March Print Innovation Asia 2021

Print INNOVATION

Asia

Magazine

Printing, Packaging and Publishing Industries across Asia Pacific since 1985 Issue 3 2021

The augmented consumer Making humans better with Augmented Reality Full article from page 4

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PACKAGING EXCELLENCE AWARDS: 2021

_018 021 ONLINE Contents Page 4

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The augmented consumer – and moreover: Making humans better with Augmented Reality Print provider expands into folding cartons Xeikon launches new SIRIUS press Versatile, High-Capacity Fashion Production on Demand Myths about bysing Inkjet colour label printers

16 Coatings, Ink Industry Under Pressure 20 Heidelberg increases press exports from

Chinese production operations 24 Shenzhen-based Realtime Technology invest

printing press 28 KP-Connect Pro raises operational rate to more

than 50 percent 32 5 Ways Post-Composition Print Tools Will Easily

Drive Success in the Year 2021 34 Youthful packaging design opens a new page

for Menton 36 “Think green” by increasing output by 50 per cent

and halving makeready time 40 Heidelberg’s Saphira Eco consumables line aim to

change sustainability perception 44 Wine and spirit labels are among the highest quality

labels printed.

46 Bobst making headway in China and India 48 Toyo Inks launches new GMP compliant offset inks

for food packaging 50 The banknote keeps its rightful position as a mean

of payment 52 Five in ten Singaporeans in favour of a

cashless society 54 We're transferring the digital world into a print form 56 News from around Asia and the world

Issue 3 2021

Print INNOVATION

Asia Magazine

Published by Asian Print Awards Management Pte Ltd 65 Chulia Street #46-23 OCBC Centre Singapore 049513 Print Innovation Asia Labels and Packaging Innovation Asia Asian Print Awards Packageing Excellence Awards Label and Packaging Conferences Publisher

Paul Callaghan paul@printinnovationasia.com

Editorial

Elizabeth Liew elizabeth@printinnovationasia.com Editor Sha Jumari sha@printinnovationasia.com Packaging Sales

Elizabeth Liew elizabeth@printinnovationasia.com

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

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The augmented consume Making humans better w A global trend exists today towards enhancing the human senses, evidenced for example in GPS, driving assistance, decisionassistance, automated translation etc. by Christophe Bossut The packaging will not escape from this digital surge, as it becomes "intelligent" and an active communication tool for use by humans whatever their profile: customer, seller, manufacturer, prospect, curious onlooker, controller or regulator. The rapid advance of technologies is such that the scope of possibilities is ever-widening.

Let’s have a brief retrospective look at a similar subject which is rather obvious – the car. When the idea was born just a few years ago of making the car autonomous (from the driver) they all thought in a natural, instinctive way of what they already knew from the 80s.

It was necessary that the car detects traffic signals and moves accordingly to positions along the road, rather like the transponder of an airplane.

However, it was only when the technology behind real-time image analysis (the cameras, etc.) really became mature and being coupled

with Lidar and other radars, that the neural traffic networks were able to process the necessary real-time data, for instant "decision-making", and so the autonomous car became a reality.

Taking this thinking further – and keeping the printing industry in mind – to revolutionise a service, a product or an object requires the total understanding of previous technological developments (their evolution) in order to make it possible to open up new fields of possibility and, in direct commercial terms, to answer the new demands set by the marketing community as ‘brand owners’.

Packaging cannot avoid this kind of transformation – nor can commercial print in general. Image recognition and computer vision are two technologies that point to a major revolution in the interaction between humans and packaging.

The evidence is clear, we only need to look at how new usage cases have emerged over the past two years.

Within the space of a few months the notion of "scan" has become an accepted, understood usage behaviour; you just need to look at YUKA and the explosion of barcode- scanners in the Apple or Google stores.

Funnily enough, the simple scanning of an EAN 13 on a product was already commonplace since the late 70s, but until recently the decoding of a barcode only allowed connection to a product repository on a local network and to extract basic information such as the price. Moreover, the decoding tool used, the barcode reader, was not at all widespread. Today smartphones with cameras, tomorrow connected reading-glasses, all open up the field of possibilities in an open internet where all information systems are searchable in real time by API. YUKA has just fulfilled its mission with real-time information against a background of consumer distrust with consumer products which are more and more criticized for their declaration of origin or their composition.

The packaging market and brand owners therefore have a need to integrate these dimensions. Leading brands have already started to integrate this perfectly, just take a look at the latest advertising by NARTA. Watching the video, the scenario between the product and the consumer via a smartphone is total proof – our phone becomes an oracle or lens offering greater vision in our real-time world. Instead of using Google and typing a query, we start scanning our environment for additional information, becoming the physical equivalent.

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

er – and moreover: with Augmented Reality

Augmented reality with print therefore becomes the key point, and later we will talk specifically about the augmented document. If today, it is becoming more and more natural to take out your smartphone to "scan" a barcode, a QR code or even an image in order to obtain information, then you as professionals of the graphics industry have the same opportunity to offer your customers such interactive content benefits.

So today, where are we? It’s now necessary to become aware of and prepare for the issues surrounding the emergence of the virtual editorial.

Everything starts from the PDF file, which is the starting point for every printed and packaging production item.

Today the PDF file (the document) embeds (or can embed) all the information needed for the printing job to be completed, e.g. colour space, separation, content, cut-out shapes, folding layers, etc. The PDF then enters a prepress flow to feed the entire graphic production chain. What about connectivity elements? Except from

URL, QR code or an EAN13, the PDF does not embark anywhere and yet...

From here, the printed packaging facets (sides, folds, faces) can each embed layers of "virtual info" that are readable by end-customers even in mass volumes, by simple scanning either of the packaging itself, or of the various codes present (QR code, 2Dcode, CodeBarre), or by reading the PDF via a simple browser that activates or hides the additional layers.

Augmented reality solutions give access to virtual editorial, a real postmanufacturing era issue, to a campaign manager (digital on PDF or physical on paper) and to a panel of players (App, WebApp, WebAR or simple browser for enhanced PDF).

The packaging-production companies have seen this new segment appearing as a natural evolution of their own production execution process. The final printed packaging object becomes itself a communication tool and, in all possible ways, it is the end-user who

will choose their way of interaction – NFC (if the packaging has it), Image Recognition and Augmented Reality, Scan Code, or even activation of virtual layers in the digital format itself, the PDF. In all these cases it’s happening today through a simple Smartphone, but also emerging and soon to be commonplace through the glasses you wear.

Most professional solutions on the market offer a cloud storage solution for all additional virtual content and to connect to the printed document. Only a few publishers embed those contents

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in the original PDF source file without changing the integrity of it. For graphic designers, it is compatible with the PDF / X and PDF / A standards and supports up to the PDF version 1.7 Finally, and this is the real challenge, all the augmented content can be modified in real-time, post-print.

Personalisation in post-print is finally possible and sweeps away the cumbersome control process of superpersonalisation promised by digital printing. However, these two worlds won’t clash, on the contrary they will be totally complementary: one by the personalisation of segments, the other by the personalisation of the end-user.

As we have seen, the new usage cases spread very quickly, since the technology makes it easier to access a useful service. The case of YUKA is interesting because it is easy to browse the database of the Open Food Fact through the barcode without having to go through a conventional search for information through a search engine and give a score for a product.

It has become so viral that manufacturers have to finetune and adapt their product formulations in order to increase their scores on such end-user apps. Such is the modern cauldron of increased consumer power! For the graphics industry it is

still indispensable to be able to exist in both of these parallel worlds, digital and non-digital; but the graphics market is becoming digitalised and will so continue with parallel editorial content on all documents to make them in the end ‘augmented’.

drupa, many builders, flow managers and printers will seek the integration of these new editorial flows. Starting with the workshop itself which will take on the augmented document, as key entry point to the connection of different ERP trades.

So, what can I say to you as a graphics industry professionals ahead of virtual.drupa 2021? Be ready, do not doubt or hesitate and really grab the opportunity that this drupa platform represents. The barrier of downloading applications has fallen away, either because the applications become more social or they offer easier access to them. Various information is accessible either because the WebAR no longer requires a simple browser to trigger the camera of your smartphone or because live augmented experiences can be experienced through a website.

What's more natural than connecting a PDF to its stream by increasing HTML5 layers related to manufacturing, commercial, technical and other elements and all this in a blockchain?

What's more natural than the printed endpiece having the same digital information embedded and directly available by "scanning" the document thanks to image recognition?

virtual.drupa 2021 is the perfect time for you to assess the challenges ahead and the impact of any emerging technologies. virtual.drupa and the touchpoint packaging will offer insights into augmented reality technologies printed onto documents and products. Various conferences will also deal directly with customisation and personalisation for connected consumers and e- commerce.

