April 2012 by PrintAction

.com

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Cloudy with a Chance of Datum Zac Bolan’s search for a replacement of his beloved iDisk yields many suitors for online data storage

drupa Spotlight: Wide-format Inkjet The fourth article in this series looks at the latest in display graphics and associated finishing equipment

Q&A: Reed Hecht Epson’s Product Manager for Professional Imaging discusses the strategy and technology behind the new SureColor Series

NEWS Michael Mugavero heads up manroland sheetfed North America, Ottawa’s Lowe-Martin acquires Dollco, and Annan & Bird receives its VLF

CALENDAR May 2012 drupa runs for two weeks in Düsseldorf, Avanti users head to San Diego, and the OPIA celebrate the excellence of print

INKJET The Return of Benny Landa Landa’s Nanographic Printing causes a stir at drupa, while partnerships with three offset manufacturers are unveiled

Digital Printing

Features

Data Services & List Management

CONTENTS Volume 51, Number 4

e-tools

Variable Imaging

Columns

VICTORIA GAITSKELL Packaging Spirits The rise of ready-to-drink liquors and specialty brands mean more opportunities for innovative packaging

ANDREW TRIBUTE Inkjet is Not the Only Future Despite being out of the limelight of late, new electrophotography breakthroughs are presented by HP and Xeikon

Archive

April 1997 The Blue Jays play ball on snowy grounds, Studio 54 opens its doors in New York and a new plate plant opens in Canada

Resources 19 Services to the Trade Cover Illustration: Clive Chan

29 Marketplace

www.andrewsdm.com tel: 416.798.7557 email: info@andrewsdm.com 226 Industrial Parkway North, Aurora, ON Est. 1951 APRIL 2012 • PRINTACTION • 3

PERSPECTIVE

Positive Print Position day before drupa 2012 opened, dozens of journalists and analysts crowded into Landa 300-seat theatre for their first look at the new technology developed AbyCorporation’s a modern-day printing legend. Even before Benny Landa, founder of Indigo, began

PRESENTS

drupa Technology Review Conference Putting the Action into Print! A one day conference focusing on the most significant technology trends seen at drupa 2012. This is the event to attend if you did • Digital Presses not get the opportunity to travel to drupa 2012. Bring your team • Finishing for Digital Printing to the Mississauga International Centre. Centrally located, free parking and no need for them to pack a suitcase! • Wide Format and Signage

3 Technology Tracks

Thursday, September 27, 2012 International Conference Centre, 6900 Airport Rd., Mississauga, Ontario

to speak, an audible buzz emanated from the crowd staring down at two futuristic Nanographic Printing Presses – both a sheet- and web-fed version – stamped by an enormous iPhone-like display. As Landa walked us through his new vision, I could not help wondering why, after selling Indigo to HP for around $630 million 10 years ago, he would return to an industry in such flux. The obvious answer is technological pioneers of his stature – made from the mould of a Steve Jobs or Bill Gates – are driven by forces far exceeding the vision and ambition of most. The late Steve Jobs continued to take enormous risks with Apple, but his iVision is positioned within consumer digital media – the future of communications. Why would Landa reinvest millions into what so many see as a dying communications medium. His answer – a positive message to all commercial printers – came near the end of a 30-minute presentation: “Let’s face it, eventually printed media will be replaced by digital media. In my opinion, there is absolutely no doubt about it. There is nothing more ephemeral than technology, here today, obsolete tomorrow – even printing on paper. Printed paper, chopped up trees on which we smear pigments, one day that is all going to be replaced by digital media. “But, you know something: Mankind has been communicating with paper for 5,000 years and has been printing for 600 years. This is not going to happen for many decades. We will see declines, but certainly printed media is going to be a very important, powerful, major market for many decades to come. For most of us in this room, and for all of our customers, what really counts is the horizon. For most of us, the horizon is the next 20 years or so. “So the question that everyone should ask themselves is, ‘How can I prosper while the industry transitions from conventional printing to digital printing and ultimately to digital media?’ If I really believed digital media was going to take over printing in our lifetimes… what would I be doing here? Why would I be doing all of this? “I said… will eventually become digital. That eventually is so far away that, right now, the opportunity looks fantastic and those who are depressed about the idea that iPads – or whatever they are going to call them in the future – are going to replace [printed] media aren’t thinking right. They are looking far too far over the horizon. In our lifetimes, there are gigantic – huge – opportunities for this industry and our customers if they make the right moves. “You might think the answer is that [commercial printers] should become digital print shops… but you would be wrong – that isn’t the answer… it is that other 98 percent that is the huge opportunity: mainstream commercial printing that has not yet been touched by digital and that is where nanographic printing presses come in. “You see it is not about opening up new digital printing business opportunities. It is all about making money from the business that you already have.” Jon Robinson, Editor

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Editor Jon Robinson • 416.665.7333 ext. 30 • jon@printaction.com Associate Editor Clive Chan • 416.665.7333 ext. 25 • clive@printaction.com Contributing Writers Zac Bolan, Clint Bolte, Peter Ebner, Chris Fraser, Victoria Gaitskell, Dr. Martin Habekost, Nick Howard, Thad McIlroy, Gordon Pritchard, Josh Ramsbottom, Nicole Rycroft, Andrew Tribute, Trish Witkowski Publisher Sara Young • 416.665.7333 ext. 31 • sara@printaction.com Associate Publisher Stephen Longmire • 416.665.7333 ext. 26 • stephen@printaction.com Production Manager Anders Kohler • 416.665.7333 ext. 37 • anders@printaction.com Intern Tiffany Kay Garcia • 416.665.7333 ext. 34 • tiffany@printaction.com Advertising Sales Sara Young • 416.665.7333 ext. 31 • sara@printaction.com Stephen Longmire • 416.665.7333 ext. 26 • stephen@printaction.com Circulation ADPIC Subscription Services • 800.363.3261 • subscriptions@printaction.com PrintAction is published by Youngblood Publishing Limited and is Canada’s only national monthly publication serving the graphic arts industry. ISSN 1481-9287. Annual Subscriptions: Canada: $31.15 ($27.57 + $3.58 HST) United States: CN$69.99; Other Foreign: CN$139.99

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PrintAction is printed by Sina Printing on Starbrite Plus 70lb Velvet Text and 80lb Gloss Text available from Unisource Canada, Inc. Youngblood Publishing Ltd. 610 Alden Rd., Suite 100, Markham, ON L3R 9Z1 Tel: 416.665.7333 • Fax: 905.752.1441 www.printaction.com Publications Mail Agreement Number 40010868 • ISSN 1481-9287 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to subscriptions@printaction.com

PRINT NEWS RYETAGA, formed by a group of students from Ryerson University’s Graphic Communications Management program, continued to shine a bright light on the school after their 2012 Journal won three top awards at last month’s TAGA Conference in Florida. Post-secondary printing programs from across North America, as part of a TAGA Student Chapter initiative established in 1985, compete in a journal competition. RyeTAGA’s 2012 Journal, while missing out on the coveted MICHAEL MUGAVERO, who established close Kipphan Cup for best overall publication, ties to Canada’s printing community over won key awards for Best in Publication his 42-year career, becomes Managing Di- Design, Best in Production Quality, and rector and CEO for manroland sheetfed Best in Overall Quality. GmbH’s Canadian and United States operations. In February 2012, manroland sheetfed GmbH was created by U.K.-based Langley Holdings, a privately owned British engineering group, which purchased the sheetfed operations – including the Offenbach manufacturing facility and international marketing organization (present in over 40 countries) – of manroland AG. The Executive Management Team for manroland sheetfed in North America is rounded out by Jon Surch, VP of Sheetfed Service Operations. Mugavero, meanwhile, has also accepted a position on the man- BERNHARD SCHREIER, CEO of Heidelberg, roland Inc. Board of Directors. announced the company concluded negotiations with its employees’ representatives, which will include reducing its global employee headcount to below 14,000 by mid-2014. As of December 31, 2011, Heidelberg had 15,666 employees worldwide. The company will also immediately reduce its capacity at German production sites by around 15 percent. This will involve shortening the work week to 31.5 hours for all staff and reducing remuneration levels accordingly. Heidelberg estimates these measures will ECLIPSE COLOUR AND IMAGING of Burling- help it realize cost savings of around €180 ton, Ontario, installed Canada’s first en- million by financial year 2013/2014. hanced HP Scitex FB7600, which is a large-format inkjet press designed for industrial printing applications. Eclipse specializes in large-format printing such as retail displays, signage, transit, packaging and out-of-home advertising. In addition to gloss and spot capabilities, the enhanced HP Scitex FB7600 includes the new Scitex White Ink Kit, while printing on flexible and rigid substrates up to 1-inch thick. In March 2010, Eclipse, housed in a 70,000-square-foot facility, was purchased from its U.S. parent company, Adams Outdoor Advertising, by WEBBER PRINTING’s Jim Andrey, Don Webtwo of the company’s senior managers, ber, Wes Parker and Steve Webber (left to right) celebrate the installation of a Ryobi Ralph Misale and Grant Malcolm. 3404 direct-imaging press on its production PE PLUS IMAGING celebrates becoming the floor in Brandon, Manitoba, which also first North American printing company houses traditional Ryobi offset presses. The to install a new Durst Rho P10 250. company’s new Ryobi DI press, purchased Founded in 1980, PE Plus Imaging pro- through Canadian Printing Equipment, vides services like Lambda photo print- is built around the ProFire Excel Imaging ing, digital die cutting, mounting and System and has an 18-inch format width. laminating, fulfillment and design, as Webber Printing was founded by Walter well as flatbed UV printing. The Durst Webber who, upon arriving in Canada in Rho P10 250 installed by PE Plus is a 2.5- 1905, entered the industry as a pressman for metre-wide flatbed inkjet system featur- a local newspaper. Webber Printing was ing 10-picoliter Quadro Array print then established in 1932 when his son, heads – manufactured by silicon-based Harry Webber, joined the family business. MEMS technology – that produce a res- A third generation of the family, Don Webber, purchased the company in 1979. olution up to 1,000 dpi. 6 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

ANTON SCHAAF was named President and CEO of Océ N.V. at the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting on April 17, 2012, while Ernst-Jan Minnema has been nominated as the operation’s new CFO. Océ was purchased by Canon back in 2010 for approximately $1 billion. Schaaf is to succeed Rokus van Iperen. From 1987 until 2005, Schaaf held various positions within Siemens AG and then served as Chief Technology Officer for Deutsche Telekom AG. C.J. GRAPHICS, led by President Jay Mandarino, received a combined total of 71 Gold Awards in the annual International and Canadian Gallery of Superb Printing competitions. C.J. Graphics also won the Best of Show award, sponsored by Heidelberg, while Colour Innovations took home the Best Use of Ink award, sponsored by Taniguchi Ink. The remaining Gold Award winners from the Craftsmen competition included Colour Innovations, Metro Label, Polytainers, The AIIM Group, and The Lowe-Martin Group.

