Hardware

Attendees at Print can see the most productive digital press and its newest enhancements that are revolutionising the packaging industry.

Agfa Graphics today announced plans to demonstrate the :Dotrix Modular high speed digital press at Print '09, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, September 11th -16th 2009 (booth #2600). Attendees will see live demonstrations of a variety of packaging and specialty printing applications including folding cartons, flexible packaging, labels, POP and more.

Since its introduction to the marketplace, Agfa has continually invested and enhanced the :Dotrix Modular to meet the expanding needs of the packaging industry and specialty printing markets. According to Sheila Nysko, Business Development Manager, Agfa Graphics, "The time is now. Today, more than ever, customers are driving the demand for innovation and digital printing. They are being forced to cut costs, better manage their supply chain, reduce waste and increase speed to market all while maintaining or increasing quality. Only Agfa's :Dotrix Modular has responded to this need."
The base of the :Dotrix Modular is an industrial flexo press from Edale, a UK-based manufacturer of narrow web printing and converting presses. This guarantees the system's highly accurate and stable web transport. :Dotrix Modular can produce output on a wide variety of substrates including paper, multi-wall, biodegradable plastics, PE, PP, BOPP, PET heat and pressure sensitive materials, and more. Its high speed, unique width of 25.6 inches and extremely high quality bring on-demand printing to a whole new level. It can print on a wide range of thicknesses ranging from 25 to 600 micron (1-24), plus it offers users many additional benefits. The :Dotrix is fully modular and can be configured roll-to-roll or roll-to-sheet, and there's absolutely no limitation to graphic or job length. Customization and versioning are also available to support the growing need for target marketing and regionalization within the industry.

According to Carol Constantino, President of Noteworthy, Amsterdam, NY, "We bought Agfa's :Dotrix Modular so that we could provide our clients with even higher levels of quality and service. It's a phenomenal inkjet machine that allows us to provide low minimum orders and faster turnarounds while providing a print quality that is unparalleled. Every plastic bag we print for our clients can be framed as a work of art."

Print '09 attendees, the media and industry experts will have the opportunity to learn about the newest enhancements to the :Dotrix Modular as well as Agfa's entire line of industry leading inkjet and prepress solutions at the Agfa Graphics News Conference on September 11, 2009 at 10:30am in McCormick Place, booth #2600, South Hall.

Zünd receives EDP-Award 2009 in category “Best wide-format finishing device”

With G3, the new generation of digital cutting systems, Zünd presented a thoroughly convincing entry for this year’s EDP Award and, for the second time, was honored with the top prize for wide-format finishing. The jury’s explanation for choosing Zünd G3: "No other cutting machine can match the flexibility and upgradeability of the G3 series with its modular tool concept. G3 is capable of processing up to 50mm/2”-thick materials, with an extensive yet simple selection of available sizes, modules, tools, and material-handling options. Designed specifically for 24/7 operation, G3 cutters offer both exceptionally solid construction and superior accuracy—a unique combination.” At the EDP award ceremony held during Grafitalia in Milan, the winners proudly accepted their prize (see photo below).

EDP (European Digital Press Association) is an association of 15 leading European trade publications dedicated to digital printing. Together they represent a readership in excess of 1 million. EDP award recipients are chosen annually by an independent jury of experts in recognition of the most outstanding innovations in digital printing during the previous year. Among many well-known contestants for the 2009 prize, Zünd has again distinguished itself as market leader in wide-format finishing.

What sets the new cutter generation G3 apart are technical as well as ecological innovations. The 2009 EDP award confirms the strength of Zünd’s vision for the future of digital cutting technology.

Further information on Zund finishing products can be found at www.zund.co.uk

At Gardners, located in Cardiff, U.K., being on the cutting edge of printing technology has become almost routine. Recently, Gardners became one of the first companies worldwide to install an HP Scitex XP2300 Printer, a 3.2 m-wide (10.5 ft) UV roll-to-roll printer designed for high-speed production environments. The new printer is dedicated to outdoor signage and it offers several major advantages, including an unmatched combination of high speed and low ink consumption, particularly in billboard mode printing.