It's a safe bet to say that after virtual.

What is more natural than letting the different actors access different information depending on their profile?

What could be more natural than transforming the document or the package into a real communication piece with the final recipient, and this way transforming it into a marketing engagement tool?

All these changes open up new markets and will lead to new behaviours by packaging printers, converters and brand-owners. The consolidation of different technologies is leading to the emergence of new channels and usages for the printing and for the packaging industry.

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Print provider expands into folding cartons Based in the Kansas City suburb of New Century, Kansas, Stouse is a trade-only specialty print provider. It supplies applications such as labels, decals, magnets and signs to promotional products distributors, commercial printers and marketing and advertising agencies identified as the press’s principal operator. Hobbs began her new job with two weeks of one-on-one training at Xeikon’s Innovation Center in Itasca, Illinois. That was followed up with additional training on Stouse’s 3500 press in New Century.

“Xeikon made the learning process efficient, and it was time well spent,” said Hobbs. “It’s good to know the Innovation Center staff is always available to help with any specific questions that arise.”

The company opened its doors as a screen and flexographic printer in 1977 and has since grown into a market leader with 40+ years of consistent sales growth. At any point in time, there are some 3,000 active jobs in the shop.

Clearly an innovator, Stouse has used digital technology in a variety of ways to optimize the shop’s efficiency.

Stouse began its digital journey in 2003 and, today, the volume of digitally-printed pieces exceeds that of analog. The company offers an e-commerce platform for ordering and job submission that seamlessly interfaces with its digital presses to produce the product, then digitally communicates with their back-office systems for functions such as shipping and invoicing. Some jobs process through the shop with very limited human intervention, sometimes even exchanging data with their customers’ ERP systems.

In 2019, as part of its ongoing market research, Stouse identified the need for a provider that could profitably handle short runs and offer quick turnaround in the folding carton market. “There were plenty of shops that serviced the big orders that could be run on analog equipment, but those shops were less than enthusiastic about the small or medium size runs,” said Nikkie Freeman, Chief Commercial Officer at Stouse. “As a result, there was a salient customer pool that would react favorably to a printer who could offer what they needed. We wanted to be their printer.”

AN EASY DECISION TO MAKE Freeman and her colleagues did their homework, examining various digital press options and quickly concluding that the Xeikon 3500 digital press was particularly well-suited for folding cartons. “Xeikon was a natural and it was an easy decision to make,” she said. “They’re the clear leaders in the digitally printed folding carton space.”

The Xeikon 3500 is a proven performer in the Xeikon solution line-up as a wide web press for packaging, producing output as wide as 20.3 inches (516 mm) with a resolution of 1200 dots per inch (dpi). It can print on an exceptionally wide range of substrates without precoating/treatment. With no frame limitation, folding cartons can be run without concern for length restrictions.

Stouse’s Xeikon 3500 was installed in late 2019 and Alexis Hobbs, one of Stouse’s graphic designers, was

Although slowed somewhat by the COVID-19 pandemic, Freeman points out that Stouse continues to put the Xeikon 3500 through its paces, pointing out that the company “work[s] all three shifts, five days a week. Our strong digital equipment base allowed us to react quickly when COVID struck and keep our revenue loss to a minimum.”

The future prospects are very bright for Stouse. “We see tremendous growth potential in the folding carton space,” said Freeman. "and I’m starting to look into harnessing another major strength of Xeikon presses: heat transfer applications. That would be a perfect fit given our specialty products focus.”

She offers sage advice to other shops considering an entry into folding carton market. “Do your homework, understand the full cost of operating your new equipment, visit sites of other print providers and be efficient.

“But don’t be afraid of the investment.

Digital presses generally pay for themselves in about 12 months!”

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Xeikon launches new Xeikon announced a new addition to its graphic arts and commercial product portfolio: the Xeikon SX20000 digital colour press.

This is the second duplex press to come to market based on Xeikon’s SIRIUS dry toner technology. The flagship SIRIUS press is the SX30000.

According to Xeikon, it “presents an excellent value proposition for printers looking for a cost-effective machine that will give them superior image quality, perfect registration front to back and exceptional colour quality control.”

in the graphic arts and commercial markets an investment opportunity – a press with unequalled capabilities at an attractive investment level,” said Dimitri Van Gaever, Market Segment Director.

The Xeikon SX20000 is a single pass, duplex press that is able to run at a printing width of 508mm on a broad range of substrates at 1200x3600dpi at speeds of 20m/min or 1700 B2 sheets/hour.

“In today’s printing world, we all know it’s about delivering value which encompasses quality, performance, sustainability and competitive pricing.

With the launch of the Xeikon SX20000, Xeikon is offering printers

“On top of that, the Xeikon SX20000 offers scalability with upgrades available in both speed and colour stations. With this new press, we are bringing to market a full rotary machine based on SIRIUS dry toner technology driven by

Xeikon’s powerful X-800 workflow for full automation,” added Van Gaever.

The press is targeted at printers working in the production of high-quality books and direct mail, PoS materials, security print and general commercial print applications. Xeikon is especially eyeing the book printing and direct mail market.

Xeikon envisions two big markets for digital with this new addition: book printing and direct mail Xeikon has noted the significant resurgence in printed book production in the last couple of years. Book sales have risen sharply due to easy availability through online channels and renewed interest in high quality books.

The rise in demand is stimulating book publishers and printers to look at their business strategies, and many are now choosing quality over speed.

With Xeikon’s SX20000 digital colour press, designers and printers have no limitations. Rotary printing makes it simple with perfect registration and imposition on much longer substrates, so no repeat size, fixed sheet format or frame length. This becomes a significant advantage in the finishing department.

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w SIRIUS press

On this single pass duplex press, there are no coverage limitations, no special inks – just load the reel on the Xeikon and off it goes – no fine tuning, no magic, just a quality result.

quality targeted direct mail. Many direct mail companies are using high quality papers for a limited audience as well as the 5th station on the press for brand colours.

Xeikon’s strategy is to offer the Xeikon SX20000 as a highly versatile and flexible print production platform, perfect for specialist jobs such as

To develop SIRIUS dry toner technology, Xeikon built on the four major areas of toner development, imaging technology, fusing technology and media conditioning, and every key component impacts on the overall quality result. A ground-breaking and innovative platform, SIRIUS delivers the widest application and substrate range combined with lower running costs and a compelling overall total cost of ownership (TCO) and overall OEE. “We believe the launch of the Xeikon SX20000 comes at the right moment in time. Printers looking for a roll fed machine with maximum efficiencies,

a powerful workflow for full colour control and automated imposition plus all the processes necessary to compete, need look no further,” said Van Gaever.

“Many printers working in the graphic arts and commercial print markets are aware that they need to streamline their operation, reduce their TCO, increase productivity and uptime and also review their equipment. Printers looking for new revenue streams and considering a broader range of applications may be restricted because of printing equipment limitations.”

The Xeikon SX20000 is available for physical and online demonstrations at Xeikon’s Global Innovation Center in Antwerp, Belgium, and is globally commercially available as of Q1 2021.

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Versatile, High-Capacity Fashion Production on Demand Como-based fabric provider to high-end fashion houses cites sustainability, single-step process in adopting new direct-to-fabric print technology Kornit Digital a worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, announced Italy-based Creazioni Digitali, a printing service provider to some of the most prominent names in high-end fashion, is installing the Kornit Presto S with Softener Solution for rapid, pigmentbased production on demand involving multiple fabric types in any quantity.

In addition to sublimation and acid and reactive dyes, Creazioni Digitali was the first textile provider to bring pigment printing to Italian fashion houses.

In addition to providing more ecofriendly production processes, a shift towards pigment-based production is key to their expansion and industrial plans for 2021 to 2025.

Print-on-demand business models and pigment-based production are both effective means of reducing water use, and empowering fashion brands to align with international sustainability imperatives.

“We believe eco-friendly, pigmentbased printing offers a wealth of possibilities for high fashion, and selected the Kornit Presto S based on its ability to deliver brilliant, high-

quality imagery using the broadest color gamut, without need for pre- and post-treatments,” says Roberto Lucini, Owner and CEO of Creazioni Digitali.

“We intend to grow our business as brands see what this technology can do, with the old calculations of quality versus responsible production practices giving way to a new landscape in which you can truly have both. This installation is one of more to come.”

“Creazioni Digitali is a recognized leader and innovator in Como, arguably the epicenter of the modern fashion world,” says Chris Govier,

KDEU Managing Director. “They’ve established that sustainable, durable pigment impressions provide a genuine path forward for that most demanding of retail markets, and Kornit is proud to be their technology provider on the new frontier.

Regardless of the fabric involved, the products they’ll be empowered to offer will look outstanding, feel right, and maintain their character, while buyers can rest assured they meet the highest possible standards for safety and sustainability.”

