Large Format Review - Business News

In 2000 Inca was formed and launched the world’s first UV digital flatbed printer. Ten years later the company looks forward to the next decade

“The future for Inca Digital is very exciting,” says Dr Linda Bell, CEO, as the company celebrates its 10th birthday. “Since 2000, when we launched the world’s first flat-bed wide-format UV inkjet printer, we have consistently developed ground-breaking and record-breaking printers. That pioneering spirit is still very much at our core and continues to drive our programme of inkjet innovation.”

Over the last 10 years Inca has developed a range of market-leading printers, and many of the early models are still in operation today. The first Inca Eagle machine was launched in 2000 and the high-speed Turbo in 2004, setting a new speed benchmark. The Spyder 320 was launched a year later, and in 2007 Inca created a step change with the revolutionary Onset: the world’s fastest digital UV flatbed printer capable of production speeds up to 750 sqm/hr equivalent to 155+ full bed sheets an hour. In 2009, this was followed by the Onset S20. The Onsets broke the speed barrier and their ability to produce quality volume graphics quickly and cost-effectively have transformed production environments and users businesses around the world; their impact has become known as the ‘Onset Effect’.

The company has grown significantly since 2000 and today an estimated 21 million square metres of material is printed on Inca printers around the world every year.

Looking to the future, Dr Bell says: “We are in great shape and the next 10 years will see a new phase in the company’s growth as we continue to move up the curve. We will keep pushing the boundaries of speed and performance of our equipment and work even more closely with our customers to add value, and help them to widen their capabilities and competitiveness. Corporately, we are investing to expand our skills into a broader range of markets by exploring new applications for Inca inkjet and we will continue to develop our international presence and infra-structure.”

 

Ken Kisner has been named President of INX Digital International Co. The announcement was made today by Rick Clendenning, INX Digital CEO, and Dr. Kotaro Morita, INX Digital Chairman, after a recent Board meeting in Europe. Mr. Kisner, 42, has more than 20 years expertise in the digital imaging market and will now serve as President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

“Ken, who most recently served as President of INX Digital Americas and has demonstrated tremendous leadership for a long time, is the right choice for President of our global resources and organization,” Clendenning said. “He understands the aspects of our business and did an excellent job in helping us bring together all of the companies that comprise INX Digital over the last couple of years. Under Ken’s direction, INX Digital is well prepared for today’s business environment and our future growth expectations.”

INX Digital International and INX International Ink now represent the combined digital resources of their parent company, Sakata INX of Japan, and operate facilities in the United States, China and Europe. INX Digital International manufactures and distributes inkjet inks and toners for a variety of industrial markets. The company is well known for its Graphic Arts products used for billboards, banners, vehicle and building wraps and other large format output. Several new lines of products include dry and liquid toner, and a variety of customized industrial inkjet inks including textile products and UV curable technologies.

“I’m deeply honored and look forward to the challenges ahead of us. This is an exciting time to be involved with digital printing, and we are well positioned to help drive new technologies into regional markets with our strategic manufacturing locations in the U.S., Czech Republic, China and India,” said Kisner. He is a member of NAPIM, the Specialty Graphics Imaging Association, Print Industry Networking Group, Digital Printing and Inkjet Printing Professionals.

INX Digital International Co. is a leading global manufacturer of inkjet inks for wide format, super-wide and new generation digital printers, and a supplier of printing parts and related services. As the digital arm of INX International Ink Co., it offers a full palette of digital ink systems, advanced technologies and integrated services including chemistry, hardware and software, engineering design, and integration and media. For more information, visit the Web site at www.INXdigital.com .

 

‘We have redefined our role in the graphics marketplace’, says Jelle Kroes, General Manager, Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Products Europe, speaking from the FESPA 2010 exhibition in Munich, Germany.   ‘As global providers of large-format graphic solutions at all levels of the visual communications industry, we are today actively engaged in a dialogue with our end users – the brand owners, retailers, corporate identity and design consultancies, and architects.    That dialogue is aimed at establishing how best we can serve their needs in terms of application solutions.   It’s also  – of course – aimed at ensuring that the distributors and converters with whom we have an established, and valued, partnership  can meet those needs appropriately.   The strength of a global company is that it can, in the old terminology, think and act globally – but source expert local implementation.’

