ProPrint February 2017

PacPrint

21 – 25 May 2013 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Come and see us Stand 3742

PacPrint PacPrint Come and see us

21 – 25 May 2013 Melbourne Convention 21 – 25 May 2013 and Exhibition Centre.

Melbourne Convention Stand 3742

Remember just 6 years ago?

Remember Remember Remember just 6years years ago? ago? just 10 years ago? and Exhibition Centre.

Stand 3742

People Technology Business

www.proprint.com.au February 2017 $8.00

Come and see us

23 – 26 May 2017 Stand H30B

No iPads No iPhones No Twitter No iPads No NoiPads cloud to share data No iPhones No iPhones 2 Digital presses on the market No Twitter No Twitter People still faxed stuff Nocloud cloud to to share No sharedata data Digitalpresses presses on 22Digital onthe themarket market Peoplestill still faxed People faxedstuff stuff

The world of print has totally changed. Has your MIS kept up?

Theworld world of The ofprint printhas hastotally totally changed. Has changed.

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How fast things have moved in just 6 years. MIS has How fast things have moved in an justold 10system years. MIS has losing changed too, if you’re running you’re changed too, ifand you’re running an old system you’re losing time, money sales.

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Roger Kirwan growing Foxcil into new niche areas p24-26

Opportunities are beckoning as new applications emerge p28-33

Digital corrugated Corrugated set to be next adopter of high speed inkjet printing p34-35

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EDITOR’S LETTER WAYNE ROBINSON

Year of consolidation One of the big themes of 2017 will be consolidation as all sectors of the industry, large and not so large, will be under pressure to team up to realise savings, increase efficiencies, minimise waste and maximise ROI, in an industry that is struggling to grow in the way we have known.

To use the current parlance the printing industry is recalibrating. The process began with the shock of the GFC and its aftermath and has been going on ever since. The printing industries in the countries of the developed world such as Australia, Germany, the UK, have all seen the number of businesses shrink over the past decade by about 40 per cent.

As ProPrint goes to press the two biggest printers in the country are currently sweating on the ACCC's decision on their merger, the two biggest outdoor media businesses are merging, the two biggest publishers are in merger talks, and across the

country many smaller printers are either merging, or sharing production resources, or selling their kit and customer lists to cross town rivals.

For those running a printing business in today's world the possibility of merging or buying is or ought be near the top of the agenda.

To use the current parlance the printing industry is recalibrating The idea that printing will revert to where it once was is fanciful. The world has changed. But that does not mean there is no money in print or that printing is on the way out. Some sectors of print are growing strongly catalogues, wide format, textiles are three that immediately spring to mind - while others such as packaging are solid, and in fact packaging is predicted to overtake commercial as the biggest part of

CONTENTS

print in four years time, so it is not the industry as a whole that is not offering much in the way of prospects, just those parts that were formerly the bread and butter for 5000 print business - almost all of whom were making decent margins ten years ago - now have to be approached in a dfifferent way.

Some are doing that through merging with former rivals - why have two presses running six or eight hours a day each when you can share one and have that running for both companies, some are doing it through scrapping production and outsourcing the manufacturing to trade printers, so eliminating a substantial risk from their businesses, some are doing it through entering niche markets.

There are multiple paths to assess.

In 2017 printers will have to be smart to move ahead, but be assured there are pathways to profitability.

16-18 Update: Power 50 Photos from the ProPrint 2016 Power 50 held at Circular Quay

2-6 Update

FOCUS: WIDE FORMAT

The monthly round-up of all the major news from the world of Australian print

28-32 Wide Horizons As wide format hardware and inks develop, the number of new applications for printers to target is increasing

8-10 Monthly debrief Recap of all the major developments published on proprint.com.au since the last issue of ProPrint

FOCUS: PACKAGING

11 Online ProPrint

34-35 Corrugated

What has been causing ProPrint readers to hit the keyboard this month?

p 46-47

12 Comment: Baden Kirgan

COVER STORY

Kirgan says the PIAA could help printers who want to leave the industry

20-21 MIS into packaging

Corrugated looks set to be the next big adopter of high-speed single pass digital printing technologies

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Expansion of award winning Optimus dash MIS continues with substantial enhancements in Optimus dash for packaging

38-45 CTP and Plates

PROFILE

POSTSCRIPT

12-13 Comment: Romano

24-26 Foxcil

72 Print's Past, Diary, Q&A

A look into a new market for printers: home decoration is offering opportunity

Roger Kirwan started rapidly growing Foxcil from scratch and is now expanding into niche markets

ProPrint rounds up the month with a look at how things used to be, Q&A is Nicola Dalton, and the print diary

13 Comment: Leon Gettler Gettler's step by step guide to starting the new year on the right footing

www.proprint.com.au

p 56

ProPrint kicks off the year looking at some of the latest developments in plates and CTP

February 2017 ProPrint 1

UPDATE

Packaging forecast to overtake commercial

by Athina Mallis

According to new research from industry consultants Smithers Pira the packaging sector is forecast to represent more than 50 per cent by value of the total printing industry in four years’ time.

The latest figures vindicate those printers who have been moving into packaging in recent years seeking longer runs, less volatility and higher margins than commercial printing offers, and will encourage more to follow suit.

The research agency also says digital printing of packaging will grow, but says that until the technology is on a par with offset for unit cost it will remain as a niche.

Smithers Pira says that in Europe printed packaging will total 56 per cent of all print by 2021, up from 44 per cent a decade earlier. Australia will follow the same trendline.

According to the report packaging will continue to grow as commercial struggles, with sectors such as corrugated board set to be worth US$269 globally. This is part of the reason multiple vendors, including EFI, HP, Screen, KBA/Xerox, and Konica Minolta, showed digital corrugated printing systems at drupa last year.

The agency says that packaging

Packaging print to overtake commercial in four years time, according to new research

growth is being driven by growing populations and smaller households, more varieties of products in supply chains, and no electronic alternatives from the physical properties protecting and promoting the contents. And as pack sizes trend smaller in line with marketing strategies the amount of printing per tonne of packaging will increase

Digital packaging and label printing is already used by number of major brands, most famously Coca Cola and Nutella, as well as smaller entities such as craft breweries, for personalised and customised campaigns, limited editions, short runs and prototyping. This will continue but mainstream digital package printing is not on the horizon.

Board continues to be the biggest material used in packaging at 31 per cent, with rigid plastics next at 23 per cent, flexible plastics at 16 per cent, metal at 13 per cent, glass at seven per cent and paper at five per cent. Food and beverage packaging will continue to dominate the sector, responsible for around two thirds of all packaging.

The report notes that packaging is not immune from challenges, although it does say that recessions are good for packaging, as the public buys more packaged food as it is cheaper than fresh foods. The move to plain packaged cigarettes – initiated in Australia but now being following in other countries – is noted as potentially problematic, not for cigarette packaging itself, but in a thin end of the wedge scenario, where other non-beneficial products including alcohol, confectionary and fast food could see their packaging go down the same route.

MADE AN IMPRESSION OUTDOOR MEDIA Out of home advertising revenue skyrockets by 16% in 2016 to record $789.5m PIAA Board re-elects May to president as stability settles on industry’s peak association JAMESTRONG NSW printer installs new KBA MetalStar to beat off rivals

UPS & DOWNS REDBUBBLE Online personalised print platform sees 2016 losses bigger than IPO forecast BOOK SALES Drop of 7% compared to last year, attributed to demise of adult colouring fad

2 ProPrint February 2017

The nation’s most influential and innovative print people as voted by ProPrint readers gathered at an exclusive harbourside location for the annual ProPrint Power 50 awards events, which saw IVE executive chairman Geoff Selig (pictured left) take the top spot, with (left to right) Kelly Northwood from Two Sides; Michael Warshall from Nulab; and John Scott from Scott Print taking three of the other top five places. Phil Taylor from Franklin Web (now part of IVE) filled out the top five. Wayne Robinson, editor of Proprint says, “The Power 50 is the only place that enables print industry people to be recoginsed by their peers for their outstanding contributions to their own operations, but even more importantly to the development of the industry as a whole, so congratulations to all the top 50.” Everyone present enjoyed the rare opportunity to network with their peers, at an event sponsored by industry leaders HP, Konica Minolta, Radiaca and Ricoh. The full Power 50 listing is available on the ProPrint website, pics from the event are on pages 14-18. www.proprint.com.au

PacPrintyou to all our February Thank advertisers and supporting partners Come and see us

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UPDATE PRINT BY NUMBERS

56% Total amount of print value that packaging will command by 2020, overtaking comercial p2

$790m The value of out-of-home media market in 2016, up by almost 16 per cent on the year before p6

1 Number of additional Senators book industry needs onside to kill off abolition of PIR p8

45 Number of years that veteran Ian Guanaria has been in print, retirement coming this year p10

26 Years that Pronto Direct has been in the wide format business p24

$200k Price of the industry’s least expensive digital inkjet corrugated printer p30-31

4 Number of separate niche businesses in Roger Kirwan’s expanding group p32-34

7 Tech Guide this month is CTP and plates, with seven exposure systems in the spotlight p37-45

4 ProPrint February 2017

Jamestrong ups competition with new press

by Athina Mallis

Jamestrong Packaging has installed a new KBA MetalStar 3, with the managing director Greg Bessant saying he wants to beat the competition with his new press. “We bought the press because the Australian and New Zealand market is a bit lacklustre in its technology. We want to beat the competition by getting the latest technology.

This printer is the greatest thing in the southern hemisphere. If you want to get anything similar you will have to go to Indonesia to get what we have. The market has a calling for it,” he says.

The KBA MetalStar 3 printer is being installed in a purpose-built facility at Jamestrong’s Milperra plant in NSW, with the capability to operate in a positive air-pressure environment - equivalent to the HEP3 air filtration used by fillers in production environments.

Bessant says this purchase was necessary as the company was wanting to upgrade. The press will also reduce spoilage. “At the moment we have five per cent spoilage and we are hoping to half that or even drop it by two thirds.”

Jamestrong installs new metal press: KBA MetalStar 3

Tim Bright packaging print manager at Jamestrong says the plant was impressed by the capabilities of the press during trials.“All early signs of the machine confirm it absolutely flies. Jobs that used to take us four passes can now be done with a single pass. It is a real job-eater. With our older metal presses we used to put about 500 finished sheets on the floor in an hour. Now with the MS3 press we think - and it is only early days - that figure per hour will increase to 4000 finished sheets.”

Jamestrong expects the press to be in full production by the second quarter.

Dominion acquires Graphitype

by Athina Mallis

Commercial printer Dominion has acquired offset digital printing and packaging company Graphitype.

Dominion CEO Kelvin Gage says the company was looking to expand and this opportunity came along so they took it. “Graphitype is a good company with good customers and we saw it as a good opportunity,” he says.

Dominion will keep the name Graphitype for now, and then in 12 months it will review its position.

Gage also says the company will be looking for acquisitions in the near future, but for now they want to consolidate Graphitype. “I think we have got to do justice to this one. We want to consolidate this without going too aggressive or hard to make sure it is done properly,” he says. Gage says working with Graphitype owners Dave and Cath Morris has been amicable, friendly and mutually beneficial.

Dave Morris says, “We have run the business for 31 years and it has not got any easier. The wife and I are ready to retire, so we made the decision to sell.

We feel like the company is in good hands with Dominion, and that it is a really good fit. It has the same strong customer focus that we have.”

Most of the Graphitype staff are moving to Dominion, with the rest taking

Kelvin Gage (left) and Dave Morris

Go to proprint.com.au for news as it happens

other jobs. Dominion has taken some of the Graphitype equipment, with the rest auctioned online.

Gage says the move for Graphitype is part of a necessary trend, he says, “This industry needs to go through a lot of consolidation. There are two parts of the industry, those who want to continue to grow, and those who perhaps are looking to retire and get out.

“So Dominion fell into the category of those who are looking to grow, and the most best and obvious ways is acquisition,” he adds. “A lot more will continue and when it comes down to it, a lot more should happen,” he says.

“The market is shrinking, there is not as much print work around anymore, and not that much room for so many printing companies.” www.proprint.com.au

Stay informed, stay relevant, future-proof your business.

Print On Mobile We believe that print is here to stay as a vital piece of marketing communication. However, to keep pace with how the market consumes information, digital and mobile solutions will become critical elements to your business.

Print on mobile is the first commercial product from Radiaca. Print on Mobile takes a PDF and separates all the elements of the PDF into individual segments such as headline, subheadings, text, photos, captions breakouts - and reformats it for a mobile device.

Once the PDF is mobile, being digital opens up a whole world of opportunities such as embedding videos, image galleries, maps, directions and click to action buttons and a range of other trackable actions.

A New Business Opportunity Radiaca has embarked on a campaign to share with printers the value of digital editions as a future revenue opportunity. A digital product offering, such as Print on Mobile, is a great value proposition for you and your clients.

Integrating Print on Mobile into your product offering will enable you to provide a significant new and tangible value added service to your clients. This, in turn, will empower those clients to exploit mobile commercial opportunities.

Through our infrastructure services, Radiaca will help you extend your capabilities in offering integrated solutions with a goal of creating a solid business model and revenue strategy into the future.

Contact Us:

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UPDATE

Industry outsider is new Snap CEO

New CEO: Peter Sinodinos

The country’s biggest print franchise group Snap has selected its new CEO, Peter Sinodinos who will replace acting CEO Tony Geange. The decision was finalised on January 11, with Sinodinos starting at Snap on March 1.

Chairman of the Snap board Peter Russell says they see Sinodinos as an experienced retailer and franchise manager with attention to detail. “He has an open and consultative approach and his excellent business acumen, execution abilities and leadership qualities makes him a great fit to drive Snap’s Transformation Strategy,” he says.

Sinodinos says he is excited about the financial year ahead at Snap.

“I will be working with the board, the Snap Franchising team and every franchise owner to ensure that the wider Snap community is positioned as the best all-in- one destination for small business’ print, design and online marketing needs,” he says.

May re-elected PIAA president

by Athina Mallis

The new PIAA Board has reinstated all current office holders, with Keiran May continuing as president, Matt Aitken as vice president, Chris Segaert as treasurer and Peter Lane as honorary secretary.

The new Board was formed on January 1 for a two year term, and includes two new members, Ron Patterson and Peter Clarke will represent Victoria and Tasmania respectively, replacing Kelly Northwood and Craig Pierce.

The following were reinstated to their positions, Graham Jamieson for WA, Peter Lane for both SA and NT, Kieran May for the ACT, Matt Aitken for NSW, Walter Kuhn for QLD, and representing all members Chris Segaert and John Scott.

PIAA president Kieran May wants to build on the progress made by the organisation since the appointment of Andrew Macaulay, following the turbulent period a year ago when CEO Jason Allen was trying to push through various changes, which eventually led to his resignation and that of half the Board.

May says, “The changes Macaulay has initiated will progressively positively impact members. We will deliver services that offer real value for the membership dollar. Two new members have

PIAA president and VP: Kieran May (left) and Matt Aitken

Out-of-home 2016 revenue rockets

been elected to the Board and their different perspectives will strengthen the Board and the association. The next Board meeting is scheduled for March,” he says.

May says between now and then, directors will maintain regular contact to discuss important issues.

“There is still hard work ahead of us, and in concert with the CEO and his team, we aim to make a difference,” he says.

May is looking to consolidate on the strategies they refreshed in 2016.

“In particular to continue the restructure of the organisation so it can provide the services that members want and need and which will add value to the industry,” he says.

Mallis replaces Glover on news at ProPrint

by Athina Mallis

The Australian Out-of-Home (OOH) industry saw a surge in net media revenue growth for 2016, with a 15.8 per cent rise, taking the net media revenue to $789.5m up from $682.1m in 2015.

This was the third year in a row where the industry ended in double digit growth; quarters one, two, three and four saw growths of 19.1 per cent, 18.1 per cent, 14.8 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively. The digital OOH share led the rise, with rises of 36 per cent, 37.3 per cent, 38.8 per cent and 40.2 per cent respectively over the quarters.

