Print Pack Publish Covering the Printing, Packaging and Publishing Industries across Asia.
MITA(P)191/10/2003 - KDN PPS 1529/8/2004
January 2011 US$8.50
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Contents Page 2 6 10 14 16 18 20 24 28 30 34 36 38 42 44 46 48 50 54 58 64
Innovation with inkjet Electronic and social media are not threats to print Hedge your bets: pin paper prices down "Always a step ahead!" Fuji Xerox expands light production printer range When Will Digital Printing Take Over from Offset Printing? An interview with top management World’s first Heidelberg large format press with dual coating up and running EcoLogic combines ecology, economy, and sustainability Business Inspection: Integration is the key A large responsibility for small parts New title for leader in banknote and security presses A need for speed Heidelberg puts printers to the test News delays launch of first iPad newspaper Press for transition into commercial web offset System, speed, success Frozen and refrigerated food packaging sectors HP evolving to digital trend Industry news from all over the world Some funny items collected over the last month
116 Lavender Street #03-02 Pek Chuan Building Singapore 338730 tel+65 6733 5342 fax +65 6733 3586 Publisher Paul Callaghan paulftw@tm.net.my Managing Director Elizabeth Liew eliew@cpublish.com.sg Editor Ann Callahan calmor@ihug.co.nz Journalist Christel Lee editorasia@cpublish.com.sg Advertising Sales Matthew Callahan matt@cpublish.com.sg Accounts Manager Radika Balani accounts@cpublish.com.sg Accounts Meynard Gloria accounts@cpublish.com.sg
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Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
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Management/General
Innovation with inkjet Tribute visits what he claims may be the birthplace of modern digital book printing and says the high speed inkjet colour is not just for the big boys Today the digital printing of books has become a major subject and it is a business area where there has been substantial investment this year. This investment has been in many of the new continuous feed high-speed colour inkjet presses. Digital book printing however has been around for a long time before we saw this latest stage of its development. This latest move was into colour book printing, and also to allow for longer print runs using digital printing to become more economical. The short run printing of books using digital printing has been a major development for some time with leading printers like Lightning Source, CPI and others having significant operations using both sheetfed and continuous feed monochrome xerographic presses. Booksellers like Amazon have also got
into the business to convert stored digital libraries into printed books on demand when an order is received. We
have also seen a major growth in self publishing of books using web sites like lulu.com and printers like Colorcentric.
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Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
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Management/General In following up on the new inkjet printing technology I recently visited one of the printers that had invested in this technology. King Printing in the USA was perhaps the first book printer to invest in this new inkjet technology when it became the first commercial printing company in North America to install the Screen Truepress Jet520. Not only was it the first book printer in the USA to invest in inkjet technology, I believe it may have been the first book printer to invest in digital technology two decades before, and I will cover this in the next few paragraphs. Then earlier this year it installed an HP T300 press and also made a commitment for a Kodak Prosper 1000 monochrome inkjet press. My reason for visiting King Printing, apart from the fact I was on my way to a meeting nearby, was that I was intrigued to see what was special about them. I had been in contact with the company and met the Chinai family, the owners of King Printing, at Ipex earlier this year. Now I am used to visiting many of these progressive printers, and I often find them in modern large facilities, and they often can be subsidiaries of large organisations. King Printing did not fit this mould and I found them in a modest, but well kept, plant on a business estate. The company had no plush reception or grandiose meeting rooms, and was just like many small and medium sized printers one finds all around the world. What I did find however was a company that may well have really started the market for short run digital book printing. King Printing was founded just over 30 years ago by Sid Chinai and
his wife as a very small print shop, or really a copy shop. This operated with Sid selling by day and running the press and finishing systems by night working alongside his wife. Today both of them still work in the organisation that is run by their son Adi Chinai. Soon after the company started it received enquiries from a major book publisher despite the fact they had no suitable equipment for printing books. They did however build a good relationship with this publisher for doing work that was appropriate for their equipment. Seeing the business opportunity they invested in equipment for book printing with both sheet and web offset equipment. The business built up with work from many book publishers. During the 1980s they looked for a better way of handling short run printing and in 1988 installed their first digital press a 5090 Digital Press, this coming from Xerox. This was a success and they soon had multiple Xerox presses in operation. Note that this is before the days of the Xerox Docutech. This short run business took off and King Printing concentrated on this business, eventually transitioning into one of the first installations of a series
of Docutech presses. They did however later switch from Xerox to using Heidelberg (now Kodak) Digimaster sheet fed monochrome digital presses. In 1994 again the company moved at an early stage into another new technology (CTP) to feed its offset presses with the installation of a Creo 3244 platesetter imaging Kodak thermal plates. To put this into context it was not until drupa in 1995 that Creo really became known and the Kodak plate was officially launched. Today King Printing uses the Kodak Magnus, a derivative of that early Creo platesetter. This makes plates for some of the remaining offset equipment, such as a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD74 and a Strachan and Henshaw web fed book press to name a few. Seeing the potential of moving short run book printing into a wider market and also to being able to produce colour books the company installed the Screen Truepress Jet 520. The location of this became a challenge for Screen and it became the first such press to be installed with a turner bar between printing units so the press could be installed in a corner of the factory. An inline Hunkeler finishing system was also linked into the press via a turner system. The workload on this press rapidly built up with both monochrome and colour work. The HP T300 press followed and was installed this year. This too was squeezed into another corner of the factory. When I visited a Muller Martini Sigmaline finishing system was being installed, also via a turner bar system. The Kodak Prosper 1000 press has been put back for the moment but is planned for installation in early 2011.
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
Management/General The factory also has a large paper warehouse and a very substantial bindery. For book covers for the digital printing operations the company runs a Kodak Nexpress. I was interested to find out why it had chosen different equipment and what it saw as the differences between the presses. Initially it purchased the Screen Truepress 720 as it was the only available technology. While the company was very happy with the Truepress it saw the wider web width and higher speed of the HP T300 press would open up the market further. Adi Chinai also stated that for book work in colour it is essential to use pigment inks rather than dye based inks as the quality is superior and replicated offset printing better. He also stated that while they were very happy with the Hunkeler finishing system on the Truepress, he could not wait for them to produce the wider measure version of their equipment, so he installed the Muller Martini Sigmaline on the HP T300 press. It is interesting to note however that he will be visiting the Hunkeler Innovation Days event next
February in Switzerland, so perhaps we may see a Hunkeler finishing system on the Kodak Prosper press when that is installed. One area of growth for the inkjet printing operation is by the company’s plans to move out of toner-based printing where possible and transfer this to inkjet. The company is not just advanced in identifying and moving into new areas of business, it is also very innovative. It has its own programming staff and has developed its own book
production workflow. It also maintains most of its equipment, particularly the offset and digital toner presses. Visiting King Printing was a breath of fresh air. It showed that small printers with vision and the ability to implement high speed inkjet colour can succeed against much bigger competitors. I really look forward to visiting King Printing again next year when their next press is installed. •
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Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
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Management/General
Electronic and social media are not threats to print It is a bold statement that digital content and social media are not threatening our industry as many feel. Instead, the more electronic things get, the more printing will be consumed. L.T. Huang, vice president of Gold East Paper, explains the logic behind this statement to Christel Lee. PPPA: What are your observations of the industry in Asia? Huang: The core of the business in my opinion is in North America and Europe. However with the worldwide economic developments, the globe has witnessed China’s aggressive growth – making Asia an economy whose force is to be reckoned with. Industrial and economic growth, as well as cultural standards, have a pivotal role in printing on paper.
certainly quickening communication speeds. However, for mediums such as the internet, the most direct impact (in my opinion) is on newspapers. We are aware that circulation has drastically declined and advertisement revenues have suffered a big cut.
paper, which can be used for colour printing. Magazines and other products produced using art paper deliver good quality and superior visual effects as advertisements require. The virtue of producing quality itself is not easily replaced.
At Gold East Paper, our specialty is art
Secondly, the feel of a physical book
China has enjoyed a two-digit growth in the last few years, and its culture is gradually gaining worldwide recognition. These aspects drive the escalation of the print industry in Asia. In the past, print standards in Asia would not have been close to those of North America and Europe. Today, American and European books and magazines are produced at preferred locations such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand; in other words, Asia. The main reason is lower costs. In my personal opinion, printing in Asia has the potential of eclipsing America and Europe. PPPA: What is your view about electronic data transmission and social media being a strong, although gradual, threat to the print industry? Huang: I am often posed this question. Electronic data transmission today is
L.T. Huang, vice president of Gold East Paper,
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
Management/General and an electronic book is different. Native Chinese like us particularly enjoy the “book scent”, as well as the physical feel of holding a book. Making notes on a book versus on an electronic book has a different feel. Thirdly, the internet audience demographics still favors young people. Moreover, the book-buying power of internet surfers is not substantial. The impact therefore is not as big as what many assume. In my 40 years of experience in the industry, I have witnessed the evolution of communications. In my opinion, the more electronic things get, the more paper will be consumed. For example, the increase of printers in an office will lead to an increase of printing. As a paper supplier, I do not see any direct impact coming our way. However, textbooks, novels and those text-heavy medium are indeed affected more by the digital media. PPPA: The industry constantly faces challenges in volatile prices of paper. What is your message in response to this issue? Huang: Given our position, we are naturally more sensitive to the movements of paper prices. But the issue of volatile prices does not lie solely with paper in our industry. Paper is the primary material for the printing industry, and the root cause of consumables’ prices fluctuation is the cost of raw materials. As we know, pulp is the raw material for manufacturing paper. Pulp supply is something that cannot be produced with a dictated amount at will. How the plantation fares is subject to the environment and climate conditions. Additionally, there is the issue of supply and demand – when the demand is high and supply is low, there is a direct and natural impact on pricing. The first half of 2010 saw a hike in paper prices, due to a shorter supply of pulp. Natural disasters, for example the earthquake in Chile in the first half of 2010 affected pulp supply and resulted in increase in paper price,. When demand escalates, the demand applies to pulp supply as well, which impacts the pricing. Not to mention
the distributors who also hike their prices for distribution service, in lieu of factors such as fuel prices and the like. Many ask me what is to be expected for paper prices next year. It’s hard to say. Drastic climate change is also frequent; nobody is able to foretell when the next typhoon, earthquake, temperature change or other natural disasters will occur. PPPA: Europe has suffered closures of many paper mills. Has it brought Gold East Paper positive impacts? Huang: Not just Europe, but America also has not been spared. Summing up: it’s competition. Costs are high, and investment in new equipment and technologies to advance the mill’s operations are often put on the backseat. As a result, paper mills lose competitive advantages. Europe’s paper manufacturing is also substantially influenced by woodchip supply. I understand their source is Russia, which has also increased its prices for woodchips. Having said that, my answer to your question is “yes”. However, our products have to be acceptable to customers as well. External market forces do not solely determine our performance. PPPA: Gold East Paper is known to be one of the biggest players in China. What are the next countries of focus for Gold East in Asia? Huang: Gold East Paper considers a wide variety of factors before making a decision to set up operations. We need to maneuver within the whole government, social and technological
infrastructure before making the move. As our enterprise takes pride in producing the best for customers, that encompasses investment in not only the right kind of people, but technologies and transportation too. We have our own shipping harbour in China as we use sea freight for delivery. It widens our profit margin through lowering transportation costs. PPPA: Any last messages for the industry? Huang: Gold East Paper has been in the industry for 13 years. We constantly strive to provide the best products with competitive prices, topped with good service to our customers.
LT Huang has over 40 years experience in the paper industry. Starting as an engineer in YFY, the largest paper manufacturer in Taiwan, Mr. Huang worked his way from engineer, Q&A manager, and production manager to chief production director. In 1997, he joined Gold East Paper in China as vice president and oversees R&D, Q&A, Customer Service, Logistics, and Procurement. Mr. Huang has a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Chung Yuan Christian University (Taiwan) and is an amateur photographer.
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Client Advanced Printing Services Company Ltd. Industry GA-Commercial Print
Online and On Target for New Growth The need to upgrade their operations turned into a golden opportunity for Thai printer Advanced Printing Services to take their business to new heights, thanks to Fuji Xerox’s FreeFlow WebService. At A Glance The Challenge • Operational adjustments entailed the creation of an automated system for business • Transitioning from offset to digital workflows required a system to integrate and maximise both printing methods • Personalised marketing a necessity to add value and competitive edge to services The Fuji Xerox Solution • FreeFlow Web Service mounted a 24/7 web server for commerce, connecting products and services to customers in an accessible and attractive print shop • 700 DCP and Oris Press Matcher simplifed the hybrid offset-digital workflow while increasing capacity for print material production • XMPie uDirect® Studio provided an advanced yet user-friendly interface for producing variable printing data The Results • APS integrated with other subsidiary companies in a fully wired online business, expanding its customer base while saving on resources • 60% of inkjet proofs converted to digital proofs, decreasing turnaround time while achieving superior colour results • Value added for customers with variable printing data made available for their print requirements
A subsidiary of the Technology Supply (TS) Group, Advanced Printing Services Company Ltd. (APS) is a professional offset print provider. APS is a one-stop shop for its customers with its full service range of graphic design, pre-press, press, and post-press systems. Priding themselves on the high quality of its output , APS’ print products range from corporate and industrial manuals to promotional print media. The Challenge
Downsizing required upgrading. Faced with a shortage of staff, the APS management team sought to take the business to the next level, even with diminished human resources. This meant automating operations, but in a way that would help APS tap into new markets while maximising existing business structures. On the brink of a new printing era. The shift of the printing industry from offset to digital workflow presented a second growth opportunity for APS: not only to upgrade their existing technology, but to also optimise the transition by offering an integrated approach to both digital and offset printing. Personalised marketing: harnessing the competitive edge. A buzzword throughout the industry, one-to-one marketing wasn’t just a fad for APS. Variable data printing
(VDP) would bring a new and attractive feature in APS’ arsenal of services. However they needed a special solution, one that was comprehensive yet flexible, enabling them to provide personalised marketing services to their clients that were ahead of the game.
