Irish Printer

MARCH 2015 || THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY || WWW.IRISHPRINTER.IE

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NEWS

McGowans Launch Personalised Print Website

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TECHNOLOGY

Multi Packaging Solutions Provides a Glimpse of the Future

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PRINT STRATEGY 2015

How Many Assets Are You Not Sweating?

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PACKAGING

Prestigious Plaudit for Pleated Packaging

THE QUALITY BENCHMARK

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Contents | IRISH PRINTER

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16 22 NEWS » 4 A round up of some of the latest news from the Irish print industry.

TECHNOLOGY » 13 Multi Packaging Solutions (MPS) took visitors on a trip into the future at last year’s Packaging Innovations exhibition at Birmingham’s NEC. The MPS team showed the audience at their stand how customers will interact with packaging in a very different way to now.

COVER STORY » 16 Smashing the Speed Barrier for Label Printers - The Xeikon Cheetah digital colour press is one of the most exciting technological developments in the digital label market in 15 years. Patrick Van Baelen, VP-WW Marketing at Xeikon, talks to Irish Printer about the ground breaking innovation, early adopters, and how Dublinbased Label World is flying the flag for Xeikon in the Irish market.

PRINT STRATEGY 2015 » 18 Following the success of their ‘What’s New in Print’ session last year, the Design, Print & Packaging Skillnet invited industry expert and consultant John Charnock back to give Irish printers more food for thought as they tackle 2015.

26 WIDE FORMAT » 22

PACKAGING » 30

n Automatic Board Feeder and Varnish Printing n Easy RIPing for HP WallArt Users n Mimaki Inks Achieve Textile Standard Accreditation n Fujifilm Gets Creative at Sign & Digital

n Prestigious Plaudit for Pleated Packaging n Invercote Upgrade for Summer 2015 n Mimaki Launches Flatbed Cutting Plotter n The Iggesund Design Challenge – Improve Packaging in Local Shops n Customised Printing for Sanitary Products

WHAT’S NEW IN PRINT » 26 n Screen Showcases Latest Truepress n Ricoh’s VC60000 Makes Global Debut n High Definition Nozzle Doubles Print Resolution n New Smart Binder at Innovation Days n Kama Introduces Automated Folder-Gluer n Agfa Graphics Updates W2P Products n Unwrapping Digitally Printed Packaging Possibilities

TALKING TECHNICAL » 33 What is Happening with ISO Standards for Print? - The ISO’s Global TC130 committee will meet in Bologna from May 11th to 16th. Print technology expert Dan Wilson takes a look at some of the topics that will be considered at the gathering.

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IRISH PRINTER | Editor’s Letter

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’d like to use this month’s Editor’s Letter space to highlight a culture that I have noticed in the Irish print industry since I began editing Irish Printer back in the autumn of 2010. This culture or business approach was brought into even sharper focus for me when I began working on other magazines for non-printed related industries in 2013.The absence of partnership and regular networking that exists in the Irish print world is unfortunate, to say the least, and could also be the barrier that stops the industry from expanding and moving forward.

There is an undoubted upturn in the country’s economic fortunes.

But if Irish print companies continue to operate as they always have and continue to isolate themselves from other operators in the industry it is unlikely that they will be able to benefit fully from an economic recovery. It is an unfortunate situation because Irish printers are producing work of exceptional quality and they have a compelling story to tell. With a change in mindset and a more open approach to exchanging knowledge and skills, they could also be in a position to capitalise on the technological developments that are happening, both within their own industry and online.

On February 10th I attended a breakfast briefing that was organised by the Design, Print & Packaging Skillnet.

The theme was Print Strategy 2015 and the speaker was well-known industry expert John Charnock. The event took place between 7.30am and 10.30am so it wasn’t cutting into anybody’s work day to any significant degree and it was held in a central location – the Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club in the city centre.

John Charnock talked to the printers present about what they should be thinking about when they are considering their print strategy for 2015. John is one of the most knowledgeable people in the print world and he has a great enthusiasm for the industry. As a consultant, his in-depth technical and business understanding of the printing industry has enabled him to make significant contributions to strategy development in print companies.

So why was the event so poorly attended? Given the calibre of the speaker and the content of his presentation, 18 people is a very low turnout. On the plus side, the calibre of those companies in attendance was very high and the post presentation discussion was extremely lively, open and stimulating, something that isn’t always the case at print industry events. Maybe it is an indication that Irish print companies are becoming more open to changing how they do business and are embracing new technologies. Or maybe they have always been open to trying something new but are now in a position to think more about the big picture, as the economy appears to be taking a turn for the better, marketing budgets are back, and the dreaded print company closures are (hopefully!) a thing of the past.

One of the printers at the event, Dave Curtis of Perigord, who inspired this little rant, said that printers are very guarded about what they do and don’t talk to each other and share information to the extent that they should. He said that there were people in the room that he had never seen in his 50 years in the business. He talked about all of the print innovations that Perigord are delivering for their customers and he stressed that there was shared business to be won.

He’s right. There is shared business to be won, both in the private and public sectors. But if printer’s don’t engage in a mutually beneficial dialogue with a view to presenting a strong bid for work, nothing will change and many companies in our industry will continue to struggle for work and for margins.

Maev Martin, Editor Email: maeve.martin@ashvillemediagroup.com Tel: (01) 432 2271

THE TEAM Editor: Maev Martin Editorial Manager: Mary Connaughton

Printed by: Walsh Colour Print Cover Image: courtesy of Xeikon

Art Director: Jane Matthews Design & Layout: Jane Matthews Advertising Designers: Claire McKiernan Stock Photography & Illustrations: Thinkstock

Contact: Irish Printer, Ashville Media Group, Old Stone Building, Blackhall Green, Dublin 7

Production Manager: Mary Connaughton Production: Nicole Ennis

Tel: (01) 432 2200 Web: www.irishprinter.ie

All rights reserved. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this magazine is accurate. The publishers cannot, however, accept responsibility for errors or omissions. Reproduction by any means in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. © Ashville Media Group 2014. All discounts, promotions and competitions contained in this magazine are run independently of Irish Printer. The promoter/advertiser is responsible for honouring the prize. ISSN 0790-2026

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IRISH PRINTER | News

MINPRINT INVESTS IN PREPRESS, PRESS,

WORKFLOW AND W2P

The Speedmaster XL75-4+l.

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inprint is starting the year in proactive fashion by installing a Speedmaster XL 75-4+L, a B2 four-colour press with coater armed with Inpress Control.

The company also plans to undertake Heidelberg’s ISO 12647-2 colour certification scheme to ensure top class quality in every print run. To complete the investment, Minprint is adding a Suprasetter A 75 CtP device to enhance its digital workflow.

The directors believe that this will pave the way for the launch of the company’s new bespoke web to print site - GoGetPrint.com.

Training on the new Speedmaster XL 75 is now well underway and print operators were planning to move to full production by the end of February. This configuration, a replacement for a CD 74-5, recognises that the demand for coating and varnishing is greater than for spot colours. “As this is our first coating press, the consumables consultation, support and back up offered by Heidelberg UK made the investment in coating an easy decision to make,” says Director Jamie McMinnis. “This press, and the speed of makereadies made possible with Inpress Control, will re-draw the lines between offset and our digital and wide format

services. Some more challenging work will automatically go to offset, even in very short runs.”

There is also a move from offline Axis Control spectral measurement to the automated register and colour monitoring and adjustment system, InpressControl. “This takes the guesswork out of printing and is of particular value with uncoated stocks where predicting the level of ink absorbency matters,” says Production Director Gary Davidson.

“Uncoateds have really taken off in the last couple of years. We believe that the waste saving we achieve with this tool will give us a payback on Inpress Control within two years.”

With the investment in the press, Minprint believes it can attract new work by branching into the fine art, advertising and design agency sectors, as well as retaining and extending services to existing commercial print customers.

Regular customers are already supplied with templates for their less complicated jobs, but the launch of the company’s web to print site will enable them to increase the range of products offered and allow their customers to have greater input regarding content within secure brand parameters.

Minprint believes that its Go Get Print website will be of great benefit to customers just needing ‘one off’ orders.

The Speedmaster XL will undergo its Print Colour Management (PCM) programme in March and that will pave the way for ISO 12647-2 testing, followed by colour certification. The Suprasetter is a straightforward ‘like for like’ replacement with the latest generation machine, but with this move the company will switch to Saphira Chem-free plates. Minprint is using Prinect workflow products across prepress and press room areas and linking production to the company’s Shuttleworth MIS system. This helps efficiencieswithJDFfilespre-configuring settings and JMF feedback upstream.

The company considered linking in its folding operation but felt the benefits were not great enough for them at this stage. “It’s been tough for everyone, but we notice enquiry levels increasing and a greater willingness to pay for added value or special finishes,” says Jamie McMinnis. “We have also ventured into the cross media market, which has been well received by our customers. We were thrilled to win the Best External Publication award for design at the CIPR awards for our work on the Ulster Rugby programmes which we currently print and publish online for the Ulster Rugby fans. The added bonus was that our customer actually nominated us for this award!”

The company operates a double day shift, with the flexibility of an additional shift when demand is high.

The Suprasetter A 75 CtP device.

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News | IRISH PRINTER

LETTERTEC EXPANDS FINISHING CAPACITY

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ollowing on from their recent success at the Irish Print Awards, where they won the Best Print Finisher 2014 award, Lettertec Ireland Ltd in Cork have just installed a Wohlenberg 45i three knife trimmer to supplement their existing Perfecta model.

“Our Perfecta could only trim between 750 and 1,000 books per hour, depending on the thickness of the book, with two operators,” says Managing Director Frank Kelly. “The Wohlenberg will trim 2,700 per hour with one operator. We concluded the deal in October, had it delivered before Christmas, and had it installed in January. It has quicker changeover than the Perfecta but now, with the two trimmers, we can have one set up for one size and one for another.”

This latest purchase complements the existing Wohlenberg 5 clamp binder, which cycles at 1,000 books per hour.

“The new trimmer also allows us to build up our stock of bound books over a couple of days and, because of its speed, we can leave the trimming until, say, the third day and then run all of the books off in a morning. This helps enormously with the production process and workflow. Alternatively, if a big job is needed quickly, we can

Jaroslaw Oleszkiewicz, Lettertec’s Bindery Foreman, with the new Wohlenberg 45i three knife trimmer.

finish and ship it faster so, either way, we win.”

Lettertec have also recently purchased all of the necessary equipment for manufacturing ring binders, including a tabbing machine. “We are addressing our customer demands for full colour ring binders for applications such as employee handbooks, manuals etc,” says Frank. “With our automated case maker and lining machine we can produce the cases.

Now we can crease the boards, add

the mechanism, tab the contents and, from a selection of papers, we can line them with complementary or contrasting colours to the image on the cover. We also purchased a Hang 4 headed drill for quicker turnaround and insertion of the contents so we are all set.”

With five digital production engines in-house, perfect binding, cold glue binding, Watkiss Square back stitching, case binding, and now ring binding, Lettertec have a wide range of options to offer their customers.

HAVE YOU MASTERED THE ART OF CUSTOMER SERVICE?

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he Design, Print and Packaging Skillnet is running a training programme in Dublin on The Art of Customer Service on April 21st.

The programme, which is designed for customer service management and staff, will be delivered by customer retention strategy specialist Cariona Neary of Neary Marketing and Communications, who also delivers the Skillnet’s MA in Professional Practice.

The programme will help participants to develop the skills that are required to establish and meet

customer needs. They will learn key skills in communicating effectively and persuasively with customers for both face-to-face and telephone communications. “This course will be interactive and fun,” says Diane Dignam, Manager of the Design, Print and Packaging Skillnet. “You will gain some interesting insights to help you read different types of customers and to increase your own powers of influence and persuasion.

Participants will learn how to present a positive and professional first impression and how to improve their

influencing skills through listening, probing and addressing customers’ needs. They will also learn how to read people’s behaviour and motivation and they will develop a clear step-by-step process for interacting with customer queries. The programme will help participants to deal with challenging customer situations in a positive manner and show them how to turn complaints into opportunities.”

