PRESSIdeas March 2017

Issue 3, 2017

4th drupa Global Trends..................................12 Lifetime award for C.N.Ashok........................20 MM installs QuadTech Suite...........................24 Fujifilm marks IWD.............................................28

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Print-On-Mobile for Profit...............................08

From S to XXL.......................................................32 Kwality installs Xeikon......................................48 ColorJet shows world 1st................................54

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Contents FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK..............................................................................................................................................................................................................6 Print-On-Mobile for Profit!.............................................................................................................................................................................................................8 4th drupa Global Trends report 2017...................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Varun B Corporation gains competitive advantage with MGI’s JET Varnish 3D with iFoil .................................................................................. 16 KODAK expands SONORA market............................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Blömeke opening up new business areas with Heidelberg........................................................................................................................................... 18 Lifetime Achievement Award for C.N. Ashok of Autoprint ............................................................................................................................................. 20 IPT Tharamani celebrates Farewell Function for III Year Students................................................................................................................................. 21 Landmark orders for QIPC and EAE......................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 Malayala Manorama installs suite of QuadTech solutions.............................................................................................................................................. 24 WAN-IFRA Editorial Leaders Programme, May-June 2017............................................................................................................................................... 25 WAN-IFRA brings Women in News to South East Asia...................................................................................................................................................... 25 La Charente Libre optimises printing process with QIPC................................................................................................................................................ 26 Schwäbisch Media uses ppi Media’s e-paper solution..................................................................................................................................................... 26 QIPC and KBA mark their 20-year partnership.................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Fujifilm India marks International Women’s Day ................................................................................................................................................................ 28 Give your printing business a strategic boost with Konica Minolta’s bizhub PRESS C1085/C1100................................................................. 29 Xerox at Hunkeler Innovationdays........................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Konica Minolta roadshow in Telangana................................................................................................................................................................................. 31 From S to XXL: Made-to-measure packages for industrial goods ............................................................................................................................... 32 Weldon to be Creative Graphics’ exclusive partner for UAE............................................................................................................................................ 34 Launch of the Association of Label Printers and Suppliers............................................................................................................................................. 35 Mark Andy Boosts its Presence in Asia................................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Heidelberg and Gallus at Interpack 2017 ............................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Total quality control of labels..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 VINSAK at Gulf Print Pack’17...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Rock‘n’Roll & Easy-Strip: another step towards efficiency............................................................................................................................................... 39 BASF at Interpack 2017................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 40 Xeikon establishes direct presence in India.......................................................................................................................................................................... 41 H.B. Fuller expands capabilities in Pune ................................................................................................................................................................................ 42 Flint Group appoints Benoit Chatelard as President & CEO Digital Solutions.......................................................................................................... 43 Huntsman to close Calais facility.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 44 Century Labels installs second “Lombardi Flexoline Press” ............................................................................................................................................ 44 Kautex Maschinenbau at the Interpack ................................................................................................................................................................................ 45 Cosmo Films holds Line 10 Inauguration Function........................................................................................................................................................... 46 The 11th Pentawards will be open soon................................................................................................................................................................................ 47 Kwality Offset Printers enters digital label printing market............................................................................................................................................ 48 Label Traxx advocates workflow optimisation at Xeikon Café....................................................................................................................................... 49 Innovative, sustainable packaging solutions ...................................................................................................................................................................... 50 Iggesund’s premium paperboard converts to digital luxury packaging at Xeikon Café...................................................................................... 51 Esko announces Prepress Innovation Tour ‘17..................................................................................................................................................................... 52 Finat European Label Forum briefs the Label industry.................................................................................................................................................... 52 Sappi launches new website ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 53 Moving into the packaging cluster.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 53 ColorJet shows world first at Shanghai show...................................................................................................................................................................... 54 XAAR collaborates with Materialise ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 55 Ricoh Pro L4100 Series in Color-Logic first............................................................................................................................................................................ 56

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

PRESSIdeas March 2017 Vol. 17, Issue 03 Printed by Jacob George and published by Jasmeet Singh on behalf of PRESSIdeas Publishing Pvt Ltd. Printed in India at Hues and Colors 363, Industrial Focal Point, Phase-IX Mohali, and published at PRESSIdeas, 437-A 1st Floor, Industrial Area, Phase-2 Chandigarh-160002 (India) 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.

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FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK Dear Readers, Data is increasingly being consumed with modern mobile gadgets, chiefly smartphones. Published content comes handy on these gadgets.

Publishers, whether they produce magazines, newspapers, brochures, catalogues, guides or reports etc., are facing serious challenge of getting their content onto mobile screens. Printers have been found reluctant to embrace the mobile technology for its presumed threat to the print business. Newspapers have been such a bad example in some parts of the world as have seen sharp decline in print consumption. However, if the change is adopted with a keen eye on making the most of the change, printers can become the part of the flow of mass move into mobile. If printers today get the right mobile-friendly means to get their content onto mobiles, they can cash in on mobile technology. For this, printers today get Radiaca, which aims to develop and commercialize emerging technologies and enable publishers to offer the direct connection between the content consumers and brand owners. “Print-on-Mobile is a new business opportunity for printers,” states Richard Lindley, Chief Technology Officer at Radiaca. To know exactly how, you have to read the details in the article titled ‘Print On Mobile For Profit!’ in the inside pages.

The executive summary of 4th drupa Global Trends report tracks key economic and market developments across the global printing industry.

The survey conducted in October 2016 had nearly 1200 participants with a good cross section from all the main market sectors and regions. The report’s Executive Summary (page 08) notes a positive story from most printers and suppliers in most regions.

The goods often travel long distances to their final destination. Consequently, packaging companies have to satisfy the rising expectations and specific needs of their customers. Melanie Streich, free-lance journalist discusses in detail in the article ‘From S to XXL’.

QuadTech has installed a suite of QuadTech print quality control solutions: the ICON Integrated Platform, Register Guidance with MultiCam and Ribbon Control with MultiCam at Malayala Manorama. The Indian publishing house Malayala Manorama is one of the leading media groups in India.

With this installation, Malayala Manorama expects to significantly reduce its makeready times, minimize errors and reduce waste. By the end of 2017, the phased installation will deploy QuadTech automation on 42 towers on 11 presses, across Malayala Manorama’s 7 different locations.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions recently organised a roadshow in Nalgonda, Telangana where it demonstrated its state-of-the-art production Printers with the pivotal highlights of the event being the bizhub PRESS C71hc & C1060 production printer. A remarkable event was organized by Fujifilm India, one of the leaders in the development and application of imaging and information innovations to healthcare technologies. Fujifilm marked the International Women’s Day on 8th March 2017 by organizing a Breast Cancer Awareness camp at Action Cancer Hospital, New Delhi.

Apart from our regular sections and news stories from around the printing world, we have in this issue key recent happenings that include stories like Xeikon establishing a direct presence in India; H.B. Fuller officially opening its new Pune business office and a new R&D center in its Shirwal manufacturing facility; and Indian wide-format major ColorJet showing world first at APPPEXPO, Shanghai, where it had live demonstrations of its latest Eco Solvent concept printer with XAAR Printhead.

- Jasvinder Singh, Sub-editor

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Print-On-Mobile for Profit!

A new technology from Radiaca will enable printers to provide their clients with the means to exploit the mass move to mobile data consumption.

The world is moving to mobile technology – smartphones and tablets. Every piece of research around the world shows that mobile consumption is rising massively. Soon there will be more people using mobile technology to access the Web than traditional desktops and laptops, in fact in many spheres they already are. Anyone who has been on a train or bus recently will note the tiny number of people consuming published content in print, as against the huge number on mobile devices.

Printers need to embrace the mass move into mobile For the publishers of brochures, magazines, guides, reports, catalogues and the like, it is a serious challenge as to how to get their content onto mobile technology. Various techniques have been tried like QR codes and digital flipbooks but with little success – mainly due to cumbersome access to content and difficulty in reading a page designed for print on a mobile device. Mobile technology offers massive opportunities for marketing, thanks to the instant digital connection with brand owners, but publishers so far have been unable to offer a clear connection.

Printers – instead of resisting the mass move into mobile – need to embrace it and find a way to make the most of this change.

Key Notes : > A huge number of people consume content on mobile devices. > The Radiaca is the first such product in the world that takes a PDF for print. > Enables printers to provide a means to the clients to get onto the irrevocable trend to mobile.

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For printers, the rise in mobile technology has been met with considerable trepidation, chiefly because of

the fear that it can supersede print. Besides, the fear has been strengthened by the similar happenings in certain sectors like newspapers. Therefore, printers – instead of resisting the mass move into mobile – need to embrace it and find a way to make the most of this change.

Radiaca gets content onto mobiles in a ‘mobile friendly’ format A recent industry joint venture, Radiaca has been set up to enable printers to cash in on mobile technology.

Its solutions will aim to develop and commercialize emerging technologies and provide printers means to get their content onto mobiles in a ‘mobile-friendly’

pressideas/ commercial printing

format. Likewise, publishers will be enabled to offer that direct connection between the content consumers and brand owners.

“Print-on-Mobile is a new business opportunity for printers,” states Richard Lindley, Chief Technology Officer at Radiaca.

“There is no cost to start, only some time and commitment. It is a complete service, so the actual work is performed by Radiaca,” he adds.

Enabling profit from the move to mobile The Radiaca product is the first in the world that takes a PDF for print, pulls out all the elements in an individual article – headline, subhead, text, photo, caption, breakouts – and reformats it for a mobile device.

Consequently for a reader, it is not looking at a mere replica of the printed page – as is the case with the flipbook concept – but he gets a mobile friendly article; and an article that can have various calls to action inserted into it. “Radiaca encourages two way communication through the use of polls, surveys, and calls to action, and real time India overtook the U.S. this year to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market by users and is projected to generate a billion smartphone sales in the next five years.

India has the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world, accounting for 27.5 million devices sold in the second quarter of 2016, up 17 percent from the previous quarter, according to IDC. Mobile subscriptions are expected to hit 1.4 billion by 2021, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report, released in June.

All the tech is handled by Radiaca. In other words, the printer, apart from sending the PDF files of the job to print, also sends them to Radiaca, which then extracts the elements, reformats for mobile and adds other communication elements. “It completes the circle, with the digital complementing the print,” says Shankar Vishwanath, Co-Founder Radiaca. “Printers are already creating the PDFs; they already have the customers by using Radiaca; they are offering their customers the opportunity to get onto mobile technology and exploit the multiple opportunities that are emerging. It is not just about getting print online or on mobile, but about what you do with it once it is there.

It is about making buying decisions – and crucially actions – easy for the consumer, and getting the brand owner closer to the consumer,” he explains.

Radiaca delivers magazines, annual reports, brochures, guides and catalogues to the consumer through their mobile technology.

It has none of the limitations which have affected flipbooks, which render magazine pages in the same format that they are printed in.

...and Radiaca does the rest Jacob George of PRESSIdeas, the master reseller for Radiaca services in India says, “Radiaca is a business proposition that stacks up. It is working with the irrevocable trend to mobile. It enables printers to provide a means to the clients to get onto those mobiles. There is no IT requirement on the printer at all – Radica does all the work and the brand owners get a connection with the consumers. All the printer has to do is explain the benefits to their clients. Radiaca does the rest while the printer gets a healthy margin.”

feedback for the customers,” reveals Lindley.

Furthermore the solution provides vast business opportunities for both users and their clients. Users/ printers will be able to provide significantly new and tangible value add services to their clients. The clients will in turn be able to exploit the commercial opportunities of mobile publishing. Doing so will add a valuable new revenue stream for the printer, thus enabling them to profit from the move to mobile. “Printers will not pay, they will take a margin from the service that Radiaca provides and the publisher pays for, typically between 15 per cent and 30 per cent depending on volumes,” adds Lindley.

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Real time feedback is the name of the game, where consumers and brand owners can connect instantly and communicate directly with the publisher – the media or man in the middle provides the platform to make it happen. For printers it means that suddenly the mobile world has become friendlier – it’s no more a foe. It something to be embraced!

Jacob says, “Print on mobile complements print – print is the starting point that can trigger a digital interaction. The data boom, with the arrival of Reliance JIO and the amalgamation of digger groups into giants in-order to take on the competition

will hopefully result in lower data rates. We expect this to lead to a higher data usage in India. Therefore, we as printers, designers and content developers must awaken and prepare ourselves for the new revenue model that is already in our face, so to say.”

Radiaca also includes SMS delivery of publications – for a far higher response rate than email – and is working on further developments, including near field communications (NFC) similar to those used by banks for PayPass. NFC could mean a reader placing their phone on a page of the brochure, say one advertising a zoo, and being able to book tickets to the zoo directly.

And as more businesses allow sign in with Facebook, it makes the whole process as simple as can be for consumers, which is what they want.

Jacob says, “The future is just beginning.

And printers as the traditional creators and communicators of content are in a prime position. Where traditionally they have used print as the platform to enable brand owners to get their message over, they can now offer a mobile platform as well. The only difference is they do not have to produce anything more than the PDF they already have for the print.”

4th drupa Global Trends report 2017 The report’s Executive Summary notes a positive story from most printers and suppliers in most regions.

The executive summary of 4th drupa Global Trends report tracks key economic and market developments across the global printing industry. Following the successful drupa held in the spring of 2016, Messe Duesseldorf refreshed its expert panel of printers and suppliers from amongst the visitors. The survey conducted in October 2016 had nearly 1200 participants with a good cross section from all the main market sectors and regions.

Drilling down into end market sectors, Functional and Packaging printers globally are more confident than Commercial printers who are in turn more confident that Publishing printers, a pattern that has been present since 2013.

Key Notes : > The survey had nearly 1200 participants with a good cross section from all the main market sectors and regions. > Printfuture (UK) and Wissler & Partner (Switzerland) conducted and authored the report series. > Globally printers report better financial conditions this year on all topics.

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Each Autumn two separate surveys are circulated for printers and suppliers, sharing some common questions and asking more specific questions relevant to each group. 839 printers participated.

The majority was from Europe (525) and the rest of the world was well represented in all regions (314). Though there was relatively smaller number of suppliers, responses from 331 of which 220 were from Europe were received with all the other regions also being well represented.

Two partners – Printfuture (UK) and Wissler & Partner (Switzerland) – conducted and authored the report series for Messe Düsseldorf, the drupa organiser.

Executive Summary Two years ago an almost universally positive picture from both printers and suppliers was reported on their own companies’ economic health, described as the ‘drupa barometers of economic confidence’.

Last year the picture was more variable between the regions, with some doing well and others struggling.

It is a similar picture in 2016, however the variances are even larger.

Nevertheless in global terms, 42% of printers described their business as in a ‘good’ economic state, whilst 11% described it as ‘poor’. So a positive net balance of 31% and it is that ‘net balance’ that we show in the chart below and is used in many of the subsequent charts.

As always the forecast for next year is somewhat more optimistic than the reality the following year, whilst in some cases the difference is striking eg Africa, which reported a net decline in confidence, the first time for any region since this report series started in 2013.

How do you rate the current economic

situation of your company? and What are your expectations of your company‘s economic situation for the next 12 months?

Drilling down into end market sectors, Functional and Packaging printers globally are more confident than Commercial printers who are in turn more confident that Publishing printers, a pattern that has been present since 2013. However that global summary masks significant variations at regional level. Publishing printers in Africa and Asia were more confident than those in Commercial print and it was the reverse of that in Australia/Oceania and the Middle East. In general it is a similar positive story for suppliers in general with 56% reporting their company in a ‘good economic condition and just 6% stating it was in a ‘poor’ state, a positive net balance of 50% - the same as last year. Curiously the regional variations are less than last year.

How do you rate the current economic situation of your company? and What are your expectations of your company‘s economic situation for the next 12 months?

Perhaps amongst both printers and suppliers in general a more cautious (and perhaps more realistic) outlook is emerging. The economic summary in the main report indicates there is good cause for that caution.

pressideas/ commercial printing

The printers’ and suppliers’ own more detailed financial performance figures support this more conservative view. Printers globally report continuing falls in prices which are compensated for by increasing utilisation and hence raising overall revenues at a cost of falling margins.

North America. Globally for suppliers the pattern is similar with revenues up 17% but prices down -24% and margins down -27% (nevertheless the best i.e. least negative, net balance in three years). Again the picture is patchy regionally with the Middle East and South/Central America struggling.

How have your company‘s revenues, prices, margins, utilisation and paper/ substrate prices changed over the last 12 months?

How have your company‘s revenues, prices and margins changed over the last 12 months?

Drilling down into the data both by region and by market sector, the picture is more

One might expect that global and regional financial market conditions would affect printers and suppliers alike. Not so. Globally printers report better financial conditions this

then only modestly to date in Packaging.

complicated eg South/Central America and Africa reported net positive price increases whilst the Middle East reported severe price and margin falls. Similarly whilst Publishing printers in North America show falls in revenues, prices and utilisation; in South/ Central America and Africa rises were reported in all three measures.

How have your company‘s revenues, prices, margins and utilisation changed over the last 12 months?

Despite the general squeeze on margins, employee numbers continue to rise globally with a +9% net balance, ranging between +21% North America and 0% South/Central America and Australia/Oceania. Whilst production employee numbers increase globally +9%, there is a small decline in administration employees of -2%. In the more developed regions numbers employed in publishing printers are falling sharply eg -21%

year on all topics (except average debtor days where they like suppliers reported a worsening picture). Whilst globally suppliers report a worsening on all topics; with terms getting worse particularly in South/Central America, Africa and the Middle East (printers agree in these regions). Printing is a very diverse industry when it comes to the print technologies used. Fourteen out of sixteen technologies listed scored a 10% or above penetration in at least one of the market sectors. Overall Digital toner cutsheet colour presses led by a wide margin in terms of the positive net balance of print volumes in 2016 at +25% followed by Digital inkjet rollfed colour at +11%. The picture is more complex when we drill down into the market sectors, where for example there is 8% growth overall in Sheetfed offset thanks largely to Packaging and Publishing markets and an 8% growth overall in Flexo due to Packaging and Functional markets.

