Business - Applications

The 3M Graphics Market Center had a very active presence at the Specialty Graphic Industry Association (SGIA) Expo October 13-15, in Las Vegas. While demonstrating new products and technologies and offering expert support and advice, 3M also engaged attendees with its Bumper Wrap Contest. Participants installed 3M vehicle wrap film on actual vehicle bumpers, providing a fun and challenging event while demonstrating the versatility and ease-of-use of 3M wrap films.

Contestants applied a 2x2-foot graphic to the bumper of a Chevrolet HHR, and were judged on speed and quality of the installation. The graphics were printed on 3M's Controltac brand Wrap Film with Comply v3 Adhesive IJ380Cv3 with 3M's Scotchcal brand Gloss Overlaminate 8580.

The contest winner was Keoni Denison of Capital Wraps of Washington, DC. Denison won a T-shirt and an $800 discount on training, testing, or 3M installation tools, and all 38 participants received prizes. The top ten finalists were:

• Keoni Denison - Capital Wraps - DC
• Kenny Miller - Thumb Print - CA
• Zigis Tijunelis - Massive Impact Media LTD
• Justin Pate - Netherlands
• Ryan Farquharson - JD Inc - TX
• Noli Hipolito - Art Signs - HI
• Jeffery Merrell - Traffic Graphics NW INC - WA
• Susanne Stoddard - Icon Image - CA
• Sam Twomey - The Mad Striper - VA
• Oswaldo Gutierrez – Multipass

HP today announced that GSI Printing, of Kontich, Belgium, has installed a triple line-up of HP Scitex Printers in order to strengthen its service capability and meet the increasing and changing needs of customers.

The new equipment comprises the high-volume HP Scitex FB7500 and FB6700 Printers, as well as the HP Scitex LX800 Printer, which runs water-based HP Latex Inks.

Founded several years ago out of the merger between Graphic Screen International and MAT, GSI Printing has enjoyed progressive growth and is today a multidisciplinary out- and in-store communication partner to well-known national and international brand-names, advertisers and creative agencies. Thanks to its recent HP investment, GSI Printing is now the largest digital printing company serving the Belgian marketplace.

Commenting on the importance of its latest HP installations, Christian Duyckaerts, general manager of GSI Printing Belgium, said, "HP is a leader in large format digital printing technology and these new printers greatly enhance our productivity while enabling us to expand the range of our applications offering. With its up to 500m2/hour print capacity, the FB7500 provides high-speed printing at the right cost, and it will be pivotal to our ability to print medium and long runs of POP/POS applications at ever-tighter deadlines."

At the same time, Duyckaerts believes the industrial inkjet attributes and water-based, pigmented HP Scitex WB300 Supreme Inks of the flatbed FB6700 make for a robust print solution that ticks the right boxes when it comes to satisfying GSI's environmental objectives. "The fully automated aspect of the heavy-duty FB6700 will deliver added impetus to our rigid-media print capability", he said. "This together with fast-drying water-based inks that are UV-,(1) abrasion- and water-resistant, will ensure our display and packaging applications benefit from offset-like vibrancy, while also facilitating an improved printing environment."

For Duyckaerts, GSI Printing's continued adoption of new technologies not only align perfectly with the company's environmental objectives, but are also an increasingly stipulated requirement from customers - key factors that lead to the HP LX800 installation.

"As well as being asked to utilise more environmentally-friendly technologies, we also strive hard to encourage customers to select more sustainable options", continued Duyckaerts. "The HP LX800, together with the multiple-substrate printing advantage of its latex inks can help meet these goals and enables us to undertake a greater diversity of larger-sized applications that also deliver stunning visual quality."

Having installed the trio of HP equipment in the last few months, GSI Printing was quick to integrate the new firepower into its printing operations. Indeed, according to Duyckaerts, the HP Scitex FB7500 in particular, made an immediate impact on a project undertaken on behalf of major sports retailer, Decathlon. During the summer, the company capitalised on the FB7500's ability to print to an extensive range of sheet-fed material, which saw it produce a range of eye-catching in-store POS graphics.

"We only had a very tight timeframe in which to print the Decathlon graphics, and despite the fact that we were printing variable-data to a range of materials - such as foam- and corrugated-board - maintaining consistent colour accuracy was critical", he explained. "We were delighted that the HP Scitex FB7500 Printer lived up to our expectations and, as is the case with our other new HP equipment, it has since proved its worth on a number of other high profile customer projects."

GSI Printing employs nearly 40 people throughout its operations and shares a 15,000m² facility in Kontich with its partner, Print and Display - a leading provider of large format offset poster printing and POS displays.

