Hardware - Industrial Print

From October 06th to October 09th, Durst, the specialist for industrial inkjet applications, will introduce its Rho Vetrocer, the digital glass printer of the next generation, at the Vitrum 2015 in Milan. Due to the ongoing development of the inkjet technology, introduced at the Glasstec 2014, Durst is now in a position to meet, more than any other exhibitor, the vision statement of this trade fair: "Anything is possible in the future of glass". The Durst Rho Vetrocer in fact will enable the usage of ceramic inks for digital printing, to quickly and conveniently and without any set-up times, print glass fronts, glass doors, divider walls for kitchens and glass frames. Durst offers a tremendous creative potentiality for glass applications and convinces with the high print quality and the stability of printed images. The new Rho Vetrocer includes an innovative media transport system, featuring suction cups located on the deck. Due to this special transport mechanism, the glass is registered with an extreme precision for the print and curing process and then returned to the starting position to carry out, for instance, one unique double vision or multilayer print process. Another innovation are the surface sensors, which allow the round shaped glass to be precisely positioned for the print.

"In many fields of application, Durst is the leading supplier of industrial print systems for the digital decoration of surfaces ", states Dr. Richard Piock, President of the Durst Phototechnik AG Board of Directors. "With our new Business Unit, Durst Industrial Inkjet Applikation GmbH in Lienz, we adapted the inkjet technology to glass printing, in order to eliminate any potential limitations, which affect traditional print processes, and to offer new application options, runs, styles and effects with the glass media. Our vertical integration will enable us, to successfully approach complex glass printing challenges. The Vitrum 2015 is a great opportunity for us to present the new options featured by our Rho Vitrocer. To us the slogan then becomes: “The glass future is now and we are making it happen."

RHO Vetrocer – Innovative glass printer with ceramic inks
In 2013, Durst opened the Durst Industrial Inkjet Application GmbH subsidiary in Lienz, to adapt its inkjet technology to other industrial fields. The introduction of the glass printer Rho Vetrocer at the Glasstec 2014, showed the possibility to adapt the glass media. Compared with available technology, operating in other fields, the glass printing technology was further developed, especially for such applications. For instance, the continuous flow technology of the Gamma ceramic printers – a continuous circulation system of inks inside print heads to avoid the sedimentation of ceramic inks – is optimized by new QSR print heads and the innovative fluid technology. At the research center in Lienz, the Rho Vetrocer Ink, an ink formed by inorganic pigments, frit, fluid vector and disposal, was specifically formulated to print on glass media. The ink is applied directly onto the glass, without primer, and during the baking stage in the heaven it will be bound permanently. The ceramic ink is lead-, cadmium- and nickel-free, it is compliant with DIN regulations and, compared to other digital inks, may be formulated into a much wider color variety, particularly for red and yellow. A color management software, developed by Durst, enables the reproduction of RAL colors on glass.

Due to Durst's considerable experience in development and vertical integration, the Rho Vetrocer features a magnetic transport print cart, a bionic vector in an aluminum-titanium-silicon compound and Durst software for data processing and data management. With the new media transport system, using suction cups onto the cart, an outstanding 0.1 mm tolerance precision is achieved and various print processes can then run fully automated. Furthermore, the surface sensors, recording a higher number of edges/points, enable printing on rounded glass or glass with a rounded edge. After the print stage, a newly concepted infrared dryer, directly attached to the printer, performs the delicate curing process of ceramic inks, at a temperature of 110°C. The process is automatically adjusted by the surface sensors.

Durst can be visited at the Vitrum 2015 in Hall 24, Booth P10, and the Durst Industrial Inkjet Applikation Team will be available for individual meetings during the entire trade fair. Please contact Dr. Richard Piock at this email address: rpiock@durst.it 

For additional information about Durst Phototechnik AG please visit: www.durst-online.com 

 

Dallas, Texas-based Performance POP, a specialty print service provider (PSP) offering in-house concept, design, manufacturing, distribution and in-store installation of point-of-purchase displays, installed two HP Latex 3000 Printers and upgraded two HP Scitex FB10000 Industrial Presses to HP Scitex FB11000 Industrial Presses to increase production flexibility and offer customers faster speed to market. Performance POP is now able to eliminate heavy reliance on screen printing equipment and pursue new customer markets that it could not previously reach.