Disappointingly the proportion by value of digital print that is variable stubbornly refuses to rise. In 2013, 19% of the printers then using digital print reported more than 25% of their digital print was variable, while the figure for 2016 is 18%. As variable data is the major added value component of digital printing this is an alarming trend.

Another striking figure this year was the clear fall in the proportion of printers who reported they have a Web to Print/Storefront installation. After several years of steady increases this year there was a significant fall – down 3% globally. Not all regions fell but some were decisive eg North America down 25%.

Past trends in the production mix of conventional print continued this year with ever-shorter run lengths, ever-shorter lead times and an ever-increasing number of jobs.

However there was a major surprise in the apparent irreversible transition to digital print; as for the first year there was a small but distinct reduction in the proportion of turnover that was digitally printed. Drilling down into market sectors, digital print is clearly having the greatest impact in Functional markets followed by Commercial then Publishing and

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Capital expenditure The drupa expert panel was recruited afresh from attendees after the very successful drupa in Spring 2016. There they saw an incomparable technical demonstration of the future of the print industry, so it is natural that they hold ambitious plans to invest in that future. Printers in all regions, except the Middle East, reported growing

levels of capital investment. Functional and Packaging printers were more confident of rising investment levels than those in Publishing and Commercial sectors. For the first time investment in Finishing is the top priority, closely followed by Print Technology.

However there is greater investment in PrePress/workflow/MIS as printers begin to realise the need for greater automation.

As for plans for investment in print technology, Sheetfed offset has knocked Digital toner cutsheet colour off overall top place, with Digital inkjet cutsheet colour growing rapidly to take equal third place alongside Flexo. Drilling down into market sectors there is for the first time in this report’s history i.e. since 2013, a different market leader in each market sector with Digital toner cutsheet colour in Commercial, Sheetfed offset in Publishing, Flexo in Packaging and Digital inkjet rollfed colour in Functional.

Suppliers’ capital investment plans remain strong globally with most regions forecasting a net increase. The exceptions are those regions struggling in performance terms eg South/Central America and the Middle East.

By far the most popular investment type is the development of fresh sales channels (46%) but even Research and Development, the least popular type of investment is up to its best level yet at 20%. Suppliers will spend more next year on marketing and whilst trade shows and product training remain the most popular uses of that budget, online content and education is almost the fastest growing customer support tool.

Strategically both printers and suppliers agreed the biggest constraints to growth were a lack of demand creating strong

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Publishing printers are having the hardest time in adjusting to digital media as evidenced throughout the report. An increasing number of titles have online editions with the consequent reduction in circulation, although the number of titles lost to online-only editions remains very low. Other means of creating added value such as personalisation, versioning and variable content are growing but slowly (once again North America showing the way). Yet relatively few publishing printers are adding fresh added value services beyond the historic prepress, design and storage/ fulfilment options.

Packaging printers have seen a relatively small impact of digital media to date at least and remain generally confident across all regions. On the other hand the level of adoption of added value SKUs remains competition. But drilling down into the causes of the lack of sales, printers were agreed that finding new customers was the most difficult whilst for suppliers it was competitive pricing.

As to how best to drive improved profitability, printers put their faith in a combination of reduced staffing/improved productivity and new print technology whilst suppliers will rely on new products and new sales channels.

Market specific trends Commercial printers facing the impact of digital communications have been encouraged to find new revenue streams with fresh added value services. With four years of data now available it must be reported there is no evidence of any such growth, with the notable exception of wide format print up from 37% in 2013 to 50% in 2016. North America leads the way in adding new services, but even in that region there is some evidence of a fall in the range of services offered. Multichannel or cross media services are still a minority application (18% globally), although again North America is well ahead (38%).

modest in most cases, with interactive features the most common to be adopted.

It is clear that digital print is starting to have a real impact (32% offer it globally), most commonly for labels but with flexibles and folding cartons following and some signs for corrugated.

For Functional printers the story remains very positive, with those in this market sector putting ever more resources behind it as they enjoy good growth rates in most applications. Inkjet is the dominant print technology for most applications (up from 61% in 2014 to 74% in 2016).

In conclusion Following the successful drupa in Spring 2016, this survey has provided the statistical support that shows print is recovering from the double hit of the global recession and the impact of digital communications.

Printers report sustained improvements in revenues to offset reductions in pricing and margins and strong capital investment plans.

Whilst for suppliers, improving revenues and margins coupled again with strong investment plans show a positive future.

The good news is not universal; while Functional and Packaging print are in expansive mode, Publishing print is in a more defensive mode with Commercial print somewhere in-between. In regional terms, the Middle East has chronic problems undermining performance and Africa and South/Central America remain fragile. All print companies must continue to adapt and meet the market challenges head on. This will mean a ruthless approach to efficiency and automation while at the same time learning new skills and developing new added value services. Nevertheless it is pleasing to report that overall, print has got its ‘mojo’ back.

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Varun B Corporation gains competitive advantage with MGI’s JET Varnish 3D with iFoil The high quality printing outputs by the machine helped the company set new benchmarks in the design layout space, garnering more orders from customers.

Konica Minolta’s launched MGI JET Varnish 3D with iFoil as a path breaking solution in the industrial printing domain and the solution, in a short span of time, surpassed the company’s expectations with an unprecedented positive response from printing businesses.

When Varun B Corporation decided to set up a printing business in Surat, Gujarat, offering packaging boxes to traders and manufacturers, the company gradually witnessed a soar in demand from customers which pushed it to deploy more automated solutions for increased efficiency and outputs.

With the advent of Digital Technology in the industrial printing space, the company further encountered the demand for more attractive, unique and glamorous outputs from its clients, pushing the company to hunt for a solution which best meets the requirement of its existing as well as new customers. ‘’In due course of time as the trade flourished we ventured into the automation of the setup and started the process of up gradation and by the year of 2008 had a complete revamp of the setup,’’ said Mr. Varun Aggarwal, owner Varun B Corporation.

After reviewing a host of digital industrial printing solutions in the market, the company finally deployed MGI’s Jet Varnish 3D with iFoil from Konica Minolta India, offering exceptionally precise spot coating handling digital or offset originals with inline Digital Foiling system. ‘’While finalising the machine we already had a sample folder printed on the MGI which assisted in developing the market even before the machine was installed and by the time the machine arrived we already had a handful of orders waiting for the process and value addition on the MGI,’’ said Mr. Aggarwal Congratulating Konica Minolta for its unprecedented service assistant as well as cutting edge features of MGI Jet Varnish

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3D with iFoil the company further adds, ‘’By the addition of this machine the customers are surely experiencing a better result and a different view of the designing layouts which previously were not usable, but this machine gave an addition dimension and vision to the traditional designing concepts. Hats off to the results produced.’’

The JETvarnish 3D with iFoil also comes equipped with ARC registration technology (Automated Registration Camera) designed to calibrate (on-the-fly) coating registration from sheet to sheet. The ARC system ensures accurate spot UV coating, even on jobs with inconsistent print registration, a traditional obstacle for those wishing to spot UV coat jobs printed on some digital presses. The JetVarnish is equipped with AIS SmartScanner, an artificial intelligence registration technology. The only print registration solution in the world that individually makes adjustments and corrections for each printed sheet. It requires no registration marks and treats each sheet like a separate, unique job. The cost-savings are dramatic. It significantly reduces timeconsuming, expensive setup processes and job monitoring work tasks. Increased operational productivity and improved quality on every piece produced are the result of MGI’s major innovation in print registration technology

Key Features of JET Varnish3D with iFoil: The JET Varnish 3D with iFoil takes digital spot UV coating to an entirely new level with increased throughput for flat spot UV jobs and astounding 3D raised effects.

Perfect for operations with offset and/or digital presses up to 52x105 cm format, the JETvarnish 3D is a magnificent solution for 3D or traditional flat spot UV coating. It also furnishes printing businesses with a host of value added services enabling them to garner more customers and target potential markets.

The JETvarnish 3D allows for fast start up

without plates, screens or waste, producing anything from one to several thousand sheets per hour easily. On the same document, the JETvarnish 3D can alter the coating thickness from 3 to 200 microns, depending on the user’s defined areas.

With extended formats ranging up to 52x105cm (20x42’’) and weights up to 600 gsm, the JETvarnish 3D can be used to convert users’ every regular printed jobs into high margin spot UV jobs. The 100 percent digital JETvarnish 3D also enables businesses to take a few sheets from a job and spot UV coat it, creating a sellable proof so your customers can see the potential and additional visibility and impact that their jobs could have.

MGI’s exclusive inkjet technology also offers the quality customers deserve, from the first page to the very last using precise piezo (drop-on-demand) print heads from Konica Minolta. With MGI’s patented coating formula, consumers can also switch from one job to another with no equipment cleaning required.

The inline Digital Foil system is a major advantage for the customers to create very high quality jobs which helps the customers to create something unique which was not possible using traditional processes. The traditional process is very cumbersome and requires multiple people/ agencies to create a die and later do the foiling. With the Jet Varnish iFoil system the customer can create small quantities as small as ONE or can also create Variable Foiled Documents.

pressideas/ commercial printing

KODAK expands SONORA market The UV Process Free Plate will now be available in Asia, ANZ, Middle East, and European markets.

Kodak has announced that the KODAK SONORA UV Process Free Plate, the latest addition to the company’s process-free technology portfolio, is now available in many regions of the world.

SONORA UV Plates expand the capability of Kodak’s process free plate portfolio to an even wider group of print service providers.

They are capable of delivering longer run lengths for UV print applications than any other process free plate – up to 30,000 impressions. This allows printers to take advantage of both the environmental and economic benefits of process free plates and the expanded set of opportunities associated with UV technology, including flexibility, high print quality, and faster drying times.

“As far as we’re concerned, there’s no alternative to Kodak’s process free plates when it comes to UV printing. We simply don’t have room for a plate processor, and these plates have the general advantage of less effort and lower costs for plate making as well as more stability,” says Torsten Gröger, Production Director at cre art Die Werbeproduktion in Fulda, Germany. “Thanks to the KODAK SONORA UV Process Free Plate and the extensive capabilities of our press, which is equipped with numerous UV and print enhancement extras, we can produce complex and demanding jobs on any substrate. The level of creativity and quality is very high, and this kind of job would have been technically impossible a few years ago. The SONORA UV Process Free Plate enables significantly longer run lengths with at least twice as many impressions as we get from the SONORA XP Plate.”

SONORA UV is based on technology used in the popular SONORA XJ Process Free Plate that has been commercially available in Japan since 2016. In the pressroom, SONORA Plates, like the flagship XP version work with your existing press setups and sequences. They are capable of running on sheetfed, heatset web, and commercial coldset presses and can run applications such as commercial print, newspapers, offset packaging, and UV. For packaging printers, the SONORA UV Plates is a very

exciting development, as it now meets the rigorous demands of UV print applications increasingly used by today’s packaging and commercial printers, but it will also enable printers to take advantage of both the environmental and economic benefits of process free plates.

“Kodak is committed to investing in R&D that advances the capabilities of print service providers and equips them to offer a wider range of applications and tackle new markets while accomplishing all that in the most environmentally way possible,” said Richard Rindo, GM Worldwide Offset Print and VP Print Systems Division, Kodak.

“Over 3,000 customers around the world are

yielding significant cost and environmental benefits from SONORA and with Kodak manufacturing facilities now located in the USA, Europe, Japan and China, printers across the globe benefit from faster supply, support and customer service.”

Blömeke opening up new business areas with Heidelberg Installs the first Speedmaster XL 75-5 LE UV in Germany and a matching service package

“Our makeready times have halved, we’re using 40 per cent less energy, and saving over 50 metric tons of paper each year thanks to faster inking up and less paper waste.

Our jobs have become more profitable without us having to increase our prices.” - Christian Rump

“We’re now able to print jobs that we couldn’t before. Everything has been exactly as Heidelberg promised”, says Christian Rump from Blömeke in Herne in summarizing his experiences with the new Speedmaster XL 75-5 LE UV, which the media company has been using for almost one year to the day. Managing directors and brothers Christian and Klaus-Georg Rump were looking for a replacement for their two older presses, and made increasing the profitability of their press arm and achieving a higher margin their top priority. “We actually see ourselves as a media service provider rather than a print shop”, explains Christian Rump. “50 per cent of our turnover comes from printing, and the other half from services like design, warehousing, and global logistics services,” confirms Thomas Kuhnert, Head of Media Design and Sales. The company has been offering web-to-print shops as private areas for its customers for the last 15 years. The majority of these are well-known industrial companies headquartered in Germany with international subsidiaries. Blömeke specializes in optimizing processes in printing, service, and international logistics, and has a loyal customer base.

Consultation and implementation go hand in hand As part of the tendering process, Blömeke invited the experts from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen

AG (Heidelberg) into the company. Together, they analyzed all the relevant data in an investment plan as a service. What is a typical job like, and what do Blömeke’s customers expect? It quickly became clear that replacing the old presses from another supplier with a highly automated five-colour Speedmaster XL 75 in three-shift use would offer the greatest efficiency. Up to then, the company had been running two presses in two shifts. Heidelberg recommended its innovative LE UV drying technology (LE = Low Energy) as the best solution for achieving the required high quality standards given the fast delivery times and the predominantly short runs of 2,000 sheets per job on average. This would also mean no more protecting jobs with dispersion coating, particularly for short runs, as a requirement for prompt and quick finishing with no scratches.

Key Notes : > Consultation process for precise identification of customers’ needs. > Significant reduction in energy consumption and paper waste. > Added value for end customers: faster delivery times, top quality, and a wider range of substrates.

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Managing Director Christian Rump (right) and Head of Sales Thomas Kuhnert are inspired by the possibilities offered by the new five-color Speedmaster XL 75 LE UV and want to use it to acquire more customers.

pressideas/ commercial printing

Heidelberg won the contract, and Blömeke is now using the first Speedmaster XL 75-5 LE UV in Germany for its printing needs. At the same time, the company agreed to field test the new software versions for all of its machines. Together with the new Prinect Press Center XL 2, the Prinect Inpress Control 2 inline colour measurement system, the fully automatic AutoPlate Pro plate changer, and the Wallscreen XL, Blömeke is now kitted out with the latest drupa generation. “Our makeready times have halved, we’re using 40 per cent less energy, and saving over 50 metric tons of paper each year thanks to faster inking up and less paper waste. Our jobs have become more profitable without us having to increase our prices”, reports a satisfied Christian Rump. “This is all the more important since we have around 40 makeready processes each day and every third job needs different paper.” The press has been running around the clock since it was commissioned.

“We have 98 per cent availability, and the SystemService36plus contract gives us peace of mind”, explains Christian Rump. The “all-round carefree package” is complemented by Saphira consumables including LE UV process and spot colors, washing fluids, rubber blankets, and printing aids that are precisely matched to the press.

Satisfied customers and exciting future “An investment like this requires careful preparation, and we received top notch support from Heidelberg here too”, explains Christian Rump. “Together we printed an image brochure with our motifs in the Print Media Center in Wiesloch-Walldorf, which demonstrated which materials and which finishing options with matt or gloss sport are possible with the Speedmaster XL 75-5 LE UV. We can now print on normal paper, natural paper, plastic, and foils. For example, the photo book “Schusswinkel” by photographer Tim Kramer for the football club VfL Bochum was printed on natural paper in a quality that would not have been considered possible previously. The LE UV technology is particularly beneficial for natural paper, since no powder application or coating is required and the natural look is retained with a high printing quality. “We’ve been able to inspire our existing customers and win new customers. Furthermore we are now offering faster and completely reproducible delivery. We’ve also been able

Offset printer Jordan Kobal (left) has everything under control with the Prinect Press Center XL 2 and the large Wallscreen, and shows the proofed printed sheet to Christian Rump (center) and Michael Fritz from Heidelberg Sales.

to reduce our already low complaint rate even further,” notes Christian Rump.

Blömeke has ambitious plans for 2017.

“We’ve stepped up our sales activities in order to be able to actively approach new customers and provide our existing customers with additional services. The new materials allow us to offer special applications that are more economical than traditional print jobs. We’re also planning to establish a public web-to-print shop for

customers,” adds Thomas Kuhnert. Another project that has also been implemented in partnership with Heidelberg is the integration of prepress and the MIS system, which are from other suppliers, via the CIP4-JDF/PPF interface of the Prinect Pressroom Manager.

This permitted implementation of the Push to Stop concept and the smart print shop.

An exciting future lies ahead for the media company, which was established as a stationery shop in 1899 and today has 40 employees.

The Saphira LE UV colors are optimally matched to the Speedmaster XL 75-5 LE UV and produce high-quality prints.

Lifetime Achievement Award for C.N. Ashok of Autoprint The award was presented at Printers’ Day celebrated on 4th March by Mumbai Mudrak Sangh.

The award ceremony began with the inspirational and power-packed speech by Anuradha Prabhudesai, an ordinary working woman from Mumbai, who had travelled to Ladakh and shared inspiring stories of war heroes.

Key Notes : > Mrs Prabhudesai, the guest of honour of the award ceremony presented the award scroll to Mr C N Ashok. > Prof. Kamal Chopra, President AIFMP, presented the prestigious ‘clapping hands trophy’ of the MMS Lifetime Achievement Award. > Over 100 Autoprint machines serve the Indian forces at different defence facilities across the country.

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On March 4, 2017, as a part of the Printers’ Day celebrations, the Mumbai Mudrak Sangh’ Lifetime Achievement Award 2017 was conferred upon C.N. Ashok of Autoprint, in the presence of Prof.

Kamal Chopra, President AIFMP; and Anuradha Prabhudesai, Founder President, Lakshya Foundation. As a part of the day-long celebration of the Printers’ Day organized by MMS at Garware Club House, the MMS Lifetime Achievement Awards 2017 ceremony had the best moments of the day with some insightful and inspirational speeches, and of course, the much awaited award acceptance speech

by C.N. Ashok.

and that experience changed her life. “I did not know about the intensity and the gravity of the war situation in Mumbai.” Mrs Prabhudesai began her speech with a confession, “A young boy from the Jammu and Kashmir valley first noticed the Pakistani infiltrators and informed the Indian Army post. He could identify their weapon as AK-47. I could not imagine the plight of the young boy who could identify the machine gun from a distance and who knew exactly what had to be done in such a situation. That moment I decided that I wanted to learn more about our Army, our soldiers and their brave stories that brought us victory in the Kargil war.”