Programme participants will receive a Customer Communications Workout plan that can be customised to meet the needs of individual organisations.

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IRISH PRINTER | News

The Fastest Digital Label Printing Animal in its Class?

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First Global Installation of Xeikon Cheetah

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eikon announced the first installation of its Xeikon Cheetah digital label press on January 22nd, just months after the dedicated label printing solution was revealed. UK-based Mercian Labels is the world’s first pilot site for the Xeikon Cheetah and the company has chosen the press to help it continue its double-digit growth path. The fivecolor digital label press was installed in early February at Mercian Labels’ new factory in Staffordshire and runs alongside their existing Xeikon 3000 Series digital press, as well as hot foiling, flexo and inkjet technologies.

“We have chosen to adopt the latest generation of Xeikon digital label printing technology on the back of above-average growth in the digital part of our business, where we have run out of production capacity,” says Mercian Labels’ Managing Director Dr. Adrian Steele. “Adding

the Xeikon Cheetah will better position us for expected growth and we are confident that the capacity can be quickly filled.” Prior to the investment, Mercian Labels thoroughly evaluated other potential options available on the market. “We looked at competitive technologies, from liquid toner to UV inkjet, as well as the latest offers from Xeikon dry toner,” he says. “Every investment has to have a ROI. We like to sweat our assets, regardless of whether they are software or hardware. We are in the business of making money - not just labels. Everything has to earn its keep, and we are convinced that the Xeikon Cheetah will definitely do just that. The advantages of the new press will be measurable in terms of speed and reduced running costs. As a result, we expect to take more market share from what is traditionally flexo territory as digital becomes more

he Xeikon Cheetah has a top speed of 30 m/min (98 ft/ min), 60% faster than any other model in its current press portfolio.

The 1200 x 3600 dpi digital press is dedicated solely to the production of self-adhesive/pressure sensitive labels. It uses dry toners that meet FDA regulations for food contact and it has the ability to print opaque white toner in one pass. The incorporation of Xeikon’s ICE toner technology, which requires a much lower fusing temperature than typical tonerbased presses, also allows the press to print on a variety of heat-sensitive substrates. Xeikon presses are based on dry toner electro-photography.

This enables the use of conventional substrates that do not have to be pretreated. Extremely high toner lightfastness and eco-friendly printing (no VOCs) are some of the other features of the Xeikon presses for digital label and package printing. In addition to the standard CMYK + White, the fifth station on the Xeikon Cheetah can be used to print gamut expansion colours or security toner.Media weights range from 40gsm to 350gsm.

competitive on longer runs. As a full service label printer we see both the digital and UV flexo areas growing at a similar pace for different reasons. Our strategy is to offer the best technology for every specific demand. Customers increasingly want to deal with one supplier for their custom packaging requirements, and not be forced to use multiple suppliers who only serve a narrow profile of work because they refuse to adopt the best of both digital and analogue worlds. That is why we have already taken a small but significant step into digitally printed cartons, adding to our label business.

This move has really connected with our customer base.”

Mercian Labels is a manufacturer of custom printed self-adhesive labels, cartons and security seals. Its technical specialties are in digital label and carton printing and high volume variable data and barcode labels.

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News | IRISH PRINTER

THERMOFLEXX WINS FIRST UK ORDER

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hermoFlexX has installed its first flexo imager in the UK following an order for a ThermoFlexX 30 from label printer Mission Labels, and the Belgian manufacturer says it expects to be announcing further UK orders in the near future. Mission Labels has purchased the digital flexo plate imager as part of a £100,000 investment in pre-press facilities that has resulted in the West Sussex flexographic printer moving from traditional film setting to CTP production. In addition to the ThermoFlexX 30, the recent expansion includes front-end systems, AV Flexologic exposure equipment, and a new pre-press department containing an art and design studio.

“We had reached the stage where we needed to make the leap from film setting to the latest digital platemaking technology,” says Technical Director Dave Humphrey.

“Making the right decision was vital so we carried out a great deal of research into the latest developments. The flexo imager manufacturer that constantly came out ahead of everyone else in terms of providing the best package of productivity, quality, service and price was ThermoFlexX. Even though there were no ThermoFlexX imagers in the UK, we felt confident from our dealings with the company that we would be given excellent training and after-sales support. Our faith was well founded. ThermoFlexX delivered the imager during December along with a RIP and the

(l-r)) Pre-press/Production Director Sue Gearing, Operations Director Martin Gearing, Technical Director Dave Humphrey, and Head of Repro Rob Woodley.

necessary software and by Christmas we were in full production. It was pretty seamless. The results have been astounding. Not only has the quality of the image on the plate taken a huge jump forward, we are able to turn work around much more quickly, while makeready and start-up waste on the presses has also been reduced significantly. From receipt of a PDF file we can get the job on the press in less than an hour, often despatching the completed order within a couple of

hours of receiving the digital file.”

ThermoFlexX manufactures the only flexo imagers on the market that offer five separate output resolutions and Mission Labels chose to have 2,540 dpi and 5,080 dpi on its machine. The company has already produced labels using 5,080 dpi, which is the highest resolution available on any flexo imager, allowing screen rulings of 250 lpi for fine detailed work, including demanding vignettes.

Adobe Buys Fotolia

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dobe has completed its acquisition of privately held Fotolia, a leading marketplace for stock content, for $800m (€700m). Adobe announced its intent to purchase Fotolia in December 2014 and the acquisition support Adobe Creative Cloud’s role as a market for creatives to buy and sell assets and services, as well as for showcasing their talent to a worldwide audience. Work will now begin on integrating Fotolia into Adobe Creative Cloud. This will provide current and future Creative Cloud members with the ability to access and purchase over 35 million images and videos. As of October 2008, Fotolia had more than 800,000 members who had uploaded more than 4.2 million photographs and graphic illustrations. By the end of July 2010, those numbers had more than doubled to over 1,967,000 members and 9.8 million images, vector graphics, and HD videos. By May 2012, the member count climbed to more than 3,000,000 registered members and the database to 17 million digital images.

Following this latest deal, Adobe plans to continue to operate Fotolia as a standalone stock service, accessible to anyone. Founded in 2004, with offices in New York, Paris and Berlin, Fotolia operates in 23 countries and has websites in 14 languages. With more than 3.4 million members, Adobe Creative Cloud features desktop tools and an array of complementary mobile apps, training content, creative assets and services.

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News | IRISH PRINTER

THERMOFLEXX WINS FIRST UK ORDER

T

hermoFlexX has installed its first flexo imager in the UK following an order for a ThermoFlexX 30 from label printer Mission Labels, and the Belgian manufacturer says it expects to be announcing further UK orders in the near future. Mission Labels has purchased the digital flexo plate imager as part of a £100,000 investment in pre-press facilities that has resulted in the West Sussex flexographic printer moving from traditional film setting to CTP production. In addition to the ThermoFlexX 30, the recent expansion includes front-end systems, AV Flexologic exposure equipment, and a new pre-press department containing an art and design studio.

“We had reached the stage where we needed to make the leap from film setting to the latest digital platemaking technology,” says Technical Director Dave Humphrey.

“Making the right decision was vital so we carried out a great deal of research into the latest developments. The flexo imager manufacturer that constantly came out ahead of everyone else in terms of providing the best package of productivity, quality, service and price was ThermoFlexX. Even though there were no ThermoFlexX imagers in the UK, we felt confident from our dealings with the company that we would be given excellent training and after-sales support. Our faith was well founded. ThermoFlexX delivered the imager during December along with a RIP and the

(l-r) Pre-press/Production Director Sue Gearing, Operations Director Martin Gearing, Technical Director Dave Humphrey, and Head of Repro Rob Woodley.

necessary software and by Christmas we were in full production. It was pretty seamless. The results have been astounding. Not only has the quality of the image on the plate taken a huge jump forward, we are able to turn work around much more quickly, while makeready and start-up waste on the presses has also been reduced significantly. From receipt of a PDF file we can get the job on the press in less than an hour, often despatching the completed order within a couple of

hours of receiving the digital file.”

ThermoFlexX manufactures the only flexo imagers on the market that offer five separate output resolutions and Mission Labels chose to have 2,540 dpi and 5,080 dpi on its machine. The company has already produced labels using 5,080 dpi, which is the highest resolution available on any flexo imager, allowing screen rulings of 250 lpi for fine detailed work, including demanding vignettes.

Adobe Buys Fotolia

A

dobe has completed its acquisition of privately held Fotolia, a leading marketplace for stock content, for $800m (€700m). Adobe announced its intent to purchase Fotolia in December 2014 and the acquisition support Adobe Creative Cloud’s role as a market for creatives to buy and sell assets and services, as well as for showcasing their talent to a worldwide audience. Work will now begin on integrating Fotolia into Adobe Creative Cloud. This will provide current and future Creative Cloud members with the ability to access and purchase over 35 million images and videos. As of October 2008, Fotolia had more than 800,000 members who had uploaded more than 4.2 million photographs and graphic illustrations. By the end of July 2010, those numbers had more than doubled to over 1,967,000 members and 9.8 million images, vector graphics, and HD videos. By May 2012, the member count climbed to more than 3,000,000 registered members and the database to 17 million digital images.

Following this latest deal, Adobe plans to continue to operate Fotolia as a standalone stock service, accessible to anyone. Founded in 2004, with offices in New York, Paris and Berlin, Fotolia operates in 23 countries and has websites in 14 languages. With more than 3.4 million members, Adobe Creative Cloud features desktop tools and an array of complementary mobile apps, training content, creative assets and services.

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IRISH PRINTER | News

MCGOWANS LAUNCH PERSONALISED PRINT WEBSITE

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cGowans Print recently announced the launch of their new personalised print website - www. mcgowanspersonalisedprint.com.

This new service gives customers the power to design their own printed products for all occasions.

“Putting personality into print allows customers to create unique mementos that they can share with loved ones for many years to come,” says Louise Farrell, Head of Digital, Strategy & Innovation for McGowans.

“With cutting edge design software, McGowans Personalised Print gives you all the tools needed to design your own personalised calendars, photobooks, greeting cards, wall décor, invites - the list is endless. And you can use these creations to add that personal touch to your home, or to create a gift for that special someone in your life. This is such an exciting venture for McGowans.

We made the decision to diversify following increasing demand from both our personal and business customers, so we invested in stateof-the-art technology. Our customers can now access their own personal ‘designer’ online, which will take them step-by-step through the process of designing and creating their own print. We all take so many photos on our mobile phones now.

We should be bringing our pictures to life on a more regular basis and our website allows you to do this in a simple and affordable way”.

In addition, businesses can also take a piece of the personalisation pie and avail of their own personalised commercial site, featuring their own brand. “McGowans will build you your own website, allowing customers to directly order from your company, not only promoting your business and brand but also generating organisational income,” says Louise. “This opportunity will benefit many different industries, including retailers, schools, sports clubs, charities and many more, with Eason as the first commercial partner to capitalise on this growing market with their new website

Easonpersonalise.com. Brendan Corbett, Group Head of Marketing at Eason, says that the company is “delighted” to partner with McGowans Print on this new initiative. “It brings an exciting new dimension to our cards and gifts ranges,” he says. “At Eason we have always been renowned for the

breadth of our range and, by adding personalisation to our offering, we have extended the choice for our customers even further.”

McGowans have always embraced innovation and are the first Irish print company to offer a personalised printing service within both the business to customer and business to business arenas. “Investing in the latest technology and employing over 100 people between our premises in Dublin and Belfast, this most recent advancement proves our top position within the Irish digital market,” says Louise. “This new undertaking comes at an exciting time for McGowans, as we launched a new brand strategy on January 5th, to reflect our energy, passion and commitment to delivering the very best in digital printing and innovation.”

McGowans name has been synonymous with the development of the digital print industry in Ireland for the past 20 years. First to market, not only in Ireland but in Europe, with the latest digital technologies, McGowans now operate over 20 digital printing presses, working over a vast number of substrates in large and small format, with production runs from one to many thousand.

Products and services include design, business print, retail POS, cardboard engineering, outdoor media, event signage and direct mail capability, as well as signage installation, planning and print execution.