Equipped with two HP Latex 3000 Printers, Performance POP is able to handle new business requests it previously outsourced. Adding high-speed roll-to-roll capabilities became a necessity as the company began to grow in the retail sector. Rather than outsourcing the steady stream of requests for backlit signage, soft signage and decorative wallcoverings from retail program clients, as in the past, Performance POP now produces retail applications in house with unmatched quality and speed.

The addition of two HP Scitex FB11000 Industrial Presses enables Performance POP to compete with larger PSPs on retail signage programs while maintaining the flexibility and quick-to-react principles that make the company unique. With the ability to print up to 6,997 ft2/hour on a wide range of substrates, including acrylics and polypropylene as well as flexible and rigid media, the HP Scitex FB11000 Industrial Presses are helping Performance POP deliver high-impact signage and displays with increased profitability.

“At Performance POP we leverage our industry expertise, creative insight and retail environment experience to help our clients sell more products in their stores, and we needed our printing technology to keep pace with our desire to expand our offerings and grow our business,” said Taylor White, president, Performance POP. “By bringing on HP’s state-of-the-art, industrial-strength wide-format equipment, we are able to improve upon our core principals of creativity, accelerate turnarounds and increase flexibility in the types of products we are able to produce. This equipment rounds out the total program offering that we bring to our retail and consumer brand clients.”

Whether creating custom solutions for retail signage programs, point-of-purchase displays or marketing kits, Performance POP can better deliver on its strong commitment to innovation in print with the HP Latex 3000 Digital Presses and HP Scitex FB11000 Industrial Presses.

Fujifilm’s Uvistar Pro8 roll-fed printer has proved itself a star performer for eco-substrate innovator, ARIA Print Centres – the creator and manufacturer of ARIA-FLEX, a unique PE (polyethylene) environmentally-friendly fabric ideal for banners, billboards, signs and displays.

A total of eight Uvistar printers have been ordered from Fujifilm by ARIA Print Centres - part of the YJ manufacturing group. So far, four have been installed across two ARIA Print Centres production sites – three in Selangor Darul Ehsan state in Malaysia and one in Dallas, Texas, where they have been used in a test production environment in combination with the ARIA-FLEX fabric over the past nine months. Three more Uvistar printers will be installed in Malaysia and one more in Dallas over the coming months to meet increasing production demands.

Craig Adams, president of ARIA, explains: “We chose the Uvistar because of its high speed, excellent quality and because the Uvistar printer is designed to handle the very lightweight PE-Flex substrates that are manufactured by ARIA - www.aria.us.com. ARIA-FLEX has been specifically engineered for the digital printing market and we believe it holds the key to a more sustainable future. It is a very eco-friendly product made with 100% recyclable Polyethylene (PE) - a material that is a safer, durable alternative to PVC and performs exceptionally well, offering a smooth printing surface for vibrant, high quality results.”

In the selection of the Uvistar Pro 8, Craig also sought the advice of Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth, publisher of the FLAAR Reports, for his strong evaluations of the printer: Nicholas and his team are one of the few impartial sources who have both a broad and deep technical knowledge of all the various printers, inks, and RIP and colour management systems: “There are many good UV printer brands, but Fujifilm took the time to test various ink and RIP settings until they had a perfect recipe that worked well on ARIA PE. Other printer brands either did not have the time for the tests, did not have a strong presence in Malaysia, or their UV inks were different and thus the results were inconclusive.”

Craig continues, “The overall cost per m2 of print is also essential to the viability of this project. The Uvistar proved to be the most cost effective solution by far for our particular set of applications.

“Over the past few months, we’ve been using the first four of our eight Uvistar printers to rigorously test ARIA-FLEX™’s compatibility with Uvijet inks and the Uvistar Pro8 platform and the results so far have been nothing short of outstanding. Over this time, we have produced an extensive range of products for our customers including one of the largest global outdoor media companies, which now has a selection of banners and signage out in the field produced on ARIA-FLEX™.

Fujifilm’s Uvistar Pro8, together with the vibrant colours achieved through the use of Uvijet inks, delivers excellent image quality and high productivity. With a light colours ink set, it enables close-view, high value images to be printed, widening the range of applications to both high-volume outdoor and added-value indoor applications including exhibition graphics, point-of-purchase and other indoor displays. With two models - 3.5 metre and 5 metre - and a throughput speed of over 350m2/hr, the Uvistar series has rigid and multi-roll media handling capabilities, is simple to operate and has a robust construction, making it ideal for even the most demanding print production environments.