CEO of the Outdoor Media Association Cha rma ine Moldrich says, “Accord ing to t he Com mercia l Economic Advisory Service of Australia (CEASA) 2016 half-year update, OOH and online were the only media channels to experience growth, with OOH overtaking revenue spent on regional television advertising. And as our cities become more populated – 94 per cent of Australians are expected to be living in cities by 2050 – OOH offers the biggest audience in town,” she says.

According to the Move data update, OOH audiences grew 20.3 per cent over the previous six years, over population 6 ProPrint February 2017

New reporter: Athina Mallis

Net media revenue growth: out of home

Go to proprint.com.au for news as it happens

growth of 13 per cent “Our intention is to keep abreast of this rapidly changing media market and in 2017 our audience measurement system – Move – will be enhanced through the integration of customer data from emma (enhanced media metrics Aus). This will give media planners the ability to segment audiences like never before by delivering more relevant and targeted messages. This is going to be a powerful tool in the OOH arsenal, if not the game changer, in the years ahead,” Moldrich says. In 2017 the industry will launch its automated transaction platform.

ProPrint is kicking off the new year with a new News Reporter, Athina Mallis succeeding April Glover.

Mallis is already in the hot seat, and is looking to you all to provide tips on news as it happens across the industry.

Glover has joined the global Daily Mail organisation, and will be initially working on the Eastern Daily Press in English provincial city Norwich.

ProPrint editor Wayne Robinson says, “ProPrint is fortunate in being able to attract the brightest young talent, who recognise that print is a dynamic industry. I know April Glover was immensely popular among printers thanks to her determination to break the biggest stories every day, and Athina Mallis is cut from the same cloth. ProPrint readers can be assured that their high quality daily news will continue under Athina.” www.proprint.com.au

UPDATE DECEMBER - JANUARY TIMELINE

Monthly debrief Recapping the major developments since your last issue. Stories are breaking every day at www.proprint.com.au

1 december

2016

13 december BLUE STAR ACQUIRES DISPLAY BAY Blue Star Group is acquiring Sydney digital printer Display Bay, the deal marking the IVE-owned printer’s eighth acquisition for the year.

Display Bay will be integrated into the Blue Star Display team in Sydney under the leadership of general manager Guy Watson. Neville Sundel, founder, owner and managing director of Display Bay, will become group account director.

According to Blue Star, Display Bay has a longstanding history servicing the retail display, office signage and event sectors and houses a powerful wide format digital manufacturing capability at its St Leonards facility. It also specialises in the supply and installation of fabric point-of-sale.

21 december TWO SIDES TO POWER ON The TSA Limited (Two Sides) AGM held at the Royce Hotel in Melbourne was a full house with a record number of attendees.

For the third edition of this annual event, TSA organised speakers to inspire discussion and generate new opportunities within the paper and print industry.

Kellie Northwood, Executive Director, TSA, outlined TSA’s accomplishments for the year including a 31 per cent membership increase, more than 60 sales briefings, some 144 articles of media coverage (TV, radio, print and online) and no less than 47 meetings with federal, state and local politicians lobbying for the print and paper industry as well as launching a third campaign, Keep Me Posted. The event kicked off with advertising guru Andrew Egan, general manager, Retail, JWT, sharing an agency perspective on the role that print plays for their clients and brands.

Egan highlighted that many JWT clients, including those in the retail sector, engaged with print.

14 december

News happens every day at

proprint.com.au Sign up for our free daily news bulletin.

Registered users get access to premium content 8 ProPrint February 2017

SALMAT BOOSTS PIZZA HUT WITH PRINT MARKETING Direct marketing giant Salmat has finalised a three-month print marketing campaign with franchise Pizza Hut, a move it says has driven profit by 15 per cent across its Australian stores. Pizza Hut Australia and Salmat have worked closely together for some 20 years, executing a number of marketing initiatives, including catalogue distribution, SMS promotions, and email marketing. Salmat developed its custom Fuse platform for Pizza Hut’s franchise network, designed to implement national campaigns with centralised materials, distribution and print communication.

The campaign saw 19.25 million leaflets delivered to nearby residents across over 200 Australian Pizza Hut stores.

The leaflets were printed by catalogue powerhouse IPMG. Salmat says it managed to convince 98 per cent of Australian Pizza Hut franchisees to opt for the letterbox marketing campaign, with 88 per cent of stores stating an intention to maintain a letterbox program with or without cofunding. “Franchisees were sceptical that letterbox campaigns would be successful enough to justify the time and monetary cost of investing in marketing in an already crowded, competitive market,” says Salmat.

12 january HANSON AND HINCH KEY TO PIR VICTORY The Australian book industry is targeting Darren Hinch and Pauline Hanson in its bid to block any changes to the Parallel Importation Restrictions (PIR).

The industry already has all Labor, Greens and Xenaphon Senators in its camp and needs just one of either Hanson or Hinch to ensure PIR changes are killed off.

Abolishing PIR could be a serious issue for domestic book printing.

22 december SPICERS’ PLAN TO END SHAREHOLDER DEADLOCK Spicers has entered what it says is a binding implementation agreement which would end the ongoing dispute between the two groups of shareholders. Motivation for the deal comes from Spicers frustration at its current inability to raise capital and make major acquisitions. Chairman Robert Kaye says, “There will be no winners unless these issues are rationally confronted and resolved.” The agreement is with The Trust Company (RE Services) – which looks after the $285m PaperlinX Step-Up Preference Securities, and if it gets the nod from both group existing equity holders and preference security holders will result in the hybrid shareholders taking just over two thirds ownership of the business at 68.3 per cent. If the deal goes through both chairman Robert Kaye and non-executive director Michael Barker will resign from the Board to enable shareholders to nominate their own directors, with the company setting up an immediate search for three new directors.

www.proprint.com.au

UPDATE 19 january

16 january

More than 2500 women have participated in regular events

WOMEN IN PRINT LOOKING FOR SPONSORS Women in Print (WiP) will be consolidating to a nationally-driven base, and it is looking for more sponsors. In 2017 they will be celebrating 10 years giving women in the industry opportunity to expand their networks. According to WiP more than 2500 women have participated in regular events with over 350 women this year participating in five breakfast meetings in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. This year PuggleFM CEO Charlie Caruso will be speaking at the event discussing innovation, disruption and entrepreneurship. NSW Women in print patron Karen Goldsmith says she was positive regarding Charlie and the events with requests from attendees for more networking opportunities during the year.

13 january ACCC: PMP IPMG MERGER CONCERNS The ACCC is indicating it has concerns over the PMP IPMG merger in both printing and distribution.

PMP’s share price is down by 18 per cent on the news this morning. The ACCC also says the result of rival IVE buying Franklin Web and AIW has impacted on the proposed deal as there are now only three significant heatset players, with the merger deal taking that down to two. The Commission has released a statement expressing what it says are ‘initial concerns’. Its preliminary view is that ‘the merger may substantially lessen competition in the supply of heatset web offset printing’. ACCC chairman Rod Sims says, “the ACCC is concerned that as the two largest suppliers in heatset printing the merger of PMP and IPMG may see a reduction in competition with the number of significant suppliers in the market going down from three to two.”

The ACCC is also looking at distribution, it says ‘The ACCC is also considering whether a merged PMP IPMG could ‘foreclose’ rival catalogue distributors, particularly through offering customers a bundled print and distribution arrangement’. A final decision is expected February 23.

www.proprint.com.au

SUBSIDISED SHORT COURSES AVAILABLE

17 january MINUTEMAN TOP OF ENTREPRENEUR’S LIST Minuteman Press has won number one ranking for printing and marketing services in the 2017 Entrepreneur’s franchise 500 awards. This the 14th year for the company to be handed this ranking and the 25thtime overall. They also came number 177 in the 500 awards. Minuteman Press International president and CEO Bob Titus says he is thrilled to receive such high distinctions from Entrepreneur. “To be ranked number one in category for 14 consecutive years, and 25 times overall is the direct result of the hard work of our corporate staff, our local management and field support teams, and most of all our franchise owners who follow our tried and proven system. It also shows the continued strength of the Minuteman Press franchise system as well as our business model.”

With the highresolution options and the right plate offset print quality can reach new levels 17 january SCREEN GP LAUNCHES NEW CTP Screen Graphic and Precision Solutions Australia has released a new B1 (8-up) computer-to-plate device, with new features including a high-definition option capable of up to 700lpi on offset plates.

Screen GP Australia managing director Peter Scott says the new HD8900N is easily the highest quality CTP device they have ever offered. “With the high-resolution options and the right plate and processing environment, offset print quality can reach new levels. If sheer productivity is called for, the Z model at 70 B1 plates per hour, or 80 B2 size pph – will cater for even the busiest platerooms,” he says.

Business development programme Future Print still has $250,000 available for its subsidised short courses – but the funding finishes in May. The courses available are small business, colour management, digital upskill, future leaders programme and sales. They are multifaceted using online, on site and classroom learning to teach students. A panel of registered training officers teach the courses all over Australia.

All training programmes have an amount subsidised depending on the amount of employees a company has. If a company employs less than 100 staff the company will only contribute 33 per cent of the cost, a company between 100-199 staff contributes 50 per cent and a company over 200 is up for 66 per cent.

18 january PIAA CREATES DIRECT GOVT POSITION Mary-Jo Fisher has been promoted to PIAA director of government relations to increase communications with the Australian government. It is a newly created position in the PIAA as it seeks to ramp up its government engagement. Fisher was previously PIAA Senior workplace relation adviser, and prior to that a Federal Senator. Fisher says this position is an initiative of PIAA CEO Andrew Macaulay. “This was one of the structural changes made by the CEO. The main aim is to drive policy and lobby as one of our fundamental activities,” she says. Fisher says this role is important because those in government are surprised to learn of the importance the printing sector has on the economy. “It is important for decision makers to recognise the importance of the sector and once we have established that in their minds that becomes the foundation of representing the industry more broadly,” she says.

Fisher has a number of plans for the new role, including increased engagement with decision makers.

The main aim is to drive policy and lobby as one of our fundamental activities

February 2017 ProPrint 9

UPDATE JANUARY TIMELINE

19 january EFI CONNECT TALKS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The 17th Electronics for Imaging Connect conference in Las Vegas saw keynote speaker EFI CEO Guy Gecht speak about artificial intelligence and the impact the next wave of advanced technology is having. “As with the developments we have all seen with personal computers and mobile technology, artificial intelligence promises to create more opportunities. In print, it can drive preventive diagnostics and predictive maintenance, which helps our customers improve their top and bottom lines,” he says. Gecht says an example of this new technology is EFI’s ERP and MIS workflow products which learn to be more efficient as they track business operations.

23 january

24 january

FREE WINE FOR PACPRINT REGISTRATION Registrations for PacPrint 2017 and Visual Impact 2017 have now opened, and the first 5000 companies to register will be gifted with a free bottle of Wolf Blass wine. PacPrint sponsor HP is partnering with hosts Printing Industries and Visual Connections to provide a bottle of best in class wine, which will have a personalised label created by HP. Visual Connections general manager Peter Harper says print and sign professionals did not need an incentive, but he loved the idea of being able to showcase innovative print and give something a bit special to the early birds.

“We think this is a great way to kick start registrations for a show which will offer outstanding value to business owners, managers and decision makers across the diverse print and graphic communications sector,” he says.

ALDUS ENGINEERING AND TRONICS MERGE - GUANARIA TO RETIRE Equipment supplier Aldus Engineering is merging with label manufacturer Tronics, with the deal to be completed by the end of June. Ian Guanaria, long time general manager of Aldus, plans to retire after the merger has completed. He says, “Joining the two companies is a good move for everybody as we operate in the same industry with common clients. It is a natural thing for the two companies as we were both looking to expand. “I think it will be a great thing for the companies and the customers alike, it means we will have more staff and be serving more customers in Australia and New Zealand,” he says.

Guanaria says the merger will happen with Tronics Sydney moving to Aldus Sydney with no changes to staff. Both Aldus and Tronics in Melbourne will stay where they are for the foreseeable future. For his own future he says, “I am planning to retire sometime this year once we get the integration done. I have had 45 years in the industry and I am planning to bring in some youth into the company.”

23 january

We came to the conclusion that the optimum option was to put in a press ourselves

19 january STREAMLINE MOVES INTO PRINT Streamline Cartons is bringing printing inhouse with its first ever press, a new KBA Rapida 105 six-colour with coater.

The company previously sent out all its print to the local trade. Operations manager and son of the founder, Josh Harris says, ”Whilst the local print industry has been of great assistance, we needed access to inline UV ink and varnish as well as aqueous coatings. We came to the conclusion that the optimum option was to put in a press ourselves that was specified exactly how we wanted it, to be able to meet the evolving needs of the carton market.”

News happens every day at

NEW KOMORI COMING TO AUS Komori has released its newest press, the Lithrone GX944, a 44-inch offset printing press which is aimed at both commercial printing and package printing. It will be in Australia in the coming year, available through distributor Print & Pack. David Gunn, northern region and New Zealand sales manager, Print and Pack Australia says, “Komori has not said when it is available in Australia but it should be soon,” he says. Gunn says the Lithrone GX944 is a new model and this particular model is only available as a perfecting press.

The company describes it as the ultimate one-pass double-sided printing press.

The 44-inch H-UV·UV-equipped features single-edge gripping and eliminates sheet reversal. It is designed to deliver high quality, short turnaround, high speed, stability and reduced waste in doublesided printing. It will come in a thin sheet specification for commercial printing and a cardboard specifction for packaging printing.

I am planning to retire some time this year once we get the integration done. I have had 45 years in the industry.

25 january REDBUBBLE PREDICTIONS FALL SHORT Online personalised print platform Redbubble has released its half yearly figures, with the company struggling to reach its IPO forecasts. Based on the figures full year results are likely to show a $6m-$9m loss against the $1.3m loss forecast. The company revealed its gross transaction value (GTV) was lower than the expectations that underpinned the successful initial price offering (IPO). The GTV ended up at $98.6m, $11.6m lower than the forecast. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation EBITDA came at a loss of $1.1m for the half, compared to a $500,000 profit expected from the IPO forecast for the first half. These numbers have lead Redbubble to revise its forecast assumptions and is now expecting its FY2017 GTV to be in the range of $175m to $185m, compared to the $215m forecast at IPO. The resulting revenue will be $140m to $148m, compared to $172m. This new forecast shows a year on year growth of 22 per cent to 29 per cent.

Redbubble says several macro-economic drivers have contributed to these figures, the US election and Brexit in the UK.

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UPDATE COMMENT

How are you planning on getting out of printing?

BADEN KIRGAN

W

hether you are planning on doing it asap, or you have another twenty years of working life to get through, we all need a plan. In fact we are often told we should have had a plan before we started on day one of owning our own shops.

It used to be simpler – printing equipment held value and there was a continuing stream of people in the trade coming up who aspired to buy a printing business. People from outside the trade were attracted by good margins and the essential nature of print to other businesses.

No need to tell you how things have changed. So how do you get out now?

Let’s assume your kids aren’t interested – they want to do something else, or do not see much future in print.

You could try and sell outright but that is a tough route. I have written before about my own adventures in trying to buy another printer, and things have not become any better.

There are a couple of good business brokers around who specialise in printers, and they seem to be pushing some decent sales through but I would imagine they are picky about the companies they represent.

You could try and merge into another firm using an earn-out scheme. I personally think this is a way out many more printers should be considering, but it is risky, and again only available to you if your business has something to offer the other company.

Let’s face it – for a lot of us the only way out is going to be to pull the

Kirgan says the PIAA could help printers who want to leave the industry

shutters down, send the kit to India and pay any leases out of our savings.

Hardly a great way to end an otherwise successful working life.

But maybe PIAA can help. At the moment if you are looking for help with your exit, you are probably relying on your accountant, a broker or consultant. Few of them would be totally on board with the idiosyncrasies of a printing business and the advice, at least as I have found it, probably is not that great.

But here is a potential solution - I think PIAA should be putting together an Industry Exit Scheme.