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IRISH PRINTER | News

AN APPRECIATION JAN DE FOUW

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raphic designer, artist working in copperplate colour etchings, sculptor, and award-winning book and magazine designer and illustrator, Dutch-born but Dublinbased Jan de Fouw, who passed away recently, embraced all of these roles with distinction during his lifetime.

His adventurous spirit prompted him to follow his former KLM boss, Guus Melai, to Ireland in the early 1950s.

When he arrived in Ireland Jan was very impressed with what he saw.

Unlike his native Holland, the country was virtually untouched by the war and he found that very appealing.

By the end of the 1960s he was one of a growing group of graphic designers, or commercial artists as they were then known, to make their way from Holland to live in Ireland’s capital. These designers and artists became known as the ‘Dutch School’ and, apart from Guus and Jan, they also included Bert van Embden, Willem van Velzen, Gerrit van Gelderen, Piet Sluis and Cor Klaasen, among others. Over the following decades they transformed Irish graphic design.

Unlike most of his fellow designers from Holland, Jan had a successful career working as a freelance designer.

Back in Holland he had worked on a freelance basis for KLM, and on arrival in Dublin he decided to do the same, designing travel and promotional posters for Aer Lingus and Bord Fáilte where he challenged the Irish design conventions of the day. His delightful illustrations, and more serious minimal Bauhaus-inspired designs, were used to promote a wealth of products, from Phillips electric razors to Guinness and Knorr soups. Like many of his contemporaries, Jan worked on the Aer Lingus campaign, creating iconic posters advertising the inviting destinations to which Aer Lingus travelled. He also designed airline tickets and other promotional material, which still inspires today.

Jan’s work for Bord Fáilte, along with his posters for Aer Lingus, helped to shape the impression that many foreigners still hold of Ireland today.

These included images of castles, local

fisherman and their whitewashed cottages, and the lush green countryside that Ireland is so famous for. From 1952 to 1996, he was Design Director of Bord Fáilte’s bi-monthly Ireland of the Welcomes magazine.

Due to significant developments in printing technologies, the use of photographic images began to appear more frequently in his design work.

This is seen in his work with Irish postcard magnate John Hinde. Not only did he design the logo for the business, but he was also responsible for the calendars, brochures and other promotional material associated with the organisation. Initially joining Graphic Studio Dublin in 1964, he was instrumental in setting up the Black Church Print Studio in 1982. His printed works are mainly copperplate colour etchings which reflect man’s relationship with nature and the elements.

An important and well-respected voice in Irish design circles for decades, Jan de Fouw has lectured in the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and the Institute of

Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dun Laoghaire, and in Dublin Institute of Technology. Jan was also a member of the Society of Designers in Ireland and a member of the curatorial committee of the National Print Museum. “Jan’s relationship with the National Print Museum dates back to the Museum’s inception in the early nineties,” says Carla Marrinan, Manager, National Print Museum. “Over the years, Jan was involved in many aspects of the Museum, most notably he was an instrumental member of the Museum’s Curatorial Committee, responsible for the collection, exhibitions, and the very active cultural and educational programme.

Jan tendered his resignation from the Committee in recent years but remained on as an advisory member until his death. Jan will be greatly missed by the staff, volunteer printers, and his colleagues on the board and curatorial committee.

He will be remembered as a great friend, a wonderful storyteller, and a legendary designer.”

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News | IRISH PRINTER

THE PRINTED IMAGE SECURES ISO 9001

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nternational Standards Organisation (ISO) 9001 is the ultimate global benchmark for quality management and The Printed Image (TPI) recently announced that they have been awarded the certificate. The award acknowledges that TPI have a robust internal management system and a systematic process that applies that structure. Certain principles must be prevalent in order to gain the ISO 9001 accreditation. These include being customer driven, demonstrating leadership, and showing continuous improvement in your approach to decision making.

“Every job has a start, middle and an end and we apply our standards at each stage of the process,” says TPI’s Managing Director Conor Callinan. “With over 100 people in the company playing some part in the production of a job, it is imperative that we continue to meet the high standards that we have set ourselves.

Being awarded ISO 9001 confirms that we operate to the highest degree, but it also challenges us to continuously improve over time.” (l-r): Brendan Delany, Quality Control at The Printed Image, Michael Brophy, ISO Certification Europe CEO, and Conor Callinan, Managing Director of The Printed Image.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE HAS INCREASED, Say Magazines Ireland

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agazines Ireland’s latest Consumer Confidence Report from Nielsen shows that Ireland’s consumer confidence increased in Q4 2014.

Positive sentiments about business conditions, with those rating them as good or normal at 64%, was up six percentage points on Q3 2014. 46% are optimistic about future job prospects, up 12 percentage points, and recessionary sentiment has also had a boost of positivity, with a significant decrease in the numbers feeling that Ireland is in an economic recession.

Within the European region, Ireland recorded the highest quarterly increase in consumer confidence of six points to a score of 90 in quarter four. This is the highest score in six years and continues to be above the EU average of 76. The recessionary mind-set was down at 66% (-14% points versus Q3 2014). People are more optimistic about their

personal finances this quarter, with 45% claiming they are good/excellent (+4% points), while 37% feel that now is a good time to spend (+5% points) “It is great to see increased positivity for business and employment in Ireland,” says Rebecca Markey, Chairman, Magazines Ireland.

“People are much more optimistic regarding personal finances and readiness to spend. This is good news for the economy generally and good news for magazine media where we are noticing an uplift in spending in both print and on digital channels.

It is an exciting time to be working in magazine media and technology has opened up magazine brands to a bigger audience than at any other time in our history. The future is bright.”

Magazines Ireland is the trade association of magazine publishers and represents 37 Irish publishers who together produce over 185 magazines (consumer, business and custom titles) in print and on digital channels.

SKILLNET TO HOST INFOGRAPHIC WORKSHOP

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nfographics convey ideas and large amounts of information in an easy to understand and visually compelling format. They are an indispensable tool for any designer. On Saturday, March 28th, the Design, Print & Packaging Skillnet, in conjunction with the Institute of Designers in Ireland and ID2015, will present a one-day infographic workshop with Valentina D’Efilippo. The workshop will be held at Fumbally Exchange, 5 Dame Lane, Dublin 2, from 9.30am until 4.30pm (Price - €50 per ticket). Valentina is an information designer, author, lecturer and occasional speaker. Her passion for visual communication and digital media is reflected in her work in data visualisation, art direction, and interaction design.

She has worked with a number of leading agencies and contributed to award-winning campaigns for global brands.Valentina has been invited to speak at numerous design conferences and independent organisations, including Visualised IO, The Information Design Conference, Technoport and Google.

In 2013 she published The Infographic History of the World.

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Landa’s nanographic presses were one of the stars of the last drupa show in 2012.

DATES FOR THE DIARY

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DRUPA SWITCHES TO Three-Year Cycle After 2016

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rupa, the world’s leading trade fair for print and cross-media solutions, will switch to a three-year cycle after 2016, when it runs from May 31st to June 10th. This decision was taken by the drupa committee at a recent meeting in Düsseldorf.

“The entire print process chain has changed radically because of the Internet and digital technologies,” explains Claus Bolza-Schünemann, Chairman of the drupa advisory board and President of Koenig & Bauer Group. “New applications and solutions are developing and opening up new fields of business.

At the same time, there is more focus on innovative technologies, such as 3D printing, printed electronics and functional printing.

It is more important than ever before that our customers have an

overview of the latest technology and are also inspired to use new business models and solutions. drupa is the only specialist trade fair in the world to offer this - and it will do so every three years in the future.”

One positive side-effect of this change is that drupa will no longer run in 2020, the same year as Interpack, the world’s most important trade fair for the packaging industry, and the closely-related process industry. “The drupa exhibitors who specialise in packaging printing would have found 2020 an incredibly stressful year so the change will clearly benefit customers,” says Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf.

The precise dates haven’t yet been finalised but it’s clear that drupa will take place in Düsseldorf during the traditional drupa month of May in 2019, 2022 and 2025.

he National Print Museum at Beggars Bush Barracks on Haddington Road in Dublin 4 is running a number of special events and tours over the coming months.

Some that may be of particular interest to printers include Print Industry Reminiscence Evening: Bealtaine Festival. To celebrate the Bealtaine Festival, the Museum will host a reminiscence evening on Wednesday, May 13th at 6.30pm with its volunteer active retired printers and compositors (admission is free but booking is essential as places are limited). They will treat attendees to their memories of their time in the print industry in an informal, relaxed setting and printers can ask any unanswered questions they may have about the traditional craft of letterpress. The Museum will also host: an Introduction to Copperplate Calligraphy with Ann Cannon (Sunday, April 26th – 10.30am to 4.30pm - €45 – maximum of 10 people); an Introduction to Letterpress Printed Books (#1, WB Yeats) with Jamie Murphy (Sunday, April 26th, 10.30am to 4.30pm - €70 – maximum of six people); Linocut Printmaking with Caroline Byrne (Sunday, May 17th, 10.30am to 4.30pm, €70, maximum six people); Monoprint Printmaking with Debra Bowden (Sunday, June 7th, 10.30am to 4.30pm, €75, maximum six people); and an Introduction to Letterpress on the Vandercook Proofing Press with Mary Plunkett (Sunday, July 5th, 10.30am to 4.30pm, €65, maximum six people).

The National Print Museum Annual Golf Classic 2015 will take place on Friday, April 24th at the K Club on the Palmer Ryder Cup Course, followed by a prize giving and three course dinner at 8.30pm. For further information or bookings, contact (01) 660 3770 or email info@nationalprintmuseum.ie.

CUSTOM INTELLIGENCE FOR PAPER BUYERS RISI, the information provider for the global forest products industry, recently introduced a new service for packaging procurement professionals - the Packaging Intelligence Centre (PIC). Developed in conjunction with packaging buyers around the globe, the service equips buyers to optimise their purchasing and minimise their costs. PIC is an online platform that is customised to the grades that each user buys. It integrates news and analysis, historic and forecasted prices, as well as supplier costs, to provide a clear picture of regional and global paper markets. Buyers are provided with expert support in four main areas: developing advanced market expertise; applying insight to price negotiations; enhancing plans and forecasts; and improving supplier analysis. To learn more about the Packaging Intelligence Centre, visit www.risi.com/buyers.

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Technology | IRISH PRINTER

Touch Transfer Technology allows packaging - and therefore the brand to interact directly with smart devices.

Multi Packaging Solutions Provides

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

MULTI PACKAGING SOLUTIONS (MPS) TOOK VISITORS ON A TRIP INTO THE FUTURE AT LAST YEAR’S PACKAGING INNOVATIONS EXHIBITION AT BIRMINGHAM’S NEC. THE MPS TEAM SHOWED THE AUDIENCE AT THEIR STAND HOW CUSTOMERS WILL INTERACT WITH PACKAGING IN A VERY DIFFERENT WAY TO NOW. MAEV MARTIN REPORTS.

“We showed visitors how new technologies such as Touch Transfer Technology, or 3T, augmented reality, and printed electronics are providing an additional dimension to packaging,” says Carol Hammond, Head of R&D at MPS. “We were able to show how improved emotional and interactive packaging experiences can truly engage with all the senses.”

Touch Transfer Technology, or 3T, from Interactive Product Solutions Ltd,

is ground-breaking technology that allows packaging - and therefore the brand - to interact directly with smart devices. The pack is used to activate the technology, engaging the consumer and providing a way to interact that is easy and intuitive.

It also ensures that the brand’s identity is retained in the presence of the user.

“Packaging will talk to us, provide us with information, send reminders

and tell us when it is the best time to use the product,” says Carol.

“The drivers for developing unique consumer experiences are very strong and, in most cases, the technology to deliver these changes is already here or just around the corner.”

MPS can apply 3T interactivity to a product’s packaging to enable the consumer to use a range of touch-screen devices. These include smart phones and tablets that are

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enabled with bespoke apps to access customised information, simulations, vouchers and coupons, games or even augmented reality and other 3D experiences. The consumer’s touch alone activates these experiences, as this technology requires no batteries or other power sources.