Dedicated to the nation

“The immense bravery and hardships of our soldiers on the borders, and on Siachen glaciers keeps us all safe in the country. They lay their lives with a smile on their faces to protect our freedom as citizens of this country,” Mrs Prabhudesai went on the share the inspiring stories of the Kargil war heroes and other soldiers. She shared the stories of the four recipients

The award ceremony began with the inspirational and power-packed speech by Anuradha Prabhudesai, an ordinary working woman from Mumbai, who travelled to Ladakh on a vacation some 15 years ago. She learned about the 1991 Kargil war from the young Indian Army soldiers she met during her vacation,

pressideas/ commercial printing

of the country’s highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra for their brave combats during the 1991 Kargil war – Captain Vikram Batra and Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey who received the award posthumously and Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav and Rifleman Sanjay Kumar who are still serving in the Indian Army.

Mrs Prabhudesai’s presentation was full of stories and audio-visual content from her interactions with soldiers, on and off the field.

Her 40-minute speech certainly left everyone charged and motivated to meet the man of the day, the LTA awardee C.N. Ashok.

A humble man, with a charming smile Mrs Prabhudesai, the guest of honour of the award ceremony presented the award scroll to Mr C N Ashok. Prof. Kamal Chopra, President AIFMP, the chief guest of the award ceremony presented C N Ashok with the prestigious ‘clapping hands trophy’ of the MMS Lifetime Achievement Award. “I am from Coimbatore, a small town in South India. MMS is a well-known trade association from Mumbai. I am deeply honoured and humbled by the fact that you chose me

for this award.” Speaking about delivering machines to the Indian Army, Mr Ashok proudly said, “I am happy I made my town proud,” said C.N. Ashok as he received the MMS’ Lifetime Achievement Award 2017.

“Our machines are used for printing instruction manuals for Bofors guns. We have over 100 machines installed at different defence facilities across India. What belief got me here? Many people ask me.” Mr Ashok shared the mantra of his success, “I had strong internal conviction. I had the courage to back my conviction. And, I was committed to bring my conviction into a reality.” Mr Ashok said that while thinking about conviction, courage and commitment, he draws inspiration from many great people; especially the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi.

“I knew that with growing literacy, printing will grow. I began my business with commitment to install at least one machine in each PIN code area in the country.” Mr Ashok added, “I quit my practice as a chartered accountant, and plunged into the business. That was a courageous decision, however, conviction and commitment has got me here.”

“On my 50th birthday, I wrote personal letters to 25 people who helped shaped my life; my basketball teacher, my driver, my school teacher, the first manager who later left the company and a few more. I think, thanking and acknowledging people who contribute to your life is important. I am thankful to all of

you who are present here for the ceremony,” concluded Mr Ashok on a very humble note.

Perusing the ‘Made In India’ agenda Speaking on the occasion, Prof Chopra said, “I must congratulate Mr Ashok for the award, and Team MMS for the wonderful selection in Mr Ashok.” He added, “I take away something new each time from the MMS event. The last time we had the Round Table conference arranged at one of the AIFMP events; inspired by the conference ideated here.”

“C.N. Ashok is a very persuasive man. I still remember the early day informational brochure, published in many languages, telling the printers how beneficial it was for them to shift from Letterpresses to the Offset machines made by his company.” Mr Chopra added, “About two decades ago, he was persuading printers to adopt a newer technology in India. He put in honest efforts to truly push the ‘Made In India’ machines to our printers.”

Prof Chopra also spoke about the future of Print. “The days of printing on paper with ink are running out fast. The change is inevitable and it is important for us to carry the message of change to our printers. We must prepare our printers for new technologies, for example, printed electronics and 3D printing.” He shared the information about various training programmes promoted by AIFMP for the benefit of printers.

IPT Tharamani celebrates Farewell Function for III Year Students III Year Students of the Institute. The event took place in the IPT premises on 13th March 2017.

Institute of Printing Technology (IPT) Tharamani, Chennai and MPLA (Madras Printers’ & Lithographers’ Association) Chennai jointly organized ‘Welcome To The Industry’ event - the farewell function for the MMS Lifetime Achievement Award 2017

Thiru Jacob George, Chairman, St. George Educational Trust was the guest of honour at the event. Keynote address was delivered by Thiru K. Rajendran, Secretary, The Madras Printers’ & Lithographers’ Association.

Thiru M. Venkatachalam, President, MPLA, delivered special address and distributed momentos to the students. Thiru N. Muralikrishniah, Principal, graced the event with his presidential address.

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Landmark orders for QIPC and EAE Austrian Mediaprint Group renews trust in partnership with QIPC and EAE for controls and automation solutions.

Mediaprint, Austria’s biggest newspaper printing company, has placed large-scale orders with Q.I. Press Controls (QIPC) and EAE Engineering Automation Electronics. QIPC and EAE will equip several Mediaprint presses with new automation and control systems aimed at maximizing production efficiency, quality and reliability while cutting waste and costs.

Under the new order QIPC will install 60 more IDS-3D cameras in a total of 30 towers at the Mediaprint facilities in Vienna and St. Andrä.

Operation of the IDS-3D system will ultimately be integrated in the user interface of EAE Desk 7 press control consoles.

Key Notes : > “This is the biggest complex of orders QIPC – EAE has ever received from a single customer. > Will equip several Mediaprint presses with new automation and control systems. > The IDS-3D systems for ink and dampening control, ink fountain roller control, fault detection and an automatic ink mist shield (AIMS).

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Mediaprint is responsible for printing the national dailies Kronen Zeitung and Kurier as well as the contract-produced daily Der Standard and part editions of the freesheet Heute and Niederösterreichische Nachrichten. TV guides published in-house, various weekly newspapers, direct mail items and a range of other publications round off the portfolio. Mediaprint owns 13 newspaper presses at its printing centres in ViennaInzersdorf, St. Andrä (Carinthia) and Salzburg.

Production at all three sites takes place on virtually identical KBA Commander web presses, each with three towers with a 9-cylinder satellite design.

Mediaprint recently chose QIPC to equip seven of its printing presses in Vienna as well as all three presses in St. Andrä with IDS-3D colour and register control and IQM (Intelligent Quality Management) systems.

QIPC will supply the IDS-3D systems for ink and dampening control, ink fountain roller control, fault detection and an automatic ink mist shield (AIMS).

This colossal order is a follow-up to one received at the end of 2015, when Mediaprint had an IDS-3D system with six cameras installed in one of the eight web presses at its Vienna facility together with an mRC-3D cut-off register control system.

QIPC – a choice informed by experience Erich Manhardt, Manager Maintenance and Central Administration at Mediaprint, has this to say about his previous

experience of QIPC technologies: “Our web presses were built back in 2001 and they’ve never had any colour, dampening or register control functionality; everything has always been set and controlled manually. We wanted to install the QIPC system in the first press and then experiment around to see if our aim of significant cost savings could be realised by reducing the number of personnel and the amount of paper wastage without compromising on quality and productivity. That’s now been confirmed without a shadow of a doubt. We’ve also discovered that, thanks to the automated QIPC systems, we can achieve a much higher quality standard and above all maintain it reliably. Our goal is for each of our printing centres to be upgraded to the same technical level.”

“We’re delighted that Mediaprint has elected to put such tremendous faith in QIPC technology and work even more closely in partnership with us”, says QIPC Chairman Menno Jansen. “At the same time, this shows that our cost-cutting automation and quality optimisation solutions are helping newspaper printers to get a handle on today’s economic and quality challenges.”

“Before deciding which equipment to add to our first press, we carried out a very thorough analysis of what relevant manufacturers were offering because this project was all about fundamental automation and labour saving issues,” Manhardt explains. “Apart from price, innovativeness and sustainability were

key criteria. We had the greatest confidence in QIPC in this respect, not least because in our opinion they lead the field in the area of integrated dampening control.”

IDS-3D integrated in EAE Desk 7 pilot Under the new order QIPC will install 60 more IDS-3D cameras in a total of 30 towers at the Mediaprint facilities in Vienna and St. Andrä. Operation of the IDS-3D system will ultimately be integrated in the user interface of EAE Desk 7 press control consoles, which EAE will supply in the framework of a major retrofit.

Desk 7 is an innovative remodelling of the web press command centre which was originally unveiled by QIPC and EAE to international industry professionals at Drupa 2016. Mediaprint is the first customer worldwide whose web presses will be controlled using the new Desk 7 control consoles. The pilot at all three Mediaprint printing centres will comprise 26 of these new consoles.

EAE selected for enterprise-wide retrofit Mediaprint has charged EAE with retrofitting the entire control system for 13 web presses at its three printing centres through KBA as general contractor.

Specifically, EAE will replace the existing ABB control technology in 39 towers with modern EAE solutions, the majority of them based on standard hardware.

Parallel to this, the number of control computers required per tower will be drastically reduced (from eleven at present to a mere one); the same will also apply to the bus systems. The package includes an EAE Print production planning and preset system as well as an EAE Info reporting and logging system.

EAE has moreover been directly commissioned to implement the EAE V.I.P. (Visual Intelligent Plant) management execution system and the EAE Maintain maintenance management system at each of the three Mediaprint sites.

“Some of the main controls for our web presses have already been discontinued by the manufacturers, which meant we were forced to take action in the interests of reliable production in spite of still having spare hardware available in reserve.

Mediaprint expects to persevere with these presses for another 10 to 15 years yet. We don’t believe in delaying retrofits until too late in the technology lifecycle.

Now is the time – because we’re now at a stage where this kind of project can still be planned and realized efficiently,” Manhardt claims. When asked why EAE is the partner of choice for such a demanding retrofit project, he doesn’t have to think for long: “The cost aspect is obviously at the forefront, but we’re not simply modernising our presses; we’re also revolutionising our software landscape at the front end. Continuous, forward-looking innovation is clearly visible in all of EAE’s solutions and V.I.P. is no exception. That’s precisely what we need.”

Biggest single order for QIPC – EAE “This is the biggest complex of orders QIPC – EAE has ever received from a single customer,” reports Jansen proudly. “The Mediaprint investment package is simultaneously a clear sign that the industry has faith in the future of printed newspapers and in the ability of print and digital media to coexist. It’s our wish that the systems in our portfolio today, plus those yet to be developed, will help the newspaper sector to ensure the survival of print in the media mix and stay profitable in the future.”

The installation of the newly ordered QIPC systems will be completed by August this year; the press retrofit at the three Mediaprint sites will be undertaken in several phases up until the end of 2018.

Erich Manhardt “Apart from price, innovativeness and sustainability were key criteria. We had the greatest confidence in QIPC in this respect, not least because in our opinion they lead the field in the area of integrated dampening control.”

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Malayala Manorama installs suite of QuadTech solutions Malayala Manorama, the largest circulating newspaper in Kerala, chooses QuadTech print quality control solutions.

QuadTech has installed a suite of QuadTech print quality control solutions: the ICON Integrated Platform, Register Guidance with MultiCam and Ribbon Control with MultiCam at Malayala Manorama. The Indian publishing house Malayala Manorama is one of the leading media groups in India. it has already completed the installation at its headquarters in Kottayam, Kerala. With this installation, Malayala Manorama expects to significantly reduce its makeready times, minimize errors and reduce waste. By the end of 2017, the phased installation will deploy QuadTech automation on 42 towers on 11 presses, across Malayala Manorama’s 7 different locations.

The Malayala Manorama newspaper is Kerala’s largest circulating newspaper, third largest in India with a daily circulation of 2.35 million copies.

“At Malayala Manorama, we are renowned for our emphasis on quality and recognized for delivering superior publications. As such, it’s vital that we continue to implement systems that safeguard our reputation and guarantee high quality print, while also ensuring our operations are as productive as possible,” commented Mr. P K Philip, Vice President of Works, Malayala Manorama.

“With QuadTech’s integrated control systems, we can maintain the level of print quality our customers expect, improve reliability and reduce waste. In addition, QuadTech’s excellent support team is already

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demand for the news, while reducing waste and keeping overheads low as the market evolves.

Superb streamlining The QuadTech ICON platform is a single, central station that can integrate with existing software and is designed for optimal efficiency. Operators can quickly recall and apply stored job setup data, delivering savings in terms of equipment setup time, labour and materials. ICON offers outstanding flexibility and ROI; as more products become ICON-compliant, operators can integrate each new press control system cost-effectively, without the need to invest in stand-alone Operator Control Stations. implementing a smooth installation process.”

In addition to the Malayala Manorama newspaper, the award-winning company also produces nationally and internationally recognized magazines such as THE WEEK, Vanitha, Year Books, National Geographic Kids, Smart Life, Watchtime India, Living Etc and Disney Princesses, is the broadcaster for television news channel MMTV and MAZHAVIL MANORAMA entertainment channel and broadcasts FM radio programme Radio Mango from four different centers. Malayala Manorama has 11 solelyowned print locations and 8 outsourced print locations in India and abroad.

Although print newspaper distribution has declined around the world, the industry is still growing in India due to increasing literacy rates which drive demand for regionallanguage media throughout the country.

Newspapers are a source of news and entertainment, and are essential in providing education and empowering political participation. Despite the growing readership, the cover price of Indian newspapers tends to be very low, in order to remain affordable for a large proportion of the population, while reduced advertising revenue following the recent demonetization crisis is challenging profitability across the industry. Therefore, it is imperative that new print technologies improve efficiency and lead times to meet

Register Guidance with MultiCam is a closedloop colour-to-colour register control system designed to integrate with other QuadTech products, including the Ribbon Control system, on the ICON platform. MultiCam is a globally popular solution with the register camera having over 15,000 installations worldwide.

Ribbon Control with MultiCam minimizes waste by making automatic angle-bar adjustments during startup, before ink even becomes visible. It resides on the ICON platform, which allows all QuadTech press control systems to share a single, userfriendly interface.

“Malayala Manorama is one of the most regarded newspaper printers in India, so it’s a great endorsement for our technology that they are installing QuadTech systems across the territory,” commented Vinodhkumar Balakrishnan, Area Sales Manager for South East Asia and Korea, QuadTech.

“Waste management and automated colour control is an important factor in the newspaper industry’s efficiency and cost considerations. As such, the QuadTech ICON platform provides a fully-integrated quality control system that delivers valuable competitive and profit driving benefits, as well as being a fully flexible platform that can accommodate future product upgrades and enhancements.”

pressideas/ newspaper

WAN-IFRA Editorial Leaders Programme, May-June 2017 The modules are led by best-in-class trainers and address the new and changing needs of the readers, the skills needed to engage them with the publisher’s brand and the ways to gain advantage over old and new competitors. The programme has trained more than 200 participants in the past two batches.

The Editorial Leaders batch II was successfully completed in September 2016. Upon receipt of the good feedbacks from publishers, WAN-IFRA will commence Editorial Leaders, batch III in May. The third batch will have first three modules from 15 May 2017 – 20 May 2017 in New Delhi and final three modules from 19 June 2017 – 24 June 2017 in Chennai. Minimum 3 participants are allowed for each module.

WAN-IFRA’s upcoming Master Classes on Editorial Leaders for Editors and Journalists is an initiative from the World Editors Forum and WAN-IFRA. ‘Editorial Leaders’ is a module based training programme aimed at improving the knowledge of editors and journalists. The programme will develop future-ready editorial leaders and help news publishers create a pool of talent for the future.

WAN-IFRA brings Women in News to South East Asia 45 women senior journalists and editors from across South East Asia gathered in Yangon on 16 February to hear from leading women media on the topic of ‘breaking through’, and take part in newsroom management training led by WAN-IFRA Women in News lead trainer Paula Fray.

Norwegian Ambassador to Myanmar H.E. Tone Tinnes opened the meeting, emphasising Norway and WAN-IFRA’s long-standing cooperation on strengthening independent media in the region, which has now extended to gender equality, a priority for Norway.

Nyein Nyein Naing, Executive Editor of 7 Day News Journal (Myanmar), Chay Hofilena,

Head of Investigative Unit for Rappler (The Philippines), Nguyen Thi Tam, Deputy Editor in Chief of Vietnam Plus (Vietnam), were among panellists speaking on their experiences, motivations and leadership challenges in the industry.

Pichai Chuensuksawadi, former editor of The Post Publishing (Thailand) and retired Chairman of WAN-IFRA Asia Pacific Committee, opened the event, stating: “WANIFRA believes increasing media freedom directly strengthens democracy, transparency and accountability. We believe in industryled approaches to help strengthen and support media in emerging and transitional democracies. We also believe that media freedom cannot truly be attained without an

equality of voices. These three overarching principles have brought us together in the room here today.”

The day-long event was modelled after the sector-leading Women in News programme, currently active in 12 countries across Africa and the Middle East through support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The Yangon workshop was part of the WAN-IFRA’s Media Freedom and Democracy Programme that will run in Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam through to 2019, through funding from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

Women in News works to increase women’s leadership and voices in the news. It does so through targeted capacity building actions to develop media leaders, combined with a partnership-driven approach to advocacy that aims to sensitise and mobilise the industry on gender equality. The programme applies mentoring, coaching and networking tactics alongside traditional skills development to promote financial sustainability, editorial quality, and, gender equality.

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pressideas/ newspaper

La Charente Libre optimises printing process with QIPC Malayala Manorama, the largest circulating newspaper in Kerala, chooses QuadTech print quality control solutions.

La Charente Libre is the latest customer of Q.I. Press Controls (QIPC). Based in Angoulême, France, the printing concern will soon be taking advantage of state-ofthe-art measurement and control systems supplied by QIPC, the Dutch specialist for the printing industry. Twelve mRC-3D cameras for automatic colour register control are being installed on the company’s Goss Community & DGM press.

Quality improvements and savings La Charente Libre is owned by the SudOuest Group, which has its head office in Bordeaux. The company prints mainly smallcirculation newspapers and works exclusively with a night shift. To improve efficiency and maintain high levels of consistency in the quality of its printed products, in recent years La Charente Libre has been investing in various automation systems for its presses.

