A Successful Transition to Digital

Kodak’s inkjet press portfolio provides more options for a transition to digital to mitigate business risks.

By Kodak

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

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

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

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

Continuous Inkjet Technology

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

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

KODAK ULTRASTREAM Inkjet Technology is Kodak’s latest generation of continuous inkjet technology. It provides the ultimate in line straightness, highlights, detail and color fidelity, as well as consistency over long runs. ULTRASTREAM works by electrostatically charging and deflecting the non-printing drops, creating tiny 3.75 picoliter (pL) drops that enable a high print resolution.

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

Water-Based Pigment Inks

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

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

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

Optimizer Agents

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

Pre-coating paper with Optimizer Agent, which can be done inline in the press or nearline, is a much more costeffective option than printing on standard offset papers with so-called enhanced —and more expensive—ink sets, as promoted by some press manufacturers. And thanks to the unique nature and properties of KODAK inks, PROSPER Press users can achieve acceptable results in some applications on conventional offset papers even without a precoat.

Top Quality with Maximum Speed

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

Taking full advantage of KODAK ULTRASTREAM Inkjet Technology, the

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

It is available in two versions. PROSPER ULTRA P520 with two driers per side of the web is designed for transactional and transpromotional printing, publishing applications, and commercial print up to moderate ink coverage. PROSPER ULTRA C520 (four dryers per side of the web) is the perfect choice for applications such as direct mailings, inserts, catalogs, promotional brochures, and books—even those with high ink coverage on coated and glossy papers.

Turbo Speed and Flexibility

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

One thing has become very clear—today there are more arguments than ever for savvy commercial printers to base their production on a future-oriented platform with a PROSPER Press and to prosper with Kodak’s inkjet technology in the long term. dps customers were seeing their highest volumes on record. This lead to less preventative service and more reactive services, due to the fact that customers were simply too busy to shut down a running production line,” admits Robert McCann, head of service product portfolio, Bobst North America. “If a machine did go down with a technical issue, it was all hands on deck to get a technician in as quickly as possible to resolve the issue.”

For businesses that rely on field service and onsite support requiring site-tosite travel, it was challenging to continue business as usual during the height of the pandemic due to travel limitations and restrictions. “Flights, hotels, and onsite meetings posed risk of exposure to COVID-19. Even though stay-at-home mandates have lifted, remote or hybrid work environments are the new norm. Additionally, with increased travel expenses like flights and gas, companies are beginning to explore new technologies to accommodate this new norm,” shares Nathan Cheng, associate product manager, AR, Epson America, Inc.

Throughout COVID-19 lockdowns, customers seemed even more determined to try to resolve technical issues on their own, initially due to having no choice. “That has carried over to a certain degree now that technicians are able to arrive on-site,” adds Sam Waicberg, president/co-founder, CareAR.

“Just as many that were forced to shop online due to the lockdowns continue to do so after the pandemic, once seeing the ease of convenience many Bobst customers appreciate the value in remote support and continue utilizing the services today,” agrees McCann.

Finding a Place

MR technologies have settled into the permanent picture for many manufacturers when it comes to technical support, and even training.

For example, Bobst has a robust Connected Services platform and AR is utilized for remote trouble shooting. “Going back quite some time, all Bobst equipment is built ‘connect ready,’ meaning that connecting to and pulling information from, is a standard feature.” However, McCann admits that older machinery that remains in the market did not have such capabilities at the time it was manufactured. This is where the company sees a big advantage for today’s AR technology. “Using an external method such as AR glasses allows our local technical support staff to have a much deeper understanding of the situation and the ability to more easily explain or demonstrate a possible resolution to the issue remotely.”

Epson offers remote assistance through AR glasses, which it finds to be an ideal solution to overcome physical distance barriers. “It allows remote experts to see what the field workers are seeing and seamlessly communicate and collaborate with the field workers to complete field tasks,” comments Cheng.

When assistance is required, an Epson field technician can wear AR smart glasses that include a built-in camera, connect to the internet using WiFi or a mobile hotspot, and launch remote assistance software to initiate a call to company experts offsite. Unlike using handheld tablets or smartphones, field technicians wearing AR smart glasses have their hands free to make repairs while collaborating in real time. Smart glasses allow field technicians to view instructions, photos, PDFs, and videos in high quality, while also giving them a wearable display that minimizes visual obstruction and can be virtually transparent when necessary.

AR is being extensively adopted in industrial applications where large complex machinery is operated and maintained by trained professionals. Jain says HP offers five stages of support—site preparation, press installation, operator and engineer training, press maintenance, and issues troubleshooting. AR/ MR technologies are integrated in each of these steps today.