“3T is being developed to offer brands the ability to interact with a consumer in a cost effective way,” says Carol. “The 3T interactivity is invisibly integrated into a product’s artwork to activate the bespoke app.

The applications of this technology are endless, and range from marketing activities such as product promotions, to directing a consumer to a website to listen to pre-recorded messages or view videos or text content directly. Brand owners can also be assured that their specific information is being conveyed to the consumer rather than data from an unintended source. We are already working on ways to integrate the printed electronics into a pack so it can be activated by a 3T enabled device.”

This technology offers the consumer a complete variety of experiences: accessing information, visual or audible instructions, coupons, directions, gaming, or even the ability to have ‘out-of-this-world’ experiences based on technologies such as augmented reality. All can be accessed by just touching different parts of the pack onto a smart device.

“The healthcare sector, consumer brands and retailers are adopting new technologies and approaches to maximise the emotional experience that consumers get from packaging,” says Carol. “It won’t be too long before these technologies will impact on everyday products.”

MPS has been involved in the development of printed electronics for some years as this technology offers numerous possibilities. Some examples of interactivity that have been explored and developed include: • Food packs that interact with your smartphone to form a live shopping list of essentials, recipe suggestions etc.

• A normal piece of A4 paper printed with a full size QWERTY keyboard acting as a slave keyboard for your

smart phone.

• A pharmaceutical pack that registers pills being removed, and is able to interact with smart phones to provide reminders, warnings, advice etc. as programmed.

• A switchable permanent display powered only by the action of opening the pack.

“These futuristic possibilities all exist today and are just the start of a revolution in electronics manufacturing which will drive major innovations in the way packaging is used and perceived,” says Andrew Degnan of MPS’s R&D team. “The possibilities are endless - how many of today’s apps were imagined when the smart phone was being designed? A collaborative approach has been imperative to allow us to optimise the integration of new technology into packaging applications. We’ve worked with a number of partners to understand production routes, options, costs,

“A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH HAS BEEN IMPERATIVE TO ALLOW US TO OPTIMISE THE INTEGRATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY INTO PACKAGING APPLICATIONS. OUR PRIME FOCUS IS IN THE AREA OF CONDUCTIVE LITHO AND FLEXO INKS FOR PRINTED TRACKS, AS WELL AS THE APPLICATION OF ELECTROLUMINESCENT DISPLAYS.”

reliability and functionality.

We’re looking to ultimately reduce production costs and improve reliability. Our prime focus is in the area of conductive litho and flexo inks for printed tracks, as well as the application of electro-luminescent displays. These developments, and other collaborations, have provided MPS with a valuable insight into the latest developments and trends in this fast changing area.”

The adoption of this technology is expected to grow exponentially and will reshape the current perception of packaging as a disposable

MPS has been involved in the development of printed electronics for some years as this technology offers numerous possibilities.

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commodity. “The pack will become part of the product offering and a primary link with the consumer,” says Carol. “We’re well placed to support our customers in understanding and exploiting the potential of these exciting new emerging technologies.

We have developed a number of exciting proto-types and now have the right partners to develop the mass production route. We’ve shown several ideas to key customers and we are currently looking at several projects incorporating a range of interactive elements into packaging for wellknown products.”

Another technology that has been around for a while and has continued to develop new applications is Augmented Reality (AR). This provides a ‘virtual’ layer of promotional, informative and entertaining material that the consumer engages with using a smartphone or tablet camera. The interface is via printed media such as packaging, posters etc. A recognisable ‘marker’ in the media is assigned to

trigger the AR function.This marker could be a pack or distinctive logo shape, graphics, covert or overt coding. Once triggered, the AR functionality provides 3D graphics, video, and audio etc., as required, and can interface with the real image displayed from the smartphone/ tablet camera.

This technology has already been widely used by many wellknown brands. IKEA use it to allow a customer to ‘apparently’ see furniture of their choice displayed, in scale, on an iPad screen in their own lounge. L’Oreal has used it for a Toy Story-themed shampoo promotion using custom digitally printed packs that allow Buzz and his friends to actually greet your child on your iPad screen using their own name.

Impressively, McClaren has used it to aid promotion of its P1 hypercar.

The possibilities for all these technologies are only limited by the creativity of designers and marketeers. Importantly for

packaging, they provide yet another opportunity to become an interactive cornerstone of branding, marketing and sales strategies. If this is considered alongside other growing technologies, such as digital print and digital finishing, it is clear that packaging is undergoing something of a revolution. Brand owners need to be aware of how these technologies are shaping the way consumers interact and engage with packaging and, ultimately, their brands in an increasingly digital world.

Supporting these technologies, MPS offers a wide range of finishes and effects to enhance all paperbased packaging formats: cartons, labels, leaflets and rigid boxes.

“We continue to review the wider technology arena for potential new items to add to our portfolio,” says Carol. “Most importantly, all our projects are conducted under the scrutiny of our packaging compliance officer to ensure that the materials and processes are fit for purpose.”

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Cover Story | IRISH PRINTER

SMASHING

THE SPEED BARRIER FOR LABEL PRINTERS

Above and below: The Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations - transforming digital production into a profitable business.

THE XEIKON CHEETAH DIGITAL COLOUR PRESS IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DIGITAL LABEL MARKET IN 15 YEARS. PATRICK VAN BAELEN, VP-WW MARKETING AT XEIKON, TALKS ABOUT THE GROUND BREAKING INNOVATION, EARLY ADOPTERS, AND HOW DUBLINBASED LABEL WORLD IS FLYING THE FLAG FOR XEIKON IN THE IRISH MARKET. THE NETHERLANDS-BASED PRESS manufacturer announced its new press on September 9th 2014. A staggering 60% faster than any other model in its current press portfolio, the new digital press is dedicated solely to self-adhesive/pressure sensitive label production and can output high quality labels at 98 ft/ min (30 m/min), making it the fastest five-colour digital label press in the world. Visitors to the company’s booth at Labelexpo Americas 2014 could see live demonstrations of the new press throughout the exhibition.

The Xeikon Cheetah will be available commercially during 2015.

“This increase in speed represents a huge leap forward in digital press technology,” says Patrick Van Baelen, VP-WW Marketing at Xeikon. “It will enable Xeikon label printers and converters to embark on a new era of productivity and efficiency, with much greater flexibility to react to

their clients’ requests for shorter timeto-market. The Xeikon Cheetah narrows the gap between digital printing and traditional flexo/offset methods for producing labels. In addition, the increase in speed also results in a lower total production cost.”

Xeikon now offers six presses in its label and packaging portfolio, providing solutions from entry-level to high capacity production. “This is the broadest press portfolio of label and packaging presses available on the market today,” says Patrick.

AN INDUSTRY REVOLUTION

The Xeikon Cheetah can handle substrate widths of up to 13 inches (330mm) with a print resolution of 1,200 x 3,600 dpi. It utilises full rotary printing where the press speeds are independent of the number of colours used and/or the repeat length of the job. Full rotary printing also makes step-and-repeat and subsequent

finishing operations straightforward.

Furthermore, the Xeikon Cheetah offers the other features of the Xeikon 3000 Series, including the use of dry toners that meet FDA regulations for food contact and the ability to print opaque white toner in one pass.

“The presses offer easy integration of third-party workflow software and converting/finishing solutions,” says Patrick. “Furthermore, they incorporate professional colour management capabilities. The press also includes automatic in-line register and density controls. The imaging width is up to 12.7 inches (322mm) while the repeat length is variable from 0 – 180ft (0 – 55m).

It is difficult to overstate the importance of this advancement.

The Xeikon Cheetah is a significant breakthrough for high capacity production. It is a tremendously exciting time for Xeikon, as well as for the digital label printing market.”

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Clockwise from left: The Xeikon Cheetah; Label World’s sales team; printing paper cups with Xeikon technology.

EARLY ADOPTERS

On February 24th Xeikon announced the imminent arrival of its Xeikon Cheetah press at award-winning UK digital label printer CS Labels, which was selected as one of the pilot sites for the new technology, bringing CS Labels’ pressroom portfolio up to five Xeikon digital presses. CS Labels Ltd is the largest digital label printer in Europe using Xeikon technology. The new addition will enable CS Labels to increase capacity by yet another third, and the company expects the Xeikon Cheetah to be a key enabler for continuing its year-on-year growth of up to 25% and taking turnover to Stg£4m a year.

“In our view, digital has not been seen as short run/high cost for some time now as brand owners gain a deeper understanding of its many advantages,” says CS Labels Managing Director Simon Smith. “We have noticed a real growth in demand for longer digital print runs, culminating with an order for 50,000 linear metres at the end of last year. Big brands are taking digital seriously now. The Share-a-Coke campaign in Europe changed everything. It blew away perceptions of limitations to digital.

Personalisation, versioning, improving the overall quality - these are all

made affordable by digital. And the digital conversation also goes beyond the physical product. It is a way to incorporate other technologies such as micro text, augmented reality and other embellishments that can be added later to create a stand-out label.”

On January 22nd, Xeikon announced that another UK-based company, Mercian Labels, had become the world’s first pilot site for the Xeikon Cheetah and had chosen the press to help it continue its doubledigit growth path (see story Page 6).

LABEL WORLD – FLYING THE FLAG FOR XEIKON IN IRELAND

Last month Label World held an Open Day to showcase the latest investments in their digital print department. The company recently installed the Xeikon 3500 digital printing press with an impressive print width of 500mm. This was Xeikon’s first 3500 press in Ireland and it gives Label World a competitive advantage in this volatile label market.

The day itself was a great success with many customers, new and existing, attending their facility in Swords to meet the team, view their wide range of substrates, and have some labels printed. “We encouraged

anyone to bring along a file on the day and we were able to show them the speed and flexibility that Label World can offer,” says Label World’s Sales Director Derek Maher. “In fact, if customers want to see a sample print of their label on a particular substrate before committing to the full order, we offer that service right through the year, so if you were not able to attend our Open Day you can simple send in your file to sales@labelworld.ie and we will post you out your machine press proof. Here at Label World we offer a wide variety of products to the trade and the end-user, covering a number of industries such as food and drink, pharmaceutical, shipping, cosmetics, IT, construction, health and safety, dental, medical and hygiene.

We continually update our equipment to ensure that we have the right technology and business solutions to meet our customers labelling needs. With our own in-house design department, digital printing press, and a range of full UV flexographic presses we are well positioned to meet all of our customers label and tag requirements.”

THE INNOVATIONS CAFÉ

The 2015 edition of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations (www. xeikoncafe.com) took place from March 10th to 12th at Xeikon’s R&D and production site in Lier in Belgium.

The event sought to help label and packaging printers, as well as converters and print buyers, enhance and transform their digital production into a profitable business. Through demonstrations, presentations, workshops and discussions, participants received first-hand actionable information and advice on industry innovations and trends.

The Xeikon Café featured live demonstrations on Xeikon’s large range of digital label presses, including on the new Xeikon Cheetah.

Participants also saw the full range of Xeikon’s label and packaging application suites in action, including the folding carton suite, the selfadhesive label suite, the heat transfer label suite, and the in-mold label suite, featuring live job preparation, production, and finishing of real-life and purpose-built applications. In addition, a variety of applications were on display, illustrating what digital production can achieve.

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HOW MANY ASSETS ARE YOU NOT SWEATING? FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF THEIR ‘WHAT’S NEW IN PRINT ‘SESSION LAST YEAR, THE DESIGN, PRINT & PACKAGING SKILLNET INVITED INDUSTRY EXPERT AND CONSULTANT JOHN CHARNOCK BACK TO GIVE IRISH PRINTERS MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT AS THEY TACKLE 2015.

More and more fabrics are being produced using inkjet technology - cotton, linen and silk can all be printed.

This year John looked at a number of key aspects of a print company’s operation and challenged the printers’ conventional approach to each, leaving them with six messages to ponder for the

remainder of the year - don’t manage, lead, sell the why, utilise your assets, consider the personality of your business, systemise your business and continuously look at innovations.