Fujifilm has worked closely with ARIA Print Centres throughout the installation and product testing process, including building new bulk feeding systems to accommodate the unique attributes of the ARIA-FLEX, something Craig says has been crucial to the overall success of the project.

He continues: “PE is a natural replacement for PVC and a very exciting development for the industry, so it’s great to be working with Fujifilm, a global brand so well respected for its innovation in this field. This product has been a total of five years in development and the team at Fujifilm understands what we want to achieve and our commitment to it, and has worked closely with us to ensure maximum synergy between substrate, inks and machine. The result is a product that has exceeded ours and our customers’ expectations so far. I can confidently say there has been no ‘buyer remorse’ following our investment in the Uvistar kit. It’s like a meeting of minds, and we’re very pleased to be working together with Fujifilm.”

Another convert is CACTUS IMAGING in Australia. According to their President, Keith Ferrel, CACTUS got their first Uvistar about a year ago. Aside from the excellent print quality using ARIA, Keith says they are very pleased to find that their m2 cost is actually better than their expectations. Keith attributes this to efficiencies that are inherent to the system as a whole: the Uvistar printer, Fujifilm ink, and ARIA’s PE Flex perform synergistically to deliver an excellent product, quickly and consistently. And that assures quality while boosting output and lowering costs for CACTUS.

Concludes Craig: “When green printing is the goal, it is all about developing the right synergy of substrate, printer, ink, and software.”

 

So successful was UK and Irish distributor, Hybrid Services’ unique three year warranty on its market-leading Mimaki JFX200 flatbed LED UV printer that the company is to reintroduce the offer for the remainder of the summer, ensuring that companies investing in the 8’ x 4’ machine enjoy the ultimate peace of mind and are able to budget more effectively.

National Sales Manager – Industrial Products at Hybrid; Stuart Cole, confirms the company’s rationale behind the reprise. “Businesses that invested in the JFX200 during the original promotion cited the three year warranty as a major deal maker so we’re delighted to be able to offer this unbeatable promotion again – but only until the end of September 2015.”

Allaying any concerns that customers who invested in the printer in the interim period may have had, Cole states the offer has been extended to them as well. “We’re good to our word,” he says, “so all Mimaki JFX200 customers who bought the printer with the two year warranty – which in itself is twice as long as the industry standard – will be automatically upgraded to three years fully comprehensive backup.”

Since its launch in 2014, the Mimaki JFX200 has rapidly become the de facto flatbed UV printer at its price point, offering a combination of speed, high quality and low running costs that has proved extremely popular with the UK and Irish markets. “A number of factors have contributed to the success of the JFX200,” states Cole. “Its strong green credentials, ability to work with a huge range of substrates and at only £59,995 + VAT; a performance to price ratio that makes perfect business sense has led to incredible take up over the past year. We’re keen to ensure as many companies as possible have access to the machine with the extended warranty.”

Available through Hybrid’s network of authorised resellers, the JFX200-2513 sits within Mimaki’s impressive industrial products line-up of LED UV curing flatbed and roll-to-roll printers. With a 2.5m x 1.3m bed which is ideally suited to the prevalent UK flat sheet size of 2,440 x 1,220mm, the JFX can be commissioned with a variety of Mimaki’s LED UV inks that include white and clear varnish for ultimate creativity.

Sporting print speeds up to 25sq metres / hour and supplied with powerful RIP software, the machine’s vacuum bed is capable of taking sheets up to 50mm thick and printing ultra-fine detail thanks to its 1,200dpi variable dot resolution and MAPS ink laydown optimisation print mode.

The three year warranty offer runs until 30th September 2015 with full terms and conditions available via Hybrid’s website – www.hybridservices.co.uk 

 

Inspire Image Co. Ltd, based in Bangkok, Thailand, was established in 2007 to deliver graphic design, signage, fleet graphics and wall decoration to a range of industries in Thailand and the South East Asian region. The company is part of renowned advertising group, Index Event Agency Plc and GMM Grammy Media Plc, and is one of Thailand’s three largest print service providers. It is widely recognised for its services across Thailand’s diverse food industry, with an extensive client base including Au Bon Pain, Burger King, Café Ritazza, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tesco and The Pizza Company.

After winning one of its biggest contracts to date - from giant supermarket brand Tesco - Inspire Image needed to expand its fleet of printers to ensure it could continue to deliver a one-stop-shop service and adhere to the often tight deadlines without having to outsource any of its work.