The Fuji Xerox Solution
Extensive support and knowledge-sharing. Fuji Xerox Thailand stood apart from other competitors in the dedicated assistance of its sales, specialist, and business development teams. APS benefited especially from the team’s expertise of the latest developments in digital print, assuring the printer that the Fuji Xerox solution was on the pulse of the future. Seamless round-the-clock service. To maximise the structural changes in office operations, the Fuji Xerox team proposed the FreeFlow Web Service, a business workflow management software programme specifically designed for the printing industry. Flexible and easily manageable, the application utilised a dedicated web server to mount and maintain an online print shop. Through Web Services, print providers could create, customise, order, print, and deliver jobs in one streamlined operation, staying connected to their customers 24/7.
Colour expansion and integration. To upgrade its print infrastructure, APS employed the industry-leading 700 Digital Color Press (700 DCP). Celebrated for the vibrancy and precision of its colour production, the 700 DCP also had an extensive capacity for various stacking, stapling, and folding configurations. In addition, the Oris Press Matcher was utilised to further ensure flawless colour consistency. The impressive colour management system used an automated process to convert colour spaces from multiple sources—inkjet proofing, offset press production, and digital printing—to a common destination target.
variable data image personalisation and graphs and charts based on individual recipient data. The software programme provided a level of ease and versatility in managing variable data software, unmatched by Fuji Xerox competitors.
The Fuji Xerox Answer • FreeFlow Web Service • 700 Digital Color Press • Oris Press Matcher Software • XMPie uDirect® Studio
Targeting the right message for the right audience. Lastly, Fuji Xerox equipped APS with its own suite of VDP tools to harness the wave of personalised marketing. A powerful and comprehensive VDP solution, the XMPie uDirect® Studio created effective and impactful communications through advanced
The Results
Integrating services, expanding business. Through FreeFlow Web Service, APS enabled its parent company, the TS Group, to mount an e-commerce platform that fully integrated its other businesses: apart from APS, the website also encompassed Sign-A-Rama (TS Group’s Signage shop franchise), its Spectroscope distributor, and premium goods supplier. This attractive and always-accessible online shop thus opened a new distribution channel, expanding the company’s customer base.
Saving costs on time, labour, and resources. The Web Service also transformed previously labour-dependent tasks like file collection into one-click operations on its online shop, enhancing response time while streamlining the workflow. Efficiency was likewise enhanced in colour production and turnaround time. The 700 DCP produced print jobs faster and with higher colour quality, as the Oris Press Matcher enabled the office to switch 60% of its proofing process from inkjet to digital proofs.
Value-added benefits for customers. APS’ new capacities for VDP and direct mailing met customer requirements with impressive accuracy, and increased the value of both their digital and offset static applications.
For more information on Advanced Printing Services: www.adprint.co.th chitpoun@technology-supply.com
For more information or detailed product specifications, call or visit us at Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd 80 Anson Road, #37-00 Fuji Xerox Tower Singapore 079907 Tel. 65 6766 8888 Fax. 65 62392764 http://www.fxap.com.sg © 2010 Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. XEROX, and the sphere of connectivity design are trademarks or registered trademarks of Xerox Corporation in the United States and other/or other countries.
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
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Management/General
Hedge your bets: pin paper prices down As paper price rises continue to wreak havoc in the industry, Helen Morris asks if negotiating a fixed price could pay off in the long term
In the agricultural industries, the whim of nature can distort prices wildly between the very cheap in a bumper crop year and the very expensive in the leaner years. For a farmer, investing in growing produce is therefore a risky business, with no guarantee of a return on spending. Hence, hedging, the process of fixing a price for a commodity over an agreed period to reduce exposure to fluctuating prices, is a common practice. If the price drops below what you agreed, then well done to you, but if it goes higher, then the client is quids in. Either way, the price is set at a level both parties are happy with, so, whatever the market does, everyone knows where they stand. Printers, being an observant bunch when it comes to potential cash savings, have eyed this trend with interest. Paper
prices are inflating rapidly - in the past year, price rises of up to 30% have been reported. So if you fixed your price at the beginning of 2010, you would be forgiven a smile. It’s fair to say David Clarke, managing director of Slough-based Vario Press, is smiling very broadly indeed. At the start of 2010, his customers were asking for savings over the course of the year and Clarke knew the only way he could guarantee that was if he could fix the price of his paper. "I had seen people hedge in other industries and thought there was no reason it shouldn’t be done in print," he explains. "At the start of the contract, I went about 3-4% higher above the then price, as a sweetener. Twelve months
later, prices are at least 15% higher. We have obviously made a massive saving." Clarke fixed his price with two major suppliers. One stayed true to its word and stuck with the price over the course of the year-long contract. The other backed out, claiming force majeure at the first sign of a rise in the price of paper. "This was not ideal," admits Clarke. "We had an agreed price for the year with clients so this was a massive hindrance." Stock options Unfortunately, when negotiating a fixed price, this is a danger. Difficulties can also arise if you use multiple paper products. Clarke is perhaps fortunate that Vario Press mainly uses MCS triple-coated from Arjowiggins
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Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
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Management/General is key to passing on a fixed price to customers. Kieran Ferguson, commercial director at cartonboard merchant Warren Board, says that this is increasingly looking to be an unlikely occurrence. In the carton and graphical boards sector, he says the vast majority of mills are shying away from fixing prices for any longer than a quarter, while some are granting validity for only a month. "With the unprecedented cost increases seen this year they are reluctant to tie themselves into any long-term pricing," he says.
Appleton, giving him an advantage at the negotiating table. "Obviously, using a set product gives us an advantage in hedging, but if any client wants good prices they have to be prepared to trade a bit," reveals Clarke. "If you say to them, we are going to buy these main brands in bulk that you will have to use in order to fix our prices and give you a good price, they will turn to you and say ‘well done’ as it also gives them the security of price they need. It’s a win-win." From the merchant’s point of view, hedging can be just as good a deal, though Paul French, managing director of Paperlinx merchant Robert Horne Group, says each case is judged individually. "Merchants do sometimes allow customers to buy a fixed rate over a fixed period of time," he says. "However, any agreements made are customer specific and are dependent upon the volume plus the mix of stock and indent, sheets and reels." It can get quite complex, then, and as such, some may view hedging as a bit of a gamble for both parties. It is very difficult to predict future price fluctuations from the merchant’s point of view, as Antalis McNaughton’s regional marketing director Richard Champion confirms. He says that hedging in relation to price movements is not an area in which the company has particular expertise or experience, admitting that "it is a commercially
technical field". Part of the problem in predicting, says Champion, is that paper prices in the UK have gone from a relatively low level to where they are today. Pulp friction And the crystal ball is even cloudier in its forecast for 2011. Those merchants that did negotiate a fixed-price contract last year no doubt lost out as pulp prices kept rising. From the merchant’s perspective, a fixed price from the mill
It would seem that some in the market are certainly expecting cost rises. Denmaur Independent Papers marketing director Peter Sommerville says this is certainly the case in newsprint and that mill groups are indicating coated mechanical qualities are also "certain to rise" in January. However, it is not yet certain if the same applies for woodfree coated and uncoated markets. He reveals: "With all the talk of international trade tariffs in the woodfree sector and the general uncertainty over currencies, it is
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
Management/General 13 proving extremely difficult to gauge accurately as to what we are seeing in our proverbial crystal ball." Robert Horne’s French adds that, though costs have shown some signs of stabilising, and that pulp prices may have peaked, he is not expecting significant reductions and cannot rule out future rises. It’s a nervous situation, then, and one that BPIF corporate affairs director Andrew Brown believes is down to a number of variables. "I have spoken to a variety of people in the paper industry who believe that prices may level out in 2011," he says. "Some experts even seem to think that there may be a fall in prices because demand for paper in Western Europe could fall faster than supply and because the short-term supply issues (including hurricanes, earthquakes and strikes) that caused major shortages at the start of the year have passed through the system. Whether the UK will benefit from any such shift in the market to the degree that other countries may do is at issue though, as the UK market is seen as less attractive by many merchants because of shipping costs and exchange rates." This ambiguity in the market along with the rises of last year makes negotiating a fixed-price term for 2011 at best difficult, at worst impossible. Clarke, for example, has gone back to his 2010 fixed price supplier and found the door is not fully open to a similar deal. "I am in negotiations to do the same again, but they are obviously slightly apprehensive as they would have lost out towards the end of the year," he says. "Obviously, because of the rises, we will take a hit as our starting point is the higher price. I am hopeful we can do a deal and I’ve looked at ways to minimise the jump in costs from last year – the main one being buying my paper in bulk. By doing this, I should be able to get away with only a 10% increase in my paper costs, which is lower than it would have been." Clarke’s supplier has provided him with a spreadsheet of the company’s paper usage last year. From this, Clarke can work out how much paper he needs per
month and get it delivered in advance in a container. He has the room to store it and it reduces the deliveries for his supplier, therefore reducing its costs. This reduction is then passed on to Clarke. "It means paying for it up front but I don’t mind as I know we’ll use it," says Clarke. "And by buying in bulk it saves the supplier on delivery costs so will hopefully smooth the price out so the rise from last year is not so much of a hit." Michael Moradian, owner of Colindalebased Print Express London, says this way of working is quite a common deal: the printer accepts to order a certain amount of tonnage or number of pallets at the pre-increase price, within a specified time period. However, he warns that, while for cash-rich print companies this may be helpful, it would not be advisable for a company trading on an overdraft where the interest payment could eat away at potential savings. Compare the market That said, the method of planning ahead to offset rises, rather than hedging, is seen by some as the more sensible way of working. For example, if rises are predicted, it is a good idea to look around for comparable, cheaper products that you can substitute for the stock hit by price rises. The merchant is in a good position to do this and so building a good relationship with them
so they can advise you is key. This is exactly what happens at Denmaur, Sommerville reveals. "The publishing market, with its shorter purchasing chain, always adapts much better to a moving market and, therefore, it’s naturally in our mindset to provide alternative paper products or concepts, whenever we have price inflation or deflation." Warren Boards’ Ferguson adds: "Planning ahead may allow customers to order tailor-made material rather than having to purchase standard-size stocks. As part of our service, we offer customers the opportunity to order not just standard sizes from pallet stock but material cut to their actual size from our own reel stocks." This is not to say you won’t get a fixed price if you try your luck with the merchants when contract renewal time comes up. However, with the market for 2011 looking to be as difficult to predict as it was in 2010, this type of deal may well be harder to come by if merchants have previously lost out as a result of them. That’s when the forward planning becomes essential in price negotiations. Whatever you choose to do, negotiation is key and working closely with merchants should ensure printers can keep their paper costs manageable as 2011 unfolds. •
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
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PrePress
"Always a step ahead!" After the early days in a basement room, Avantgarde became one of the largest large format digital printing companies in Germany. Thanks to ORIS Press Matcher Pro the same consistent color is now being maintained across all their systems together with substantial savings in ink costs. The company was founded nine years ago by Wolfgang Böning, who originally started out as a decorator. Very early on, he realized the new creative possibilities for advertising design with the new large format printing systems then on offer. The real break-through for Avantgarde came with the installation of the first DURST RHO 600 UV flatbed printer, allowing printing directly on a wide range of rigid and flexible materials with white as a color or background and with inline varnishing to create higher color intensity or special gloss effects. Today, in addition to the Durst, two OCÉ Arizona 250 + 350 GT UV printers, a VUTEK QS 2000 UV printing system and a MIMAKI JV5 solvent printer form the complete printing line. For creating packaging dummies or special shapes a large format VHF CNC-rotary cutter and a ZÜND plotter are used. The building, which looks rather unspectacular from the outside, also houses a large material storage area. All standard materials
like Forex rigid foam boards or Alu Dibond composite panels are kept in large supply to be able to produce time-critical 'rush jobs' without delay, a situation that happens quite often. Overnight and weekend production is nothing unusual for Avantgarde. For quite some time now, word on the company's quality and capability has spread far beyond the greater Essen and Ruhr area despite the fact that they do not advertise and that their homepage does not even give information on their entire service offering. Among their customers are classical exhibition stand builders and retail store fitters, and of course design agencies, which regularly place orders for brands like Red Bull or Sony and Karstadt department stores. In addition to these products, every now and then there are jobs which are a creative challenge for Wolfgang Böning’s team. For an artist from Ruegen island, impressive large format
reproductions of her artwork are being regularly produced as are steles made out of safety glass, weighing several tons and imprinted for an art museum. The variety of machines and the solid know-how of the employees enable complicated dummy packages or complex models to be completed. Just recently, a live-sized model of the Google street-view camera was built for an exhibition. "Not for nothing I have named the company 'Avantgarde'.” explains Böning, “We invest a lot, not only in the latest technology, but also in the training and know-how of our employees in order to always be a step ahead. Contrary to classic printing methods like offset, which now follow industry standards, digital wide format printing does not know any standards or any standard operating procedures. So we just went ahead and defined our own standards and internal processes over the years. Today we can guarantee a secure and effective production in spite of the variety and complexity of the business.”
