Hardware - Wide Format Print

Velmex, UK distributor for Canon Large Format Printers is previewing two new large format Canon printers on behalf of Canon UK LTD at Sign & Digital UK 2011.

The new Canon iPF8300S (44” wide) & iPF6300S (24” wide) are production water based printers offering high speed output with superior print quality utilising the new Canon Lucia EX ink set. These new models have a number of new key features including a selection of production print modes, various economy modes to reduce ink usage and borderless printing. Compared to the previous Canon models the new iPF8300S and iPF6300S have an increased colour gamut of 20% and an increase in production output of up to 40%. An ideal solution for portraits, advertisements, retail signage and contract proofs the iPF8300S and iPF6300S offer high quality, economic printing with minimal user intervention or maintenance.

Velmex has nominated Canon authorised reseller GPT to preview the new Canon iPF8300S on its stand C20 and Grantham’s to preview the new Canon iPF6300S on its stand A10. The Canon iPF8300S will also be shown by the Canon subsidiary company, Oce on stand D10.

HP today announced that Base 3, of Barbera del Valles, Spain, has installed an HP Scitex LX800 Printer to broaden its range of printable substrates and extend the breadth of the application portfolio it offers customers. 

Base 3’s service offering spans four major graphics application areas: retail, events, vehicles and outdoor. According to a representative at the company, Base 3 strives to ensure consistent excellence across its entire offering. “We take pride in being able to provide high output quality, rapid turnaround and complete satisfaction to our customers.  To achieve this, it is essential to have the latest digital inkjet solutions. We have a long and close relationship with HP and our new HP Scitex LX800 Printer will complement an existing line-up of other HP large format printers.”

The diversity of printable substrates achievable with the HP Scitex LX800, in particular, is an important attribute for enhancing Base 3’s service capability. "The media versatility of the HP Scitex LX800 opens up many new possibilities, especially in point-of-sale applications. Not only that, but for a printer with such advanced technology and features, it’s surprisingly easy-to-use and integrated into our operations swiftly and seamlessly,” adds the company spokesperson. 

 

An important new partnership has been formed between Roland DG (UK) and specialist partner to the graphic arts industry, Image2Output. With a comprehensive background in digital imaging, the Hatfield based company has added to its portfolio the Roland VersaUV LEC UV-curable and the VersaCAMM VS series of wide-format integrated print-and-cut solutions.

Image2Output was founded seven years ago by Mike Warnes, formerly of MCImaging, and Mark Middlebrook. The duo used their considerable experience to develop the company specifically to distribute and maintain a strong catalogue of digital imaging, CGI and 3D products. Since its inception it has rapidly built up a strong customer base of users within the printing and proofing sectors.

Wanting to extend its services further into the digitally generated and colour managed proofing and prototyping areas, Image2Output plans to grow its position in the packaging sector. It is set to achieve this with the addition of the two families of integrated print-and-cut solutions which enable the fast production of accurate output onto a broad range of materials.

Image2Output sees the Roland VersaUV LEC-330 and LEC-540 as invaluable options for proofing and packaging mock-ups, with inline cutting and creasing and the ability to output onto virtually all materials saving time and money, as well as removing chemicals from the pre-press area. These integrated solutions feature flexible UV-curable ink with a high opacity white and clear varnish that can be used for matte and gloss textures and finishes. LED curing means that even the most sensitive and delicate materials can be printed, making it suitable for proofing onto the final media and accommodating packaging substrates up to 1mm thick.

The VersaCAMM VS series is well suited to all applications ranging from posters and displays down to intricate labels and decals. The range is represented by four integrated print-and-cut machines in a choice of widths, and with three ink configurations of dual CMYK, CMYKLcLM and six colours plus metallic and white. These compact systems start with the VS-300 at 762mm wide, followed by the VS-420 at 1.07m and the 1.37m VS-540, complemented by the VS-640's 1.62m, and all benefit from Roland's long lasting, durable Eco-Sol Max inks.