I am not proposing they try and become a business clearing house – they did briefly start down this track once but it quickly became apparent it was a bad idea.

No – I am suggesting they sit down with the federal government and the big industry suppliers/financiers and put together a package that print business could take advantage of to help them get out with some dignity.

Maybe get a few tax breaks specific to a capital intensive but declining industry like ours, or help negotiate an industry-wide lease pay out scheme with the finance companies and copier companies that would let owners pay the leases out over a reasonable amount of time with better tax concessions.

Maybe even set up transparent standard agreements that help exiting owners transfer leases and other obligations to other companies easily and without penalty.

There are going to be a lot of businesses over the next few years forced to go through this process, and a clear and cheap set of protocols set up

Emerging high margin market

L

ook around the industry. What do you see? Offset presses. Digital printers.

Wide format inkjet printers. Offset litho was discovered in 1900, but did not gain traction until the 1950s. Digital colour printing was introduced in 1993. Wide format inkjet came in 1995. Walk into any plant, chances are they may have all three.

It took a while for all three printing technologies to find their place in print production. All three were challenged by a status quo. Offset was once described as

12 ProPrint February 2017

only for quick and dirty printing. Ironically, they said the same for digital colour. The president of Xerox was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying almost the same about inkjet printing (2004). Now Xerox is becoming a force in inkjet.

Yet, all three processes make money for printers. What will be the next big thing?

The technology is already here. We just have to find markets for it.

Flatbed UV inkjet can print on any substrate—plastics, wood, glass, board,

by PIAA that they could follow would be invaluable. And if PIAA can get some financial concessions from government or the suppliers on our behalf, all the better.

These kind of schemes have been run before – usually for industries that involve some kind of government licensing like fishing or taxis. These industries can go into sharp decline because of massive disruption from new technology (think Uber/Taxi) or government action (like a state government shutting fishing grounds) and you may think it does not apply to us.

But it does – we are being wiped out by online challenges most of us cannot fight - and the decline is being exacerbated by government actions, starting with the end of the compulsory printing of annual reports, all the way to Turnbull’s current war on paper. Our problems are just being ignored because they have occurred over a longer period of time than other industries, and because our industry bodies have not really done anything about it.

PIAA has set itself a sharp focus on lobbying and they have some capable people running their shop. One thing they seem to be missing though is an agenda beyond taking on Australia Post (which is certainly a good idea). This is something they can do that will help those of us who want to get out safely, and will make sure that the suppliers and printers who remain have a more stable and financially secure market to run in.

Baden Kirgan is managing director of Jeffries Printing Services

metal, ceramics, textiles, carpeting, and more. Commercial printers print on paper.

Where is the market for printing on all those other substrates? This brings us to the market for functional or industrial print.

Printers print books, periodical, promotional, informational, and utility materials. Where is there a market for printing on textiles? How about the covering for your chair or sofa? Or printing on glass to give you a Tiffany stained glass look? How about personalised wallpaper?

Or artwork that matches a colour scheme?

Or personalised artwork on your carpet? www.proprint.com.au

COMMENT UPDATE

New year resolutions Gettler’s step by step guide to starting the new year on the right footing LEON GETTLER

M

ost people enter the new year with resolutions about their health, about their relationships and their personal finances.

How about developing some new year resolutions about the business?

It is not as crazy as it sounds. Truth is printers around Australia will enter 2017 with new plans all designed to improve the business, draw new customers and build the bottom line.

Some will do well, others will fail.

It is worth looking at them as the equivalent of New Year resolutions.

Good business resolutions are common easy-to-follow steps for every business. None too hard but important nonetheless.

The most important way to start the year is to note the progress that has been made over the last 12 months. And make sure that is communicated through the company.

Communicating it broadly ensures that everyone will be moving in the same direction and focused on the right outcome.

Secondly, take stock of where the business is. How is the company

New year: opportunity

Only a few of us can afford home decorators. We use our own aesthetic sense. Some of us use the internet. There is a store in malls called Accesorise for your clothing. Soon there will be a version for your home. It is all about lifestyle Home décor is said to be a $664bn market worldwide. Most of the ads on local TV are for cars and furniture stores. I watch shoppers filling their carts with throw pillows and home items of all kinds. I hear things like ‘I wish this was in blue to go with my sofa’.

There is a market here for printers. It will be through home decorators or direct. It is www.proprint.com.au

tracking financially? How is it managing costs? Has it met last year’s goals? Is there a less expensive way to operate? Would you save on costs with people working remotely? Are there positions you can turn over to contractors? Do you need all that office space? Are there employees not working to standard? Are there items that are not making money? What areas need attention this year? What strengths can the business build on?

These are critical questions because they always provide the starting point for businesses planning their strategies for the year ahead.

After that, it is important to assess the environment. Not just the business, economic regulatory landscape. Smart business leaders look at the trends ahead. That means reading everything about what is happening in the industry. How can you take advantage of the trends?

Where are the opportunities? How are you placed? It is also a good time to do some research on what competitors are doing. How are they marketing themselves? All these are important details to include in this year’s plan, The next step is to lay down the goals for the year. That means

a print market, but is on much more than paper. It will require new knowledge— of substrates, inks, laser diecutting, embossing, and finishing. Xerox just introduced a printer that prints on oddshaped objects. How about printing the base of a lamp or artwork. Or making one with 3D Printing.

We will need to learn and apply colour in new ways. Imagine a Pantone swatch book on metal. It would weigh a ton.

No one predicted that wide formal inkjet would open a new market for printers for signage, vehicle wraps, building wraps. backdrops, and more. Go back and look.

covering all goals whether they be broad, or smaller and aspirational.

This is important for staff because they have to feel they are making progress. Getting that right increases engagement and keeps them focused on the company’s plans. The good bosses are those who know how to communicate these goals and ensure that everyone knows what’s required.

They have to ensure every employee knows what they are contributing to the organisation.

After that, it is important to focus on what resources are needed to fulfil the year’s goals. It could be about getting more funds, more time and more staff. What are the best ways of approaching this? Access to capital? Better repayment arrangements? Does the company have enough time to achieve those goals? Will you need more staff? It is important to ensure there is enough flexibility and wiggle room in the budget. It is also a good idea to ensure there is a source of backup funding.

Such are the first steps printers should take in 2017. Implementing it takes clear headed focus, and the flexibility to adapt when circumstances change.

The first wide format printers were introduced as proofers for offset colour printing.

Benny Landa said anything that can go digital will go digital.

That is why the growth markets are packaging and new media—and by media I mean new substrates. The future of print involves stuff that cannot go digital.

It is variable data printing for home decoration. It is personalised home printing. It is personalised decoration.

It is high margin. And it is a market that is starting now.

February 2017 ProPrint 13

UPDATE DOWNTIME WE WANT YOUR STORIES

ProPrint Power 50 2016

Any special dates coming up?

Are you celebrating any milestones?

Planning an industry function?

Anyone raising money for a charity?

The best and brightest in Australian print gathered at ProPrint’s sparkling Power 50 event overlooking Sydney Harbour. The top five influencers and innovators were awarded - with IVE chairman Geoff Selig taking out number one position.

If you have something that fits the bill, please email in to make sure it gets a write-up on ‘Downtime’.

Email wayne@proprint.com.au or call (02) 9806 9344

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14 ProPrint February 2017

1. Power 50 winner, IVE executive chairman Geoff Selig 2. Geoff Selig; Kellie Northwood, Two Sides; Michael Warshall, Nulab; and John Scott, Scott Print 3. Anthony Lewis, Konica Minolta; Kellie Northwood, ACA/Two Sides; and John Bromfield, LEP 4. Raj Chandiok, Ricoh; and Shankar Vishwanath, PMG 5. Trent Nankervis, CMYKhub; Carmen Ciappara, ProPrint national advertising manager; and Geoff Selig, IVE 6. Craig Hardman, HP PPS Australia; Nigel Spicer, Cactus Imaging; Jason Beckley, HP PPS Australia; and Keith Ferrel, Cactus Imaging 7. Wayne Robinson, ProPrint editor; with John Bromfield, LEP www.proprint.com.au

23-26 May 2017

PacPrint17, co-locating with Visual Impact is the complete sourcing platform for Australia’s printing and graphic communications industries.

Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

From pre-press, printing, design and finishing to augmented reality and printed electronics... over 150 leading Australian and international suppliers will be eager to engage with informed and motivated buyers and end-users like you!

PacPrint is free for all trade visitors but registration is essential. Please go online to submit your details.

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WHY VISIT w Find new markets and opportunities w Catch up on the latest trends and innovations w Generate new business contacts w Get competitive information in a short space of time For more information on PacPrint17 / Visual Impact and to register, please visit www.pacprint.com.au or contact Event Organisers on T: +61 2 9868 1577 E: exhibitions@visualconnections.org.au R REGISTE

www.pacprint.com.au now!

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UPDATE DOWNTIME

ProPrint Power 50 Sparkling evening on the harbour for the print industry’s influencers and innovators

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7 1. Tod Anthony, Wellcom; David Cascarino, Konica Minolta; and Theo Pettaras, Digitalpress 2. Steve Donegal, HP PPS Australia; with David Currie, Currie Group 3. Phil Rennell, Currie Group; Karen Goldsmith, Visual Connections; Luke Wooldridge, LIA: and Roger Kirwan, Foxcil/Roller Poster 4. Rob Dunnett, Currie Group; Steve Donegal, HP PPS Australia; Michael Warshall, Nulab; Wayne Robinson, ProPrint; and Roger Kirwan, Foxil/Roller Poster 5. Jason Beckley, HP PPS Australia; Henryk Kraszewski, Ricoh; and Rob Dunnett, Currie Group 6. Amanda McCarney, Konica Minolta; David O’Reilly, Whirlwind Print; and Meredith Roach, Konica Minolta 7. Carmen Ciappara, ProPrint national advertising manager, Brian Moore PMG group publisher and Leyla Bhathela, PMG production editor 16 ProPrint February 2017

www.proprint.com.au

Another reason to The award believe in winning theC9110 power .

Pro of print.

Winner of BLI’s 2016 PRO Award.

Outstanding Mid-to-High Volume Colour Production Device.

The RICOH Pro C9100 and C9110 Series.

If you’re looking to enter the high-volume digital market you need a solution fierce enough to break down cost barriers. Introducing the RICOH Pro C9100 Series.

Aimed at high-volume users looking to capitalise on growing digital print volumes and transitioning more from their offset press, the new generation RICOH Pro C9100 series is the affordable digital answer with features that will terrify your competitors.

For more information about the Ricoh Pro C9100 Series and Ricoh’s full suite of production services, solutions and support, contact us on 13 RICOH or visit ricoh.com.au today.

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UPDATE DOWNTIME

ProPrint Power 50 Sparkling evening on the harbour for the print industry’s influencers and innovators

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6 1. April Glover, ProPrint; Andrew Macaulay, PIAA; Walter Kuhn, Kuhncorp; and Kieran May, PIAA 2. Kellie Northwood, TSA; Kirsten Taylor, Taylor’d Press; and Stuart Page, Horizon Print Management 3. PMG group publisher Brian Moore 4. Bob McMillan; Mike Palmer, Dashing; and David Currie, Currie Group 5. Andrew Macaulay, PIAA; Walter Kuhn, Kuhncorp; Melanie Whiting, PMG; Kieran May, PIAA; and Shankar Vishwanath, PMG 6. ProPrint founder Don Elliot; and Carmen Ciappara, ProPrint 7. A glorious evening on the dazzling Sydney harbour: Power 50

18 ProPrint February 2017

www.proprint.com.au

Congratulations from our generous sponsors to everyone who made the list

COVER STORY

MIS into packaging Expansion of award winning Optimus dash MIS, continues with substantial enhancements for Optimus dash for Packaging

O

ne MIS, which can cater for every sector of the print and graphics arts industry, super efficient, process driven, highly configurable, and where necessary able to be integrated into other best of breed third party software.

That was the vision back in 2010 when Optimus launched its now award winning dash MIS, explains Optimus group managing director Nicola Bisset.

She says, “We understood that many print service providers had started to look closely at the relationship between their MIS/ERP software, their people and their manufacturing capability, and some had really focused in on the elimination of waste within their business, in line with the best lean manufacturing principles.”

Bisset continues, “Looking at a value proposition through lean manufacturing eyes, you soon realised that software users generally got irritated and frustrated having to go through steps and processes within the user interface that were just not relevant, and therefore not adding value. We felt that it paid to remember that print service providers’ customers would certainly not pay more money for all those unnecessary steps, they just did not care, and it was ultimately your problem.

20 ProPrint February 2017

Optimus dash MIS: One system for multiple sectors with packaging

“What this fundamentally did, back in the early days of launching dash, was shape our thinking to focus on providing Optimus software that at its heart offered substantially higher levels of configurable automation, flexibility and integration. Our strategic aim was to ensure that an Optimus dash MIS could encompass all sectors of print, and as a consequence help facilitate precise workflows, be they digital, offset, screen, or specialist print.

“Since 2010 we have continually extended the capability of dash by adding and enhancing on its core functionality; and now we are proud to announce an even more substantial shift within the arena of packaging, which is such a growing market for so many of our customers in Australia.”

The Optimus dash Sales Enquiry System allows users to easily create rapid quotations regardless of complexity, through its highly configurable question-driven front end.

In fact dash provides the ability to create quotes in seconds, irrespective of print process or substrate. Quotes are then easily converted into fully specified production jobs with all materials required, estimated costs and final invoice values automatically created, without the need to duplicate or re-key information.

With Optimus dash for Packaging, further functionality has been incorporated into the MIS specifically for companies producing folding cartons. The flexibility of the dash Sales Enquiry System has allowed

www.proprint.com.au

COVER STORY Optimus dash MIS for packaging

Optimus to create an estimating system that is specifically targeted at folding carton production.

Bisset says, “What we deliberately seek to do now, at the bequest of many customers who we know just want the facts laid out plainly and simply, is to offer information on what that functionality will do right now, and safe in the knowledge that the content listed is based on live operational sites.

“We are excited to be launching further enhancements to the successful dash MIS. We believe our award winning product now provides even more additional help and support to the increasing amount of companies that have diversified their product portfolio.

They no longer need multiple MIS systems to manage multiple products.

“In addition we regularly receive feedback from our customers who (if they have measured their current process against their new Optimus dash system) have typically received a full and comprehensive return on investment, ordinarily no more than within twelve months from go live.

“We believe this is due to the lean manufacturing philosophy within the software that provides real, relevant and practical automation. The reduction in potential error handling and the sheer speed of automated process, should mean substantial savings for companies when they start to add up the true cost of removing all these steps.” www.proprint.com.au

 Firstly, the new Estimating system incorporates support for all operations in the production of folding cartons, starting from design and CAD/CAM, pre-press, printing and coating plate production, printing with various options for in-line and off-line coating, to all required finishing processes.  These processes include amongst others: die cutting, laminating, foiling, window patching and folding and gluing. Cost for packaging, transport and warehousing can also be incorporated.  In companies that produce folding cartons the details of carton shapes, cutting knifes and final products form the basis for creating both quotations and production jobs. Optimus dash for Packaging allows all this data to be stored in the Optimus database - including all the relationships between this data - to include the shape of a final product and the shapes that appear for a specific cutting knife. The information about the cutting knifes includes for example, the size of the knife, the minimum required board size, where the knife is stored. Information about shapes includes the size of the final product in three dimensions, but also the flat size and information on how boxes of the shape are packaged and shipped.  The final product, contains information about the customer the product belongs to, the shape of the product and the colours and coatings the product is printed in. The colour information can be imported for pre-press and there is also a link to the high resolution production PDF.  By just entering a product code or just the knife number, the dash MIS will also populate almost all the other inputs of the estimate from the shape, knife and product databases, resulting in fast, accurate and consistent quotations.  So within the configurable dash Sales Enquiry System, when preparing the enquiry (estimate), users simply select the product to be produced, insert the quantities and this will automatically generate a quote based on the correct product information, in combination with the correct knife to be used. At the same time, an automatic detailed breakdown of the estimated production costs are produced which are instantly visible as the quote is being built.  Once a customer order is received, the process of creating a production job is reduced to entering the article number of the required products with the quantity required. From that point on Optimus dash MIS for Packaging completely automates the process, which includes automatically creating the imposition, by optimising the distribution and number up of the items over press sheets, taking into account the board, the product colours, the product coatings and of course the quantity to be produced.