QIPC’s system is the most recent upgrade at La Charente Libre. “We’re expecting the new system not only to bring about improvements in the end-product, but also lead to savings in waste, both during the start-up phase as well as during printing,” explains La Charente

Libre’s technical director, Michel Gonzalez.

According to the company, they had to throw too many copies. “In turn, quality improvements should help them attract more orders from outside,” surmises QIPC’s Head of Sales, Erwin van Rossem.

Partnership Installation of the twelve compact cameras has been planned for week 9 of 2017. But the collaboration with QIPC goes a lot further than the integration of the automation systems alone. “We expect a partnership founded on effective support,” says Michel Gonzalez. “We are counting on the flexibility and responsiveness of QIPC. With a press which is far from being standard, we expect the proper back-up.” Erwin van Rossem is aware of the challenge. “This is our first project with Sud-Ouest Group. It provides us with an opportunity to show what a reliable

partner we can be. I have complete faith it will all come good.”

French Another important bonus in plumping for QIPC was for the company to be able to communicate in its own language. Good references had been passed on from other French printing companies, and in the event of problems QIPC’s agent in France, Pierre Borot (of Techniweb) has always acted as a native-speaker intermediary. Techniweb was involved in the decision-making process and is also helping with the installation and training at the French-speaking plant in Angoulême. “Pierre was a lynchpin in acquiring the order,” Erwin van Rossem declares. “We really have to thank him for his indefatigable support.”

Schwäbisch Media uses ppi Media’s e-paper solution The digital version of the Südfinder, the big weekly newspaper published by Schwäbisch Media, has been published using ppi Media’s e-paper solution CX epaper since November 2016.

To offer an e-paper option of a print product is an important part of any publishers’ strategy. The Ravensburg-based media company Schwäbisch Media is using CX epaper, a product by ppi Media, to realize this. All the digital editions of the Südfinder

are published and provided to the customer with CX epaper. The weekly has a circulation of around 500,000 and ten regional editions, making it one of the largest advertisers in Germany. Schwäbisch Media plans to offer its readers more products via CX epaper in the future.

Thomas Hoppe, deputy head of IT of the MSG Media Service at Schwäbisch Media, says: “We examined the available products very closely and eventually opted for CX epaper because the solution best meets our requirements.”

CX epaper can be used as a cloud-based solution as well as on-premises software,

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while integration with your own website is also possible. CX epaper also offers the option to carry out individual tracking for the contents of the e-paper with the independent web analysis tool Piwik. This way, a publisher can analyze which articles are particularly popular with readers, while the tracking data is always saved on users’ own server.

In addition to that, ppi Media’s affordable e-paper solution offers a high level of automation. Print PDFs are converted quickly and easily into e-paper format and links are created automatically. The realistic effect of flipping the pages when reading the e-paper makes using a CX epaper publication particularly appealing to the end user.

pressideas/ newspaper

QIPC and KBA mark their 20-year partnership Looking back on a successful partnership that has endured for a whole two decades.

Q.I. Press Controls (QIPC) and Koenig & Bauer (KBA) can look back on a successful partnership which has meanwhile endured for a whole two decades. QIPC’s cooperation with the world’s oldest and second-largest press manufacturer began back in 1997, just one year after the company was first established. The young start-up was offered the chance to integrate its newly developed register scanning heads into KBA’s web offset presses for trial purposes.

Ever since then, more and more KBA customers have been choosing QIPC’s innovative systems as a way to increase their print quality and production efficiency while cutting waste and costs. Today, QIPC is a KBA “Preferred Supplier” for automatic colour and register controls. The partnership covers both orders for new machines, such as the two KBA Cortina web presses ordered earlier this year by Coldset Printing Partners, the Belgian newspaper printer, and retrofit business. The current large-scale project for the Austrian Mediaprint Group’s newspaper printing sites is just one example that underlines the important role played by retrofit solutions. In future, the two firms will increasingly collaborate beyond classic

Alongside CX epaper, Schwäbisch Media also uses the editorial system Content-X by ppi Media and Digital Collections to produce one of their weeklies. ppi Media GmbH is an international workflow specialist for newspaper and magazine publishers, as well as printers, corporate publishers and groups and SMEs. Its main

commercial and newspaper web offset and step up their activities in digital and packaging printing.

Dutch artist Corry Ammerlaan-van Niekerk which symbolises how shared success is achieved through shared responsibility.

As a testament to the longstanding partnership, which is founded on mutual respect and passionate commitment on both sides, QIPC Chairman Menno Jansen took advantage of a recent visit to the KBA headquarters in Würzburg, Germany, to present a sculpture to Christoph Müller, Managing Director of KBA-Digital & Web Solutions and a member of the KBA Group management. Titled “Future Through Cooperation”, the sculpture is a work by

“We need partners whose detailed solution know-how can help us adapt our innovative and efficient printing systems to the specific needs of our clients”, said Christoph Müller.

“Q.I. Press Controls is a reliable partner to KBA in this respect, which regularly sets benchmarks with innovations in its own products. The partnership between our companies hasn’t simply functioned impressively as a business alliance over the last two decades, however; it also works very well on a personal level.”

focus lies in the development of highly efficient software solutions on a global scale. ppi Media is one of the leaders in the field of automated newspaper production. 80% of all daily newspapers on the German market are produced using ppi Media products.

Many more installations can be found in Asia, Europe, Africa and the USA. A subsidiary of the Eversfrank Group, ppi Media has its head office in Hamburg and branches in Kiel, Germany, and Chicago, USA.

“We’re delighted that our expertise in optical press control systems is contributing to the success of KBA and its customers.

Cooperation between two suppliers should always result in a better solution for end users and that’s definitely been the case throughout our relationship with KBA”, Menno Jansen added. “If we can manage to uphold the spirit of this partnership together in the future, I’m confident that the next twenty years will be just successful as the last.”

Christoph Müller “The partnership between our companies hasn’t simply functioned impressively as a business alliance over the last two decades, however; it also works very well on a personal level.”

Q.I. Press Controls develops and delivers innovative, high quality optical measure and control systems. The company is globally active in the newspaper and magazine printing industry.

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Fujifilm India marks International Women’s Day As a mark to celebrate International Women’s Day, Fujifilm India organized a Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign for patients at Action Cancer Hospital, New Delhi Jain, Sr. Surgical Oncologist at Action Cancer Hospital.

Fujifilm India, one of the leaders in the development and application of imaging and information innovations to healthcare technologies, marked the International Women’s Day on 8th March 2017 by organizing a Breast Cancer Awareness camp at Action Cancer Hospital, New Delhi. The awareness program empowers Fujifilm’s commitment to promote early detection of Breast Cancer which can help save lives.

The camp was organized in the premises of Action Cancer Hospital, New Delhi, where Fujifilm’s latest state-of-the-art technology to aid early detection of breast cancer - Amulet Innovality has been installed. During this camp, the participants attended a session on self-detection technique, the importance of early detection and how it aids in timely treatment of breast cancer by Dr. Rajesh

Mr. Yasunobu Nishiyama, Managing Director, Fujiflm India stated, “According to medical experts and various reports by esteemed medical institutions, it’s a proven fact that late diagnosis results in slimming the chances of survival and given the fact that more than 50% breast cancer patients are diagnosed at the later stage of this disease, it has become imperative for healthcare providers to provide women the best early detection screening facilities that can save lives.” He further added, “At Fujifilm, we are continuously innovating, creating new technologies, product and services and the AMULET INNOVALITY is one such product that has made early detection of breast cancer a reality for women all over the world.”

Fujifilm India also provided educational content on Breast Cancer Awareness and mugs to all the women patients to mark the day.

According to a recent report by E&Y, more than 50% breast cancer patients are diagnosed too late. Lack of awareness of cancer and screening for disease are significant contributory factors for the relatively late stage of the disease presentation and consequently low reported cancer incidences in India. Less than 1% of women in India aged between 40 and 69 years participate in recommended breast screening mammograms once in 24 months, as compared to 30% in China and 65% in the US. These figures are certainly daunting and make Early Detection even more imperative. Also, data from the National Cancer Registry programme shows that females in their 30s and 40s fall prone to the disease. Nearly 50% of the 144,937 women detected with the disease in 2012 succumbed to the disease, according to the Globocan project.

Talking on this crucial matter, Dr

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Rajesh Jain, Sr. Surgical Oncologist, Action Cancer Hospital said, “Early detection is the key for survival in breast cancer cases. The five year survival rate of breast cancer is over 90% if detected at an early stage. Today’s program is our effort along with Fujifilm India to raise awareness and promote early detection and treatment of breast cancer among patients. No matter how grave the disease is, if diagnosed at the right time, it can increase the survival chances as much as 95%.”

Also, present at the occasion, Dr Asha Aggarwal, Medical Superintendent, Action Cancer Hospital said, “We have always endeavoured to provide the very best technology at our facility and 3D Digital Mammography is another step in that direction. The technology has put our facility at par with any world class breast imaging facility. Not only does it facilitate more accurate diagnosis in detecting cancerous breast lesions at an early stage but also offers women a safe and personalised screening experience, making it easier for them to come for breast examinations. Many patients at our facility are getting benefits out of this highly advanced technology and we are now doing the screening at a discounted rate of Rs 999/- to encourage women to come up for breast cancer screenings.”

The Amulet Innovality uses advanced tomosynthesis technology to enable the conversion of digital breast images into a 3-D reconstruction of the breast, in contrast to the flat images produced by traditional 2-D digital mammography. Reconstructed tomographic images reveal the internal structure of the breast, simplifying the detection of lesions that may be overlooked in a routine mammography. Amulet Innovality enables diagnosticians to obtain a clearer view of the breast tissue, facilitating identification of early stage breast cancer and reducing the need for additional tests and biopsies.

pressideas/ digital

Give your printing business a strategic boost with Konica Minolta’s bizhub PRESS C1085/C1100 Incorporated with KM controller, JDF support, APPE, Pantone and industry-standard Fiery, both the printing solutions offer state-of-the-art models for the printing industry.

The flagship models bizhub PRESS C1085/ C1100 furnish the printing businesses with an advantage of a seamless growth in their operations, catering to the high volume printing demands of customers with unprecedented precision stability and unmatched productivity.

Aforesaid both digital colour printing solutions also offer comprehensive configuration options to enhance the printing business offerings with high level of automation.

The bizhub PRESS C1100 and C10850 offers printing speeds of 100/85 A4ppm respectively on 55 to 350 gsm papers, printing businesses can smoothly perform operations of small lot orders and variable data printing jobs with stringent deadlines, generating new revenue streams. The machines are capable of doing Auto Duplex printing upto 350 GSM at the same productivity. The suction feeding system in the machine helps to attain the high productivity reliably.

The bizhub PRESS C1100 & C1085 offers stable high image quality as required by professional users for high volume printing.

With the presence of cutting edge Simitri HDE toner and S.E.A.D. IV image processing technologies the machines, are perfectly aligned to customer’s demands for high quality print outputs.

perfect binding, hole punching, GBC punching, as well as 6 types of folding and stapling.

The bizhub Press have various automation tools to help customers to be more productive and proactive to keep the machine always available to take more jobs.

The machine can be configured with the Konica Minolta CSRC server to send various communication/ alerts on various pre-defined parameters for e.g. Toner alerts etc. The Daily Maintenance Guide program for the operators to help & maintain the machine always in healthy condition.

Salient Features of bizhub PRESS C1085/C1100-: Unparalleled Productivity The two machines offer the ability to handle varied range of paper types and are capable of stable, high-speed output of thin coated paper flyers to thick paper pop, which were earlier considered as difficult to print.

The paper feeding tool can be expanded to manage 9 different paper types with maximum input paper capability of 13,890 sheets and maximum output capacity of 10,000 sheets. The solutions also enable on the fly operations such as paper replenishment and removal.

High image positioning precision The highly précised registration unit fusing

Bizhub PRESS C1100 & C1085 also increases efficiency during post-processing, with booklet making, auto ring binding,

the existing paper skew detection/autocorrection mechanism with an interim roller nip release mechanism as well as a registration unit skew correction mechanism offers realisation of high front-to-back registration accuracy.

Compatible with numerous industry standards The two machines support various industry standards as well as high-level colour management. With JDF support, APPE, Pantone, industry-standard Fiery and Creo controller, both C1085 and C1100 represent state-of-the-art models for the printing industry.

The printing solutions are compatible with a host of operating systems including Windows Server 2003 / Vista / Server 2008 / 7 / Server 2008R2 / 8 / Server 2012*1/MacOSX 10.5 / 10.6 / 10.7 / 10.8 (PPC/Intel)/Windows Server 2003 / Vista / Server 2008 / 7 / Server 2008R2 / 8 / Server 2012*1. bizhub PRESS C1100/C1085 can house paper size of up to a maximum of 330 × 487mm and are capable of handling a maximum printing area of 321 × 480mm. The printers are also capable of A3-size printing with crop marks and A4 size 2-up printing with crop marks.

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Xerox at Hunkeler Innovationdays Customers presented growth opportunities in books and catalogs at Hunkeler Innovationdays. expensive standard offset coated stocks, puts more high-quality book and catalog jobs within the reach of inkjet production.

Digitally produced book pages in Western Europe and the U.S. will surpass 160 billion pages in 2019 and more than 40 billion color catalog pages will be printed annually on digital devices in Western Europe and the U.S. During Hunkeler Innovationdays 2017, print providers packed two forums to hear from Xerox along with some of the biggest names in book publishing and catalog marketing – such as Pearson, HarperCollins and Hachette–about how to exploit these market opportunities.

“The publishing industry needs help in understanding what digital printing can do to help them to remain efficient and competitive as their business models change,” said Marco Boer, Vice President, I.T. Strategies.

“Xerox’s publishing forum in Europe showed publishers how digital printing can on-shore trade and color book production locally, reducing lost sales, reducing inventory carrying cost, and freeing up capital to re-invest in marketing. These events show Xerox’s commitment to helping their customers grow their businesses.”

At Hunkeler, Xerox demonstrated new inkjet technology available now for print providers to take advantage of these market opportunities. The Xerox Trivor 2400 Inkjet Press with High Fusion Ink delivers a wider color gamut that, when combined with less-

Bringing colour trade book production back home Manypublishers in Western Europe and the U.S. print large volumes of four-colour books – such as children’s books, education textbooks and trade books – that use offshore offset print shops that produce high volumes at low costs. These large volumes often result in overage and obsolescence.

By printing in the same geography in which a book is marketed, publishers can reduce excess inventory, freight and handling costs, and increase the speed to market. Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, is among the many companies operating in this space.

“For us, moving to a digital printing solution and zero inventory model means printing locally in market for our international titles rather than printing centrally and seafreighting around the world,” said Vicki Bzovy, Asia-Pacific Production Director, Pearson.

“With this model, we aim to dispatch finished books from the printer in the same turnaround times as if the books were in our warehouse: 48 - 72 hours. With reduced freight times from local printing it is a much better customer experience.”

Boosting revenue with catalogs Today, many brands use personalized catalogs to strengthen customer experiences

and loyalty while driving online and in-store sales. To reduce costs, marketers are moving away from large, often costly, generalized catalogs in favor of smaller, more segmented catalogs with fewer pages.

Static or versioned catalogs are expected to further decline. The economics and capabilities enabled by inkjet printing make it feasible to target individuals using personalization elements such as variable covers, inserts and special offers.

A recent InfoTrends study found that nearly seven out of ten consumers consult catalogs before making a purchase3. Another XeroxInfoTrends study found that revenue can be three times greater when catalogs are personalized and relevant to the recipient.

“The personalized catalog is the only intrusive medium you have – it goes into peoples’ homes and it demands their attention,” said Andrew Wilson, Founder and Director, Direct Commerce Ltd. “Personalization and relevancy are extremely important in today’s market. You have to sell your company’s brand and ethos to your consumers before you can sell them your products. Retailers must have a communications strategy that is relevant to the activity and loyalty of customers.”

For more than 50 years, Xerox has been working with content creators and printers to develop new business opportunities and provide thought leadership across the markets it serves. Xerox will be taking elements of both forums to additional locations and events for book and catalog publishers as well as print providers in Europe and North America throughout 2017.

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pressideas/ digital

Konica Minolta roadshow in Telangana Demonstrates its revolutionary production printing offerings. bizhub Press C71hc & C1060 remained the centre of attraction.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions recently organised a roadshow in Nalgonda, Telangana where it demonstrated its stateof-the-art Production Printers with the pivotal highlights of the event being the bizhub PRESS C71hc & C1060 production printer.

The roadshow was organised to showcase the company’s production printers as well as to furnish a platform for the printing businesses about the next generation technologies in the vertical. It was also focused to meet the customer’s end-to-end demands and gain a 360-degree visibility in their industry related requirements.

The feature-packed bizhub C71hc and C1060 The 3rd generation machine bizhub PRESS C71hc packs in immense benefits over its predecessor. This model incorporates advanced colour reproduction capabilities of the manufacturer’s proprietary high-chroma toner that produces enhanced printing outputs. bizhub PRESS C71hc also comes with an optional banner tray to support the printing on media up to 13x47. This gives the customers to print bigger format of photo albums. Another asset of the bizhub PRESS C71hc is their wide range of finishing capabilities and its combination with a workflow software Print Xpress.

reliability and simple touchscreen control, a business can receive every advantage of digital production like variable-data printing and scanning.

Konica Minolta’s highly skilled and dedicated engineers have also incorporated the

bizhub PRESS C1060 with a 7,500-sheet maximum paper capacity for long press runs without interruption. The printing solution is compatible with paper sizes of upto 13’’x 19.2” and weights up to 300 gsm. It also offers versatile inline finishing options to suit any production requirements.

Konica Minolta’s bizhub PRESS C1060 is an ideal solution for small as well as mid-range industrial printing businesses, delivering a fast print/copy output of up-to 60 ppm. With a superior colour image quality, purpose built

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From S to XXL: Made-to-measure packages for industrial goods The goods often travel long distances to their final destination. Consequently, packaging companies have to satisfy the rising expectations and specific needs of their customers.

