continued, “We all know that wedding gifts are something brides and grooms receive as a token of love and care. In this, what else the bride or groom would give the guests or invitees in return? That’s seed ball wedding return gifts. And that’s what Reign Green is known for!”

Since its establishment in the year 2017, Reign Green is known for manufacturing and supplying seed balls as wedding return gifts. “Behind the charm and uniqueness of the wedding return gifts we produce is our dedicated production team of 10 well-trained printing and packaging professionals and our newly installed RICOH Pro C5310S colour production press,” mentioned Ramasami.

RICOH Pro C5310S is a compact digital press designed for delivering exceptional print graphics and textures on a diverse range of media up to 360 GSM. It can run at the maximum print speed of 80 ppm; handling substrate sizes up to 13x19.2 inches. This press delivers vibrant colours and pristine image quality that add value to Reign Green’s exertion to produce a wide range of seed ball wedding return gifts.

In addition to its expertise in seed ball wedding return gifts, Reign Green is extensively engaging in the production of

other gift items viz. birthday return gifts, general gift boxes, fancy invitation cards and many more. “Even all the gift items we make, and produce are customizable as per the requirements of their customers,” said Ramasami, adding that they have produced more than fifteen million seed balls to date.

Currently, Reign Green has a production

Art & Air India Express

Air India Express unveiled a new tail art developed at the Kochi Muziris Biennale and installed on one of it’s aircraft by the Minister of Public Works and Tourism, Kerala, Mr. P. A. Mohamed Riyas along with Mr. Aloke Singh, CEO of Air India Express and President of Air Asia India, and Mr. Bose Krishnamachari, President of Kochi Biennale Foundation.

The 25-feet-long tail art is an adaptation of an original acrylic painting by artist Ms.Smitha G.S. The painting depicts a parallel timeline through the planes of memory, recreating colourful landscapes filled with chameleons, grasshoppers, micro-organisms and aquatic creatures. The metaphysical painting simultaneously reveals the enigma of tiny creatures and the enormity of hills and flowerbeds.

Air India Express has had a tradition of showcasing India’s rich diversity to the world through images on the tails of it’s 50 odd aircrafts featuring large-scale vivid graphics

capacity of 50,000 seed balls daily, in attractive colours and textures. “Following the adoption of RICOH Pro 5310S, our overall capability in the production of quality prints and textures has been improved a lot,” emphasized Ramasami, adding that Monotech Systems plays a vital role to uplift the quality printing power of Reign Green.

that speak of India’s diversity in culture, art, heritage, and wildlife have been brought to life by the team. This brand new tail art by the Kochi Biennale artists is a priceless souvenir of a partnership of art and aviation – of Air India Express’ beautiful association with the Kochi Muziris Biennale.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale festival, which began in December 2022 and will go on till April 2023, is Asia’s largest contemporary art festival and Air India and Air India Express are the official travel partners for the festival.

eProductivity Software @ Connect 2023 (Jan 23-26, Las Vegas)

agenda comprising of keynotes and sector specific streams, along with several different user group sessions. The streams include commercial, publication, corrugation, packaging, Web2Print, Management Information Systems and more.

held, and relationships built between ePS customers that elevates the benefit of attending Connect” he concluded.

eProductivity Software, which had become an Independent Company After Being Acquired by Symphony Technology Group (STG) From Electronics for Imaging (EFI) presented it’s wares under the theme of ‘Empower, Evolve, Excite’ at the Connect 2023, the yearly flagship event of EFI at Las Vegas (USA).

The event, which returned back to it’s usual physical show (post covid) saw commercial, packaging, label and wide format printers come together. Connect 2023 has a huge

In the opening keynote, Gabriel (Gaby) Matsliach, CEO of ePS highlighted the developments, challenges and opportunities for print and packaging businesses, and said that ePS had spent the past year driving innovation, expanding its team, increasing its collaborations, accelerating its technologies, and focusing on both organic and M&A growth, all through a ‘laser customer focus’. “We know that the educational sessions, keynote addresses, and more will deliver a high amount of value for our users but, it is the connections made, conversations

In addition to ePS & EFI, other organisations taking part in the event included Agfa Offset, Canon, Esko, Flexible Packaging Association, HP, Hybrid Software, ISCorp, Loyalty Loop, OneVision, Picsart, PlanProphet, Print Speak, Printing United Alliance, Progress, Ricoh, Tag and Labels Manufacturers & The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation. The sponsor lineup “speaks volumes to nature of this event and the robust partnerships” cultivated by ePS in the packaging and print ecosystem” said the organiser.