 Optimus dash for Packaging then goes on and automatically creates an estimate for each press sheet and converts this estimate into production jobs. Because information of the final product contains the link to the high resolution production PDF, Optimus for Packaging also automatically creates an imposed PDF. This imposed PDF contains all the required print and press marks and can directly be used for plate making.  The job that is then created in the Optimus job system, contains all information required for production planning and material procurement. A set of tasks on each job details the workflow the job needs to follow in production which can include quality assurance validation configured to suit.  As such, this workflow can not only contain the in-house production tasks but also all required milestones and process to be subcontracted from external vendors. In a similar manner the job contains each and every material required for the job, of course the board, but also for example plates, ink, varnish, packing cartons and the pallets.  All this job data is available to create the works instructions for the production factory. These works instructions can be presented on paper, but also electronically to always have up to date information.  Unlike more traditional ERP systems, with Optimus dash for Packaging it is easy to amend production jobs. As changes to quantities or even the finished goods to be produced are entered, the estimate is recalculated and the job updated. This will automatically update the production route and material requirements.  Optimus dash for Packaging also includes an extensive sales ordering system for delivery on demand from the warehouse.

Production jobs can be delivered directly to the customer or alternatively received into stock as production progresses. Once the customer calls-off a certain quantity of multiple products, a sales order can be raised, resulting in warehouse stock picking instructions, delivery instructions and delivery notes. Invoicing of deliveries is an automated process that is driven from the invoicing interval parameters that can be set on a customer by customer basis.  Optimus dash for Packaging is also integrated with a finite scheduling module for planning all jobs through production. This plan is viewable through the Electronic Planning Board (EPB), showing colour coded bars of time that reflect the ‘live’ status of each task for a job, through an on-screen list, or via the printable ‘work to’ report.  Finite Scheduling relies on remote data collection (RDC) which provides real time capture of in-house production time, production quantities and material usage.

February 2017 ProPrint 21

PROMOTION

The team at Varsity Graphics, from left, Sharon Sewell, Amy Evans, Chanel Davis, and Emma Warner

Ricoh delivers more for Varsity Queensland’s Varsity Graphics has taken advantage of the innovations in the Ricoh Pro C7100X digital production press

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mploying a staff of eight, Varsity Graphics produces a range of printed products, from business cards and brochures to wide format signage.

Initially based in Varsity Lakes, the company now operates out of Robina on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Varsity Graphics recently installed a Ricoh Pro C7100X digital production press.

Sharon Sewell, who started the business 12 years ago with her father Harry, says the Ricoh machine fits with the company’s business strategy.

She says, “We already had another digital press but we do a lot of bespoke jobs that are a bit different to what everyone else does. The Ricoh gave us the white ink and the textured looks, which we can offer to our customers.

“The white ink is trendy at the moment and it helps that we can offer something like this that is cost-effective and fast. With our bigger clients, we can make their work look quite special.”

The decision to purchase the Ricoh Pro C7100X did not happen suddenly.

She says, “I had first seen the Ricoh at Printex and we started hearing about the Pro C7100X after that; everyone was raving about it.

“The Ricoh reps from Brisbane started talking to us a while ago. They

22 ProPrint February 2017

did the hard yards. We had a lot of questions about the machine and we went to the Brisbane showroom quite a few times and we went to all the Ricoh events. That was for about 18 months.

We researched it thoroughly. In the end, we arranged to get the machine straight from there. We wanted to deal direct with Ricoh.

“After we signed the purchase agreement, I went to Brisbane with our manager Chanel Davis, for two days training. We got the Ricoh at the end of September and it has been great. We do double the amount we did on the old machine and our sales have risen since we got it. The print quality is excellent, close to offset.”

With our bigger clients we can make their work look quite special Sharon Sewell, founder, Varsity Graphics

“Competition is quite cut throat with the larger runs, so we find we have to do a lot of different things. We have really good graphic designers and all of our operators are female.

“The Gold Coast is all about glitz and glam and we can respond to the demand for different types of printing.

There is so much building going on here and new businesses like cafes, which definitely helps the printing industry as those places want special types of printing.

Varsity Graphics enjoys a solid relationship with Ricoh. Sewell says, “It was the best purchasing experience we have ever had in terms of buying a

machine. Some companies can be quite negative and pushy whereas the Ricoh reps were really helpful and approachable, always professional.

Customer replaceable units

In the short time the Ricoh Pro C7100X has been on the floor at Varsity Graphics, it has encountered very few difficulties. Sewell says, “We have had no major problems and we can deal with minor problems ourselves thanks to Ricoh’s trained customer replaceable units (TCRUs).

“The Ricoh production print analyst comes down here regularly and he shows us how to get more out of the machine like how to use different stocks. We are learning more about the machine all the time. This is the first time we have used a Fiery and he helps with all that.”

Like other print companies, Varsity Graphics faces any number of external challenges. It takes a positive attitude on our part and we also need to keep up with technology and understand what people want.

“We would really like to get more digital printing as we have the capacity to almost double what we do and we intend to get there. We want to get the word out there to potential customers, and Ricoh will help us with a marketing campaign this year, so we are really looking forward to that.”

“Our biggest customer is in tourism so we do a lot of work on the Ricoh machine for them. We are looking forward to Ricoh bringing in new innovations.” www.proprint.com.au

I believe.

Not only did Sharon have the best ever purchasing experience when buying her new Ricoh Pro C7100X, she can now offer unique work that is cost effective and time efficient to a variety of customers.

With the distinctive fifth toner option and greater stock flexibility of the Ricoh Pro C7100, Varsity Graphics can attract new business and set themselves apart from the competition.

It’s clear to see why Sharon believes in the power of print.

Scan the QR CODE to see more Ricoh partnerships.

To find out how Ricoh can help expand your business, visit webelieve.ricoh.com.au or contact us on 13 RICOH for more information on Ricoh’s suite of production services, solutions and support.

PROFILE STAR BUSINESS KIRWAN PRINT GROUP

Foxcil grows into niche printing Former Geon operations manager Roger Kirwan started rapidly growing Foxcil from scratch and is now expanding into niche markets

A

ny Harvard business school textbook applicable to businesses in a sector where there are hundreds or thousands of competitors essentially offering the same product in a limited market, like the modern day printing sector, will say that the only way to grow is to either become the biggest and eat the rivals or find a niche and make it your own, otherwise it becomes a race to the bottom price and results in unsustainable business.

Roger Kirwan, founded Foxcil as a trade label printer five years ago, coming out of a strong heritage in labels, and has since gone on to add three other business divisions, one through acquisition and two through identifying gaps in the market and creating a business to meet that demand. All four businesses are niche operations.

Today in addition to Foxcil he has Roller Poster, a trade plastic roll printing business that he bought out of administration, he has an online signs business suddensigns.com and in the next two months will have a new trade plastic bag printing business.

One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor goes the saying, and when Sydney printer Roller Poster fell over in 2016 the timing was fortuitous for Roger Kirwan and his Foxcil business. Kirwan was looking to move from the premises he was renting, which was two blocks from Roller Poster in the Sydney suburb of Brookvale, and was looking to expand his own business. Roller Poster is a specialised print business producing LDPE and BOPP in continuous reels, and had a well-used Simon VK central impression flexo press as its main piece of production equipment. Most buyers having a look around were put off by this, as the Simon VK is a relatively

24 ProPrint February 2017

factfile Age: Five years Staff: 12 Owner: Roger Kirwan Location: Brookvale Speciality: Trade labels, posters and soon plastic bags Strategy: Focus on niche areas, be the best in class, leverage cross-company sales

obscure piece of kit, but for Kirwan it had the opposite effect, one Simon VK flexo press was used at the first printer he worked at Mainguard Packaging in Christchurch, which at the time had 120 staff and half a dozen large flexo presses, and he was entirely comfortable with what he saw. He says, “Most people walked in, saw the big Simon VK, and said ‘what is that’, but I knew exactly what it was and what it was capable of.”

Foxcil is a digital label printing business, so Roller Poster meant entry into a new market with continuous rolls of film-based printing, but with the kit and the staff Kirwan knew if he put sales and marketing effort in he would be rewarded. The previous owner was more hands off with less going into sales and marketing.

Kirwan says, “Foxcil had got to the stage where we were really strugglilng for room, we were in just 400 sqm.

Then Roller Poster came up, and it had 2000sqm. But what really attracted me was its staff, equipment and its niche market. I could see synergies saving costs, for instance in administration, and by moving the Foxcil business in we were saving the rent, but more than that I could see it had the basis of a great business, and was delighted to buy the business. There was virtually no

crossover in clients which was good.

I saw the capabilities of the press straight away, those machines run forever. It was an opportunity at an opportune time.”

Kirwan bought the business, kept half the six staff and moved Foxcil into the Roller Poster building, which as it turned out was a necessary move. He says, “Everyone knows that moving a manufacturing business is a costly exercise, but I would have had to do it anyway, the week after I bought Roller Poster, the landlord of the Foxcil building put it up for sale and as we were only on a rolling lease the decision to move was effectively made for us, so moving into Roller Poster was the perfect opportunity.”

From his beginnings in the industry at Mainguard with the Simon VK press Kirwan went to Kiwi Labels in Christchurch, which when he joined was 100 per cent letterpress, part of his remit was to convert production to 100 per cent flexo.

Kiwi Labels was then bought by Geon, and installed the first Xeikon digital label press in Australasia, with Kirwan then in the role of general manager. He then transferred to Geon in Australia as operations manager. He had moved on three months before the company went under, and was working www.proprint.com.au

STAR BUSINESS PROFILE

1

2

1. A growing team at Foxcil, with company owner Roger Kirwan pictured right 2. Press operator Ray Bentley with the Simon VK flexo press

for Opus, as well as setting up the Foxcil business, in full agreement of the Opus team, and five years ago he launched Foxcil, as a two person operation.

Numbers are now up to twelve. He says, “I started Foxcil because it was becoming apparent that there was a need for short-run on demand labels but no-one to service that need.

Variable data was also emerging, although this has been a bit of a slow burner. I had the commercial experience and the label experience.

And I had a lot of contacts through working with Geon and Opus. My main market was trade printing. Many print businesses are asked for short run labels.

“At the start though it was a struggle to convince them that we could produce what they wanted, but eventually they realised that there were not that many trade label printers that could offer a two day turnaround service on labels.”

Kirwan started Foxcil with just himself and one other person, with Kirwan himself the main printer, servicing other commercial printers of Sydney with labels. Today there are six times the number of people working at the company, and business comes from all over Australia.

Kirwan says, “We know what www.proprint.com.au

commercial printers want, we know what pressures they are under, and we give them what they need when they need it.

The main production equipment at Foxcil is the Xeikon digital press.

Kirwan of course knew Xeikon well from his time at Kiwi Labels, and is a fan of the Belgian manufactured digital colour printer. He says, “It has been brilliant, reliable, and consistently producing high quality work. I have been to the factory in Belgium, talked to the people there, they really know what they are doing.”

Kirwan hired the former Xeikon technician who had worked at Kiwi Labels for the first year of his operation, after that he was on his own. He also invested in a Roland DG wide format printer, for ultra-short run stickers.

He says, “It was intense in those early days, I was running the press and the business, but the Xeikon never let me down for printing. And I bought some Smag finishing equipment, which has also served us very well.”

The biggest challenge for us was expanding the customer base, but now we are through that stage Roger Kirwan, managing director, Foxcil & Roller Poster

He says, “The first two years was tough, so much to do, with limited resources and a limited customer base.

The biggest challenge was expanding the customer base, but thankfully we got through that stage and have now built up a good reputation for ourselves, with sales coming through word of mouth.”

These days Kirwan has moved out of production to technical support, and sales and client relations, which is still

almost exclusively with printers for the label side of the business. He says, “I oversee all the sales for both businesses, I have a great team here now who take care of production, and we work to meet the client demands. We are a new business, so we are agile, flexible, and know how important it is for the customer to be satisfied with what we deliver. And so far so good, we have customers that we have had since we began, which is a great testimony to the fact that we are providing what the market wants.”

Now that Roller Poster is bedded in Kirwan is looking to expand the product offering, and is looking at alternate applications in the flexible packaging space. Kirwan says, “Roller Poster is based on quick turnarounds and short runs. We have a got a fantastic machine and guys that know how to run it.”

Kirwan has invested in new equipment for the job with a new GE DLD320 digital plotter / cutter 320mm from Gulmen Engineering, which is a computer to cut, slit and finish-rewind for digital printed media rolls, for the ultra-short run work.

Online

Starting a new business demands energy and creativity, and Kirwan has shown plenty of that, which is also leading to his latest venture, an online signs business www.suddensigns.com where customers can order generic labels – Leased, Sale and the like.

Kirwan says, “It is a retail shopfront where anyone can order these type of signs. Trade customers can also go on there but they will get a trade price.

Essentially it is part of the development plan for the business. It is a new way of reaching the market, of providing a Continued on page 26 February 2017 ProPrint 25

PROFILE STAR BUSINESS Continued from page 25

service to people. There is no customisation, so there will be little appeal to our trade customers who tend to want bespoke work, but we feel there is a demand for this low cost generic work as well, it is more for the mum and dad retail businesses. We are dipping our toe in the water and will see what kind of a response we achieve.”

1

Creatabull plastic bags

In his latest move Kirwan is taking steps to move into plastic bag production with Creatabull. This is also a trade service providing bags to printers and print buyers.

Kirwan says the company would never compete against big runs of plastic bags out of China because print buyers are required to buy significant volumes and wait many weeks, and unlike those overwhelmned by the production power and prices from China he saw this as an opportunity. He says, “In today’s instant world there is an incessant growing demand for quick turnarounds, something the Chinese simply cannot offer. That is where we come in – smaller runs and fast turnarounds. We believe demand for our bags will be from our print customers servicing retailers looking for high street shopping bags fast.

“Typically the bags will be quality printed low density 80um style of bags, recyclable or biodegradable, we are not looking at the high density single use supermarket style bags,” he says.

Kirwan says there were two main reasons he expanded his company into the plastic bag business. “First it is the perfect fit for Roller Poster, it already has the big flexo graphic press which you need to do bags. We have already got the big expensive press all we need is the finishing line.

“The second thing is my whole strategy is to service printer and print buyers with non-standard products.

I am not interested in business cards and letterheads, I do not want to compete with my customers. I am all about producing and sourcing things that are difficult for a client to source and bags seems obvious,” he says.

“We have targeted machines that we believe will provide the best range of alternatives for our customers. We expect to be able to offer bags that will feature a choice of handles, including flexi loop, and die punched, as well as closures including hot melt and tape courier style bags with sealable flaps Kirwan bought two machines in the UK with a wide range of capabilities.

“Because of two machines I have a wide range of capability. I imagine the bags can be up to any width within reason and for printed bags probably a max of around 600mm length,” he says. The equipment is still a couple of months away from final testing and installation.

26 ProPrint February 2017

2

1. Roger Kirwan with the Xeikon digital production press 2. Typical posters produced by the Roller Poster business

Easy to do business

The Foxcil business has caught the attention of the NSW government and specifically its business development team. Foxcil will be one of six business that are featuring in a new programme titled Easy To Do Business, each of

My whole strategy is to service printers and print buyers with non-standard products Roger Kirwan

which aims to highlight industries that the government believes are prime areas for people to start new businesses.

Some in the industry may raise an eyebrow at the government citing print as an area for people to begin new businesses, but there are people who are starting innovative print businesses

of one kind or another as the industry recalibrates, with Kirwan and Foxcil a leading example.

Labels, printed plastic rolls and plastic bags are all required by general print buyers, but the servicing of trade buyers in these spaces is far from ideal, and the suppliers in these spaces do not understand the price and turnaround pressures commercial print buyers are under.