Whether transported by sea, rail, air or road, industrial goods have to be packaged well and securely so that they reach the user or consumer in immaculate condition. The goods often travel long distances to their final destination, over bumpy roads, on clattering rails or in rough seas. The packaged product has to withstand sharp braking and bumpy landings as well as climatic stressing and frequent reloading and repacking. In addition, packaging companies have to satisfy the rising expectations and specific needs of their customers: quality and first-class service are decisive in an industry marked by growing competition. Called for are packaging systems that ensure minimal waste and rapid re-equipping while of course running efficiently in terms of costs, energy and resources.

Impact-resistant packages

According to logistics experts, some five per cent of the value of the goods should be spent on the packaging, and even more for high-value products. Insufficiently packaged goods can damaged and bring losses apart from the risk of a tarnished image.

Optimal protection on gruelling journeys is provided by high-grade industrial packages made of any of a wide range of materials. Geared to the needs of the product and mode of transport, suitable protection is afforded by pallets and crates made of wood or corrugated board, collapsible transport containers and pallet cages (gitterboxes) made of plastic, transport racks, bubble-wrap packaging, bags and special heavy-duty and dangerous goods packages.

Ideal for the transport protection of fragile or impactand scratch-sensitive products such as those made of glass, plastics or rubber are impact-resistant packages of corrugated board. Above and beyond protection, the material offers wide-ranging scope for individual design by printing and finishing.

Consumption instructions and brand messages can be communicated easily without additional products, thus cutting the cost of marketing.

Pulling out the stops for genuine heavyweights Special efforts are required for heavyweight items, i.e. goods with above-standard size or weight for transportation. For products weighing in at 100 tonnes or more, customised packaging is required.

For the direct protection of the packaged contents, packagers make use of classical polyethylene or aluminium laminated films. Desiccants and chemical treatments with steam or contact phase inhibitors (using the VCI (= volatile corrosion inhibitor) method) additionally inhibit corrosion, mould and other damage, e.g. due to condensation.

The overall packaging process for heavy goods is extremely challenging, as the loads can only be efficiently packed and loaded with the aid of heavy

Key Notes : > The industrial goods need immaculately packaged. > The packaged product must withstand various rigors of transportation. > The packaging systems should run efficiently in terms of costs, energy and resources.

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Wherever goods are moved quickly and in rapid succession – for incoming or outgoing goods stations, parcel distribution centres or airports – vacuum tube lifters take the strain off employees and ensure efficient materials flow. Photo: Schmalz

pressideas/ plc

substances that present specific hazards during transport owing to their nature or physical or chemical properties. Fireworks, automotive seatbelt tensioners, hair spray, petrol and fertilisers as well as airbags and lithium batteries are all classified as dangerous goods.

Pallet conveyors convey very different products, ranging from anything from hard disk drives to ball bearings.

equipment like slewing cranes and other crane equipment. The vacuum specialist Schmalz has at its disposal special overhead cranes made of aluminium that score particularly highly with their favourable ratio of dead weight to payload.

Ergonomic and safe handling during the packaging process is assured not only by pneumatic grab systems, but also by special vacuum lifting devices. These are noted for their high degree of versatility in action, although “vacuum handling is also noted for its speed,” says Dr Kurt Schmalz, Managing Partner of J. Schmalz GmbH. Originally a razor blade manufacturer, the Black Forest firm has evolved since its founding in 1910 into one of the world’s leading suppliers of vacuum technology in the automation, handling and clamping sectors. Its VacuMaster swivelling lifting device is capable of effortlessly lifting metal sheets, wooden or plastic panels, drums,

windows and glass panes weighing tonnes.

Even heavy glass units can be loaded or packaged effortlessly and breakage-free by a single person.

Heavy equipment can be accompanied by an elaborate logistical exercise: as familiar from numerous TV reports, the transportation of heavy goods, often at night and under escort, sometimes necessitates the closure of whole roads. Transport safety issues have to be settled in advance by everyone concerned, i.e. customer, manufacturer and haulier. Professional packaging planning is therefore indispensable when extra-large items are sent on their journey in wooden or iron crates.

Safe packaging of hazardous items A different and at the same time special kind of packaging comes into play for the shipment of dangerous goods, i.e. substances, mixtures, and objects containing

The packages for such substances are subject to stringent legal regulations, based on the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Worldwide, each dangerous goods package therefore has to be marked with a UN symbol followed by an alphanumeric code.

In view of the growing popularity of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries are produced in large numbers worldwide. A suitable package for such dangerous goods has been designed by packaging specialist DS Smith for the BMW Group. Thanks to the special corrugated board interior, a total of twelve power storage units can be simply and quickly lowered with lifting gear into the transport boxes and secured – without folding or further padding. Unloading is just as convenient. The batteries and padding are simply removed from the transport and storage package and, if desired, sent on individually or, for example, as a replacement parts shipment.

Pallets galore For the handling of industrial goods, shipment pallets are perfectly adapted to needs as regards load-bearing capacity, quality and economy. But pallets can differ enormously. These practical helpers that are capable of carrying up to 1500 kilos are available in numerous versions on the market. Two- or four-way pallets, disposable, reusable, heavy-duty or special-purpose pallets are just some of the possible types.

One distinguishing feature is the material.

The majority are made of wood, and usually of the types of wood available in the country of manufacture. Alternatively, plastic and metal pallets are employed – or pallets made of corrugated board. For the familiar Euro-pallet, birch, pine and spruce timbers are most frequently used. Depending on the stressing from the product itself, climate and handling, reusable pallets are capable of withstanding as many as fifteen trips.

The American equivalent of the Euro-pallet is

Join precisely 9 wooden blocks and 11planksusing 78 special nails, and you’ve got a plain but hard-wearing Euro pallet.

Assembly shop at the Uzwil location. Photo: BühlerGroup.

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Pallets are made more robust by special coatings.

Photo: BASF

the GMA pallet. Measuring 40 x 48ʺ (101.6 x 121.92 cm), it is slightly larger. For freight transport by ship, special industrial pallets are therefore required. These conform to the American system of measurement and can be loaded trouble-free into ISO containers.

Pal-box® is the name of the practical pallet container made of corrugated board. The shipping container from the paper and packaging specialists of the London-based Mondi Group literally stands on its own feet.

On the corrugated board box available in different sizes, the pallet feet are attached to the base. stac-pac®, Mondi’s heavy-duty storage container made of die-cut heavy-duty corrugated board, is designed to handle the heaviest goods. Reinforcing wooden planks are fixed with reusable clips to the exterior for extra-high stability.

For a longer life To improve the robustness and durability of shipping carriers made of mixed materials, special coatings can be used. The further-

developed Elastocoat C spray system that seals hybrid pallets of plastic and mediumdensity fibreboard (MDF) for extra strength and makes additional priming superfluous comes from German chemicals giant BASF. The hybrid MDF pallets sealed with Elastocoat C are said to be not only more robust, but also some 25 per cent lighter than traditional pallets. GormCarsting, Team Leader Sales Western Europe PU Systems, explains: “The Elastocoat® C spray system seals pallet surfaces efficiently, quickly and durably and thus offers optimum protection from water, dirt, microbial infestation and abrasion. The service life of pallets from Ahrma has thus been extended to up to 10 years.”

Five per cent of goods value for the packaging In such an innovation-driven sector as packaging, technology makes all the difference. Today, packages can be produced with fewer defects, shorter production times, closer conformity to specification and more energy-efficiently than ever before. Customer expectations are rising accordingly. Tailoring packaging systems to individual needs is therefore decisive for success in the marketplace.

At interpack 2017 from 4 to 10 May 2017 in Düsseldorf, visitors can gain their own impression of suppliers’ strategies and products for satisfying market requirements.

One thing is certain: economising in the wrong area can prove costly in the long run.

If the packaged goods are damaged due to insufficient transport packaging, the loss can easily run into the thousands or tens of thousands of euros. And there’s also the risk of a tarnished image.

According to logistics experts, some five per cent of the value of the goods should therefore be spent on the packaging, and even more for high-value products or technical parts. Furthermore, extensive training and clear handling instructions for employees involved in storage and transport operations are essential. Anyone who invests sufficiently in the packaging and draws up a precise requirements profile will save costs on possible complaints and ensure that the product and the manufacturer’s reputation remain undamaged. It makes economic sense.

Author: Melanie Streich, free-lance journalist

Weldon to be Creative Graphics’ exclusive partner for UAE Noida based Creative Graphics and New Delhi based Weldon Celloplast have entered into a strategic alliance for sales into UAE. Weldon will be Creative’s exclusive agent for their pre-press products in the UAE. Deepanshu Goel leads Creative graphics which is one of the leading processors, manufacturers & suppliers of high quality Flexoplates for printing in India. They have been in this business since 1998. Known for their advanced pre-press services for the flexographic, rotary letterpress, offset coating and pad printing market, Creative Graphics is the first trade shop in north India that has been awarded HD flexo certification. It is also the recipient of the “Printweek India Pre-press company of the year” award for the years 2014 and 2016.

Harveer Sahni, Managing Director of Weldon says, “Creative Graphics is a very dedicated and quality producer of flexo plates and this association with them complements our range of offerings to the label industry.”

Deepanshu Goel of Creative Graphics says, “We are happy to be associated with Weldon to cater to the UAE market.”

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Out-of-the-ordinary packages call for special handling – in some cases with large crane systems.

March 2017

pressideas/ plc

Launch of the Association of Label Printers and Suppliers Association of Label Printers and Suppliers or ALPS as it is now known is a new Label Society that has been set up to represent all the stakeholders in the Label industry in the Indian region. The association prides itself in treating all stakeholders on an equal platform thus ensuring an honest, democratic and cooperational method of operation.

Within a short span of 4 weeks, the membership count has crossed 160 members from the Label industry and the number is expected to reach 300 by end March 2017. An initial get together was held in Delhi in December 2016 which was followed by a couple of regional meetings that have been held in Chennai & Bangalore and Hyderabad Meeting takes place in March. On the 4th of March, a large scale “Holi Milan” as well as the “Founders day” was organized at Delhi at the Terrace,

South Hall Café, Janpath. This meeting was planned as the first national level event and an estimated 100 companies and a total of 150 members have registered for the same. A total of 148 persons attended the event with more than 80 printing companies, suppliers, the media and supporting organizations including AIDC and ASPA. Prior to the evening event, the organizing committee of ALPS met to discuss the future actions and events of the organization. While the core committee has been created with the industry doyen Mr. Gururaj Ballarwad being announced as the President, Mr Ajay Agarwal as Vice President, Mr Arunesh Bansal as Secretary and Mr Ashish Gupta as treasurer, the meeting has worked on announcing the rest of the management

committee, as well as focused subcommittees which will each address and work on a focused part of the issues plaguing the industry. A list of these sub committee’s and their members will be put up on the newly created website alpsindia. org.

The evening event included a welcome note and a founder’s vision statement by the President Mr. Gururaj which was followed by a detailed presentation by Mr. Ajay Aggarwal who outlined the Objectives and purpose of the Association showing the short to medium term plans of the organization.

The event included new interactive website www.alpsindia.org which was inaugurated by Industry leaders from Avery and UPM.

Mark Andy Boosts its Presence in Asia Thailand office will support Mark Andy and Rotoflex brands Mark Andy, manufacturer of narrow web printing and converting solutions, has

established a new direct sales office in Bangkok, Thailand. This office will soon be manned by sales, technical and administrative support staff, headed by Sales Director Asia Pacific, Shaun Pullen, with a Sales and Applications Support team led by Chris Irving. Pullen has been managing the region for Mark Andy for a little over a year, operating independently and liaising with the corporate team and network of distributors in the area. Irving is a recent hire, with 10 years’ experience in the narrow web market and keen insight into printing, converting and specialty applications.

The team will support the strong network of distributors across Asia including southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, northeast Asia, Japan, China and Australia/New Zealand. Speaking for Mark Andy, Vice President of International Sales, Mike Russell commented, “We have made the move

because of positive growth in the region, and in response to our growing customer base that requires a more localised support infrastructure.”

The new base in Thailand provides a central location and direct contact to promote the Mark Andy and Rotoflex brands to this unique and growing territory. Pullen commented, “I am looking forward to building even stronger relationships with our customers and local distributors in the region, which will allow Mark Andy to grow its market share and further develop the region. With our vast total solutions offering including flexo printing, digital hybrid printing, offline converting, prepress support, and post-installation solutions such as training and retrofits, Mark Andy is confident we can support the wide range of converter needs in this growing market.”

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Heidelberg and Gallus at Interpack 2017 “Smart Print Shop – Zero Defect Packaging”: Heidelberg presents solutions for defect-free, industrialized folding carton and label production.

Depending on the market segment, poorly produced packagings – even just variations in colour – can result in loss of image as well as a high liability risk. The Heidelberg promise of “Zero Defect Packaging” therefore fulfills the requirements of brand companies for flawless packagings.”

Key Notes : > Heidelberg showcases its entire range for packaging printing in WieslochWalldorf. > Prinect Packaging business intelligence platform plays a key role in the production process. > Digital packaging and label production offer new opportunities.

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In the face of progressive globalization, brand companies with an international sales and production infrastructure also have a growing need for additional packaging variants, a more individual sales approach, and a shorter time-to-market.

This increases complexity and the risk of defects in packaging production. On the other hand, the digitization of all key process steps in production offers a way of greatly reducing this risk of defects, or even eliminating it altogether. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) and its Swiss subsidiary Gallus will therefore be presenting a range of solutions and measures aimed at automating quality assurance and control, all integrated in the entire workflow and the participating machines in an intelligently networked production environment, under the motto “Smart Print Shop – Zero Defect Packaging” at the upcoming Interpack, taking place from 4 to 10 May in Düsseldorf. These solutions and measures are designed to boost the international competitiveness of packaging producers by enabling reliable, productive, and economical production, especially of defect-free, high-quality folding cartons and labels in offset, digital, and flexo printing.

With its presence at the trade fair, Heidelberg also wants to underline the strategic significance of the

growth market of packaging and label printing for the further economic development of the company.

“The appearance of packagings at the point of sales has a direct influence on the purchase decision and the brand experience of consumers. Depending on the market segment, poorly produced packagings – even just variations in colour – can result in loss of image as well as a high liability risk. The Heidelberg promise of “Zero Defect Packaging” therefore fulfills the requirements of brand companies for flawless packagings from an aesthetic, legal, functional, and marketing point of view,” says Stephan Plenz, Member of the Management Board responsible for Equipment at Heidelberg. “Heidelberg is the leading provider in the industry that can guarantee digitized and industrial packaging production with a defect-free, standardized end result. Our intention is to continue to expand our offering in this growth market.”

Trade fair presentation focuses on the challenges associated with defect-free packaging production from the point of view of brand companies Visitors to the Interpack trade fair, especially from brand companies, packaging producers and print

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shops, will be able to speak to experts and get detailed information about the various topics relating to defect-free, industrialized packaging printing at Heidelberg’s stand in hall 13. The appearance by Heidelberg and Gallus at Interpack will focus on the following: the question of a color management system that can span different sites and production methods, the reduction of complexity and therefore susceptibility to defects as well as the means to safely and reliably identify incorrectly printed products without delay and remove them directly from the press or postpress process while production is underway. As part of this process, Heidelberg will show how a zero-defect principle can be implemented across the entire production process, from prepress through press to postpress.

Prinect Packaging workflow plays a key role The integrated Prinect Packaging workflow developed by Heidelberg plays a central role here, by laying the foundations for industrialized production. It enables automation of the workflows – from order acceptance, through structural design, prepress, and press through to postpress – and facilitates intelligent communication between the areas in order to prevent defects. Using Prinect as a central business intelligence platform, all the management and production processes in a print shop, including customers and suppliers, can be intelligently integrated and centrally controlled. Prinect integrates Heidelberg’s offset and digital printing systems into one continuous workflow, and offers comprehensive functions for quality assurance and documentation as well as standardization and production of

repeat jobs. This also includes the latest versions of the Prinect Inpress Control color measurement system and Prinect Image Control control system as well as the Prinect Inspection Control printed sheet inspection system, which are crucial for defect-free production. The end result is a fully automated and industrialized printing process where manual interventions are reduced to a minimum.

Navigated printing prevents operating defects and increases productivity Navigated printing is made possible by Heidelberg’s patented Intellistart 2 software.

Automatic processes are autonomous completed in parallel and in a logical sequence insofar as possible. Intellistart 2 automatically calculates the quickest sequence for the job change and reliably and safely navigates the operator through the makeready process.

Zero defects in digital packaging and label production too Heidelberg is responding to the demand for serial or even customized packagings and labels with the Primefire 106, the first digital printing system in B1 format for industrialized printing applications, presented at drupa as well as the Gallus Labelfire 340 for digital label production.

The Primefire 106 features Perfect Stack technology for automatically removing incorrectly printed sheets from the process and immediately and correctly reprinting them. Integrated barcodes and QR codes or even serial numbers can also be added to all sheets for complete traceability.

The Gallus Labelfire label printing system also provides the option of individually identifying entire packages or even the individual label. Inspection systems can be used to register locations in packages with missing labels as well as incorrectly printed or damaged labels so they can be corrected in downstream systems by removing or reprinting them.

Gallus will also be presenting its new process, “Metallic Doming”. It can be used to produce raised textures with metallic luster on plastic substrates using rotary screen printing. The result is a haptic sensation that could previously only be produced using hotfoil embossing on paper substrates. Effects of this type are now also possible on tube laminates as well as PP and PE substrates thanks to Metallic Doming.

Clearing the final hurdles in postpress The Diana Eye offline inspection system uses a reading device or camera to measure the image and contour as well as finishing effects – including coated surfaces, foils, and holograms – in each individual folding carton blank and compares everything against a reference image. Tolerances can be set and deviating results are automatically removed.

Heidelberg “Zero Defect Packaging” Info Day in Wiesloch: Comprehensive presentation of the Heidelberg range for industrialized packaging printing Directly after Interpack and continuing the trade fair motto, packaging printers will have the opportunity to see a comprehensive overview of the company’s range of digital and offset printing presses, the Prinect business intelligence platform, and services and consumables for defect-free packaging printing as part of a Heidelberg Info Day “Zero Defect Packaging” on 10 May in the Print Media Center Packaging at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site. Experts from Heidelberg will be available for all questions and to discuss details.