 

(1) In central-Europe. According to standard ASTM-D2565-99.

Netherlands-based America Digitaal Druk has produced wall panels illustrating a tropical forest for Emma's Children's Hospital (part of University Hospital Amsterdam) following the renovation of their wards. The biggest challenge was to perfectly match the panels to create a wall that would come to life when you walk past it. This was achieved with the Inca Eagle 44 by printing on to 18 two-part lenticular panels designed so that, when viewed from slightly different angles, the images appear to move. These panels were then laminated onto Dibond before being mounted in the hospital. The wall has a stunning effect and has helped to create a tranquil place in which patients, parents and visitors can relax as well as creating a pleasant environment in which to work.

 

Your Sign Company has announced it has revitalised Burton Power auto store’s shop frontage.  Spanning 160ft in length, the shop frontage replacement used over 200sq/m of digital printing produced on Gerber Solara flatbed and Roland Versacamm printers at Your Sign Company’s Cambridgeshire premises. An additional 35 metres of composite material was also used.

When performance auto store "Burton Power" approached Your Sign Company, the brief was to completely revitalise the shop frontage.  Your Sign Company had the in-house resources to create everything that was required.  It produced a variety of direct UV printed aluminium composite panels, inkjet-printed and gloss-laminated self adhesive vinyl graphics, cut vinyl lettering and router cut brushed stainless steel effect composite letters which included LED backlighting.

Nick Dowell, Director at Your Sign Company commented on the job "We opened for business early this year and to win a job of such magnitude was a great achievement.  The signage itself was quite straight-forward, however it was sheer quantity of printing required that made this project different."

 

 

Epson America, Avery, and SkinzWraps have joined forces to produce and display the world's most expensive car ever to be wrapped. A Bugatti Veyron worth an estimated $1.7 million will be on display in Epson's booth at SEMA 2010 (Specialty Equipment Market Association) in Las Vegas, Nov. 2-5.

The custom wrap was designed, printed and applied by SkinzWraps using an Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 printer and Avery MPI 1005 Supercast media. A total of seven days were required to complete the design, print the wrap and apply it to the car. At the conclusion of the show, the car will be transformed quickly and easily back to its original design.

"Epson is extremely excited to work with Avery and SkinzWraps to unveil what's surely the most prestigious and high-priced automobile ever to be wrapped," said Reed Hecht, product manager, Epson America, Inc. "In the world of engineering, there aren't many vehicles that underscore the winning combination of style, performance, beauty, and speed like a Bugatti Veyron. These are characteristics that Epson shares and pursues with passion when it comes to engineering the world's most incredible ink jet printing technologies, so we're very proud to demonstrate those accomplishments in such a unique way."

The Bugatti Veyron is the most expensive and fastest sports car in the world and hailed by many as the greatest automobile ever made. This exotic two-passenger car is powered by a quad-turbocharged, 8-liter, 16-cylinder engine that produces 1,001 horsepower. The Veyron's powerful engine and 7-speed transmission with AWD enables it to achieve a top speed of 253 mph, a speed it can maintain up to 12 minutes before consuming all of its fuel.

"Designing and applying a wrap to an automotive masterpiece like the Bugatti Veyron requires the ultimate degree of skill and concentration, the right materials and of course the best printing technology imaginable," said Peter Salaverry, CEO, SkinzWraps. "The Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 produces images with rich, vibrant colors, smooth tones, and deep blacks with amazing shadow details. Combine all of that with the amazing quality and durability of Avery's adhesive backed vinyl and you get a solution that's worthy of being featured on a Bugatti Veyron or any job that requires the best of the best."

 

Challenge

• Print high-quality graphics for the "Making Peace" photo exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize
• Provide graphics that reflect International Peace Bureau environmental policies

Solution

• HP Designjet L65500 Printer (now known as HP Scitex LX600 Printer)
• HP Designjet L25500 Printer
• HP HDPE Reinforced Banner

Results

• High-quality photographic prints to help keep in line with International Peace Bureau environmental policies
• Increased awareness of peace-keeping initiatives throughout the world
• A better working environment for Gobet employees

 

Gobet Production SA is an innovative advertising printing company that has been at the forefront of technological innovation since it was founded in 1990. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Gobet specialises in production of vehicle wraps, adhesives, posters and billboards for advertising. The decision to invest in the HP Latex technologies was based on the printer's exceptional print quality and - through use of water-based HP Latex Inks - the improved working environment it offered Gobet employees while providing customers with solvent-free prints. The HP technology proved so efficient that a year after purchasing its first 2.6m HP Designjet L65500 Printer, Gobet Production invested in a second L65500 and a 1.067m HP Designjet L25500 Printer.