LANCE STEEL, Hemlock operator; C.L. Ho, VP of Sales, Brausse Group; Dick Kouwenhoven, President of Hemlock Printers; and Jeff Taylor, Hemlock’s Sr. VP, Manufacturing and Operations celebrate the installation of a Brausse 1050SE automatic die-cutting and creasing machine. The 40inch format Brausse system, weighing 15.5 tonnes, has a top-rated speed of 7,500 cycles per hour. It also features a non-stop feeder – with motorized side shift and nonstop delivery with counter and tape inserter – for continuous running.

OMNISCREEN co-owners Frieso and David Boning, along with Gary Thompson of Fujifilm Canada, oversaw the installation of an Acuity Advance HS system. Based in Winnipeg, Omniscreen is a 35-year-old, family-owned company that, beginning in 2009, began to drive a portion of its production with Websites like Canada LawnSigns.com, CanadaStickerKing.com and CanadaBannerKing.com. The company also prints magnetic decals and signs, vehicle markings, and control panels.

MICHEL THERIAULT of Fujifilm and Posimage’s Jonathan L’Heureux, Operator, and Martin Boisvert, President, celebrate the installation of a new Fujifilm Acuity Advance inkjet system. Posimage of Quebec City serves businesses throughout the province with a diverse portfolio of signage products, including illuminated, engraved and channel signs. Posimage has been in business since 1989 and employs 65 people.

IRONSTONE MEDIA of Pickering, Ontario, submitted a Notice of Intent to file a ProTOM DEIGHTON becomes Vice President of posal within Canada’s Bankruptcy and InUnisource Canada’s Printing Paper Strategic solvency Act, which affords the company Business Unit. He joined Unisource Canada bankruptcy protection as it restructures. in 1991 and has since held various sales Founded in 1961, Ironstone Media today management roles within the company’s consists of three divisions, with around 100 printing paper, national accounts and facility employees, including Web Offset Publicasupply segments. In 2010, Deighton left his tions, LinkPath and Imprint. position as General Sales Manager in the prairies and re-located to Toronto to work as CORRECTION NOTICE: PrintAction’s Iron Unisource Canada’s Director of Sales Effec- Index, March 2012, included Dye & tiveness. In mid-2011, he was appointed Vice Durham. The company was purchased by President of Sales Operations, responsible Magnum Fine Commercial Printing Ltd. for customer service and merchandising. and no longer exists.

GM for Calgary-based Bedford Industries. Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Rhino Print runs 12-, 8-, 6- and 5-colour offset presses across its manufacturing platform, as well as various toner and wide-format systems, and a large in-house bindery.

THE LOWE-MARTIN GROUP of Ottawa, led by CEO Ward Griffin, acquired Dollco Integrated Print Solutions, combining two of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most historic and largest privately owned printers into a $100 million operation. Also based in Ottawa, and founded in 1918, Dollco currently employs 260 people who focus on production in the publications sector, while also providing communications for product marketing. Dollco has been owned by the Nicholds family since 1956. Kevin Nicholds, former President of Dollco, assumes the title of President at Lowe-Martin to oversee a new division operating in the publication and web printing markets.

JOHN CROSFIELD, one of printingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s modern-era pioneers, passed away at age 96. Founding Crosfield Electronics in 1947, he became a pivotal figure in developing the application of electronics to all aspects of colour printing. Crosfield spearheaded the development of the first automatic colour registration device for offset presses, Autotron, the first colour scanner, Scanatron, and the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first enlarging CAREY SMITH becomes Vice President and and reducing drum scanner, the MagGeneral Manager for Rhino Print Solu- nascan 450. In 1974, Crosfield Electronics tionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; facility in Calgary, Alberta. His expe- was sold to The De La Rue Company, rience within the manufacturing sector is which was interested in the banknote hanbased on previous roles with General Elec- dling machines and to better integrate tric, Nedco and, more recently, as VP and colour-scanning technologies.

ANNAN & BIRD LITHOGRAPHERS of Mississauga took delivery of its new 6-colour Heidelberg XL 162 with coater. The 64-inch-wide sheetfed press â&#x20AC;&#x201C; capable of printing 15,000 sheets per hour without job interruption â&#x20AC;&#x201C; features Heidelbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Prinect Inpress Control and AutoPlate XL. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This strategic investment further strengthens our offset printing capabilities and, in particular, boosts Annan & Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to its packaging business,â&#x20AC;? said Ric Davis, Executive VP, Purchasing and Operations for Texas-based Consolidated Graphics, which purchased Annan & Bird back in August 2006. Founded in 1987 by Don Annan and Jack Bird, Annan & Bird made its first significant move into large-format offset production with the 1996 purchase of a 57-inch Mitsubishi press. The company then installed a 78-inch, 7-colour Lithotronic press in 1998, followed by a Valmet sheeter (1999) and a second 57-inch Mitsubishi. In 2003, after moving into a larger facility, Annan & Bird then brought in a 64-inch, 6-colour KBA 162a press, followed by a new 81-inch, 6-colour KBA 205.

HOT TECHNOLOGY. COOL CURE. DISCOVER L.E.D. SUPERWIDE UV PRINTING. Introducing the EFI VUTEk GS3250LX. Reduce cost of ownership and increase productivity ity with EFIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LED UV V-curing superwide printerr.

The new EFIâ&#x201E;˘ VUTEkÂŽ GS3250LX helps you drive down operating costs with decreased power consumption and no bulb replacements, thanks to EFI LED â&#x20AC;&#x153;cool cureâ&#x20AC;? technology. With no VOCs, less consumables and waste, and the ability to print on recycled and thinner, less expensive materials, the VUTEk GS3250LX helps you go green while increasing your application range for more high-volume, high-margin jobs. Heidelberg Canada Graphic Equipment, Ltd. 3KRQH ĹŤ ZZZ FD KHLGHOEHUJ FRP

APRIL 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ PRINTACTION â&#x20AC;˘ 7

PRINT CALENDAR Düsseldorf’s Altstadt, or Old Town, is colloqually known as the longest bar in the world, with nearly 300 pubs, restaurants, and clubs within an area of less than half a square kilometre. Perhaps because of this, in 2009 the city was named sixth highest for quality of life (out of more than 200 surveyed), and first in Germany.

MAY

The world’s largest printing exhibition – held every four years in Düsseldorf – continues for the next 13 days. Four years ago, the show featured 1,971 exhibitors from 52 countries and 390,000 visitors from 140 countries, including 59 percent from abroad.

drupa 2012, spread across 19 Halls in Düsseldorf, comes to a close. An interim report from show management shows some 170,000 visitors from 115 countries passed through the turnstiles over the first seven days of the exhibition – a drop of 20 percent from 2008.

Canadian Marketing Association hosts a lunch-hour Webinar called UnManageable Customers, Strategies for Engaging Customers with Social CRM, featuring Frank Falcone Social CRM Strategy Advisor for Navantis Inc. $30

Avanti hosts its 2012 User Group Conference at the Del Coronado Seaside Hotel, in San Diego, California, which was once the backdrop for “Some Like It Hot” with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The 3-day event features several workshops and facility tours of LAK Advertising and VDP Direct.

The Digital Imaging Association hosts a drupa Review event at the Spicers/ PaperlinX location in Vaughan, Ontario. The hour-and-a-half long session features a panel discussing the trends and technologies of drupa 2012.

PAC, The Packaging Association, hosts two golf tournaments for regional members, including today’s event at the Alberta Springs Golf Resort ($175). On May 31, PAC hosts its annual Quebec region tournament at Club de Golf Atlantide ($225*).

Ontario Printing Industries Association hosts its annual Excellence in Print Awards night at the St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto, with sponsors Heidelberg, U-Pak, Cober Evolving Solutions, GK, Sun Chemical, Domtar, Metroland and DocketManager. $110*

Canadian Marketing Association hosts a lunch-hour Webinar called Online Video Advertising, with featured speaker Nick Drew, Research Manager at Yahoo! Canada, to discuss how Canadian companies are using short-form video content to reach potential clients. $30

Interquest holds a Digital Printing Forum at Ryerson’s School of Graphic Communications Management in Toronto. Running from 9 a.m to 5 p.m., the event focuses on two topics: Digital Book & Manual Printing and Digital Printing & Multi-Channel Communications. $280*

The 44th-annual Goss Metro Users Group Conference continues for three days at the Saddlebrook Conference Center in Tampa, Florida, including printing pundits and newspaper leaders.

Pricing listed at standard rates, with * denoting the availability of member or early-bird discounts.

8 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

Galerie Art is uniquely engineered for high brightness and exceptionally smooth surface- that means razor sharp imagery and colours that pop.

Ima Imagery age gery y at it at its bes best. tts b cost-effective solution Ac for projects where high quality is essential.