“Smart Print Shop – Zero Defect Packaging” Visitors to the Interpack trade fair, taking place from 4 to 10 May in Düsseldorf, will find the joint Heidelberg and Gallus stand in hall 13, stand D75/E82. Those interested can also find further information on “ Smart Print Shop – Zero Defect Packaging ” ahead of time.

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Total quality control of labels Sacmi to play starring role at Craft Brewers & Brewexpo America Part of the broad range of solutions for the brewery world, the new Sacmi LVS 360 vision system enables total in-line, high-speed quality control of different aspects of the label. This strategic tool helps in bringing out the best in both product and brand.

Over 14,000 brewery professionals are expected to attend the 34th edition of Craft Brewers Conference & Brewexpo America which returns to the capital of Washington (10-13 April 2017). The event brings together both beer dealers and bottlers. Sacmi will be playing a pivotal role with a reserved exhibition area of 32 m2 (stand # 2155). It will be focusing quality control of labelled bottles.

The LVS 360 is the latest evolution of the advanced vision systems developed by Sacmi’s Automation & Inspection Systems Division. Designed to operate in-line and at ultra-high speeds, this system stands

out on account of its capacity to effectively identify defects ranging from “macro” label characteristics (e.g. application presenceabsence, incorrect or mixed-up applications) to detailed elements that range from the presence of creases or small bubbles to slight defects or deviations in colour tone or print quality.

Essential for showing off product and brand in the best possible light, the label can now provide – thanks to the Sacmi-developed LVS 360 vision system – fine quality for producer and customer alike. This solution, in fact, not only lets producers effect 100% label quality control, it also effects real-time matching between the applied labels and the specific production lot, thus eliminating any risk of error even when making frequent product and/or size changeovers.

The LVS 360 features 4 colour video cameras with a resolution of up to 5 MP (i.e. a total

of 20 MP makes it unique in providing such outstanding detail). The innovative CVS 3000 software on the machine – the same installed on all Group vision systems – allows 2D reconstruction of captured 3D images, thus eliminating distortion and minimising false rejects.

However, total quality control represents but a part of the complete solutions the Group has developed for the brewery world. Such solutions range from high-performance filling lines specifically designed for the industry (especially as regards minimisation of inbottle oxygen residue) to high-productivity, flexible labelling lines, such as the KUBE modular labeller range, which is winning ever-greater acclaim in the industry due to its versatility. Designed to operate in line with Sacmi labellers, the same LVS 360 system can also be integrated downstream from existing lines, providing customers with great flexibility when it comes to upgrading their plants.

Sacmi USA provides fast and far-reaching after-sales assistance support to all Group businesses. With the beverage R&D facility, Sacmi is able to provide advanced services at both the design stage – by first testing and then industrialising solutions together with the customer – and after the sale, supplying valuable support throughout the working life of the machine or plant.

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VINSAK at Gulf Print Pack’17 To unveil range of printing and packaging solutions at the important Dubai event.

Gulf Print Pack, one of the most important exhibitions dedicated to printing and packaging fraternity will take place from 27th March to 30th March 2017 at the Dubai trade center. More than 12000 buyers from 100+ countries and from varied industries such as paper, label, packaging, converters, security printers, bag & Sack makers, bottle molding, coding etc. are expected at the show to enhance their product portfolio and to choose high-end machinery for their production.

Print Markets in the Middle East and North Africa are forecasted to grow by 7.2% per annum and expected to reach up to $26 billion by 2018 as per Tarsus. Such high growth is attributed to the region’s approximate 1,700 printers and their investment culture to stay up-to-date with the latest machinery and materials helping in creating opportunities for growth.

VINSAK, a dominant player in the Labels and packaging industry will focus on showcasing total printing and packaging solutions to the

visitors. Now printers, convertors and brand owners can find all of their solutions related to printing, packaging & brand protection under one roof.

Debut of VINSAK USAR at Gulf Print Pack’17 Visitors can experience the live demo of VINSAK USAR: Modular and Upgradable Slitter and Rewinder machine at the Gulf Print Pack. USAR have gained a lot of popularity in the Indian market during the Label Expo India’16 and Print Pack India’17 and have seen record installations in its first year of launch in the Middle east, Africa and Indian markets.

VINSAK USAR will be an excellent solution for Buyers looking for affordable but efficient slitter and rewinder with upgradable options of Die-Cutting, VDP and 100% inspection system.

Cheque personalisation solutions Vinsak will also demonstrate live the Cheque personalisation solutions for continuous and

cut sheets. With many installs in the Middle East and Africa, this is a proven workhorse and the new High speed Line matrix systems will be able to show case their prowess.

Vinsak will also display samples, brochures and Videos of the Lombardi range of Narrow web Flexo presses from Italy, Iwasaki range of Intermittent offset, Flexo and letter press Label machines from Japan, Schober range of finishing equipment from Germany, Lead Lasers direct laser engraving systems for elastomers and sleeves from Holland, Petrel Security Inks from France, VINSAK Security software and security substrates to name a few.

Rock‘n’Roll & Easy-Strip: another step towards efficiency Matrix stripping is one of the key steps of the entire label production. Thanks to the new evolution of OMET’s renowned Rock’n’Roll stripping system and to the introduction of the new “Easy-Strip” unit, this critical stage has become a real added value to all OMET machines. These two technical solutions allow increasing production speed and keeping perfect die-cutting shapes, while avoiding various issues caused by special substrates or complex label shapes.

Rock’n’Roll is the unique module designed for the easy removal of matrix stripping waste without interfering on the performance of the machine. Thanks to the new “Dual Function” capability, it can work in two different ways according to the type of substrate and the die-cutting shape: either as contact-style or as tower-style system. This new development makes all OMET’s machines even more flexible and efficient, able to overcome a critical soft point typical of the majority of competitor’s machines.

The brand new “Easy-Strip” Delam/ Relam assembly is an additional unit for an even easier matrix removal operation in self-adhesive labels production. It helps to prevent the matrix from breaking especially

with special materials like paper face stock reaching the highest speed of 190 m/min.

This particular device is suitable for all OMET narrow-web presses, from iFlex to XFlex X6. It opens and recouples all face stock materials, thus reducing the adhesive strength between the printed substrate and the backing, keeping a constant tension on both layers.

The combination of these two exclusive systems “made in OMET” is the perfect solution to optimize the entire printing process and increase production efficiency, preventing from inconvenient downtimes due to possible matrix breaks.

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BASF at Interpack 2017 To offer sustainable solutions for the packaging industry at the Dusseldorf show from May 4 to 10.

At Interpack 2017, taking place in Düsseldorf from May 4 to 10, BASF experts and specialists from BTC Europe, the distribution organization of BASF, will present a wide range of products and innovations from its packaging portfolio in hall 10, booth 43.

The broad range of products offered by BASF is focusing on packaging products that reduce the environmental and ecological footprint while still being an economically viable option.

Two new Copolyamides create new opportunities Ultramid Flex F38L is an entirely new, partly bio-based Copolyamide. The softness and extremely high transparency allows manufacturers to use a Polyamide for vacuum skin packaging. The product is immediately soft without conditioning and has 50% less water uptake than Polyamid 6.

Furthermore, the bubble stability and BUR (blow-up ratio) can be significantly increased because of the higher melt stability. The new grade has a different O2/CO2 transmission ratio to all other Polyamides and can be used for cheese ripening bags or modified atmosphere packaging.

Ultramid C37LC is a new Copolyamide allowing manufacturers of shrink film for food packaging to achieve higher hot water and hot air shrinkage. Films produced with Ultramid C37LC have a lower crystallinity and are significantly softer and more transparent than films made of conventional Copolyamide. By reducing the crystallization temperature and melting point of the product, the curling of asymmetric films with Polyethylene (PE) or Polypropylene (PP) is significantly reduced.

Bio mass balance – an exclusive opportunity for BASF’s customers in the packaging industry BASF is presenting the innovative biomass balance approach applied for the packaging industry. Using this concept, renewable raw materials are used as feedstock in the beginning of BASF’s integrated Verbund production system and then allocated to specific sales products. As a consequence, these products save fossil resources and

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help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

An independent third party validates the required amount of renewable raw materials and certifies the sales product. An example of the biomass balance approach from a customer’s application will be available for visitors to the BASF booth.

Barrier Coating for the protection of food BASF offers three different Polymer solutions as a functional barrier coating for paper and cardboard. These solutions are Ultramid (PA), Polybutylenterephthalat (PBT), as well as ecovio as a biodegradable solution for barrier coatings. Each coating solution offers unique valuable properties in the field of paper and cardboard coating.

Ultradur B1520 FC for thinwalled, injection molded food packaging Ultradur, a partially crystalline saturated polyester used in single-serve coffee capsules, offers improved oxygen barrier properties than commonly-used PP. Using PBT instead of PP in the containers also allows for the removal of aluminum film as a needed secondary packaging. Better oxygen barrier properties keep the coffee fresher for a longer time, helping to increase shelf life time of the food products.

ecoflex and ecovio – biodegradable polymers Compared to conventional plastics, ecoflex offers certified compostability on a fossil basis. As an innovative pioneer in the field of biodegradable polymers it is an important raw material for many compostable and biobased plastics. ecovio is a high-quality and versatile bioplastic with the advantage of being certified compostable and containing bio based content. The main areas of use for ecovio are plastic films such as organic waste bags, dual-use bags or agricultural films. But also compostable packaging solutions such as migration barrier coating on paper, foam packaging and injection molding products can be produced with ecovio.

Water-based solutions for the flexible packaging industry BASF’s water-based brands Epotal and Joncryl are a sustainable alternative to solvent-based products and achieve in most cases a comparable performance as solventbased inks or adhesives.

With Epotal lamination adhesives, BASF offers new options to the flexible packaging industry: The high initial bonding strength of water-based adhesives allows for direct slitting of the laminates. Curing times are almost not required since water-based adhesives are already fully-reacted adhesive systems. They bring increased flexibility to the customer by significantly shortening lead times and making printing and lamination in-line possible. Additionally, water-based adhesives - due to their chemical composition - are inherently safe systems and well suited for food packaging applications. They do not contain any organic solvents nor aromatic isocyanates. The migration potential is virtually eliminated.

With its Joncryl range, BASF offers highperformance resins that enable flexible packaging printers and converters to switch from solvent-based to water-based technologies. The Joncryl FLX portfolio can be considered as the reference in resins for water-based film printing inks. With their excellent resistance and lamination bond strength in combination with high resolubility, they are highly suitable for flexible packaging applications. The Joncryl HSL product line offers options for heat seal lacquers in various applications, providing secure seal and smooth peeling behavior.

PEF: Synvina aims world-leading position Synvina, the joint venture of BASF and Avantium, aims to build-up world-leading

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positions in furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and polyethylenefuranoate (PEF). FDCA is produced from renewable resources and an essential chemical building block for the production of PEF, which enables food packaging, films and plastic bottles.

Compared to conventional plastics, PEF is characterized by improved barrier properties for gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen.

Due to its higher mechanical strength, thinner PEF packaging can be produced and a lower amount of packaging material is necessary.

PEF can be recycled.

Superior mirror and liquid metal effects from Colors & Effects’ pigments

pigments for sensitive applications for printing and plastic applications and the Metasheen product line. Metasheen is a vacuum metallized pigment (VMP) that allows formulators to print metallic, mirrorlike features instead of using metallized substrates or hot-stamping / cold foiling.

BASF’s Color & Effects brand is presenting

Xeikon establishes direct presence in India Strategic review continues as Xeikon further develops regional operations.

Xeikon is continuing its strategic review of how it works with customers on a regional level by establishing a direct presence in India. This move follows Xeikon’s decision to create a direct to market approach in Australia and New Zealand.

Beginning of March 2017, Xeikon will build on the strong market presence through its parent company FlintGroup to support and servicing the label, folding cartons and commercial printing segments of the Indian market.

Bent Serritslev, Managing Director Xeikon Asia Pacific, says: “Previously, we selectively addressed the market through sales partners but customers in India are increasingly looking for unique and special applications to differentiate their business - building on experience of the manufacturer rather than sales partners. At the same time, the Indian market is investing in high quality and high performance digital printing systems driven by growth in shorter run production, brand security and variable content demanding direct relationship with the manufacturer.”

The change in India involves strengthening of both the sales and customer service team to professionally address customer requirements.

He continues: “Xeikon’s technology, both for simplex and duplex printing, provides printers and converters with a large selection of applications which is hard to find from any other single supplier.”

In the commercial printing space, Xeikon addresses the B2 plus format with the ability to print unlimited length of image and with several product suites for the wall decoration, books and magazines markets as well as for

the textile and pharmaceutical inserts.

Also proving a big attraction for customers in the region is Xeikon’s unique portfolio for labels that includes FDA compliant toner for direct dry food contact without barrier coating, very high light fastness, special brand security features, full rotary printing and all charges based on actual consumption rather than click charges.

Serritslev adds: “Xeikon would like to thank Flexo Image Graphics and AVS Graphic Solutions (OPC) for their supportive service to date and for ensuring a smooth transition for our customers.”

Xeikon, a division of Flint Group, is leading innovators in digital printing technology.

It designs, develops and delivers webfed digital colour presses for label and packaging applications, document printing, and commercial printing. These presses utilise LED-array-based electrophotography,

open workflow software and applicationspecific toners. As an OEM supplier, Xeikon also designs and produces plate makers for newspaper printing applications. In addition, Xeikon manufactures basysPrint computer-to-conventional plate (CtCP) solutions for the commercial offset printing market. For the flexographic market, Xeikon offers digital platemaking systems under the ThermoFlexX brand name. In 2015, Xeikon joined Flint Group to create a new “Digital Printing Solutions” division for global print consumables and solution provider to the packaging and print media industries.

Flint Group develops and manufactures an extensive portfolio of printing consumables.

These include a vast range of conventional and energy-curable inks and coatings, pressroom chemicals, printing plates and equipment, printing blankets and sleeves, and pigments and additives for use in inks and other colorant applications.

Headquartered in Luxembourg, Flint Group employs some 7900 people.

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H.B. Fuller expands capabilities in Pune Completes first phase of $20 million investment.

H.B. Fuller has officially opened its new Pune business office and a new R&D center in its Shirwal manufacturing facility. The facilities were inaugurated by Jim Owens, president and chief executive officer, on March 18 and 19, marking the conclusion of its first phase of investment of $20 million in India.

This expansion strengthens H.B. Fuller’s commitment to customers in the country and the neighboring areas.

H.B. Fuller has had a local presence in India since 2011 through its 24,000-metric-tonsper-annum manufacturing facility in Shirwal, located 65 kilometers from Pune. Through the addition of its new business office in Pune, as well as its new state-of-the-art R&D center, the company will be able to help its customers solve problems, and create new solutions, more rapidly than ever before.

“We are pleased to be expanding our footprint in India. We are optimistic about

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the new opportunities our new business office and R&D center will provide us – and our customers. By having a state-of-the-art facility and adhesive experts on the ground in India, we will help accelerate innovation in the region and help drive customer performance,” said Owens.

features dedicated areas to conduct experiments, run demonstrations and train customers on its hot melt, water-based, anaerobic and cyanoacrylate technologies.

Its close proximity to the production floor also increases collaboration between the company’s R&D and operations teams.

Kamal Johari, Managing Director of Nobel Hygiene says, “We’re really looking forward to leveraging H.B. Fuller’s new R&D capabilities in India. Having the strength of this leading global adhesives provider in our local community, will be a key competitive advantage for our company.”

For 130 years, H.B. Fuller has been a global adhesives provider focusing on perfecting adhesives, sealants and other specialty chemical products to improve products and lives. With fiscal 2016 net revenue of $2.1 billion, H.B. Fuller’s innovations have been bringing together people, products and processes that answer and solve the latest technological challenges. The reliable, responsive service creates lasting, rewarding connections with customers in electronics, disposable hygiene, medical, transportation, clean energy, packaging, construction, woodworking, general industries and other consumer businesses.

The new Pune business office houses 50 employees in customer support and administrative roles, and offers a modern atmosphere to encourage innovative thinking and to host customer meetings.

Spanning 5,000 sq. ft. of the Shirwal manufacturing facility, the new R&D center

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Flint Group appoints Benoit Chatelard as President & CEO Digital Solutions Chatelard has a rich history in the digital production printing market with his digital production printing career beginning in 2002.

Xeikon, a division of Flint Group, one of the digital colour printing technology leaders has announced that Benoit Chatelard will assume the role of President & CEO of Flint Group’s Digital Solutions effective May 8th.

He will also be proposed as CEO of Xeikon (to be confirmed by the Xeikon shareholders meeting).

Chatelard has a rich history in the digital production printing market. Most recently, he was Vice President, Production Printing Business Group for Ricoh Europe. His digital production printing career began in 2002 when he led the IBM Printing Systems Division for France, Belgium and Luxembourg. With the creation of the InfoPrint Solutions Compoany Joint Venture between Ricoh and IBM in 2007, Chatelard was appointed Vice President & General

Manager for the joint venture in Asia Pacific based in Singapore, and continued to take on increased leadership responsibilities within Ricoh Europe over the ensuing years.

“First, I want to thank Wim Maes for his years of service to Xeikon, and for the great work he did in getting the Flint Group Digital Printing Solutions division off the ground following our acquisition of Xeikon,” says Antoine Fady, CEO of Flint Group. “His contributions have been invaluable in our ability to continue growth at Xeikon, better integrate sales efforts among our divisions, implement proper market segmentation, develop and implement investment strategies, and build a product roadmap for the Digital Printing Solutions division. Under his leadership, Xeikon fully developed its labels and packaging domain, expanded

market coverage, and thanks to customerdriven innovation, leaves the company in a strong position with a robust product portfolio. As Wim leaves our organization, we are thrilled to have an executive of the quality and with the experience of Benoit to carry the business forward. His mission is to continue executing the plan and further grow the division. Flint Group’s mission is to be a global provider of digital printing equipment and overall printing supplies, and his knowledge and expertise will be important as we continue to move that mission forward. ”I am leaving Xeikon and Flint Group with mixed feelings,” Maes says. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the company and feel good about the progress we made. I especially want to thank our wonderful Xeikon customers, partners and employees for eight very interesting and rewarding years. I feel proud to have been able to contribute to the Xeikon story, and I have full confidence Benoit will continue this great story with even more achievements in the future.”

