Hardware - Industrial Print

Grapo Technologies, a manufacturer of large format UV roll-to-roll and flatbed printers based in the Czech Republic, is announcing that it will be exhibiting at FESPA, taking place in Munich from 22-26 June 2010.   At the show, hall B2 stand 460 the company will be featuring its fully automated Shark hybrid UV printer with feeder/cutter options.

“FESPA is the perfect venue for us to show the latest additions to the Shark,” said Sales Director Branislav Oravec,  “including an automatic feeder for rigid materials and cutting system for flexibles. After working with Shark in our own printshop, we believe these options makes Shark even more efficient and productive.  At Grapo Technologies we are, first and foremost, printing professionals that manufacture printers designed to meet the specific needs of other printing professionals—we began as a print shop, and always keep in mind the basic requirements of the average print shop owner: a productive, durable piece of hardware capable of generating profit for the business. The feeder/cutter system is a logical outcome of that philosophy as it allows the user to take advantage of the Shark’s speed without requiring two employees to man the machine at all times. ”

New at the show:  Shark now equipped with Feeder & Cutter.

The four-color Shark is a multifunctional system capable of printing on both flexible and rigid materials, producing high-quality greyscale images for a wide variety of display applications. Grapo Technologies will be demonstrating the Shark hybrid UV printer at FESPA with a new cutter capable of cutting materials up to 1 mm in thickness transversally or longitudinally, as well as a feeder that can accommodate cardboard sheets and common rigid materials up to a maximum media thickness 10 mm and a maximum size 2000 x 2000 mm, depending on the weight of the material.

Branislav Oravec comments: "In addition to the feeder and cutter, we’ve added more functionality to  Shark to improve work flow and productivity. Each model now comes equipped a take up and special guiding system to secure printing of unstable materials such as cardboard, providing users high printing speeds up to 120 m2/hour as well as enormous versatility in applications."

The system can print on either flexible or rigid materials at resolutions up to 960dpi, and can image a maximum print width of 2010 mm with an unlimited print length. Production speed varies from 40 m2/hour for top-quality POS applications to 120 m2/hour for outdoor displays.

“The capabilities of the Shark are normally only found in very high-end printing systems,” commented Oravec.  “For example, when working with rigid substrates, manual feeding can often result in expensive errors.  The Shark can automatically feed and print 100 sheets per hour, with precise registration, guiding the cut to size sheets to the printer using a unique pause free loading system without compromising on production speed. Because the feeder is automatically driven by Shark software, customers can print up to 100 square meters per hour without human intervention for most substrates.  This is truly unique in a printer that comes to the market at the Shark’s low price point, and the market has responded quite favourably.  We are excited to share these capabilities with visitors to our stand at FESPA.”

Unique Substrates

“To further demonstrate Shark’s flexibility,” added Oravec, “we will be printing on a wide range of substrates in our stand.  This includes textiles, foam, PVC, Forex, glass, polycarbonates, DiBond coated aluminium, acrylic, APET Veralite 100, fluted polypropylene, PVC vinyl, Blueback Paper, Vivak, metal, wood, ceramic tiles, cardboard, and more. This will clearly demonstrate the unique business opportunities this printer can open up for our customers as they work to differentiate their businesses.”

Company reduces turnaround time and further develops competitive business offering

HP today announced that PVP SA, part of BARBEY Holding, based in Digoin, Burgundy, France, has installed its first HP Scitex FB7500 Printer in order to increase its product offering and enter new markets.

The company, established in 1981, originally specialised in advertising for the retail industry. In 1998 it entered the digital wide format market and its business has grown considerably now employing over 50 people. The company prides itself in being responsive to its customer's needs. Customers include leading French hypermarket chains.

"We wanted to develop our Point Of Sale offering for events and short campaigns. To meet this requirement we needed to invest in a machine with higher production capabilities and capable of printing onto lighter and thinner substrates," said Frédéric Barbey, president, PVP France. "With our new printer not only will we be able to win more work from existing customers, but it means that we can now attract new customers with large-scale projects."

Dedicated inks provide versatility across a very wide range of substrates from paper to plastics, whatever the media, fast-drying HP UV-curable inks deliver outstanding application versatility and long-lasting colour.

PVP's customers are already promising to switch their disposable signage and display projects to the printer, and with such high demands for short-run work which require fast turnarounds, the company is convinced that the FB7500 can help it to do this. Print speeds up to 500m² (5380ft²)/hour and features such as the three-quarter automated loading reduce idle time between sheets by up to 75 percent with only one operator, with loading time reduced to as little as 12 seconds.