“What is the emotional connection

with your customer,” he asked. “We are good at telling our customers what we do and how we do it, and about the machines that we use to do it, but we are not good at talking about the why. Printers talk specifications, SLAs

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and equipment, not passion, energy and trust. They never address the emotional component of why they do what they do and that is a pity because they have a compelling story to tell. We are hardworking, passionate and extremely good at what we do and how we treat our customers. Essentially, printers need to talk about what they believe in because that breeds customer loyalty. Martin Luther King didn’t say ‘I have a plan.’ He got people to follow him by saying ‘I have a dream.’ He didn’t talk about the what and the how but the why.”

OPTIMISING YOUR RESOURCES

A print company’s assets include software, printing presses, finishing devices, property and cars, and printers are very good at getting the most out of those assets. But how do they carry out general maintenance on their staff? “The industry needs to look at how it can get more out of individual staff members,” he said.

“Think about how you can include more diversity in your workforce and on the board or management team of your organisation. Continuous improvement could be cultivated by introducing some innovative thinking into the workplace. For example, I know a digital print company in the UK that runs what it describes as its 90-day challenge with press operators to encourage them to think about more efficient ways of doing what they do.”

Products are the asset that a printer sells but, again, John pointed out that print companies are not very good at doing “general maintenance” on this asset either.

“We just print what the customer gives us,” he says. “We need to look at and manage our products better and protect them and make them more attractive. Consider the value proposition of your products to the customer – how can you enhance your existing products?”

When it comes to maintaining and developing the customer base, John points out that the more connections you have with the customer, the better the relationship will be.

“From administration and sales to dispatch, do you have CRM systems for managing your customers?” he asked. “Do you do a competitor

analysis? There are lots of systems in a print business but there are two very important ones – CRM, including sales automation and workflow, and web to print. A CRM is about much more than a database of your customers. It is about how you manage leads and deal with the potential customer from the moment they call or contact your company. Getting a good lead can cost €200 or €300 a lead and yet we don’t manage that process. We know about workflows in printing presses and in preflighting and imposition, but we don’t manage the sales process, which is the most important part of the business. Printers rarely have systems for managing the sales process - we still rely on a rolodex in a sales person’s office. Print companies should seriously consider installing a CRM system. They are quite cheap and worth looking at and, I believe, very important to the success of a business going forward.”

When he asked the representatives of the print companies at the briefing if they had a CRM system only two said they had, but a few of the printers present were operating web to print.

“There are some businesses that web to print is not right for but it is the natural way to automate the sales order process,” he said. “Web to print can be business to business as well as business to customer. If you have regular customers with repeat orders it is well worth considering investing in web to print.”

INKJET

Printers were encouraged to explore and embrace the variety of opportunities that now exist for innovation, whether it is through inkjet technology, design and engineering, digital finishing, special effects, or direct to shape. “We are seeing very exciting developments with cardboard engineering,” said John. “Large format is creating new markets for printers. Retailers are throwing a lot of money at making their stores attractive and print now has the technology to help retailers realise their visions. Inkjet is big business. It is effecting virtually every aspect of print now and there are huge innovations to come. Inkjet is replacing lasers and working in high volume industrial. It is competing with Indigos and with B1 and B2 sheetfed, and it is also doing proofing. If you are not considering inkjet you should be - there are big opportunities for printers.”

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

Inkjet technology is being used to move print into industrial manufacturing areas. Print skills are being applied in all sorts of industrial application areas, such as inkjet printing of laminate flooring. “40% to 50% of tiles are printed inkjet,” said John. “Printing onto ceramic tiles is becoming big business and that is what is driving all of the innovation in technology The LumeJet S200 is a photonic digital printer that works in a similar way to an inkjet printer but uses light, rather than ink, to make tiny dots (less than 0.005 mm) on photosensitive media.

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‘green button’ finishing,” said John.

“Digital casing in machines and book block makers are also now available on the market.”

in inkjet.” Also, rather than producing labels, you can inkjet print direct to the bottle. John said that inkjet heads are being developed that can do this, and more and more fabrics are being produced using inkjet technology - cotton, linen and silk can all be printed. John showed the printers in attendance a book that he bought in China which was printed on silk.

INTERACTION OF SCREEN AND PAPER

MEDICAL

One of the most exciting applications for inkjet technology is the medical field where inkjet heads are being used to deposit skin cells. “Skin cells are now being inkjet printed onto damaged areas of the body,” said John. “Inkjet is a superb and accurate depositor of skin cells.

Also, inkjet is being developed for us in BiognostiX technology.” The BiognostiX consortium is an EUfunded project that will change the way diagnostic tests are performed.

Current diagnostic technology has some serious limitations. Large volumes of sample and reagents are needed, with significant liquid handling and mixing steps. Generally configured for lab use, existing diagnostics are optimised for doing a single test on a large group of patients. Using a multiplex microfluidic platform and newly-invented BioInk, BiognostiX will deliver fast, flexible, single-use tests in a format that anyone can use. The consortium has invented BioInk, which contains engineered particles with attached biochemistry, and BioInk-Jetprinting to reliably and accurately deposit the test components on to the BGX-Chip (a disposable paperbased analytical device). Tests can be colorimetric, densitometric or fluorescence-based, and can be configured to enable either highvolume laboratory use or single-shot point-of-testing application. The consortium is led by digital imaging and printing solutions company FFEI Ltd. Bringing together microfluidics, nanotechnology, inkjet printing and rapid detection technologies, the BiognostiX platform is a unique and inexpensive way to generate quantitative multiplexed results in just a few minutes.

DIGITAL FINISHING

Digital finishing allows the printer to produce some phenomenal

This Spa Diffuser package was designed

by Glossop Cartons, digitally printed on a HP Indigo 10000 digital press, digitally enhanced by Scodix, and digitally cut and creased on the Highcon Euclid.

and added value products. John highlighted Duplo’s new Alpha saddle stitcher with automatic precision control. Green button technology is key to the design of the fully automatic and precise system, allowing any novice to be turned into a finishing expert.

The high speed Alpha Saddle can accommodate production speeds of up to 6,000 books/hr or up to 12,000 books/hr in the two-up mode. Thicker publications up to 200 pages (10mm) are also easily achieved. The Alpha Saddle has been designed to incorporate a productive method of moving the collated sets onto the saddle. Each parallel tower configuration has its own individual set transfer unit, and folder and scoring unit, allowing for two complete sets to be transported simultaneously onto the saddle. Folded and scored sets are then registered on to the moving saddle by a belt and finger system, with no risk of losing set registration even when feeding from multiple towers.

Each job changeover is controlled automatically from the GUI touch screen, with each size change taking approximately 60 seconds.

No adjustments for belt pressures, book retaining guides and brushes, or book thickness is required. “This system is a great example of digital print moving into the traditional print space, it is a further move away from traditional craft to

LumeJet is a UK-based digital print innovator, which is developing photonic platform technology for inkless printing and patterning applications.The LumeJet S200 is a photonic digital printer and LumeJet’s first commercial offering.

The inkless technology features LumeJet’s patented digital print head and works in a similar way to an inkjet printer but uses light, rather than ink, to make tiny dots (less than 0.005 mm) on photosensitive media. The printer takes 305mm photographic roll paper for page sizes up to A3 landscape double-page spread, full bleed, including trim (1000 x 305 mm maximum), making it ideal for A3 landscape layflat books and panoramic images. The RGB colour model achieves outstanding colour fidelity, including hard-toprint Pantone special inks like reflex blue, neons, metallics and pastels, as well as flawless solid black, across the entire printable area. According to John, there are only four Lumejet installations in England at the moment but he described the quality produced by the LumeJet technolgy as “superb”.

EFFECTS WITH INKS AND MATERIALS

Scodix, a provider of digital print enhancement presses, has been partnering with metallic printing technology specialists Color-Logic to allow print companies to enhance their printed products, both visually and in terms of the texture and feel.

Scodix produces visual and tactile elements that add awareness to print, while Color-Logic produces metallic special effects. “We are also starting to see lots of textures and effects, and creative substrates,” said John. “Lenticular technology is being used a lot in retail.”

Representatives of the following print companies attended the breakfast briefing: Fine Print, Label Art, InnerWorkings (INWK), Walter Nash, KC Print, Innovative Print Solutions, Printcom and PWC.

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06/03/2015 16:47

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IRISH PRINTER | WIde Format

AUTOMATIC BOARD FEEDER AND VARNISH PRINTING Agfa Graphics showed the Anapurna M2500i with optional automated board feeder (ABF) for the first time in Europe at C!Print, the exhibition for the visual communications industry, which took place at the beginning of February in Lyon. It was demonstrated in the Atelier Plug & Play, a 1,000m² creative workshop at the centre of the hall. Here printing/ finishing machines in real-time production were displayed along with meetings and demonstrations.

The Anapurna M2500i prints six colours plus white for roll or rigid substrates and was used to create several live products at the centre of the show. The new Automatic Board Feeder allows for feeding up to five boards automatically, offering a 30%

gain in productivity. In addition, Agfa Graphics demonstrated its flatbed Jeti Titan HS printer. It was shown on the Agfa Graphics booth with both varnish and white.

Varnish is an ideal way for sign and display printing companies to differentiate themselves in the market. Used as ‘spot’ varnish, it can add dramatic effects to many applications, such as POP displays, packaging, decorative prints, and trade show graphics. Agfa Graphics’ specially formulated UVcurable varnish is compatible with most standard UV-printing media and cures to a perfect sheen in gloss, or with a semi-gloss effect.

“The Anapurna M2500i is ideal for art reproductions, architectural

and interior decorations, and lenticular,” says David Watson, Marketing Manager, Agfa Graphics in France. “The Jeti Titan marries productivity with splendid varnish effects.”

EASY RIPING FOR HP WALLART USERS

LARGE FORMAT PRINT PROVIDERS AND INTERIOR DÉCOR RETAILERS can now utilise SAi Flexi software to produce custom wallcoverings. SA International (SAi) has introduced a new interface for large format print providers to operate the HP WallArt 3.0 custom wallcovering application.

WallArt 3.0 helps large format print providers with HP latex printers, wallcovering manufacturers and designers to work more closely with interior decoration stores

and eCommerce sites. Creation of wallpaper designs can be made from any location via the cloud-based HP WallArt application. Customers and designers can place images and patterns to create custom wallcoverings that accommodate doors, windows and other architectural features of individual rooms. Designs are uploaded to the Cloud from where large format print providers download PDF files for printing on their large format

printers. WallArt 3.0 is free of charge for HP latex printer owners. Once a new wallcovering design is uploaded, large format print providers log on to the HP WallArt dashboard where they review and download jobs for printing. This process is now simplified and accelerated through the power of SAi Flexi’s user-friendly new interface. Jobs are displayed with a preview in the Production Manager tool, a dashboard where the operator manages the queue and output device(s), checks job status, and selects the order of files for printing. As is usual with SAi Flexi, the new interface uses JDF workflow to handle HP WallArt jobs. SAi’s new workflow-enhancing HP WallArt interface can be accessed by any customers with branded SAi Flexi software running Version 11, Service Pack 6. Large format print providers should contact flexiprint@thinksai. com with software ID for activation.

HP latex printers with the interface pre-activated in FlexiPRINT HP Edition have been available since the end of January.

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WIde Format | IRISH PRINTER

INKS ACHIEVE TEXTILE STANDARD ACCREDITATION MIMAKI HAS ATTAINED THE OEKO-TEX ACCREDITATION FOR DIRECT SKIN CONTACT for its Sb300 series dye sublimation inks and Sb53 sublimation transfer inks.

The Oeko-Tex criteria catalogue provides manufacturers in the textile and clothing industry with a scientifically-based standard benchmark for the evaluation of potentially harmful substances in textiles. Oeko-Tex approved inks are suitable to finish skin-friendly clothing and other textiles for end users. Mimaki has been awarded Oeko-Tex Standard 100, product class

Il. This concerns textiles and inks which, when used as intended, have a large part of their surface in direct contact with the skin, e.g. underwear, bed linen, terry cloth items, shirts, blouses etc. The independent testing and certification system for textile products from all stages of manufacture confirms that the inks have met the human-ecological requirements of the standard for products with direct contact to skin.

