Consumables

Switzerland-based Antalis recently invited its customers to an “open house” held in a wrapped train that visited seven Swiss cities. The Applicator Network of Avery Graphics™ wrapped the train using the high-quality Avery® MPI 3001 Gloss White and Avery® DOL 3100 Matt.

Antalis CH is one of the largest Swiss distributors of communications support materials and a Swiss Avery Graphics™ distributor. In May 2009, Antalis decided to give a new dimension to the concept of an open house. Instead of the usual approach of inviting customers to the head office, Antalis rented an entire train and drove it to seven central stations in Switzerland, inviting customers to visit the train in the central station of their city.

To generate optimal marketing value, the train was completely wrapped by our Avery Graphics™ Applicator Network, using 1.25 km of Avery® MPI 3001 Gloss White. The film was printed, laminated with Avery® DOL 3100 Matt and applicated. The project took three days, including both evening and night shifts and involved between 11 and 13 applicators.

The project was a huge success, thanks to the high-quality specifications of both products. The use of a film that offers application flexibility and easy removability in combination with a laminate that’s ideal for short term applications, made it possible for the team to finish this project within the given deadline.

Following the successful launch of its Elite Essentials range of value inkjet media at Sign UK, Colourgen is already announcing the immediate availability of new additions to the family which include new water-based and solvent media specifically designed for exhibition graphics, roll-up displays and pop-up systems.

A key addition to the range is Elite Essentials Solvent Crystal Stoplight film. This unique product has a textured printable coating on one side and an anti-static grey lightblock cover on the reverse. It is stable and durable and eliminates curl on pop-up displays.

Peter Davidson, General Manager at Colourgen, comments, “The new Crystal product can generate massive savings for customers. Until now, users have had to run either a two or three part system which requires adhering the printed media onto a stoplight backer film and then running it through a laminator to get the required textured finish. Typically, this could cost up to £12.00 per square metre. With the Elite Essential Crystal printable stoplight media, users need only run the material in one pass, saving 50% in material costs as well as minimising the potential for errors and wastage and saving on production costs.”

Further new products in the Elite Essentials range include the Solvent Pearl Stoplight media. This unique media also has a printable coating on one side and an antistatic grey lightblock on the reverse. It is ideal for full and eco-solvent inks, used by the Seiko II ColorPainters, Epson Stylus Pro GS6000, HP 9000’s and most other solvent printers.

The range also includes new water-based products, which are ideal for Epson, HP and Canon printers.  One particular range of products that will be of great interest to those looking to address more applications with their waterbased printer is the Elite Essentials Pearl Printable Stoplight in 175 and 300mic.  These true photo-quality products enable users to produce very high quality roll-up and pop-up systems on their Epson, HP or Canon printers.  These products would require lamination before use.

Many textured building surfaces have hitherto proved ‘off-limits’ for promotional signs and graphics because there has never been a graphic film that could effectively be applied to them. Now, however, these frequently bland and architecturally uninteresting surfaces can be dramatically brought to life with eye-catching and photographic-quality graphics following the introduction of 3M™ Scotchcal™ IJ8624/8624ES Graphic Film for Textured Surfaces.

This highly conformable 50-micron cast film has been developed specifically to allow colourful promotional graphics to be applied to moderately textured flat or curved surfaces as diverse as concrete block, brick, tile, poured cement and stucco. The film will conform and mould over indoor and outdoor textured, painted or unpainted surfaces and is sufficiently flexible to wrap around columns. A wide range of textured surfaces, found typically at sports venues, within inner town and city locations and throughout selective retail outlets and public buildings, can now be dramatically transformed to accommodate a wide range of graphics requirements and to thus generate valuable additional revenue streams.

3M IJ8624/8624ES, which includes the dimensionally stable 3M Scotchcal 8524 Luster Overlaminate, can be used to create photographic-quality images in any size, shape or design that can be easily, cleanly and purposely removed by the application of heat at the end of any tactical marketing campaign without any impairment of the underlying substrate and at a much lower cost than conventional painted graphics. The film has a high level of resistance to the effects of weathering, chemicals and other pollutants and provides outstanding hiding power on any substrate colour due to the incorporation of a powerful and application-sensitive grey pigmented adhesive.

The removable white graphic film can be printed using either solvent-based inkjet or electrostatic printing processes and has a predicted outdoor life span of up to six months and a minimum two years’ durability when used internally. 3M IJ8624/8624ES is available from 3M’s primary distributors William Smith and Spandex.