Pichet Lakdee, managing director, explains: “With the 14 devices we already had, we were unable to meet the 3-5 day turnaround times for high quality output expected by major clients such as Tesco. We reviewed a number of top high-end wide-format inkjet devices on the market. This included a visit to Fujifilm’s open house in Kuala Lumpur where we tested the Inca Onset platform.”

He continues: “Inspire Image produces up to 10,000m2 of print per month. It was therefore imperative that the new device delivered brilliant quality and had the robustness and reliability required for a heavy duty production environment. The Inca Onset R40i proved to be the best option for us, delivering print resolutions of up to 1200dpi at a productivity that reaches 400m2/hour. The press is a robust piece of engineering with full width array head technology and many built in head protection measures. The Onset is very reliable and we have needed little support from the local Fujifilm team.”
After the Inca Onset R40i with ¾ automation was installed in December 2014, Pichet Lakdee and his colleagues quickly started receiving the feedback they were hoping for: “From day one, our customers – all brands with very high quality standards – commented on the excellent quality of print we delivered within tight deadlines. Being able to do this, and at a competitive price, is thanks to Fujifilm and the addition of the Inca Onset R40i.”

Mr Lakdee concludes: “It’s clear that Fujifilm and Inca uphold the same very high product and service standards that we do, which looks promising for a long and fruitful partnership. We are confident we’ve made the right investment and look forward to seeing how the Onset R40i enables us to further grow our business over the coming years.”

The Inca Onset R40i uses Fujifilm Dimatix Spectra print heads, which deliver a 14 picolitre (pL) drop size, and offers genuine productivity of 400 m2/hour. Based on the dynamic Onset Scaleable Architecture platform, it is available with a variety of colour options (CMYK, Lm, Lc and White), with customers having the ability to modify their machine from a four-colour configuration to five, six or seven colours (up to eight ink channels – two for white ink) as requirements change.

With the Onset R40i, a maximum output resolution of 1200dpi can be produced on media up to 3.14m x 1.6m in size and up to 50mm thick at the rate of up to 80 full-bed sheets per hour. A choice of uni-directional, bi-directional and super high-quality print modes can be selected depending on the specific job requirements. The Onset also supports Inca’s Print Run Controller software for companies requiring variable data printing capability.

The availability of the full-width array ‘LT’ version of the Inca Onset R40i, which was announced in February this year, allows printers who are currently considering a mid-range digital flatbed the opportunity to invest in a future-proof, cost effective high-end alternative. As their business grows, customers can adapt other elements of the printer, such as the UV curing lamps, levels of automation, speed modes, electronics and software, to suit their evolving production needs.

 

Service Graphics, the St Ives Group-owned large format print specialist, has today announced its investment in a range of print equipment that will deliver even higher quality outputs for clients.

Three new Durst Rho P10 Series printers are being installed at Service Graphics’ Chessington and Glasgow sites, giving the business and its clients access to state-of-the-art technology. Meanwhile, Service Graphics’ Skelmersdale site will install a SM-375-TA multiple tool static bed cutting plotter in August. This will double the current laser cutting capacity on fabric and will also allow the business to cut acrylics in-house.

The Chessington site will operate the Durst Rho P10 250 HS - the high-speed version of the Rho P10 250 - as well as the Durst Rho P10 160, 6-colour and white. A Durst Rho P10 160, 6-colour and white will be installed at the Glasgow site.

Durst Rho P10 Series printers are the most versatile and productive 10 picolitre UV printers in their class. The printers are hybrids, offering unrivalled media flexibility printing both roll and rigid media, while maintaining high-quality colour consistency.

The fine-art print quality of the P10 printers enables close-up viewing of a wide range of promotional material, from high-level gloss hoardings to high-definition backlit displays for luxury brands.

The first machine will arrive in Chessington today, with the on-site print team given a programme of training presentations.

Katy Bonnor, Managing Director at Service Graphics, commented: “There is nothing on the market that can match the quality of print while still maintaining the high level of productivity provided by this new equipment. We are excited to be able to offer our clients the highest standard of technology and state-of-the-art performance.”

Peter Bray, Durst’s UK and Ireland Managing Director, adds: “We’re delighted that Service Graphics is benefiting from the quality of print and high productivity of our market-leading systems, which are helping to deliver even higher quality for so many different applications.”

Please visit the website for more information: http://www.servicegraphics.co.uk