“I am looking forward to taking on this new role,” Chatelard says. “It is an exciting time in the industry, both for Xeikon and its customers. Under Wim’s leadership, the company was set on a solid path to the future, and I will be taking up the reins to continue his work, building even greater levels of customer intimacy, working to understand and address emerging customer needs in an ever-changing marketplace.”

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Huntsman to close Calais facility Announces intention to close remaining operations at its titanium dioxide facility in Calais, France.

Huntsman Corporation has announced a plan to close the white end finishing and packaging operation of its titanium dioxide (TiO2) manufacturing facility based in Calais, France, during the third quarter 2017. The announced plan follows the 2015 closure of the black end manufacturing operations and would result in the closure of the entire facility. 108 positions on the site will be affected.

communicate with our Calais employees and their representative groups, along with local community leaders, to ensure that the planned closure is safely and effectively managed.”

The plan to close the Calais white end is structured to allow completion of any remaining obligations to any third parties and regulators. Simon Turner, President of Huntsman Pigments and Additives division, commented: “The planned closure of the Calais facility further optimizes our manufacturing network and will increase our recently announced business improvement program by $15 million to a total annual benefit of $90 million. Our priority is to

The Finnish plant accounts for 15% of Huntsman’s global titanium dioxide (TiO2) capacity and produces much of Huntsman’s graphic arts grade pigment. The graphic arts market has specific requirements for the white pigments produced in Pori, in terms of gloss, abrasiveness etc. The impact of the fire on the supply chain into the ink manufacturing sector had been declared as Force Majeure by the main resellers, exerting severe and immediate pressure on inward

Earlier on January 30, fire hit Huntsman Corporation’s titanium dioxide manufacturing facility in Pori, Finland stopping production at the site for repairs.

costs. Double digit price increases were announced by the pigment suppliers as a direct consequence of the shortages in the market. Huntsman expects to repair the site quickly possible but serious shortages in the supply of graphic arts grade pigments throughout 2017 can be expected.

The industry is diligently and swiftly working to find products and alternative grades, with China offering possible relief. The manufacturers of white inks are doing what they can to keep customers supplied, but warn that users must evaluate alternative grades if they wish to continue printing.

Century Labels installs second “Lombardi Flexoline Press” VINSAK has recently installed the second Lombardi Flexo press at the premises of Century Labels LLC. In addition to the market penetration into India, this install re-enforces that arrival of Lombardi as a serious player in the market with an intention to become the preferred choice of the Label printers of the region.

for a press that will offer the flexibility as well as value for money for our venture and finally settled on the Lombardi. Being a 100% made in Europe press, the machine offered us what we wanted in terms of functionality as well as durability. The technical and product support being offered by the VINSAK team was key in our final decision as well.”

The fully loaded six colours Lombardi Flexoline press comes equipped with options of De-lam /Re-lam, moveable cold foil, Full servo in feed and out feed as well as corona and web cleaning. Multi substrate capabilities from 30 microns to 450 microns make the press a versatile print system to address different fields in the market.

Mr. Malkhan Ram, AGM at VINSAK added,

Century Labels LLC is a new venture specialized in the manufacture and printing of Innovative packaging Solutions. They offer a one stop shop for clients with consistent first rate service and excellent turnaround times for short run as well as long run orders.

Mr Prahalad, the Operations Manager at Century Labels added “We spent considerable time in researching the market

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“We welcome Century labels into the VINSAK family of customers. In Century we see a strategic partner who will be able to offer value added solutions to the market and utilize the equipment to its fullest potential.

A “VINSAK LFD”, flat bed offline finishing system has also been supplied along with the press to support value added hot foil stamping jobs as well as offering flatbed die cutting capabilities for short runs.

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Kautex Maschinenbau at the Interpack High-performance production with all-electric machines and Industry 4.0 applications.

This year, representatives from the international packaging industry will once again gather at the Interpack trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany to find out about the opportunities for improving efficiency in the field of packaging production. As in previous years, Kautex Maschinenbau will be presented at this year’s event in Hall 13 from May 4th to 10th.

Alongside the all-electric packaging machines in its KBB series, the extrusion blow molding specialist will also present a number of potential solutions that manufacturers of bottles, containers and other plastic packaging can use to set new standards in productivity. These solutions not only include material-saving and advanced quick-change production systems, but also services that help to reduce the ‘time to market’. The company’s new IntelliGate integration system was also developed with the aim of increasing the process efficiency of its machines. These Industry 4.0 applications help to transform Kautex machines into a closed system for highperformance production and enable Kautex to secure its typical high level of process quality.

The IntelliGate modular system The main component of the IntelliGate integration system is its modules, which are connected to the newly developed Connext interface. “This helps to make downstream processes, such as quality control processes, an integral part of the machine”, explains Christian Kirchbaumer, Team Leader for Communication and Marketing at Kautex Maschinenbau. The individual modules can be coordinated on KBB blow molding machines by the Kautex experts and connected or exchanged using a “plug and play” interface .

Using all-electric machines and virtual training to increase efficiency The all-electric KBB series, which has been in high demand since it was introduced three years ago, stands out due to its compact design, easy handling, low energy consumption and advanced quick-change systems, which facilitate the fast and efficient completion of product changes. One of the solutions provided by the series is the use of advanced extrusion blow molding heads, which significantly reduce the time needed

for color changes. On top of this, the series was recently expanded with the addition of two variants for the production of blowmolded jerry cans.

Another highlight at the Kautex exhibition booth will be the live presentation of the company’s latest generation of virtual machines. This tool enables users to simulate and train production processes for different types of machines and applications in real time.

A shuttle service to the main plant in Bonn Given that the Interpack venue is located in close proximity to the company’s main plant in the German city of Bonn, Kautex is offering guests the chance to use its individual shuttle service, which will take them directly from the trade fair to the Kautex factory. At the facility, visitors will be able to view a wide variety of different Kautex extrusion blow molding systems in different stages of assembly and enjoy many informative discussions with the Kautex experts.

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Cosmo Films holds Line 10 Inauguration Function Cosmo Films recently organized its successful Line 10 Inauguration Function. The function was attended by more than 250 customers from around the globe representing the company’s diverse sales verticals. There was an enormous participation of enthusiastic customers in various events organized during the two days. The functions included the main Line 10 Inauguration Function in the day and entertainment programme in the evening on day one and Line 10 plant tour and exciting football tournament the next day.

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The 11th Pentawards will be open soon Packaging designers, Brand owners, Packaging suppliers, Students... It’s time to prepare your entries...

Pentawards is the most prestigious worldwide competition exclusively devoted to packaging design in all its forms. It is open to everybody in all countries who are associated with the creation and marketing of packaging.

At the Pentawards 2017, you will have the opportunity to see your creations rewarded with a Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, or unique Diamond Pentaward trophy…

…and that’s not all Award sponsors will show their generosity by offering additional prizes totaling more than euro 25,000!

The Diamond Pentaward winner will receive, in addition to his trophy, a multi-year license to the amazing Esko 3D Packaging Design software (value: over 5.000,- Euro) > Last year Esko’s special prize winner: Jones Knowles Ritchie - JKR (UK) A Sleever International special prize will be bestowed on the best creation in a limited series (worth euro 5,000) > Last year Sleever Int. special prize winner: Shiseido Tokyo (Japan) The best Gold of the Luxury categories received received a IC3D software (worth euro 10,000) > Last year iC3D Special Prize winner: Carter Hales Design Lab (Canada)

PLUS: The winner of the Platinum Pentaward for Luxury will also win a booth at either PCD (Packaging of Perfume Cosmetics & Design) in Paris or New York (worth euro 5,000).

All the winners will be published by TASCHEN in the 5th edition of The Package Design Book that will be available in November 2018…and will receive a complimentary copy of this reference book by published design.

All this makes Pentawards THE competition you must take part in!

Created in January 2007, the Pentawards are recognised as a prestigious worldwide competition exclusively devoted to packaging design in all its forms. They are open to all those who are associated with the creation or marketing of packaging from every country in the world. Their primary mission is to increase the stature of packaging design and those who create it.

Each year, packagings from around the world are judged by a truly international jury of 12 highly reputed designers and packaging design Directors from major companies.

The jury selects the winners based on the creative quality and the marketing relevance of the works presented. Winners receive bronze, silver, gold, platinum and diamond Pentawards.

No less than 55 different categories allow any type of packaging to compete and be judged against similar creations. This means that a bottle of wine is not evaluated next to a beer, washing powder next to gardening materials, or even a bottle of perfume next to make-up.

Each year, trophies are awarded in a different city in Europe, Asia or the Americas, at an official ceremony which hosts hundreds of designers from around the world, and provides a unique opportunity to meet and exchange ideas.

By participating in the Pentawards, packaging designers, design students, brand-owners and packaging producers have the opportunity to compare their creations to those from around the world, and have the opportunity to win a prestigious award that allows them to show the world their creativity and expertise.

In addition, the Pentawards provides them with an opportunity to strengthen the reputation of their profession.

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Kwality Offset Printers enters digital label printing market Indian label printer expands service capabilities with Xeikon 3030 Plus.

Indian label manufacturer Kwality Offset Printers expects to increase turnover by up to 15% following its decision to embrace digital production with the acquisition of a Xeikon3030 plus digital label press.

The New Delhi offset and flexo operation caters mainly to FMCG companies, including liquor, food and healthcare. Among its clients aresuch well-known brands as Pernod Ricard, Nestle, Radico Khaitan, GlaxoSmithKline, Dabur, Heinz, Wrigleys, Perfetti, Cargill and the DS Group.

Run lengths for these customers are beginning to vary greatly which is what prompted the investment, explains owner Rajeev Chhatwal: “We are seeing a number of flexo jobs that are 1,000 meters, 2,000 meters and even as low as 500 meters in length. These take up a significant amount of time with conventional production technologies. By moving these jobs to digital production, we are able to free up production on our flexo and litho presses for the longer runs for which they are better suited.”

Focus on teamwork Chhatwal continues, “We chose to partner with Xeikon because Xeikon label presses do not require any special coatings or substrates. This means we can take advantage of our normal inventory to produce these shorter runs. We looked at other options, but we chose Xeikon for two primary reasons. The first was that I found Xeikon was more in touch with us as a label printer; they understood our industry, our needs and our challenges. The second was there was a greater focus on teamwork. They wanted to work with us as a true partner and be there throughout our journey into the digital world.

“We also felt that Xeikon’s focus was more on label printing than other suppliers of digital technology in this space. They seemed keener to develop a good relationship with us, and that was a big factor in our decision.”

On working with Xeikon, Chhatwal says: “We were very confident about the expertise the Xeikon team would be able to bring to our

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project. We met them, saw the factory and looked closely at the technology. The fact that they will support us immediately after installation and beyond was important. We can invest in digital short run and variable print with the knowledge that Xeikon will help us as we go through the digital learning process. We can really partner with them and be confident in what we can achieve, today and into the future.”

The ability to quickly develop a strong digital service with the help of Xeikon was vital states Chhatwal, stating, “This is our first digital press. We spoke to our customers about the production of their work. We also tested some proofs, and our customer were happy about the results. So the first stage following installation will be the focus on moving smaller orders from traditional production to digital printing.

Effectively meet demands “Then at the second stage, we will talk to customers we haven’t really been interacting with because of the small volumes they were looking for. Our Xeikon digital label press now enables us to work with them to costeffectively meet their demands.”

Chhatwal appreciates there will be a learning curve for the company as it enters the digital production realm. “For the first three or four months,” he says, “we will be learning about digital technology so that everyone on our team is confident as we move in this new direction. We will also educate existing customers on the benefits of digital printing.

Then next year, we expect to add five or

six customers and grow our US$ 6 million turnover by 12% to 15%. The partnership we have with Xeikon is critical to achieving these objectives.”

Not making the investment was not an option, Chhatwal states, “If we hadn’t moved into digital, our competitors would have. For the last six or seven months, customers have been talking about digital more and more.

They are looking at shorter runs now, as well as variable print. Digital is the best way to respond to these emerging requirements, and we wanted to be on the forefront of offering those services in our region.”

He continues, “These are not the kind of jobs we can do on our flexo press. We have had conversations in the past about offering these services, but those conversations never matured since we didn’t have the capabilities. Now we will have the ability to meet those needs, and Xeikon will be there to help us explore the opportunities.”

The Xeikon 3030 Plus Label Press has a variable web width of200 mm up to 330 mm.

It runs at a resolution of1200 dpi at a top

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speed of 15 m/min and handles substrates without specific pre-treatment. It emits no VOCs and has high light-fastness. The new press will be installed by Kwality Offset Printers at the end of the year.

Kwality Offset Printers, New Delhi, has been

offering label printing services to leading companies for over 50 years. It caters mainly to FMCG companies including liquor, food and healthcare. Clients include Pernod Ricard, Nestle, Radico Khaitan, GlaxoSmithKline, Dabur, Heinz, Wrigleys, Perfetti, Cargill and the DS Group.

Image caption: (from l-r): Bent Serritslev (Xeikon’s Managing Director Asia Pacific), Rajeev Chhatwal & Krish Chhatwal (partners Kwality offset Printers India) and Neeraj Jagga (Xeikon’s Sales Channel Manager Asia Pacific).

Label Traxx advocates workflow optimisation at Xeikon Café The Label Traxx Automated Print Management Software System shows attendees streamlined and automated digital label workflow Label Traxx, the expert in business management software for label converters returned for another edition of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations 2017 that took place 28 to 31 March. With its Label Traxx management software system (MIS) Label Traxx brings focus to the workflow optimisation of digital label printing.

With 20+ years on the market and consistent ownership through its entire history, Label Traxx has continuously evolved with the label printing industry and provides a single trusted system of record for capturing, managing, and analyzing data created by daily print operations. Label Traxx offers a number of tools to help label printers streamline and automate their digital label workflow, reduce overhead costs, and eliminate the bottlenecks caused by many small jobs in production. The software connects to the Xeikon digital front end using JDF (Job Definition Format) which provides consistency and reliability from job to job.

Job data and artwork can be passed over to the press and toner usage information is sent back for costing.

“Our aim at the Xeikon Café is to help label converters be as efficient as possible. With digital print, the need to be streamlined is even more acute,” said Tim Hollins, Technical Print Specialist at Label Traxx. “This exhibition

both Mac and Windows operating systems.

Label Traxx aims to help label converters achieve their business goals through increased efficiency, improved productivity and better profitability.

and conference event is a great opportunity to meet label converters from all over the world looking to optimise their digital label workflow.”

Control, grow and optimise label converting Label Traxx MIS was built specifically for narrow web flexo and digital label printers and provides an end-to-end solution. It was designed to integrate and automate a label converter’s entire workflow from enquiry right through to management accounts. Featuring an intuitive user interface design, Label Traxx is easy to install and operate, and runs on

Attendees to the Xeikon Café witnessed the Label Traxx MIS software in use as part of the technical conference program, and also viewed a tailored demo of the software at the Label Traxx booth.

The Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations is a platform offered by Xeikon and its Aura partners, offering the opportunity to understand, evaluate and experience digital production, and enabling printers and converters to consciously make a business decision. Through demonstrations, presentations, workshops and discussions, participants receive first-hand actionable information and advice on industry innovations and trends.

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Innovative, sustainable packaging solutions Sappi to present unique possibilities for new packaging concepts at Interpack 2017 Sappi Packaging and Speciality Papers will be presenting its innovative sustainable packaging solutions made from renewable raw materials at Interpack 2017 in Düsseldorf.

The Sappi stand will showcase efficient ways and possibilities to take advantage of packaging trends to meet the growing demands to deliver the packaging of the future. Featured will be solutions and information for brand owners, packaging companies, converters, printers and print finishers, designers and advertising agencies. Of particular interest in the Sappi stand will be the world’s only packaging papers with integrated barrier and heatsealing properties, a truly innovative approach to packaging. In addition, the company will be presenting innovations and packaging solutions for containerboard, rigid packaging, label papers and flexible packaging.

Functional Papers: now with an expanded range As part of Interpack 2017, Sappi will be presenting more new developments in the field of multifunctional barrier papers for food and non-food packaging.

Innovations on show will include initial results from the recently announced collaboration agreement between Sappi and Felix Schoeller.

At Interpack 2017, the Sappi Guard product range will also be featured in the international WorldStar Packaging Awards 2017 in the food industry sector of the World Packaging Organisation.

Just last year, multifunctional barrier papers from Sappi received the German Packaging Award 2016 in the “New Materials” category. The jury praised Sappi’s sustainable paper packaging solutions, which offer innovative integrated barrier and heat seal characteristics otherwise only achievable with multi-layer films. Papers in the Sappi Guard product family also have exceptional tactile properties and excellent printability, the jury noted.

Containerboard: Benefits of virgin fibre liners The Fusion virgin fibre liner from Sappi was the pioneer in the field of white coated topliners for corrugated board. Thanks to the use of bleached virgin fibres as the raw material, the topliners also offer visual benefits as well as considerable strength advantages. They achieve approximately the same material strength as test liners,

with a lower weight per unit surface area.

When the total cost of ownership (TCO) is considered, as companies are increasingly doing, the virgin fibre liners represent a real alternative to the double-coated test liners that are most commonly used. The use of the Fusion top liner provides corrugated board with a significant upgrade as a raw material for high quality consumer goods and shelfready packaging since it enables consistently high quality levels. And this will drive greater demand. To meet that demand, Sappi has expanded production to a second production site in Ehingen. This ensures rapid and reliable supply to all customers. At Interpack, Sappi will also be presenting new paper weights for its Fusion Topliner.

