Consumables

ILFORD has acquired CMA Graphix Group, a provider of cost-effective, cutting edge inkjet papers across Europe and America.  As a result, ILFORD will now directly supply CMA customers with a portfolio of products offered under the brand.

To further strengthen the proofing knowledge base within the organisation, Gerardo Cerros, managing director of CMA Graphix, will join ILFORD as its new Chief Technology Officer, Colour Management. In this position, Cerros will drive the proofing business unit to offer the market an end-to-end print production solution.

The acquisition follows a recent announcement naming ILFORD as product licensee for the KODAK MATCHPRINT Inkjet Proofing Media range and reinforces the company’s strength and commitment in the proofing market. To further enhance the offering to KODAK MATCHPRINT customers, ILFORD has also acquired colour management solution provider Colorportal. Rebranded as ILFORD Professional Solutions, the new ILFORD business unit will offer customers a comprehensive consultancy service to ensure they optimise their end-to-end print production process for offset and digital printing. The process standardisation services will include media, software, and hardware sales.

“The acquisition of CMA is a direct result of the company’s medium-term strategic plan to offer a full service solution to the proofing and print production market. I am delighted to have acquired CMA Graphix, who has long been an invaluable customer for us,” said Paul Willems, CEO at ILFORD. “We are thrilled at the opportunity to provide CMA customers the reliable range of products that they’ve become accustomed to, and very much look forward to working closely with Gerardo Cerros in his new role at ILFORD, to build our portfolio and position us as a proofing knowledge base in the marketplace.”

“I am honoured to come on board with ILFORD during this exciting time of growth and acquisition,” adds Gerardo Cerros, new Chief Technology Officer, Colour Management at ILFORD. “I am confident that CMA Graphix customers will only find their service enhanced and I am thrilled to join forces with an industry-leader such as ILFORD to provide customers with the tools they need for optimal end-to-end print production.”

For more information on ILFORD, please visit www.ilford.com

WOWgrafix has seen a dramatic improvement in the performance of its VersaCAMM VP-540i wide format printer since returning to Roland Eco-Sol Max inks.  The Carmarthen-based company, which specialises in van sign writing, signboards, vinyl banners both locally and nationally via its website WOWgrafix.net, was approached a couple of years’ ago by a salesman offering a ‘like for like’ third party ink solution for the Roland machine at a very competitive price.

Says Paul Kearney, proprietor of WOWgrafix: “While we had never experienced any problems with Roland inks we were using, the price of the ‘like for like’ solution seemed too good to turn down. At the time, we had been looking across the business at where we could create savings, so the cost of consumables was an obvious area for these savings to be made.”

At first, Mr Kearney says, the inks seemed to work well, although, they did notice that one of the side effects were that the inks emitted a very strong odour. And, while the inks were branded as bio inks, which made them sound safer and gentler, they were, in reality, strong solvent-based and very corrosive on the machine’s parts.

Soon afterwards, WOWgrafix got its first signs of the problems to come: the heads started needing cleaning more often, followed by blocked nozzles and deflections. Then the cleaning cycles on the machine became so frequent it started impacting on production schedules. After this, the banding on the prints started.

“At this point,” continues Mr Kearney, “we weren’t aware it was the inks causing all the problems, so we called in a local engineer and we replaced cap tops and dampers (more than once), as well as the wipers. All this failed to solve the problem so the conclusion was that it had to be the inks.

When we spoke to our ink supplier, it turned out some of the inks had already been removed from the market, which immediately set off alarm bells.
“However, they assured us they could solve the problem and supplied us with new inks and sent out another engineer to change the dampers once again but the damage was now done to the heads. The supplier claimed it was down to wear and tear, but I knew it couldn’t be as the volume of work the machine does didn’t tally with the extent of the problems.”

Mr Kearney says every step of the way was a battle, and exasperated, he posted the problem on a sign maker’s forum. While this made the third party ink supplier take more action to assist, the banding problem continued and the recommended solution was that WOWgrafix should always print on high quality setting, which was just not practical from either a cost or production perspective. Soaking the heads every weekend for six weeks was also proposed and tried, but just led to the use of a lot of cleaning fluid with no improvement to the heads. The supplier finally agreed to replace two heads, but this still left two damaged heads in the machine.

“Finally, we’d had enough” says Mr Kearney. “We invited Roland back in to see us. They replaced the other two heads, cap tops, dampers, and wipers – and made the machine factory new again. They flushed the system fully and correctly calibrated the machine, and put us back on to Eco-Sol Max inks. After the constant frustrations of the last nine months we were now back on track and it took Roland DG just a single day to fix all the problems. We now have a 12 month RolandCare warranty too for extra peace of mind. But the peace of mind really comes from knowing that when I turn up each day, the machine is going to work and I can service my customers.”

Mr Kearney says the whole experience of going to a third party ink supplier was a nightmare. So much time and money was wasted on cleaning, engineers, banding problems and inks. And when customers who have always been happy are then not happy with the quality of the work and start sending it back, the business begins to really suffer.  “It’s a salient lesson that saving money at the point of purchase might actually cost you down the line. You get what you pay for, that’s for sure.  The wide format machine is the sign makers’ life line to success, and it’s just not worth the risk of damaging this essential business equipment and customer relationships to ‘save’ a few pence per litre."