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The Return of Benny Landa enny Landa, unveiling his latest innovative to a crowd of journalists gathered in a 300-seat theatre at drupa, admitted there is still much work to be done before commercializing Landa Nanograhic Printing: “These presses are going to ship, at the earliest, in the second half of next year.” This fact was evident on Landa Corporation’s drupa booth, where three of the five presses on display simply passed blank sheets. No printed samples were to be found, beyond a few encased pieces inside the theatre itself. Landa stresses his development plan, however, is to make the technology ready for primetime as soon as it leaves the testing facility. “We will bring these machines to full offset standards in our own shop, not on a pressroom floor,” he says, after describing the black eye Indigo took in the late-1990s when the press platform was rushed to market. “I made every mistake that one can make, but I try not to make the same ones twice.” At drupa 1995, Benny Landa opened up a new technological direction for the industry by unveiling his Indigo digital press, which had been under development for some 15 years. While companies like Xerox and Canon initiated the era of digital printing years earlier, Landa’s Indigo technology, specifically its unique application of liquid toner, met with the mindset of commercial printers who would soon need to transform their businesses for short-run production. Nanographic Printing Presses are positioned along the same vein, to introduce a new inkjet process with the ability to capture pages in the offset space, which Landa describes as still producing 98 percent of the

From Top: Benny Landa presents enthusiastically to the world’s print industry journalists. The Landa booth was among the most crowded at the show. Landa’s ink system includes the use of collaspable containers which are completely recylcable. A cutaway illustration of one of Landa’s sheetfed inkjet presses

Name S5 S7 S10 W5 W10 W50

Type Sheetfed Sheetfed Sheetfed Narrow Webfed Webfed Webfed

Format B3 (20.5") B2 (29") B1 (41") 22" 40" 22"

Speed 11,000 sph simplex/5,500 sph duplex 12,000 sph/6,000 sph 13,000 sph/6,500 sph 200m/min 200m/min 200m/min

world’s pages, versus just two percent generated from digital – both toner and inkjet. “Landa Nanographic Printing Presses allow you to produce shortto medium-run lengths that all of our customers demand at less than the cost of offset printing, and that is the major message that we have.” As with Indigo, which HP purchased for around $630 million in 2002, Nanography also revolves around a distinct Landa-developed consumable, called NanoInk, comprised of pigment particles only tens of nanometers in size. “Many materials when reduced to nanometer size acquire extraordinary properties,” says Landa – “Amazingly powerful colourants enabling an entirely new kind of digital printing with undreamed-of attributes.” Nanographic Printing begins with the ejection of billions of microscopic droplets of water-based NanoInk onto a heated blanket conveyor belt. Each droplet lands at a precise location on the belt, creating the colour image. As the water evaporates, the ink becomes an ultra-thin dry polymeric film, described by Landa as less than half the thickness of offset images. The resulting image, without requiring pretreatment, is then transferred (single- or double-sided) to a range of common substrates, coated or uncoated paper, plastics or label stock. A key to the process is that Landa’s ink film does not absorb into the substrate, creating a laminated layer with naturally sharp dots of high optical density and abrasion resistance. Landa also describes his new technology as an environmentally progressive process. “There is nothing like pure, clean water to base ink on,” he says. “Even if our customers can afford other types of ink like solvent or UV inks, our planet can’t. In the future, all printing will be water-based printing.” While it is still early days for Landa Nanographic Printing, three recently announced development partnerships with litho giants Komori, Heidelberg and manroland – eager to find new avenues into digital printing – speak to the process’ potential. At drupa, printers put their support behind the process with a $10,000 deposit to be placed on a list for early access to the B1-format, 13,000-sheet-per-hour Landa S10 press. – Jon Robinson

10 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

VICTORIA GAITSKELL

Packaging Spirits T

his spring and summer, a flood of new flavoured spirits on the shelves of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) may make your shopping experience seem more like choosing ice cream than alcohol. The addition of fruit, spice, and candy flavours; deluxe small-batch manufacturing; and screen-printing on bottles in place of paper labels are among recent trends pushing for an evolution in the packaging and contents of alcoholic spirits. Behind these dramatic innovations is a two-pronged strategy to grow sales: On the one hand, by reaching out to younger drinkers and first-time experimenters, and on the other hand, by strengthening the loyalty of established customers and extending the lifetime and range of their purchases within their preferred brands. I spoke with Stacee Roth, LCBO’s Category Manager for White Spirits, Ready-To-Drink and Accessories, as well as Marijke McLean, LCBO’s Category Manager for Brown Spirits and Duty Free, to learn more about the products, packaging, and marketing strategies driving this season’s latest trends. Cake, marshmallow, and cinnamon vodka

Roth reports, that in the past five years, LCBO’s overall vodka sales have grown over $100 million and since 2009 have overtaken Canadian whiskey to become their largest single product category. She attributes this rise in popularity to the fact that vodka is clear, colourless, relatively mild tasting and, therefore, versatile for combining with mixers. She adds that vodka’s relatively low calorie count appeals to weight-watchers, who tend to belong to a younger age demographic. Roth says, that from April until the end of September of this year, the LCBO will be pushing its seasonal program of flavoured vodkas “heavily and extensively.” As confirmation, my recent survey of LCBO’s vodka shelves turned up an amazing assortment of flavoured options alongside the more traditional formulas of such major brands as American Smirnoff (all of whose flavoured varieties cost $25.95 for 750 ml and include coconut, green apple, lime, orange, raspberry, vanilla, and watermelon). LCBO is spotlighting six trendy and new dessertflavoured vodkas. The leading SKU in this series, Three Olives Cake (750 ml, $25.95), is an English vodka with added artificial tastes of cake and vanilla icing. It comes in a festive, label-less bottle with electric blue lettering and simulated rainbow – coloured sprinkles scattered all over it. “Consumers are gravitating toward cocktails, and the flavoured vodkas don’t take a lot of time to mix.

You just chill them and serve them neat,” explains Roth. “Three Olives Cake has a lower ABV [alcohol by volume] content at 35 percent alcohol, whereas straight spirits typically have 40 percent alcohol, so it does not deliver as much of a burn.” Allied products include Pinnacle Whipped Vodka, flavoured with imitation whipped cream (France, 750 ml, $25.45), Smirnoff Fluffed Marshmallow Vodka (U.S.A., 750 ml, $25.95), and soon-to-be-released-in-Ontario Sobievski Cinnamon (Poland), a product that already ranks among the fastest-growing spirits in the United States.

Crystal skulls, small-batch and artisanal brands

Roth says LCBO’s flavoured vodka segment is enjoying current sales growth of over 6.5 percent, but deluxe vodkas such as Grey Goose (France, 750 ml, $48.95) are even more popular. Other drivers in the vodka segment include three unflavoured brands: Tag No. 5 (Canada, 750 ml, $25.30), Russian Standard (Russia, 750 ml, $25.45), and Crystal Head Vodka, a packaging showpiece (Canada, 750 ml, $59.95). Crystal Head comes in a clearglass bottle inside a cardboard box and is shaped to resemble one of the 13 mysterious quartzcrystal skulls that archaeologists have excavated from various ancient cultures around the world. Launched in 2008, Crystal Head Vodka is filtered by an unusual process using quartz crystals and was born of a business partnership between actor Dan Akyroyd and artist John Alexander. Roth says such premium offerings serve to retain and upsell established customers, and that LCBO is handling increasing numbers of these unique highend products aimed at spirits devotees and status-seekers. McLean says LCBO’s brown-spirits category has added new small-batch and artisanal products as well, some from major distilleries that she says are just as capable as small suppliers of making premium products in a more controlled, handcrafted way. “Small batches, especially of American whiskey, are very new to Canada and there is still not a lot of supply, but they have been very successful,” she says. “For these products, suppliers tend to put a lot of thought, energy, and dollars into packaging. For example, Maker’s Mark 46 [U.S.A., 750 ml, $49.95] handdips and seals every bottle in wax. Blanton’s Original Bourbon [U.S.A., 750 ml, $64.65] has an interesting, 36-sided dice bottle with handdipped wax and a small equestrian figurine on top. In some cases, the bottles are hand-numbered to emphasize that it’s a small-batch product.” LCBO’s fancy new offerings and recent marketing push to transform hard liquor into two innocuous polarities – either frivolous, fruity cocktails or posh, handcrafted giftware – had me wondering: Could these innovations encourage people to consume alcohol in increasing, ever more dangerous, amounts? Research has shown this is not the case. Rather, alcohol can be categorized as a mature product, meaning consumers are already aware of the product and its basic characteristics. Thus, overall consumption of the product is not significantly affected by advertising specific brands. In fact, a landmark study by Joseph C. Fisher, Advertising, Alcohol Consumption, and Abuse: A Worldwide Survey (1993), suggests that advertising APRIL 2012 • PRINTACTION • 11

has no impact whatsoever on either alcohol consumption or alcohol abuse. Under Fisher’s findings, if advertising cannot increase total alcohol consumption, the most alcohol advertisers can achieve is either to strengthen the loyalty of their established customers or else gain market share by inducing new customers to try their brand or to have other brands’ customers to switch. A bottle of spice, gin rebirth and whiskey

Roth reports that LCBO’s rum category is growing well at 4.7 percent. Again, the key driver for rum is the flavoured segment – in this case meaning rum flavoured with spices – a product now growing at an amazing rate of 29 percent. “The trend started with the success of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum (Canada, 750 ml $28.45) and has grown significantly, with the newest entrants being Malibu Black Coconut Flavoured Rum (Canada, 750 ml, $27.95), which has the characteristics of a liqueur, and Bacardi Oakheart Spiced Rum (U.S.A., 750 ml, $28.45), which is based on amber Bacardi rums aged in oak barrels plus vanilla flavouring,” explains Roth. Their number-one seller is The Kraken Black Space Rum (Trinidad and Tobago, 750 ml, $27.95), a brand launched over a year ago, with an individualistically shaped proprietary bottle depicting the kraken (a monstrous mythological squid) on its conventionally stuck-on paper label. Roth says, as with vodka consumers, seasoned rum customers are trading up to higher-end aged products that currently show

12 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

10.9-percent growth (for example, Pyrat XO Reserve Rum, Guyana, 750 ml, $44.95). Roth cites gin as a remarkable success story: After a long stretch of flat or declining sales, the spirit is now experiencing a resurgence of interest and current growth of 4.7 percent. “Gin is basically vodka steeped with juniper berries or other botanicals,” explains Roth. “People are transferring from vodka to gin because they want more flavour and the complexity gin adds to cocktails. “Deluxe gins in particular have been growing at a phenomenal rate of 42 percent,” she adds. “Most of the interest in the higher priced gin and vodka offerings is because of the status associated with premium brands.” Although gin is still a relatively small category, she says the LCBO intends to keep adding new products in the near future to build it. “In my categories, suppliers have been looking at designing distinctive, high-impact bottles to enforce their brand identity and call out their product on the shelf,” says Roth. “The Kraken’s bottle and Crystal Head Vodka’s container are among the more extreme examples. Other proprietary bottles that have impressed us lately include Chambord Flavored Vodka [France, 750 ml, $34.95, flavoured with Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur] and No. 3 London Dry Gin [England, 750 ml, $49.95 ], a new green bottle that looks as if an antique key has been pressed into it. The key is a symbol that talks to the

identity of the brand.” The name No. 3 refers to the address in St. James’s Street, London, where the product’s manufacturers, Berry Bros. & Rudd, have operated since 1698. “Alternatively, suppliers are calling out key attributes of their product on the bottle or label design,” Roth continues. “For example, Absolut Elyx [Sweden, 750 ml, $48.95] comes in a uniquely shaped bottle that is stouter, squared off, and metallic copper in colour to represent the copper-kettle manufacturing method used to produce it. The name and packaging of Beefeater 24 [England, 750 ml, $32.95] emphasize the 24 hours during which the product is steeped in botanicals. More deluxe gins tend to have packaging that Continued on page 27

ANDREW TRIBUTE

Inkjet is Not the Only Future early all of the recent highly publicized technology announcements, all the hype, in the digital printing market have revolved around high-speed inkjet printing. Little has been heard about the established form of digital printing, namely printing using electrophotographic (toner-based) technology. We have heard about many vendors moving into high-speed inkjet printing, partnering with print head developers, or presenting prototype and significantly enhanced equipment, both in continuous-feed and sheetfed operational modes. Well, the situation has now changed because of two companies, which started the production-strength, digital colour printing market, announcing their next-generation platforms. The first of these was Xeikon, which indicated its Quantum technology is to be used in a new product. This development, however,

was to be only shown as a concept product at drupa 2012, held at the beginning of May in Düsseldorf, Germany. Unfortunately, I cannot say too much about this product yet, because Xeikon was being very tight-lipped leading into drupa. The company, however, does indicate that Quantum is to be a tonerbased device that will combine the 1,200-dpi image quality of its 8000 Series LED array-based machines. With a very focused press platform, Xeikon introduced its 8000 series of toner presses in early 2012, driven by upgraded workflow with a new user interface, called MyPress.