Starting a new business is not for the faint-hearted, but Kirwan has created and positioned Foxcil to meet a clear need in the market, and has now established the foundations to go on and grow the business. By diversifying but leveraging existing knowledge trough Roller Poster and suddensigns. com he is building on those foundations, and showing that print with a clear focus can deliver results. PP www.proprint.com.au

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FOCUS WIDE FORMAT

Wide hori

As wide format hardware and inks develop, the number of new applications for printers to target is increasing, and business opportunities are beckoning

By Peter Kohn

T

here are some attractive new horizons for wide format printing in Australia, and the sun is rising on all sorts of new business opportunities, in fields such as personalised wallpapers, printing on glass, and in soft signage.

ProPrint has profiled numerous experiences of Australian print houses leveraging the latest wide format technology into innovative and lucrative applications within their business.

For example, Pronto Direct, a 26-year-old business in Southport, Queensland, expanded from A1 poster printing and coreflute signage into areas such as one-way vision material for car windows, low and high-grade fence scrims for construction sites, 28 ProPrint February 2017

promotional banners, and 2.4m coreflute signs and canvasses.

In Sydney, John Fisher Printing has broadened its offerings to include paper-based and a wide range of non-paper-based inkjet printing, and printing on lightweight plastic, fabrics, mirror and reflective surfaces, foils, electronic membranes, bubblewrap, and corrugated fluted boards, as well as signage and displays.

And in Perth, Glass Australia (Graphic Glass WA) is printing solely on glass surfaces. The company, which began in 1990 as a decorative sand etcher to the window and door industries, now prints designs and patterns exclusively on glass.

Melbourne’s Visual Solutions Australia partnered with a Melbourne plastics developer to trial extra-thick substrate which was then vacuumformed for mouldings to create products such as counter displays and 3D signage. Sydney’s Flash Graphics has made a transition into wide format from its origins in photographic processing, earning it two nominations in Australia’s Top 100 fastest growing businesses.

Cactus Imaging, which was acquired

by Ooh! Media from the Opus Group in July this year, is countering the growing competitiveness of its core outdoor activities of PVC-printed display advertising with R&D on new substrates, including organic fabrics, which are lighter, less expensive and recyclable.

The list goes on. At this year’s drupa, acclaimed Melbourne trade embellisher Avon Graphics further enhanced its expansion into trade wide format by adding to its stable of Mimaki devices. The company, the world’s largest JFX500 series site, bought a JFX500-2131 and a JV300-160 wide format inkjet. Avon also bought a TS300P-1800 dye-sublimation press for fabric printing. The Mimakis have helped Avon into wide format printing to the trade in various sectors, a considerable departure from its core activity of trade embellishing, but a worthwhile one, according to the company.

Minuteman Press, a digital print business in the Perth CBD, installed a Fuji Film Acuity LED 1600 wide format hybrid roll and rigid media printer,

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WIDE FORMAT FOCUS

zons yielding near-photographic results at impressive speeds. The machine will help enhance Minuteman’s multilayered service, which includes variable-data printing and Australia Post communications with their customers, shareholders and communities.

Vendors have their say

According to Jeremy Brew, large-format application specialist at HP Australia, brand owners are increasingly looking for new ways to appeal to an evolving customer base, which provides many new opportunities for print service providers (PSPs) in sign and display.

He says, “They need to respond quickly to market factors, so campaign turnaround time has never been more key. And we see brands increasingly aware of their environmental impact, requesting more environmentally friendly or recyclable substrate options.

HP technologies deliver on both – with prints that are ready to finish and dispatch immediately from the printer, without outgassing. As well as being able to print on recyclable papers and banner materials, HP also offers our www.proprint.com.au

media take-back programme, closing the loop on material going to landfill.”

Brew believes that for astute PSPs, innovative wide format printing beckons strongly. “You cannot turn the TV on without seeing some type of home renovation or decoration show.

Wide format digital printing is perfectly placed to take advantage of this trend in personalised decoration.

Whereas once you could only see your favourite photos or patterns in a photobook or small canvas, you can now turn this into an entire feature wall, superwide canvas, or even custom furniture item.”

“With HP UV, we see customers printing on a range of rigid surfaces for decoration – like glass for kitchen splashbacks or high-impact decoration highlights– or timber for a rustic appearance and a true ‘country’ feel.

With the HP Scitex FB550 and FB750 UV printers, you can print on materials up to 63mm thick, meaning the only real limit to which surfaces you can decorate is your imagination,” he says.

Meanwhile, HP Latex is the perfect solution for digitally printed wall coverings, canvas, posters and wall decals, says Brew. “When you are installing a wall covering in a sensitive environment like a bedroom, hospital, school or restaurant, safety and comfort is a key consideration for designers, decorators and consumers.”

Underpinning the HP Latex offering is the HP WallArt software solution, which enables PSPs to target new customers by offering an easy-to-use, cloud-based design tool for wall coverings, canvas, posters and wall decals.

For owners of wide-format technology, and for intending owners, opportunities abound, according to Craig Heckenberg, general manager, business division, at Epson Australia.

Businesses with large-format and flatbed UV printers are able to take advantage of opportunities Jacob Higgins, marketing & event coordinator at Roland DG Australia

He lists just some of these as largeformat backlit (‘Electronic cannot compete in terms of cost or presentation quality’, he adds); window signage for short-term promotional advertising; vehicle and product decals and wraps (personalisation and branding); short-run label production for promotional activity and custom and specialised product requirements; décor; home, office and shop fitting, such as custom wallpapers and finishes; large-format photographic and fine-art imaging; decorative and custom cabinetry, and specialised hard signage).

Then there is fabric printing, he says - fabric; custom upholstery, curtains and merchandise; soft signage; promotional flags and banners, and sun shades and temporary barriers in canvas. ‘Many aspects of textile and hard-surface printing are very similar to signage. It is a natural progression’.

Heckenberg describes two technologies from Epson that can help printers use new applications in wide format printing. In the signage sector, there is Epson’s SureColor Signage, for durable high-colour, high-gloss, highresolution eco-solvent imaging on vinyl, film, canvas and paper. “This is perfect for premium backlit and window signage, wall and product decals, vehicle wraps, labels, wallpapers, canvas, and more. Lowcost, quick-dry inks enable cost effective production with same-day job turnaround.”

In the emerging field of display fabric printing, Epson offers its SureColor Fabric, enabling high Dmax (maximum black tone) dye-sublimation and highresolution direct-to-garment (DTG) printing. “This technology produces hard signage, soft signage, custom fabrics, T-shirts and merchandise,” Heckenberg explains.

According to Jacob Higgins, marketing and event coordinator at Roland DG Australia, there are a range of new opportunities available to wide format print businesses using UV and dye sublimation technology. “UV ink technology allows you to print directly to the surface of objects, opening up a broad range of items that can be printed to, as there is no need for specially coated substrates. With a desktop UV printer, you can easily handle one-offs and short-runs of personalised items, gifts and merchandise at a low cost. These items would traditionally need to be produced using pad or screen printing methods, which have time consuming set-up processes, and are only cost effective for large print runs.

“Businesses with large-format and flatbed UV printers are able to take advantage of opportunities in the increasingly popular interior décor and architectural markets,” explains Higgins. “Items such as cushions, furniture and upholstery, divider screens, glass splashbacks and wall hangings can be produced using large format UV technology. Similarly to UV printing, dye sublimation printing is replacing printing methods such as screen printing.

“Due to high costs and limitations of traditional print processes, it is only since the advent of digital dye sublimation that high quality photographic images have been able to be printed onto everyday items.

Continued on page 30 February 2017 ProPrint 29

FOCUS WIDE FORMAT Continued from page 29

“Dye sublimation offers businesses a quick and cost effective method of producing decorative applications such as furnishings, fashion items and personalised goods.”

With UV printing, the technology required to expand into the decorative sector ranges from desktop printers, to hybrid roll-to-roll, and flatbed printers, he says. “This technology allows you to more accurately meet customers’ demands, with the production of personalised items and short-run original goods on demand produced with minimal set up costs – opening up multiple business opportunities.”

For dye sublimation, the printing technology once again ranges from desktop printers to wide format equipment, states Higgins. “With this process however, users require a heat press – and these range from small format ‘clamshell’ and 3D vacuum heat presses, to larger calender units and flatbed heat presses. Businesses are able to personalise pre-treated or polymer-suitable custom objects, and also produce a range of high-value textile, soft signage, fashion, sportswear and furnishing applications.”

UV inkjet technology, as found in Roland DG’s VersaUV LEC, LEF and LEJ range, uses long lasting, energy efficient UV-LED lamps to cure ink directly to the surface of the media. “In addition to personalised goods, interior décor, and architectural applications, this technology allows for the creation of product prototypes, labels, decals, packaging prototypes and also sign and display applications,” notes Higgins.

Inkjet dye sublimation, as in Roland DG’s Texart XT-640 and RT-640 devices, uses specially manufactured inks, containing heat activated ‘dye sublimation’ dyes. These are fixed by heat and pressure into a polyester substrate, such as a polyester fabric or polyester coated surface. “This process requires the graphics to be printed on to special transfer paper, then a heat press is required to transfer the ink on to the item that you want to decorate.

Multiple applications are opening up for wide format printing

New opportunity: printing onto kitchen cabinets

Once again, in addition to producing decorative applications such as fashion items, interior décor and personalised goods, users can deliver additional applications including flags, banners, backlit displays, and sportswear.”

Mark Fletcher, EFI’s associate marketing specialist, APAC, reminds us that not so long ago digital flatbed or roll-to-roll was seen as just a complimentary niche technology, suitable only for extremely short runs.

“But with ever decreasing high-volume work, today it’s hard to envisage how a sign shop could compete without having some form of digital printing capability.

“To gain a foothold in this rapidly evolving market, businesses must find a way to be responsive as well as nimble.

Although the opportunities are plentiful, they all come at a cost— businesses must be willing to invest the money and time to learn about the different textile printing methods.”

Fletcher notes that digital textile printing, as a concept, has not yet reached its full potential, both for interior and exterior applications.

Firstly, there is the increased learning curve essential to get the best results possible from the process while, secondly, for industrial strength environments, the printer manufacturer’s experience of the fabric sector is of vital importance.

The acquisition by EFI of established fabric printer manufacturer Reggiani has led not only to new opportunities in industrial production, but has also broadened the scope for businesses wanting to enter the soft signage and related markets, he says. “The combination of experience and expertise from both companies now means that digital textile production can be taken to a new level for users in the display segment who want a green yet versatile substitute for flexible graphics.”

Although UV-curable inks can be used successfully across a vast range of roll-fed media, with many options that successfully emulate traditional fabric printing, Fletcher believes there are many benefits to be gained from using dye sublimation as an alternative.

“Primarily, durability and ‘hand’ or feel are both very important factors in applications where the result needs to drape or hang naturally, and this is not easy to achieve realistically without a dedicated textile platform.”

Rachael Hunter, marketing manager, graphics solutions business, at HP Australia, says that while wide format print has traditionally been used to produce outdoor banners, vehicle wraps, site wraps, architectural signage, real estate boards and retail POS posters, wide format printers are now discovering new, innovative, creative and high value applications.

“The ability to customise and enhance wide format print capability, combined with comprehensive roll-toroll and rigid substrate options, means that wide format can be used for applications such as pavement or foyer graphics, interior wall murals, custom wallpapers, wall decals, fine art and photo reproduction, window coverings and soft furnishing, glass graphics, office partition decoration, packaging, creative POS or trade show displays.

“The ability to print directly to rigid substrates, such as flute boards, foam board, cardboard, acrylic, ACM, wood, and various types of plastics, as well as the less common materials such as glass and tiles, offers both a cost and time saving on finishing processes.

The ability to print using white, clear and metallic inks, coupled with multilayer printing to highlight or enhance certain parts of an image or create tactile, textural effects gives wide format print providers another highvalue option to offer customers and differentiate from the competition.”

Continued on page 32

30 ProPrint February 2017

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Fuji Xerox Australia offers a range of eco solvent printers for roll-to-roll, hybrid LED and UV flatbed printers with roll-to-roll capability, as well as a range of wide format finishing equipment. including vinyl cutters and flatbed cutting tables, says Hunter.

The 64” (1625mm) roll-to-roll, solvent outdoor printer, the SureColor S-series, consists of three models – the SC-S40600 for flexible lower cost production, the SC-S60600 for highspeed continuous production and the flagship SC-S80600 for high colour production with maximum application support. FXA supports the S-series with Caldera rip software and contour vinyl cutters for contour cutting of selfadhesive vinyl.

Phya Leong, Neopost Australia’s marketing manager, says she finds an increasing number of printer customers taking advantage of niche markets previously not addressed, such as interior decorating, digitally printed wallpaper, custom printed blinds and window furnishings, custom printed lamp shades and couch cushions. “By digitally printing interior décor, businesses can offer customers new products and services. By printing digitally, customers can take the worry out of predicting what design or style will sell by printing on demand and customised one-offs or short runs. This helps to save on warehousing and stock costs.”

A variety of technologies can be employed to enter the textile and decoration markets, says Leong.

“Matching the correct equipment and technology to the correct application is vital. With UL Ecologo and UL Greenguard Gold certifications for fully decorated office/interior wall coverings, we find the HP Latex technology is hard to beat. New wallpaper materials, such as the Neopost-supplied Ahlstrom EasyLife Spray & Up, makes installation even easier. Spray & Up is a PVC-free, digitally printable wall covering eliminating the need for conventional wall covering paste. Simply spray the wall with water and then apply directly, reducing application time by up to 60 per cent,” she explains, summing it up as ‘quick, easy and clean’.

Durability and hand or feel are both very important factors in applications Mark Fletcher, EFI’s associate marketing specialist, APAC

Neopost offers HP’s Latex technology, which Leong describes as “an excellent medium for printers to address a variety of applications -- from their traditional selfadhesive vinyl and banner work through to backlit films, textiles, wall coverings and digitally printed interior décor”. HP Latex offers the widest range of addressable applications, she adds, and customers can utilise their existing HP Latex machines to enter into the decorative printing market.

Brad Creighton, national sales & marketing manager at Mimaki Australia, advises two new models are now available locally. The Mimaki TX300P-1800 eight-

colour inkjet printer features a new printhead that ejects ink droplets at high speed to ensure accurate ink droplet placement with a high head gap. This makes the printer ideal for printing high-quality images on all types of fabrics, including thicker and textured materials.

Meanwhile, with the new TX300P1800B printer, steaming and washing processes for cotton and hemp base textile is no longer required. “Large space for installation of steaming and washing equipment is substantially reduced and on-demand production can be easily made. Moreover, the belt type transportation equipment makes printing on thick and elastic textile a stable reality.”

The new TX300P-1800B employs a new printhead that achieves highquality and beautiful print in high gap setting on thick or raised fibre surfaces.

Free from head troubles, the new model allows various dyes, such as reactive dye, sublimation dye, acid dye, and disperse dye inks -- with printing on cotton, silk, linen and rayon now possible, says Creighton.

“This trend allows customer to order their favourite design and makes possible high-mix, low volume products,” he says. “Mimaki predicts that customers will begin to regularly create custom design once they have grown weary of ordinary design options in the market, and to accommodate this progressive trend, the TX300P-1800B models offers this option.” PP

The electronic challenge Electronic digital displays are making inroads into traditional printed display markets, and now account for some 40 pwer cent of all outdoor media. Some printers are even getting in on the act ahead of outside competitors.

For example, Valley Edge Design, a 25-year-old design and print provider in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, made the bold decision a few years ago to wade into electronic signage, running its own billboard which showcases advertising from third-party clients – both corporate and not-for-profit - as well as exhibiting its inhouse promos.

With Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) accounting for almost a third of total revenue, the Outdoor Marketing Association (OMA) sees DOOH as a sustained and growing technology, even though OMA CEO Charmaine Moldrich believes DOOH and printed signage complement each other and static displays are particularly useful in establishing brand dominance.