More to come on Connect 2023 later on, keep a keen eye at www.pressideas.com

Simultaneous printing and cutting with the new Mimaki CJV330-160

Available internationally since April 2022, the new Mimaki CJV330-160 printer prints and then cuts the media directly after the end of the print stream. The XY slitter technology, consisting of two to four knives, incorporates a high-precision in-line register and cutting system that can be set in the X and Y axis. This means that as soon as the printing process is complete, the job is already cut to the desired dimensions. This combination of production steps saves printers a great deal of time in job planning.

Another technical advance is the new unwinding process, which makes it easier to change the media. The loading module can be operated by a single operator and can accommodate up to three rolls of media.

The CJV330-160 is equipped with two of Epson’s latest generation PrecisionCore printheads and uses Mimaki’s eco-solvent inks, which are available in a variety of ranges to meet the demands of indoor and outdoor signage. The print quality is also enhanced

and shades - vivid and sustained flat tints; realistic flesh tones; intense reds & neutral gray.

Its production speed can reach 21m2/h as standard, which makes it, among all its features, the right tool for printing jobs with very short deadlines.

Control and command functions are optimized to reduce potential operator errors and cleaning operations improve long-term operation.

Amcor opens China’s largest flexible packaging plant, strengthening its position in Asia Pacific

New 590,000 sq. ft. facility’s automation, smart technology brings a number of firsts to China

Amcor, a global leader in responsible packaging solutions, today announced the opening of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Huizhou, China. With an investment of almost $100 million, the 590,000-square-foot plant is the largest flexible packaging plant by production capacity in China, further strengthening Amcor’s ability to meet growing customer demand throughout Asia Pacific.

The new facility is expected to employ more than 550 people, who will produce flexible packaging solutions for food and

personal-care products. The plant comes equipped with the first automated packaging production line in China. This, along with high-speed printing presses, laminators, and bag-making machines, can deliver doubledigit reductions in manufacturing cycle times.

Amcor is also deploying the first smart production and operation system in the Chinese flexible packaging industry, which includes smart laser scanners, light curtains, high-standard machine guarding and multiple quality-control points. All key process equipment is also CE-certified to

stringent European Union health, safety and environmental requirements. Other benefits of the new state-of-the-art facility are traceability throughout the production cycle, a climate-controlled production environment and low-carbon emission production.

“This investment is testament to our commitment to grow with our customers in China and throughout Asia Pacific by bringing the best of Amcor’s global expertise closer to them,” said Xin She, Vice President and General Manager of Amcor Greater China. “The world-class capabilities of our new plant are designed to enable us to exceed our customers’ expectations of quality, responsiveness and innovation.”

The plant features three labs with innovative testing and analytical capabilities to fully leverage the expertise from the recently opened Amcor Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Jiangyin, China, helping to accelerate the development of responsible packaging solutions. The new Huizhou site also includes a number of sustainability features, including the latest regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTO) system to reduce harmful emissions, as well as a number of energy-reduction, heat-recovery, low-power consumption and rainwater harvesting systems to help reduce its carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Landa opens ink plant in Europe

With this plant, the manufacturer of nanographic presses is responding to the increased demand.

Landa’s first European ink plant opened last month. Based in Sittard, the Netherlands, the facility produces Nanoink inks, specifically formulated for the S10 and S10P nanographic presses, whose printing technology was invented by Benny Landa, the group’s founder.

This nanographic ink plant doubles Landa’s production of consumables and meets “rapid growth in demand due to increased customer print volumes.” says Landa. By moving to continental Europe, Landa is also

significantly reducing its delivery times.