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PrePress
Head of the entire technical operation is Achim von Armeln, who, before he joined Avantgarde, worked for Durst for several years. It was he who introduced ORIS Press Matcher to the company: "At a prepress partner company I saw the CGS solution used there for proofing and digital printing,” he adds. “Our customers increasingly expect us, as a wide format printing company, to adhere to the standards used in offset printing. More and more we get ISOcoated V2 proofs, which we also have to match in UV printing. It’s not surprising, therefore, that our customers have much higher demands of brand identity than they had only a short while ago. Consistent color across entire brand communication is essential today. We installed a trial version of ORIS Press Matcher Pro and immediately noticed a significant increase in quality. However, this alone did not justify the investment since, in addition to the software, we needed to purchase a suitable spectrophotometer and a powerful computer. Our main objective was to create a more reliable and secure production process. Thanks to ORIS Press Matcher, we can now produce a defined quality at the touch of a button by reducing the costs of unnecessary test prints or material waste. Naturally, we are using a multitude of rigid and flexible substrates. Nevertheless we can now achieve the same color reproduction on almost all printer/ substrate combinations. To a large
extent we can keep our wide format printers within the tolerances meant for proofing systems. We now have created ORIS profiles for all standard materials and set-up workflows accordingly to automate the entire production. As almost all files are being centrally processed in ORIS Press Matcher, and some of the files are quite large, we have recently invested in a highperformance Quad-Core PC." With some of the substrate profiles, von Armeln makes full use of the profiling tools in the software, for instance for backlit translucent materials where the color temperature of the light box is not known beforehand. "Interestingly enough, we have noticed that we significantly save ink on all our printers when using ORIS Press Matcher compared to color management with ICC profiles alone. The software offers the ability
to selectively influence the color composition to limit, for example, the total area ink coverage. Using the integrated UCR/GCR function, the chromatic colors are replaced with black. Overall we achieve, in addition to the ink saving, much smoother vignettes and a neutral gray axis. Another problem of the built-in printer rips is the unwanted transformation of the black channel. In the past it happened regularly that 100 % black, for example black text, was instantly transformed to a four-color black, or that a specific color mix from InDesign or Illustrator was not maintained. The problem lies in ICC profile technology which uses a profile connection space for the transformation. This LAB color space obviously does not contain a black channel. ORIS Press Matcher uses special Device Link profiles which convert directly from CMYK to CMYK. With these, a specific black composition can proportionally be mapped accurately to the target. One of our specialties is printing on glass plates or clear plastic and in the process it is important to achieve a high density in black areas so they are light tight. Surprisingly, a 100 % pure black has a higher density than for instance 100 % black and yellow.” “Another feature of the ORIS software is the integrated pre-flighting and file normalization. Unfortunately, our printing systems use different rips; the Durst RHO 600 for instance is equipped with an American CheetahRip. Instead of buying expensive updates, ORIS Press Matcher now gives us the possibility to generate a new PDF including the color transformation and compatible with older rips and still print, for example, transparencies correctly." •
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PrePress
Fuji Xerox expands it's light production printer portfolio Fuji Xerox unveils the latest addition to its light production printer portfolio with the launch of the new Color 550/560 digital colour printer1.
An entry-level light production colour printer, the Color 550/560 is ingeniously designed for any production setting to offer outstanding value to production environments. Delivering brilliant image quality, advanced finishing and powerful workflow integration, the innovative technology in this printer offers users more flexibility and freedom to produce wide range of applications in outstanding colour and black and white image quality, at an affordable price. The new Color 550/560 is an efficient choice for quick print shops, small commercial printers, in-plant operations, ad agencies, creative shops and corporate print rooms. With an array of production and enterprise capabilities, a plethora of applications, ranging from marketing materials and photo applications to office documents, can be produced. Applications are generated effortlessly on this print engine which has two speed modes; one at 50 colour pages per minute (ppm) and the other at 60 colour ppm Color 550/560 respectively.
“Fuji Xerox continuously identifies unique print requirements for the different business segments. This strong grasp of the printing landscape inspires us to develop novel products that achieve productivity plus outstanding colour for any environment at an affordable price,” said Mr. Koji Tezuka, Senior General Manager, Marketing (International Business Group) of Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. “The Color 550/560 offers customers a range of feeding, finishing and server options that can build a solution to current business trends and that grows in tandem providing a breakthrough to a new area of business involving digital print.” Key to the production environment, Color 550/560 Printer features include: • Low melt emulsion aggregation toner to produce an offsetlike finish with crisp text and high resolution graphics • 2,400 x 2,400 dpi printing
• Modular Inline finishing options including stapling, hole-punching, folding and booklet-making on uncoated and coated media • Wide media latitude from internal trays to maximum productivity • Advanced colour management tools and streamlined production with Xerox FreeFlow®, EFI Fiery® or Creo print servers2 For the office segment, the device has the capabilities of: • Copy and print at a high speed, both colour and black and white • Customise print settings for economy and efficiency, for specific applications • Drive maximum productivity by letting multiple users perform different tasks simultaneously • Modular feeding and finishing options to produce fully finished product with automation. 1 The Color 550/560 is now available in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, followed by China, Korea and Taiwan in May 2011. 2 Xerox FreeFlow®, EFI Fiery® and Creo print servers available from April 2011 onwards
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Management/General
When Will Digital Printing Take Over from Offset Printing?
In the US, PRIMIR (Printing Industry Market Information and Research Organization) is about to release a research study on the impact of digital printing that was prepared for them by IT Strategies. This study looks at the period 2009 – 2014, and projects a drop in the page volume of analogue printing over this period of time of 0.3% and a growth of digital printing by 15.9%. While this appears to show a major increase in digital printing if one puts these figures in context it still shows that analogue printing is 97% of all print volume and digital is 3%. These numbers are not by value but by number of sheets printed. IT Strategies indicated that a finding of the study is that digital pages have a much higher value than analog pages so if the study were to look at the value of both analog and digital printing,
then the digital value would be much higher than 3%. In terms of pages all figures are based upon A4 size single sided pages (and all analogue printing volumes are converted to be equivalent to this format). One of the key aspects of the PRIMIR study is to assess when the “tipping point” of analogue to digital printing will take place. The assessment of the study is that it will take decades for this to happen. To make such an assessment is very difficult, if not impossible as there are too many unknown variables to take into account. I also believe that one
cannot look at a study that just works on the basis of pages printed, and one must also look at the value of printing and the run lengths carried out, plus the changes happening in the market such as the impact of e-readers on reducing the length of print runs for books. I have recently had the opportunity to spend time with Heidelberg looking at their plans to re-enter the digital printing market early this year, and as part of this I was privileged to see some of Heidelberg’s market figures. Heidelberg generates their figures from taking input from a variety of sources, including PRIMIR, but also other research companies in the printing and paper industries. These figures looking at the overall print market are based upon the value of print rather than the number of pages. In this they take a base year of 2009 as the base year for real representation of values.. This shows the overall worldwide value of print in the print media industry in that year to be €413 billion. The shown figures include for the 2009 value of print a breakdown by commercial/packaging/ publishing with commercial leading at 42%, as well as a split by printing process (sheet fed, web, etc) with sheet fed leading at almost 38% and Digital (production) slightly above 6%. The Heidelberg figures are confirming digital printing pages to be worth more than analogue printing pages, in line
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Management/General 19 with the assumption that digital printing pages capture higher street prices than the avearage of anaolog printed pages. This can be understood in terms of other benefits for example short delivery time or small volume charges. Heidelberg’s figures also show that the print production volume throughout the 21st Century growth was fairly static, mainly due to the two economic crises. Heidelberg’s projections then for the period from 2009 – 2015 show a fairly significant CAGR of 1.61%. For many observers in North America and Europe this growth projection may seem strange, particularly when the PRIMIR figures show a negative growth of -0.3% in printed area. To understand what is happening and why Heidelberg project this growth one must look at world markets where GDP is projected to be far higher in the developing markets than in the industrialized world. This is Asia Pacific, South America, Eastern Europe and Africa and the Middle East. In all of these markets print growth is still happening and digital printing is still a very small part of the market. There is also still a major replacement market for offset presses particularly in the USA where there is large volume of old offset equipment still in use. Another very interesting set of figures from Heidelberg show that despite the recession the overall volume of sheet fed offset print revenues have not fluctuated wildly. The lowest year of revenue this decade was 2003 and the highest was 2007. So the drop in 2009 was brisk but did not fall below the 2003 level.. By 2015 Heidelberg is projecting a growth of approx 1% p.a. based on the limited decrease of sheetfed offset print revenues in CY 2009 and the positive print market outlook in the developing countries. This 1% growth translates pretty well with the PRIMIR forecasted decrease in the printed area in the same time period. In comparison with the smooth print production volume development in the recent crisis, there was a major drop in investment in new presses in 2009, and while there is a projected increase from 2010, Heidelberg however does not see this reaching the levels of pre-2009. Overall I find that many projections I see for digital printing growth are pretty
wild. This is particularly where the subject of personalization is covered. I don’t think that there is a very high volume of personalization being carried out, and that most personalization is being done by specialist organizations, and that most commercial printers carry out very little such work. Obviously this will grow with the introduction of the high-speed continuous feed inkjet presses, but most of this business growth will be in the transactional printing market. Also at this time most of this new high-speed inkjet printing is being aimed at offset replacement for items like book printing, rather than for the personalization market. One of the areas of digital printing that is seldom covered where most personalization is carried out is the overprinting of offset printed direct mail work using inkjet print heads. I recently visited one of the largest direct mail printers in the UK where every bit of personalization is carried out in the finishing department using Kodak continuous inkjet (Versamark and Prosper) print heads. All printing is done on two Goss Sunday web offset presses. Their comment was you couldn’t do large-scale personalized direct mail using digital printing presses, as the running costs are far too high compared with offset printing. My assessment therefore is that while I am a huge supporter of digital printing, and in particular of high-speed continuous feed color inkjet printing, it
will take a long time before the “tipping point” is reached where digital becomes larger than analogue printing. Offset presses are very competitive, particularly when run in a web to print environment. Sheet fed digital electrophotographic presses are reaching the limitations of their technology, and at this time inkjet presses are not able to achieve the quality of the best sheet fed offset and are limited on substrates that can be handled. At this time digital printing has a zero penetration into the magazine and newspaper printing space and a very limited penetration into the packaging space. I have to agree with Heidelberg’s projections and still see offset will maintain its position against digital for many years to come and it will be many years before the “tipping point” is reached. •
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Management/General
An interview with top management Yoshiharu Komori Chairman, President and CEO Q: Please provide us with an overview of the Third MediumTerm Management Plan, which was launched in April 2010, including how you view the external environment.
and other emerging nations. Also, amid the global spread of electronic media, it is essential that Komori makes headway with new business development as the competition between electronic and paper media intensifies.
Komori: We will strengthen business efficiency in response to such changes in the external environment as market contraction in the global printing press industry and market growth in emerging nations.
To tackle these issues the Komori Group formulated its Third MediumTerm Management Plan, which targets the three-year period from fiscal 2011, ending March 31, 2011, to fiscal 2013. The plan is underpinned by the following five basic initiatives.
At present, the most important issues to be addressed by the Komori Group are finding ways of dealing with the contraction of the global printing press industry and responding to the delayed recovery of the global market with the exception of China. From the medium- and long-term perspectives, the Komori Group faces the issues related to changing its profit structure; dealing with the ever-slower growth of the mature printing industry in developed nations, including Japan and those in the Americas and Europe; and achieving business expansion in BRICs
Basic Initiatives 1. Aggressively promote the “Kando Project,” thereby reinforcing our customer contacts 2. Overhaul our business structure to enhance business efficiency and accelerate corporate growth 3. Streamline our balance sheets to strengthen financial standing 4. Actively implement initiatives aimed at minimizing our management risks that have arisen in connection with the recent global recession 5. Review and revise our human
resources policy to nurture personnel with global business capabilities and transform ourselves into a flexible and agile corporate group In terms of numerical targets, Komori is targeting the achievement of more than ¥120 billion in net sales by expanding sales in emerging markets and accelerating overseas sales of security presses. • Overview of the Third MediumTerm Management Plan (April 2010 to March 2013) Basic Initiatives 1. Aggressively promote the “Kando Project,” thereby reinforcing our customer contacts 2. Overhaul our business structure to enhance business efficiency and accelerate corporate growth 3. Streamline our balance sheets to strengthen financial standing 4. Actively implement initiatives aimed at minimizing our management risks that have arisen in connection with the recent global recession 5. Review and revise our human
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Digital Technology
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Management/General maturation of markets in developed countries? Komori: We have put in place an organizational structure that covers Greater China with the intention of strengthening business in that burgeoning region. In Central and South America, where medium- to long-term growth is expected, we also plan to enhance our sales and service structure.