Among the first major jobs that Gardners printed on the new machine was a huge order for a special safety mesh wrap. The company received an urgent order to print 18 rolls of material to be used to clad scaffolding on a development in Bristol, UK.

The material was supplied by the customer with each roll being 45 meters long with a printable area of 43 x 2 meters. Timely delivery was critical and Gardners only had 20 hours to produce and deliver the job. The HP Scitex XP2300 Printer produced it in less than 11 hours, using Billboard print mode.

“In the past, the same job would have taken around 23 hours to print,” says Kristel Moncarey, digital manager, Gardners. “Our customer actually preferred the extra smooth print quality of the HP Scitex XP2300 Printer, in particular the strength and brilliance of the colors. More and more customers are choosing the glossy look on this printer for their work.”

Richard Gardner, chairman, adds: “The customer was extremely happy with the fast turnaround and the higher gloss quality finish. The safety mesh is a very complicated material to run on. But the HP Scitex XP2300 printed it extremely quickly and it looked absolutely fantastic.”

In the few months that the HP Scitex XP2300 Printer has been onsite at Gardners, it has proven itself as an excellent solution not just for billboards, but also for other types of applications that require high-quality printing.

“I knew this machine was built for billboards but I didn’t realize how good the print quality would be,” says Gardner. “You wouldn’t expect to have very fine resolution and quality, especially on things where you are reversing lettering out. But you actually get quite high quality, so in practice, we are able to use it for other types of applications in a smaller format, such as banners and some fine interior signage, in addition to billboards.”

Gardner adds: “The machine is built for speed. In essence it’s more than double the speed of a common UV roll to roll printer, so having one of these new machines is the equivalent of having two of the others. The low ink consumption of the new printer is another major benefit to Gardners, saving up to approximately 30 percent. “The situation is that the cost saving is very significant.” Following the successful evaluation of its first HP Scitex XP2300 Printer, Gardners is planning to invest in at least five more machines.

Founded in 1976 primarily as a screen printer, Gardners is now one of the world’s largest digital printing companies, serving many different industries and applications. It has a large and diverse portfolio of products and processes with numerous patents and copyrights, covering the building industry, outdoor advertising media, backlit printing, dye sublimation onto fabrics, metal and aluminum and specialized adhesive technology for use in the financial sector.

The company’s growth has been shaped by a keen sense of market trends, such as the fast-growing demand for printing solutions that reduce environmental impact, in terms of the printing systems themselves and the media they print on. It has been fueled by its near-total adoption of digital printing technologies and its willingness to work with printing equipment vendors to test and refine new technologies and systems. With HP’s growing array of solutions for the large format printing market, Gardners is increasingly adopting HP technologies as a key part of its production floor.

“A lot of what we do is late sold,” says Gardner. “All the ads around the country change every two weeks, so theoretically you have two weeks to print the product. But, quite often a campaign will be instigated in reaction to a competitor, and the customer wants to react very quickly, within two or three days. So digital is perfect for that. And the HP Scitex XP2300 Printer is even more perfect because it allows you to put a lot of material through in 24 hours.”

In general, Gardner sees three key trends shaping the printing market: speed, cost and environmental responsibility. “We need faster machines and lower cost inks,” says Gardner. “The only way to expand the market is to take more work from analogue.”

“At the same time, going green is absolutely critical. We have been looking for environmental solutions for the past five or six years. We believed in it and now all the really big customers are demanding it. The world has changed. Now the majority of work we do is on environmentally responsible materials, like woven polyethylene. In fact, we are trying to phase out PVC.”

Colourgen is launching a trade-up promotion for the Seiko II ColorPainter V-64S eco-solvent printer. Anybody with a 42”+ solvent printer or any 42”+ printer from Epson, Encad or Kodak can trade-up to the new ColorPainter V-64S and claim a  £1,500 discount on their new printer if they buy before 30th September 2009.