“Site preparation can now be done using an AR application that places a virtual life size press in the room helping determine layout accurately, press installation requires step-by-step guidance on assembling the press, which by using AR guides makes the process simple and error proof. We reduce the amount of training required to operate presses by providing fully guided instructions on operations using AR, and through AR it can overlay complete maintenance steps on the physical machine ensuring timely and accurate completion,” explains Jain.

Of course, many times, self serving AR content can not help solve problems, and customers will require help in complex situations. “This is where we use the advanced remote support AR driven applications that allow for our remote engineers to guide customers through troubleshooting as though a real HP engineer was physically present with the customer,” says Jain.

AR support options via Konica Minolta’s AIRe link platform help take the guesswork out of a service situation. “We no longer need a specialist in front of a device, they can see what the technician or customer is looking at, our specialist can point and zoom in to specific areas on a device to guide the person receiving support on the other end. Prior to this, the only suitable alternative was to have a room full of similar devices so that our support representative could follow along with what the person on the other end of the phone was seeing,” shares Sanchez.

Xerox Technical Service Representatives (TSRs) are able to utilize AR in the field as well as customer support agents in contact centers to triage issues and in many cases remotely solve problems that were never possible to fix via a call.

“Results are particularly notable for print product customers who have enabled production equipment operators to resolve a significantly greater number of technical issues with AR guidance without having to wait for a technician to arrive. Processes have also been transformed when it becomes apparent that a site visit is required,” offers Waicberg.

Through AR, TSRs can now “know before they go” to be best prepared for solving the issue on their first visit, and get it right the first time. Waicberg says this consistently resulted in more accurate parts delivery and faster time to resolve because technicians no longer have to re-diagnose once they get onsite and can diagnose the issue in half the time, as opposed to the traditional way of delivering service support.

Further, Waicberg says visual support is 50 percent faster than voice support.

“This is another speed and efficiency benefit resulting from onsite technicians connecting with remote Xerox experts, when challenging issues are encountered. Phone-a-friend calls are eliminated and speed to resolution also increased. Customers find AR easy to use and even fun and fast. Customers are also able to share what they see instantly. Employees feel empowered with a new tool that makes them more effective in their job.”

User Perspective

MR technical support offers a win-win solution in many cases. But what does it look like to the user?

With AR, Todd Miller, director support services, Centralized Services, Ricoh USA, Inc., says customers see an increase in the level of support they are receiving as they and/or their technicians are connected to a help desk subject matter expert via the machine. “Customers and help desk agents can share a view of the issue and the steps needed to correct it visually instead of solely relying on verbal communication. This can be advantageous for visual learners and those who prefer to see real-world examples to fully grasp concepts.”

Full remote troubleshooting capabilities are standard features for Bobst and provided at no additional cost during the warranty period of the equipment. “After the warranty has expired, these services are offered on a subscription basis,” says McCann.

With CareAR, all you need is an iOS or Android smartphone. There is no cost to the customers. “With CareAR, customers

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can also choose to engage with a browser only or download the CareAR app for a richer experience. Rear-facing camera use is a big benefit as nobody really wants to be on screen. When the customer points their camera at the device that needs attention, computer vision gets to work on mapping the space. This enables graphical annotations created by a remote expert to ‘stick’ in place within each customer’s device field of view, even if they move. It is part of a standard Xerox support experience for customers now across many countries and regions,” shares Waicberg.

There is no additional investment for customers to use Ricoh’s AR support; it is included in their standard maintenance agreement. “The end user does need to utilize a smartphone or allow remote access to their machine to take advantage of this support via Ricoh Smart Hands. If they do agree to using their phone, a link is sent to them to start the remote session, and there is no extra fee applied for this remote support software,” offers Miller.

For Epson AR support, Cheng says businesses only need to invest in the AR smart glasses for the field workers and the compatible remote assistance software to kick start the remote assistance.

HP XRSerices is mostly a subscription service. Customers are not locked in and Jain says the investment is low. The subscription comes with a bundle of hardware, software, application stack, the content, and the premium and remote service package.

Currently, support via Konica Minolta’s AIRe link platform does not come at any additional cost to the customer.

Segments including industrial, security, household/chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food and beverages all benefit from digital printing.

While digitally printed labels are expected to grow among nearly all markets and applications in the next few years, what is more important is that as digital label printing becomes more cost effective it expands into longer run jobs. “This is compounded by the labor challenge of operators for traditional presses, which will drive more work to digital,” explains Maurer. “As we continue to remove barriers and make these more accessible, there is no doubt that digital printing will become more competitive and widespread in all segments. However, digital labels leveraging low migration inks—particularly in cosmetics and food, and UV ink for standard labels—will represent significant and immediate growth for the industry.”