Xeikon 8000

According to Xeikon, Quantum promises to bring the highest quality of electrophotographic technology along with the use of standard substrates and the productivity of high-speed inkjet printing. Xeikon’s Quantum technology will indeed attract a lot of attention, while also surprising many people when they discover how this new technology shares

many similarities to that of HP Indigo. Which brings us to the other company to make a major announcement in this electrophotographic space prior to drupa – and what a major announcement this was! HP announced both its Series 4 platform and major upgrades to its established Series 3 platform of Indigo presses. The new platform comprises three totally new presses that will significantly change the digital printing industry. The HP Indigo 10000, 20000 and 30000 presses are true B2 Continued on page 26

HP Indigo 30000 HP Indigo 10000

14 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

Cloudy with a Chance of Datum by zac bolan

Data is fragile

and ostensibly the most valuable thing

we own, especially made evident when our hard drives go up in flames. For years digerati have relied on physical devices for backup, storage and remote access of their datum but now

there are clouds on the horizon.

As the big names scramble to bring online data storage to the masses, users are confounded by a plethora of eerily similar yet diverse cloud data storage strategies. While cloud data services have been available for years, all signs indicate 2013 could be a breakthrough year.

Its 2012, do you know Where your datum is? WHEN STEVE JOBS TOOK THE STAGE DURING Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June 2011 everyone knew something big was going to happen. After all, in retrospect, the clues were everywhere. During the preceding year, Apple had quietly built a massive data centre in North Carolina with no expressed purpose. At the same time, Jobs made no secret of his disdain for Apple’s beleaguered MobileMe service, making it a clear mandate to set things right in the cloud services world. So unlike many others, I wasn’t overly surprised at the WWDC announcement of MobileMe successor – iCloud. You see, as one of the original iTools users back in 2000, I had a unique perspective on Apple’s cloud computing initiatives. When the service morphed into .Mac, I began shelling out more than $100 annually for the privilege of Apple synching my devices, calendars, contacts, email and, most importantly, cloud-based file storage with iDisk. And in spite of all the problems created as .Mac painfully mutated into MobileMe, I was one of the few subscribers who were relatively happy with the service.

Despite MobileMe’s bumpy rollout at WWDC 2008, I managed to work out all of the synch bugs and enjoyed relatively stable parity between my iPhone and various Macs. As for cloud storage, Apple’s comparatively simple iDisk solution was ideal for my needs. I simply mounted a virtual iDisk partition on every desktop I worked with and stored frequently accessed files on Apple’s sluggish but reliable servers. And that’s the way it stayed until iCloud came on the scene. While Apple’s new service promised seamless harmony between all user devices within a single account, there was something very important missing… iDisk! Where would I store my files now? Within days of WWDC 2011, I received the dreaded Dear John email sent to all paid MobileMe subscribers. To ease my transition to an iDisk-less existence, Apple gave me an extra 25GB of storage until June 2012, when service would cease to exist. After that, I would be on my own!

APRIL 2012 • PRINTACTION • 15

synchronization technology enables near real-time sharing of active files, making it a natural fit for collaboration with offsite users. The developers recently added the ability to create and share links to any Dropbox file or folder, presenting the data in non-editable viewing mode within a browser window to anyone you forward the link to. Additionally, Dropbox supports revision history and can even recover files deleted from the server by accessing synched clients. Dropbox users start with a free 2GB Basic account and as data volume increases they can move up to Pro accounts with 50GB or 100GB capacities at price points between US$99 and US$199 per year. Workgroups requiring larger collaborative spaces can move up to 1TB+ Team accounts allowing for multiple users. Basic account users can still collaborate by creating shared folders and giving access to other Dropbox users on an individual basis. Dropbox supports Mac, Windows, Linux clients as well as iOS, Android and Blackberry on the mobile side. I’ve been using Dropbox for about a month now and I am impressed with its overall speed and stability. The company took some flak in 2011 over file security and their employees‘ ability to access the contents of users files. Dropbox listened and through several software updates now promises a much higher level of file and account security. Now if Dropbox Droppin’ it in the Box could only give me a desktop mountable I first heard of Dropbox virtual drive! when Steve Jobs tried to persuade the owners into SkyDrive selling it to him for $800 I started to use Microsoft’s million in 2009 to form the basis of SkyDrive service when iCloud… ‘nuff said! Dropbox founders writing “2011 Words about Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi Word 2011” for PrintAction, April 2011. thought their company was worth much Microsoft has been offering this cloud more than that, however; and with more storage service free-of-charge since it than 60 million users they may well be began a gradual roll out in 2007. Origiright. Some financial pundits currently nally christened Windows Live Folders, stake the company’s valuation as high as SkyDrive was designed as file storage and $10 billion. collaboration space for users of the The premise behind Dropbox is decep- Microsoft Live online services. As the tively straightforward… its an online service matured, support for Windows backup and file storage service. Files can Live Photo, as well as Office Web Apps, be accessed either through a Web browser was added – a very handy feature when or a synchronized hot-folder on your you need to edit your Word doc stored in computer – that’s it! You update a Word SkyDrive from a non-Office equipped doc within the Dropbox folder on your computer. On April 23, 2012, Microsoft laptop in Starbucks and its instantly up- launched its new and improved SkyDrive dated in your Dropbox folder at work, at with a scaling price and storage structure home, on your mobile phone or tablet. loosely mimicking Dropbox. While Dropbox was initially marketed as Currently all new SkyDrive users are a backup and storage service, its powerful given 7GB of free storage space to start, Head in the iClouds

To Apple’s credit, iCloud isn’t a bad service. For starters, it’s free. This massive cloud undertaking, however, is clearly aimed at the consumer with synch services enabling easy media sharing between all desktop, mobile, iOS and AppleTV devices. Take a picture on your iPhone, and it magically appears on your iPad; rent a movie on your AppleTV and you can watch it on your iPhone – you get the idea. In a trifling nod to those of us who have to make a living, iCloud does offer document synchronization, as long as those docs were built with one of Apple’s iWork applications – Pages, Keynote or Numbers. As good as these Apps are, the enterprise market still belongs to Microsoft Office – at least until Apple updates its aging office suite. So what is a working graphic arts professional to do? We’ve got big files in multiple formats to share and desperately need a non-proprietary way to do so. For me, the answer was simple – I needed to find another iDisk. I would consider any cloud solution that was secure; inexpensive; easy-to-setup; file format independent and preferably desktop mountable. Armed with this criteria, I queried peers and rummaged through the Googlesphere in the hopes of replacing my precious iDisk!

The DropBox Web interface as seen

with legacy SkyDrive on a Windows 7 client (right). accounts keeping q Menu bar access to local folder or their original 25GB Website also features status and storage cap. The maxpreferences – this is not part of the Web interface. imum allowable file size tops out at w DropBox creates online copies of synched files which can be 100MB. Files can be accessed through any Web browser. accessed through any browser supporting e Folders can be shared with individual users or groups. HTML5, the technology used by Microsoft r Online folders are mirrored between synched computers to build the user inoffering easy-to-use file backup. terface or through desktop shared folders. When adding files to SkyDrive through the Web browser, Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android users are prompted to locate and upload Apps, SkyDrive seems to be poised for a through browsing, rather than drag and much larger presence in the online file drop. Users can share specific files or storage market. Users can now mount a folders with individuals or the general desktop SkyDrive folder that automatipublic through setting permissions that cally synchronizes across all connected can include authorization for viewing or clients… just like Dropbox. Coincidence? editing. If two users are working with the I think not! same file, SkyDrive will not allow the Adobe edits to overwrite one another, instead Creative Cloud prompting the users to resolve the file Adobe has been cloudchanges. busting for a while now. While SkyDrive has the feel of a cloudAfter its strategic acquisibased work-in-progress, Microsoft has implied big plans for this service to tion of Macromedia in 2006, MM Breeze mature with deep integration into the was retooled and formed the foundation upcoming Windows 8 release. Addition- for Adobe Connect, eventually becoming ally, with the recent release of standalone the Acrobat Web collaboration toolkit.

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Adobe hopes to entice reluctant CS5 users to subscribe to the Creative Cloud, it claims users will still be able to purchase or upgrade either standalone products or suites, although detailed pricing wasn’t available at press time. Additionally, Adobe hopes to tempt legacy CS users to subscribe by offering the first year at a reduced rate of $29.99 per month. In addition to InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, Creative Cloud users will have immediate access to the full Adobe CS6 Master Collection, as well as many services including 20GB online storage, full file sync between PC and Touch devices, Adobe Business Catalyst, Adobe Typekit (thousands of Webfonts) and the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite for creating iPad App-based publications. Adobe is marketing CC as a hub for creative users providing tools, access to new features with mid-cycle updates, synched storage and backup in addition to a community knowledge base and social interaction for creatives. If it all comes together as advertised, the Adobe Creative Cloud could be the go-to cloud solution for graphic arts and new media producers when it goes online sometime in May 2012.

The DropBox desktop interface as seen on a Mac (left).

q Menu bar drop-down access to local folder or Website also features status and preferences.

w DropBox creates local copies of synched files in a standard Mac folder hierarchy.

e Folders can be shared with individual users or groups.

r Local folders are mirrored between synched computers and the Web-accessible data.