The "Making Peace" campaign was developed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize and the International Peace Bureau (www.ipb.org), a federation of over 300 NGOs and the largest peace federation in the world that first awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1910. More than just an historical exhibition, the campaign is a tribute to peace-makers around the globe and individuals who have made a contribution - however small - to the peace-making process. Making Peace (www.makingpeace.org) also has educational ambitions, and is to be rolled out in schools throughout the world over the coming year.

Advertising Peace

The International Peace Bureau developed a very simple explanation for peace to reach an audience as young as the age of five, using five colours to illustrate the five core components of sustainable peace:

• Disarmament and nonviolence
• Conflict prevention and resolution
• Economic and social justice
• Human rights, law and democracy
• Environment and sustainable development

The month-long Making Peace outdoor photo exhibition in Geneva in June and July 2010 used these colours to present the international movement for peace in its broadest sense, and demonstrate how its participants have shaped and influenced the course of the 20th century.

Gobet Production's work for the International Peace Bureau comprised fifty advertising billboards and over one hundred panels for the exhibition.

"Once the files had been finalised, the test prints completed and the files adjusted, we had just three days to produce the whole exhibition from start to finish - advertising billboards and panels covering a 350m surface along the promenade in Geneva," said Ashley Woods, exhibition curator, International Peace Bureau. "Gobet managed to produce striking prints with vibrant hues within an incredibly short time-frame."

The HP latex printer uses thermal inkjet technology and produces prints that come off dry, ready for lamination, packaging, shipping or display. While graphics printed with solvent-inks need to "off-gas" for at least 24 hours before further handling or shipment, those printed with HP Latex Inks are ready from the printer, cutting delivery/installation times, and giving users a further competitive edge.

"The environmental aspect of the printing was fundamental and as well as the latex inks, we used recycled plastic whereas one would usually use aluminium or a similar type of backing," said Woods. "We could not however, compromise durability as the outdoor exhibition lasted over a month."

Outdoor prints produced with HP Latex Printing technologies on original HP media achieve display permanence of up to three years unlaminated and up to five years laminated and are scratch, smudge and water resistant.(1)

A better environment, outdoors and indoors

Over the years, Gobet Production has built a solid reputation for printing advertising materials and offers a full advertising production service that includes printing, laminating and mounting.

"When we purchased our first HP latex printer, we wanted to invest in a solution that could help reduce the impact on the environment but we couldn't risk having to increase our prices," said Philippe Julliand, partner, Gobet Production. "HP was the only manufacturer that was able to supply a printer of such quality without compromising economic efficiency. If we were to invest in another printer, it would be a no-brainer: HP would be the one manufacturer we would go to."

Health and safety were also critical in the choice of printer, as Gobet's employees were handling potent solvents that emit fumes and a strong smell. HP Latex prints provide many of the benefits of solvent-ink technology without imposing typical environmental, health and safety considerations. Odourless prints(2) produced with HP Latex Inks emit extremely low levels of volatile organic compounds. No special ventilation is required to meet occupational exposure limits and there are no requirements for air discharge(3).

Gobet Production reports excellent client feedback following the purchase of the HP latex printer: "We have reinforced our position as a leading, innovative service provider and our existing clients have given us more work, which is why we had to invest in a second Designjet L65500 and a Designjet L25500," concluded Julliand.

 

(1) HP image permanence and scratch, smudge, and water resistance estimates by HP Image Permanence Lab. Display permanence tested according to SAE J1960 using HP Latex and low-solvent inks on a range of media, including HP media, in a vertical display orientation in simulated nominal outdoor display conditions for select high and low climates, including exposure to direct sunlight and water; performance may vary as environmental conditions change. Scratch, smudge, and water resistance tested using HP Latex and solvent inks on a wide range of HP media. Laminated display permanence tested using Neschen Solvoprint Performance Clear 80 laminate. Results may vary based on specific media performance.

(2) Printers using HP Latex Inks use internal heaters to dry and cure the latex polymer film. Some substrates may have inherent odour.

(3) Special ventilation is not required to meet US OSHA requirements on occupational exposure to VOCs from HP Latex Inks. Ventilation equipment installation is at the discretion of the customer-no specific HP recommendation is intended. Typically no air discharge permitting required with inks that emit extremely low levels of VOCs. Customers should consult state and local requirements and regulations.