Barbey continued, "The printer has many advantages for us, not least of all cost reductions. We have a lot of requests for glossy prints and the FB7500's gloss mode means that we no longer have to varnish our prints. Notably, the ink costs about five times less than our previous digital inks. In conjunction with the reduced downtime compared to screen-printing, our customers will soon benefit from cost savings and fast turnarounds."

PVP has a goal to develop a cleaner printing environment for its employees and is already taking advantage of an improved printing workspace compared to screen technology, thanks to its new printer. The elimination of time-consuming clean-up through fewer chemicals and petroleum-based products, means that its employees work more easily and can move on to the next job quickly.

HP today announced that Stevenson, The Color Company, a family-owned signage and graphics service provider based in Cincinnati, has installed the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer to produce high-quality point-of-purchase (POP) displays for its major national retail customers.

Stevenson chose the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer over competitive offerings for its fast turnaround times, high-quality printing and reliability. Previously, Stevenson outsourced much of its wide-format work to silk screen service providers because the shop's offset and wide-format digital printers could not accommodate the size or speed required. With the addition of the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer, Stevenson can handle the majority of its wide-format work in-house.

"When we realized that HP's wide-format digital printer could provide the high quality and speed that our customers demand, we knew it was time to acquire a new digital printer," said Andy Stevenson, executive vice-president, Stevenson, The Color Company. "We've never bought a piece of equipment that was as productive as the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer. It takes half the number of people to run the machine than a traditional silk screen press."

To accommodate the high demand for wide-format work, Stevenson is already running one to two shifts, six to seven days per week on the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer. The new solution produces a range of POP displays as large as 5 x 10 feet in different shapes, single- or double-sided and on a variety of substrates, including 18 pt. C2S and Styrene. Printing up to four posters on one sheet, the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer also enables Stevenson to produce wallpaper panels that department stores use as promotional murals.

"Stevenson's experience is a great example of how our digital printers help companies expand into new applications and grow their business," said Jan Riecher, vice president and general manager, Graphics Solutions Business – Americas, HP. "With the high-quality and cost-effective output of the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer, Stevenson was able to move the wide-format work of its large retail customers from silk screen to digital printing easily and with a very fast return on investment."

The HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer delivers a powerful combination of high throughput, cost-effective production and high output quality for a variety of wide-format applications. Supporting a resolution of up to 600 dpi and prints at speeds as high as 480 sqm/hr (5,166 sqft/hr), the HP Scitex TJ8550 Printer opens new opportunities for almost any printing shop-screen, digital and offset-by reducing operational costs and helping drive business growth.

UK Distributor for EFI-VUTEk printing solutions, CMYUK Limited, have announced the launch of a free online job costing and profit projection tool.

 

Using their free Virtual Printroom Calculator, you can get instant access to realistic profit forecasts based on both your current and projected print volumes. Simply enter your buy and sell prices, add your associated production cost elements, and click the ‘Calculate’ button.

It’s a completely free tool and you don’t even need to register to use it.

Robin East of CMYUK reports that end-user feedback has been positive, with a number of users finding that work that they were currently sub-contracting could be brought in-house, with the savings fully funding the purchase of a new EFI-VUTEk printing system.

You can log on now and start running your own calculations by visiting www.cmyukdigital.com/qs220-profit

 

Agfa Graphics today announced the addition of variable data capabilities to the :M-Press TIGER digital press. Co-developed with Thieme, Agfa's :M-Press TIGER is the fastest and most advanced digital press in its class. More info will be available at the Agfa stand at IPEX in Birmingham, UK, 18-25 May 2010.

With the addition of :Apogee VIBE variable data printing (VDP) users can offer their customers a wider range of products and services even without slowing down the printing process in most common use cases. They can still offer superior image quality and detail rendering with low ink consumption, providing the look and feel of offset.

:Apogee Vibe is a straight forward graphic editor for creating print jobs with variable data content on the :Dotrix and the :M-Press TIGER. With Apogee Vibe the user can define elements such as text, graphics and images which may change from one document to the next without holding or slowing down the press. All variable elements (text or graphics) are retireved from a database (or spreadsheet). And to optimise print capacity on press, :Apogee Vibe supports multiple-up variable pages on the same sheet.