Cirrus brand protection with PantoneLIVE

Though not a true cloud service in the storage sense, Acrobat Connect is Adobe’s first foray into linking its users within an application-based walled garden. Since then Adobe has been hard at work herding creatives towards a harmonized integrated working experience through its Creative Suite applications. Announced October 2011, Creative Cloud was initially described as an online enabler of file storage and transfer from Adobe Touch Apps such as Revel, Photoshop Touch and Ideas to Creative Suite. As CC’s go-live date draws near, it’s becoming apparent that Adobe has significantly grander aspirations for this technology. With the imminent release of Creative Suite 6, Adobe finally seems to be poised to

bring a comprehensive cloud service to the creative world. Formally launched alongside CS6 on April 23, 2012, the new Creative Cloud combines online storage, community and collaboration services with a new subscription model for Creative Suite. With monthly charges starting at US$49.95 (with annual contract) users will gain access to the full CS6 collection including a few applications not currently bundled with CS, such as Photoshop Lightroom 4, Edge (think HTML5 version of Flash) and Muse (WYSIWYG Website design tool). Adobe introduced software subscriptions with CS 5.5 to relatively muted fanfare with many users deciding to stick with their standalone applications. While

As packaging and print follows the manufacturing sector further afield, corporate branding mavens have had a difficult time assuring a label printed in India matches a brochure produced in Toronto. Recognizing the opportunity within the dilemma, Pantone recently launched its PantoneLIVE cloud service targeting enterprise users wishing to ensure colour consistency in their branding worldwide. Though not a conventional online storage service, PantoneLIVE utilizes the cloud metaphor to manage colour data on a global scale. Once a product’s branding colour palette is established, designers can upload the colour data to a secure online portal, which can be accessed by authorized users across the print and packaging supply chain. These users can download the digital colour swatches ensuring standardized, managed colour throughout the production of all branding elements. While these colour parameters can be applied using any ink or workflow, Pantone worked closely with preferred part-

ners Sun Chemical and Esko Graphics to develop PantoneLIVE. Additionally, flexo and rotogravure equipment manufacturer Windmöller & Hölscher is a PantoneLIVE technology partner, extending its own EASY COL colour matching solution to access the PantoneLIVE ecosystem. For most small and medium market print and design professionals, PantoneLIVE seems to have little on offer, instead targeting major international corporate customers with global colour management needs. The printer around the corner would rarely (if ever) gain access to the service, instead relying on familiar analogue Pantone colour specifications. Other clouds in the data-sphere

Google Cloud Storage is another virtual warehouse targeting high-volume data producing developers needing to aggregate bits and bytes for large workgroups. This scalable storage service accommodates files of any size as long as you’re willing to pay the toll and accommodates a very precise level of user management on either an individual or group basis. Starting at a monthly charge of 12¢ per gigabyte and administered through a confusing array of storage management tools, this is not a service for those who’ve just recently poked their heads into the cloud. Instead, the other end of Google’s Cloud extends to both the small business user and the digital consumer. Google Docs has long been the online hub for business document creation and storage with both a robust text editor and spreadsheet function. Most digital image wranglers will be familiar with Google Picasa cloud-based photo storage and sharing service and perhaps, to a lesser extent, Google Play. In a bid to complete with Apple’s iTunes Match and iCloud, Play offers many of the same services to both Web-based and Android device users. Play provides free online storage of user music libraries of up to 20,000 tracks and access to both an Android App marketplace and movie rentals. So while Google has clearly defined a target market, it offers little to the print professional looking for online storage and cloud-based services. To address the disparity between its products and the competition, Google Drive, was launched on April 24th with 5GB free storage space for individual Continued on page 28

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By Jon Robinson

Wide-format inkjet Much of the inkjet attention at drupa 2012 is falling on emerging cut-sheet and web-fed presses, but the German tradeshow will once again be awash in market-ready, next-generation systems for wide-format production. Below are some key wide-format announcements – hardware, software, finishing and consumables – made prior to the show, as well as a Q&A with Epson’s Reed Hecht, who discusses the company’s new SureColor line.

Reed Hecht

Technologies Featured

Product Manager, Professional Imaging, Epson North America

• Agfa :Jeti 3020 Titan

• HP FB-series White Ink

• Canon Océ Arizona 318 GL

• Inca Onset S40i

• Durst Rho P10 Series

• Kongsberg XN

• EFI R3225

• Mimaki JV400LX

• Espon SureColor S30670

• Mutoh VSM

In February, Epson introduced the SureColor S30670 (S30) as its entry-level machine within the new S-Series of solvent, wide-format inkjet printers, which is to also include the higher-end S50670 (S50) and S70670 (S70) models – all featuring a 64-inch print width. Hoping to capture a larger swath of the entire solvent market, Epson developed new components for the S-Series, including its UltraChrome GS2 ink set and MicroPiezo TFP print head. PrintAction spoke with Epson’s Reed Hecht for more insight into the potential impact of the S-Series.

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How long – and for how much – has Epson been developing the S-Series?

• Gandy Digital Domin8tor

• Xanté Excelagraphix 4200

There’s not really a dollar figure we can put on it, because parts of the machine have been developed in the past. The majority of the mechanism like the chassis and paper feed has taken us about three years to develop – right around the time when we launched the GS6000. Parts of the S-Series like the print head have been in development for a really long time. We started developing this print head 20 years ago and have used it in other products. We launched it into our aqueous products and then we modified it for solvent about five years ago. The S-Series ink technology is a derivative, a subsequent version of our previous generation with dramatic improvements. We have learned a lot from every engine we have built in developing this new machine.

• GMG ProductionSuite

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Epson has traditionally licensed a lot of its inkjet technology, but with the S-Series is the company planning for a larger presence in production printing?

With the arrival of the S-Series, what does the future hold for Epson’s GS6000 printer?

We are going to keep the GS6000 around until the late-summer timeframe, when it will be phased out with the arrival of the S70. The S30 was made available right away, but we do not see that as a direct replacement for the GS6000. The GS6000 has been around for about four years, which is really long for an engine when you consider some other inkjet products – particularly in some consumer segments, where products may be replaced every six months. These [GS6000] machines have a great life and it has done a lot for our customers.

There are certain places where we can add value with our brand. Where there are products and technologies that we own, we will become a player in that market. We didn’t have our own products in the solvent market for years. There came a point when we were looking to expand and we didn’t feel we could do that in our OEM business. We felt the OEM business had reached – for lack of a better term – a plateau, and the only way we can expand that business, and continue our growth as a company, was to build a new product with our brand and that is exactly what we did. If you look at where the solvent printer market was three years ago, before the GS6000, there was a different mentality: Continued on page 20

18 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

Epson SureColor S30670 Launched in February 2012, the new 4-colour, 64-inch SureColor S30670 is the first machine to be released within Epson’s new solvent-based printer line, which employs the company’s new MicroPiezo TFP print head and its new UltraChrome GS2 ink set. The MicroPiezo TFP print head delivers droplets as small as 4.2 picoliters and doubles the nozzle density of Epson’s previous solvent printers. The 1-inch wide print head contains 720 nozzles per colour and is capable of printing up to 619 f 2/h in draft mode (205 f 2/h in normal signage production). UltraChrome GS2 includes newly formulated yellow ink that produce sprints with up to three years of outdoor durability – without lamination. In addition, these new inks are said to deliver virtually odourless printing without the need for external dryers, special ventilation or air purification systems, and do not contain Nickel (Ni) compounds. Epson SureColor S30670

Canon Océ Arizona 318 GL Introduced in February 2012, Canon’s new Océ Arizona 318 GL is a UV flatbed printer (with a roll-fed option) that handles rigid medias of up to 49.2 inches wide by 98.4 inches long, and up to 1.89 inches thick. The machine reaches a top speed of 194 square feet per hour (18.0 m2/hour) in Express Mode, producing more than twenty 2 x 3-foot boards per hour, as well as 12.2 m2/hour in production mode and 8.4 m2/hour in quality mode. The Arizona 318 GL jets variable droplet sizes from six to 42 picoliters, which produces a resolution of up to 1,440 dpi. It is available with a white-ink option. According to Canon, the Arizona 318 GL is priced about 35 percent less than its mid-volume Océ Arizona 360 GT model. Continued on page 21

SPECIALTY PRINTING

STRINGING

Reed Hecht Continued from page 18

There was not a level of service, a level of reliability, of image quality. If we as Epson can use our engineer resources to develop a better engine, develop better ink, that doesn’t have the environmental issues of the previous generations, we can actually have an impact in the market. PRINTING & EMBOSSING

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With all of the new and large companies involved in wide-format inkjet, is Epson today still a top-three player?

We break it out by market segments: In the solvent market where the GS6000 played, of all the 64-inch roll-to-roll machines out there, that one machine got us 30 percent market share. In the overall solvent market, from 30-inch all the way up to 100-inch solvent, we had 10 percent of that total market and that includes printers like VUTEk and Rastek. I would argue that Epson has probably, depending on the width, 60 to 80 percent of the market for proofing and photography. There are probably three to four major players in wide-format depending on the segment you are looking at and Epson is definitely a recognized brand in all of them.

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Where will Epson experience the most growth within the four key segments identified for the S-Series – Outdoor, Indoor, Vehicle or Fine Art?

We have a huge market share in fine-art solvent, close to 100 percent, so we are not going to experience growth there – in terms of gaining more market. The biggest growth will be in solvent signage, vehicle graphics, outdoor and indoor signage, because there is a huge amount of install base machines out there that were sold about five or seven years ago that are going to need to be replaced. The JV3s, the Mutoh Falcon outdoor products, are reaching the end of their life. Mutoh, Mimaki and Roland aren’t making as competitive products versus the S-Series, so we are going to gain a large amount of market share for those three segments. I am not saying it is becoming a complete replacement market, because we still see people expanding considerably, especially in the prepress and commercial print markets. What would you say to commercial printers concerned about the cost of inkjet inks?

In the consumer inkjet space, and in some of our photography inkjet spaces, I always hear people saying, ‘lower the cost of inks.’ In the industrial space, I do not hear that as much, because the ink cost is a very small portion of the overall cost to produce a job. If I am making a banner, for example, finishing it and the labour are probably a bigger part of it, but there is huge profit margin to be made. I hear customers tell me that it costs less than a buck per square foot and they can charge five bucks a square foot for a banner. So in this industrial space, I hear less from customers about lowering their cost of ink. Of course, they are always going to push for that because it helps them to be more profitable. This is why we focus on our Total Cost of Ownership. How is Epson’s Total Cost of Ownership on the S-Series unique?

It assumes everything: Cost of the ink, reliability and maintenance, and ongoing parts and repairs, as well as electricity and labour to maintain the machine. We include all of that in the Total Cost of Ownership

story and we are very forthcoming to our end users about what it is going to cost them to run this machine. In terms of the cost of ink, we are very competitive in our list price and our street price. This is an Energy Star-certified machine. It uses a significantly less amount of electricity than something like a latex machine, for example, because of the heat required. Maintenance is also a big piece and the S-Series maintenance is basically automatic except for 15 minutes every other day. This will be the most reliable solvent printer, period, because we are building it to be very reliable. That is why people keep coming back, because they make money with these machines. How are the S-Series MicroPiezo TFP print heads unique?