Market dynamics

Mr Kroes continues:  ‘Self-adhesive films have a major contribution to make in today’s signage and visual communications market.   They represent between five and ten per cent of the overall European market for all kinds of graphic media:  over €1 billion.   And usage is still increasing, thanks to new and emerging applications like vehicle wrapping.

Driving the market:  the end users

Avery Dennison is convinced that, today, the decision makers in terms of graphic solutions are, indeed, the end users.   Says Frank Jonker, Manager, Product Marketing, for Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Products Europe:   ‘A company that wants to use its corporate identity across a variety of media – from buildings and commercial vehicles to promotional billboards and window graphics – is – rightly – only interested in theconsistency and appearance of their brand image.   It’s got to perfectly match the corporate image (and colours), and perform to durability specifications.    With our distributors and our open and extensive network of first-class converters, distributors, and graphics applicators in Europe and around the globe, we are very well placed to exceed  those end-user needs.’

Initiatives at all levels

Avery Dennison is actively developing a portfolio of user services tareting  converters and graphics applicators.   Says Frank Jonker:  ‘This reflects our understanding of the growing importance of partnerships thoughout the supply chain for delivering the best possible outcome for the end user.    In parallel, we are today involved in creating ‘live’ communication with end users in key target segments to enhance awareness of the enormous possibilities with self-adhesive films, so we can continue to grow the overall market.   Central to this strategy are ‘discovery meetings’ with end users, design agencies and corporate identity consultancies around the globe to identify unmet needs – and inspire innovation.’

Summing up, Mr Kroes concludes:  ‘Our new strategy empowers the concept of our stand at FESPA 2010.   Major international industry showcases like FESPA have a key rôle to play in developing that strategy.  They can be key enablers in developing partnerships throughout the value chain.’

Czech Republic-based Grapo Technologies, a manufacturer of wide-format hybrid and flatbed UV printers, is to officially launch its renewed website – www.grapo.com – at FESPA 2010. The unveiling of the online portal is a key element of Grapo Technologies' new visual identity, and is timed to coincide with the release of its new Gemini printing system. FESPA 2010 takes place June 22-26 in Munich, Germany. Grapo Technologies can be found in Hall B2 at Stand 460.

"We're confident that Gemini will attract significant attention from the market," says Branislav Oravec, Grapo Technologies Sales & Marketing Director. "In anticipation of this interest, we have revamped our website so that visitors can quickly get all the information they need on Gemini and the other systems in our portfolio. The web is one of our main sales and communication channels, so it's very important that our website reflects the high standards set by our printers."

"Visitors will find the new website much easier to use – they can get what they're after in no more than two clicks. The look may have changed, but we've kept all the useful sections, plus we've made some really handy additions like GrapoAssistant, which gives users direct access to our service department 24 hours a day." In addition to providing customers with all the information they need to quickly evaluate a printer, Grapo Technologies' new website will continue to serve its existing customer base.

"Being printers ourselves, we understand that downtime means lost profit," adds Oravec. "GrapoAssistant quickly puts customers in touch with our service technicians, who are ready and waiting to get them up and running again in no time.

"But working with existing customers isn't just about solving technical issues. We want to share our ideas on how they can combine the web and our printing expertise to get the most out of their Grapo Technologies printer so they can boost productivity and increase profit," concluded Branislav Oravec, Grapo Technologies Sales & Marketing Director.

EFI, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today launched four new initiatives – Fiery Global University, Fiery Implementation Services, Fiery Technical Excellence Center, and the Fiery Channel Incentive Program – aimed at making Fiery partners more successful and customers more profitable.

"These programs help our partners differentiate themselves and grow their business, while providing their customers with a comprehensive package of high-value offerings," said Parnaz Rafatjou, Fiery director of product and channel marketing, EFI. "The programs provide extensive education and support services, ensuring customers take full advantage of the value of Fiery technology to boost profits, lower costs and ultimately produce the highest quality digital prints available. In particular, the channel incentive program makes certain that our partners have the expert knowledge to offer, deploy and support Fiery technologies."

The new Fiery Global University program brings product knowledge and training now closer to everyone's door step. The program is a consolidation of eLearning courses, webinars and technical classroom training that make it easier than ever for partners and customers to develop expertise on Fiery solutions to improve their overall productivity and profitability. Fiery Global University's online eLearning offerings are interactive, highly visual, self-paced courses that help reduce support requirements, lower training costs, and decrease production downtime to ultimately drive more business through greater efficiency and knowledge. Fiery eLearning offerings are available as a single course, a bundle of courses, or as an annual subscription for all courses.