resources policy to nurture personnel with global business capabilities and transform ourselves into a flexible and agile corporate group initiatives Increase Revenue and Earnings 1. Fully leverage positive effect of consolidating design and assembly functions at the Tsukuba Plant • Integrate technologies of sheet-fed offset presses and web offset presses • Establish “TSUKUBA quality assurance” to ensure the world’s best perceived quality for printing presses • Cut manufacturing costs • Shorten manufacturing lead times 2. Make additional cuts in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses 3. Strengthen service business capability Growth Strategies 1.Reinforce sales capabilities in emerging markets 2. Strengthen security press business 3.Develop new businesses Enhance Management Control 1. Strengthen risk management 2.Strengthen business management at overseas subsidiaries 3.Promote IT-based operations Establish KOMORI Brand 1. Develop solutions business 2. Promote CSR activities 3.Advance environmentally responsive products 4.Develop global human resources Q: Please tell us about the initiatives designed to maintain profits. Komori: We are planning to reduce
both manufacturing costs and SG&A expenses. First of all, we are giving the utmost priority to manufacturing cost reductions, one of the issues remaining outstanding from the LAW Project. Our goal is to bring to early fruition the positive effects of integrating at the Tsukuba Plant the design, procurement, assembly and management functions of the Sekiyado Plant. In addition, combined with intensifying Monozukuri (Manufacturing) Innovation Activities, Komori is aiming for “TSUKUBA quality assurance” to ensure the “world’s best perceived quality for printing presses.” Moreover, we will also move forward with overseas procurement. Through these activities, we are aiming to reduce manufacturing costs. Komori has targeted a reduction in manufacturing lead times (the number of days from receipt of an order to delivery) for two reasons: first, to prevent excess inventory, one of the factors contributing to the downturn in operating results; second, to respond to the needs of customers who, amid ongoing economic uncertainties, have difficulties in making capital expenditure plans for more than half a year in advance. With regard to reducing SG&A expenses, Komori plans to improve its operational efficiency and business execution capabilities through increased reliance on IT as well as employee training and will endeavor to lower the ratio of SG&A expenses to net sales. Q: What can you tell us about measures to achieve growth in emerging markets and deal with the
Our first goal is to secure an unassailable share of the Asian market, including Japan and China, over the three-year duration of the Third Medium-Term Management Plan. Because of the sudden growth in orders for Komori products, China in particular represents a region where we can enhance our business. Consequently, since May 2009 Komori local subsidiaries and two distributors have been consolidating a “One China, One Service Team” structure capable of providing uniform high-quality services quickly and efficiently. In addition, to make the decision-making process much more rapid and precise in areas that are in close proximity to promising markets, a Komori operating officer assumed the post of chief representative for Greater China, overseeing China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in January 2010. This move will give added impetus to growth strategies in the region. Furthermore, Komori will strengthen its sales and services in Central and South America, where medium- to longterm growth is expected. As part of this move, the Komori Latin America Technical Service Center was set up in Brazil in partnership with a local distributor in April 2010 to establish a system that enhances technical assistance for customers and servicing support for distributors throughout Central and South America. This contrasts with the increasingly mature markets of North America, Europe and Japan as well as in other developed countries and regions. In these markets, Komori will make further improvements to its service capabilities, which will be cultivated by promoting activities that create Kando for customers. In doing so, we will strengthen competitiveness and aim to increase market share. Q: Could you be more specific
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Management/General 23 about what kind of activities will be undertaken to “aggressively promote the Kando Project”? Komori: First, Komori will promote brand building and management activities. Second, we will implement activities that enhance perceived quality. And, third, we plan to proactively develop our solutions business. Implemented under a management philosophy that aims to make Komori a company that creates Kando for customers, the “Kando Project” comprises efforts to supply products and services that go beyond the expectations of customers around the world. Four years ago, with the intent of further increasing customer satisfaction, we commenced these Companywide activities based on the results of a customer satisfaction survey carried out by our marketing division. Specifically, we have been promoting brand building and management activities to enhance the Komori Group’s image and have been advancing “perceived quality control”— in other words, quality control as seen from the customer’s perspective—taking an all-around view of quality, extending from basic product quality to how we respond to customer needs and elicit product appeal even after installation. In addition to thoroughly carrying out these activities, under the Third MediumTerm Management Plan Komori intends to proactively develop a business that proposes solutions to problems from the customer standpoint. Specific examples include proposing preventive maintenance services that reduce the risk of a sudden machine breakdown and making recommendations for peripheral equipment upgrades and additional mountings as well as suggested consumables, all the while deepening relationships of trust with customers through day-to-day marketing and service activities. Proactively offering proposals to solve customer problems will result in partnerships of mutual benefit that increase Komori’s sales, making the Company a trusted “print engineering service provider.” This is the goal of the Komori Group. Q: Besides solutions business development, please tell us about your aim to create new main sources of revenue.
Komori: We intend to proactively increase overseas sales of security presses for currency and security printing in addition to creating new businesses that draw on our core competencies. In existing business fields, we will strengthen our security press business for currency and security printing. As the sole Japanese manufacturer of currency presses, we have an enviable track record in supplying security presses to countries all over the world, such as Japan, Germany, Nigeria, India and China. The scale of the global market in this field is estimated at around ¥20 - 30 billion, but since Komori’s sales of security presses are currently at around the ¥1-3 billion a year level, we plan to expand sales by accelerating overseas development. Moreover, we established the New Business Development Office under organizational changes made in January 2010. Not confined solely to offset printing, Komori also possesses wideranging printing technologies, including gravure printing and flexography, and the capability to manufacture micronlevel precision machinery. By developing applications for these core competencies, we want to develop new businesses during the course of the Third MediumTerm Management Plan. Q What kind of activities will be undertaken to strengthen business risk management?
Komori: We will reduce inventory, adopt measures to control our foreign exchange exposure and strengthen business management at our overseas subsidiaries. Due to the current global recession, we are keenly aware that the strengthening of our business risk measures is imperative. Regarding inventory, we first plan to reduce risk by: (1) significantly shortening manufacturing lead times; (2) centralizing Komori’s worldwide inventory management; and (3) standardizing product specifications that previously differed from country to country and region to region to enable inventory resale between Group companies. With regard to measures to counter the effects of a strengthening yen, we will promote risk-hedging practices such as arranging foreign exchange forward contracts in combination with ongoing cost reductions that will include the promotion of overseas purchasing. Furthermore, there are the overseas subsidiaries that have been in the red for several years due to losses related to excessive inventory, sales financing and used presses. In addition to streamlining overseas subsidiaries and thoroughly strengthening their operations management, we will reinforce their business management by, for example, providing top management with training.• •
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PrePress
The Speedmaster XL 145 installed at Karl Knauer is equipped with a logistics concept.
World’s first Heidelberg large format press with dual coating up and running • Heidelberg solution enables lean and cost-effective folding carton production • Six-colour Speedmaster XL 145 with dual coating and fully integrated material logistics particularly suited to shorter runs • 30 percent increase in productivity The world's first six-colour Speedmaster XL 145 with dual coating and fully integrated material logistics from Heidelberg was installed at Southern German print shop Karl Knauer KG in early 2010. This machine was part of the largest investment ever made in the company's history, amounting to EUR 10 million. "We want to make greater
use of lean production technologies in order to defend our leading market position," confirms Production Manager Gerhard Kammerer. Known officially as the "Speedmaster XL 1456+LYYL", the machine has six offset printing units, two coating units, two drying units, and an extended delivery with DryStar combination/UV
technology, which enables different combinations of water-soluble coatings and UV primer applications. Four meters high and over 40 meters long, this machine is the ultimate in cuttingedge packaging and surface finishing technology. Before signing the agreement, the Karl
XL145_1
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Sheetfed Offset 25
Perfectly packaged for success.
Print your packaging more efficiently and cost-effectively with a solution that sets new standards when it comes to outstanding productivity and consistently high quality. The Speedmaster XL 145 gives you the top-class performance of XL technology in large format. With Heidelberg, success comes as part of the package.
Heidelberg Asia Pte Ltd www.heidelberg.com
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Sheetfed Offset Karl Knauer KG in Biberach installed the world’s first six-color Speedmaster XL 145 with dual coating and fully-integrated material logistics at the start of 2010.
with two coating units into operation, and was also first off the mark when it came to installing the subsequent Speedmaster XL 105, also with two coating units. The company is one of several Heidelberg concept customers who meet regularly to discuss the market situation and the demands this will place on new technologies. •
Knauer team set out 15 requirements for the press to enable a direct comparison with other manufacturers. "All members of the team - be they members of the board of management or shift managers - had an equal vote in the decision. The final vote came out 11 to 4 in favour of the Speedmaster, which is a pretty impressive result," says Kammerer. One crucial factor was the machine's ability to print short runs cost-effectively, too. The new Speedmaster XL 145 is equipped with the Prinect Press Center and Prinect Inpress Control. This solution enables simple control of all job parameters - from feeding, printing, and coating to drying and delivery - and also handles register and colour control. Karl Knauer had stipulated that the new Speedmaster should be ready to produce packaging orders after 250 makeready sheets, which amounts to a considerable saving in time and material for average run sizes of 7,000 sheets. "We are still performing optimization tests to raise the efficiency of the machine further still, but we have already achieved a 30 percent improvement in capacity over the previous machine, which we ran in parallel for a short time," explains Kammerer. Karl Knauer KG specializes in packaging and surface finishing. With a workforce of some 430, it is
the biggest employer in their region. Founded in 1938 by Karl Knauer, the company is still family-owned today and is due to be handed down to the third generation in a few years' time. The company, which has always specialized in folding cartons, was one of the first to introduce offset printing in 1961. Today, production is divided between packaging and advertising materials, particularly office products and stationery, for the European market. Karl Knauer's third business pillar is customized premiumquality presentation packaging, an area in which the company is market leader, specializing in particular in highquality wine and liquor packaging.
The innovative “HiLight” product, which is still in the prototype phase, is a folding carton with a printed light display on several sides to generate multicolor light or animation effects, such as flashing or dimming.
In view of this diverse product portfolio and the company's broad base of discerning brand customers, ongoing investments are very important. Karl Knauer was the first packaging printer to take a five-colour Speedmaster CD 102
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PrePress
EcoLogic combines ecology, economy, and sustainability Printing companies are increasingly being judged by the environmental friendliness of their production. Efficient energy and resource consumption harbors the potential for an improved ecobalance and reduced operating costs. The manroland Ecometer delivers precise numbers for calculating, planning, and documenting steps you can take for sustainability. The manroland Ecometer lets you determine potential savings. It calculates the required energy and resources based on customer-specific information such as machine type, production volume, and paper consumption and offers specific suggestions for sustainably improving printing processes. In addition, it reveals the total savings that are possible over a year or over the total service life of a press. In addition to representing energy efficiency, reduced emissions, and resource savings, the Ecometer provides an ecological
assessment for predefined press configurations and indicates savings for carbon dioxide, energy, and the cost of materials. The Ecometer thus gives you documented ecobalance data that can be ideally integrated in sales activities. Interested printing companies should contact their manroland sales representative. Together, you will enter production data related to the environmental impact and energy consumption into the matrix of the Ecometer and get back information about po-
tential savings and suggestions for improvement. The Ecometer is available in German and English and can be used worldwide. CMYK plus GREEN In addition to the Ecometer, manroland offers a number of environment-saving solutions for webfed and sheetfed printing systems: technologies for recovering energy and heat, as well as for reduced waste and friction, systems for less washing agent consumption, or the use of alcohol-free dampening solutions – each of these building blocks contributes to sustainable production.
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Management/General
Business Inspection: Integration is the key Putting lean techniques at the heart of your business is essential if sustained benefits are to be reaped and continuous improvements made, discovers Jon Severs
The recent furore over Wikileaks and its disclosure of sensitive information is the latest in a long line of news stories regarding the release or withholding of information from within the corridors of power and the outraged reactions to that. And you might think that, on a basic, real-life, print company level, this has no relevance. But it does. You see, in order to have a truly effective business you have to have everyone involved in that business singing from the same hymn sheet. For that to happen, they need to be able to see that sheet in all its melodic intricacy. This means opening those corridors of power and letting the workforce have a good look around. But rather than something to fear, as
the various world authorities seem to view it, for print this is a beneficial process – after all, no-one knows how the print business works better than those integral to its continued operation. This ‘open house’, free f low of information is the thinking behind ‘lean transformation’, the process of ironing out inefficiencies in all areas of a business to boost productivity and working practice. It’s something Eclipse Colour Print fully embraced eventually, but it took a few attempts to get to grips with the right way of going about it. Managing director Simon Moore explains that the first attempt came around eight years ago when they tried it out with a single department.
"We probably didn’t give it the ded icated ma na gement t i me it needed," explains Moore. "However, the people that went through the process found it useful at the time and still use some of the things they learned, but we didn’t transfer those skills to the rest of the department as we should have done." A second attempt was made four years later, this time the stimulus being a new web press and, again, rather than the whole business being involved, they kept it to the relevant department. The thinking this time was that the staff should be able to drive the changes, free from management intervention. Although there was some success, without a key management figure directing operations, momentum was lost and the process gradually dropped off. Moving forward It was not until 2009, spurred on by a VIP Lean Snapshot, that everything came together. The snapshot revealed
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
Management/General 31 the processes every day and we want to tap into that knowledge. That’s what VIP facilitates, it unlocks the knowledge and gives them the platform to take it forward." First steps VIP came in and took selected employees through a number of fact-f inding tests and processes culminat ing in some classroom sessions. Out of this, they formulated a presentat ion for t he Ecl ipse management team detailing their findings of where the company was and where they would like to go and what the cost of those improvements was. " We t o ok p e o pl e f r o m e ve r y department in the business for this, which was quite a big financial commitment," reveals Moore. "It’s not only the cost of the VIP process, paying for the engineers and the like, but it’s also the cost internally of having to release people from day-today jobs or bring them in out of hours to take part."
that the two previous attempts had left an impressive mark, but that there was a lot more that could be achieved. The snapshot assessed Eclipse in the 14 key areas of lean practice, from asset management to something called dynamic communication. "After going through the snapshot, we realised we were in a very good position in comparison to other printers in the UK," explains Moore. "We got some extremely high scores compared to our peers, achieving two ‘world class’ scores, which meant a lot, because out of around 520 snapshots they have conducted, they have only given around 15 world class scores. However, in a few other areas we were on the cusp of world class so we decided to work with VIP to improve these areas." And taking this process further meant a culture change. This time around Moore was insistent that everyone in the company, not just one department, was involved and that every person
knew they had a role to play in the common goals of the business. This meant sharing information from his side of the fence, but also tapping into the wealth of knowledge on the other side. "We wanted people to understand what the common goal was for the business and for them to understand what impact they could have on performance figures," reveals Moore. "These guys work with the kit and
But he adds that the costs were more than worth it. The presentation confirmed the areas of improvement, while the staff responded well to the process, many being surprised at the impact they could have on the overall productivity of the business. Moore says many believed they were working at maximum but they learned that rather than harder, it was a question more of working smarter. "I would say the costs are definitely justified," he explains. "The workforce is happier, as they are involved in the whole process on a much more
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integrated level. Our productivity has increased significantly in 2010 off the back of it. And, finally, we have been able to move ahead with a new investment in kit and a new factory knowing that we were properly fulfilling the capacity of our existing resources." Moving for ward, each head of department has KPIs that filter down to their staff and filter up to the overarching KPI for the company, with transparency at all times through a newly installed MIS. Moore has achieved the culture change he wanted and the investment has paid dividends not only in this but also in productivity gains. He says that you could avoid costs and do the work in-house, but that it would take a lot longer. VIP, he explains, has the industry specific experience of lean transformations so they have seen most of the obstacles companies encounter before. Solutions are tired and tested therefore and quick to implement. Bumbling around on your own costs both time and money for potentially no end result. "VIP has given us the comfort of knowing where we were so we can properly work out where we are going in the future" concludes Moore. "We are working on factual information; it gives you the tools to get actual facts about what you are achieving and what you can achieve going forward."