Nothing like this has ever been produced in solvent. If you were buying a Ferrari right now, I would probably talk to you about how cool the engine is before I talk about the design or the paint. The print head for our printers is the engine; and this is a Ferrarilevel print head. It has the highest accuracy of any print head in solvent – period. Density of nozzles is what gives these printers their speed. You are talking about 360 nozzles in one inch, which is twice the density of even our newest generation print head. Plus, it has the ability to accurately place a perfectly round droplet, which is a difficult thing to do for any inkjet printer. A version of this print head is used for our proofing devices and the reason why we have a huge percent market share in proofing is because of our inks and the accuracy of these print heads. They can accurately duplicate what can be done on a press, even so far as duplicating the rosette pattern. They can reproduce what would be a bigger dot on press, so accurately as to mimic the rosette. These are the most accurate print heads out there, so they are very unique. We have taken the technology that we developed for the proofing and photography industry and we have put it on a solvent printer; and it is a Ferrari-level technology. As someone who has been in the inkjet world for a while, are you astonished how these print heads can repeatedly produce a microscopic dot?

I am amazed by the things our engineers show us – consistently, in every product launch that I have done here. Even today, there are machines that do not print anything smaller than a 12-picolitre-droplet size, whereas I can put three or four droplets in that same volume of ink. The accuracy of these print heads and what these machines are capable of actually does astonish me. And I remember every time when I see the first print come off one of our new machines. What makes the S-Series UltraChrome GS2 ink-set unique?

We have around 80 chemists in Japan who do nothing but develop ink all day long, so our ink is rather unique in the market. It was true with the GS6000; one of the first machines that didn’t require venting or have any harmful VOCs or any nickel content in the ink. It is true of the new UltraChrome GS2 ink as well. This [GS2] ink doesn’t need any venting and doesn’t have any nickel content, so it is not as harmful to the environment or the people who work around the printers. And it also gives you a really wide colour gamut and Continued on page 22

20 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

USED EQUIPMENT

drupa Spotlight Continued from page 18

Agfa :Jeti 3020 Titan In addition to demonstrating its :M-Press Leopard flatbed press for the first time at a tradeshow, Agfa Graphics highlights its wide-format :Anapurna series, including the M2540 FB model (unveiled in late-2011), and two recently introduced :Jeti 3020 Titan UV systems. The entry-level, UV-curable :Anapurna M2540 FB is a 6-colour machine (plus white) with a maximum print speed of 484 f 2/h, while handling media sizes of 8.3 x 5 feet and 1.77 inches thick. The :M-Press Leopard handles substrates up to 1.6 x 3.3 metres in size (up to 5 cm thick) with a top speed of 3,179 f 2/h (71 sheets/h). One of the two :Jeti 3020 Titans features a 36-head configuration, with a white-ink application (pre-, post- and spot white). This machine’s 2 x 3-metre mounting bed supports both rigid and thin flexible material. The second :Jeti 3020 Titan on display features a 48-head configuration, with eight heads for each colour (CMYKLcLm). It prints at the same speeds for roll-to-roll and rigid materials.

Agfa :Jeti 3020 Titan

Mimaki JV400LX Debuting at drupa, Mimaki’s new JV400LX is described as a high-gap UV-LED flatbed printer that jets environmentally progressive latex ink, including new white ink. The system, reaching a top speed of 18.1 m2/h, is driven by the RasterLink6 RIP, which enables three ink layers in one pass with white and colour inks. It produces a minimum dot size of four picoliters. At drupa, Mimaki also highlights its JV400SUV system – employing the same RIP and speeds of the JV400LX model – and the UJF-3042FX that prints directly on materials up to 5 cm thick, at 1,440 x 1,200-dpi resolution.

Mimaki JV400-160LX

Kongsberg XN Debuting at drupa, the Kongsberg XN finishing table – distributed through EskoArtwork – is designed to fit sectors from packaging to sign making, while also holding the ability to cut plates as part of the Esko Digital Flexo Suite. The XN table can be fit with four tool heads and a range of insert tools, including a new solid-board vnotching insert, a corrugated paper-core board v-notching insert and a Braille tool insert. It can also be equipped with a milling spindle, called the MultiCUT- HP, which the company describes as providing up to three times more milling productivity than previous models. The Kongsberg XN is available in sizes from the smallest XN20 model, measuring 1,680 x 1,270mm (66 x 50 inches), up to the largest XN48 model, measuring 2,210 x 6,550mm (87 x 258 inches). An enlarged work area allows full Y-axis reach of all tools and the length of the XN24 and XN44 models has been extended to 3,200mm (126 inch) for larger print materials. The XN also features new i-cut Automate 12 software, as part of the i-cut Kongsberg XN Suite that is targeted finishing table at large-format production. Continued on page 23 APRIL 2012 • PRINTACTION • 21

BUSINESS FORMS

TRADE PRINTING

Reed Hecht Continued from page 20

great quality. It is also a more durable ink and so – yes – our ink is very unique when compared to our competitors. It is the tip of the spear for us. Why does Epson refrain from using an Eco-tag in describing the environmental benefits of the UltraChrome GS2 ink set?

We did make a conscious decision not to say eco-solvent, because for us it is a unique form of solvent. It acts more like a hard-solvent in its durability, but it also has what people today associate as the environmental benefits of a soft-solvent or eco-solvent. We feel our inks are different, but soft-solvent or lowsolvent are the terms I would use. I prefer those to eco-solvent. How much will the high-density white and metallic inks of the S-Series help with its success?

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For some customers it really will be a big draw. We made the choice to provide it as an option on the machine, because there are some people like commercial print shops trying to differentiate their offerings and who know how to use metallic, for example, as a highlight on a sign to match a brochure. They will want to have a machine that has the capability of doing metallic on a sign as well, so they can match a campaign. But there are also some people who just won’t need that technology or won’t need it on every machine. What is the cost of adding the white and metallic channel options?

We made a decision that we are not going to charge people more for this functionality. On the S70, they make a choice if they want white and silver, and on the S50 if they want white. There is no additional cost. The only difference is they have to buy those white and metallic cartridges. They do need to make that decision when they purchase the printer.

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We don’t have any plans today for a flatbed machine, but I’ve learned never to say never because we have the base architecture to put ink on paper. We can produce a grand-format machine, a flatbed. We have the ink delivery, which I would argue amounts to some of the hardest parts to develop.

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If Epson is trying to penetrate deeper into commercial printing, do you envision the company releasing a flatbed system, in addition to its traditional roll-fed lines?

Tel: (905) 780-8680 Fax: (905) 780-8682 E-mail:

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This machine, this mechanism as we call it, is being built in a new way. We have some really cool videos to show how this printer is assembled, using robots. The chassis is laser welded by these robots in around 175 different places, precisely and accurately every time in a way that humans could not even accomplish. We have invested in building the S-Series frame. What excites you most about the arrival of the S-Series?

I think we have some amazing technology and we can do some amazing things with it to change markets and help customers see better profits and less waste, as well as less impact on the environment. I am really excited about the launch of the S-Series and where it can take the solvent market in the next generation.

drupa Spotlight

Xanté Excelagraphix 4200

Continued from page 21

EFI R3225

Unveiled in February 2012, the new Memjet-powered Excelagraphix 4200 is a 42inch-wide system with the ability to handle packaging substrates like folding carton and corrugated cardboard – based on print-path height adjustment. According to the company, the Excelagraphix jets more than 3-billion drops of ink per second (based on 350,000 nozzles). This is the world’s first commercial device powered by Memjet’s Waterfall Printhead components. Xanté is also demonstrating its new iQueue 6 pre-production software designed for the Excelagraphix 4200, which is scheduled for a June 2012 commercial release.

EFI VUTEk GS3250LX

Introduced in March 2012, EFI’s new 3.2-metre R3225 is described as a roll-to-roll, entry-level UV inkjet printer – priced at around US$160,000 and scheduled for a Q2 2012 launch. The R3225 is built around eight-level variable drop greyscale heads, which provide flexibility for applications like POP, banners, signage, fleet graphics, and exhibition graphics. The device reaches a maximum speed of 900 f 2/h. Also at drupa, EFI will introduce a new LED UV-curable platform currently code named Orion, while also highlighting preexisting machines like the VUTEk GS3250LX, an LED-based 3.2-metre printer, and the 6-colour VUTEk GS3250r, a 3.2-metre, roll-to-roll UV printer.

GMG ProductionSuite Debuting at drupa, GMG has added two colour management solutions, including a spot-colour simulation tool for package printing and a cloud-based collaboration application, to its ProductionSuite workflow, which itself was recently launched in February 2012. ProductionSuite, including PDF Editor, RIP, SmartProfiler and PrintStation, is geared toward large-format production – on over 800 output devices. It features capabilities like the Tiling Tool to prepare tiled images for later assembly, while ProductionSuite Editor displays settings – in one window – for position pockets, hems, grommets and pole pockets. The new spot-colour software, working in tandem with GMG’s FlexoProof, calculates profiles for simulating the combined printing of spot and process colours.

Fujifilm Acuity LED 1600 Launched in February 2012, Fujifilm’s Acuity LED 1600 – indicating a 1,610mm print width – is a roll-to-roll printer with table attachments to handle rigid substrates. As substrates are transported via pressure rollers and pinchers, the Acuity LED 1600 hits a top speed of 20 m2/h (215 f 2/h) at a Fujifilm Acuity LED 1600 600 x 400-dpi resolution. It features an 8-ink system – with white and clear ink – and a resolution range of 400 to 1,200 dpi. The machine’s LED UV curing provides relatively low energy requirements, cooler running and longer bulb life. The printer comes with Spot Color Matching, which automatically generates a colour comparison chart against the desired output, and Intelligent Curing Control software. Fujifilm Dimatix is also introducing its SG-1024 print head, described by the company as a high-nozzle density, drop-on-demand print head specifically for industrial single-pass printing and decorative applications. Each print head has 1024 independent jets arranged in eight rows, each with 128 channels. It is compatible with aqueous, oil-based ceramic inks and associated maintenance fluids. Continued on page 24

PRINTING EQUIPMENT

APRIL 2012 • PRINTACTION • 23

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drupa Spotlight

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HP Scitex FB7600

HP FB-series White Ink Launching at drupa, HP has added new features for its family of HP Scitex printers, including the new FB225 White Scitex Ink and the HP Scitex FB7500/FB7600 White Ink Kit. The HP FB225 White Scitex Ink is designed for a range of applications like backlit signage, window displays and short-run corrugated packaging. The FB7500 and FB7600 machines include extra print head beams, which allow the white ink kit to be added without sacrificing process colours. HP has also newly integrated a Hostert Automatic Loader – with support of thin 130 gsm media – for its Scitex FB7600 and FB7500 machines. It features three-quarter automated loading with a 6zone vacuum table. HP is also launching its new cloud-based SmartStream Production Analyzer – using an online dashboard – with reporting features like current and historical reports, operators and shifts, ink and media consumption. SmartStream Production Analyzer is scheduled for a June 2012 release.