However, Roland DG’s Jacob Higgins believes that with the emergence of nonprinted display technology such as digital signage, “there has been little impact on 32 ProPrint February 2017

the wide format printing sector. Nonprinted displays and print signage should be viewed as complementary, and used together to deliver effective messages to viewers. There are many opportunities for print providers to learn about non-printed displays, and offer this as part of an overall signage solution”.

Neopost’s Phya Long says : “I strongly believe that print will always remain. More and more, we hear the arguments on static versus dynamic/moving advertising. More information is coming out saying that we tend to tune out from moving advertising in places like shopping centres whilst good static displays can still have a big impact.

Static displays are an excellent partner for wide format printing and in my belief will remain so for a long time.”

Epson’s Craig Heckenberg believes that while electronic display technology is being increasingly used for POS and short-term promotional activity and in high-traffic urban areas, and large outdoor screens are also starting to replace traditional billboards, there is a lot of life left in printed displays.

“Traditional signage remains the best

solution for long-term displays, branding, and positional material. A large format paper, textile or backlit image has considerably more impact than a small high-quality screen or a large low-res display. And traditional posters remain the most cost effective solution for a lot of promotional activity including fliers, banners, pull-ups and decals.”

Although digital media has been called a threat to wide-format printing and digital screens are in use in retail environments and commuter thoroughfares Rachael Hunter says that at this point there seems to be very little impact on wide format customers. “Digital technology can be a high initial investment, requires ongoing maintenance, possible service costs and a degree of technical skill. Digital media is a complementary technology for many of our end-users and combining wide format print with digital display technologies can provide synergy in getting the desired message to the target market.”

HP’s Jeremy Brew sums it up succinctly: “Digital is likely to continue growing. But print is here, print is high-impact and print is here to stay.” www.proprint.com.au

The MIS/ERP for the modern printer

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FOCUS PACKAGING

Digital tech takes corrugated to the next level Corrugated looks set to be the next big adopter of high-speed single pass digital printing technologies

By Simon Eccles

I

t is a natural progression up in capacity from the big flatbed industrial inkjets that are already fairly common sights in the sector to digital corrugated printing systems.

While installations are only just getting off the ground, the number of high-speed, high-cost digital corrugated presses announced at drupa earlier this year showed how seriously the suppliers are taking the prospect.

Prices are all in the millions except for a hand-fed Xanté at about A$200,000.

Corrugated is a huge worldwide industry where market and technology changes are driving demand for highquality printing. Conventional print processes here are flexography for direct printing onto brown or white kraft board, or web offset lithography onto white liner paper that is then laminated onto the rolls of brown fluted media. Digital equivalents are so far all inkjets of some sort.

Two years ago a Smithers Pira report, The Future of Digital Print for Packaging to 2019, said that conversion of corrugated board was 90 million tonnes in 2013 and would increase by over 22 million tonnes by 2019. The majority of print will remain analogue flexo and litho, but it forecast the highest growth in digital, expected to increase on average by 7.4 per cent yearon-year up to 2019. This followed growth of 13.5 per cent annually from 2009 to 2012, probably as flatbed inkjets were initially adopted.

Boxes are by far the largest use for corrugated, though there is a smaller display sector that uses it for things like large promotional items in stores and cinemas or POS end bins for supermarkets.

Corrugated boxes can contain and protect heavy items with less need for environmentally dubious expanded polystyrene: for retail use these boxes tend to be white with attractive colour 34 ProPrint February 2017

Steve Green, EFI, with the Nozomi digital corrugated printer and digitally printed corrugated

printed designs to maximise shelf appeal.

Early adopters are just getting started, the world’s first Sun Automation CorrStream66 inkjet board press is in UK a production site.

This 1,325mm wide, 71m/min machine went in as a beta in April and is now producing regular commercial work.

The company is HSG, its managing director Ben Ginesi says: “We do conventional flexo and quite a lot of litho laminating work. Five or six years ago I was talking to HP about digital.

We decided to wait for single-pass technology. We wanted a progressive technology, rather than something that was more in the mature phase of its lifecycle.”

Versioning and personalisation are becoming powerful parts of the technology Ben Ginesi, managing director, HSG

With six months experience under his belt, Ginesi says that throughput and running costs are not far off those of flexo. “Because a lot of the setting-up work is done off-line and we have refined the workflow to do that, we have very short set times, job to job,” he says. “We find that the machine’s square meterage output level is similar to flexo overall. It may be run slower than a flexo press, but it saves literally 40 minutes per set.

“When we were looking at the feasibility of the technology it became

apparent that it was not all about machine speed, actually the key to making the technology successful was to become much more efficient in prepress than conventionally a plant in our industry might be.”

Ink costs were also a big factor in his decision to choose the CorrStream, he says. It uses a water-based ink that’s food-safe. “There is a marked difference between what you pay for ink per litre and ink cost on the sheet,” says Ginesi. “For a lot of other systems I looked at, that was not a design concern. Let’s say your piece of board is 40c per square metre. The ink cost over a spread of 10 jobs on a UV liner printer I looked at will probably average 20c per sqm. So you are adding 50 per cent of the material cost into the job. The reality with the Sun system is it is adding five cents.”

The potential for digital presses in corrugated is much the same as in other print sectors: they allow very quick response to orders and they are economical for on-demand short runs, so customers don’t have to warehouse thousands of boxes that may become obsolete if there’s a change in the product appearance or printed information.

Ginesi is reluctant to name names, but says there have already been live projects that make use of the ability to change the printed image within a longer run. “Versioning and personalisation are becoming powerful parts of the technology,” he says.

“Customers can come to us and say ‘I do not want a 3,000 minimum run, I www.proprint.com.au

PACKAGING FOCUS

would like a price for a 10,000 bulk quantity, but I would like to order it with a mix of images – 2,900 of one, 5,500 of another and so on.’ “It is effectively allowing them a choice in terms of how they split their print run.

It is a different cost model to flexo.”

If you want a CorrStream of your own you are looking at list prices between A$3.5m and A$5m depending on width. Rivals’ prices we have heard of are much the same or higher depending on speed and width and the wild card of exchange rate.

New players

Back in 2014 only Sun Automation and Barberan had actually built fast singlepass inkjets for corrugated boards, while Bobst was working with Kodak on one. Today Sun has its HSG installation, Barberan reportedly has five or six, and Bobst has two test presses in commercial sites, with another built and due to go in.

Since 2014 there have also have been launches or announcements by Durst, EFI, HP (several), Screen/Inca Digital/ BHS and an update from Xanté to it’s a $200,000 manual-load Excelagraphix.

Some use water-based inks, other UV-curing.

The real challenge has been the materials handling – how to shift big, heavy sheets of corrugated board into and through a press, when they are also floppy and prone to warping and dust.

Many of the developers of high-speed digital corrugated presses already have some experience in related processes: Bobst is an established corrugated flexo www.proprint.com.au

press and boxmaking machinery maker, Sun Automation makes leadedge feeders and ink systems for corrugated presses (and worked with Inca Digital and Sun Chemical on the FastJet corrugated project ten years ago), Barberan developed inkjets for heavy flooring and laminates before adapting them for corrugated, while Screen and its Inca subsidiary have teamed up with the big corrugating machinery maker BHS to make a hybrid printer.

HP has had an association with corrugated since the early 2000s, when the Israeli start-up Aprion was developing an early inkjet corrugated press called CorJet when it was acquired by Scitex Vision, which is now HP Scitex. Apart from its dedicated corrugated flatbeds, HP offers a simplex PageWide T400S and worked with KBA on the 2.8m-wide T1100S, both for corrugated liner printing. At drupa it announced PageWide C500, a forthcoming board printer.

Warping apart, the materials handling challenge for corrugated board is similar to that in the ceramic tile industry, which has seen a remarkably fast take-up of single-pass inkjets in the past seven years. It is no coincidence that EFI Cretaprint, a Spain-based builder of inkjets for tiles, is the factory behind EFI’s drupa launch of the Nozomi UV-LED inkjet for fast corrugated print. Durst also makes single-pass ceramic tile printers.

Digital corrugated summit

Late last year Fespa, an association which serves industrial printers as well as sign and display, held a Digital Corrugated Summit. This was sponsored by HP and included speakers from packaging software and cutting table supplier Esko, brand agency Studio Minerva, corrugated converter Swanline Print Group (which uses HP FB1000 UV flatbeds for digital work) and materials supplier Smurfit Kappa.

The summit was organised by Peter Kiddell, a consultant and director of Fespa. He says digital lets corrugated producers addresses changing markets, commenting, “Retailing is a rapidly changing sector. Customers are making decisions on the net and then coming to them and saying ‘this is nice.’ It is a change of the way people look at packaging, and we are reflecting that in the event.

“Also, say you order a widget over the web. If the box it arrives in looks particularly attractive, it is not just for protection, it is actually bringing some excitement to the product.

“Runs are getting shorter and the needs of producing specific information is increasing. And the way to deal with it is with digital print technology and the ancillary processes.”

Digital corrugated single-pass presses BARBERAN JETMASTER Status in production with four or five users Process UV inkjet Board widths 840, 1,050 and 1,260mm Speed up to 55m/min Contact www.barberan.com

BOBST DIGITAL CORRUGATED PRESS Status three built, two in test sites Process Kodak Prosper-S inkjet with water-based inks Board size up to 2.1x1.3m Speed up to 200m/min Contact local agent Print & Pack or www.bobst.com

DURST RHO 130 SPC Status announced and demonstrated at Drupa 2016 Process aqueous hybrid inkjet Board size up to 1.25x2.5m Speed TBA Contact local agent PES or www.durst.it

EFI NOZOMI C18000 Status announced at drupa Process UV-LED inkjet Board size up to 1.8x3.0m Speed 75m/min Contact www.efi.com

HP PAGEWIDE C500 Status announced at drupa Process PageWide thermal inkjet, aqueous inks Board size 1.8x3.0m Speed TBA Contact www.hp.com

SCREEN/INCA/BHS CORRUGATED Status in development Process to run inline with corrugating line and sheeter Print width 2.8m Speed up to 300m/min Contact www.screenaust.com.au

SUN AUTOMATION CORRSTREAM20/40/66 Status available to order Process aqueous inkjet Board sizes widths: 537mm, 705mm, 1,325mm; length: 1.6m Speed up to 71m/min Contact www.sunautomation.com

XANTÉ EXCELAGRAPHIX 4800 Status on sale now Process Memjet inkjet, aqueous inks Print width 1,067mm Speed up to 412 boards per hour Contact www.xante.com

February 2017 ProPrint 35

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO STAR PRODUCT

RMGT 9 Series with LED-UV LED-UV is becoming an increasingly common option for offset, as this A1 Ryobi press attests

LED-UV: 920ST-4

by Simon Eccles

What is it?

Units

The RMGT (Ryobi and Mitsubishi Get Together) 920ST-4+LED-UV is a single-sided four-unit press with a maximum sheet size 640x920mm, in other words an SRA1 sheet (8-up DIN A4). There are configurations with perfecting and up to 10 units plus inline coater. As an offset litho press, it has high credentials. However in this case we are primarily looking at its optional incorporation of LED-UV technology for instant curing of inks.

four (up to 10 available with convertible perfecting)

History and target market?

Max print image

This is a Ryobi press but the RMGT initials were adopted after it absorbed Mitsubishi Heavy Industry’s sheetfed press division. Ryobi had already developed LED-UV curing, and its technology was first shown at drupa 2008 on a Ryobi 525GX press. The RMGT 9 Series has third generation LED-UV which operates at 25°C, which means no heat at all is generated. Ryobi says the market for the press is really any printer that is searching for either a faster or safer print production.

LED-UV is taking over from mercury vapour UV curing lamps, the disposal of which can be hazardous. Its instant drying, no spray powder, no VOCs in the ink, and the fact that the surface is robust so there is no marking in finishing are why printers are investing in LED-UV. How does the curing work?

UV curing works with inks that remain liquid until exposed to light in the ultraviolet wavelength range. This triggers a polymerisation reaction that sets the ink by solidification, almost instantly. UV LEDs are solid state units, with instant on/off cycles, low power requirements, no emissions, and long lifetimes compared with mercury vapour lamps.

36 ProPrint February 2017

Max speed 16,200sph (13,000sph for PF perfectors) Max sheet size 640x920mm (635x920mm for perfectors)

615x900mm Paper thickness 0.04-0.6mm Options Perfecting, coating, LED-UV cure

Low temperature of 25°C means that plastics and other temperaturesensitive materials can be printed with no need for any cooling systems. Since LEDs do not generate heat or ozone, heat extractors are not needed either.

And the printed sheets are odourless Ryobi believes that a litho press equipped with LED-UV can happily compete with digital printing on a costper sheet-basis on run lengths as short as 200 sheets. From an installation and operational viewpoint it works like an ordinary press. The system is not simply a reduced-power UV option, it is a genuine and fully integrated LED-UV curing system. The growing acceptance of LED as a significant benefit to printers has meant that the vast majority of orders during the last 48 months included the LED-UV option.

What’s the USP?

The USP of the RMGT 9 series is 8-up A4 production. The USP of the LED-UV option is the delivery of sheets that are completely dry, suitable for feeding back to print the reverse side, or to deliver straight to the finishing department. This means no stacks of part printed work on the shop floor.

One critical element of LED-UV that speeds up payback of the investment is the low power consumption compared with IR or other UV products, How fast/productive is it?

With a smart fully automtic plate change the basic 920ST-4 changes plates in 75 seconds, while the long perfector 920PF-8 does it in 100 seconds. Printing speed for the 920ST-4 is 16,200, while the 920PF operates at 13,000sph.

What does it cost?

Pricing for an 920ST-4 with LED-UV will be around $1.3m.

How many are installed?

Far East markets were swift to adopt the LED-UV technology and Australian printers have now joined the party in significant numbers.

the alternatives FLINT GROUP VANTAGE SERVICE This year Flint Ink has introduced Vantage, a package of services and hardware for LED UV press conversions. These include training, conversions, dedicated LED inks and coatings and matching pressroom chemicals andarrays blankets, Ryobi fits the LED aboveplus the customer delivery drumsupport. (or above the perfecting

drum if present), though other positions are available.

HEIDELBERG CS92

Heidelberg offers both lowenergy UV mercury lamps or LED on all its presses, and this is the company’s A1 sized press which print 8-up DIN. Units four or five Max speed 15,000sph Sheet size 650x920mm Sheet thickness range 0.030.6mm KOMORI LITHRONE GL-37 Komori offers low-energy, cool-running and no-ozone mercury UV curing lamps, which it calls H-UV. Komori says H-UV works with a greater range of inks and coatings than LED. Units two to eight plus coater Max speed 15,000sph Max sheet size 640x940mm Paper thickness 0.04–0.06mm www.proprint.com.au

February 2017

ProPrint

TECHNOLOGY GUIDE

CTP and Plates

l l

Latest computer-to-plate developments What’s new in printing plates

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO TECHNOLOGY GUIDE

CTP & Plates ProPrint kicks off the year looking at some of the latest developments in plates and CTP

Agfa Avalon N4

Platesetters AGFA AVALON N4

The Agfa Avalon N4 thermal CtP system offers the automation and imaging capabilities of larger devices in a compact format. It handles plates up to 830 x 660mm, with a maximum throughput level up to 33 plates per hour.

The Avalon N4 brings today’s commercial and packaging printers the high-quality digital plates they need to stay competitive. The range consists of the productive Avalon N4-30 XT, the Avalon N4-30 S, and the entry-level Avalon N4-30 E. Printers can upgrade any time from the E model to the S model.

Each model comes with an optional inline punching system and standard Ethernet connection, providing direct interfacing with the Apogee workflow.

The N4-30 AL-S and N4-30 AL-M plate loaders offer convenience and automation.

Agfa Graphics offers a broad array of services, from product installations and systems integrations to expert training and continuous improvement programs. Its commitment is to assist customers, ensuring they can maintain peak performance and cater to demands of their customers’ needs.

Service is a critical component of Agfa’s total solutions commitment.