Rigid Packaging: Ultimate brand differentiation with Algro Design Sappi will also be presenting its multiaward-winning bright white solid bleached board, Algro Design, displayed in a variety of applications. This board is generally used for demanding folding box applications, especially for cosmetics, perfumes, beauty and healthcare, fine chocolate and confectionery packaging, as well as fashion and lifestyle items, luxury drinks and for outstanding graphic applications. The highly-white, silky-coated cellulose carton board in the Algro Design product range provides the ideal basis for uniform, visually and physically appealing, high quality brand communications.

End-users have unique experience with the

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excellent whiteness, surface quality and outstanding finishing properties of Algro Design. Sappi has expanded production of Algro Design and Algro Design Duo to its Maastricht mill.

Label Papers: new facestock grade At Interpack, Sappi will be launching a new facestock label paper in the form of Parade FS, which is suitable for use in self-adhesive label applications such as stickers and price tags. Parade FS can be printed with offset, flexographic and gravure and laminated. The glossy paper, coated on one side, ensures a brilliant appearance and excellent print results.

Flexible Packaging: Large range

for specific applications Sappi offers a comprehensive range of coated and uncoated papers for food and non-food applications in the field of flexible packaging. These include speciality papers for sachets, bags and wrappers. The speciality papers that are coated on one side are ideal for outer packaging of products requiring high-quality printing. Uncoated varieties lend themselves to inner packaging, foil lamination and pouches.

Consulting and investment for the future Also at Interpack, experienced packaging specialists from Sappi will be discussing potential packaging concepts with visitors attending from around the world. “We are the

expert and reliable partner when it comes to challenging packaging solutions as well as the manufacturing and processing processes for these types of packaging,” confirms Thomas Kratoch will, Vice President Sales & Marketing at Sappi Packaging and Speciality Papers. “In light of the high investment levels and significant amount of work that Sappi has put into packaging and speciality papers, we will be offering even more surprises to visitors at our Interpack stand.

For this reason, we are delighted to invite all visitors to stop by the Sappi booth to discuss their specific requirements with us.” Sappi has set itself the goal of launching at least two innovative products into the market each year. The results for the year 2017 will be on show at Interpack 2017.

Iggesund’s premium paperboard converts to digital luxury packaging at Xeikon Café Live print demonstrations shows high-quality effects of the Invercote and Incada paperboard grades

Iggesund was a returning partner of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations 2017 – 28 to 31 March, presenting its high-end heavyweight substrates that will convert to luxury packaging on a Xeikon digital press.

The Invercote and Incada paperboard grades that can transform into packaging, folders, brochures, paperback-covers, greeting cards, labels and tags, were shown in live print demonstrations and highlighted further on the Iggesund stand.

Founded in 1685, the Swedish Iggesund Paperboard is the proud maker of Invercote and Incada, two of the world’s leading paperboard brands preferred by some of the most demanding brand owners for their quality, functionality and design versatility.

At the Xeikon Café, Iggesund showed how their premium paperboard substrates attract attention in appearance, visual impact, and tactile impression of high-quality digital packaging applications.

“Xeikon Café attracts highly sophisticated printers, provides a fresh overview of

the digital market, and gives suppliers the opportunity to absorb feedback and insights to adapt accordingly,” said Wouter Hendrikse, Regional Manager Benelux, UK and Ireland at Iggesund. “We look forward to educating printers on the range of application possibilities with Invercote and Incada, and how to choose the right paperboard for their high-end digitally printed packaging.”

First-class paperboard with care for sustainability The Invercote and Incada product families have evolved over many years, during which the Iggesund paperboards have been continuously developed to meet the changing needs of packaging and graphical customers. Second-to-none sustainability initiatives in caring for the environment are essential to Iggesund, with their sustainably managed forests and environmentally sound mills.

Also made from pure virgin fibre sourced from sustainably managed Swedish forests, Invercote is a solid bleached board (SBB) and preferred by demanding brand owners for its durability, design versatility, taint and odour neutrality. The Invercote Metal print mirror-like paperboard with metallised PET laminated to the print side provides excellent conditions for decorative printwhere a luxurious appeal is required, in applications such as wine & spirits, perfume & cosmetics, toiletries, pharmaceuticals, brochures and confectionery.

Incada is a multi-layered Folding Box Board (FBB) based entirely on virgin fibre of known and traceable origin. Various graphical applications use Incada, such as picture postcards, brochures and book covers, and also for the packaging of cosmetics, health care items, confectionery, pharmaceuticals and tobacco products.

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Esko announces Prepress Innovation Tour ‘17 Germany, Austria and Switzerland success leads to roadshow expansion to other parts of Europe and America Experiencing customer proximity and strengthening understanding of the future of packaging prepress is critical to product development strategy. Building on its successful tour across the German-speaking European markets, where this type of customer intimacy was achieved, Esko is planning to extend road show programme with its Prepress Innovation Tour’ 17. The road show is set to tour different European locations, including France, Italy, England and Netherlands from March 28 to May 18. In

addition, there are plans to take it to America.

During October 2016, more than 200 ArtPro users were able to witness the performance of the newly configured packaging prepress editor at five roadshow events held in Vienna, Zurich, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Düsseldorf.

The concept of combining software demonstrations, automation workshops and presentations about the future of packaging prepress from Esko’s perspective has proven to be a winning combination giving users and a sense of being on the right path in their own packaging prepress strategies and build confidence in their ongoing relationship with Esko. Participants commenting on the event termed it as: “really promising”; “much more advanced than we’d expected”; “the many new ArtPro+ functionalities are indispensable”; “Esko has outsmarted the competition” and “Esko has been and will be

the vital partner you can trust in this field.”

“This is a great way for Esko to present its latest software innovations,” states Niels Stenfeldt, Esko’s EMEA vice president. “We can dive much deeper into the software to help customers ensure they get the most business benefit out of their prepress solutions. We can also show them how other solutions can enable them to transform their production processes.”

Apart from Netherlands – Breda on 28 March, the event takes place in Italy – Milan and Salerno on 19th and 20th March recpectively; UK – Leeds on 25th and Birmingham on 26th April; and France – Dijon, Limoges and Paris on 16,17 and 18 May respectively.

Finat European Label Forum briefs the Label industry “There are very few occasions in any industry when leading players across all relevant disciplines can usefully get together,” says Jules Lejeune, Managing Director of the international labelling association FINAT. “Our FINAT European Label Forum is certainly one such opportunity – and it represents a present-and-future business briefing that encompasses both the global environment and industry-specific topics across the many aspects of this diverse packaging business sector.”

Broad spectrum of participants Familiarly known as ‘ELF’, the annual European Label Forum takes place this year in Berlin, 7-9 June, and will bring together a broad spectrum of industry participants, from raw material suppliers to end users, to debate current major strategic business topics and gain in-depth wide-spectrum market knowledge from the formal speaker agenda.

Focus: label industry future An extensive keynote session will feature the definition and impact of ‘the fourth

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industrial revolution’ on the label industry, a special agenda item will see all the session’s individual speakers come together on the podium: Andy Hobsbawm, co-founder of Internet of Things ‘Smart Platform’ EVRYTHNG (UK/US); Stephen Lechel, partner in Porsche Consulting (DE); and Jan Denys (BE), Labour Market Expert at employment group Randstad. FINAT ELF Committee Members Niklas Olsson (SE) and Marc Büttgenbach (DE) will interview them, and drill down into their combined expertise to determine their focussed vision of the future for the label industry.

moderators Paul de Ruijter (NL) of De Ruijter Strategy and Chris Ellison (UK), incoming FINAT President and owner/CEO of OPM Labels & Packaging. The highly-relevant focal point for the debate will also form the core of a full afternoon’s workshop, hosted by De Ruijter Strategy, on the prior day.

The FINAT business debate Equally valuable insights will be provided the next day by the FINAT business debate, featuring three international label industry leaders – Geoff Martin, President of CCL Label (CN); Adrian Tippenhauer (DE) from All4Labels, the recently-merged international label converter group; and Dan Muenzer (US), Vice President, Marketing, for Constantia Flexibles Labels Division. They will debate with the audience on label industry scenarios for, specifically, 2020-2025 – led by

Comprehensive event programme Major innovations, challenges, and opportunities for the label industry will be addressed in the event’s full schedule of presentations, and FINAT ELF participants can also benefit from extensive networking around a supplier tabletop exhibition, a lively social programme and the annual presentation of the prestigious FINAT Label Competition and Recycling Awards.

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Sappi launches new website Highlights global presence, increased functionality and robust educational resources.

Sappi, a global provider of sustainable woodfibre products and solutions, recently launched its new website with significant updates benefitting customers, investors, employees and other stakeholders. This newly redesigned website is one of the many steps Sappi is taking to unite its global divisions as part of its groundbreaking 2020Vision strategy, which seeks to pursue growth opportunities in the woodfibre industry.

The new website features full descriptions of products and services offered; comprehensive award-winning educational materials for customers; in-depth sustainability reporting; easy access to corporate social responsibility efforts; dynamic portals for customers and investors and a prominent social media presence.

“A dedicated team of Sappi employees across the world has been working tirelessly over the last year to create a website that not only encapsulates our global 2020Vision, but that serves each of our key stakeholders in a way that is both informative, actionable and personalised,” said André Oberholzer, Group Head Corporate Affairs of Sappi. “Sappi.com is now an essential source of information for all our stakeholders. We’re proud and excited by this launch, but our work is far from done.

We’ve laid a solid foundation and will remain dedicated to quality. The team at Sappi will be making continuous improvements for each of our unique stakeholders.”

While the entire website was redesigned,

there are two features with increased functionality that offer additional benefits to users.

First, the Sappi&You Online portal for European customers offers a personalised online experience for printers, publishers and brand owners. Supported by eCommerce, it provides increased functionality to support its customers. Information is tailored to the customers’ specific needs allowing fast access to transactional information, local specialists, detailed product information, sample ordering or benefit from Sappi’s in depth technical knowledge and support areas. It is not only customers who benefit from Sappi&You Online, companies who would like to learn more about how Sappi&You can support their businesses will find useful information about Sappi’s co-development approach as well as putting

them in touch with the local specialists.

Second, a new hub dedicated to investors will provide background information on Sappi and the industry, as well as regularly updated share pricing, financial results, upcoming financial events, financial presentations and information on the 2020Vision.

“We see this investment as a key resource that helps drive our company toward our goal of ‘One Sappi’ – a single global brand,” continued Oberholzer. “With more resources immediately available to our audiences than ever before, and our resulting increased transparency, we will continue our position as a thought leader in the industry. We are excited to enter the next phase of our business strategy, where we will continue to innovate and offer products and services that are of the highest quality to our customers.”

Moving into the packaging cluster By moving from Volketswil to Neuhausen, KOLLMORGEN has left the Swiss Canton of Zürich and opened its new subsidiary for Sales and Engineering in Neuhausen.

By changing location to the Canton of Schaffhausen next to the Rhine Falls, the company, which specializes in servo drive technology and motion control, has opened up more opportunities in systems and product training.

– especially in the material handling and packaging technology sectors.

KOLLMORGEN, with its servo technology and motion control, has a lot to offer in this sector”, said Thomas Ochsner, Regional office manager. Neuhausen is the ideal location - especially when you consider Schaffhausen is near the International Packaging Institute (IPI), the center of the Swiss packing machine cluster.

“We want to continue to grow in Switzerland

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signage printing

ColorJet shows world first at Shanghai show Had live demonstrations of its latest Eco Solvent concept printer with XAAR Printhead at APPPEXPO.

of Colorjet, has a width of 1.8 metres and runs at astounding speeds with better print quality, particularly pertaining to dot placements.

“APPPEXPO is an important platform for ColorJet to introduce new technology advancements and ColorJet India, one of the leading wide format digital printer manufacturers in India, had live demonstrations of the world’s first Eco Solvent concept printer. The demonstrations of the printer with XAAR MEMS printhead technology took place at APPPEXPO trade show in Shanghai. APPPEXPO is a one of a kind show that derives its focus from the huge and consistently evolving digital signage industry across the world.

ColorJet and XAAR join hands to introduce the latest MEMS printheads technology. They have worked closely on development and testing in its conceptual stage.

Key Notes : > Colorjet & XAAR collaborate on incorporating MEMS printhead technology > First Eco Solvent concept printer with MEMS technology showcased at APPPEXPO > Printer has width of 1.8 metres and runs at astounding speeds.

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XAAR an award-winning manufacturer, known for piezoelectric drop-on-demand industrial inkjet printheads, joined hands with ColorJet to introduce its latest MEMS printheads technology. Colorjet and XAAR worked closely on development and testing in the conceptual stage.

The concept Eco Solvent printer which has been developed at the Indian manufacturing facility

solutions and we are delighted to be chosen by XAAR as their preferred technology partner,” Smarth Bansal, Senior Product Manager at Colorjet said. “We believe in bringing stable and efficient technology to our users with low cost of ownership, and thus help them boost profitability.”

ColorJet, the digital inkjet printers major from India, markets its products in 14 countries worldwide.

Founded in 2004, the company maintains its operations via two manufacturing facilities and sales offices spread across seven countries, which include India , China, Bangladesh , UAE and Sri Lanka,. Todate, ColorJet has installed and implemented over 4,000 of its printing solutions and products across 315 cities around the world backed by a strong 278 member team, of which almost 100 are in technical related functions.

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XAAR collaborates with Materialise To facilitate 3D Inkjet equipment development.

In a further enhancement of services to its 3D customers, Xaar has announced that the prominent 3D print software from Materialise, Materialise Magics and Materialise Build Processor, will be included as a bundle option with Xaar’s additive manufacturing development kit. This means that Xaar’s customers who are looking to develop their own inkjet enabled 3D Printing /Additive Manufacturing equipment will benefit from a simple “one-stop shop” approach to initiating a development programme using the very best 3D Printing software and inkjet development starter kit.

Materialise incorporates more than 25 years of 3D printing experience into a range of software solutions and 3D printing services, which together form the backbone of 3D printing technologies, whilst Xaar delivers distinguished inkjet technology used in additive manufacturing 3D equipment.

Materialise Magics is the top of the line data preparation software for Additive Manufacturing. It allows users to make their 3D models printable by state-of-the-art mesh repair, advanced mesh editing, advanced mesh enhancement functions and more.

The Materialise Standard Image Build Processor bridges the gap between 3D software and inkjet 3D printing machines.

It seamlessly interfaces with Materialise Magics and transforms prepared 3D models to an inkjet machine specific data format (images). The transformation process is described in build strategy profiles and can easily be adopted to any inkjet 3D Printing technology by a user friendly profile editor.

The Build Processor will allow users to output multi-channel and multi-pass formats enabling the user to build up complex print strategies. The

advanced pixel fill methods such as gradient fills and tiling allow the user to fill print areas with whatever pattern they want, resulting in build strategies that bring the best out of the inkjet 3D printer.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with 3D Printing software leader, Materialise, to deliver to our customers a fantastic and comprehensive development kit,” comments Neil Hopkinson, Director of 3D Printing at Xaar. “Combining Xaar’s printing systems and Materialise’s software solutions gives

our customers easy access to best-inclass complementary technologies and will undoubtedly allow for much easier and faster 3D printer development programmes.”

“We believe that partnerships are important to empower the 3D Printing ecosystem with the best solutions. The bundling of Xaar’s printhead expertise and Materialise’s neutral software backbone will enable Xaar’s customers to get the most out of their inkjet machines,” says Karel Brans, Director Business Line OEM at Materialise.

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Ricoh Pro L4100 Series in Color-Logic first Ricoh’s Pro L4100 Series is the first latex system to achieve global Color-Logic certification. It will be demonstrated at FESPA 2017 in Hamburg from 8 to 12 May. The Ricoh Pro L4100, combined with the ColorGATE Production server software, is now certified for use with the Color-Logic process, a global standard in metallic and decorative effect colour communications for a variety of special effect printing applications. Color-Logic’s decorative effects use existing workflows to achieve dynamic results without the use of special equipment.

Its simple print production process enables print service providers to provide brand owners, product managers, corporations, and their advertising agencies with the ability to differentiate.

Chief Technology Officer for Color-Logic.

“The samples received were printed on KernowJET Gloss Silver 119gsm substrate.

The benefit of Ricoh’s latex engine, combined with the dramatic effects created

by Color-Logic’s software, will create new revenue opportunities for Ricoh’s print service providers and their clients.”

Benoit Chatelard, Vice President, Production Printing, Ricoh Europe, says: “With the ColorLogic certification we can open new worlds of applications. With improved latex possibilities and expanded media options, including metallic, we can enable clients in the label,

packaging, commercial print, POS and signage markets, or from industrial sectors such as screen printing companies, to create impactful results. This will help set them apart from the competition.”

Print service providers using RIP technology other than ColorGate should check with their local Ricoh office for further details on how to utilise the Color-Logic solution and the Ricoh Pro L4100 series.

Color-Logic certification was also awarded to the Ricoh Pro C7100 Series with the EFI Fiery RIP and white and clear toner in 2015.

The Ricoh Pro L4100 Series, with Ricoh’s own non-solvent based aqueous resin inks, features the latest generation of Ricoh’s piezo variable drop print heads. These can deliver latex ink droplets as small as four picolitres. It can run metallic and transparent vinyl, PET films, backlit display media and polyester substrates.

“The engine did a great job of reproducing all Color-Logic’s decorative effects and 250 metallic colours,” states, Richard Ainge,

Events Calendar Print Miracle Expo 2017

Pharmapack 2017

Date: 07 APR -17 to 09 APR-17 Venue: CIAL Trade & Exhibition Centre, Kochi, Kerala

Date: 26 SEP -17 to 28 SEP-17 Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Intelpack 2017

IPEX 2017

Date: 26 SEP -17 to 28 SEP-17 Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Foodtek 2017 Date: 26 SEP -17 to 28 SEP-17 Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Date: 31 OCT 17 to 3 NOV 17 Venue: NEC, Birmingham UK

PAMEX 2017 Date: 18 DEC-17 to 21 DEC-17 Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon Mumbai, Maharashtra

Readers are required to confirm the dates of the exhibition from the organizers. This is a reader service provided by PRESSIdeas and the company cannot be held responsible for any error or omission.

If your event is not listed in the above list, kindly write to us at info@pressideas.com with subject as event and we shall gladly be including the same as above.

RNI:CHA/ENG/2001/3989