Top tips: the key to sustaining lean benefits Eclipse Colour Print is starting to see the full benefits of lean, from less waste on administration processes, to big increases on the bottom line and staff productivity. Companies will enjoy improvements and short-term benefits from oneoff programmes. However, this fails to tackle one of the hardest aspects of lean and that is to sustain the best practice created from a Lean Improvement Programme or lean project. Lean programmes and projects are integral to the business objectives and strategy. To make the most out of the time needed, it is recommended these projects are conducted in an order that will deliver the greatest amount of benefit for the least amount of effort and cost (the quick wins). These benefits should also be supported and tracked by local and business KPIs. As with any successful project, different skills are needed within a lean business or improvement team. The team should consist of a balance between process owners, senior member/sponsors and a ‘lean champion’ to provide lean know-how, drive and determination. Remember that motivating staff is imperative to d r iv i ng a nd sust a i n i ng a ny progress made. KPIs must be used
to demonstrate clear measureable benefits and celebrate successes with the team. C
Well-implemented lean projects will enable accurate ROI calculations to be generated. There is investment required and more than just financial resource provision must be made to support lean improvement activity. Projects will draw up actions and implementation plans. These must contain dates and team actions with deadlines. They can then be policed by the lean champion and the actions used as the basis of regular progress meetings. Following the above guidelines will generate sustainable change and provide a stable platform to not only provide benefits in the short term, but more importantly give long-term progression. VIP engineers can train your staff, sharing knowledge and tools to enable them to identify waste and inefficiencies. It will also give them the skills and confidence to challenge and improve their own working environment. The most important resource in a business will always be its staff. If you are able to get them trained and motivated the end results will be substantial and sustainable. •
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A large responsibility for small parts Press constructors are a sought-after manufacturing partner for many industries, a development which was continued and strengthened in 2010. Companies from the mechanical engineering, engine, vehicle manufacturing and energy technology industries rely on manroland’s dependable expertise at its locations in Augsburg, Offenbach, and Plauen. Although press construction has had a below-average share of the economic recovery, services for external production have thoroughly profited. An approximately 10 percent increase in orders in 2010 compared to the previous year underscore this positive development. manroland offers production services for foundries and model making, rotary and prismatic large-part manufacturing, complete manufacturing, special parts manufacturing, and functional surfaces.
Why do customers trust a press constructor to do all this? Because they particularly value the manufacturing precision and flexible absorption of production peaks that is available in their region. “The commission orders at Augsburg vary widely. They cover everything from the small parts sector for gear components and housings, often for regional firms, up to 25-ton support tables for machine tools,” is how Heinz
Treu, Vice President Manufacturing, describes the portfolio. “Much of our work consists of individual orders, but there are also a few long-term commissions – for example, we have been grinding generator shafts for energy production for a year and a half. These parts are then delivered just-intime to customer production sites. This helps to avoid investment costs for a machine park and personnel, results in low storage charges, and products are supplied as needed,” adds Treu.
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Sheetfed Offset 35 “Hardening of functional surfaces and production of control cams are in particular demand in Offenbach,” reports Wilfried Gernath, Head of the mechanical production segments in Offenbach. “There aren’t that many companies that specialize in the production of control cams, which is why our expertise in this area is especially valuable for many firms. Our services for model making and foundry work are also in high demand.” Until now, Dr. Kai Hoffmann, Vice President Production and Logistics at the Plauen factory, has mainly been working with East German customers: ”The precision of the manufactured components, which is customary in press construction, is highly valued by our customers involved in plant engineering and mechanical engineering.” An excellent future with manroland mechatronical systems In the future, Plauen will play an important role in manroland’s external production concept. Beginning in 2011, the site will manufacture products for manroland and other customers. Mechanical manufacturing and module assembly will be the main focuses of the range with certified production processes, a modern machine park, and precision in parts manufacture as well as extensive experience and technical knowledge based on training.
Global competence. Local excellence.
The melting shop with its two modern medium-frequency furnaces is the heart of the foundry. manroland’s staff of experts and its modern machine park are in high demand for external production: CNC machining center with dual table processing and tilting device. •
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Messe Düsseldorf Asia Pte Ltd 3 HarbourFront Place #09-02 HarbourFront Tower Two Singapore 099254 Tel: +65 6332 9620 / 6332 9643 Fax: +65 6337 4633 / 6332 9655 E-mail: mdrep@mda.com.sg Internet: www.messe-duesseldorf.de/MDA
dru1202_90x260_4c_GB_Sing.indd 1
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New title for leader in banknote and security presses On 1 January KBA-GIORI S.A. in Lausanne changed its name to KBA-NotaSys SA. Previously called De La Rue Giori S.A., this leading global consultancy specialising in the distribution and development of security presses was taken over in 2001 by German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) following a long and successful collaborative alliance, and was renamed KBA-GIORI S.A. The new name, KBA-NotaSys, refers to the company’s Italian heritage through “Nota” which means banknote in Italian. “Sys” reflects the unique systems competence KBA’s Swiss subsidiary boasts in press design, pre-press and all the challenging technological processes involved in manufacturing and finishing forgeryproof banknotes. The name also echoes the systems that have inspired the confidence and trust of banknote printers the world over for the past 50 years or more. Gualtiero Giori founded the company in the early 1950s following the invention of multicolour intaglio printing and simultaneous offset perfecting printing, and his alliance with Koenig & Bauer in Würzburg dates back to those early days. The two processes proved ideal for printing counterfeitsensitive products such as banknotes and securities. At that time KBA handled press engineering and manufacturing, along with the attendant security and logistics systems. The Swiss company focused on international
sales and distribution, customer advice, the development of counterfeit-proof banknotes and cross-platform process technology. This highly successful division of labour enabled the two parties to dominate the sector. Long before Koenig & Bauer’s acquisition of Giori almost ten years ago, Koebau-GioriDeLaRue presses were printing around 90 per cent of the world’s banknotes. Following the addition of this banknote specialist to the KBA group the internal division of labour was intensified and KBA-GIORI’s technical resources in Lausanne were systematically expanded, particularly those relating to customer support and training, and to banknote development and security, with their increasing complexity. Existing product lines were upgraded on an ongoing basis and new ones created. Press engineering remained in Würzburg. In September 2009 the company relocated to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Avenue du Grey, Lausanne, which offers the 180-strong workforce and customers from all over the world an
ideal environment for driving advances in banknote design and counterfeit protection, and for effective user training. Contrary to widespread opinion, banknotes have not been superseded by electronic cash and online banking. In fact global demand for new banknotes has risen in recent years. Alongside a rapid increase in cash points, which will not accept worn or damaged notes, demand has been driven by dynamic growth and rising prosperity in many densely populated threshold countries. And whereas the recent economic crisis, the subsequent slump in advertising and the ongoing transition in the media arena have had a severe impact on major markets such as commercial and newspaper printing, security printing has come through relatively unscathed. KBA-NotaSys exemplifies the successful strategy pursued by KBA –now the world’s second-biggest press manufacturer – of combining niche and volume products. As a competence centre for security printing its future prospects look bright. •
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A need for speed
Digital has reshaped not just print, but also the way we go about buying and selling it, says Barney Cox One of the most important changes heralded in part by digital print, but also due to the changing dynamic in the wider world and a desire for immediate gratification, is the switch from highvalue high-volume work to low-value low-volume work. Before you can even get an order you need to get the customer a price. “Lead times are vanishing,” says director of digital printer Cypher Digital Paul Calland. “Customers want quotes in minutes or hours because they’ve left the job to the last minute. Often we find that from the time of an order to the time the job needs to be on the courier we’ve got less than three hours.” MIS supplier Shuttleworth says it’s a common scenario. “If it’s off a matrix, you’d expect pricing instantly, and if it’s more complicated, within four hours,” says joint managing director Paul Deane. For Geoff Stephens, who set up TimeHarvest to develop a simple and speedy estimating tool back in the early noughties, digital has been something of a curse when it comes to customer expectations. “As the number of jobs has increased and the value of each job has got lower, so client expectations have increased,” says Stephens. “It’s a bit unfair on the printer as clients think that having digital print sprinkles a company with magic digital dust, and that raises their expectations of what can be achieved. Sometimes unrealistically.” One way of providing quicker pricing, and at a lower cost to boot, is by using web-to-print. Calland chose to go that way in part due to Cypher’s location in the Lake District. Being online opened up its market, which now includes clients as far afield as the Falkland Islands, but also
includes firms in Amsterdam, London and the Scottish islands. Double-edged sword Having its pricing online is both a blessing and a curse. It keeps the cost of quoting down, especially for inexperienced clients, which he says is a growing cadre. “In the old days, if someone wasn’t sure what they wanted and asked for a range of options of different stocks and volumes, you could quite easily end up needing to produce 10 or 15 quotes,” he says. “They’d all be done individu-
ally and we haven’t got time. Now those clients can have a browse and if they’re interested, submit their own quote.” The downside is that by publishing its prices Cypher is often asked if it can go lower and match a rival. “Customers want to haggle more now, even though we publish our prices on the website,” he says. “More often than not we say no, but now our system allows us to look in detail at the cost breakdowns of a job, we can see if we can make a profit at that price, and sometimes we may say yes.”
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Management/General 39 ously used an in-house developed FileMaker Pro system for production. Calland would prefer just one system, or to integrate all the diverse systems currently employed, but baulks at the cost. “We recently spoke to one MIS supplier and they quoted a price that was more than my first house for a project that would take six months. That’s a scary and unrealistic investment for a firm of our size.” Instead Cypher relies on manual workarounds, despite believing that automation is ultimately the way to go. “We’re the proverbial swans: everything looks smooth on the surface, but we’re paddling around like crazy underneath. It’s more cost-effective to do it manually than to invest tens of thousands on an automated system,” says Calland. Deane says that’s an area where Shuttleworth has been working to open up the interface between its MIS and web-toprint packages, and any other software for that matter. “All order processing and invoicing should be done in the MIS,” says Deane. “It’s absolutely key that those processes are automated, otherwise you will lose money.” One-stop shop To enable the integration with web-toprint packages Shuttleworth has developed application programme interfaces (APIs) to enable the integration of its software with third-party systems and claims that it can work with most tem“All the talk about web-to-print is fine,” says Andrew Edmondson of Derbybased digital printer Purely Digital. “But those systems stop at production, and nothing goes across to the production system.” Calland agrees there’s no single system that does everything and that integrating multiple systems is tricky and expensive. His firm uses TimeHarvest, a MYOB accounts package, a web-to-print package and some Excel spreadsheets. It recently started using TimeHarvest for both quoting and production management having previ-
plate driven web-to-print systems. Deane argues that the use of web-toprint makes it far easier to automate the processes too as it standardises the way information is presented to the MIS. However, there’s no point getting in a stack of work if you can’t get it printed, finished and invoiced on time, which is where scheduling and production tracking play their part. “On-demand work negates the need for finite scheduling, but you still need to track it,” says Deane. “And if you produce a mix then there’s an argument that digital doesn’t fit with traditional scheduling as it will have been printed and packed before it can be planned.” Stephens agrees: “While litho needs a proper scheduling board so you can see a number of days ahead, in the digital world it’s different, and if you can see your jobs four hours ahead it’s a miracle.” That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a need to have some sort of system for tracking the work though. In an on-demand environment with lots of smallvolume work, tracking capacity is difficult but important. TimeHarvest offers a simple traffic lights system that flags up the status of each stage of the process and helps the operators and the production manager to keep on top of all the jobs, including an alert that shows when any department is running at overcapacity. When it comes to tracking, Cypher can have anything up to 200 jobs in the fac-
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Management/General of Purely Digital in Derby, who has become the first TimeHarvest customer to deploy FileMaker Go on an iPad. “It’s brilliant,” he says. “Previously I used a laptop, which I could walk around with, but nothing beats having the iPad and being able to scroll all the way through the lists in real time.” “Buying an iPad at £325 and the FileMaker Go licence of £25 is cheaper than buying a laptop and a FileMaker licence. I can see us using this set-up for both the guys in production and those out on the road,” he says.
tory at any one time, with turnaround times that range from a couple of hours to a couple of months. “We’ve got a much better overview using TimeHarvest,” says Calland. In fact, as one business owner says, there’s an argument that the increased visibility to everyone about where jobs are in the factory means a company could perhaps do without a production manager. “The important thing, especially with the more complicated projects is to make sure everything comes together,” says Stephens. “Litho is more akin to industrial manufacturing processes where you need to make sure you’re running a smooth production line with as quick changeovers as possible. Digital is much more flexible and there is more of a focus on moving things around to get jobs out on time, which is our forte.” He argues that it’s the more complicated projects that need management in digital, such as a set of training materials that might include a binder with personalised covers, section dividers, tabs, CDs and a roll-out banner. All will be produced using different processes, and maybe suppliers, but need to come
together at the right time. “In digital print, project management and customer hand-holding are the added value and may be more important than the print quality or the price,” he says. While there may not be a one-size-fitsall answer there are tools to cut the cost of communicating with clients and keeping tabs on the factory to meet the demands of on-demand print. There are even, at a price, ways to bridge the gaps between the two. NEXT STEPS... When it comes to visibility TimeHarvest founder Geoff Stephens has got a topical tool to extend the access to his software to anywhere at any time via Apple’s iPad and iPhone. “FileMaker Go is an app for the iPhone and iPad that allows you to access FileMaker-based software on the go on those devices,” he says.