“Our new Sittard location is focused on sustainability, service reliability and business growth, says Gil Oron, CEO of Landa Digital Printing. It provides Landa customers with local sourcing, which in these very challenging times of global logistics and parts sourcing, offers considerable assurance. Plus, with customer production volumes increasing daily, it also ensures fast and reliable delivery, which is crucial to increasing efficiency.”

Momentous GEW LED upgrade by All4Labels

All4Labels reinforces its commitment towards sustainability with GEW LED curing technology.

All4Labels Global Packaging Group has announced its momentous LED upgrade program. Phase 1 will see more than 60 presses upgraded at 12 sites across many countries, as part of the Group’s drive for sustainability.

All4Labels Global Packaging Group, one of the world’s leading label and packaging companies and pioneer in digital and sustainable printing solutions, upgrades its production machines with the latest LED curing technology from GEW to decarbonize its operations as a leading world class sustainable packaging company.

All4Labels sustainability commitments

At All4Labels the commitment towards sustainability has continuously increased over the last years and the company has set precise goals and timelines within its global sustainability strategy, aimed at developing new initiatives and improvements to best protect people, planet, and to launch innovative products. Among the key targets of All4Labels “3Ps” sustainable model, there is also the objective to become a carbon neutral company and to play a significant role towards climate change mitigation over the next 3 years.

To achieve this goal All4Labels is constantly working to improve its environmental footprint, starting with a drastic reduction of CO2 emissions to mitigate impacts on global warming.

An important step in the first ever Carbon Footprint Assessment (scope 1-2) will be the installation of the latest LED curing systems from GEW which will allow All4Labels to achieve a CO2 reduction of ~ 2,000 tons per year, improve workplace safety and the reliability of its operations, and contribute to reducing mercury utilization across the entire value chain. This upgrade program, which will also deliver important operational efficiencies to better satisfy customers, will start within the end of 2022 in Italy, Germany, and United Kingdom to be completed by 2023 across central and north Europe by targeting more than 60 machines worldwide.

Carbon footprint roadmap for All4Labels

Dr. Guenther Weymans, Chief Operating Officer at All4Labels announces: “Our transition from UV to LED curing systems represents a milestone for the sustainable development of the labeling and packaging industry and is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We have decided to invest several million euros to upgrade our machines with the latest sustainable curing technology, which will ensure stable, fast, and efficient production at the lowest environmental impacts possible.”

Matthias Michel, Vice President Global Engineering at All4Labels, states: “In early 2020 we started several pilot tests to ascertain the technical feasibility of various LED curing systems for our production technologies. Since then, the LED technology has significantly improved its lifespan

capabilities, becoming able to provide constant, steady, and reliable curing in our printing operations. Based on the last technical results, we are now confident to invest into the LED technology to best serve the market with the most sustainable production technologies.”

Bernd Prattl, Managing Director at GEW D-ACH comments: “After a thorough technical evaluation period, we are very proud that All4Labels have chosen GEW as their exclusive partner for this pioneering transition to UV LED. The project scope is the largest the world has seen to date, with 12 sites and over 60 machines being retrofitted to LED in phase 1. All4Labels were keen to capitalize on the environmental benefits of UV LED and the scope of this upgrade program will most certainly deliver huge savings in that respect.”

Kingston Data Systems and Flexo Image Graphics team up for Indian market

KDS appoints FIG as Indian Distributor for Quantum Print Efficiency

Kingston Data Systems, the Australian based manufacturer of converting ancillary equipment has appointment Flexo Image Graphics as its distributor for India, Sri Lanka Bangladesh and Nepal.

KDS has a long association with Indian converters with almost a thousand of its Visitech print inspection systems in operation on the Asian sub-continent. Now KDS is offering the Indian market its ‘Quantum’ manufacturing efficiency management system, which has been specially designed for web converters.

Mike Young, Managing Director of KDS comments, “The South Asia market is very important to us and the Quantum product is one of those products that very few know about at the moment, but is set to make a huge impact. We required a distributor with the market presence, respect within the industry and the infrastructure to respond to customers’ needs, and Flexo Image Graphics ticked all the boxes for us. Gourav Roy, MD of Flexo Image Graphics, and his company, are a clear stand out performer in the region. Gouravs’ work ethic and his company are leading the way in the Indian subcontinent, and we are extremely pleased to have them onboard.”