The combination of advancements in digital printing technology for quality, application range and substrate range, total cost of ownership (TCO) improvements on digital presses, shorter job lengths and multiple SKUs or life of a product, simplicity of workflow, and the challenge of the labor force driving the need to move to digital printing are all making this growth possible. “Some of the key advantages of digital labels and packaging—for example providing the versatility to respond to trends and market changes—have truly come to the forefront in recent years. However, we are really seeing innovation in the digital sector driving accessibility and opening these opportunities to the wider market. Now, with the introduction of inkjet presses such as Gallus One, we are finally able to address the TCO issue and provide high-quality digital labels at the right price point. For the first time, we’re seeing Gallus One unlocking this huge growth segment, lowering run lengths, driving increased supply chain efficiencies, and enabling big sustainability gains,” shares Maurer.

Lynn stresses the importance of labor shortages in relation to the adoption of digital. “Converters that face major challenges getting staff—a skilled flexographic operator leaving/retiring can create a major problem. There are also material supply challenges, so it is critical waste is kept at a minimum. Sustainability is a major focus for the industry in general. Digital offers solutions to each of these challenges.”

The desire to reduce inventory and product handling costs is another consideration, as is the ability to serialize for product security and to create customer-specific product variants, shares Larsen.

“The supply chain issues everyone saw as COVID hit caught manufacturers by surprise and brought to light the need to look at their supply chain and have contingency measures in place to avoid a disruption in their distribution. As inflation persists, consumers may be looking at alternative brands to adapt to surging prices. This creates opportunities for additional products and brands to meet this new, cost-minded consumer,” offers Doucette.

In terms of specific markets, Pruitt expects to see the most success in the same industry it has seen tremendous growth over the last five years—food and beverage. “The growth of labels in food and beverage is mostly driven by brand competition and demographic changes, which pushes the need for updated labeling. A label is solutions that give a more hopeful picture for the industry’s future,” adds Maurer.

Technology Options

Both toner- and inkjet-based print engines exist in the digital label print space, this is along with traditional analog and hybrid solutions.

Maurer anticipates digital label production growth across the board. “From our perspective, both conventional and digital presses have their place in the label market, however, it is no secret that inkjet is on an extremely positive trajectory, bolstered by key innovations in this field. It’s also important to recognize the potential of hybrid solutions, i.e., digital presses combined with flexography, screen, foil printing, or inline punching, which bridge the gap into the label and packaging market of the future.”

“We expect continued growth in UV inkjet and hybrid systems that may, for example, incorporate a traditional overvarnish for durability or safety reasons,” states Larsen.

In the digital label and packaging space, Maurer sees inkjet as the right strategic direction over toner and liquid EP technology, and says most manufacturers are going this way due to the stability and simplicity of the printing process, resulting in less maintenance and higher press up time.

Given these low cost and reliability benefits, Pruitt also believes inkjet will have the most significant growth over the next five years. “Converters have always focused on creating high-value labels as efficiently as possible. That has become an even greater focus recently as label and packaging converters have experienced the upset of global supply chain disruptions. Converters have been busy getting work out the door and locating sources of media supply. With converters and print service providers having issues getting substrates and ink, it’s important to use materials on hand and get the greatest value from the resources available. Digital solutions that can print on almost all flexographic substrates without primer, as well as on unsupported films such as candy wrappers, shrink, in-mould labelling, and coffee/cosmetic web, are ideal for those looking to get the most out of raw material. Digital is the answer to the shorter run, to more frequent orders with faster turnaround times and to the larger variety of print applications,” he adds.

Quality and speed advancements in inkjet enable it to rival flexography, offering quality that only toner digital could previously provide. “We will see inkjet replace flexographic and toner, it will become the dominant print technology in label production,” predicts Lynn.

Ringbo adds that inkjet technology is accessible for all machine vendors and the technology is easy scalable in terms of web widths and speed.

Kim points out that UV inkjet will drive the growth, but this technology is typically found in high-end machines due to the high manufacturing cost of single-pass engines, whereas laser or water-based inkjet can be applied to middle- or low-end solutions. “So the next driving technology will be cost-effective UV inkjet solutions—and we are working on a desktop UV inkjet single-pass solution now.”

“Today digital inkjet technology will be the predominant industrial printing process for the foreseeable future and many have committed millions of development dollars to that end,” concludes Bennett.

Doucette says dry toner technology will continue to be relevant and grow as printers understand and trust this proven technology to be reliable and consistent day after day, job after job.

Labels for All

Digital label systems continue to push their way forward. As the technology continues to advance in terms of speed and quality, it becomes more attractive. Further, cultural changes have manufacturers wondering why not bring the technology in house?

For more on digital label printing check out our January webinar on the topic as well as a web series dedicated to product highlights and trending volume segments. dps

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