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The global fashion industry consumes about 79 billion cubic meters of fresh water annually

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#simpleprintingproduction #sustainablefashion #wearyourcare Kornit Digital Asia Pacific Contact us apac@kornit.com | +852-3977 9300

Korn it Digital

bonding matters

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#1 Inkjet Printing is Slow Memjet technology enables pagewide printing for both benchtop and commercial printing. The printhead extends across the entire width of Letter/A4 media. The printhead remains stationary while the media passes underneath at high speed during printing. This is a fixed printhead system or referred to as page-wide, single-pass printing.

Many desktop inkjet printers use a moving (or scanning) printhead system with a printhead that is considerably smaller than the width of the media being printed.

In a moving printhead system, the speed is greatly reduced because the printhead (pictured on the left side of

12 inches per second / 300mm/s on a page width of 8.5 inches without slowing down – that’s 60 pages of document-size labels in one minute or 1,000 of 6in x 4in / 150mm x 100mm labels in less than 10 minutes.

Besides improving print speed performance, the printhead’s fixed architecture also reduces the noise, vibration, and mechanical complexity associated with other traditional inkjet architectures that shuttle the printhead back and forth across the width of the media. #2 Inkjet is Expensive When evaluating the printing costs of inkjet, it is best to evaluate the full impact of both the print and nonprint related costs like electricity, labor, waste/spoilage and the environmental effects of those costs that could undermine your sustainability efforts.

The VersaPass® water-based dye inks used in VIP Color VP Series print solutions are finely tuned to jet with extremely high reliability throughout the life of the printhead, while also providing consistently high-quality output on a range of media. The formulation also contributes to excellent drop formation within the printhead, controlled drop spread and fast dry-time on media without requiring additional drying or curing steps.

the illustration) needs to move across the width of the media in multiple passes to cover the entire page and requires both the printhead and the media to move.

This high reliability and quality enable affordable printing through reduced downtime and waste, as well as a competitive cost per page.

The VIP Color VP Series printers Powered by Memjet are built based on a fixed printhead technology system.

It can achieve print speeds of up to

The VIP Color VP Series print solutions include a built-in cost calculator that allows users to view data about the ink cost per label. As shown in the video, the ink cost is less than .02 cents per

label – and that is the same for one label to 1,000 labels.

When you consider the overall cost of a printed label, most of it comes from the media substrate cost itself. It is best to understand the types of label stock that best fits your packaging design. #3 Dye Ink is Not Water-Resistant VersaPass inks are water-based and use dyes as colorants. The dyes are watersoluble and impart high color strength, allowing for reliable and efficient printing of color.

Since dyes are soluble in water, waterfastness can be an issue. However, if printed on specially designed media, Memjet’s VersaPass inks are waterfast.

The video demonstrates a printed label generated with VersaPass inks on waterfast media submerged in water without ink bleed or migration.

Memjet VersaPass inks perform well on a variety of plain papers, as well as uncoated and coated medias that are designed for aqueous inkjet printing. Memjet’s VersaPass inks have exceptional lightfastness under various conditions, particularly when paired with appropriate media.

With a formulation comprised of approximately 70% water, Memjet VersaPass inks are free from toxic and reactive chemistries making them safer for the earth and for the people handling them – an essential differentiator for food packaging applications.

VIP Color VP Series Printers Powered

by Memjet produce brilliant color labels that help products shine on retail shelves. They are sold through a network of partners across the US, Europe, China and Asia. For more information, visit VIP Color.

Meet the New Building Blocks of Productivity With the new Versant® 3100i Press and Versant® 180i Press We’d all like to get more done in a day, especially if it means less work too.

The new Versant® 3100i Press and Versant® 180i Press are designed to give your business a real productivity boost. With clever features like Automated Document Workflows and fast processing times, you’re free to focus on other tasks, like taking care of customers and building your business.

Up to 67% faster turnaround time1 1 Based on 3rd party as well: V3100i Press 67% faster turnaround time & V180i Press 48% Test based on a real situation from the customer perspective: mixed job – mixed size printing – mixed simplex/duplex – in comparison to V3100/180 Press

Learn more about how we could help you boost productivity at www.fujixerox.com.sg/sgp/buildingopportunity

Xerox, Xerox and Design, as well as Fuji Xerox and Design are registered trademarks or trademarks of Xerox Corporation in Japan and/or other countries.

Versant® 3100i Press

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Coatings, Ink Industry Under Pressure Demand, capacity and transportation issues for key raw materials are adding uncertainty to the supply chain.

CEPE is sounding the warning on raw material issues. The European paint, printing inks and artists' colors industry association reports that the industry is under increased pressure due to rising raw materials prices.

As many companies have noted, a mix of demand, capacity issues and scarce transportation resources of key raw materials are enhancing uncertainty in the supply chain. The coatings and ink industry is doing what it can to reduce risks to customers.

“After a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, our industry faces serious challenges again in 2021 due to the rise in raw material prices”, said André Vieira de Castro, chairman of CEPE. There are several reasons for the increase, namely increasing demand for raw materials due to the anticipated economic recovery, a shortage of raw materials available due to bad weather conditions and the closing of several plants causing suppliers of raw materials to invoke force majeure. Also,

transportation costs are on the rise resulting from the sharp increase in oil prices.

“The burden for the industry is immense, as raw material prices account for more than half of the cost,” Vieira de Castro said. “Since January last year, costs for key components like epoxy resins have risen by 60% in Europe.

The situation is similar for solvents, where the price of acetone and n-butyl acetate alone rose by 123% and 91% respectively.”

CEPE noted that the current situation stems from Europe and Asia, and especially the unexpected rapid V-shaped recovery in China, which is fueling demand for essential raw materials. Next to epoxy resins, the list of highly demanded petrochemical raw materials includes inter alia polyester resins, polypropylene glycols, acrylic acids, acrylic resin, UV resins, polyurethane resins, and solvents.

In parallel to petrochemical raw materials, global pigment raw material

costs (including titanium dioxide, red and yellow iron oxide) have also seen sharp increases. Key drivers for the increases include high demand across all industries, greater domestic supply requirements in producing countries, generic supply and demand imbalances and higher pigment component costs.

The situation is exacerbated by capacity issues. Disruptions at producers in Asia and Europe - either due to factory closures or plant accidents – have significantly tightened supply. Another cost factor is scarce transportation resources. The COVID-19 pandemic led to erratic demands for international trade which affected the shipping container movements. The current global shortage of containers in the right places has led to a sharp increase in transportation costs: prices of containers between China and Europe have risen more than 400% since Q4 2020.

While the coatings industry seeks to cope as much as possible with the current uncertainties, the world market pressure should give European decision-makers pause for thought.

Vieira de Castro observed that increased sustainability is undeniably the way forward, but global competition should not be ignored in the measures of the EU Green Deal.

“It is essential for Europe to have a strong chemicals industry with factories based in Europe in order to be more self-sufficient, otherwise it is the European economy as a whole which is under threat,” Vieira de Castro concluded.

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• Vibrant colours • Superb skin tones • Razor-sharp fine text and line detail • Smooth gradients

Quality across runs, machines and time • Innovative printheads and image processing technology • Intelligent nozzle activity and uniformity control • Print environment optimisation and ink conditioning for optimal printing performance • Proprietary polymer pigment water-based performance iX ink and ColorGrip • High registration accuracy • Advanced colour management

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Heidelberg increases pr Chinese production ope Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for printing systems, particularly in the Asian core markets, is nearing pre-crisis levels again.

The same applies to the production volumes of Heidelberg at its site in Shanghai.

• Particularly strong demand for Speedmaster CD 102 and CS 92 presses • Customers in more than 40 countries trust Heidelberg quality from China • Export rate from Shanghai site reaches 19 percent • Japanese print shops Ebara Printing and Bunkado install Speedmaster CD 102 presses from China Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for printing systems, particularly in the Asian core markets, is nearing pre-crisis levels again. The same applies to the production volumes of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) at its site in Shanghai.

Accordingly, the company has also progressively increased exports of its printing presses manufactured in China.

Since being established in 2005, launching the assembly of postpress systems, and subsequently taking up the production of standard smallformat printing presses for the Chinese market, the site now employs some 450 staff and manufactures printing presses for commercial and packaging printing across all standard format classes. Production operations are centered on the 70 × 100 format class, specifically the Speedmaster CD 102 and Speedmaster CS 92 models.

Customers in more than 40 countries trust Heidelberg quality from China The company is now exporting machinery from its site in Shanghai to more than 40 countries. The main customers besides China are other Asian markets such as Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and the Philippines.

However, the number of Chinesemanufactured machines being exported to Europe – predominantly standard printing presses – is also increasing.