Management System.

Gourav Roy comments: “The business has been tough for the converters as all costs are increasing. It becomes more important to manage cost inwardly to increase profits. Quantum from KDS gives all the information what can be needed for the operator or the management to maintain and improve efficiency for the assets they are using. This will help to cut down the raw material and time wastage. The best part is that Quantum’s information can be linked with the management system which currently

ESKO 2023 Packaging Trends

and thrive in the face of new market challenges. Packaging professionals will need to perpetuate and expand the personal relationship between their brands and consumers. They will need to embrace opportunities for advancing sustainability, maximizing the use of technology, streamlining supply chain operations, incorporating trending packaging design practices, and creating efficiencies.

a converter is using for job planning. I personally think this is an exciting offering which would not only help to control cost but will also a play a role for a converter to plan future assets.”

KDS and Quantum are at the forefront of global adoption of Industry 4.0 connectivity on converting machines and are helping converters transform the way they work as well as the efficiency of their manufacturing operations.

In 2023, brands and suppliers will need to become more agile to remain competitive

Packaging design, consumer preferences, and technology trends are all interconnected to create the marketplace of the future. Consumer behavior influences how brands operate, and technology fosters connection

among brands, suppliers, consumers, and their environments.

The ESKO 2023 Packaging Trends e-book addresses key packaging trends influencing the market in 2023 and how technology will help brands and suppliers meet the new challenges.

The ebook may be downloaded at the following link: https://www.esko.com/en/lp/2023-packagingtrends?utm_source=outbound&utm_ medium=suppliers-email&utm_ campaign=2023-packaging-trends-ebook

LIS & VINSAK install Print Quality Inspection System at Aurobindo Pharma

Lake Image Systems in partnership with Vinsak installs the inspection system for aluminium foil blister packs at Aurobindo’s Vizag facility.

Lake Image Systems, in partnership with Vinsak India, has implemented a fully integrated and automated print quality inspection system on Vinsak’s Slitter/ Rewinder at Aurobindo Pharma, based in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. This highly flexible, combined unit is used to verify the print quality of pre-printed rolls of aluminium foil pharma blister packs, prior to the roll being slit and rewound onto two smaller reels, which are then subsequently used for blister pack production.

The inspection system utilises Lake Image’s first contact image scanner (DISCOVERY Maxscan) technology implementation in India, to overcome the problem of capturing, crisp, undistorted images from highly reflective surfaces.

The integrated print quality inspection equipment consists of 2 key components:

The VINSAK USAR 330 Slitter Rewinder Unit: This modular equipment is designed to meet the increasing demands of today’s converting, security, printing, and label industry. It consists of a pneumatic expanding unwind and rewind mandrel, variable speed and tension control system. With a digital programmable feature HMI and an electronic web guide system & ultrasonic sensor, the system is ideal for opaque and clear substrates. With all major components driven by servo motors, the equipment runs at a speed of up-to 300 meters per minute.

Lake Image Print Quality Inspection System is fully integrated onto VINSAK Slitter Rewinder and incorporates a high-resolution, linear scanner unit (DISCOVERY Maxscan) with high-intensity LED lights, to capture crisp, undistorted images at 600 dpi, even from shiny, reflective surfaces. Lake Image’s DISCOVERY Multiscan inspection software then compares every captured image against a supplied master image or PDF file, in real-time to detect print defects. If an error is detected, the close integration enables the defective piece to be precisely tracked so that it automatically stops at the inspection plate for the operator to review. The print

error is also shown on one of two Multiscan monitors and the nature of the error, its location, and associated information are logged. A full inspection report is available at the end of the job run.

“Lake Image Systems installed on Vinsak’s Rewinder inspection machine is performing as per our requirements,” said Mr. N Praveen Kumar, Senior General Manager at Aurobindo Pharma. “Printing aluminium foil being critical material which is used for packing pharmaceutical products for Regulatory market, it is important to use the right material without any distortion on the text, design and colour. Lake Image system is performing very well taking care of the complexity of shiny aluminium foil. We are

very happy with the performance.”

