Hardware - Industrial Print

Demand for the digital capabilities of Agfa Graphics' :M-Press has resulted in the introduction of a new model in the :M-Press family. Designated the :M-Press Leopard, it is a new version of the machine which brings its advanced ink-jet technology to display producers who want versatility and high quality at a considerably lower investment point and with the same very low :M-Press variable production cost. Thanks to the new design, :M-Press allows for new applications that require more manual handling.

The new :M-Press Leopard incorporates the same ink-jet shuttle technology as the :M-Press Tiger, enabling users to output the highest quality and speeds at sizes of up to 1.6 x 2,6 m. The Agfa Graphics' UPH 2 (Universal Print Head) greyscale variable droplet technology guarantees precision dot placement for the reproduction of the finest graduations and vivid solid colours. Instant curing ensures jobs are ready for finishing as soon as they have been printed.

Agfa Graphics' :M-Press Leopard utilises a simplified feed system, with manual loading based on the ergonomic concept and proven technology of Thieme's 55 vacuum zoned universal print table. This ensures accurate and fast positioning of the substrate onto the bed, with precise registration pins on both the left and the right side of the bed to make single and double-sided printing easy. Heavy substrates up to 20 kg/m2 can be pushed towards registration pins in the back side of the table. The variable vacuum zones hold the thinnest and most flexible papers or materials completely flat so that they can easily be printed alongside rigid substrates.

Designed for print service providers who look for best in class quality and speed and who require fast change-over between jobs, the :M-Press Leopard is the best fit. The prints are suited for all interior and exterior applications where colour gamut and accurate durability are essential. The machine can work with a broad range of materials in thicknesses of up to 5 cm, and output onto multiple sheets in the same job.

Agfa Graphics' :M-Press Leopard will be launched officially at Fespa Digital. The new production printer joins the company's expanding portfolio of wide-format solutions which ranges from the entry-level and mid-range UV-curable :Anapurna series, through the :Jeti family of industrial units to the high-end :M-Press Tiger.

Agfa Graphics is at Fespa Digital 2011 from May 24th to May 27th, 2010 in the city of Hamburg, Germany, booth B20 in Hall A4

 

Only recently, Agfa announced that Cestrian Imaging, one of UK's leading digital print suppliers had upgraded its first :M-Press to full greyscale printing and also installed a second :M-Press Tiger in Manchester. To promote the versatility of the new technology, Cestrian Imaging produced a personalised hence unique piece of digital print for their customers.

"It started with a basic idea of a box of chocolates for Valentines day. We intended to invite our customers, both agencies and retailers, to learn about our core competencies. The ability for Cestrian Imaging to add variable data to the high quality print of the :M-Press Tiger has been a turning point in the evolution of digital printing" said Managing Director Paul Whitehurst. "True personalisation of both text and images without loss of production speed, even on long runs, has enabled us to offer the market the next step in print."

"The box is entirely printed on the :M-Press onto a brand new Art canvas board, with a fantastic texture, " said Phill Reynolds, Operations Director at Cestrian. "When opened, the inside flap shows chocolates whose descriptions reflect the services that Cestrian offers its clients. Inside the box is a dyesub fabric printed with a chocolate selection stretched onto our Eflex Aluminium frame (see www.cestrian.co.uk/gonesoft for an example), a new product which Agencies and Retail are using a lot to cover walls, etc. "

On the outside of each box is a label where the recipient's name is printed, and the images inside reflect whether the recipient is from the Agency or the Retail sector.

"On the back of the box was a QR tag/code which when scanned takes you to our website, and next to that a unique number which identifies the recipient to a label which we then stick onto the envelope when sending it out. The inside the box invited the addressee "to make a date" with us to visit our production facilities, and to take a real box of chocolates home" added Reynolds. "From concept to delivery we had less than 2 weeks to turn this around. Thanks to the Variable data printing capability on our M-Press we could really let our creative juices flow".

"Even with the high printing speeds from :M-Press, our new breakthrough automated variable data printing allows for printing individual copies without slowing down the printing process. It reduces the risk for errors and allows for the optimal use of the substrates," said Tom Cloots, Business Line Manager for :M-Press at Agfa Graphics.

Agfa Graphics offers variable data printing through :Apogee Vibe, an optional extension to the prepress workflow system. Single individual copies are created automatically from variable text and images that are taken from records in a database. Each record represents a unique finished document.

It is possible to verify the page layout with and without variable live data in :Apogee Vibe before going to press. Page layout with variable data preview will display the actual content of the fields from the database and the actual static images, next to all static elements.

To optimise print capacity on the press, it is possible to create multiple-up pages with :Apogee Vibe. Multiple-up pages contain more than one document on a print page, that also can be printed with different variable elements.