Durst Rho P10 Series

Inca Onset S40i

Introduced in March 2012, Durst’s new Rho P10 family of 10-picoliter printers all produce a 1,000-dpi resolution. The series includes the 2-metre (80-inch) Rho P10 200 flatbed/hybrid machine; 2.5-metre (98-inch) Rho P10 250 flatbed/hybrid; and the 3.2-metre (126-inch) Rho P10 320R roll-to-roll machine. The Rho P10 250 Presto version prints at speeds of up to 2,100 f 2/h. The Rho P10 Series printers feature Durst’s new Quadro Array 10 print heads, with silicon-based MEMS technology, and have the ability to print light cyan and light magenta. Equipped with two parallel panels or rolls, the flatbed/hybrid machines can print on foam board, metal, acrylics and PVC, while the roll-to-roll Rho P10 320R works with backlits, textiles, vinyls and stretch media. Durst also highlights its 5-metre (196-inch) Rho 500R roll-to-roll UV printer.

First introduced in 2007, Inca’s Onset S40, distributed exclusively by Fujifilm, handles both rigid and flexible materials through full-width print head arrays. Using Inca’s moving table technology, the new S40i reaches a maximum speed of 470 m2/h (94 beds/h). It handles a maximum substrate size of 3.14 x 1.6 metres (123.6 x 63 inches) and a maximum substrate thickness of 50 mm (two inches) in manual mode – 10 mm (0.4 inches) using automation. The S40 produces a range of print finishes, from satin through to gloss using Fujifilm’s new Uvijet inks.

Mutoh ValueJet Status Monitor Introduced in March 2012, Mutoh’s new ValueJet Status Monitor (VSM) technology is designed for the company’s line of ValueJet 1324, 1624, 1638 and 1608HS printers. Free to Mutoh users, VSM allows users to monitor printing parameters like ink levels, heater settings, firmware updates, and colour output. Mutoh is also demonstrating its relatively new 64-inch, 4-colour ValueJet 1638 printer with a staggered dual-head design that produces up to 1,000 f 2/h. The printer includes Mutoh’s Intelligent Interweave (i²) technique and ColorVerify, as well as the optional SpectroVue VM10 Spectrophotometer.

WIFAG Virtu Quantum Launching at drupa, WIFAG Polytype’s new Virtu Quantum UV inkjet printers are available in widths of 2.5 and 3.5 metres. The hybrid (roll-to-roll and flatbed) machines feature 10-picoliter print heads that produce a maximum 1,400-dpi resolution. They reach a top speed of 300 m2/h in production mode and can hit 150 to 180 m2/h in the higher resolution photographic mode.

Gandy Digital Domin8tor Launching at drupa, Gandy will introduce its new 2 x 3-metre Domin8tor. The flatbed UV printer, with a zoned vacuum bed area, comes standard as a 4colour system with optional fifth white or clear ink channels. Gandy’s previously introduced Pred8tor is a UV flatbed printer, with a roll-to-roll option, with the ability to handle 1.22 x 2.44 metre (4 x 8-feet) rigid material that is up to 50mm (two inches) thick. The Pred8tor can work with a roll width up to 2.44 metres (eight feet). Run by Gandy’s iPad-based touch and drag GUI, the Pred8tor, with inline white or clear inks, hits a top resolution of 900-dpi.

Zünd S3 Launching at drupa, Zünd highlights its new S3 line of cutters with six differentsize models, from 133 x 800 mm (52 x 31 inches) to 1,800 x 1,600 mm (70 x 63 inches). Built with a unique direct-drive system, S3 cutters use modular tooling to allow for processing a range of materials, such as textiles, vinyls, films, thinner plastics, and cardboard, up to a maximum thickness of 25 mm (1 inch). The S3 line features what the company refers to as “ultra-fast” Z- and T-axis control, as well as the Zünd Cut Center software and the new Zünd Board Handling system. The S3 cutters use modular tooling to allow for processing materials up to a maximum thickness of 25 mm (1 inch).

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APRIL 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ PRINTACTION â&#x20AC;˘ 25

DIGITAL PRINTING

Tribute Continued from page 14

format presses – meaning the sheet is naturally fed for a 29-inch format, as opposed to extended or landscape feeds provided by competing vendors. The HP Indigo 10000 is a sheetfed commercial printing press, the HP Indigo 20000 is a continuous-feed flexible packaging and label press, and the HP Indigo 30000 is a sheetfed folding carton packaging press. These presses will open up new markets for B2-format digital printing. I know other companies have announced B2-format sheetfed inkjet presses, but I believe that the HP Indigo presses are so much better for the market that they will rapidly take a dominant position in this space when they become available next year. Why do I see the HP Indigo products as being so significant? They are true digital presses that are a logical extension of the HP Indigo line. They have up to

when combined instead of black. HP Indigo’s ink chemists and press engineers have managed to create a true black from the three colours. Naturally, the output quality of EPM is not quite as good as HP Indigo’s CMYK, but it manages to handle almost 90 percent of the colour gamut. It has some problems in heavy shadow and solid areas. I was however blown away by how good it was. As expected, the benefit of employing EPM is a 33 percent speed increase, which results in production speeds of up to 4,600 simplex colour sheets per hour. This means 306 images per minute. If acceptable for a job, EPM mode obviously provides higher productivity at a lower running cost. This also translates into lowering a printer’s click-charge rate. The presses have yet to go into beta testing and this should start later this year with deliveries probably around mid 2013 – with a price of around $1.5 million depending on configuration.

HP Indigo 20000

seven colour operation as standard. They will run on a huge range of approved paper, as well as board and film/foil/synthetic substrates. In the case of the sheetfed products, the presses can run multiple substrates in the same job from up to five substrate-feed stations. The HP Indigo 10000 press has duplex printing allowing for full personalization to be carried out. The presses have been significantly automated for largely hands-off operation (a new thing for HP Indigo) with automatic colour registration on paper, colour calibration with a built in spectrophotometer, and full sheet checking of content against an original using the vision scanner. The presses can deliver to a stacker or rereeler or to a range of inline finishing systems. The print engine operates at a similar resolution to the existing HP Indigo engines and has a maximum image size of 29.5 x 20.9 inches (75 x 53 cm), a similar format and orientation to 75-cm offset presses. The running speed of both the HP 10000 and 30000, in four-colour, simplex mode, tops out at 3,450 B2 sheets per hour. This equates to 13,800 A4-size images per hour or 230 images per minute. And there is more power to Indigo’s Series 4 platform. HP Indigo has introduced a new operational mode for its new presses, as well as various upgrade options for its Series 3 machines. Branded as Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM), this advancement equates to printing in CMY only, without using black. Up to now, I have never seen this work, as offset inks and digital toners tend to produce brown 26 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

If you cannot wait that long, HP Indigo is offering new Series 3 presses and upgrades. The first is the HP Indigo 5600. This machine is essentially the HP Indigo 5500, but with an interesting advance called OneShot technology. OneShot is the method of image transfer used in the HP Indigo web presses where the full colour image is transferred from the blanket to the substrate in one operation rather than a colour by colour process. This means that the new press can now handle a much wider range of special substrates, including synthetic materials. The good news is that existing HP Indigo 5500 presses can have the OneShot upgrade. The HP Indigo 5600 also supports EPM, raising its speed to 90 pages per minute in colour. EPM is also an available upgrade for the 5500 machine. HP also introduced the 7600 model with similar upgrade patterns for its existing 7500 machine. More new facilities for the Series 3 presses are bringing the functionality of these presses closer to the specialty features of competing products like the Kodak NexPress. This list of new HP features include transparent ink for items like watermarking or patterns; invisible ink that can only be read under a UV scanner; and raised print, somewhat like NexPress Dimensional Print where layers of clear toner are built up by using up to 50 print passes. There is also a capability using a special blanket material and printing up to 250 layers in multiple passes than can do sheet embossing. Andrew Tribute is the managing partner of U.K. consulting firm Attributes Associates

Gaitskell Continued from page 12

is tall, slim and elegant. Clearly, manufacturers are capitalizing on all these trends to make their products more appealing and distinctive to consumers.” “A lot of my brands are whiskies,” says McLean. “Canadian and Scotch whiskies both have fairly long, uninterrupted histories, and there’s not a lot of innovation in the liquid, the branding or the positioning of the product to the customer. The demographic who drinks it is getting older, so the product is not bringing in many new customers. “But manufacturing of both Irish and American whiskies was interrupted for a long time by historical events: Prohibition in the U.S. and taxes or wars with the Irish. Only recently, in the last 20 years, have the products begun to get up and running again. The result is that they are both now growing faster than Scotch and Canadian whiskies, mimicking the same effect that is happening with vodka and rum.” Over the last four years, LCBO’s American whiskey sales grew 13 percent, and during the same period, Irish whiskey has grown 17 percent consistently year over year. Honey, low-cal and ready to drink

Roth adds: “Depending on brand, in vodka and gin, the male-female customer ratio is more like 60:40. Smirnoff still has a more male-dominated advertising focus, but now a lowercalorie vodka is coming on the scene in the U.S., and brands specifically targeting females, such as Van Gogh Vodka [a brand that includes flavours like Dutch caramel, espresso, pomegranate, and peanut butter and jelly] are coming in this year. Vodka suppliers are finding a marketing opportunity to women they had previously ignored.” McLean notes, that in the last year and a half, Jack Daniel’s has also entered the Ready to Drink (RTD) market – consisting of coolers and pre-mixed cocktails – with its iconic branding replicated into a carton format containing Jack & Cola, Jack & Diet Cola, or Jack & Ginger [U.S.A., 4pack carton of 355 ml cans, $9.94]. “Lots of specific spirit brands are leveraging RTD as an entry point for consumers from the legal drinking age up to 25 years old, hoping to trade them up eventually into the spirits categories,” adds Roth. McLean concludes by saying that, although only four countries like Canada, the U.S., Scotland, and Ireland have traditionally produced the world’s supply of whiskeys, they are now facing competition from many other countries that have started manufacturing this spirit, including France, Sweden, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic. Presumably, this new international development will translate into even more and growing diversity in the spirits appearing on LCBO’s shelves.