Since its launch five years ago, SEAL Graphics' 80 micron film has always been a popular choice with print finishers and their customers - becoming the company's best-selling substrates within its vinyl and solvent products range.

Now it says it has developed a film that is even easier to apply. The Solvent Eco Vinyl Gloss 100 is a 100 micron white, monomeric vinyl suitable for use with eco-solvent, solvent and UV-curable inks with a gloss finish and a permanent transparent adhesive.

It has been developed for flat surfaces such as exhibition panels in indoor or short- to mid-term outdoor use although its ease-of-use in applications - due to its heavier weight - equally lends itself to easier vehicle wraps.

SEAL Graphics says this new film offers the same outstanding print performance and high quality colour gamut as others in its Solvent Eco Vinyl family and that the same ICC profiles can be used.

 

EFI has announced entry into a manufacturing agreement with Nazdar, wherein Nazdar will produce EFI's VUTEk and Inkware solvent inks, which are renowned for their phenomenal colour quality, fantastic durability and superior printer performance.  Nazdar is a long-time partner of EFI who distributes VUTEk printers and inks to the North American screenprinting market.

"Nazdar has been a trusted partner of EFI for many years, and we are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with a company that has such a deep knowledge of solvent-based digital ink manufacturing," said Scott Schinlever, vice president and general manager of EFI's ink business. "EFI's ink customers will continue to receive superior products and service that they have come to expect over the last two decades, including the most consistent and durable inks that have been developed and optimised for their printing systems. EFI selected Nazdar to be their manufacturing partner due to their commitment to quality, consistency and reliability, which are cornerstones of EFI inks."

Though EFI's VUTEk and Inkware solvent ink will be manufactured by Nazdar, the inks will use current EFI's VUTEk and Inkware formulations, with the same warranty coverage offered, and will be manufactured to the same stringent quality-control requirements. VUTEk superwide inkjet printers provide the best image quality, most vibrant colours and finest consistency when printing with VUTEk and Inkware inks. VUTEk customers can run a multitude of jobs for indoor and outdoor applications with confidence, knowing that EFI has been an industry-leader for twenty years.

Nazdar has been producing inks and coatings since 1922, and for the digital printing industry since 1998, and received word in the year 2000 that their Quality Management System exceeds the International Standard ISO 9001. This is an industry-wide signal that Nazdar has achieved a standard of quality that extends from operations and manufacturing to customer service and product delivery.

"Nazdar is pleased to have this opportunity to expand our relationship with EFI", said Richard Bowles, vice president and general manager of Nazdar's inks and coatings division. "Nazdar can focus on what we do best - manufacturing excellent digital inks to the exacting standards developed by VUTEk and Inkware."

The announcement of the extended partnership between EFI and Nazdar Inks and Coatings comes along with word that EFI expects to cease ink manufacturing at its Meredith, NH facility as part of its ongoing consolidation of its ink business, and will be manufacturing its UV-based and speciality digital inks at EFI's facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

 

Hexis, the French vinyl manufacturer, has been granted renewal of their ISO 9001:2000 certification for their quality management system for the design, manufacture, distribution and trading of visual communication media and protective films on its 4 sites in France. Hexis have ISO 9001:2000 approval since 2005.

Bureau Veritas, one of the largest quality management system registrars, granted this certification until 2011 after conducting extensive audits of the Hexis quality management processes.

A computerised traceability system ensures consistent quality checks and conformity of materials and products with specifications all along the production chain, from the supplier to the end-user thus guaranteeing coherent quality control throughout.

The company’s biggest asset in its aim of responding to clients’ expectations and to ensure the continued existence of the business is a strict policy of quality assurance for products, services and organisation. Constant improvement of the global performance is an ongoing objective.

The company’s overall policy is based on active listening to clients’ concerns to ensure customer satisfaction through innovative design and product performance. Quality of raw materials and finished products, guaranteed lead-times and high-performance production equipment are the essential ingredients to this objective.

"ISO 9001 is without a doubt the leading international standard for quality management in an industrial business,” comments Michel Mateu, president of Hexis Group. “We are honoured to have earned this certification. But for us ISO 9001 compliance is an on-going process and our quality management, rigorous product traceability and proactive customer service promote continuous improvement within our organisation."

Yvan Aliaga, QA Manager at Hexis, explains how the certification benefits the customer: "Being an ISO 9001 company embraces all aspects of our activity - design, production and sales. Everybody talks about Total Quality Management, but becoming a certified ISO 9001 company means that we are actually up to the challenge. By preparing for the ISO approval we gain a better understanding of our way of operating and of our customers’ concerns and requirements. With our business partners we all working with the same philosophy."