Developed jointly with Thieme, Agfa's :M-Press Tiger combines the printing expertise of both companies: screen printing from Thieme and digital inkjet printing from Agfa Graphics. Adding variable data printing answers a prominent need from print service providers to print up to 700 square metres per hour including loading and unloading, with no make ready, films or screens. :M-Press can handle substrates up to 10 mm thick with a colour gamut better than ISOcoated V2, the offset gamut.

 

Agfa Graphics announced today that Nutis Press, Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, has purchased the :M-Press TIGER, a high-speed, UV flatbed inkjet press offering the versatility of inkjet combined with the low throughput costs and special effects of the screen printing process. The :M-Press will be installed at Nutis during the ISA show.

With the :M-Press TIGER, Nutis Press can boast of having the highest speed digital press in Ohio. Plus, the company can provide high-speed versioning for many of America's most recognised brands in the luxury retail and point-of-sale categories. The :M-Press TIGER will be installed in the company's newly renovated facility which is a G7-certified plant.

"The unmatched speed and quality of the Agfa :M-Press TIGER will greatly enhance the Nutis Press digital capability," said Tom Jasper, vice president of production at Nutis. "More and more, our customers are demanding shorter runs and sometimes with same-day turnaround."

The :M-Press TIGER combines the screen printing expertise from Thieme with Agfa's digital inkjet production savvy. The :M-Press is capable of printing up to 185 sheets per hour on substrates up to 65" x 104" in size. It can also print on flexible and rigid materials.

In combination with the :Apogee VIBE workflow, the press offers variable data printing (VDP) capabilities so print runs can be customised.

"With the addition of the :M-Press, Nutis can offer their clients a wider range of products and services with superior image quality and detail rendering," explained Tom Cloots, Business Line Manager for :M-Press at Agfa Graphics. "This digital press requires fewer passes to achieve fine quality and that means a faster print speed."

Agfa's latest greyscale technology enables the :M-Press TIGER to print with variable drop sizes as small as 10 picoliters.  This technology enables high quality POP printing for fashion, retail and cosmetic applications that demand sharper images and finer details.

The TIGER brings to the display industry a truly versatile production press offering consistent and reliable high-speed inkjet printing. It also has the unique ability to incorporate screen-printing in-line for easily adding spot and special colours, metallics or clear varnish.

Agfa Graphics has announced another significant enhancement to its broad portfolio of UV-curable inkjet solutions with the launch of the "FTR" or flat-to-roll option for their landmark grand-format :Jeti 3020 Titan flatbed at the International Sign Expo Show (ISA) in Las Vegas, Nevada from 28 to 30, April 2011. The field-upgradeable option allows users to upgrade their printer and adds the ability to print on a wide range of uncoated and coated roll media to print banners and larger images up to 30 meters (100 ft) or even longer. The FTR option supports industry standard 126” (3.2m) wide media and can handle rolls up to 750 lbs (340 kg).

The FTR option is field-upgradeable and allows :Jeti 3020 Titan users to address new applications at any time. With the option installed, printing happens with the same high quality and resolution as on rigid materials, without losing speed. As the FTR option supports rolls up to 750 lbs (340 kg), print service providers can buy media more economically and compete in more markets. :Jeti 3020 Titan uses UV-curable inks allowing to print on a wide range of uncoated and coated roll media types like banner media, vinyl, polyester, canvas, paper, self-adhesive PVC, PVC/PA-transparent media etc.

"The FTR option has been a highly successful addition to our :Jeti 1224 HDC (high definition colour) true flatbed. We developed the same functionality for our :Jeti 3020 Titan in response to demand expressed by print service providers who wanted extra flexibility from their equipment," states Richard Barham, Vice President for Inkjet Systems at Agfa Graphics. "With the pace of technology, our customers need to know that their investment will be protected. With the scalability of the :Jeti 3020 Titan and now the field upgradeable flat-to-roll option, our customers will maintain a competitive edge with an option that will provide maximum flexibility."

The Agfa Graphics :Jeti 3020 Titan true flatbed features a maximum print area of 126" x 79" (3.2 x 2 m) and Ricoh Gen 4 greyscale print heads resulting in fast, high quality CMYK output with the ability to deliver 1200 dpi for photorealistic image quality.  For upgradeability, users can start with a base configuration of 16 heads and upgrade all the way to 48 heads at any time to achieve productivity up to 2,432 sq feet per hour. Head configuration choices include a doubling of the CMYK set for higher throughput, white and varnish for artistic effects and even higher quality with light cyan & light magenta. To extend colour gamut, orange and green can be added.

The :Jeti 3020 Titan with FTR option will be shown for the first time at the International Sign Expo Show (ISA) in Las Vegas, Nevada from 28 to 30, April 2011.

