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Following the launch of Roland DG’s Texart RT-640 dye-sublimation printer and Texart CS-64 Calender Unit, the leading digital wide-format manufacturer has now launched an insightful guide to dye-sublimation technology and the many business opportunities it presents.

Whether a company is new to the print industry, unfamiliar with the technology or is looking for tips to maximise their current investment, Roland DG’s Dye Sublimation Guide with Digital Inkjet is a comprehensive resource that provides a succinct and inspirational overview of this fast-growing and exciting market.

The guide contains:

• Introduction to the dye-sublimation process, the technologies harnessing its capabilities and what it means for users in specific markets
• Application possibilities in a host of creative sectors, from soft signage and rigid surfaces to interior décor and fashion
• Software and other complementary technologies driving its development
• Inspiring user stories

“There is a lot of untapped business potential in the dye-sublimation printing market and we want to help our customers to capitalise on the opportunities within it,” explains Darren Penny, Head of Sales, Roland DG (UK & Ireland). “While the Texart RT-640 facilitates the production of highly imaginative and creative applications, this guide serves an introduction into the theory and methodology behind it all. The development of the Texart RT-640 and Texart CS-64, our calender heat transfer system, was the result of years of R&D into the dye-sublimation market by Roland DG, and we’ve distilled our key findings and observations into this free-of-charge resource tool.”

For those looking to further their knowledge of dye-sublimation, The Roland Academy also offer a hands-on Texart Dye Sublimation Better Business Bootcamp which offers a comprehensive overview of the products, processes and market.

To request a free-of-charge copy of Roland DG’s Dye Sublimation Guide with Digital Inkjet, available either as a digital PDF or physical copy, please visit: http://www.rolanddg.co.uk/dye_sub_guide/

 

 

 

Esko has announced the release of a new white paper identifying key market drivers that affect the packaging supply chain and discussing opportunities for innovation and efficiency in prepress and converting operations. 5 Key Trends for Packaging Prepress and Production Workflow, written by WhatTheyThink Senior Editor Cary Sherburne and sponsored by Esko, is available for download at http://whattheythink.com/whitepapers/5-Key-Trends-in-Packaging-Prepress.cfm

“Our research and our many conversations with customers and industry professionals has identified five key trends that affect the future of packaging prepress and production,” said Jan De Roeck, Esko’s Director of Solutions Management. “These trends have guided our product development process, resulting in the many enhancements customers will see implemented in Esko's product range. They are key drivers for the necessary business process change within the industry. The white paper not only thoroughly explains these trends but provides actionable ideas for both brand owners and packaging converters as they look to remain competitive in a very dynamic marketplace.”

For packaging converters, the challenge is to push more production jobs in shorter runs through their plants while operating faster, better, cheaper and greener. Brand owners expect all that from their suppliers, but on top also are seeking creativity and innovation from supply chain partners in order to differentiate their products and create greater shelf appeal. Achievement of these objectives requires seamless collaboration among all supply chain stakeholders as a key outcome.

“Increasingly, the package is the brand,” Sherburne added. “Brand owners and packaging converters alike must stay current with the latest technologies in order to better understand the possibilities for innovation and improvement across the entire packaging design, production and distribution process. In doing the research for this white paper, I was particularly intrigued by the smart template concept as a basis for near-lights-out prepress workflow in packaging preproduction. We have seen this concept in play in other areas of the printing industry, where it has made a huge difference, and it is exciting to see smart template capabilities now becoming available for packaging preproduction as well.”

Smart templates separate design from content creation. Content resides in a cloud-based packaging management system, and smart objects within the templates are linked to approved content in a secure database. “This type of infrastructure accommodates the need for smaller runs of more targeted packaging,” Sherburne said, “and also allows late-stage editing, critical in a dynamic environment such as the one we face today. The ability to change content once and have it flow through a variety of templates also ensures that all content remains current and in regulatory compliance. This improves efficiency and reduces cycle time, benefiting all stakeholders within the packaging supply chain.”

Caldera has announced that it will join other leading industry manufacturers as a major sponsor of the FESPA Wrap Cup Masters Series, taking place at FESPA 2013 in London. Alongside Mimaki, HP and 3M, Caldera will support the competitors with the critical software for the production of vehicle graphics and will also provide prizes for the winners.

The event will give potential wrap champions the opportunity to see how Caldera's software is used by some of the trade's elite wrappers to ensure colour accuracy and precision prints. Already used by some of the world's leading materials manufacturers for profiling, Caldera's solutions offer a premium solution for vehicle graphics specialists who put quality above everything.

