Large Format Review - Business News

Lorraine Whitburn and Andrew Wilson, the directors of B&P Graphic Supplies Ltd, have announced the ‘technical insolvency’ of the organisation following a county court case with business consultancy Reprocad Ltd.  The court found in favour of Reprocad to the value of £9,908.50.  B&P Graphic Supplies (BPGS) announced its ‘technical insolvency’ in a letter to another alleged outstanding creditor – US-based Ultraflex – stating it had ‘insufficient funds or assets to go into formal insolvency’.

BPGS has several other alleged outstanding creditors.  Responding to the allegations, Andrew Wilson has stated:”They are inaccurate and some even fictitious... there is no mention of the debts owed to B&P Graphic Supplies by the individuals and companies who have made the allegations.  No mention has been made about what debts may be paid when the company’s affairs have been completed.”

In a statement provided to SignLink magazine, Peter Barton, director of Reprocad, explained why he took BPGS to court: “Having worked as a retained consultant for BPGS for over a year, developing their supplier chain and extending their business footprint, along with handling PR issues, I was hugely disappointed to see that the payment of my invoices was slipping out to months rather than days.  My entreaties for payment brought reassurances about improvements in financial arrangements and cash flow in general, which turned out to be exaggerations. After months of defending the honour of BPGS in the marketplace I found that all the promises that my invoices had been signed off and were ready to pay were untrue. I thus found it necessary to take legal action, and gained a county court judgment on November 1st 2010 with payment ordered forthwith.”

Peter Barton of Reprocad – along with other involved companies – is now considering a joint legal action to recover their outstanding debts.

Prior to the declaration of ‘technical insolvency’ by BPGS, Wilson, along with a co-director, set up another company – South West Graphics, trading as Time 2 Display UK.  Since its creation, Ian Robertson – a former colleague of Whitburn and Wilson – has taken full ownership of the organisation – with Whitburn and Wilson becoming its employees.

Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI) has revealed the Winter 2011 "Pick" winners in the wide-format category, with honours going to HP and Canon. BLI’s "Pick" awards are presented semi-annually to the products that perform the best in their respective categories throughout BLI’s in-depth lab testing. During the test, BLI evaluates all critical performance areas, including reliability, image quality, productivity, ease of use, paper handling, print drivers and administrative utilities, among others.

The Winter 2011 Wide-Format “Pick” winners are:

• Hewlett-Packard Company, HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer for Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Production Photo Printer
• Canon USA Inc., Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6350 for Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Small Workgroup Photo Printer

HP Designjet Z6200 Offers Blistering Productivity and Superior Colour Quality

Offering the fastest print speeds ever recorded for a wide-format photo printer in BLI testing, the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer was selected as BLI’s "Pick" for “Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Production Photo Printer.” The unit did not sacrifice quality as a result of its unparalleled productivity, delivering excellent photographic image quality on numerous media types. To be sure, this eight-ink 60-inch model, which is also available in a 42-inch version, produced a wider than average colour gamut as well, employing HP’s new chromatic red ink in place of the traditional cyan.

"The HP Designjet Z6200 is a remarkable wide-format printer that can easily handle the demands of a busy print shop," said Joe Tischner, BLI wide-format printer analyst. "The printer’s numerous color management tools are especially noteworthy, enabling very easy media calibration and ICC profiling. The unit’s unique Pantone colour emulation is also great for accurate colour matching."

"HP is delighted to receive the Buyers Lab 'Pick’ award for 'Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Production Photo Printer’ for the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer, an award reflecting the positive feedback we have consistently heard from our customers," said Antonio Moreno, product manager for the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer in the Graphics Solutions Business at HP. "The device is a true workhorse with speeds up to 50 percent faster than its predecessor, the HP Designjet Z6100 Printer, and the versatility to deliver a wide range of applications, including those that demand the best quality."

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6350 Demonstrates Exceptional Image Quality and Impressive Ease of Use

The Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6350 was chosen by BLI as a "Pick" award winner for “Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Small Workgroup Photo Printer based on its glowing overall performance during BLI’s lab test, and not the least of which for its excellent colour and black-and-white print quality. This 24-inch, 12-colour printer produced exceptional photographic quality prints. Technicians were impressed not only with colour photographic output, but with the neutral gray tones exhibited on monochrome prints and in particular the prints’ lack of bronzing.

Canon has made numerous improvements to the imagePROGRAF iPF6350, which ultimately garnered the unit an excellent rating for ease of use. "Whether loading rolls or cut sheets, this printer is extremely user-friendly, and navigating the redesigned control panel is a lot easier," said Tischner,. The unit’s new Accounting Manager was also a prominent feature recognised for its straightforward design and robust functionality, offering end users valuable cost-per-job data.