“Since we’ve moved back to Roland inks, business, and the machine, has been great. No banding, no break downs, happy customers and a productive business. I’m glad to be back with Roland,” Mr Kearney concludes.

For more information on Roland DG’s Eco-Sol Max inks, please visit www.rolanddg.co.uk/EcoSolMax

[photo shows Paul Kearney 'back on track' with his Roland inks]

Pyramid has announced the imminent availability of a new, improved range of Foamalite products.

Foamalite has enhanced and optimised the whiteness of its products to provide the best printing results and has also optimised the surface in order to meet the ever changing demands of the new digital printing technology in the market place.

Foamalite® Std Foamed PVC sheets will be produced in the new optimised format and the brand name will change to Foamalite® Premium.

The New Foamalite® Xpress Foamed PVC sheets will be introduced with the brand name remaining unchanged.

Foamalite® Foamed PVC sheets will have a new masking film to strengthen and improve its branding image. The new film will be light green and will have the new Foamalite logo and brand printed during the production process by newly installed ink-jet printers. The new film has been extensively tested by Foamalite® who are confident it will enhance their product and customer offering.

The complete new range of Foamalite products will be stocked in depth at Pyramid's three locations across the UK in Gateshead, Birmingham and Manchester for same or next day delivery. The stock sizes range from 1mm to 10mm in thickness and are available in sheet sizes of 1220 x 2440mm, 1560 x 2050mm and the extra large format of 2050 x 3050mm to optimise yield for large format flatbed printing.

Banners demand attention. They’re colourful, they grab a share of the air, and they’re easy and relatively inexpensive to produce too. According to Metamark, its improved MD-FL Series of printable banner materials takes the quality variable out of the banner media equation and introduces premium features and performance to a materials market segment that’s arguably better known for being led by low price - but where there’s often a price to be paid for economy.

The newly formulated materials are part of Metamark’s MD-Class digital materials portfolio and are compatible with Solvent, Eco-Solvent, UV and Latex inks. The materials’ print sides present a clean ink-receptive surface and variety of weights is available to suit a range of application demands whether indoor or out.

Of course is in the printing and it’s here according to Metamark that the MD-FL Series’ credentials really prove themselves. Metamark says that the materials’ ink holding characteristics produce results with orders of resolution that are typically not associated with digitally printed banners.

Metamark is convinced that anyone with a modern inkjet printer will immediately see the benefits the reformulated MD-FL series delivers. To help prove its point, Metamark will send a sample roll to any LFR reader wishing to test its claims free of charge.

If you are interested in the offer, email sales@metamark.co.uk and mention LFR in your mail.  Metamark will send your sample the day you order it.

Josero says that Triangle's recently launched alternative UV curable inks for the Oce Arizona and the Fujifilm Acuity printers - Triangle UOF inks - are proving popular throughout Europe and the USA due to the cost savings of 'up to 50%' compared to OEM inks.

The UOF inks are colour and chemically compatible with the OEM inks. They are also forward and backward compatible with OEM inks and no flushing or re-profiling is required. The inks are formulated to achieve optimum adhesion and are compatible with multiple rigid and flexible substrates.

Loic Delor, Managing Director of Josero, the Master Distributor of Triangle Inks in the UK and Ireland, comments, “It is great that Triangle is once again at the forefront of ink and solutions developments, being the first in the market to offer a fully compatible solution for the Oce Arizona and the Fujifilm Acuity printers. We already offer the UK market significant cost savings on ink for many other machines and it is great to add these to our range.”

Inx Digital, the manufacturers of Triangle inks, offers the most comprehensive ink and outdoor durability warranty. Anyone switching to these inks can rest assured that the inks are fully compatible with their printers and any manufacturers warranties are fully honoured.

Josero has its own technical department and service engineers to support all its customers. This is complimented by a wide range of spare parts which are stocked at the Josero Head Office in Cambridge.

For more information, please visit www.josero.com

ILFORD has announced the commercial availability of its OMNIJET NanoSolvent™ Premium Photo Papers, the first products to utilise the new ILFORD NanoSolvent layer technology. The unique technology has been developed at the company’s world-class coating facility in Switzerland and promises to create a new performance benchmark previously unobtainable with (eco)solvent media.

Developed in response to increased printing speeds achieved with every new generation of (eco)solvent printing hardware, the ILFORD OMNIJET NanoSolvent products employ a unique hybrid layer design that pumps the solvent through the layer and quickly holds pigments resulting in fast-dry printing with no tackiness. Faster print-to-lamination times, from as little as 30 minutes, are therefore possible, improving workflow and subsequently increasing margins.

Featuring a bright white base tint and water-resistant layer, ILFORD OMNIJET NanoSolvent photo papers offer superior image quality with high colour density and large colour gamut including with metallic inks. With a Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) certified photo RC paper base and lower temperature settings, the products offer a cost effective solution with limited environmental impact.

“It’s a fact in the commercial wide format industry; everyone is under time pressures, both for last minute jobs and to increase productivity,” says Paul Willems, CEO at ILFORD. “Printer manufacturers have responded, with many achieving a 30-35% speed increase from generation to generation. However, until now media manufacturers have not kept pace. ILFORD has seized this opportunity and we are extremely proud to possess the technology and coating expertise to develop these high performance NanoSolvent™ products. Since first announcing the range at SGIA in October 2012, we have received a great deal of interest from print service providers who want to achieve brilliant colours, faster.”

For more information, please visit www.ilford.com