“We are delighted to be a part of this exciting new innovation with Vinsak,” added Paul Stinson, Sales Director at Lake Image Systems. “As a reputable supplier of print inspection technology within the packaging and label industry, our print inspection systems are now seen as an essential component in improving print quality whilst reducing production costs and waste, but more importantly, for mitigating the potential risks associated with faulty packaging for both the printer and the end client. We are delighted that Aurobindo Pharma has chosen this fully automated inspection system for this critical part of their business.”

Pankaj expects Union Budget 2023 to focus on industrialisation and technological innovation to support domestic businesses

Pre-Budget Quote – Mr. Pankaj Poddar, Group CEO, Cosmo First Ltd.

The Indian packaging industry is one of the fastest growing sectors, increasing at a CAGR of ~25% and anticipated to reach $200m by 2025. Such fast growth is made possible due to rising population, increasing income levels, and changing lifestyles.

To position India as the global sourcing hub for plastic and increase industrialization; government should lower the imports on polymer (especially that polymer production is in short domestically), increase the custom duty on various finished plastic products including polymer films made from Polypropylene or Polyester, increase benefits under the RoDTEP from 1.4% to 3%, grant 3% interest equalisation for exporters

and interest subvention should be reassessed for a high growth path. Simultaneously, government should encourage the industry players by granting incentives for innovation and R&D to make the domestic plastic industry more dynamic and globally competitive.

Overall, we are expecting the Union budget 2023 to be industry friendly with focus on industrialisation and technological innovation to support domestic businesses

Baumer hhs at FCBM conference at Indore

The MD of Baumer hhs, Mr.Percy Dengler presented the latest solutions for Indian corrugated board production at the 50th Conference of Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturers (FCBM) of India which took place in Dember at Indore

Baumer hhs presented it’s latest products,

which already meets the future requirements of the Indian corrugated board industry, on the exhibition floor with great interest. The high importance of the Indian industry for Baumer hhs is underlined by the fact that Managing Director Percy Dengler and Head of Sales Metin Tek were on site to exchange ideas with the Indian corrugation industry and

with enormous potential and become internationally competitive.

to inform them about next level in corrugated box production from Baumer hhs. To great applause, Percy Dengler pointed out in his speech the future challenges and the change of the Indian market and presented the solutions from Baumer hhs, such as the modular CorrBox Solution system.

Interestingly, CorrBox Solution from Baumer hhs – A totally new approach to gluing and quality control in the production of corrugated packaging. It boasts unprecedented performance and flexibility, and gives our customers significant advantages,” explains Andreas Schneiders, Corrugated Business Development Manager at Baumer hhs.

The XpertJet 1682SR Pro, the new high productivity printer from Mutoh

Mutoh announces a high quality production speed of up to 35 m2/h.

Mutoh expands its XpertJet Pro line launched last January with the addition of the XpertJet 1682SR Pro. The XpertJet 1682SR Pro is a high-productivity 162 cm wide printer for long-term outdoor and indoor display and visual communication applications.

This new XPJ-1682SR Pro is equipped with two AccuFine HD print heads, each with 3200 nozzles. Combined with new interlacing algorithms and Mutoh’s VerteLith RIP, this press achieves higher print speed and quality than the brand’s other ranges in all production modes, says the Japanese manufacturer. It is announced a high quality production speed up to 35 m 2 /h.

The printer runs on a brand new generation of fast-drying CMYK ink, Mutoh’s MS51 ink set. The new MS51 inks, which have a UV resistance of up to 3 years without lamination, no longer carry any safety warning pictograms and are also free of

the volatile organic compound gammabutyrolactone (gBL).

Mutoh MS51 inks are also GREENGUARD Gold certified for the wallpaper category. They are therefore compatible with use in

sensitive environments such as hospitals and schools.

Mutoh’s XpertJet range also includes the 137 cm wide XPJ-1341SR Pro and the 162 cm wide XPJ-1641SR Pro.