"Canon is pleased that the imagePROGRAF iPF6350 has been recognised by BLI with the 2011 'Outstanding Wide-Format Colour Inkjet Small Workgroup Photo Printer’ 'Pick’ award for delivering the colour quality, precision and speed required by the graphic arts and photography markets. From detail-oriented monochrome images to vibrant, large-format output, the flagship imagePROGRAF 12-colour line reflects Canon’s commitment to bringing comprehensive imaging solutions to end-users of all types," said Jim Rosetta, vice president and general manager, Imaging Systems Group, Canon USA.

 

Reprographic Technology International (RTI), a leading alternative supplier of OEM and OEM-compatible spares and consumables to both the Digital Production Print and Wide Format Plan Print marketplaces, announces its entry into the Display Graphics arena.

Combined with projected year-on-year growth in the Display Graphics sector, the company has also recognised that the traditionally disparate markets of “repro” and “signage” are coming together, creating an opportunity for RTI to bring its 20+ years experience to Display Graphics customers.

RTI will stock a full range of its “ColorMatched” brand, high quality, inks and media for aqueous, solvent and UV-curable digital printers.  As an ISO 9001-2008 registered company, RTI will bring to sign and display customers the level of service and support that has traditionally been demanded by production print customers.

Erik Norman, VP of sales and marketing, says, “We have observed the trend for our conventional reprographic customers to move more and more into display graphics as volumes in the reprographic market fall, and profits are eroded.   A strong indication of this is that, for the first time ever, the 2011 ISA (International Sign Association) show is to be combined with the IRgA (International Reprographics Association) show in Las Vegas.

Combining our current business in the Digital Production and Wide Format sectors with our entry into the supply of consumables and media for Display Graphics customers means that RTI is one of the first global suppliers across these sectors.  I can’t think of another single entity doing this, and it enables us to provide a one-stop shopping experience for customers participating in all three sectors.  We are piloting our Display Graphics business in Europe from our UK office, and will then roll this out across the organisation.

We will continue to trade on our strengths in building strong, long-term, relationships with our customers and with the world’s best manufacturers of media and supplies, and we intend to bring our goods and services to every digital print discipline.”

That Neschen's solvoprint nolite 175 CA digital print medium delivers offset quality for the LFP sector has been officially endorsed by test certificate FograCert Validation Print Creation, which states: "CA materials produced by Neschen provide results, under controlled printing conditions, that are comparable to offset prints produced according to the Fogra 39 process standard." 

The consistent uniformity of the material means that standardised production can be achieved together with certifiable print quality which, for large format digital printers, means comprehensive process reliability. 

With the CA (Colour Alliance) inkjet coating, solvoprint nolite 175 CA is an exemplary representative of all CA media in the Neschen product range and provides proof that the company's CA print media, together with the ICC profiles it has produced in-house, can meet the highest requirements.  Dependent on the print and ink systems in use, the products can therefore exactly reproduce the print conditions for commercial offset printing. 

"Thanks to Fogra, we now have it set out in black and white: With this CA quality, we have for the first time achieved a Validation Print Standard in Large Format Printing", said Sarah Janes, md of Neschen UK.  "The uniform CA coating of our digital print media therefore provides the basis for a large step forward towards standardisation in the LFP sector." 

Solvoprint nolite 175 CA is a PET composite film, approximately 175 microns thick, which is ideal for use in Roll-Up display systems.  It has been specially developed for eco-solvent and solvent inks, but can also be printed with latex and UV-curable inks. 

The film has good scratch resistance, shows excellent light-blocking characteristics, has a high level of dimensional stability and delivers impressive vibrant colours and high brilliance.  Due to the high water resistance, solvoprint nolite 175 CA is perfectly suited for both interior and exterior applications. 

Four Pees, exclusive world-wide distributor of the PrintFactory software suite for banner, sign and super wide format printing is certified partner of HP, who has just been selected to chair the Wide Format Workgroup of The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, and Postpress Organization (CIP4). The goal is to define open JDF standards for wide-format printing workflows.

The initiative is designed to resolve interoperability shortfalls between web-to-print tools, production devices, raster image processors and digital front ends so that they work together to streamline wide-format printing workflows for increased productivity.

In conjunction with the creation of JDF features and specifications for wide-format applications, HP is rolling out a new certification program that allows partner workflow solutions to be “HP Certified for Wide Format Printing JDF Exchange.” HP certification assures that workflow solutions exchanging JDF will interoperate properly with each other, allowing PSPs to easily build an e-storefront to market their services, take advantage of production automation tools to reduce costs and differentiate their service offerings through automated customer relationship management tools. PrintFactory is one of the first solutions to achieve HP certification under this new program.