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McLean continues: “The American and Irish categories are dominated by two large brands [respectively]: Jack Daniel’s and Jamieson. Both are very iconic from a branding perspective and have not changed their packaging a lot. Some bourbons and Irish whiskies are more creative with their packaging, but compared to vodka and gin, there hasn’t been as much innovation. “But this year Jack Daniel’s launched its first new brand extension in 40 years: Jack Victoria Gaitskell is keen to exchange ideas Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, a honey- with readers at victoria@printaction.com flavoured bourbon in a bottle made in the same mould as the traditional Jack Daniel’s bottle, but with a lighter label trying to reach the female drinker. Brown spirits still know their core customers are men, but women will try the sweeter product, because it’s more palatable. On average, consumers of whiskies are 70 percent male and 30 percent female. But newer advertising is aimed at teaching consumers that bourbon is as mixable as vodka in drinks like Jack and Ginger [ginger ale] and Jack and Jill [Jack Daniel’s and rootbeer schnapps shaken over ice and served up as a shot]. Their more deluxe product, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Whiskey [U.S.A., 750 ml, $52.05] is an extension of their traditional iconic brand.”

APRIL 2012 • PRINTACTION • 27

TAGS & LABELS

(date to be announced). This innovative cloud concept promises individual users will gain a terabyte of cloud storage for Google accounts. Users merely have to less than the cost of Dropbox’s 50GB download and install the Google Drive account. Space Monkey is scheduled to App on each PC to create a synched go beta summer 2012. folder that immediately updates across the cloud. Again like Dropbox, Google Where’s my data? Drive has a scaled pricing structure start- After researching dozens of cloud services, ing at $2.49 per month for an additional I’ve settled on Dropbox as the replacement 25GB storage all the way up to $49.99 for my beloved iDisk. For the time being monthly for 1TB. Currently Google Drive I’m going to live within Dropbox’s free is available for Mac, Windows and An- storage allocation, although by volunteerdroid devices with iOS support on the ing for some beta testing I was able to raise horizon. my quota from 2GB to 6GB. As I’m only Likewise, Amazon’s Cloud Drive using the service to house a few working strives to emulate rather than innovate by files for in-progress projects, I won’t need Frankensteining Microsoft’s SkyDrive more than that for the foreseeable future. browser GUI onto an iCloud-style music I’ve even figured out a way to create my storage service. New users receive 5GB of own virtual drive with Dropbox – I just browser-accessed storage per year with map the service to a folder on my desktop excess data being charged at $2 per giga- and then paste a hard-disk icon over it! byte annually. Also, as with iTunes conAlso, as an early adopter of SkyDrive, tent on iCloud, any music purchased I now have another 25GB of free desktop through Amazon MP3 can be stored on accessible cloud synch and storage to Cloud Drive free of charge. supplement Dropbox. And with the recent appearance of Google Drive in the cloudy skies (and yet another free 5GB Revenge of the storage), my cloud-based capacity has inSpace Monkey Whether we like it or not our creased to 36GB – on the house. For that data’s future is in the cloud. reason it will be quite a while until any of With big players like Apple, Mi- these services gets my money. Besides, for crosoft, Google and Amazon all vying to comprehensive backup needs, I’ve simply be your digital hub in the sky, its in- too much data to rely on anything but evitable that your music, video, books physical storage for the time being. However, as my appetite for ubiquiand photos will end up on somebody’s leviathan server farm somewhere – if tous file access grows to include audio, only for the convenience factor. Ironi- video and images, I’ll undoubtedly have cally, just as these sprawling data centres to reassess my options. With Apple and

Bolan

Continued from page 17

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͙ Ǥ POS COMPONENTS NUMBERING MACHINES

Google Drive’s spartan interface should be familiar for Gmail and Google Docs users.

are popping up in places like rural North Carolina and the wilds of Oregon, the next generation of online file storage is in the birthing stages. Combining the power of peer-to-peer file sharing with collaborative file storage, Utah-based Space Monkey promises to rewrite the book on affordable cloud storage. Subscribers will connect a desktop device to their home networks that will serve both as cache for rapid local file access and as a shared storage for the Space Monkey cloud network. Besides residing in a local backup, user data will be encrypted then shared torrent-style between thousands of other desktop devices in homes and offices worldwide. Multiple redundancies ensure that data is safe from virtually any cataclysm including the impending zombie apocalypse mentioned in the Space Monkey press release 28 • PRINTACTION • APRIL 2012

Microsoft each hosting then embedding cloud services into their operating systems, future users may be coerced by simplicity – forgoing choice for the sake of convenience provided by default OS services. Also, as the private sector and enterprise embrace the cloud, file security will invariably become the paramount concern of users. I’ve always assumed any cloud service can be compromised and for that reason never use these services to store sensitive or singular files, but we all know that many are not so careful. Only one thing is certain: these are early days for mass-market cloud data services. Currently there is no clear winner in the data storage war and evolution will only accelerate as competition heats up to house your bits and bytes. Zac Bolan’s blog: blog.softcircus.com

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PrintAction Marketplace is the most effective way to conduct industry-specific trade. Whether it is excess equipment, employment offers or business opportunities, trust PrintAction to get your message read by the maximum number of relevant prospects.

Email: classifieds@printaction.com • Fax: 905.752.1441 • Tel: 416.665.7333 x37 ____________________________________

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SOUTHERN ALBERTA PRINTING BUSINESSES FOR SALE Two printing business for sale. 1) Family business established in 1973. Approximately 600K annually. All equipment and inventory. 2) Family business since 1972. Approximately 850K annually. Room to grow! Both located in Southern Alberta. Join the migration! Email deloresm@shaw.ca ____________________________________

HP INDIGO OPERATOR WANTED Colourtime Printing requires HP Indigo 5600 operator. Downtown Vancouver location. Previous experience required. Salary, benefits plus moving allowance. Contact John at (604) 682-8307 for further information or email opportunities@colourtime.com ____________________________________

CSR WANTED CSR (Customer Service Representative) required. Requirements: Experience in estimating/production of sheetfed and web printing. Computer skills and excellent communication skills. Print management degree an asset. Email resumes to hrdept@ west-star.com or fax (416) 201-8885 ____________________________________

OTTAWA QUICK PRINT SHOP FOR SALE Great location in central Ottawa and motivated seller. All equipment included. Contact (613) 700-5269 or www.iprintdowntown.com ____________________________________ FOR SALE One Moll’s pocket folder gluer – $25K; One large format die cut press 65"x105" – $125K; One automatic mounting machine 65"x80" – $35K. Paul Yang (416) 567-1738 ____________________________________ P/T OFFSET GTO OPERATOR WANTED Seeking permanent part-time employee for printing firm in Toronto, ON to operate 5 colour offset GTO with UV. Must have minimum 5 years experience, and experience working with all substrates. Email resume to: info@acmedecal.com ____________________________________

FOR SALE 1997 Ryobi 3302M, 2-colour, 12.99" x 17.24", 30 million impressions, Kompac dampening, very good condition. Asking price $10,000 or best offer. Email: digicolour@gmail.com ____________________________________ PREPRESS OPERATOR WANTED Prepress operator/lead person required. Minimum 5 years experience. Must have knowledge in Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark. Good knowledge of imposition & trapping required. Email resumes to hrdept@ west-star.com or fax (416) 201-8885 ____________________________________ PRESSMAN WANTED Experienced pressman on Heidelberg XL105 required for midnight shift. Full time and part time. Send resume to je@bosslogo.com or fax (905) 477-5622 ____________________________________

2003 manroland 505 -LV

PRINTING BUSINESS FOR SALE $1,300,000. All concrete building of 12,500 square feet with 24 parking spaces. 1,000 square feet with window; intersection with lots of traffic; VilleMarie Expressway (720) giving easy access to downtown in less than 5 minutes; 31 years in business; ability to sell the building or business; pictures: http://pictures.crmtl.com Email: lise.bleu@laposte.net or call (514) 523-2357 ____________________________________ FOR SALE Time for early retirement, this Toronto offset printing company was established in 1983. All equipment & accessories stock & supply inventory and very loyal clientele are for sale. Annual sales 200k approx. Call Joe at (416) 766-8519 ____________________________________

PREPRESS OPERATOR WANTED Lithocolor Services Ltd. seeks a prepress operator with experience or postsecondary education in a relevant field. Proficient knowledge in Adobe Creative Suite and impositions. Design/creative skills are an asset! Email resumes to dareen@lithoclr.com ____________________________________ FOR SALE Challenge Diamond 305, 35"W paper cutter, extra blade. Asking $2,600. NuArc 26-1k Mercury exposure system, extra 2/bulbs. Asking $900. Original owner. Both in excellent condition. Email tracy@cym.ca or call (905) 470-1022 ____________________________________ BILINGUAL CSR WANTED Fluent French-Canadian CSR required. Ideal would be to work in our Kingstonarea office, but work-from-home and part-time are possible. (Apr) Email resume to hr@asap-cheques.com ____________________________________

PRINT BROKERS & SALESPEOPLE WANTED! FREE OFFICE SPACE! Excellent opportunity to grow your print clientele at a centrally located print shop. Great support team of design, print production and admin. Restrictions apply. Email for more information: sales@canadianprintingresources.com

WANTED URGENTLY FOR EXPORT USED OFFSET PRESSES KORD 64, SORDZ,SM 74-2,KOMORI L-426

We Buy

Heidelberg K-Line/S-Line/ Speed master/ GTO/ MO Komori 1,2,4 or 5 colors & any sizes Adast 714/715/724/725 Mitsubishi any models Ryobi 2800CD/3200CD Itek 960/975/985 Hamada 500/600/700/800 Polar 72/82/90/92/107/115 CM Horizon-BQ 220/240/260/440/460 Any model surplus printing machines, paper cutters & bindery equipment.

RCI / CCI, Tower Coater, 23" x 29", Delta Dampening, EPL / PPL Plate Changers, Presets, Auto Washers, IR Dryer, 18,000 sph, 19mm impressions

IMMEDIATE DECISION We buy one piece/entire plant $$$$ TOP PRICES PAID $$$$

Very nice press. Under power, can be print tested For more details, please contact George Nourkov at:

Tel: (905) 854-5579 Email: giprint@bellnet.ca Web: giprintequip.com

Buy & Sell Used Printing Equipment

Call: (416) 824-0236 (647) 835-6224

33 Denison Ave., Brampton, Ontario L6X 0H2 E-Mail: gr_trade@hotmail.com Tel/Fax: (905) 450-2748 APRIL 2012 • PRINTACTION • 29