For example, Chinese-made presses have been installed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. In south and central America, countries such as Mexico and Brazil have been placing

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

ress exports from erations

The key to its success has been its ability to meet wide-ranging product requirements with substrates in thicknesses from 0.03mm to 1.0 mm and print on materials from cardboard to PP and PET plastics.

To achieve these capabilities, Ebara invested in a Speedmaster CD 102 with UV technology in 2004, which it procured from Germany. In May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the print shop installed its second Speedmaster CD 102-5+L, which this time had been manufactured in China. orders. As a result, the export rate from China is currently at 19 percent and rising.

“Our production at the Chinese site in Shanghai is a success story, not just in terms of the Chinese market, but also and increasingly with regard to the rest of the world,” states Heidelberg CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer. “Already, around one third of all the Heidelberg printing units being manufactured are coming from this plant.

Following the rapid economic recovery of the Asian markets from the coronavirus pandemic, our local production operations have proven to be a strategic advantage in overcoming the crisis. As a consequence, we are

increasingly able to realize growth opportunities in these regions.”

Satisfied users are investing again Established in 1959, Japanese company Ebara Printing Co., Ltd. employs 35 staff and is a longstanding customer of Heidelberg. This multifunctional media service provider, which is also a certified supplier to a global company in the entertainment industry, is meticulous in preparing its investment decisions and lays down strict criteria. Based on detailed market analyses, Ebara has transformed its product portfolio, moving away from classic business and office stationery to become more of a solutions provider for packaging printing.

The new acquisition replaced two older Speedmaster presses. While the first press is now primarily dedicated to cardboard production, the new CD 102-5+L is exhibiting its full versatility. As well as printing plastics, it is also being used to print card during peak periods, when it helps ease the strain on the first press.

“Before we decided to invest, we very carefully scrutinized every aspect of the new Speedmaster CD 102. In the end, we were very impressed by the technological advances in evidence on the press. We succeeded in significantly boosting our productivity and we are also benefitting from considerable flexibility with regard to substrates,” explains Akinori Furukawa, Managing

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Bunkado was the first Japanese print shop to install a Speedmaster CD 102 that had been manufactured at the Heidelberg site in China

Director of Ebara: “We are confident that, with the new Speedmaster CD 102 and with Heidelberg as a partner, we will continue to enhance our competitiveness.”

manufactured Speedmaster CD 102 with UV technology from Heidelberg.

This meant the company was now running a total of three Speedmaster presses with UV technology in the 70 × 100 format class.

Bunkado the first Japanese print shop to install a Speedmaster CD manufactured in China In 2018, Bunkado Printing Co., Ltd., which is based in the Japanese city of Odawara, became the first Japanese print shop to install a Chinese-

The latest investment replaced a 17-year-old Speedmaster CD 102, enabling the company to double its original productivity. This and the flexibility of the press are essential conditions for Bunkado’s expansion

into the growing packaging market.

As a result, highly flexible and qualityfocused sheetfed offset printing is becoming the company’s second mainstay alongside web offset printing.

Kazuto Nakanishi, Managing Director of Bunkado Printing: “As the peak season was drawing closer, we needed a new printing press with UV technology fast. Heidelberg therefore offered us a Speedmaster CD 102 from its Chinese production site, which was available at short notice. Before we concluded the purchase agreement, we saw the Heidelberg factory in Shanghai for ourselves and were deeply impressed by the state-of-the-art and professional manufacturing operations there.

That is what won us over and we have certainly not regretted our decision. The print quality, productivity, and reliability of the press meet the same exceptional standards that we have come to expect from Heidelberg presses that have been made in Germany.”

Ebara’s Managing Director, AkinoriFurukawa, and Supervisory Board Member at Ebara, Satoshi Otaka, with a press operator in front of the new Chinese-made Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102.

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Zest it up with our New Pink Ink Turn opportunities into breakthroughs.

Boost your service portfolio with the versatile new Specialty Colour for the Iridesse™ Production Press. Combining our breakthrough Pink Dry Ink with existing white, metallic and CMYK inks enables you to produce so much more.

It’s a delicious time to rethink what’s exceptional. www.fujixerox.com.sg/en/Beyond-Imagination

Xerox, Xerox and Design, as well as Fuji Xerox and Design are registered trademarks or trademarks of Xerox Corporation in Japan and/or other countries.

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Shenzhen-based Realtime Technology invest printing press Realtime Technology Co. have linked up with Manroland for the first time by acquiring a new, highly-automated ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION Ultima® press equipped with the latest applications in print.

A specially customized model like the Ultima® ROLAND 709 8DLTTDV EVOLUTION "is like a rare gem" according to Mr. Wang Hui, Realtime Technology's Managing Director.

Founded in 2015, Shenzhen-based Realtime Technology specializes in packaging and labels for cigarettes, alcohol and electronic products. Because of the company's continuous growth, they required a new press to meet market demands, increase productivity and reduce production costs. For this reason, Realtime Technology decided to invest in the Manroland’s ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION Ultima®, a logical choice because of its outstanding performance and capacity for diversity and competitiveness.

Several years ago, Manroland made history in the printing industry by launching the innovative Ultima®

concept. The Ultima® offers tailormade solutions for a wide array of applications and now this proven technology is offered with the latest generation ROLAND EVOLUTION platform.

Ultima stands for customization.

Whether it is coating before printing or a downstream printing unit after coating, whether it is water-based coating, UV-coating, or special lacquers – anything that varies from the standard printing and varnishing process finds application-specific solutions with the ROLAND 700 Evolution Ultima.

It provides printers with maximum flexibility to meet the unique packaging needs of high-end customers.

Many printers, including Realtime Technology, face various challenges like soaring costs and ever shorter lead times. To cope, production

processes need to be reduced and the enhancements must be implemented in one pass. Not only will this reduce the production cost, it will also improve productivity.

With the ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION's OnePass® technology, a variety of varnishing, printing and foiling enhancements for high-end packaging and commercial jobs can be accomplished with onepass production. These possibilities in production bring printers greater profits. Whether it is more demanding quality requirements, extremely complex printing processes, fewer print runs or shorter lead times, Realtime Technology can tackle these challenges with ease thanks to the customized technology provided by the ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION.

FAST. FLEXIBLE. WATER-RESISTANT LABELS.

VP650 DESKTOP COLOR LABEL PRINTER

Combines performance and reliability for chilled food & beverages and most moisture exposed product labels.

Powered by Memjet

www.memjet.com/partners/vip-color

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InlineFoiler The latest InlineFoiler 2.0 with indexing function can be configured on the Ultima® presses according to the requirements. The InlineFoiler is extremely flexible and can be set up either at the beginning or at the end of the printing unit, as required. Excellent surface enhancement can be achieved on the printed sheet, providing more space for value-added printing.

This significantly enhances the market competitiveness of the printing enterprises. The InlineFoiler is especially suitable for high-end packaging industries such as alcohol and tobacco. With this important feature, the production process can accommodate more innovative visual ideas. There's more room for creativity.

UV Curing Technology As the latest technology platform of Manroland, the ultimacustomized model of ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION can configure a variety of ink curing solutions including UV curing according to the needs of users. More importantly, its UV curing technology saves energy, protects the environment and improves processing efficiency. More vivid colors on various substrates are possible. Productivity

is boosted and costs are significantly lowered, bringing huge economic benefits to the printers.

"The premium print effects can further enhance the uniqueness, attractiveness and added value of our high-quality printed products," says Mr. Wang. "These advanced technologies of the Ultima® ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION provide us with new possibilities. It is so rare to find a specially customized model in the print market!”

In addition, Manroland's customized printing machine equipment configuration is also very flexible.

Customers can choose an automatic configuration suitable for their own actual situation or what the job structure demands.

For example, when large volume print jobs are in the majority of the daily works, the automatic investment in machine preparation can be replaced by a material logistics system, which is more convenient. Otherwise for printers who mainly do short run print jobs. the overall job structure, maximum printing speed and the investment of logistics system can be replaced by an automatic configuration

job conversion. Three things are guaranteed -- quick job completion, improved order turnover rate and effective utilization rate of equipment.

Overall, the innovative Ultima® concept caters to the different and specific needs of packaging printers. It is highly effective in shortening makeready time, increasing production output and performance, and reducing waste.

As a bonus, the ROLAND 700 EVOLUTION under the Ultima® model series includes a 24-month ProServ 360° Performance package.

This way, printing companies are assured of achieving the promised performance levels and are able to efficiently manage operating costs.

About Manroland Sheetfed Manroland Sheetfed GmbH is a leading German producer of sheetfed offset litho printing presses. Founded in 1871, the company is one of the oldest producers of printing presses in the world. Today the company has its own subsidiaries in over 40 countries and is a global watchword for supreme quality and reliability. Manroland Sheetfed GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of the privately owned UK engineering group, Langley Holdings plc .