Both the VersaUV LEC and the VersaCAMM VS series can be integrated with industry standard colour management solutions for accurate proofing and packaging mock-ups. Their integrated contour cutting simplifies workflow, with exacting tolerances also making the machines suitable for short run labelling applications. Both machines include Roland's VersaWorks dedicated production software and RIP, with libraries of special textures and finishes, plus spot colour emulation.

"We were impressed by the build quality and versatility of the Roland printers and feel there is huge potential for them in both new and emerging market applications," comments Lance Britnell, Director at Image2Output and Head of the Inkjet Programme. "This, in addition to our long experience in end-to-end colour management across various print media, makes the Roland range of printers a very exciting addition to our carefully selected product portfolio and one we are really looking forward to making the most of."

"The growing demand for foolproof, user friendly solutions for proofing and prototyping is accommodated by our latest wide-format print-and-cut solutions. Thus, the appointment of Image2Output as a partner comes at exactly the right time as more and more companies are wanting to move across to colour managed digital systems," states Steve Chappell, UK Business Development Manager at Roland DG (UK). "Because we can offer high quality, low-cost alternatives to the pre-press sector, we're witnessing a significant shift to chemistry-free proofing which brings environmental benefits as well as convenience to the commercial print arena."

Roland DG will be demonstrating their products and services on Stand B10 in Hall A3 at FESPA Digital

 

Contex, the world's leading developer of large format scanning and imaging solutions, announces a new wide format scanning solution for the EDM/ECM market that features EMC Captiva ISIS drivers. With this industry-standard interface, users eliminate workflow processing bottlenecks in scanning large format drawings, charts, maps, or other over-sized documents directly into EDM or ECM systems such as Documentum, LaserFiche, and PaperVision. Contex's EDM/ECM large format scanning solutions include the XD and SD series, which scan up to 24- and 44-inches, respectively. These series of scanners directly interface with electronic capture software such as QuickScan Pro and Kodak Capture Pro for managing large format documents within the same workflow process as letter- or legal-size documents, while achieving high-quality scans with document-specific presets.
 
EMC Captiva ISIS (Image and Scanner Interface Specification) is the industry standard enterprise-level interface that unites hardware scanners with software applications. ISIS is a modular and extensible interface for the acquisition, viewing, data format conversion, printing and storage of document files and images. Document capture and imaging vendors can leverage this industry standard to bring more competitive applications and products quickly to market.
 
"To stay competitive, organisations must be able to capture content from hard copy documents with speed, accuracy, and flexibility. The powerful Contex scanners coupled with EMC Captiva ISIS drivers are making this all possible," as stated by Daren Gardner, Director, Product Management at EMC Corporation. "ISIS allows developers to operate scanners at their rated speeds or higher and is the only imaging solution that allows developers to take full advantage of the power inherent in Contex scanners. The ISIS interface is key to transforming large drawings and oversize documents into application-ready information for use in business systems. EMC is pleased to partner with Contex and provide certification for this ISIS driver."
 
"As public and private industry sectors require digitisation of records -- for disaster prevention, green practices, and storage expense reduction -- it is important to maintain a consistent workflow process regardless of the document size. Contex's EDM/ECM solutions make this possible by eliminating the challenges of processing documents larger than A3 or B-size in a business process workflow," comments Brian Honeycutt, Product Manager of Contex A/S. "By bringing a large format scanning solution in-house, users can continue to use the familiar interface when scanning large formats -- thus keeping the workflow process consistent -- while delivering the right quality the first time."
 
"A turnkey indexing product is critical to our business. When it comes to scanning large documents, we have always counted on Contex scanners," states Paul M. Neal, Chief Stewardship Officer of Unity ECM, a provider of content management solutions for municipal governments, federal agencies and fortune 500 companies. "When testing our Contex SD4490 with Laserfiche ScanConnect software, we found that the solution made processing large format documents in our workflow an easy and seamless process, which can save time and money for us and our customers."
 