“Heightened economic pressure and shortened job preparation requirements continue to increase the need for automation in wide-format printing workflows,” comments David van Driessche, Chief Technology Officer with Four Pees. “The focus with PrintFactory has always been to increase efficiency while preparing, producing and finishing wide-format jobs; supporting JDF in all stages of the workflow is a natural move for Four Pees. As proven by the HP certification we just received automation is not something we simply talk about; it’s there and PrintFactory users can start to take advantage of it today.” 

Advanced automation and integration through JDF

With Four Pees as alliance partner of HP in the creation of JDF features and specifications for wide-format applications, PrintFactory 4 is one of the first software suites to extensively support JDF for standards-based integrated production automation. It produces and consumes JDF on different levels.

• The PrintFactory Editor prepares a job for production: tiles, grommets, tunnels, true shape nesting, color edits, shape edits, etc. It produces JDF instructions directly to the PrintFactory RIP or to the next workflow component (e.g. 3rd party RIP).
• The PrintFactory RIP consumes JDF and processes a job according to the embedded specifications, including standardized/normalized printing.
• PrintFactory offers different possibilities to fully automate most tasks and integrate with Web-to-print and MIS/ERP systems. This is done through JDF-based logging of each of the processes so that jobs can be tracked throughout the flow.
• JDF-based variable data template files, populated with the actual variable data in the RIP, can be used by PrintFactory.

In the recently announced Angel Awards, once again EFI has been represented, this time with an accolade for its Rastek T1000 true flat-bed wide-format printer. With its established range of VUTEk products now used universally by display producers and sign-makers worldwide, the company’s entry-level and mid-range Rastek machines bring to the market a reliable family of platforms suitable for photographic quality display and highly accurate industrial applications. Each year the Angel Awards recognise the top ten of the most innovative introductions made in the wide-format arena. In 2009 EFI’s VUTEK GS5000r and PrintSmith Sign were victorious, and on this occasion it was Rastek’s turn to take the honours for EFI.

Launched in October 2010, the EFI Rastek T1000 provides users with high quality output options using CMYK + white, with its specially formulated inks designed to provide maximum adhesion on rigid and flexible materials. The machine can print direct to a broad range of substrates, including acrylics, aluminium composites, cards and corrugated, glass, wood and styrene as well as flexible materials such as paper, self-adhesive PVC and polyester based films.

This printer features a static, three-zoned vacuum table with a sturdy, moving gantry for ultimate stability across its 1.32 x 2.5 m bed. Able to handle materials up to 181.44 kg in weight, even difficult substrates can be held down consistently to avoid ink scuffing often found on irregular surfaces where there is insufficient vacuum power.

Ease of set up and high levels of accuracy and versatility were among the reasons the Rastek T1000 gained an Angel Award. In the highly competitive area for entry-level UV-curable flat-bed printers, this machine also scored for the strength of its zoned vacuum areas, making it simple to work with single and multiple smaller sheets efficiently. Its two shuttered mercury arc UV lamps feature variable power settings for efficient curing of all surfaces and materials.

“Having thoroughly inspected both the build quality and the high standards of output from the EFI Rastek T1000 when it was launched at FESPA Munich, I had no hesitation in recommending this sturdy yet modestly priced printer for an Angel Award,” comments Sophie Matthews-Paul, independent analyst and technology consultant at Image Reports. “It has enormous potential for display and industrial ink-jet production for businesses of all sizes who need the versatility offered by a UV-curable true flat-bed unit.”

The Rastek T1000 has a maximum throughput speed of 44.5 square m/hour, with a choice of print modes for optimum productivity. At 600 x 300 and 600 x 600 dpi, the machine uses four levels of greyscale whilst, at 1200 x 900 dpi, it operates in binary mode for most efficient and high quality reproduction. The incorporation of white ink means that jobs can be over-printed, under-printed or have spot colour applied without compromising the overall throughput speed.

Paul Cripps, managing director of EFI EMEA, states: “Winning the Angel Award this year is demonstrative of how the demand for high quality true flat-bed printers is now seeing the move from solvent-based platforms to UV-curable solutions becoming increasingly important for all businesses. This includes those with lower investment budgets or who want a supplementary machine for producing specialist applications.”

“The EFI Rastek T1000 combines tough build quality and reliability with high standards of production, and we are forecasting continued growth for this machine in both the display and industrial printing markets,” continues Cripps. “Our Rastek machines are the perfect complement to the EFI VUTEk range of wide-format solutions, sharing the power of our EFI Fiery XF multi-platform RIP and advanced ICC colour management and profiling for precise and accurate results.”