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DIGITAL PRINTING TECHNOLOGY THAT POWERS THE WAY WE PRINT TODAY. https://www.memjet.com/partners/shield/

Powered with DuraLink® Technology The M680c digital inkjet printing system for commercial & book publishing features high-quality 1600 dpi and print speeds up to 203 m/min.

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KP-Connect Pro raises more than 50 percent In 2015 Futaba Printing and Kyowa Printing companies were consolidated into one group. The resulting synergy improved technical capacity, strengthened sales capabilities, and helped the group secure a firm management base.

In order to unite the two companies, the first thing that the group did was merge their production management and process management systems so they could efficiently manage the six printing presses across the two plants.

After extensive research, Futaba installed Komori's KP-Connect Pro to aid in this high-level integration of the two plants.

Enhanced production management with KP-Connect Pro When Futaba Printing, founded in 1949, and Kyowa Printing, founded in 1964, were consolidated into one group, President Kikuchi promoted

changes to increase efficiency and productivity. He looked to the pressroom and focused on maximizing press productivity, which in turn would greatly improve overall profitability.

Efforts were devoted to unifying and improving production management to achieve these goals.

"Even if you've installed the latest printing press, it's important to schedule it according to the type of work in order to get the best performance. For example, if you plan your schedule by going from large sheets to small sheets, you only need to wash the impression cylinders once a day."

However, it wasn't easy for the shop floor to understand the importance of this type of scheduling and to actually implement it. President Kikuchi installed KP-Connect Pro, which unified the workflow of the two companies and migrated all production management tasks that had been done in Excel and on paper to KP-Connect Pro. Streamlining the workflow meant zero status calls and the reduction of office work to one-third "Before the introduction of KPConnect Pro, we created multiple documents and schedules for each

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

operational rate to

"With KP-Connect Pro I know the full operational status of both the Kyowa and the Futaba manufacturing facilities, even if I'm not at the company."

Hidenori Kikuchi, President and Representative Director

of a job, but now we make zero calls," he says, referring to the significant improvements. "Without KP-Connect Pro, this level of efficiency and production management would not be possible."

order, one by one in Excel, which we then printed and distributed. We had to make revisions whenever there was a change, and we had to check the progress by phone or by visiting the shop floor, so it felt as if we were doing office work all day rather than production management," says Hiroki Kikuchi, head of production management.

"With KP-Connect, we only need to enter order information once, and it is reflected in all documents and can be easily shared with each process.

We can do this in about one-third the time it used to take, so we can spend more time on our core business, such

as examining efficient scheduling, analyzing press operational rates, and managing the plant and employees."

The printing schedule relies on the status of final image data, paper preparation, and platemaking. An efficient schedule can be created by knowing the status of these three elements. KP-Connect's scheduler provides not only the operating status of the printing presses but also the status of final image data, paper preparation and platemaking in real time, making it easy to create an efficient schedule.

"We used to make 20 to 30 internal phone calls a day to check on the status

The system has also had a positive effect on operations at each site.

"The sales department is now able to understand the work schedule and the load on the presses in real time, which allows them to conduct efficient sales activities based on the availability of the machines.

For the paper management department, a list of stock orders and warehousing schedules are displayed in real time, so they can accurately follow and manage any sudden additional jobs on the same day without any issues. The system can also print stock tags, further reducing bottlenecks.

This used to take about two hours a day to complete, but now it is down

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Futaba Printing Main Plant to almost zero. Additionally, this production step was done by three people and now it is done by two. We are able to efficiently manage deliveries and pickups with the same methods used for stock management," says Manager Kikuchi.

In addition, the printing plate and printing departments no longer need to record daily reports, which used to be handwritten. With KP-Connect Pro the progress status is automatically shared, which has brought about significant changes and positive results.

Addressing future utilization, President Kikuchi says, "We've improved production management efficiency for each plant, but in the future, we will further improve overall efficiency by consolidating schedule management of both companies under one person, taking into consideration the balance and difficulty of the work and the suitability of the presses."

Operational rate more than 60% in some months Mr. Kikuchi also mentioned the effect of KP-Connect Pro on the change in awareness on the shop floor due to visualization. "If we have two machines and the operational rate goes up from 30% to 50%, it's equivalent to having an additional press. By installing KPConnect Pro, my aim was to increase net productivity for all presses to leverage our investment in Komori presses and to increase earnings.

We can see the results in numbers, such as the operational rate and related details. By looking at the results and discussing them with the operators, we were able to share issues, clarify what needed to be done on the shop floor, and get everyone to work with efficiency in mind."

As a result, Kyowa Printing has

improved net production and has achieved an average monthly operational rate of 50%, due in part to changes that were implemented.

In some single months, the rate has exceeded 60% Integrated management of the printing process From management to shop floor, KP-Connect Pro has brought about improved efficiency and significant changes. President Kikuchi says, "After consulting with Komori, we're thinking of expanding KP-Connect Pro functions to cover purchase orders and

invoices. Once this is achieved, we'll be able to manage all printing-related operations with KP-Connect Pro. In the early stages of this project, I thought KP-Connect Pro was just a system for looking at the operational rate. KP-Connect stores an incredible amount of data, which is very useful for making decisions on maintenance plans for the machines, so we can always keep the printing presses running at their best. For a printing company, this is a key component to ensuring consistent quality and profitability."

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ColorWave 3800

PlotWave 3000 Series

PlotWave 5000 Series

PlotWave 7500

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5 Ways Post-Compos Easily Drive Success i Printers are on a mission to find better ways to win more business and operate more efficiently. Their experience from last year is driving a renewed energy across the printing industry as they embrace the continued variability of print markets and its impact on how print production environments receive, produce and deliver work.

The bottom line is that the print industry continues to evolve—a notion confirmed in the latest market study from Madison Advisors (January 2021).

Madison Advisors’ research focused on post-composition solutions for volume print production environments. Why is post-composition important for the future success of volume print production industries?

Madison Advisors puts it into context in their press release about the new study: “Even if some of the functionality of a post-composition solution overlaps that of the core document composition solution(s), the cost benefit of considering post-composition to address rapidly changing customer expectations more easily is worthy of serious consideration,” said Keith Woedy, Vice President of Research

and Practice Lead, Madison Advisors.

“We believe that, to stay competitive, companies need to take a hard look at including post-composition into the workflow to support the ability to deliver highly personalized, efficient, cost-effective communications.”

This perspective from Madison Advisors dovetails positively into our experiences in the volume print production industries. It also rings true with our 30-member Customer Advisory Council made up of InPlants, Direct Mail printers and some of the largest Print Service Providers (PSPs). As Woedy mentions, the need to deliver what print buyers and customers require is key to the value of post-composition in 2021. We see 5 effective ways post-composition will help print production workflows handle more business, more efficiently.

The ultimate result is more business success.

Let’s take a closer look at 5 ways postcomposition can make an impact in your print environment: 1. Handle a Larger Number of Smaller Quantity Orders Around the world, printers of all types talk to us about the challenge of more orders coming in but for lower quantities per order. Post-composition print workflow solutions are critical here. Optimizing print orders as they come in, commingling or batching them

with like print jobs and automating the process with visible, trackable and reportable processes or workflows is crucial. Customers tell us this capability can save them hundreds of thousands of dollars in printing and process costs annually while opening the door to new revenue opportunities.

2. Fulfill the Requirement for Personalization The idea of personalization isn’t new, but the need for it continues to grow. Personalization isn’t just about applying a name to a printed product.

Regionalization is a key component to personalization and delivers unique experiences for recipients in different geographies. Using Variable Data Printing (VDP) techniques, printers can offer data-driven content that

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sition Print Tools Will in the Year 2021

By Jonathan Malone-McGrew, Senior Director of Engagement, Solimar Systems

pricing strategy by adjusting profit margins or by bundling unique offers, a more typically sustainable approach is reducing structural overhead. Postcomposition can provide the critical path to giving high-volume print shops the ability to reduce their operational expenses.

Through hands-off, automated and templatized processes, organizations can streamline and drive costs down. The benefit is flexibility in maintaining profit margins while offering more competitive pricing to customers.

makes each printed piece more relevant and valuable to the recipient.

That relevance can be driven by the user’s own preferences revealed by past purchasing behaviors or interests. Given the long timeframes typically associated with implementing composition workflows, personalization is often added in a more timely manner with a post-composition solution. By adding these crucial tools in print environments, organizations have the opportunity to offer customers extended services and grow their business overall.

3. Meet the Demands for Fast Production and Delivery Rapidly changing expectations are pressuring printers to become more

agile in meeting faster turnaround times. To do this, the critical processes within a volume print production environment need to be efficient.