Edmondson says that FileMaker Go on the iPad gives him the power to check the true costs of his production at anytime and from anywhere, and it’s always using the centrally stored data from the core MIS database. Stephens is equally impressed with the potential. “It’s a digital clipboard, that allows the production manager to keep on top of everything wherever they are,” he says. “And one of the biggest advantages of it being an app on the iPhone or iPad is that it’s live – it’s not like using a browser window where if you make any changes you need to click submit.” Stephens also sees another advantage for managers and owners in using the iPad – taking work home by stealth. “If you opened up a laptop at home you’re liable to get yourself into trouble for taking work home,” he says. “The iPad isn’t seen as being a work device, so you can probably get away with it, discretely.” Edmondson proves the point, admitting to taking his iPad home recently to complete some quotes in bed.•
He sees two views emerging on this development – those who have to have it, and those who can’t see the point. Falling into the former category is Andrew Edmondson, managing director
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Sheetfed Offset
Heidelberg puts printers to the test Achieving Heidelberg’s ISO 12647-2 certification is not going to be easy. The press manufacturer cannot afford to dole out certificates endorsing every printer buying a new machine without applying stringent accreditation criteria. Anything like this would undermine both the creditability of the scheme and of Heidelberg itself. Notably, Heidelberg is the only manufacturer to offer this certification and plans to only endorse its own presses. To date one company in Thailand, Thung Hua Sinn, has received the certificate, another is shortly to be put forward for the final assessment while many others are in the pipeline. The program has been available for sometime from Heidelberg Japan and Australia and many customers have already been certified by Heidelberg. Nor is the process for the faint hearted. The press needs to be in absolutely perfect condition and maintained that way. It needs to be running balanced consumables and operating within a process controlled workflow. Only when this is done, the printer has a chance of meeting the terms of the ISO standard.
“Customers have to ask themselves, if they want to go for the Heidelberg or international style certification. A lot of companies are waiting to understand which best suits their needs. ISO is a lot more advanced compared to G7 but Heidelberg can look into both. In fact, Heidelberg tools such as the Prinect Color Toolbox support all concepts and they have even been the first to be certified for G7 process as per recent press release in December by IDEAlliance.” Equally many are not waiting and are pressing ahead with working in the ISO way. Schieber is in constant demand to
help printers make the changes that are necessary and seminars that Heidelberg has organised on the subject have been very well attended, with print management and customers alongside printers. “Our certification is effectively a printing exam,” he continues. “It’s about printing, proofing and measurement of the printed result.” And like in any exam, first comes the learning, the practice and the revision. Nobody gets to take the test until they are completely ready and a pass virtually guaranteed.
“Printing in a standardised way is one thing,” says Rene Schieber, Heidelberg Asia’s regional colour expert, “printing to a published international standard is quite another thing altogether. However the benefit of printing to this ISO standard, is you will get consistent and repeatable results.” This is what Heidelberg is offering its customers. It is about proving that the company can print to the ISO specifications. It is not the same as the often proposed Gracol 7 (G7) standard which covers more than just proving the capability of printing in this way, nor even Fogra which has given much to Heidelberg’s approach. Schieber says:
“If you are printing to a standard, you will receive consistent results. The flow on effects of higher productivity through less waste and more satisfied customers are driving more and more printers to go for certification ”, says Rene Schieber
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Sheetfed Offset 43 The key task is first to check the presses thoroughly. Any adjustments to grippers, replacement of pads, changes to follower cams, replacement of rollers or blankets takes place to achieve a stable platform. The machine needs to be mechanically perfect and Heidelberg will run the rule over all presses involved in the certification process. The candidate company also needs to set aside the time, the resources and the space for staff training. There are no prerequisites in terms of technology, consumables or measuring instruments. “But it would be extremely difficult to do this with a hand-held device,” Schieber adds. Likewise, he says the company will need a colour champion, tasked with ensuring that the process is adhered to and with the authority to demand changes. Once the press is “tuned” and the stable platform is in place, test forms to check that dots are held between 3% and 97% are printed. Dot gain across the sheet has to be consistent and colour values must fall within the very tight tolerances. Any excess spread in printing will alter these colours and the job will fail. All settings on the press, and variables like fount pH and temperature, are recorded through the press and can be saved for later reference.
The test is a print run of 4,000 sheets. It starts with a proof to the Fogra 39 specification. Then an OK sheet is reached, agreeing with the proof and ISO standard and then a further 4,000 sheets are printed to match the OK sheet. A pull sheet taken every 100 sheets, together with the proof and OK sheet are sent to Heidelberg for analysis. Presuming the process is followed, Schieber is confident that the job will pass and the certificate will be awarded. “The certificate is only
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issued if the process is followed and the standard achieved. We wouldn’t risk our reputation on anything that wasn’t comprehensive and accurate. He says. “Certification is a testament that the print shop is capable of printing to these requirements and is not given lightly.” The certification lasts for two years, with intermediate checks, carried out by Heidelberg, to ensure continued compliance. •
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News delays launch of first iPad newspaper News Corporation is pushing back the launch of the world’s first iPad-only newspaper.
The company declined to comment on why. But a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorisation to disclose details, said News Corp and iPad maker Apple Inc have decided to delay the launch while they work on the technology involved in providing subscriptions. T his person said the delay will be weeks and not months. The postponement comes in a week that News Corp. announced plans to slash jobs at its MySpace unit by half
as the social networking site rapidly loses market share to Facebook. A formal announcement about the new publication, called The Daily, had been slated for Wednesday. News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch and Apple chief executive Steve Jobs were scheduled to attend a launch event at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The delay was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by News Corp. The company has staffed bureaus around the coun-
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try to provide material for the new publication. It will cover general news, culture and entertainment and will include video. Since it went on sale last year, the iPad has kindled new hopes for professional journalism in the digital age. Traditional publishers are betting the iPad and its imitators can help provide new sources of advertising and subscription revenue. And many of them need it. The economics of news on the broader web have been brutal for print publishers. Space for web advertising typically sells at just a fraction of what it does in print, and few publications have successfully charged readers for online access to stories. News Corp has revealed few details about The Daily. It has not said, for instance, what it will charge readers, if anything. But the company has been at the forefront of efforts to get subscription fees for digital content. The Wall Street Journal’s website has required a paid subscription for 14 years and the newspaper charges for its iPad app.Unit Océ Production Printing.• •
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Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
Web Offset Technology According to Mr. Ung Tan The, director of Nhan Dan (left), the Goss M-600 press provides sheetfed quality but at much higher speeds and with a greater operational efficiency.
Press for transition into commercial web offset Nhan Dan Printing Company, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has installed a Goss M-600 heatset web press to take its business to a new dimension. To be unveiled at an open house this month, the new press provides a considerable boost in output capacity while differentiating Nhan Dan as a pacesetter in the Vietnamese print market. With installation into the company’s new facility recently completed on schedule, the new four-unit system with JF-48 folder, Contiweb SH splicer and Goss Ecocool dryer is running successfully. The M-600 press provides the additional firepower Nhan Dan requires to accept new commissions for magazine printing and grow alongside its commercial customers. The decision to invest in a Goss M-600 press came with full realization of the scope of the press and the opportunities it could deliver, says Mr. Ung Tan The, director of Nhan Dan, Ho Chi Minh City. “You could say it was the difference between just doing more of the same or creating an opportunity to truly develop the company in a new direction. Being encouraged by the market potential in Vietnam and making use of the company’s natural strengths, our management decided to invest in a technology that helps us to make a move to the “Blue Ocean”. Our existing presses
are continually busy, week in/week out, leaving us very little spare capacity for new business opportunities, so it was clear we needed to expand,” comments Mr. Ung Tan The. “We were looking for a press that would reliably maintain the standard of the sheetfed work. When we saw the M-600 system running we realized we could have that sheetfed quality but at much higher speeds too, and with a greater operational efficiency.” Advanced features such as Goss Autoplate automatic plate changing technology –which allows a single operator to change any number of plates in less than two minutes – have facilitated a straightforward transition to web production for Nhan Dan. All motorized functions throughout the press and folders are also controlled through a central console, ensuring a highly automated, closed-loop operation for high productivity and low waste.
According to Mr. The, Goss International’s substantial experience in helping sheetfed printers implement a new web operation was a crucial factor in the choice of vendor. “The exceptional quality and the automation of the M-600 press, combined with the efficient local support by its distributor, Johs. Rieckermann Graphics, are such that it is the ideal choice for a printer who wants to move in this direction,” Mr. The explains. “The Goss International technicians have extensive expertise in guiding you through any potential pitfalls and ensuring a very quick implementation of the new technology. That’s why, with total confidence, we can kick off the new year by inviting all our customers to come see what we can now do.” •
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KBA Sheetfed Offset
Reliable as clockwork: KBA Rapida 105
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You value flexibility, reliability and performance? You are interested in fast job changeovers and print of the highest quality? Your company needs a new press, but is not really dependent on having every conceivable automation feature? Then take a closer look at the Rapida 105: It runs with clockwork precision. It is robust, flexible and exceptionally productive with both paper and board. And it prints for you at up to 15,000 sph in 3b format – your trusty companion through thick and thin. Any more questions? Just give us a call! KBA Printing Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., +86 10 8447 5909, w.zehner@kbachina.com KBA Koenig & Bauer AG (Asia Pacific) Sdn. Bhd., +603 788 588-60, KBA@KBAasiapacific.com KBA Asia Pacific (Singapore Branch), +65 6562 8582, ssegger@KBAasiapacific.com KBA (HK) Co. Ltd., +85 2 2742 8368, jkwan@kba.com.hk Intergraphics (Thailand) Co. Ltd., +66 2 259 3071, jtsuwan@csloxinfo.com www.kba.com
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
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Web Offset Technology
System, speed, success Best known for its sheetfed presses Komori is also a serious manufacturer of 16pp and 32pp system series heatset web presses tivity of a different order. It has been designed from the ground up to fit into any CIP4/JDF-driven workflow. Komori has designed its System 38/578/625/ 16pp web to maximise compatibility, with everything that can be automated being automated. According to Komori, web offset presses require improved short-run performance to succeed in today’s transforming economic climate and diversifying market needs.
The Komori Corporation says its presses are all aimed at helping printers achieve higher productivity levels, essential for increased margins and business growth. According to Komori its System series of web offset presses produces high printing speed and productivity, and also showcases Komori’s emphasis on press stability at maximum rated speed and high print quality of the finished printed product. The Komori System series web presses are designed with productivity in mind. To address the demanding productivity needs of users, Komori has developed the Systems series of 16 and 32 page presses in two cut off sizes that provide consistent and predictable print quality at maximum print speed. One of the key productivity improvements is the ability to print high quality make-ready documents in just seven minutes. Furthermore, the automatic plate changing changes all eight plates in less than two minutes. At drupa two years ago Komori had one of the more impressive demonstrations, with a System 38 16pp web running three jobs with full folder changes, and with less than 300 waste, producing 1500 copies for each of the three jobs, with a running speed of 50,000iph, in less than 13 minutes.
Komori System 38 webs are highly specified, with its computer managing much of the process. The machines are equipped with an integrated management system, which provides single action register adjustment colour matching, and fold format adjustment and also self-learns from user-specific data. The Print Quality Assessment System for Web automatically detects defective copies. The new inker ensures a consistent ink film at maximum printing speed, and a three-cylinder folder is designed for high folding accuracy. The System 38 in 32pp format delivers up to 50,000iph printing speed with Komori’s ease of operation, with support from what Komori says is its seamless technical backup, which was its design mission statement. This result is the two System 38/1250/1156/ 32-page web offset presses, with claims Komori produc-
The machine must satisfy numerous requisites comprehensively. These include consistent, predictable print quality at maximum prints speed, high productivity, superior cost performance, and environmentally responsive. Komori says these facts have driven the development of the System Series web presses, resulting in high print quality and seven-minute make-ready performance, to ensure high profitability.
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The presses are equipped with the evolved KHS-AI integrated management system, which provides single action register adjustment colour matching, and fold format adjustment incorporating Komori’s self learning function. Komori is now supplied in Australia by Ferrostaal, with well known industry identity and long term Komori man Gerard Wintle heading up the division as general manager. Wintle says, “The System 38 web offset presses from Komori will provide a competitive edge for printers in both the 16pp and 32pp formats.” •
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"The bizhub PRO C7000 offers a lot more than high-speed colour printing. Reaping the benefits of superior quality in combination with absolute reliability, print providers simply won't go wrong when choosing Konica Minolta's dependable digital colour presses."
http://www.bizhubpress.com Konica Minolta Business Solutions (S) Pte Ltd Tel (65) 6895 8511 Fax (65) 6561 9879 10 Teban Gardens Crescent, Singapore 608923 Website: http://konicaminolta.sg Email: bizhubPro@konicaminolta.sg Contact Adrian Ho (Hp: 9777 7275 DID: 6795 8580)
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Web Offset Technology
Frozen and refrigerated food packaging sectors Changing demographics have impacted on the growth of the frozen and refrigerated food packaging sectors. Smaller families, an ageing population, and a greater number of households occupied by single and separated people have resulted in a demand for smaller-portions and convenient easy-to-open and use packaging. Graphic designers and food packaging technologist have their work cut out. Unlike most other forms of packaging frozen and refrigerated food is not displayed at eye-level in the aisle but in coffin or stand up style cabinet, which limits viewing. Furthermore, in a recent UK survey consumers still have reservations regarding the nutritional value, texture and aesthetic appeal of certain frozen foods, particularly vegetables which (apart from frozen chips/French fries) are often purchased only as a ‘back-up’ by the unadventurous when specific fresh vegetables are seasonally unavailable or when the consumer doesn’t have the time to get to the shop.