The certification shows the inks

MIMAKI INVESTMENT GIVES MCMORDIE’S THE EDGE MCMORDIE BROS OF BELFAST RECENTLY INVESTED IN THE FIRST MIMAKI JFX200-2513 IN IRELAND THROUGH LONG-STANDING MIMAKI RESELLER, DENNIS D EVANS. The company is looking to expand its trade service offering to include direct to board printing and further cement its standing as rigid substrate experts in the industry.

McMordie Bros began operating over 60 years ago and has become a successful independent plastics supplier, providing the industry with rigid substrates, including Perspex, foamboard and corriboard. As a natural extension to its core business, McMordies has developed a printing and engraving arm which has taken a significant creative step forward with the installation of its Mimaki JFX2002513 grand-format LED UV flatbed printer.

The company’s owner, Andrew Fleming highlights the importance of the purchase to the company’s trade service provision. “The JFX2002513 was the obvious choice of flatbed for us, not only because of its affordability, but its 8 inch x 4 inch bed size is perfect for the easy printing of standard sized boards

which makes up a large part of our trade service business,” he says.

“The print quality we are seeing from the JFX200 is impressive and our customers are requesting some really creative work, such as printing designs onto glass.”

The Mimaki JFX200-2513 is the fourth piece of Mimaki hardware that the company has purchased through Belfast-based Mimaki reseller, Dennis D Evans. “McMordie Bros have always been a forward thinking company, being the first in Ireland to install a Mimaki CJV30 integrated printer-cutter back in 2008 and, more

fulfil the requirements of Annex XVII of REACH as well as the American requirement regarding total content of lead in children’s articles. The inks can be used on the following Mimaki systems: TS500-1800, TX500-1800DS, TX500-1800B, CJV150-107, 130 and 160, CJV300-130 and 160, JV150-130 and 160, JV300-130 and 160, JV5-320DS, TS3-1600, TS5-1600AMF, TS34-1800A and TPC-1000.

recently, they led the way with the first Mimaki SUV printer here too, so they know how to drive their business forward,” says Dennis D Evans Sales Manager, Frank Wilson.

The flatbed comes with a choice of inksets, including white and clear, making it suitable for printing a wide range of applications and substrates.

“Since its release in 2014, the uptake of the Mimaki JFX200-2513 across the UK has been phenomenal and, having installed the first one here in Ireland, McMordie Bros is already reaping the benefits of this super-fast and highly-versatile flatbed,” says Hybrid’s General Manager for Ireland, Dave Rainsford. “The JFX200 has set a benchmark for LED UV flatbeds, with superior technological benefits at a price that is affordable for investors.”

McMordie Bros owner Andrew Fleming with Frank Wilson of Mimaki reseller, Dennis D Evans.

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IRISH PRINTER | WIde Format

FUJIFILM GETS CREATIVE AT SIGN & DIGITAL Fujifilm recently announced its presence on stand J10 at Sign & Digital UK 2015 (March 24th-26th at the NEC, Birmingham), where it will showcase a wide variety of creative applications that can be produced with its range of Acuity large format printers and euromedia range of roll media.

Fujifilm will also demonstrate the light industrial applications made possible by the use of its thermoforming UV-cured inkjet ink, Uvijet KV. At Sign & Digital UK, Fujifilm will feature the Acuity Advance Select flatbed printer, which is ideal for near-photographic quality POP and signage on rigid and roll materials at up to 32.8m2/hr, alongside the Acuity LED 1600. This LED UV hybrid roll-fed printer features a number of Fujifilm technologies, including a low-energy LED curing system, and is suitable for rigid and very thin flexible materials with productivity of 20m2/hr. Both devices will be used to highlight how a host of creative, added value applications can be printed using the white and clear inks in a single pass.

“As the pioneer of wide format digital UV inkjet ink, Fujifilm will also showcase how its Acuity Advance Select and Uvijet KV inks are the perfect combination for printing high value thermoformed objects,” says Steve Cookman, Product Manager, Wide-Format Inkjet, Fujifilm UK. “Uvijet KV ink guarantees high quality, vivid colours and excellent performance, with no compromise on the print speed. Once the printing of a flat plastic sheet is completed, it is

removed to a mould where it is heated up to take on the shape of the mould and then cooled. Fujifilm will display some of the creative applications achievable by printing on substrates like polystyrene and PETG, both of which mould easily into new shapes like car dashboard covers or other 3D objects.”

A euromedia area will feature a

variety of new and established creative materials for every application. The latest additions to the range include SmartTack White and SmartTack Ghost, which are PVC-free polyester self-adhesive films for short and medium term use on smooth flat surfaces. In both cases, the film’s transparent adhesive makes the materials easy to apply and repositionable, but they can still be removed after up to three years without leaving a residue.

Recommended for both indoor and short-term outdoor use, SmartTack can be repositioned without causing any reduction in adhesive strength.

“Printers should ensure that they visit our stand at Sign & Digital UK to see the creative possibilities when Fujifilm’s state of the art printers, inks and media are integrated,” says Steve Cookman. “The range of applications that can be achieved is limited only by the imagination, while the Uvijet KV ink opens up new business opportunities in the thermoforming and light industrial markets.”

MEET THE NEOPOST TEAM AT SIGN UK AND FESPA The Neopost Ireland team of graphics account managers will be on hand to meet Irish printers at both the Sign & Digital UK exhibition, which takes place in the NEC in Birmingham from March 24th to 26th, and the FESPA 2015 exhibition in Cologne, Germany from May 18th to 22nd. If you attend and meet one of the Neopost team, give them your business card and they will send you some free cinema passes on your return. To organise meeting your account manager at the event, email y.maguire@neopost.ie. The team of Neopost Ireland account managers includes Dave Brennan (086 0490798), Karl Byrne (086 8120452), Niall Sunderland (086 8062927), and John Jennings (086 7959274).

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06/03/2015 09:54 16:56 06/03/2015

IRISH PRINTER | What’s New in Print?

Screen’s Truepress Jet520HD was the centrepiece of the Screen exhibit at this year’s Hunkeler Innovation Days.

Screen Showcases Latest Truepress SCREEN’S LATEST HIGH-SPEED WEBFED INKJET PRESS, the Truepress Jet520HD, was the centrepiece of the Screen exhibit at this year’s Hunkeler Innovation Days. The Truepress Jet520HD printed ‘live’ alongside a standard Truepress Jet520, producing a variety of commercial print applications, including highquality cookery books and short-run magazines. In addition, the Screen Truepress Jet520HD was also used

to produce the complete set of Hunkeler brochures in five different languages. The commercial work was saddle-stitched on the Screen stand while the cookery books were perfect-bound on the Hunkeler/ Horizon stand. In addition, the two presses printed a ticketing application for the Hunkeler laser perforating line. The 520mmwide Truepress Jet520HD made its exhibition debut following its

RICOH’S VC60000 MAKES GLOBAL DEBUT

The world’s first public showing of the Ricoh Pro VC60000 continuous feed, high volume inkjet press took place at Hunkeler Innovation Days. The VC60000 was presented in its full duplex printing configuration, including undercoat and protector coat capabilities. Visitors experienced first-hand its ability to print direct mail, books and marketing materials running at 1200 x 1200 dpi on standard coated offset stocks. They could see the capabilities of the Pro VC60000 with print applications that include ‘The Cult of Porsche: In the Beginning’, which was digitally printed on offset stock, delivering the impact and quality that, until now, has been associated only with offset printing. Originally produced in short runs and shown at last year’s London Book Fair, it was inkjet printed for the first time for Hunkeler Innovation Days. In addition, the Bianchi catalogue, with its challenging brand colours and high quality bike imagery, demonstrated the results that inkjet is capable of, such as readily reproducing work that was previously the preserve of offset. Ricoh also highlighted the newly-announced Ricoh Pro(tm) C9100 series, a high volume digital colour press. Running at up to 130ppm, it has a duty cycle of 1.75 million coupled with the ability to print on textured substrates and media up to 400gsm at full rated speed. Its new toner delivers a larger colour gamut and it can offer a 700mm print length for banners. Visitors saw live demonstrations during the event, including the production of the Bianchi catalogue 650mm x 225mm cover on 300gsm.

launch in September last year. The press incorporates a new paper transport system, new drying techniques, new printheads capable of producing variable-size droplets, and new screening technologies that make the most of new high-density, wide-gamut inks. The result is a press designed to deliver speeds and resolutions from 50 m/min at 1200x1200dpi to 120 m/ min at 600x600dpi on a wide range of substrates, from 40gsm to 250gsm.

Neopost Showcases New Booklet Maker Neopost Ireland is launching a new machine on the Irish market at its series of roadshows around the country this year. Starting in the Red Cow Hotel in Dublin on April 14th, the company will display the Duplo 150Cr booklet system. The new machine will also be available for display and demonstration purposes at the Neopost Ireland roadshows in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cork on April 28th and in the Radisson Blu in Limerick on May 12th. The booklet maker features inline creasing to prevent toner cracking and to create flatter books, a built-in slitter option to achieve inline full bleed booklets, a loop stapling capability, and an anti-static DCM kit, air knife, and double feed detection. The new system is ideal for low to medium volume digital printers with short run jobs and can be used by unskilled operators. It can create 15 creases and is able to slit, stitch and fold in one pass. The Duplo 150Cr can handle a maximum sheet size of 320mm x 460mm and a minimum paper size of 140mm x 210mm.

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IRISH PRINTER | What’s New in Print?

Screen’s Truepress Jet520HD was the centrepiece of the Screen exhibit at this year’s Hunkeler Innovation Days.

Screen Showcases Latest Truepress SCREEN’S LATEST HIGH-SPEED WEBFED INKJET PRESS, the Truepress Jet520HD, was the centrepiece of the Screen exhibit at this year’s Hunkeler Innovation Days. The Truepress Jet520HD printed ‘live’ alongside a standard Truepress Jet520, producing a variety of commercial print applications, including highquality cookery books and short-run magazines. In addition, the Screen Truepress Jet520HD was also used

to produce the complete set of Hunkeler brochures in five different languages. The commercial work was saddle-stitched on the Screen stand while the cookery books were perfect-bound on the Hunkeler/ Horizon stand. In addition, the two presses printed a ticketing application for the Hunkeler laser perforating line. The 520mmwide Truepress Jet520HD made its exhibition debut following its

RICOH’S VC60000 MAKES GLOBAL DEBUT

The world’s first public showing of the Ricoh Pro VC60000 continuous feed, high volume inkjet press took place at Hunkeler Innovation Days. The VC60000 was presented in its full duplex printing configuration, including undercoat and protector coat capabilities. Visitors experienced first-hand its ability to print direct mail, books and marketing materials running at 1200 x 1200 dpi on standard coated offset stocks. They could see the capabilities of the Pro VC60000 with print applications that include ‘The Cult of Porsche: In the Beginning’, which was digitally printed on offset stock, delivering the impact and quality that, until now, has been associated only with offset printing. Originally produced in short runs and shown at last year’s London Book Fair, it was inkjet printed for the first time for Hunkeler Innovation Days. In addition, the Bianchi catalogue, with its challenging brand colours and high quality bike imagery, demonstrated the results that inkjet is capable of, such as readily reproducing work that was previously the preserve of offset.

Ricoh also highlighted the newly-announced Ricoh Pro(tm) C9100 series, a high volume digital colour press. Running at up to 130ppm, it has a duty cycle of 1.75 million coupled with the ability to print on textured substrates and media up to 400gsm at full rated speed. Its new toner delivers a larger colour gamut and it can offer a 700mm print length for banners. Visitors saw live demonstrations during the event, including the production of the Bianchi catalogue 650mm x 225mm cover on 300gsm.

launch in September last year. The press incorporates a new paper transport system, new drying techniques, new printheads capable of producing variable-size droplets, and new screening technologies that make the most of new high-density, wide-gamut inks. The result is a press designed to deliver speeds and resolutions from 50 m/min at 1200x1200dpi to 120 m/ min at 600x600dpi on a wide range of substrates, from 40gsm to 250gsm.