Automation is vital, leaving manual tasks for only those orders that have special needs or exceptions. Print Service Provider (PSP) clients of ours tell us that our post-composition solutions can dramatically reduce production overhead, time-tocomplete, and manual labor across all types of jobs. At the same time, these solutions tend to improve accuracy and create new revenue opportunities.

4. Enable Competitive Pricing Competitive pricing is based on both business and market factors. While businesses can build a competitive

5. Leverage All Destination Devices and Channels The fifth consideration for how postcomposition easily drives success for volume PSPs is the ability to load balance or redirect work to the devices or channels available. Simply put, some operational decisions are best done after composition. With the right workflows, PSPs can drive significant benefit by digitally diverting jobs for e-delivery or by batching and segmenting content to optimize both printer and inserter utilization.

In addition, such post-composition workflows tend to leverage postal discounts. No matter the need, postcomposition print workflow solutions can help PSPs leverage the equipment they have and optimize the work they do.

My advice to influencers in In-Plant or Print Service Provider businesses is to take a closer look at your current processes. Make sure you walk your workflow from order or job receipt to the delivery of the finished product. If you see bottlenecks or slowdowns in the five areas mentioned above, you are on the right path to discovering a plan to improve your print business through post-composition software solutions.

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Youthful packaging design opens a new page for Menton Sidel packaging team in Shanghai, China redesigned the package of Menton flavoured water by integrating youthfulness into its health attribute.

The straight-wall lightweight PET bottle, which weighs only 17.85 grams for the 500 ml format, conveys the sense of modernity and is a statement of sustainable packaging. Targeting young consumers in China, this new design differentiates Menton as a premium choice among other Readyto-Drink (RTD) flavoured water brands in the market.

to the new design with the help of a bright and jaunty colour pallet: the unique metallic

Menton is a RTD product sold in convenience stores and markets around schools in medium-sized cities in China. After three years of rapid sales, Menton flavoured water faced growing competition in the market with similar packages and prices. Considering that Menton’s customers are price-sensitive young people who have grown up together with the development of China’s advanced internet culture, the brand decided to restyle the brand personality and resonate with them by repositioning the drink as a higher value product.

Sleek design combines strong capability The challenge for Sidel was how to premiumise Menton and retain its health attribute in the new high valued soft drink category, because many soft drinks give the impression of containing high in sugar and unhealthiness. It is also crucial to build a stronger brand image and further improve the relationship between brand and consumers to increase the loyalty.

To do so, they trusted in their longterm partner Sidel to develop a new packaging design from a concept to the industrial realisation of the product, which is also, but not only being produced on three Sidel Aseptic Combi Predis™ PET packaging lines at a very fast output of 60,000 bottles per hour (bph) per line.

Drink that brings to a Mediterranean holiday Sidel’s team conjured up a completely new bottle concept, including iconic bottle shape and label designs. As Menton flavoured water is available with multiple fruity flavours, the inspiration of the new look was one of the ingredients – lemons – that are harvested in Europe. As a result, an association with the ideal, sunny Mediterranean holiday was applied

“Tiffany blue” colour gives an exquisite brand image and unifies the different flavours, but the illustrated fruit pattern with its lighthearted, funny and relaxing mood conveys the healthy and natural attributes of the drink.

“Following the overall packaging design trend in China, we decided to create something more contemporary for young people who are the main target audience for the drink, moving away from complex and technical design structures. Therefore, we came up with a straight-wall lightweight PET bottle, which weighs only 17.85 grams for the 500 ml format and is unusual for premium packaging,” explains Steven Xie, Packaging Director from Sidel Greater China. The production process of the re-styled bottle is also more sustainable, reducing material and energy consumption due to its light weight. The new bottle also achieved performance requirements for transportation and storage.

Based on customer’s insights, specifications, supply chain conditions and product goals, Sidel supported from packaging conceptual graphic

design and technical design to label design. In addition, Sidel provided all feasibility studies and performance tests, including dimensional and mechanical tests for thickness and weight. Within this project packaging experts also supplied three series of moulds and supported the industrial production to ensure that the bottles were performing across the supply chain according to initial specifications.

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The Rapida 106 X is the eye-catcher in the press hall of the ARNOLD group. It provides 4/4-colour ecological offset production with additional inline coating at speeds up to 18,000 sph

“Think green” by increasing output by 50 per cent and halving makeready time The ARNOLD group, which is based in Großbeeren near Berlin, treated itself to a very special Christmas present at the end of last year. 23 December marked the start of production on a brand new Rapida 106 X from Koenig & Bauer.

Right from the very first day, the eight-colour press with perfecting unit and an additional coater boosted output by 50 per cent and enabled makeready times to be slashed by half.

Max Arnold, managing director of the highly technophile commercial printing company, is delighted: “Whenever I come into the press hall, I see the bright red number 18,000.” And it is not only in terms of speed, but also in regard to its technical features, that the Rapida 106 X meets all the demands of modern, efficient and future-oriented print production.

Alongside its printing facility, the ARNOLD group also operates a pre-press studio and an advertising agency, and all three conduct intensive reviews of each and every process

from the perspectives of ecology and sustainability.

“Think green” is not just a slogan, but also the company's guiding principle. Process-free plates are used, with production being based solely on alcohol-free printing with mineral-oil-free bio-inks, and green electricity from the company’s own photovoltaic installation contributes to an outstanding ecological footprint.

Ecological production processes in the foreground The Rapida 106 X perfectly complements this approach. After all, it handles production processes that would otherwise require two presses. 4/4-colour print products are completed in a single pass, including

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SPEED UP YOUR PROCESSES with optical systems for UV curing and drying

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38 capacities elsewhere in the company.

Accordingly, the management is now working on attracting new customers so that it can utilise the full capacity of the Rapida 106 X and keep the twoand-a-half daily shifts busy.

any necessary coating refinements. The convertible perfecting unit also makes it possible to print using more than four colours in straight production, for example for packaging. The power consumed by one such press is, of course, lower than two presses, while countless special features allow the ARNOLD group to benefit from ecological print processes, and to reduce waste to an absolute minimum.

Foremost on the list is QualiTronic PDFCheck, which complements colour control by incorporating sheet inspection functions and a comparison with the PDF from pre-press. Checking every single sheet lowers the level of waste significantly.

Documentation of the print quality and the marking of any waste sheets in a pile by using a tag inserter are also attractive propositions for particularly qualitysensitive customers. Furthermore, the short, fast-reacting inking units bring the press into colour in next to no time, which makes a similarly decisive contribution to minimising waste.

Ecological production and high quality print products are by no means mutually exclusive. On the contrary, every print job that the ARNOLD group completes demonstrates once again that high product quality can also be achieved while observing strict ecological criteria.

First Rapida press at the company The new press is the first purchase from Koenig & Bauer since the company was founded in 1989. Alongside the ecological aspects, there were several other factors which clinched the deal: the reputation for flexibility and collaborative support provided by industry system house Steuber, the company’s longstanding partner for service and post-press equipment, the relative proximity of the manufacturing plant in Radebeul, the potential of key

technical features, and the design of the Rapida 106 X series.

Production manager Felix Berndt is especially impressed by the feeder, the sidelay-free infeed and the delivery of the press: “You push the pallets in and the press simply gobbles up everything with ease,” is how he describes his first experiences of production with a diverse range of substrates. And on top of that, “the pile in the delivery is sometimes even tidier than the one in the feeder”.

Foil-free ink ducts, with a special coating to enable fast ink changes, simplify handling. The Duraprint rollers in the inking units exhibit excellent dimensional stability and are not subject to wear. Job changeover times have been shortened several times over thanks to the fast plate changes and optimised washing processes with CleanTronic Synchro.

Ongoing optimisation of the production process There are times when even a single centimetre makes all the difference: increasing the format expansion from 74 to 75 × 105 cm means that a standard paper size is suitable for use on the Rapida 106 X. Ordering expensive special formats, trimming the unwanted centimetre or printing with smaller sheets, as was the case with the predecessor press, is no longer necessary, making the entire process more efficient. The larger sheet format can be better utilised.

“Every investment helps transform and optimise processes,” says Max Arnold.

Together with his father and company founder Andreas Arnold, he viewed installation of the Rapida 106 X as an opportunity to streamline the logistics concept used in the press hall. The significant increase in productivity at the printing stage does, of course, affect

A motivated team The printers are just as excited as their managers. “The press found immediate acceptance, and they are really impressed,” Max Arnold reports.

The first quarter of last year was the most successful in the history of the ARNOLD group. That convinced the family owners that it was the right time to invest, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Almost a year later, Andreas and Max Arnold are looking to the future with optimism. The next step in their plans is to modernise the storage and logistics facilities. At the same time, they are very interested in an MIS system in combination with a fully integrated tracking app.