38 ProPrint February 2017

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Laser technology: 830nm thermal Imaging system: 16, 32, 64 channel fibre coupled Max image area: 830 636mm Recording system: External drum Resolution: 1,200 – 2,400dpi Throughput: 11 – 33 plates/hr Loading: manual and automatic with Autoloader Online processor: Yes

CRON 3-IN-1 CTP

1-99 per cent, in either conventional or stochastic screening.

The 3-in-1 (H Series) solution in the 660mm format is already available, with larger formats up to 1168mm scheduled for release this year. CRON has several different types of CTP products, including silver plate CTP, violet CTP and thermal CTP. The CRON Thermal Series comes in several formats, including 26”, 36”, 46” and 72”. They image at up to 3600dpi resolution and come with a V shaped guide rail, an exclusive three point loading system with non-contact sensor, a vibration free dual balanced drum, and a patented auto clamp closing and drum vacuum technology.

Plate output ranges from 77 an hour for the 26” version to 20 an hour for the 72” model.

CRON produces an Autoloader to work with its CTP units, which comes in two versions and can handle up to 200 plates an hour in single size version and 150 plates an hour in the three cassette multiple size version. The company also supplies an automated Chemistry Regulation Device to ensure the stability of processing fluid automatically calculates and replenishes. CRON also has an optional Online Punch Bridge which gives a punch accuracy of 0.01mm.

Currie Group has been the CRON reseller since 2012, and has fully trained factory engineers in Australia to support its national distribution.

CRON 3 in 1 CTP H Series

Supplied by Currie Group and previewed at Graph Expo the new CRON automated 3-in-1 CTP combines plate cassette input with precision imaging, punching and transport.

The company says this provides a low-cost easyto-use and compact unit which is easy to maintain.

The exposure unit is based on CRON’s magnetic linear drive platform, which the company says provides fault free imaging across a wide range of resolutions, with registration accuracy up to 0.01mm and a tonal range of www.proprint.com.au

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Esko CDI Crystal 5080

Laser wavelength: 830nm Laser type: IR laser Plate: Thermal chem-free Max plate size: 925 x 675mm Min plate size: 340 x 240mm Resolutions: 1,200; 1,500; 1,800; 2,400; 2,540; 2,800; 3,000; 3,600dpi Production capacities: 23 - 77 plates/hr Plate thickness: 0.15–0.03mm

cutting layout are simultaneously sent to a CDI and Kongsberg table. The plate is staggered cut to enable flexo cylinders to print continuous labels on the press. The Kongsberg X20 offers the flexibility of upgrading to add more cutting, creasing and milling tools as business needs develop.

Esko has a local team in the Australian region, providing full training and service locally for all products and solutions.

ESKO CDI CRYSTAL 5080

FUJIFILM PTR 8900

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

The CDI (Cyrel Digital Imager) offers results that before were only achievable in offset or gravure. There is a CDI for every need from narrow web label printing to flexible packaging and wide-format corrugated printing, onecolour printed corrugated boxes to sophisticated multi-colour packaging and even security printing.

New to the Esko portfolio is the CDI Crystal 5080 XPS flexo platemaking system, designed to address the overriding market pressures driven by shorter run lengths and a growing number of SKUs. It requires fast plate turnaround to address this increasing demand for product versioning, and the CDI Crystal 5080 XPS delivers that. It also brings higher quality to flexo, delivering better consistency, and is simple to use for operators at all skill levels.

The CDI Crystal 5080 flexo platemaking system exposes both sides of a flexo plate using UV LED heads. It also combines imaging and exposing into the same compact footprint. This results in 50 per cent fewer manual steps, 30 per cent faster access to plates and 73 per cent less required operator time.

Along with Full HD Flexo will be Esko’s Digital Flexo Suite (DFS), offering significant cost savings through the automation of flexo plate production. Label ‘one-ups’ are nested economically on the plate to reduce plate and substrate waste. The optimised plate and the corresponding www.proprint.com.au

Fujifilm supplies and supports the Screen high productivity B1+ thermal PTR8900, which is available in a number of versions, capable of producing up to 70 press-ready B1 plates (PlateRite 8900Z) per hour in manual, semi automatic or fully automatic configurations.

With a maximum plate size of 1165 mm x 950 mm x 0.3 mm the PlateRite 8900 is compatible with most B1 and B2 presses. In addition, as standard the smallest size of 304 mm x 305 mm x 0.15mm further extends the systems flexibility (other plate size and gauge options are also available). Integrated punching enables the production of press-ready plates for most commercial sheet-fed presses. Custom punches are available, as is a range of offline transfer punches to meet all formats.

Three configurations exist with the PlateRite 8900. In its most basic form, the platesetter will stand alone requiring both manual load and unload. A low cost upgrade can provide automatic unloading to either an online processor or plate stacker, with a reduction in manual intervention.

If full automation is required, the 100 plate single cassette autoloader (one plate size at any time) will

significantly improve workflow efficiencies enabling unattended operation for an entire shift. Should your business dictate that several plate sizes are to be available at any one time, then the multi-cassette autoloader will meet your needs. With up to five cassettes online, the system can automatically select from up to five plate sizes.

No safelight requirements mean the machine is easy to use, service and maintain.

Used in conjunction with Fujifilm’s thermal CTP plates, the company says printers can confidently work in daylight for extended periods. In the event of a laser diode failure, the GLV head enables continued production.

Unlike other GLV head designs, with the PlateRite 8900 component replacement is possible in the field without having to swap the complete head assembly.

The company says PlateRite 8900 achieves optimal productivity with Fujifilm thermal CTP plates. The high sensitivity of the plates allows the platesetter to image at its fastest speed.

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Imaging: Thermal Max plate size: 1165 x 950mm Recording system: External drum Resolution: 1200lpi-4000lpi Throughput: Up to 70 plates an hour Loading: Manual, semi or fully auto

Continued on page 40 Fujifilm PTR 8900

February 2017 ProPrint 39

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO Continued from page 39

HEIDELBERG SUPRASETTER A75

Multiple factors make Heidelberg’s Suprasetter range a market leader, including its plug and play functionality, ease of operation and its pre-installation.

The laser head is designed by Heidelberg engineers and offers a long life with a warranty of up to seven years. The machines also feature inbuilt temperature control to ensure a stable environment, which has made the Suprasetter popular in rural locations and tropical climates.

The Suprasetter units have a very small footprint, making them accessible technology for all sized businesses, and their low energy consumption meets environmental concerns and reduces operational costs.

Every Suprasetter is delivered with a CO2 neutral certificate confirming that Heidelberg has offset the carbon used in manufacture of the unit.

Suprasetters are upgradable in the field so those who start with a basic model can upgrade from manual to automated processes and also increase speed. The Suprasetter allows unattended operation and repeat jobs to be programmed, further streamlining workflow.

Suprasetter CtP devices require minimum maintenance as the units self-check each day when they are turned on. For the rare occasions when there is a problem, Heidelberg’s engineers can remotely access the machine to make a diagnosis, ensuring minimum downtime.

The most popular model in the range is the Suprasetter A75, which is ideally suited to the A2/B2 market and comes in various configurations including

KODAK TRENDSETTER Q 400/800 W

Heidelberg Suprasetter A75

Automatic Top Loader and Dual Top Loader for high volumes. The Suprasetter A75 produces plates at 2,540dpi up to 5,080dpi for special applications such as stamps and security printing. The A75 runs on low power consumption using only five watts on standby and 550 watts on average when imaging.

The Suprasetter family is competitively priced and Heidelberg provides options for financing. With its high productivity and proven reliability the Suprasetter is a secure investment engineered to Heidelberg Germany’s exacting standards.

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Operating technology: thermal Min plate format: 240 × 240mm Max plate format: 676 × 760mm Max imaging area: 1,413 × 1,460mm Max throughput: 22 plates/hr Resolution: 2,400dpi, 2,540dpi, optional 5,080dpi Kodak Trendsetter Q 400/800 W

At drupa, Kodak launched an ultrahigh speed imaging technology - the new W speed - to the Trendsetter Q400 and Q800 Platesetters. The new imaging technology significantly increases throughput to 68 plates per hour on an 8-up plate and 75 plates per hour on a 4-up plate imaging Kodak Sonora XP plates, creating what Kodak says is the world’s fastest process-free CTP. This configuration will deliver a more efficient, compact and faster plate-making process - all without chemistry or processor use.

Kodak has also responded to a growing demand for higher resolution imaging, mostly triggered by security, lenticular and high resolution art printing applications, by introducing a new 4,800 / 5,080 dpi resolution option to its Trendsetter platesetter ranges.

This option can be used to image small features with great details like background patterns or wavy lines of variable width, and for micro printing indiscernible to the naked eye.

A host of new automation options to complement the Kodak Trendsetter and Kodak Achieve CTP families were launched at drupa. These include the new Multi-Cassette Unit (MCU) that features online access to four cassettes of 120 plates each, a total of 480 plates can be imaged without manual intervention.

The Trendsetter Q400/Q800 Platesetters feature a fully integrated, in-line punch system option with accurate three-point registration, helping eliminate costly errors by automating the punch process. The punch system option allows for up to 10 customised punch heads once the system is added.

SPECS AT A GLANCE

Resolution: 2400dpi, 4,800dpi, 5080dpi Plate size: 1,030 x 800 mm Cassettes: 480 plates max Speed: 68 plates an hour 8-up, 75 plates an hour 4-up Continued on page 42 40 ProPrint February 2017

www.proprint.com.au

0

-10+

10

μm

HIGH

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO Continued from page 40

Plates AGFA ENERGY ELITE ECO

SCREEN PLATERITE HD8900N

Screen GP (Graphic Precision) is the acknowledged leader in worldwide CtP hardware sales and also manufactures thermal platesetters for three of the four major plate manufacturers. The Kyoto, Japan, headquartered company has a fine tradition in engineering precision imaging technologies for both the graphic arts and the semiconductor industries.

The latest addition to Screen GP’s range is the new high-resolution B1 platesetter, the PlateRite HD8900N, available in three speed configurations.

The 8900N - Z achieves a maximum productivity of 70 plates per hour (1,030 x 800mm @ 2,400dpi) using two laser diodes (60W) and a 1,024-channel optically improved GLV (Grating Light Valve). The other two speed variations (‘S’ and ‘E’) produce 48 or 36pph.

The HD8900 S and E models can be factory optioned for ultra-high resolution of 4,000dpi or 4,800dpi (for 3D lenticular printing). At 4,000dpi, the HD8900N can resolve up to 700lpi.

For FM/stochastic screening the dot resolution can be tuned to RandotX 10 (10 microns). A new STEP mode corrects the issue of pixel shift caused by spiral exposure mode.

Peter Scott, Screen GP Australia managing director, said, “The HD8900N is easily the highest quality CtP device we have ever offered. With the high-resolution options and the right plate and processing environment, offset print quality can reach new levels. If sheer productivity is called for, the Z model at 70 B1 plates per hour – or 80 B2pph – is offered.”

The PlateRite HD8900N features energy saving benefits both in production and while idling. A factoryonly option to deliver plates to the front of the machine instead of the rear is available where space restrictions are a consideration. The familiar options for automated plate loading remain unchanged, with the single cassette 42 ProPrint February 2017

Screen platerite HD8900N

autoloader or the multi-cassette option that can take up to 500 plates of differing sizes and load them without manual operator intervention. Screen CTP systems are also supplied by Fujifim and WRH Global.

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Recording system: External drum Light source: 512 or 1,024 channel laser diode Max plate size: 1,165 x 950mm Min plate size: 304 x 305mm Plate: Thermal aluminium Resolution: 1,200, 2,400, 2,438, 2,540, 4,000dpi (4,000dpi only available when high res option is selected) Productivity: 36-70 plates/hr (model dependent) Options: Plate transport system to connect with plate processor, various printing press punches, support for 0.4mm thickness, high resolution (4,000dpi support), lenticular printing plate output, air filter unit (AF-180N), upgrade to Z or S specifications

Agfa Energy Elite Eco

Agfa’s Energy Elite Eco is a robust no-bake thermal printing plate for high-end, high-performance commercial, packaging and UV printing. It offers a run length of up to 600,000 prints (up to 150,000 copies when using UV ink), ensuring maximum productivity for a variety of different applications and press conditions.

Specially designed to be compatible with the latest screening technologies of 340lpi Sublima and FM10, Energy Elite Eco creates durable images at 1-99% dot resolution, without dot loss.

The Energy Elite Eco technology enables a wide press latitude in sheetfed, heatset and UV packaging printing, ensuring excellent lithographic performance, fast restarts, low dampening levels, fast roll-up and a stable ink-water balance Energy Elite Eco fits into the Agfa Graphics ECO³ framework, designed with a dedication to ecology, economy, and extra convenience. Combined with standard processors, the printing plate effects a 20 per cent decrease in waste production and chemicals used. It also allows for a longer bath life, less frequent and easier processor maintenance. Processors can be cleaned using standard tap water.

By combining the Energy Elite Eco plate with the Arkana smart processing technology, the full benefits of its ECO³ features can be achieved. By deploying Agfa Graphics’ patented gum cascade system, Arkana no longer requires water for plate rinsing. Instead, the cascaded gum has a dual function, cleaning the plate and protecting the plate with a finishing layer.

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Plate type: Positive, digital thermal offset Substrate: grained and anodised aluminium Spectral sensitivity: 830nm Plate sizes: 450 x 480mm to 2,080 x 1,590mm Resolution: ABS: 1-99% at 200 lpi at 2400 dpi; Sublima: 1-99% at 340lpi at 2,400dpi; FM: 10μm Max run length: 600,000 (UV: 150,000).

Continued on page 44

www.proprint.com.au

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO FLEXO PLATE MAKING Simplified

Esko helps premedia houses and converters with

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esko: flexo plate making Simplified.

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NEXT MONTH IN PROPRINT Want to get into digital printing?

Need some independent analysis of the best systems out there?

The next issue of ProPrint Technology Guide will present the latest developments in entry level digital printing systems.

www.proprint.com.au

February 2017 ProPrint 43

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO Continued from page 42

FUJIFILM SUPERIA ZP

The processless Superia ZP plate (formerly PRO-T3), represents the fastest route from platesetter to press as the plate is simply imaged and mounted directly on-press, and has the same sensitivity as any other high performance plate.

The latest version of the processless Superia ZP plate represents Fujifilm’s most advanced printing plate to date. It features a number of technologies designed to optimise performance, including a special new Multi Grain (MGV) technology. This is a micrograining process applied to the surface of the aluminium and guarantees the widest possible latitude in ink/water balance on-press. Another advance is a multi-layer coating, unique to Fujifilm, which provides different functionalities within ultra-thin layers.

Fine Particle Dispersion (FPD) technology helps improve the softening of the non-image area and an undercoat layer incorporating Rapid Stable Start-up (RSS) technology speeds up the removal of the plate coating by the ink/fount and onto the paper substrate.

Fujifilm gives a percentage of the sales of Superia ZP plates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to the WaterAid charity.

SPECS AT A GLANCE: Heidelberg Fujifilm ZAC

HEIDELBERG FUJIFILM ZAC

Fujifilm Superia plate user Sarko Seferian, prepress manager at Sydney’s Centrum Printing

44 ProPrint February 2017

Laser: Thermal 830nm Resolution: 200lpi (1-99%); 20 micron FM screening Run length: 100,000.

Safelight environment: White 400 lux for 2 hours for latent image visibility

To reduce the use of chemistry and water when processing plates and minimise maintenance requirements, Heidelberg’s offering of Fujifilm lowchemistry LH-PJE and LH-PLE plates and the award winning Fujifilm intelligent ZAC processing system allows printers to meet their environmental concerns and reduce maintenance at the same time.

The Fujifilm ZAC system provides optimised processing quality by using intelligent developer replenishment.

This results in a significant reduction in the volume of chemistry and water used, which helps to reduce printers’ environmental footprint.

The Fujifilm ZAC processor can achieve up to 80 per cent reductions in chemistry by identifying only the areas on the plate that actually need processing, and by constantly measuring the bath conductivity. The intelligence of the ZAC system means there is hardly any need for operator intervention. Plates are produced consistently, without effort and quality is maintained. The ZAC/Fujifilm plate combination is the closest to processless chemistry reduction with the benefit of a processed plate.