Neopost Showcases New Booklet Maker Neopost Ireland is launching a new machine on the Irish market at its series of roadshows around the country this year. Starting in the Red Cow Hotel in Dublin on April 14th, the company will display the Duplo 150Cr booklet system. The new machine will also be available for display and demonstration purposes at the Neopost Ireland roadshows in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cork on April 28th and in the Radisson Blu in Limerick on May 12th. The booklet maker features inline creasing to prevent toner cracking and to create flatter books, a built-in slitter option to achieve inline full bleed booklets, a loop stapling capability, and an anti-static DCM kit, air knife, and double feed detection. The new system is ideal for low to medium volume digital printers with short run jobs and can be used by unskilled operators. It can create 15 creases and is able to slit, stitch and fold in one pass. The Duplo 150Cr can handle a maximum sheet size of 320mm x 460mm and a minimum paper size of 140mm x 210mm.

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20/03/2015 11:22

What’s New in Print? | IRISH PRINTER

High Definition Nozzle Doubles Print Resolution HP is claiming that its new high definition nozzle architecture printhead doubles the native print resolution of current HP inkjet printheads from 10,560 to 21,120 nozzles, delivering 2,400 nozzles per inch, (ie, per colour on a single colour printhead in quality mode). It also supports dual drop weight per colour for sharp text, fine lines, accurate skin tones, smooth grey and colour transitions, and enhanced highlight

and shadow detail. HP will also offer a new quality mode, which prints up to 122 metres (400 feet) per minute in colour with dual drop weight for a step function improvement in print quality (based on a 42-inch wide HP high-speed inkjet web press configuration). Powered by high definition nozzle architecture technology, the maximum print speed enabled will be up to 244 metres (800 feet) per minute. High definition

nozzle architecture technology will be incorporated into all HP inkjet web press platforms, including the HP T200, T300 and T400 inkjet web press families and those sold through resellers.

Current customers can upgrade to the new technology. HP T200, T300 and T400 series inkjet web press customers have printed more than 90 billion A4 equivalent pages since 2009.

New Smart Binder at Innovation Days Digital print finishing systems supplier Ibis demonstrated two new Smart-binder features at the Hunkeler Innovation Days exhibition in Switzerland (February 23rd to 26th). The latest model Ibis Smart-binder SB-3 ‘Plus HS’ was featured on the Canon stand, running in-line with a high-speed continuous-feed inkjet printer and web cutter. The two new features running on the Ibis Smart-binder are an Ibis ASA-100 Automated Stitch Adjust system and Ibis SBS-100 Sheet Buffer Module.

The ASA-100 enables the Smartbinder stitcher to continually and automatically adjust the wire staples to suit the thickness of each booklet being stitched. This allows book thickness to vary continually ‘on-the-run’ between minimum and

maximum. The SBS-100 module will be installed in between the web cutter and the Smart-binder.

The buffer receives printed sheets at a constant rate from the web cutter (as defined by the printer running speed), stores these sheets, and feeds them at variable rates into the Smartbinder, depending on the number of sheets in each booklet. The SBS-100 allows very thin booklets (for example eight-pagers and

even four-page single sheets) to be mixed with thicker booklets while maintaining a constant, high printer web speed. It even allows the in-line Smart-binder to stop and restart, if necessary, without pausing the printing operation. This SBS-100 buffer module enables Ibis customers to benefit from in-line finishing. Ibis also demonstrated the Smart-binder SB-3’s patented ISG cold-glue process as a high-quality binding alternative to wire stitching.

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IRISH PRINTER | What’s New in Print?

Agfa Graphics Updates W2P Products

Agfa Graphics has added support for electronic document distribution to the latest version of StoreFront, its open web-to-print solutions. Apogee and Asanti StoreFront v2.3 now give printers the opportunity to more easily extend their service offerings and reach new markets. Designed for the commercial printing and display/signage markets, StoreFront 2.3 can be used by any printer to market new services and products to business customers of any size.

With StoreFront, in addition to their traditional print products, printers can sell electronic products like images, PDFs, ePub files or website banners.

“As a cloud-based product, StoreFront offers print service providers a faster and more affordable way to enter the web-to-print market,” says Andy Grant, Global Head of Software, Agfa Graphics. “Tight integration with our production workflow systems saves time and avoids double data entry.

Printers increasingly want and need to offer additional services to their customers. StoreFront is the perfect tool for printers of all kinds to add document creation and distribution to their product offering, making them more essential to their customers as a

complete, one-stop communications provider.” StoreFront v2.3 also makes payment by bank transfer or check easy and convenient. As an alternative to online payment with a credit or debit card, printers can now offer payment by wire transfer.

This is useful in various markets,

Unwrapping Digitally Printed

Packaging Possibilities

HP showcased real customer packaging samples at Packaging Innovations 2015 (February 25th to 26th, NEC Birmingham) to demonstrate how HP Indigo and

Scitex solutions can help brands deliver creative marketing campaigns through packaging. The HP stand, displayed as a ‘Digitally Printed Supermarket’, featured a broad range of digitally-printed flexible packaging, folding carton, shrink sleeve, and label applications.

Packaging for wine bottles, beauty products and pharmaceuticals demonstrated the extensive capabilities of digital printing, from special printing effects and personalisation to high-quality colour reproduction. Many leading brands recognise the opportunities presented by digital printing technology and

such as government or non-profit organisations that are not allowed to pay online using credit cards. A new invoicing module makes sure buyers receive a comprehensive invoice for all of their orders. These statements are stored as PDF files for easy printing and archiving.

how utilising digital capabilities to produce packaging can enhance the consumer experience. HP presses, including the HP Indigo 20000 and 30000 digital presses, allow printers to meet the increasing demand for customisation, quicker time to market and reduced inventories.

Samples printed on the HP Scitex FB10000 industrial press were also featured on the stand, including retail packaging, POP/POS, and other corrugated applications.

“The retail market needs solutions that offer full-colour retail-ready packaging, co-packing POP/ POS displays, and just-in-time deliveries,” says Oana Manolache, UK & Ireland Marketing Manager, HP Indigo. “HP Scitex presses help corrugated converters to meet these challenges, and offer short-run, fastturnaround services.”

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IRISH PRINTER | Packaging

PRESTIGIOUS PLAUDIT FOR PLEATED PACKAGING THE CREATIVE USE OF PLEATS IN EVERY PRESENTATION ELEMENT OF ISSEY MIYAKE’S ‘PLEATS PLEASE’ L’ELIXIR LADIES PERFUME CREATED SOME PACKAGING MAGIC AT THE PRO CARTON/ECMA AWARD 2014.

ABOVE: The ‘Pleats Please’ L’Élixir packaging is printed on Sappi’s Algro Design showing pleats, but also embossed to give the feeling of pleats on both the product and the packaging.

LEFT: At this year’s Pro Carton/ECMA Award 2014 the winning entry in the Beauty & Cosmetics category was realised with Sappi’s Algro Design.

CD Cartondruck, Germany, used Algro Design to develop the winning entry in the Beauty & Cosmetics category. “It is a rare experience to see packaging with such a clearly defined message and styling as has been realised with Pleats Please L’Élixir,” stated the award organisers. “This carton features intricate embossing that attracts the eye of the consumer while converging with the branding messaging. It expresses both the clear, natural style of the brand as well as luxurious elegance.

The finishing with multi-level embossing and a matte lacquer requires considerable experience and technical precision.” The Issey

WHAT WE CAN OFFER IS EXPERT PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE, COMMITTED CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND THE CAPABILITY TO HOLD SIGNIFICANT STOCKS

‘Pleats Please’ L’Élixir features a pleated top, wrapped in a pleated bag and packaging printed showing pleats, but is also embossed to give the feeling of pleats on both the product and the packaging. Sappi’s Algro Design is a bright white carton board and its functionality with special digital finishing techniques resulted in beautifully intricate perfume packaging.

INVERCOTE UPGRADE FOR SUMMER 2015 Miyake fashion line has been renowned for its signature pleats for decades. The packaging of

From summer 2015 the bestselling paperboard in the Invercote family, Invercote G, will feature a lightly coated reverse side. “More and more brand owners want to have access

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Packaging | IRISH PRINTER

to high-quality reverse side printing, for example in order to print a colour shade or pattern which improves recognition and reinforces their brand,” says Arvid Sundblad, Vice President Sales and Marketing at Iggesund Paperboard. “The reverse side coating is very light - it improves the printing properties, but still keeps the tactile feeling of roughness.” Prior to this latest upgrade, Invercote G has been triple-coated on the print side with an uncoated reverse and is available in grammages from 180 to 380 g/m2. Coating the reverse side means that the whiteness on the reverse has also been adjusted up.

Further improvement has also been made to the lightfastness, which is crucial for a package to keep looking fresh over time on the retail shelf.

Specifications for the upgraded Invercote G, as well as sample and trial material, have been available since early February. Deliveries will start on July 1st.

MIMAKI LAUNCHES FLATBED CUTTING PLOTTER

Mimaki recently launched the CFL-605RT flatbed cutting plotter which has both creasing and cutting capabilities. The compact cutting plotter is designed to support immediate finishing of packaging and prototypes.

“There is growing demand for ondemand production of prototypes and small lots, both for products and their packaging,” explains Mike Horsten, General Manager Marketing EMEA at Mimaki Europe. “This includes fast, efficient prototyping and production of samples, as well as small lots of products and packaging that may be Mimaki’s CFL-605RT flatbed cutting plotter.

Iggesund Paperboard’s Invercote G.

modified to reflect different seasonal and regional requirements. There are promotional and special event opportunities, too. In particular, we believe markets such as cosmetics and luxury items will benefit from the ability to produce highly responsive eye-catching packaging with short lead times.”

The CFL-605RT accommodates material sizes up to oversized A2 and features a variety of functions, including creasing, and eccentric, tangential and reciprocating cutting. Used in combination with the UJF-6042, the cutting plotter can achieve on-demand production of the original goods by providing the whole production process, including printing onto goods and

packages, and cutting of cushioning materials. The eccentric cutter has a maximum cutting thickness of 1mm with an optimal downforce setting between 30 and 1,000g. The tangential cutter features a maximum cutting thickness of 2mm with high downforce pressure, including materials such as reflective vinyl and rubber sheets. The reciprocating cutter has a maximum 10mm cutting thickness for materials such as foam or cardboard and uses a vertical reciprocating motion. The creasing roller creases materials for a perfect package. Downforce pressures are adjustable from 500g to 1,000g.

THE IGGESUND DESIGN CHALLENGE – IMPROVE PACKAGING IN LOCAL SHOPS

Iggesund Paperboard is working via the American crowdsourcing company Crowdspring to challenge the world’s designers to improve existing consumer packaging.

“Every day we all see examples of packaging that could be improved by a better choice of materials or a better design,” explains Staffan Sjöberg, who is in charge of the project at Iggesund Paperboard. “Now we’re giving designers all over the world the chance to contribute their ideas on how to replace packaging made of glass, plastic or metal with solutions that use paperboard.” He stresses that Iggesund is not looking

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IRISH PRINTER | Packaging

Iggesund is challenging designers to make everyday consumer packaging more sustainable by replacing plastic, glass and metal with paperboard. As one example, a decade ago almost all sandwich packaging was made of plastic – now paperboard packaging is increasingly common for sustainability reasons.

for inexpensive ideas which can be put into commercial use. Instead, the aim is to get a picture of how global designers as a collective group believe they can steer packaging development in a more sustainable direction. “We will not claim any commercial rights to the ideas that come in,” he says. “We’re just interested in getting a snapshot of how designers believe they can improve the packaging they see in the shops they visit on a daily basis. We want to publish the ideas and maybe reproduce some of them in physical form but we are not interested in exploiting them commercially.” For Crowdspring, the collaboration with Iggesund Paperboard is an unusual project.

Normally the online marketplace’s services are used when someone wants either a number of inexpensive design proposals or a wide range of ideas. “This is an unusual reason for initiating a project with us,” says Mike Samson, who is coordinating the project with Iggesund. “But we believe its combination of sustainability and innovative thinking will attract many of the thousands of designers listed in our database.”