The ARNOLD group's commitment to the environment: - Use of sustainable substrates (FSCcertified or Blue Angel) - Exclusive use of process-free printing plates (reduced consumption of chemicals, water and energy) - Alcohol-free printing with eco-friendly and particularly sustainable inks - Use of coatings with a Blue Angel certification - Carbon-neutral printing - Use of green power (avoiding between 155 and 175 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year) - Tree donations for Berlin and the state of Brandenburg - Use of an electric or hybrid vehicle fleet

Quality sheet for sheet: QualiTronic PDFCheck combines inline colour measurement, sheet inspection and comparison with the pre-press PDF

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Meet the New Building Blocks of Efficiency With the new Versant® 3100i Press and Versant® 180i Press Are you feeling the pressure to cut costs? Things like print jams and mistakes from misfeeds can seem small at first, but the delays and cost of supplies can start to stack up. The new Versant® 3100i Press and Versant® 180i Press are designed to minimise waste and maximise performance. Our revolutionary Air Suction Feeder and smart automated workflows come together to reduce the risk of human error and avoid costly problems like print jams.

Up to 67% faster turnaround time

Learn more about how we could give your business an efficiency boost at www.fujixerox.com.au/aus/ buildingopportunity

Air Suction Feeder Versant® 3100i Press

Xerox, Xerox and Design, as well as Fuji Xerox and Design are registered trademarks or trademarks of Xerox Corporation in Japan and/or other countries.

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Heidelberg’s Saphira Eco consumables line aim to change sustainability perception New Saphira Eco portfolio focuses on environmental friendliness, cost-efficiency, and productivity In a recent study on life in Germany in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, 75% of the people who were surveyed said that sustainability was the key to health and security.

Two thirds claimed that, in the future, they would choose suppliers who treat solidarity, social commitment, and sustainability as priorities.

Based on these findings, it can be assumed that print products will also enjoy greater acceptance if they are clearly identifiable as products that have been created on a sustainable basis. Furthermore, a growing number

of print buyers are demanding that print service providers supply evidence of sustainability.

For approximately ten years, Heidelberg has been supplying the Saphira Eco product line to help with precisely this issue. The comprehensive range of especially environmentally friendly consumables includes chemical-free and processless printing plates, coatings,

inks made from renewable raw materials, and chemicals that generate less waste.

These materials enable users to achieve dependable, environmentally friendly print production that satisfies the highest quality standards. The Saphira Eco range is subject to the strictest criteria in the print media industry for demonstrating the environmental compatibility of consumables.

New Saphira Eco portfolio focuses on environmental friendliness, costefficiency, and productivity By realigning its portfolio around environmentally friendly Saphira Eco consumables, Heidelberg is making it easier for customers to pursue environmentally compatible production in line with their specific requirements. Additional focal points

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Direct. Dedicated. Digital.

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besides environmental concerns include the cost-effectiveness and productivity of the production process.

the environmentally friendly clean-out solution takes the place of conventional developers and replenishers.

For example, the environmentally friendly Saphira Eco inks are in the same price bracket as conventional standard inks but don’t require any additional outlay in terms of setup and achieve the same productivity standards.

Users benefit from savings in the form of reduced space requirements, chemical usage, disposal costs, and power and water consumption. When used with other approved consumables from Heidelberg, the company’s chemical-free or processless printing plates deliver a stable production process and sustained high productivity.

“By using Saphira Eco products, print shops can organize their production operations on a much more environmentally friendly and sustainable basis,” explained Hans Huyghe, head of Product Management Consumables at Heidelberg. “Moreover, there is still far too little awareness that environmentally friendly consumables can help reduce costs by delivering a lower total cost of ownership – without compromising on productivity and quality. Heidelberg also assists all customers who are interested in switching to environmentally friendly print production.”

Processless and chemicalfree printing plates for an environmentally friendly and stable production process When using processless printing plates from the Saphira Eco portfolio, there is no need for a development process, which means plates can be used on the press immediately after imaging. In the case of chemical-free printing plates,

Saphira Eco coatings for virtually all application areas Thanks to their excellent environmental friendliness, the coatings in the Saphira Eco portfolio are suitable for virtually all standard application areas.

The portfolio includes, for example, Teflon-free and low-ammonia or ammonia-free coatings. This means Heidelberg can supply coatings that do not require any hazard labeling. By harnessing the consulting expertise that Heidelberg offers, print shops can find the ideal combination of coating and screen roller to reduce their coating consumption.

For example, a specific screen will enable lower coating usage without impacting gloss levels, while combining this screen with a suitable coating plate will also help reduce cleaning intervals.

Environmentally friendly print production with Saphira Eco chemicals Heidelberg offers a wide range of chemicals for especially environmentally friendly print production. For instance, the Saphira Eco portfolio includes VOC-free wash solutions. Combining the right wash program with the right wash solution helps to shorten the whole washing process while ensuring the results are always good.

This means less wash solution is used, which generates less waste and results in lower waste costs.

In addition, Heidelberg offers environmentally friendly dampening solutions that don’t need to be changed in the dampening solution circuit as often and facilitate IPA-free or at least reducedIPA printing – all without impacting productivity while also reducing paper waste. Heidelberg helps users make the switch to IPA-free print production.

Saphira Eco products assist with certification for sustainable print production Using environmentally compatible consumables from the Saphira Eco portfolio makes it easier for print shops worldwide to obtain certification for sustainable print production in line with the applicable environmental standards.

Depending on the type of certificate, Heidelberg helps its customers choose the best consumables to satisfy the certificate requirements.

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Wine and spirit labels are among the highest quality labels printed.

Their designs, embellishments and complex shapes make them a great technical challenge. With all this and more to consider it can be very challenging and sometimes stressful for the printer. But also very rewarding when the labels roll off the press.

Speaking not only for myself but for many printers, when we see our products on the shelf we often pick them up and look at the colour, register, die cutting etc. Job satisfaction and pride in what we do is a part of every print run, but especially if it’s a new job or a press approval.

Most printing companies have a press dedicated to approval for new labels.

This is a great opportunity, not only to help the customer achieve their desired new wine or spirit label, but also to work with the ink and art departments and hone your skills in these areas.

This also involves working closely with the finishing department to help reduce waste. As these labels are usually more expensive, it can help reduce costs significantly.

An eye for detail The complexity of wine and spirit labels requires an eye for detail and knowledge in all areas of printing processes, as the design of a wine and spirit label can range from very simple to complex.

For the printer, the complexity lies in different embellishments such as foil and or embossing, de-lam/relam, lamination, slitting, and complex die-cutting shapes. Some of these labels, especially those for higherend products, have security features or special processes to help the fight against counterfeiting.

Using foil and embossing is widespread as they provide not only a visual effect but also a haptic appeal. Putting these processes together is challenging and it’s common for print to be applied to these areas as well, producing a more appealing and attractive label.

Importance of a flexible press Some labels can consist of 13 or even more colours depending on complexity, design, and press configuration.

This requires a press that has a configuration of units that are either set with additional rail units, a combination press that is fixed, or inter-changeable units. Because each job is different with different colour sequences, printing processes, and embellishments, your press must be flexible to accommodate the job at hand.

This also helps winning new jobs and makes the press capable of printing a diverse range of products.

Operator focused Larger combination presses usually have the top printers operating them as they require more attention to detail, quick identification of problems, knowledge of the processes and jobs, as well as quicker set up and wash up times.

It can be difficult to find good printers and keeping them can, for various reasons, be even more difficult, so it’s important to be not only product- but operator-focused.

Kane Marsh

By Kane Marsh is Regional Printing Instructor Asia Pacific with MPS Systems Asia

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Bobst making headwa The story behind BOBST’s success in Asia with bestselling gravure presses Innovation is driving the implementation of Bobst’s advanced gravure technology in emerging markets throughout India and Southeast Asia.

By responding to the specific requirements of these markets, Bobst has successfully established itself as a technology leader in the flexible packaging sector here.

Well-known for its superior quality and consistency across very long runs, gravure printing remains the technology of choice for flexible packaging in Asia. Increasingly, packaging printers in China and India, as well as the rapidly growing newer economies of Southeast Asia, are choosing to invest in more sophisticated gravure printing presses to meet market trends and customer demands.

Sustainable manufacturing, better service and predictable results are trends driving innovation in this field.

Brand owners and regulatory bodies alike demand “greener” packaging, so converters are turning to manufacturers that offer state-of-the-art technology that can satisfy those requests.

Changing the game in China Bobst began to accelerate its involvement in China in 2018 with the

establishment of a second production site, Bobst (Changzhou) Ltd, complemented by a new Competence Center.

automation features, low emissions, and ability to print on a multitude of substrates, including new eco-friendly materials.