Melanie Enser, Marketing Manager at Colourgen, comments, “We hope that this offer will give those that want to purchase, the opportunity to enjoy a significant trade-up discount on their existing printer. The Seiko II ColorPainter V-64S is the perfect all-rounder for indoor and outdoor durable output. It delivers stunning graphics quality using low odour inks making it ideal for interior décor, canvases and back-lit applications as well as vehicle graphics and outdoor signage.”

The Seiko II ColorPainter V-64s produces 720 x 720 dpi printing resolution with CMYK and LcLm colours. The newly developed print head allows the printer to achieve print speeds of 16sqm/h in quality mode, the fastest speed in its class. The new EX mild solvent ink set has very low-odour, which offers a better working and display environment while providing extensive media versatility, exceptional colour, dry times, glossiness and overall outdoor lightfastness.

This offer is available only through authorised Colourgen resellers. The Seiko ColorPainter V-64S has an RRP of £22,950 (ex VAT).

 

SEAL Graphics, a world leader in image and print finishing solutions, will announce a second new UV-curable liquid laminator at this year’s Fespa digital exhibition. 

As the ‘smaller brother’ to the AS60UV Pro, the AquaSEAL 24UV has been developed especially for professional photographic studios and other small format users handling images up to 60.9 cms (24ins). 

The AS 24UV is a fully automated liquid coating machine designed to deliver superb high speed protective coatings for inkjet, photographic, electrostatic and digital press original images as well as colour copies.  Dependent upon the application, the coating thickness can be varied between 7 and 16 microns at speeds of up to 7.62 metres per minute (25ft/min). 

Being exceedingly user-friendly, the company claims no special operator skills are required.  Simply insert the image to produce output that is evenly protected with a scratch-resistant, water-resistant and image enhancing coating within seconds. The machine uses an innovative UV dryer with high speed curing which results in an instant, unblemished final product in a choice of gloss, lustre or matte finishes. 

The AS24UV has two tanks to accommodate coating liquids and one for the cleaning solution. It automatically cycles and filters the coating liquid at precisely the required volume and, because it is UV cured, there is no need to clean down at the end of each job/day.

HP today announced that it will be launching an addition to its range of large format printers on its stand, 8a G20 at viscom düsseldorf, 1 - 3 October, Exhibition Centre Düsseldorf. At the show HP will be launching its latest large format printer, which will drive change in the industry and allow PSPs to differentiate themselves.

Other stand highlights include the HP Scitex XP2750 Printer, a 3.2m wide-format UV ink printer with an integrated flatbed module that delivers high-quality output up to 635 x 800dpi (1270 x 1600dpi apparent) on both flexible and rigid media. With a maximum speed of 110m²/hr, the printer is ideal for high-volume environments looking for flexibility of output.

Also present will be the HP Scitex FB950 Printer - 2.5m hybrid UV printer providing consistent high-quality POP/POS, trade show and event signage on a wide range of rigid or flexible media at high speeds of up to 80m2/hr in billboard mode.

The HP Designjet Z6100 Printer series - aqueous printers with an embedded spectrophotometer available in 42" and 60" models delivering vivid, high-impact prints at high print speeds. The series is ideal for indoor and short-term outdoor banners and large format applications such as posters, photos and fine art prints, drawings, maps and renders.

"HP's latest graphic solutions will allow our customers to continue to differentiate their businesses," said Santi Morera, vice president and general manager, Large Format Printing Business, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "PSPs now have the widest ever portfolio of HP printers to choose from, allowing them to enter new market segments with confidence," said Morera.

Sign and display print service providers will also be able to visit the stands of HP's distributors; Kisters and Sihl, to see demonstrations of the HP Designjet L65500. The printer offers environmentally responsible, cost-effective production possibilities using the latest innovative ink technology for printing with the environment in mind and presents an alternative to solvent and even UV when printing indoor and outdoor signage.