CUSTOMISED PRINTING FOR SANITARY PRODUCTS

Danish flexo technology provider Tresu Group has introduced a flexo printing solution to be integrated inline with converting machines for disposable sanitary napkins. The unit, custom-developed following long-term collaboration with leading global sanitary napkin brand owners, applies patterns on the inside of the napkin. “Demand for an efficient means of applying patterns has arisen following research that shows increased consumer loyalty to brands

featuring printed designs,” says Allan Sander, Sales Director MBA, Tresu Solutions. “The customised printing integration system enables the personal hygiene industry to achieve this, while maintaining a cost-controlled, flexible, single-pass operation.”

Built to accommodate different web-fed materials, the unit comprises up to four water-based colours, a hot air dryer and, at the embossing point, a register guidance camera. Located at the point of embossing, the register guidance system ensures synchronisation of the printed pattern with the crease in the centre of the napkin, at speeds of up to 400 metres per minute (approximately 2,000 pieces per minute). Using the converting machine interface signals as a point of reference, the control module influences the servo motors to ensure accuracy is maintained on-the-fly throughout the production run. Servo drives ensure automatically controlled, precise print speed and ink flow, so that operation without in-house flexo experience or handling is possible. The integration unit includes Tresu’s F10 iCon ink supply system with automatic cleaning.

Sealed, pressure-controlled chambered doctor blade systems enable direct, foam-free transfer of ink or coating to the anilox rollers and the system is optimised for fast job changes. A control system stores and, in the case of repeat jobs, instantly recalls job recipes, so no re-entry of ink and calibration data is needed.

Tresu Group introduces customised printing unit for integration into converting machines for sanitary products

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Talking Technical | IRISH PRINTER

WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH ISO STANDARDS FOR PRINT? THE ISO’S GLOBAL TC130 COMMITTEE WILL MEET IN BOLOGNA FROM MAY 11TH TO 16TH. PRINT TECHNOLOGY EXPERT DAN WILSON TAKES A LOOK AT SOME OF THE TOPICS THAT WILL BE CONSIDERED AT THE GATHERING.

The ISO Technical Committee 130 (TC130) looks after everything in print, from safety buttons and soft proofing, to the colour on press, the output device, PDFs - and everything in-between.

All participating countries have a local TC130 committee.

Global meetings are held twice a year and each meeting is in a different country. The last meeting was mid-November in Beijing, China. The number of attendees varies from about 60 to well over 100, depending on the location of the meeting and the topics being covered. The TC130 committee has 13 Working Groups (WGs), each covering a specialised area such as Safety and Ergonomics, Prepress Data Exchange, Security Printing, and Process Control.

Scheduling the six-day meeting is quite a challenge, as experts are often involved in several WGs. For example, a significant portion of experts involved with ‘WG 3 Process Control’, which looks after ISO 12647-x colour on press, are likely to be interested in ‘WG2 Prepress Data Exchange’, which is currently working on a standard to define better communication of spot colours to assist more accurate brand colour reproduction.

WG2 - PREPRESS DATA EXCHANGE

WG1 – TERMINOLOGY ‘ISO 5776 – Symbols for Text Proof Correction’ is a standard that harmonises reader’s correction marks across the world.

It is ready for final corrections and vote at the Bologna meeting.

With any luck it will be published during the second half of 2015.

Previously some European, Middle Eastern and East Asian countries had their own systems and it was all a bit of a jumble. I think maybe Cambodia and Laos may be the only countries that did not have time to engage with this revision.

This group is working to finalise ‘ISO 16612 – Variable Data Exchange’ using PDF/ X4, which includes a facility for closed loop checking of variable data, reprint recovery for prints that failed verification, and ensures that security-based information is only held temporarily. This standard is also a platform for ‘fixed speed without pause variable print’ for reel fed printing. This will become commonplace in the coming years. Several other PDF-related standards are also in the process of being revised. WG2 project ‘ISO 18620 Tone Adjustment Curves Exchange’ is heading closer to publication. This work has devised a standard way to describe RIP press dot gain correction curves. As someone who makes a living calibrating presses, I can vouch for how tricky it is to know how to enter dot gain correction values into every RIP system on the planet!

WG3 – PROCESS CONTROL & RELATED METROLOGY This is the busiest group and many projects run in parallel. A few examples are listed below.

One interesting project, code named

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IRISH PRINTER | Talking Technical

‘Schmo’, is about devising a way to reliably predict the colour of spot colour tint values. This has been a very enjoyable, interesting, scientific and mathematical project, with many theories put to the test in practice.

The goal is to predict what a 50% tint will look like from a known solid spot colour. Even though a lot of work has been done already, this project is only at the start of the ISO process and it will most likely be 18 months before a standard is agreed and published.

AS SOMEONE WHO MAKES A LIVING CALIBRATING PRESSES, I CAN VOUCH FOR HOW TRICKY IT IS TO KNOW HOW TO ENTER DOT GAIN CORRECTION VALUES INTO EVERY RIP SYSTEM ON THE PLANET!

‘ISO 15331 – Requirements for Printed Matter for Commercial and Industrial Production’ This is a fairly major effort in WG3.

The initial thinking was to define a standard for industrial printing on wide format devices but it grew to cover many aspects of digital printing quality and evolved in such a way that it encroached on other standards. To the angst of some Europeans, ISO 15331-x was diverted to a technical specification path - still ‘ISO’ but not as strong as a standard. At the recent Beijing meeting significant problems were highlighted and after three years of work it was back to re-writing the introduction page to clarify the focus of the specification. ∆E 00 (Delta E 2000) Delta E (∆E) has never been a completely simple subject. To explain from the beginning, Delta means ‘the difference’ and in mathematics the Greek letter ∆ is used. Delta E, also called Delta E*ab or Delta E76 (and usually written simply as Delta E), has been the main colour difference metric in graphic arts since 1976.

Some ink mixing software vendors (you know who you are!) suggest the use of Delta CMC to measure colour

difference. It gives lower numbers for the same colour difference (and makes the ink mixing software look better than it really is) but Delta CMC was designed by people in the UK fabric and dye industries and is not relevant to graphic arts.

Up to 2013 the only Delta E mentioned in standards was Delta E*ab. Delta E*ab works by calculating the difference (colour distance) from one Lab* reading to another Lab* reading - a very clean mathematical path that we can all understand.

Now, if we compare two red samples and two green samples, each with ∆E*ab 5, we imperfect humans will see a greater colour change in red than in green, even though the ∆Eab colour distance is mathematically the same! Delta E*ab is calculated like a 3D sphere around the target colour and measurements are made in a straight radius line from the centre of the control sphere to the sample coordinate. This distance is the ‘Delta E’ result. ∆E00 (Delta E 2000) is structured in a way that allocates proportional differences for various parts of the colour spectrum. Rather than calculating a spherical colour difference, DE00 calculates 3D ellipses with proportionally larger ellipses in the green compared to the red area of the spectrum (see graph on this page). Using this proportional approach means the Delta Eoo numbers correlate better with human vision. The formula results in comparatively lower Delta numbers, roughly 2/3 of Delta E*ab values. For example, DE*ab 4.61 scales to DE00 2.99 for the same colour difference.

The present ISO 12647-2:2013 Standard specifies DE*ab 5 for CMYK solids. The DE00 targets suggested are K 5, C 3.5, M 3.5, and Y 3.5.

Delta E00 makes good sense in the long run but will cause a few bumps while we all get used to the new path. The new Screen Print, Gravure and Flexo ISO Standards all use Delta E00 as their standard measure.

The ironic exception is offset, ISO 12647-2:2013, which still specifies DE*ab. To me this is a reflection of that standard being managed in an isolated fashion in Europe as a special case, rather than being a cohesive part of all other print standards that are being managed by the TC130 secretariat in China.

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Talking Technical | IRISH PRINTER

WG3 - TASK FORCE 3 WG3 recently voted no to reject a proposal that I thought beautifully unified colour from all the different printing processes. ‘ISO 15339 - Printing from Digital Data Across Multiple Technologies’ offered “shared colour appearance across multiple processes and substrates”. This was a US offering and I believe it to be the best possible way to harmonise brand image from every printing process. Germany and the offset press lobby championed the no vote. Every step of the US’s work was shared and peer reviewed.

An offset print produced with ISO 15339 is in tolerance with ISO 126472 and vice versa. For the time being, colour is anchored to how an offset press reproduces a 50% dot on plate with the eight paper types specified in ISO 12647-2. This approach results in different colour appearances of the same job printed on different paper.

WG4 - MEDIA AND MATERIALS WG4 recently re-endorsed a standard about liquid ink for gravure and flexo printing. Ireland abstained from voting as the latest version of ‘ISO 12647-6 Flexographic Printing’ dictates the use of ink hue angles rather than the old fashioned method of specifying transparency and Lab* solid ink values on a substrate that is no longer relevant. WG4 has moved a worthwhile project forward to DIS (Draft International Standard) Stage - ‘DIS 12632 Ink, Paper and Labels Requirements on Hot Alkali Penetration and Resistance’. This important project relates to removing wet glued labels from (beer) bottles and jars for reuse.

So that recycling can be as efficient as possible, a ‘Standard Hot Alkali Solution’ should be used and 12632 specifies the equipment and process to test that solutions are correct for the process.

WG11 WG11 has a standard at the very beginning of the ISO process.

‘Guidelines to Determine the Operating Power Consumption of Digital Printing Devices’ is designed to measure the energy efficiency of digital printing devices. The standard will offer a method to work out energy efficiency/ consumption in standby mode as well as in production. This will contribute to a clear understanding of the carbon footprint of prints created on those devices. There is a standard that is

used to measure the time it takes for a digital printer/copier to ‘warm up for production’ until it delivers the expected quality on the first print.

WG12 - POSTPRESS WG12 did spectacular work on ‘ISO 16763 - Post-Press - Requirements for Bound Products’. This standard should be in every technical college in the world. It is a very good explanation of perfect bound book production and the diagrams are excellent. In Bologna, WG12 will start work on ‘ISO 16762 - Requirements for Post-press General’. This will be a look at how to standardise various aspects of finishing.

China has made huge contributions to this Working Group. A continuing project is ‘Test Method for the Determination of the Binding Strength for Perfect Bound Production - Page Pull Tests Working Upwards’. It sounds a bit boring, but if you had to work out a test machine and process that could not be questioned by anyone then your brain might start ticking.

WG13 – PRINTING CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT This group is trying to harmonise print certification schemes from around the world. One project is a proposed ‘colour quality management certification scheme’ based on the BPIF scheme, which has integrated aspects of ISO 9001, ISO 12647, and other supporting standards. Maybe this path will tick all the boxes of print quality management to the satisfaction of ISO 9001 auditors and print buyers but I think there are less rigorous and less expensive paths that offer (virtually) the same quality assurance for print buyers and printers.

Away from the ISO, over in the US, IDEAlliance’s Print Properties Committee (of which I am a member) have been developing ‘Guide to M1 Workflow’, which addresses using new spectrophotometers to measure and manage colour printed on optically brightened papers. The result is a much better match between proof and print.

Another IDEAlliance project of great import is a survey of brand owners about the accurate reproduction of brand colours. While it is in the early stages, this work will evolve into a guide that brand owners can use in their assessment of the capabilities of their current or prospective printed collateral suppliers. Every day printers win and lose valuable customers due

Independent consultant Dan Wilson is Chair of the Irish TC130, a PSA Consultant (R.I.T. Printing Standards Audit), IDEAlliance G7 expert, and FTA flexo colour implementation specialist.

to their ability to consistently and accurately reproduce spot/brand colours. This project will most likely evolve into a helpful checklist for both the print buyer and the printer.

Although TC130 meetings sound ‘a little dry and boring’, being in a meeting room with 40 or 50 other people interested in all things print but sometimes with differing opinions makes for a very interesting time with a lot of quite entertaining discussions.

The Irish TC130 meets regularly and all are welcome to attend. For more information, contact Dan Wilson on (085) 768 2733 or email: Dan.Wilson@ PressRoomColour.com.

COLOUR IS ANCHORED TO HOW AN OFFSET PRESS REPRODUCES A 50% DOT ON PLATE WITH THE EIGHT PAPER TYPES SPECIFIED IN ISO 12647-2.

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