Using a large format scanning solution helps companies realise an impressive return on investment typically within a year of deployment. For example, a document manager who outsources 10 large format documents a week at $10 each per week, and 1 hour of labor at $40, equates to $140 per week. For an ongoing project that might continue for 52 weeks would result in $7280 per year. The investment in a Contex EDM/ECM solution with an XD scanner retails for less than $5000, which immediately translates to savings for the company.
 
Contex is hosting a webinar titled "Document Management for Large Format" that will educate participants about how to incorporate large format and odd-size documents into an EDM/ECM workflow. The webinar will be held Tuesday, April 5, 2011, from 11-11:30 a.m. EST. To register, visit www.contex.com/english/webinars. Join us to learn more.

Durst has announced the new Omega 1 entry level UV inkjet printer .  The Omega 1 defines a new quality standard for sign makers, graphic display companies, screen printers, photolabs and studios. It provides fine art printing quality at an industrial production level, all from an entry level machine.

Designed with the typical high precision of Durst and manufactured with the most modern production technology in the heart of Europe, the Omega 1 is fully in keeping with the Rho tradition. However, its production level and price are designed to meet the needs of the entry level customer.

The fine art printing quality of the Omega 1 is achieved by a resolution of up to 1728 dpi, greyscale printing technology and a large colour gamut, thanks to the optional process colour additions of orange and violet, grey, light magenta and light cyan. The precision transport of the printheads is by advanced magnetic linear drive, further ensuring consistently accurate printing.

The Omega 1 draws on Durst’s 10 years’ experience of both roll to roll and flatbed machines and will print onto the widest range of both rigid and flexible material without compromise to either. The machine will print onto Kappa®, Forex®, Acrylic, Dibond®, and wood up to a thickness of 5cm, as well as onto self adhesive foils, papers, PVC vinyls, PE foils or textiles.

The high quality universal UV Omega 1 inks also provide perfect adhesion on hard, non-absorbent surfaces as well as flexible materials. Their excellent adhesion on such media as metals, polycarbonates and acrylics, is of particular importance to sign makers. In addition, the inks are supplied in 1litre cubitainers to ensure that the ink retains its optimal performance and adhesion even at low production levels.

Very compact in size, the new machine is designed to use the minimum floor space yet it will print large images up to 160cm wide by any length, which is only limited by the media length, and is capable of a print speed of up to 35m² per hour.

 

Following the unprecedented events in Japan which started last Friday, 11 March, Roland DG (UK) is confirming that its facilities in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, are unaffected by the effects of the earthquake and tsunami which have hit the north-east of the country. Production, design and administrative offices at the company’s international head-quarters are all working as normal, and no disruption is anticipated to manufacturing or delivery schedules.

With its roots in Japan, and continuing strong associations with the country on a day-to-day basis, Roland DG (UK) offers its sincere condolences to all those individuals and businesses affected adversely as a result of the disaster. The core development and manufacturing of all Roland equipment is based in Hamamatsu, a city located in the east and famous for its industrial connections to the musical instrument and motorcycle sectors as well to display and sign-making technologies.

“Everyone involved with Roland in the UK has been devastated by the tragic events that have unfolded in Japan, and we are all hoping for the nation’s swift recovery,” states Jerry Davies, Managing Director of Roland DG (UK). “We are able to confirm that the Hamamatsu factory and offices have not been disrupted and that production and deliveries are continuing.

“The welfare of our employees is of paramount importance wherever they are in the world, and it is Roland’s philosophy to ensure that safety comes first in our manufacturing facilities,” Davies continues. “Roland DG’s new international head-quarters and production plant were opened in 2006 and reflect this strict policy. The facility has been designed and built to comply with the most stringent seismic regulations to ensure optimum protection should an earthquake occur in the Hamamatsu region.”

Almost all of Roland DG’s sign-making, display production, engraving and rapid prototyping products are developed and manufactured in its Hamamatsu facility. From this Japanese base, which adheres to the highest quality control standards, the company’s equipment is distributed around the world.