For these reasons packaging producers and marketer operating in this sector have to be innovative in order to prevent these sectors from stagnating with regard to sales.
these design storage elements cannot always be avoided or overcome, good packaging design and prototyping prior to product launch minimizes display difficulties.
To ensure proper refrigeration frozen products are often stacked in the cabinet in a way that the brand name and other forms of product information communication are partly obscured. The packaging designer, marketer and supply chain provider must therefore try to take this into account. Packaging providers also have to contend with a variety of physical drawbacks to freezers such as shelf dividers, baskets and shelf lips. While
New inks and improved films have made it possible to print more complex and more attractive graphics; polyethylene as a material is popular for its ability to resist tears and its crack resistant properties; laminates of various filmic and other materials is also a good choice in that the laminate preserves the integrity of the graphics, much of which is printed flexographically. Laminates are selected according to need, for instance: nylon does not print
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Packaging Technology
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Packaging Technology time after time – test, monitoring and product development tools are generally regarded as being indispensible. RK Print Coat Instruments Rotary Koater and bespoke VCM print/coat/laminate systems enable product developers, converters and other supply chain members to monitor product quality, conduct pilot runs and even undertake small-scale production under precisely controlled conditions. Users can avail themselves of more than 15 different print head and coating technologies while drying options include hot air, infrared and UV curing. well and is also expensive, but it does wear well when used as an outer layer. Oriented polypropylene prints well but is less resistant to scuffs and knocks. Laminates are employed often in ‘pillow’ bag applications when products need to retain their shape and not sag. Cartons and formed trays with laminate overlays prevent the packaging from degrading, again, a carefully selected laminate preserves colour and graphic design integrity. Frozen food sales growth until comparatively quite recent when looked at on a year by-year basis has been less than spectacular, especially when price discounting and buy-oneget-one free promotions are taken into account. Nevertheless good product sales growth is beginning to take place, notably in areas where there is a degree of crossover such as in bakery and cake items. Products such as frozen croissants, choc-o’pain and ready-to-bake rolls and Danish pastries have proved popular, providing not only novelty value but consumer convenience as well. Other areas worthy of consideration, ones that show great promise are the value –added items, products such as deserts and items that cater for specific dietary needs and/or lifestyle choices, products for vegetarians and for children. The industry is developing differentiated films that offer improved mechanical and barrier properties together with good print and convertibility capabilities that give packaging a combination of eye-appeal and functionality. To aid the substrate producer, consumable provider and the printer in their endeavour to produce fail-free products to a high standard
The Rotary Koater, chosen over the years by many of the world’s leading manufacturers, not forgetting their converting suppliers and consumable providers is worthy of consideration when the user is faced with daily changing print and coating needs. The VCM on the other hand is a stateof-the art system built to customers’ specific and known production requirement. Another option, one for those who need to meet the high quality flexographic colour and design requirements demanded by brand owners and marketers RK Print Coat Instruments is the FlexiProof 100 or FlexiProof UV variant. Used by packaging printers, label converters, ink producers, paper, film and foil suppliers, component producers and many others, the FlexiProof is functionally identical in every way to a full sized production flexo press, yet weighs just 45kg and occupies a bench top space of just 55cm x 45cm. Whether sited in a laboratory, in a dedicated pre-press environment, next to a press or anywhere else, the
FlexiProof 100 and FlexiProof UV saves on press waste by enabling functions such as colour matching, pilot runs, research and development, and much else to be undertaken offpress. PLC controlled and equipped with quick-change ceramic or steel anilox and swing in doctor blade, the FlexiProof offers multi-tasking capability. Operating at speeds of up to 100 m/min the FlexiProof can be used with any flexible substrate and has now been purchased by organizations of all types and sizes, operating in countries as diverse as Finland, China, the USA, Japan and Germany. To operate the user simply selects and fits the appropriate anilox roll, then fixes the substrate (half A4) to the impression roll using the built in pressure sensitive strip. Printing speed is then set and ink applied using a disposable pipette. Side dams fitted at each end of the doctor blade provide a reservoir holding sufficient ink for producing multi-proofs when required. Simple to use, the operator then presses both process start buttons and the anilox roller accelerates to print speed and rotates four times to distribute the ink. The stereo and impression roller rotate through one revolution to produce a proof. Additional proofs can be made without cleaning down. The FlexiProof is ideal for sectors such as frozen food in that it assists marketers and suppliers in producing product mock ups or prototypes without having to resort to using a conventional production press, which would be time consuming and costly. •
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Packaging Technology
Higher cost-efficiency and printing quality Thai Beverage Can Ltd. (TBC) was founded in 1996 and is a joint venture between the Thai companies Berli Jucker Public Limited and Standard Can Co. as well as the American Ball Corporation.
Mr. Saroj Chayavivatkul, President of TBC, at the start of the very first exposure of a printing plate with the XPose! 230 2FLEX
As a leading manufacturer of two-piece aluminium cans and ends for beverages and beer, TBC has the latest manufacturing equipment from Ball Corporation and has installed two of the latest production lines and end lines within a state-of-the-art facility. Each of the lines has a capacity of 1’650 cans per minute and produces up to 1.2 billion units per year for Thailand and further markets in Indochina. With a continued customer demand for higher quality printing, in 2010 TBC decided to digitize their plate-making process and after extensive research, the management decided to install an XPose! 2FLEX from the Swiss manufacturer Lüscher AG. Apart from offering outstanding imaging quality, the flexibility of the XPose! 2FLEX allowed it boost productivity and easeof-use by exposing 4 letterpress plates simultaneously. For unrivalled accuracy, the machine was also specified with registration pins that matched the printing units and as a consequence the set-up time on the production lines has been dramatically reduced, not to mention the reduced waste.
The letterpress plates used are steelbacked, and have a black ablation mask (LAMS layer) that is imaged by the 904 nm lasers of the XPose! 2FLEX. After the imaging is done, the letterpress plates are made ready for printing with the usual steps of UV exposure, washing out and drying. In the last four months, over 4.5 Million cans havebeen printed using the XPose! 2FLEX plates. Mr Jongkol Kungvansith, Senior Vice President of Production, is extremely satisfied with their investment in digital
plate making using the XPose! 2FLEX. His high expectations for cost-efficiency and quality improvement have been entirely fulfilled by Lüscher. THE CTP solution for the packaging industry Lüscher has worked in partnership with leading companies to develop products for the Packaging, Narrow Web, Label and Security printing markets, culminating in the new XPose! Flex product range. XPose! Flex offers a range of customer benefits thanks to its unique architecture, ease-of-use and embedded future-proof features. Lüscher AG Maschinenbau offers the following models: • XPose! 2FLEX with 940nm diodes for imaging Narrow Web, Letterpress and ablative offset plates. • XPose! 3FLEX combines 830nm and 940nm diodes in a single machine for Flexo, Letterpress and Thermal offset plates. • XPose! 4FLEX combines 405nm and 940nm diodes in a single machine for Flexo, Letterpress and Thermal ablative offset plates as well as conventional plates, films, varnish plates and screen material for rotary screen applications.
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
Packaging Technology
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Grab new revenue now. It’s survival of the fittest out there, so you constantly have to chase down new income. Get a hold of a wide range of profitable capabilities with the VUTEk® GS3200 from EFI.™ Photorealistic quality and high productivity let you fill up on the high-margin jobs — even in a tough economy. Don’t just survive. Thrive with EFI. +65 6100 1689 ■ www.efi.com EFI products integrate to help boost your business. ©2009 EFI. All rights reserved.
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Wide Format / Proofing Technology
HP evolving to digital trend HP has unveiled what it claims is the industry’s fasted production photo printer, designed for digital print shops, commercial printers and photo labs, during its Innovation Summit, held in Singapore, from where AP’s Carlos Martinez filed this report. The new hardware coincides with the launch of HP’s ePrint technology, which the company says is well aligned with a growing digital trend. According to HP, the new Designjet Z6200 delivers photo-quality prints with a resolution of 2,400 dots per image and versatility for indoor applications from photographic output to signage prints. It is also 50 per cent faster than its predecessor, with speeds up to 1,500 sq ft per hour. The printer is coupled with HP’s new Vivid Photo Inks, which offer improved scratch resistance, gloss levels and gloss uniformity, as well as a wider gamut with deeper blacks than previous HP inks. According to Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager, Designjet Large-format Printing Solutions, Imaging and Printing Group, HP the next-generation printing technology allows customers to quickly evolve their businesses with new product and service offerings that scale alongside their clients’ changing needs. Morera says, “To meet those needs, the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer is a true workhorse, delivering high speed and productivity on every application, including those that demand the best quality.” HP also explains that the printer’s eight-ink printing system features HP Chromatic Red ink, which enables up to 88 per cent Pantone coverage, and greater ink efficiency with the ability to print the same output, but using 44 per cent less ink than preceding HP technologies. Also during the Summit, HP launched the industry’s first ePrint-enabled and web-connected printers, which span
both the Laserjet and Designjet ranges. HP says the technology provides users with the freedom to print from any mobile device. Leveraging the cloud, HP’s ePrint enables businesses to manage content and print quickly and securely by emailing their desired files directly to any ePrint-enabled HP printer with an internet connection. John Solomon, senior vice president Imaging and Printing Group Asia Pacific and Japan says, “Between 2009 and 2010 we have seen a ten times increase in the amount of digital content out there. We believe that ultimately the printing world will go digital. Every year around 200 billion pages of printed material move from analogue to digital.” Commenting on the HP’s new ePrint technology Solomon says, “If you can email it you can print it. This opens up a new world of possibilities for businesses. And what’s more we are breaking the first barriers for business acceleration with innovations that are an industry first.” In what HP claims is an industry first, the company has enabled two-way print through the cloud for businesses using HP print apps, creating a web experience for business customers to
access, manage, and share content from templates and stored documents. Solomon continues, “We are focused on delivering more locally relevant applications for this region. With the addition of HP ePrint technology and HP print apps to our Officejet, LaserJet and Designjet printers, we have innovations that will arm businesses to leverage the power of imaging and printing to accelerate their business for growth. “All the new innovations and products launched today translate to businesses being able to better manage their flow of content.” Also commenting on the emerging digital trend during the event, Gido van Praag, vice president of the Graphics Solutions Business Asia Pacific says HP is in a strong position to facilitate the transition from analogue to digital no matter what the format. He says, “As well as our smaller printers, if you look at replacing analogue screen or offset with digital we are attacking with our Indigo and Scitex portfolio, which is competitive in terms of quality and speed.” •
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News New Photo-Realistic Printing Directly onto Tubes
M&H has developed new print technology offering photo-realistic images printed directly onto tubes enabling M&H to offer label quality print without the need to label. The attached image shows a tube which has been produced featuring a photograph of a woman’s face printed directly onto a black tube demonstrating the detail and tonal ranges which are achievable. M&H has state-of-the-art machinery and can manufacture and decorate up to a million tubes a week whilst continuing to achieve ever more demanding quality standards.
Next Winter University of Flexibility is also an important factor and Heidelberg’s Print Media production resources have been fine- Academy will take place in tuned for mass production and are also Thailand adaptable to short runs. M&H prides itself on its flexibility and customer service to ensure we supply the products you need on time and on budget. Tubes are available in any colour, white or transparent plus an extensive range of special effects.
• International experts and executives from the print media industry gain fresh perspectives • Renowned Winter University concept again being hosted in Asia • Four-day intensive seminar from March 20 to 24,2011 in Bangkok
The company also offers a complete decoration service which includes flexographic and silkscreen printing, labelling and hot foil blocking enabling product differentiation with a virtually unlimited combination of effects. Standard screw caps and snap-on dispensing closures are available to suit all sizes of tubes.
Heidelberg will be hosting the next Winter University in Bangkok, Thailand, from March 20 to March 24, 2011. This program is once more initiated by Heidelberg’s global Print Media Academy team out of Germany Malaysia and Thailand. The four-day intensive seminar at the Shangri-La Hotel is geared to participants from all over the world, offering them the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of the sector and share experience and strategies for success.
M&H is constantly developing its tube product portfolio by creating new designs and new models to improve customer choice.
“The pressure to compete and changing market dynamics are continuing to increase. Managers in the print media industry therefore always need to be up to date on current trends in the industry and comprehensive, sustainable methods of strategic management,” says Martina Brand, Head of International Business Training at the Print Media Academy in Heidelberg. That’s why the seminar will be focusing on the different aspects of business management in particular. Further presentations and discussions and an onsite customer visit will spark new ideas within the areas of finance, controlling, leadership as well as marketing and man-
agement. Participants will also have the chance to discuss their own experience with experts and colleagues and get valuable feedback. The course will be led by Stan Solomidis and Martina Brand. Solomidis is the owner and director of Synthesis Australia Pty Ltd. Solomidis sits on the board of some very competitive and marketing oriented printing businesses and this experience coupled with his corporate experience makes him well equipped to assist printing managers who are looking to improve their firm’s performance. The Winter University has established itself within the print media industry as an important international forum. Executives from all over the world use the opportunity to share country-specific experience and network in an informal atmosphere. Previous venues have included Shanghai, Hongkong, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Capetown and Dubai. The location for the event is the Print Shangri La Hotel in Bangkok. The seminar fee is EUR 1.650 plus VAT (2.182 US$), which includes lunch and drinks on each day as well as a team event and all seminar handouts. As the number of participants is limited, early registration is recommended. The seminar language is English. Up-to-date seminar information and profiles of the speakers are available on the internet at www.print-media-academy.com
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Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
Web Offset Technology
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News who will manage the Océ Production & Printing division, and Rajeev Tewari, who will lead the Wide Format imaging division. A team of 50 sales & service staff is dedicated to the business of professional & graphics printing targeting major companies and printing firms across the nation.”