"We are thrilled to be involved with this competition at FESPA and we're looking forward to seeing the fantastic creations it is renowned for," says Joseph Mergui, CEO, Caldera. "Some in the vehicle wrap community might think Caldera's solutions have more functionality than they need, but we think this event will show them that features like Compose and Tiling are perfectly suited to the job."

Taking place over the five days of the FESPA show, the competition will feature a qualifying heat on day one for the big final, featuring 32 eager vehicle wrapping pros. Days two and three will see a new element to the four-year-old tournament with a team competition, the FESPA Nations Cup, where 16 pairs of contestants will battle it out to create the best car wraps and window tints. The individual final on days four and five will whittle down the 16 qualifiers from day one to the overall Wrap Masters.

A prize package worth more than €370,000 includes software from Caldera plus a laminator, a vinyl cutter and a substantial discount voucher for HP printers.

"Caldera has been known for many years as one of the leaders in RIP software, and when you see the changes and adaptation of digital printing into vehicle wraps it is a major plus to have a tool like that on hand," comments Dirk Moebes of Mr ClipArt, the organiser behind the competition. "I am delighted that Caldera has seen the value of talking to the car wrapping industry for the first time at FESPA 2013."

Developer of fast-growing Enfocus Switch automation platform eliminates misconceptions about automation cost and complexity

Enfocus Software vice president Fabian Prudhomme and Enfocus' international team want the industry to know that automation in 2011 is a much different, more feasible enterprise than it was just a few years ago. So says Prudhomme in his opening letter to professionals in the company's just-released whitepaper, The Truth About Automation. What's inside the whitepaper:


The 2011 Economy
The Truth About Automation briefly but importantly sets the stage for the conversation about automation with an honest examination of the current worldwide economy -- and specifically, its impact on the job market. The reality of this job market provides the context for the rest of the white paper.

How to Determine Who Does What
The Paper then delves into the differences between machine and human capabilities; helping the reader to understand that properly applied automation allows businesses to maximize the capabilities of people and systems; thereby increasing employee morale and streamlining processes for maximum profit.  These points are illustrated in this excerpt:

These graphic arts operations are doing what they always did, but doing it faster and better, with automated quality control and processing that needs human beings to add value everywhere the machines cannot. For example, designers are doing design-what they love-instead of preparing files over and over again for proper processing through a workflow, and taking countless calls from the press room, the client, and everyone else regarding changes, version problems, setting permissions, and the inevitable expectation to do IT on their own systems.

The bonus is that re-allocating talent can simultaneously help fulfill the need for printing and production organizations to expand their services and/or form deeper business and marketing partnerships with clients.

From The Truth About Automation, p. 4

Automation in Practice: what you need to know regarding automation types, relevant ramp-up times and costs
In the second part of the Paper, the Enfocus authors discuss how to find and implement automation opportunities; even in workflows that professionals believe are already streamlined as much as possible.

And because there are so many in the industry who have had varying types of experiences and levels of success with automation in the past, Enfocus covers automation's history in our industry, and the substantial and meaningful changes it has undergone over the years.

One of the most significant automation topics covered in this section is open and closed system architectures. Choices made about openness and modularity affect integration, scalability, cost and ease of use.

The Benefits of the Enfocus Switch Modular Automation Platform
Popular sentiment is promoting the view that the future of automation looks, feels, and is just likely to be Enfocus Switch. The whitepaper discusses the key reasons why the Enfocus Switch fanbase is growing at such a rapid pace; from modularity and scalability though price, ease of use, investment protection via integration with existing assets, and robust functionality, security and reliability.

The Truth About Automation then covers Crossroads, an online community where Switch application partners (https://www.crossroads-world.com/) and customers meet, provide guidance to one another, and share Switch installation and implementation techniques as well as the "flows", themselves.

The paper concludes with practical information on how to get started, and includes links to numerous, relevant resources.

Download the Truth About Automation white paper

 

Canon Insight Report into the future of Digital Print - by Professor Frank Romano

This report was commissioned by Canon Europe for the benefit of the European printing industry and others involved in print. Canon Europe had no role in the research or results in any manner. The research team thanks them for their vision and support.

Research by graduate students enrolled in the RIT online Masters’ Degree in Print Media Trends course: Heba Abokamil, Amanda Barber, Marianne Engum, Meredith Needham, Meara O’Connell, Gregory Pake, Charissa Shirk, Sandra Yveborg, Jiayi Zhou, under the direction of Professor Emeritus Frank Romano.

Download the full report (PDF, 859KB)