The XpertJet 1682SR Pro, the new high productivity printer from Mutoh

Roland DG Corporation, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and printer/cutters, announced today the worldwide launch of six new models in the best-selling TrueVIS series of large-format inkjet printers and printer/cutters: the AP640 resin printer, the LG-640/540/300 high productivity UV printer/cutters, and the MG-640/300 multi-functionality UV printer/ cutters at entry-level price. Together with the four ECO-SOL models previously launched in March 2022, the TrueVIS lineup expands to a total of 10 inkjet devices.

The newly developed resin model offers natural expressiveness that takes advantage of the media texture and is ideal for applications that require a high level of peace of mind thanks to the use of enhanced environmental and people-friendly inks. The UV models enable high-definition output and special printing, including three-dimensional expressions for the faithful reproduction of artwork and for communicating by touch, including Braille. And the ECO-SOL models create graphics with vivid colors that

generate stunning impressions that cannot be forgotten once seen.

“It is our mission to provide people around the world with the joy of creation and the excitement that comes from it,” Tony Miller,

President of Roland DG’s Global Sales and Marketing Division said. “With the addition of resin and UV inkjet models, the TrueVIS series of 10 printers opens up the future with vast possibilities of incredible signs and graphics for our customers” he added.

Second

generation of the Karibu, the roll to roll printer from SwissQprint

At the Printing United Show in Las Vegas, SwissQprint launched the second generation of its rollto-roll printer, the Karibu 2.

“We kept the proven and appreciated features of the first generation (launched in 2019, Editor’s note) and completed them with the latest print head technology.” said Carmen Eicher, sales and marketing director of the Swiss manufacturer.

With these new printheads, the 3.4 meter wide UV printer offers a higher resolution of 1350 DPI compared to 1080 DPI with the first generation. Like the previous model, its printing speed is 212 m 2 /h, which represents the surface of a tennis court in 55 minutes.

The printer uses inks specially developed for roll-to-roll printing. Flexible, they are compatible with a wide range of media including backlit media, textiles, film, vinyl, tarps, mesh, wallpaper and more. And being Greenguard Gold certified, they comply with government contracting standards for schools and healthcare facilities.

Up to five additional channels can be added to the classic CMYK (among cyan light, magenta light, black light, orange, fluorescent yellow, fluorescent pink, white and varnish).

The Karibu 2, like the first generation, is equipped with a cassette loading system, so the rolls are installed and ready to print in a few minutes.

And thanks to the 136 segments of the vacuum plate, the vacuum can be set precisely in four seconds, regardless of the width of the material being printed.

It is also possible to print two rolls at a time, each 1.6 meters wide. The Karibu is also equipped with a light box located next to the printing area: quality control of backlit prints is thus facilitated.

SwissQprint has equipped its roll-to-roll printer with the Mesh Kit which allows for printing with bleed-through edges and on open media. Composed of two paper rolls placed on each side of the support, this kit absorbs the excess of ink. The cleaning of the printing area is thus replaced by the change of these rolls from time to time.

The printer also allows automatic doublesided printing. With the help of an integrated camera and QR codes printed next to the image, the Karibu controls the tracking.

Events Calendar

PAMEX 2023

Date: 27 MAR -23 to 30 MAR-23

Venue: Bombay Exhibition Center, Mumbai

Screen Print India

Date: 13 APR -23 to 15 APR-23

Venue: Mumbai, India

Labelexpo Europe 2023

Date: 11 SEP -23 to 13 SEP-23

Venue: Brussels Expo Centre, Belgium

Labelexpo Asia

Date: 05 DEC-23 to 08 DEC-23

Venue: Shanghai New International Expo Centre SNIEC, China

drupa 2024

Date: 28 MAY -24 to 07 JUN-24

Venue: Brussels Expo Centre, Belgium

PRINT & DIGITAL CONVENTION 2023

Date: 16 MAY-23 to 17 MAY-23

Venue: Congress Center Süd

Düsseldorf

All in Print China

Date: October 2023

Venue: New International Expo Center Shanghai

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