Canon India joins with Océ
Canon India and Océ have announced that they will join forces in India, with Canon agreeing to sell, distribute and service Océ products in the areas of production printing, wide format printing, signage printing and business services. Kensaku Konishi, president and CEO of Canon India, said, “Canon has grown exponentially in the year 2010. This move enhances our strategy and positions us to become technology leaders, offering greater value products and services to customers and partners of both our companies. With this move, we will change the dynamics of competition in the industry and that will also benefit customers in terms of cost and propositions.” Going forward, Canon India says it will handle the Océ business portfolio, becoming the single interface across a range of products targeting multiple segments including offset printing, transaction printing, bill printing, signage printing, photo arts printing, CAD and GIS printing. Currently, Canon has 19 products in its professional printing portfolio and together with Océ the portfolio will increase to 70 product offerings. The alliance will offer customers the largest portfolio in the professional printing space. Alok Bharadwaj, senior vice president Canon India, said, “India is a major printing market. The size of the digital printing industry in India is Rs 1000 crore. The Indian print industry
has around 1 lac offset printers & 1000 print shop providers. The digital printing industry in India is expected to grow at 25 per cent, year on year. Océ, being a world leader in various printing segments including the production printing domain, will supplement Canon’s best in class processes and infrastructure. This will effectively enhance our ability to unlock the market’s considerable potential and to become the key growth driver in the digital printing market. Canon launched its production business in late 2007 and achieved revenues of Rs.30 crore in 2010. We aim to generate revenues of Rs. 100 crore in 2011 with this business integration.” He added, ”Canon India has appointed 2 new business divisions and appointed separate heads , namely Puneet Datta,
Wil Snijders, vice president Emerging Markets and Direct Export at Océ, added, “In the world of printing, there is no bigger or more exciting growth opportunity than India. I am looking forward to expansion in Océ’s business now as Océ has joined forces with Canon. There is a great fit between our companies. We share similar values and a strong commitment to technology and innovation. This is the most compelling combination in the consolidating global printing industry and will deliver scale in R&D, manufacturing and distribution. India is a very important market for us. We are extremely proud to enter India through our association with Canon. Our partnership and the combination of the Canon and Océ operations will transform our ability to unlock Indian market’s considerable potential and enable us to become a significant player in the arena of professional and commercial printing in this market.”
Further Comet press for Northern Territory News in Darwin
The Northern Territory News, a tabloid title launched in 1952, has a circulation of around 47,000 copies per day on
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
News weekdays and 55,000 on Saturdays. The paper is printed in numerous local editions and distributed throughout the Northern Territory, which covers an area roughly as big as Spain, France and Italy combined, but has a population of approximately 250,000. The main sources of income for the region are mining, beef cattle and tourism. The News’ distribution centre is Darwin, the capital city with some 120,000 inhabitants. The new Comet will also print other News Limited titles: The Sunday Territorian, the Northern Territory Business Review, regional editions, pre-prints and the Darwin Sun. The press will comprise four Pastoline reelstands, four printing towers and a double jaw folder with a 2:3:3 cylinder ratio. It will have a 578mm (22.75in) cut-off and be able to handle web widths of 630 to 870mm (24.85 - 34.25in), with 810mm (31.85in) the standard. Maximum output in straight production will be 75,000 full-colour tabloid copies. The contract also includes two KBA consoles with a presetting system, a RIP interface and a diagnostics PC for remote maintenance.
Highest productivity with flexo plate making automation
Improvement of productivity and cost reductions play an increasingly important role in the printing industry – automation is one way to impact significantly on achieving these targets. Automation is a big step forward also in terms of standardisation as it enables trade shops and printers to minimise process tolerances. Automation offers the possibility to improve plate and print quality as well as reduces mistakes and in consequence, cut down costs and claim rates significantly.
Today the flexo plate making process is far behind efficient automation, although it is well established in other printing processes like offset and gravure. Working with print-ready files, offset and gravure printing forms are produced today with high levels of automation.
• *Capacity: up to 120 plates per day (equates to 320 m2, reference: nyloflex® ACE 114 Digital)
in the first quarter of 2011, Flint Group Flexographic Products offers a fully automated processing line for flexographic printing plates. The nyloflex® APP combines a round brush washer, a dryer including 8 drying drawers, a unit for post exposure and light finishing (UV-A / UV-C) and a stacker with 8 drawers, offering in total a capacity of up to 120 plates / 320 m2 per day*. The nyloflex® APP covers plate formats up to a maximum of 1320 x 2032 mm (FV format) and from 0.7 mm to 7.0 mm plate thickness.
Press controls manufacturer QuadTech Inc. has unveiled the first web-fed, in-line inspection system that measures color on both paper and unsupported packaging film. The new, enhanced version of the company's Inspection System with SpectralCamTM enables continuous, in-line monitoring of virtually all web-fed package materials, including transparent and translucent substrates.
QuadTech’s enhanced Inspection System with SpectralCam™ enables in-line With the introduction of the nyloflex® spectral color measurement on Automated Plate Processor (APP) film
Beginning of 2011, a nyloflex® APP prototype will be available for customer demonstrations in the new Flint Group showroom in Stuttgart/Germany. In April the first nyloflex® Automated Plate Processor will be installed at a trade shop in Central Europe. nyloflex® Automated Plate Processor • Fully automated processing line: Washer + Dryer + Light Finisher (UV-A / UV-C) + Stacker • Max. plate size: 1320 mm x 2032 mm • Plate thickness: 0.7 – 7.0 mm • Two brush settings for plates < 3 mm / > 3 mm
Using a unique suite of advanced algorithms, the new, enhanced version of the Inspection System with SpectralCam inspects the entire substrate one hundred percent of the time, providing real-time quality data, highlighting deviances as soon as they occur, and pinpointing any problems within the roll. The SpectralCam camera uses true 31 bin spectrophotometer technology to measure spectral response and calculates accurate L*a*b*, ΔE and ΔDensity values at maximum press and rewinder speeds. The system measures up to 72 color targets within the work, configured as 12 units with six targets, each of which is determined by the operator. L*a*b* values, comprising references for luminescence, and red-green and yellowblue hues, provide an exact, objective means of describing color and color variation. Capable of detecting a small fraction of a ΔE variation, SpectralCam is many times more sensitive to subtle color differences than the human eye. John Cusack, product manager at QuadTech, explains why accurate in-line color measurement of film posed a great challenge: "Film material, being unsupported, is less stable than paper as it is more susceptible to fluttering and wrinkling during production. The
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News a hotbed of research and development and the latest product off the shop floor is the CC 105 cross cutter, which can be used with any make of laminator or encapsulator. To prove the point, the first machine to be built is due to arrive during December at a printer in Canada, which is fitting its stand-alone CC 105 behind a Billhofer laminator. The second CC 105 to leave Autobond’s factory is to be shipped to Australia as part of a Mini 105 THS laminator line, which has been purchased by a packaging printer in Melbourne. An order has also been received for the CC 105 from another Australian printer, plus two further orders from printers in California and Illinois. QuadTech engineers complete development of a revolutionary method for stabilizing film on press, allowing for highly accurate in-line color measurement and 100% inspection in one system fluctuating distance between sensor and web makes it almost impossible to attain constant results. Furthermore, idlers, though stable, are prone to contamination, which would negatively affect measurement accuracy. "We have solved the problem by developing an innovative supporting device, positioned between the idlers. Its vacuum system stabilizes the web on to a low friction surface, enabling the web to maintain a stable distance from the camera at the point of measurement. This also enables the camera to record spectral responses, required by ISO standards for calculating accurate L*a*b* values."
print quality throughout the production run, whatever material format they use," continues Mr. Cusack. The measurements taken by the Inspection System with SpectralCam can be stored on QuadTech's Data Central® and Waste Management Systems. Data Central is a central repository for all production data, current and historical, allowing greater traceability in the production process. The Waste Management System presents an overview of the roll, highlighting reject and acceptable zones and stops the slitter-rewinder in exact places where splicing or removal is required.
New Cross Cutter Opens Huge Opportunities for Autobond The enhanced Inspection System allows Laminators film printers to take advantage of the enormous waste savings potential that in-line measurement offers. Off-line measurement is a risky and costly means of quality control, because checks are only possible at the beginning and end of each roll, if production stoppages are to be avoided. "The enhancements to the Inspection System with SpectralCam provide a stable environment that guarantees repeatable color measurement. Rather than having to install separate inspection and color measurement systems, package printers now have an all-in-one in-line solution for maintaining the highest standards of
The Derbyshire factory of UK laminator manufacturer Autobond continues to be
“The cutting blade on the new CC 105 can cut material as thick as 500 microns,” says managing director John Gilmore. “During lamination the grip edge of each sheet is under-lapped by 3 mm. The extremely accurate laser sensor detects the double thickness of the 3 mm under-lap, stopping the web ‘on a dime’, and the servo-driven flying knife cuts through the film. “A festoon system enables the laminator to continue running and this means we can achieve speeds on an Autobond Mini with a cross cutter of 60 metres per minute. On a Mini 105, you could produce 5,000 B1 landscape sheets an hour, which could be delivered automatically into a speed-adjustable shingle table or straight into a vibrating jogger or stacker, ready for the next process. “The potential to use Autobond technology beyond the traditional concept of putting a film over printed stock in order to improve its appearance and durability grows constantly.
Print Pack Publish Asia • 1/2011
News Take a job such as the packaging of smoked salmon. This is produced on a phenomenal scale around the world and invariably consists of the salmon being shown against a board that is gold one side and silver on the reverse. An Autobond Mini could apply gold and silver film in one pass, which would be significantly less expensive for the printer than buying metallised board. “We could take this to another level and incorporate into an Autobond laminator a facility that would allow board to be fed from a roll and cut into sheet form by the CC 105. A high percentage of the board used in everyday packaging is between 250 – 650 gsm,” says John Gilmore. “A packaging printer wanting to print on top of silver or gold board within this weight range, to produce a product such as toothpaste cartons, would be able to reduce their material costs significantly by investing in this technology.” The CC 105 uses an arrowhead blade to cut the film and this blade can cut polypropylene, nylon, and polyester where sheets have been under-lapped. The blade can be changed within a couple of minutes for a circular cutting disc, which enables the separation of thick polyester encapsulation film or reel fed board. The servo-driven cross cutter is fitted with a second servo motor that pulls in the web with great accuracy even at fast speeds. The high degree of automation makes the CC 105 easy to use and it can be programmed to make a double cut for flush cut work. The festoon rollers ensure that the web is maintained at a constant tension throughout production.
Egyptian Ministry of Defense Installs Presstek 34DI® Digital Offset Press
Presstek, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRST), a leading supplier of digital offset printing solutions to the printing and communications industries,, today announced that the Egyptian Ministry of Defense has purchased a Presstek 34DI-UV four colour digital offset press and a Presstek 9920 single colour offset press. Both presses were installed in a brand-new Cairo facility. The presses were sold and will be serviced by Adler Gruppe, Presstek’s recently appointed Egypt-based distributor.
The Ministry selected the Presstek 34DIUV to address security printing needs within the Egyptian military due to its precise registration and ability to print fine detail, inherent in all Presstek DI presses. The durability and instant drying of UV inks is an added benefit for these mission-critical applications. The Presstek 34DI-UV has a maximum sheet size of 340mm x 460mm (13.39” x 17.72”) and supports 300lpi and FM screening. The 9920 offset press was acquired for production of general printing and for overprinting spot colours or metallics required on work produced using the 34DI-UV. The investment has been so successful that the ministry of defense is expecting to create similar facilities in other locations during 2011. Mr. Mohamed Shoukry, CEO of Adler Gruppe, commented, “This is a highly prestigious installation, and we are delighted that Presstek’s solutions matched the specific requirements of the Ministry of Defense. The installation was smooth, and the presses are now delivering beyond customer expectations. This is a testament to the quality and performance of Presstek systems.” Jack Dean, Presstek Area Sales Manager, added, “This success is due to all of the hard work Adler Gruppe has put into representing Presstek in Egypt. The company has trained its sales and technical staff and created a showroom in Cairo to provide current and potential customers with an ideal location to fully test the potential of Presstek products, including DI presses and the Presstek Dimension Pro 800 chemistry-free platemaker that will be installed in the near future. We believe this is the first of many installs we will see in the Egyptian market as a result of our partnership with Adler Gruppe.” About Presstek Presstek, Inc. is a leading supplier of digital offset printing solutions to the printing and communications industries. Presstek’s DI® digital offset solutions bridge the gap between toner and conventional offset printing, enabling printers to cost effectively meet increasing customer demand for high quality, short run color printing with a fast turnaround time while providing improved profit margins. The Company’s CTP portfolio ranges from two-page to
eight-page systems, many of which are fully automated. These systems support Presstek’s line of chemistry-free plates as well as Aeon, a no preheat thermal plate which offers run lengths up to one million impressions. Presstek also offers a range of workflow solutions, pressroom supplies, and reliable service. Presstek is well positioned to support print environments of any size on a worldwide basis. For more information visit www.presstek.com
The Academy Awards of the Print Industry
2011 Asian Print Awards
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