UK POS specialist invests in latest wide-format digital inkjet technology to deliver high-speed, high-quality print with maximum efficiency and at minimum cost to competitive retail market

Leading UK point-of-sale specialist Kolorcraft is the first company in the world to invest in an Inca Onset S40 wide-format UV inkjet printer. Supplied by Inca's exclusive distributor Fujifilm, the Onset S40 was beta tested thoroughly by Kolorcraft prior to its global launch earlier this month.

The investment is part of Kolorcraft's aggressive strategy to grow the company by using the very latest technology to provide high quality, value-added, digital print very competitively. Based in Ossett, West Yorkshire, the company has a turnover of £25m with 250 staff working around the clock in its 180,000sq ft production and warehousing facilities. It provides complete design, print and fulfilment solutions to leading High Street and Out-of-Town retail clients.

"These are exciting times for us," says Phil Findley, managing director of Kolorcraft. "We have strengthened our management team and are investing in leading-edge technology to deliver top quality whilst shortening the route to market, so that we mirror our client's objectives and maximise their budgets. We exhaustively researched the market before we chose the Onset S40. Inca is a well-established manufacturer with a good reputation for delivering next-generation technology and Fujifilm provides excellent ink and sales support. This combination plus the quality, productivity and flexibility of the machine were all the key decision factors behind this investment. Not only has the Onset significantly increased our production capacity, but it has also has enabled us to offer competitive new products and compete in new sectors. Quite simply our strategy is to do to more of what we do well to grow the business."

Sited alongside Kolorcraft's existing KBA large format and Heidelberg B1 offset presses and its multi-colour screen printing lines, the new Onset S40 is operational 24 hours a day and has added considerable digital print capacity and versatility to the company. Part of the successful Onset series of high-quality, high-productivity printers, Kolorcraft's high-performance Onset S40 is an automated six-colour inkjet model capable of printing at 600 dpi and delivering 94 full bed sheets at (3.14 x 1.6m) per hour.

Martin Hampshaw, sales and marketing director at Kolorcraft, says: "The POS market is highly competitive and to be successful we have to work smarter, use the latest technology to improve quality, make efficiencies and reduce costs. The quality and speed of the Onset S40 is important. It fills the production gap between screen printing and large-format litho perfectly to allow us to handle any project quickly and efficiently. It reproduces brand and corporate colours accurately, as well as allowing us to print edge-to-edge and use a wide range of materials up to 40mm thick. Using variable data to deliver regionalised or store specific campaigns offers great benefits to our clients and reflects the ever-changing retail arena.

"The flexibility and the quality of the Onset S40 is already helping us deliver new products to our customers and enabled us to open up new markets. We recently produced large format fashion graphics for one client which featured 30 different image changes. Using conventional technology, this would have involved producing 120 large format plates and considerable make-ready times. The Onset S40's direct-to-print ability enabled us to bring forward the in-store date and deliver cost savings back to our client.

"The addition of the Onset S40 to the Onset family means that there is now a configuration available with an appropriate business model to suit any high volume, wide format printer." comments Keith Harley, head of marketing, wide format, FUJIFILM Europe. "Kolorcraft's use of the Onset S40 to produce new products for its customers and open up new markets is an excellent example of what can be achieved by choosing the best configuration to suit their needs."

 

Running up to FESPA (Hamburg, Germany), Agfa Graphics announced a new member in the successful :Jeti series. With the :Jeti 5048 UV XL Agfa targets the 5 metre ultra wide UV curable inkjet market, an application segment that is becoming more important every day. The :Jeti 5048 UV XL will be available in two models. Model one is designed to address high productivity applications such as building wraps and XXL billboards with throughput speeds close to 300m2/hour, delivering one of the fastest industrial strength ultra-wide UV presses in the market. Model two is designed to offer higher quality output for both XXL and/or POS applications (Point Of Sale). Both models of the 5048 UV XL support simultaneous printing of up to three rolls of the same media type.

The new :Jeti 5048 UV XL features 48 heads and supports an extensive series of print quality modes to allow the best balance between quality and speed on almost all flexible media.

In designing the system, special attention has been given to the media loading and transport, which provides an operator friendly solution for loading heavy 5m rolls together with a reliable and consistent media transport. The multi-roll option also allows for different roll sizes to be fed at the same time, maximizing media usage in busy print shops. A vacuum plate for reliable handling of thin media, such as PE, is standard along with an integral waste trough for building mesh applications.

With the :Jeti 5048 UV XL's UV curing, no special pre-treatment of substrates is necessary. Agfa Graphics' UV curable inks are VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) free, making the system both versatile and environmentally friendly.

At Fespa Digital 2011, Agfa will show a complete range of applications for wide format printing. Fespa visitors can see live demonstrations on :Jeti AquaJet, :Jeti 1224 HDC FTR, :Jeti 3020 Titan and :Jeti 5048 UV XL, :Anapurna M2050 and :Anapurna M1600. Agfa Graphics will also present applications from the successful :M-Press Tiger targeting the industrial high-end digital printing market.