Maintenance requirements are also slashed due to the intelligent replenishment system that monitors developing conditions and accurately calculates the required volume of replenisher. With the Fujifilm ZAC system, bath life can be extended up to four months or 15,000m2, maintaining dot structure and stability. This means maintenance is reduced to less than

half the time of many other processors, and may only need to be carried out four times a year. This is a massive saving in labour and wasted time for businesses trying to achieve more with fewer staff.

Heidelberg has the portfolio of plates to suit printers’ needs in thermal or violet, processless or processed. In addition to the ZAC system, Heidelberg also offers the complete range of Fujifilm’s new Superia thermal and violet CtP plate technologies, which includes the LP-NV2 processed plate technology, the Pro-V low-chemistry option which uses only a finishing solution instead of the traditional developer or replenisher for violet systems, and the Fujifilm processless thermal Superia ZP.

IBF DIRECT

Distributed by WRH Global Australia, the soon to be released IBF DirectT offers the best of both DOP (Develop on Press) and conventional thermal CtP plate technology.

After exposure, the IBF Direct T can be immediately put on the press and commence printing.

The emulsion is softened by contact with the rollers from the dampening system, and the blanket removes this emulsion from the plate surface, processing it. This residue is then carried by the first sheets of paper, mixed with ink.

With a 6.2 Delta E latent image, it is possible to read text and see the image while adjusting the inking system accordingly. It has a resolution of 1-99% at 200lpi with a run length of up to 100,000 sheets, depending on substrates.

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Imagaing: Thermal Resolution: 200lpi (1-99%) Run length: 100,000 www.proprint.com.au

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

KODAK SONORA XP

The Sonora XP Process Free Plate from Kodak is a thermal plate that requires no processing equipment or chemistry.

It uses Kodak’s press ready technology to enable a printer to go directly from platesetter to press with no intermediary processing or clean out step. The plate offers fast imaging speeds with laser energy required of 150 mJ/cm2 on Kodak Squarespot Imaging Devices, so printers can take advantage of the maximum throughput capability of their platesetter in most cases.

The plate is capable of run lengths up to 200,000 impressions on heatset and commercial coldset web presses, 100,000 impressions on sheetfed presses, 50,000 impressions for non-UV offset packaging applications and 10,000 impressions for UV-ink applications. The plates also offer highquality 20-micron FM screening capability on Kodak Squarespot Imaging Devices and AM screening of 1-99 per cent at 200 lpi.

Kodak’s press ready technology uses the basic principles, mechanics and components of lithographic printing to clean out the plate. During the startup of the press, the fountain solution prepares the un-imaged coating to be physically removed from the plate by the tack and shear of the ink. The coating is transferred from the plate to the blanket and then onto the makeready sheets within the first few sheets.

With Sonora XP Plates, in almost all cases, a printer’s current press setups, sequences, inks, fountain solutions, and blankets can be used successfully.

Press ready technology also works with integrated and non-integrated conventional and continuous dampening systems and for printers with automatic startup sequences.

Kodak Sonora XP

reduction by 20-30 per cent and reduced ink coverage by 5-20 per cent in offset printing. Printing with less water ensures faster drying times, fewer water-on-paper related problems on sheetfed presses, and can also lead to a reduction in paper breaks on web presses.

Xingraphics says all these factors further assist the bottom line through a reduction in energy consumption.

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Laser: Thermal negative 800 – 850 nm Resolution: 200lpi (1-99%) Run length: 200,000 web 100,000 sheetfed, 50,000 offset packaging, 10,000 UV Safelight environment: Up to one hour under white light

XINGRAPHICS PRIMUS PLUS

The new Primus Plus positive thermal CtP plate from Xingraphics is a hybrid plate, and is distributed in Australia by WRH Global Australia. It provides both environmental and economic benefits with a reduction in water requirements and a corresponding reduction in ink.

According to the company, installations have achieved water

SPECS AT A GLANCE:

Xingraphics Primus Plus

Type: Thermal positive Substrate: Grained and anodised alumium Max width: 1,480mm Spectral sensitivity: 830nm Resolution: 450lpi 1-99%) Run lengths: 250,000 unbaked; 1,000,000 post-baked UV ink compatible: When post-baked

NEXT MONTH

The March issue present the late of ProPrint will st deve in digital print sy lopments stems

www.proprint.com.au

February 2017 ProPrint 45

FOCUS TECHNOLOGY

Connecting tech for cooperation Print technology vendors are joining forces thanks to technology, and it is printers that are the beneficiaries

T

By Sooraj Shah

here is no doubt that technology is helping companies in the print industry to collaborate in ways that were unthinkable 20 years ago. And 20 years ago virtually no developers or manufacturers were collaborating, now they are thanks to the technology and the strategic imperative – they can’t afford to do everything themselves.

The internet is of course the main reason for this – but advances in video technology, cloud computing, processing power, and so forth have led to new types of collaborations.

There is a lot of technology that helps to drive partnerships, and advances in technology mean that people don’t necessarily have to be present – you can share drawings, work using video conferencing tools such as Cisco’s WebEx and Microsoft’s Skype, share data through apps like Dropbox all from your own office seat, virtually.

The use of video conferencing is even helping companies to save costs – Oliver says it is sophisticated enough to replace face-to-face meetings, which may have previously required Heidelberg employees to be flown around the world.

Meanwhile, translation technologies such as Google Translate can ease the burden of having to acquire someone with language skills – meaning that companies have an easier line of communication than they may have in the past, ensuring that work gets processed faster. Although these technologies are not yet sophisticated, and this can lead to more challenges.

It can lead to people only speaking in their own language, assuming that it will be translated, but the translation technology is not great.

46 ProPrint February 2017

For companies like press manufacturer Goss, social media platforms like LinkedIn have helped the manufacturer to develop and organise business more efficiently.

However, Goss Contiweb sales director Maarsten Coerman says ‘personal contacts and relationships still remain a key factor in the sales process’.

But for all of the benefits of these types of technologies in existing partnerships, is technology actually enabling the birth of new partnerships?

After all, the idea behind collaborations – in any industry, or indeed in any situation, is that they enable the creation of something bigger than the sum of their parts.

Partnerships within the printing industry are happening all the time; all of the major players work with partners of some form. But how integral is technology in stimulating these collaborations?

The combination of LinkedIn and Google Translate may help initiate conversations, while cost-effective ways of talking over video and voice-over-IP (VoIP) mean that you can at least give people your time without having to worry about being too impersonal, or indeed about the costs associated with travelling to meet those contacts.

The integration layer

All printers want the same things: easy integration, automation, precision and zero wastage. The demands from printers are growing; they want all of their hardware to be able to communicate, and they want more features than ever before to customise their setups. And so, the manufacturers are looking to partner with each other in order to make this happen.

However, the need to integrate solutions has arguably always been around, it is just that the purpose has

shifted over the years. Integration was initially about automating equipment so that the developers could improve productivity, then about giving automated feedback for analysis and tracking purposes, and as run lengths have decreased and the amount of saleable product and individual orders have increased, the purpose has once again changed.

Now integration technologies are needed to help modern printers prevent any administrative bottlenecks created by an increase in these lower value products, as well as helping printers connect their customers to the final manufactured product.

But no matter what the purpose advances in technology are enabling these changes, and are driving customers to be more demanding about what they are looking for. However Jim Hamilton, group director of keypoint intelligence at Infotrends does not believe this to be the case. He does not believe that companies – big or small – within the industry, are more open to collaborating than in the past, and he says that the only real advance in technology that has perhaps called for www.proprint.com.au

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS remote machine monitoring service, as well as a connection between Duplo’s e-Tandem remote servicing technology and the PrintOS cloud-based print production operating system. For both HP and Duplo, it must make commercial sense to partner, to get the best of both of the companies’ technology features.

Konica Minolta goes a step further, believing that while innovation in technology has enabled it to partner with numerous organisations, those partnerships can stimulate new ideas further down the line.

“The ideal mix is where a company can focus its attention on applications developed with a business partner that is committed to providing good advice to lead innovative solutions and technology – this is particularly important so that people can bounce ideas off each other,” says Mark Hinder, head of market development at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe.

Forced collaboration

more collaboration are cloud-based workflows such as HP PrintOS. “The promise of PrintOS and other cloud-based workflows is that they could enable print service providers to be more likely to partner across geographies, or be more willing to outsource work during peak times, or for specific applications,” says Hamilton.

He explains that this is because shared workflow, processes and colour management would give them confidence in that partner’s ability to produce high-quality work.

While the cloud aspect of the workflow enables firms to scale up or down depending on demand, the fact that it is available in the cloud means that access to data is easy to get hold of for potential partners too, while updates can be made in real time. This means there are fewer issues with access management and productivity.

For example, there is less chance that there would be duplication of work.

HP’s PrintOS already has a number of partners, including Duplo – the two companies have collaborated to integrate HP PrintOS with Duplo’s www.proprint.com.au

Print industry: collaboration for bigger benefits

Hamilton’s suggestion that technology was not enabling an increase in the number of collaborations is backed – albeit not comprehensively – by John Corrall, founder and managing director of industrial inkjet specialist IIJ. “You could argue that it is not new technology that forces collaboration, but actually the lack of it. To be more exact, it is the difficulty that established manufacturers have in adapting new technology to their businesses,” he states.

Corrall uses a large conventional press manufacturer as an example. “In my experience, it was not the cost of an inkjet development that was the issue as inkjet systems are small and cheap compared to massive conventional presses. It was more a case that the willingness to learn new technical skills, and a corporate determination to change. Both seemed to be in short supply,” he says. “If a large company cannot grow its own new technology, then the only options are acquisitions or collaborations,” he adds.

Stumbling blocks

Inca’s director of research and development Steve Wilson says that having machines talk to each other is a must for customers today – but that there are politics when it comes to arranging commercial deals between various parties.

“I cannot tell you about confidential discussions that are underway, but we are talking to various other providers, workflow companies and kit providers about our machines and software packages communicating automatically,” he says.

Some suggest that while multivendor projects are beneficial to all of

those involved, they can be difficult to manage and always pose a big challenge. Politics can impede progress, particularly if vendors operate in some of the same markets.

Another reason companies increasingly have to work together, on the integration layer is with standards – but this is where corporate egos can take over once again, as every company believes their standard is what all other firms should conform to.

Even the JDF standard within the industry could do with improvement, with almost no one in the industry actually conforming to those standards.

JDF is like British English, American English, Australian English, and so forth – all of them are different, and despite being able to communicate with each other, you have to tune in to different accents, this is because different companies implement different parts of the core standard and they add bits on.

Supporters though maintain that JDF is a critical component for most companies within the printing industry, and they expect the standard to be worked upon and improved in the coming years, calling it a first step to getting to the right stage.

Who benefits?

All companies will argue that they need some level of stubbornness to ensure they remain relevant and competitive – and to an extent they are right. Collaboration is a powerful tool, but it is not always clear that both parties will benefit. Essentially there are two types of companies; those that patent their ideas and hold on to them, and those that license out their technologies to drive the market faster.

For instance if you look at the drivers the inkjet world, and you look at the original showing of them back at drupa 2008, such as Fujifilm Jetpress and Screen Truepress, they were lone products operating as stand alone units, with the technology not used anywhere else. But if you look at last year’s drupa, the technology has been licensed to a number of other users to accelerate development.

Because of technology, the world is moving towards more collaboration iOS and Android as examples of this as thousands of developers can create applications for their respective smartphones. Of course, the biggest winners here are Apple and Google, but in the printing industry it may be less clear cut who is likely to benefit the most from partnering at the vendor level, but print business owners are certain to be winners as collaboration will deliver winning results, think of Heidelberg and Fujifilm, Canon and manroland, KBA and Fuji Xerox to name a few. PP February 2017 ProPrint 47

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February 2017 ProPrint 51

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POST SCRIPT Q&A Nicola Dalton, BB Print

PRINT’S PAST

A fancy 2-colour newspaper job I t happened when we were at Grenfell. There was an advertiser there, he was a good sort of a guy, he spent quite a bit of money with us. He came up one day, the new model of the Toyota cars were coming out, and he wanted something special. I thought about the project for a while and came up with the idea that we could probably come up with a two-colour feature for him. He wanted a four page supplement so it made it worth our while to do it.

He had cars and utilities and trucks that he wanted to advertise in the supplement. So we came up with the idea that we would do it in very bright orange with a black overprint. To get the underprint we reversed the plastic Klischograph plates we used for photographs and cut out an outline.

And we did the first print with the orange and then we ran the paper through it a second time, and overprint the stereos that he had and the various

BB Print’s Nicola Dalton is relaxed and easy to get on with at work and home. Just don’t be disorganised.

photographs of the cars and the type that he wanted. It was quite effective and he was very pleased with the result and we had several district newspapers ringing up wanting to know how we did it. The one that was against it was the apprentice. The rollers on the old Wharfedale had had black ink on them for about fifty or sixty years of continual running, black ink, black ink. I said to him, “I’ve got a good job for you, Brian.”

“What’s that?” “Oh, just clean the rollers on the press.” He said, “I’ll just give them a quick rub over.” I said, “We’ve got to have them almost spotless because we’re putting orange ink on them on the tables.” We took the conducting roller out and put the orange plate on the table and spread it that way, but he still had six compression rollers and three spreader rollers to clean. He was not impressed by that idea. But I think the result of the job calmed him down a bit.

Max Waters

DIARY EVENT

LOCATION

DATE

Fespa Asia

Bangkok

Feb 15-17

Hunkeler Innovationdays

Lucerne

Feb 20-23

Auspack

Sydney

Mar 7-10

Xeikon Cafe

Lier, Belgium

Mar 28-31

Int’national Print Pack Fair

Hong Kong

Apr 27-30

Interpack

Dusseldorf

May 1-10

ChinaPrint

Beijing

May 9-13

PacPrint

Melbourne

May 23-26

National Print Awards

Melbourne

May 25

LabelExpo

Brussels

Sept 25-28

Ipex

Birmingham

Oct 31-Nov 3

Why did you get into printing?

My dad got me my first job at a sign shop and then got me this job with BB Print – just from the people he knew.

What is your favourite phrase?

At work it is ‘No worries’.

What would be your dream job?

Something that makes me happy, pays well and offers great working hours… haha…

What TV show are you watching at the moment?

Grey’s Anatomy.

What is your greatest luxury in life?

Spending time with family and friends.

Who or what makes you laugh?

My fiancé Matthew, with his weird, quirky Kiwi charm.

If you didn’t work in print, what would you be doing?

I would still be in the creative industry so maybe photography or interior design.

If your house was on fire, what three things would you rescue (apart from family members)?

If family members include my dogs I would take my Mac computer, hard drives and passports.

Who would you like to be stuck on a deserted island with?

My fiancé Matthew! Definitely an easy person to put up with, and he would be able to handle me breaking down.

What really makes your blood boil?

Disorganised people.

How do you like to unwind?

With a scotch and coke in hand while watching a movie.

Group Editor Wayne Robinson (02) 9806 9344, wayne@proprint.com.au News Reporter Athina Mallis (02) 9806 9344, athina@proprint.com.au Contributors Steve Crowe, Leon Gettler, Baden Kirgan, Peter Kohn, Frank Romano Production Editor and Design Leyla Bhathela (02) 9806 9344, leyla@i-grafix.com National Sales Manager Carmen Ciappara (02) 9625 4434, carmen@proprint.com.au Subscriptions (02) 9806 9344 subs@proprint.com.au Group Publisher Brian Moore brian@i-grafix.com Managing Director Shankar Vishwanath Subscription rate (11 issues) Australia $69.95. Printed by Webstar, a division of Blue Star Print Group, Silverwater, NSW. ProPrint is published monthly by Printer Magazines Group, registered in Australia ABN 25 927 113 642. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. While every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, it is a condition of distribution that the publisher does not assume any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage which may result from any inaccuracy or omission in the publication.

56 ProPrint February 2017

www.proprint.com.au

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