A VDP preview displays the actual content of the fields from the database and the static images (those that are the same in all documents). Pages are assembled on the fly as variable elements from each record are merged with the static elements during printing.

Several :M-Press TIGER systems have been sold around the world, and others have since been upgraded to reach current speeds of up to 165 sheets/hr on the floor. It features the lowest cost of ownership available in the market.

:M-Press TIGER is also upgradeable, giving users an investment that can last for more than 20 years, only the digital shuttle needs to change when the next generation is launched. Original customers are already in the process of upgrading to faster, more productive systems.

"Digital printers or big print shops that are looking for a high-end, high-speed and high-quality flatbed press need not look any further", said Richard Barham, Vice President inkjet, Agfa Graphics. "And with :Apogee Vibe variable-data printing for the :M-Press TIGER, users can now offer new applications to a broader range of market segments".

The :M-Press TIGER is ideal for output for Point-of-Sale (POS), signage, exhibit graphics, indoor and outdoor posters, banners, billboards and more.

With a maximum print area of 1600 x 2600mm, the :M-Press TIGER can handle a wide range of flexible and rigid substrates from 120g/sqm up to 3kg/sqm in full four-colour process.

"With the many advancements in the technology behind the M-Press TIGER, we're seeing many more analogue printers interested in converting to digital", said Tom Cloots, Business Line Manager, M-Press, Agfa Graphics. "They are recognizing the benefits offered by the :M-Press TIGER, including it's flexibility in printing short or long runs and shorter turn-around times per job".

The system is now available.

The Virtu RR50 from WP Digital, distributed in the UK by Digital Print Innovations (DPI), has been recognised as best in its class by the European Digital Press Association Awards’ 2010 edition. Winning in the ‘superwide-format printer larger than three metres’ category, the five-metre UV-curable machine was given the nod for its combination of speed and quality, although the judges also cited its abundance of versatile production options and practical user features.

“The award is given, among other reasons, for the [RR50’s] white ink option, options of 36 or 48 print-heads, multi-roll print capability, maximum resolution of 1,200dpi, [and] front and rear loading options,” the judges concluded. They also noted its maximum speed of 320sq m/hour, as well as heavy-weight reel handling, longitudinal and cross-cutting facilities and its functionality with mesh.

The Virtu RR50 is the biggest brother of the WP Digital (formerly Spühl) range of UV-curable devices, for which DPI provides a complete service channel in the UK and Ireland. Available in configurations which can include six colours (CMYK, Lc and Lm) and white, it delivers addressable 1200dpi resolution on a wide range of materials, including banner, PE and – surprisingly – flag. DPI also explains that the bulk system for its highly durable VOC-free inks, which allows six litres per colour to be stored, is among the productivity-orientated benefits of the engine.

“There are technology advances within the RR50 which set it apart from everything else on the market, such as the linear motor system which eliminates vibration problems and improves dot placement,” comments Stewart Bell, managing director of DPI, “but it’s also a practical machine for display and industrial applications alike. A single operator can, for example, load extra rolls using a remote control device. This kind of productivity and versatility in the same machine is the innovation that the superwide market has been waiting for.”

These benefits come as a result of its heritage in precision Swiss engineering, Bell continues. “We’re delighted to see the RR50 from WP Digital getting the recognition it deserves, and grateful to the panel for electing it. The truth is that the Virtu range of printers are powerhouses for display production onto almost any flexible material, and have a well-earned reputation for being both reliable and versatile,” he emphasises.

The EDP Awards are nominated by a panel of five judges from the European trade press which focuses on the innovation that the machine presents to the market. They include Sophie Matthews-Paul, wide-format digital printing technology consultant and technology editor of Image Reports; Martin Spaar, editor of Swiss publishing trade magazine Publisher; Chris Cooke, publishing director of Image Reports; Herman Hartman, respected industry journalist and consultant, currently editor of SignPro Benelux; and Italian Adobe-certified instructor and expert Luca Chiavegato.

DPI is a display solutions provider formed to bring a fresh approach to the market. With combined technical experience of 65 years within the printing industry, DPI is the exclusive distributor for WP Digital and Meital UV-curing machines in the UK and Ireland. The company also supplies a range of selected display equipment, including Seiko II print technology and Esko Artwork’s Kongsberg cutting solutions, to provide start-to-finish graphics production solutions. Its comprehensive technical support is fully UK-based for both hardware and software.