EFI's Fiery Implementation Services help partners increase customer satisfaction by offering professional and customized implementation by a Fiery product expert. Fiery Implementation Services offerings ensure hands-on knowledge transfer, a pain-free installation, and minimal downtime that result in cost savings for partners and customers.

EFI has always offered world-class technical support to Fiery customers through its channel partners. To complement this existing support infrastructure, dealers now have direct access to the Fiery Technical Excellence Center to reduce support costs, resolve issues faster, and create an even more satisfying experience for their customers. With these new support packages, Fiery partners can reach a live expert on the Fiery Help Desk support line or use the online resources from the 24/7 self-service website.

Ben Russert, president and CEO of ProSource, said: "Providing quick and excellent technical support ensures customers keep coming back to their dealer of choice. Our business is based on offering customers the right solution, service and support. We were excited to learn about the Fiery Technical Excellence Center and decided to take advantage of this offering to improve our customer satisfaction by meeting their needs quicker than before. This offering is just one of the examples of the high-quality programs and resources provided to EFI partners to help us succeed in today's marketplace."

Finally, the Fiery Channel Incentive Program, in addition to including all three service, support and education programs, provides Fiery partners with extensive tools, resources, information and essential training opportunities to improve product knowledge and increase sales. The tiered channel program distinguishes partners as value-added, integrated solution providers, enabling them to differentiate themselves and more effectively serve and support their customers.

EskoArtwork announces that its partnership with the HP Graphics Solutions Business has been extended to the HP Scitex Large Format Division. In reply to the fast growing need for dedicated prepress tools, EskoArtwork and HP Scitex agreed to co-market integrated workflow solutions specifically tailored for the sign and display market. These solutions include the complete EskoArtwork i-cut Suite, a collection of pre-production design-to-finish software to streamline the entire production workflow.

"In today's challenging economic climate, service print providers need more than fast, high-quality printing devices to compete," says Yariv Avisar, Vice President and General Manager, HP Scitex Large Format Solutions, HP. "They also require automated workflows that drive efficiencies while reducing turnaround times and costs. While many companies offer a series of fragmented tools to support the production of sign and display materials, EskoArtwork is uniquely qualified to provide a complete series of end-to-end tools that not only offers support for graphics, but also for the structure and finishing of displays. Our partnership with EskoArtwork brings this critical element to our large format printing solution, enabling our customers to streamline their workflows considerably, increase print productivity and grow their businesses profitably."

"We are delighted to partner with the world's leading provider of large format printing solutions," says Bryan Stringer, Worldwide Business Development Manager Sign & Display at EskoArtwork. "We respect their expertise in delivering exceptional digital print devices to the market, and feel that our know-how in developing software solutions complement them superbly."

Partnership in action at Fespa 2010

Visitors to Fespa 2010 will have the opportunity to see the new partnership in action. On the HP stand, located in Hall B2 stand 120, they can experience a live demonstration of the end-to-end workflow – from design to finishing – integrating the EskoArtwork software solutions with HP Scitex large format printers. The initial creative design will be performed using EskoArtwork Studio 3D design software. i-cut Suite will show a prepress solution handling files with i-cut Preflight for efficient PDF preflighting and editing while interactive nesting, data and cut path preparation are done through i-cut Layout. Once the layout is prepared, the job will be produced on HP Scitex FB7500 and FB500 Printers, before printed sheets are moved to a Kongsberg i-XL24 die-less cutting and creasing table. Throughout the entire workflow, the advanced automation functionalities of the EskoArtwork Automation Engine, reduce the manual operation to a minimum. It also improves the integration with structural data and allows users to detect errors at an early stage which increases overall quality and reduces costs.

i-cut Suite drives complete digital production workflow

The latest addition to the EskoArtwork workflow solutions, the new i-cut Suite, is launched at Fespa 2010. The software is unique in the industry, as it offers a workflow solution that spans the complete print production cycle: from initial design and layout through to print and finishing. By driving the complete digital production workflow, i-cut Suite ensures data integrity throughout each stage of the process and will even correct errors when detected, resulting in less reworks, minimized set-up times, and faster delivery of jobs.

The full range of EskoArtwork products will also be demonstrated on the EskoArtwork booth, located in Hall B1 stand 270.