Lubin Lu, Business Director of Business Unit Printing & Converting, Bobst (Changzhou) said: “When we first started to promote Bobst in 2012, very few customers in the flexible packaging industry in China knew the company, but today Bobst is well-known and has become synonymous with innovative technology and excellent quality.”

The latest model, the RS 3.0 PLUS, features second-generation electronic shaft technology integrated with Registron register control, Total Automatic Pre-register Setting (TAPS) for fully automatic pre-register setting, highly efficient double-sided drying technology and Lower Explosion Limit (LEL) system to reduce emissions.

“The decision to invest in Bobst Changzhou was a real turning point. Local manufacturing offers a better performance/price ratio, and local service and spare parts mean convenience and faster reaction times.

The Competence Center is a unique selling point and it sets Bobst apart from local competitors,” Lu added.

Building on the unrivalled quality of Bobst engineering and cost-efficient manufacturing experience of Bobst plants in China, the RS 3.0 PLUS combines speed and quality with environmentally and operator friendly production. Its ability to print with water-based inks was instrumental in earning Bobst Changzhou a certification as a Demonstration and Training Base for Alternative Applications to VOCs in the Packaging and Printing Industry from the Printing and Printing Equipment Industries Association of China (PEIAC).

The RS 3.0 rotogravure press, which is manufactured by Bobst Changzhou specifically for the Chinese market, quickly became a very soughtafter machine due to its advanced

“The Bobst RS 3.0 PLUS offers highspeed printing with water-based inks without compromising on quality, and this has proven to be a real gamechanger in this market, because it solves the problem for printers and brand owners who need to meet new sustainability targets,” Lu commented.

India is embracing advanced technology In India, converters are facing many of the same demands. They are also looking to improve their green credentials by implementing best-inclass gravure printing technology. Here the Bobst Nova RS 5002 gravure press, which in 2019 evolved into the Nova

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ay in China and India There are now over 160 machines sold worldwide as more printing companies align themselves with the Bobst new industry vision for future of packaging production, based on the four corner stones of connectivity, digitalization, automation and sustainability.

“While these machines were born to respond to specific market requirements and suit emerging RS 5003 model, has been incredibly well received.

“The timing of the launch of the Nova RS 5002 was the most opportune for us. The market was looking for a highspeed press with automation features that would make life easier for the operator, one that could manage inks of varying quality and print using waterbased inks. They also wanted great support and service,” said Nilesh Pinto, Business Director India, Business Unit Printing & Converting. “Our customers saw the true value proposition of this machine, and even though there were many cheaper options available, the Nova RS 5002 has been our biggest seller so far.”

The next-generation Nova RS 5003 press is more technologically advanced, guaranteeing process repeatability and high productivity. A host of energysaving and waste reduction aspects offer cost-effective and sustainable production, automatic setting and registration ensure faster set-ups and changeovers, while the MPI inking system guarantees an excellent and consistent print quality. Amongst these are Registron register control and Total Automatic Pre-register Setting (TAPS), which now come as standard.

Through Bobst Connected services, printers can now work in real-time with Bobst remote experts to diagnose and resolve issues. On the Nova RS 5003, the new SPHERE Human Machine Interface (HMI) can track downtime and waste, along with programming of preventative maintenance. It can also save all the relevant data from each job, saving on job set up time and allowing to repeat rapidly when needed and this a vital part of the digital transformation taking place in the labels and packaging industry.

But it is not just in India that the Nova RS 5002 and 5003 have been successful.

markets demands, they have gained ground and popularity to become an important reference machine globally with installations worldwide generating more and more interest,” said Jonathan Giubilato, Product Line Director of Gravure printing at Bobst Italia.

“Despite the difficult working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, our customers are investing, and we are installing machines. The wheel keeps on turning as we have recently launched the Vision RS 5003 and there is still much more to come from Bobst, so watch this space!”

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Toyo Inks launches new GMP compliant offset inks for food packaging Toyo Printing Inks, Inc. launched the LP-9000 Toyo Life PremiumFood LO/ LM, a new series of sheetfed offset inks with low odour and low migration characteristics.

The LP-9000 LO/LM product is suitable for use in printed packages for the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and other sensitive applications. This new low-migration offset series has been specially formulated for printing on the non-food contact surface of paper and cardboard media.

The new inks were engineered and manufactured in accordance with EuPIA (European Printing Ink Association) guidelines and the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices).

With the announcement, Toyo Printing Inks delivers on this commitment to increased food safety and to protecting human and environmental health with the introduction of a new low-migration ink system. The LP-9000 LO/LM ink series is composed of raw materials from plant and renewable sources, which do not contain any drying agents.

Instead, drying is achieved purely by substrate penetration without releasing any hexanal while drying, resulting in reduced odour intensity.

The new LP-9000 LO/LM inks have passed migration testing based on EU Regulation No 10/2011 and have been certified by the Germany-based ISEGA Institute. In addition, they adhere to the regulatory requirements of EC 1935/2004, EC No 2023/2006 and all national and international regulations within the scope of the Swiss Ordinance (Nestle Guidance Note on Packaging Inks) and the EuPIA Exclusion Policy for Printing Inks and Related Products.

Rukiye Kiter, Offset R&D Manager of Toyo Printing Inks said: “We are extremely pleased to announce our latest food packaging innovation that complies with all applicable packaging material legislation in Europe. The LP-

Low-odour, low migration systems for paper and cardboard surface printing 9000 Toyo Life Premium Food LO/ LM series was designed and produced with food safety in mind at our Manisa R&D Centre. We also worked with the national science and technological research agency TUBITAK on R&D projects that focus on our common vision of delivering innovative food packaging solutions through advanced science.

The LP-9000 Toyo Life Premium Food LO/LM ink range consists of process colours designed according to the ISO2846 and ISO-12647 printing standards for CMYK print and proof works.

Toyo Printing Inks has also developed the colour pastes for colour matching and a database software system that allow designers to accurately match Pantone and spot colours.

TUBITAK was influential in facilitating the practical application of Toyo Printing Inks’ new ink systems to the global market, in particular the EU. This is important as we look to make greater inroads in strategic markets in Europe.”

The new formulations exhibit excellent ink transfer and very low misting even at high press speeds, Available as a 4-process colour set, highly pigmented 12 base colour, transparent and white.

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The banknote keeps i a mean of payment What is the position of banknotes in our ultra-connected world? Interview with Eric Boissonnas, CEO of Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions, who answers this question and many others.

Eric Boissonnas, what is your core business?

Banknotes! We provide all the equipment, solutions and services needed for its production: from the computer system used to design banknotes and the innovative security features to the robot that helps to handle the bundles of banknotes and the printing machines.

What is the position of banknotes, particularly in relation to bank cards, digital banking, virtual currencies and crypto-currencies?

In industrialised countries, especially in Switzerland, we pay with cash or credit cards and we all have a bank account.

Banknotes are used for payment transactions, but mainly for personal reserves and budget management. In general, banknotes are considered as

old-fashioned, but people use it every day. In contrast, people in other parts of the world such as South America, Africa or Asia have a different way of life. They have no stable income, no bank account and cannot afford a credit card. In these countries, banknotes are the only means of payment.

Are digital means of payment and banknotes in competition nowadays?

No! They are complementary means of payment, but one does not replace the other; they coexist. This offers citizens a real choice according to their needs and desires. Today, Central Banks are looking for ways to keep control of both worlds and promote their cohabitation.

What are the advantages of both systems?

Each system has its advantages and flexibility. This is why banknotes and digital means of payment have their reason to exist in parallel. For the Swiss, banknotes are very simple to use. It is always available and is useful when the digital systems are not working.

Is it true that the banknote leaves no trace and allows economic and financial inclusion?

It allows economic and financial inclusion. In a sense, banknotes have the advantage of leaving no trace.

However, in the black market, it represents a very small part of the means of payment used. The largest frauds are indeed carried out within the digital systems such as Bitcoins.

How are banknotes made in Switzerland?

Swiss banknotes are printed on cotton and polymer paper which already includes security features.

They are printed on sheets measuring approximately 80x70 cm, on which between 45 and 60 banknotes are placed, depending on the size of the banknote.

Each sheet passes through different machines which print specific elements of the banknote, such as simultaneous colour on both sides, security features such as the glittering globe or the perforated Swiss cross, colour application as well as relief printing, serial numbering, varnishing to protect the surface of the banknote and cutting of the sheets. Our equipment also

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its rightful position as

provides quality control at every stage of the production.

The Covid-19 pandemic has encouraged consumers to use digital means of payment. Do you think it could put the existence of the banknote at risk?

We have to wait a few years before being able to give an opinion. However, I would say that the pandemic has rather brought banknotes back to the forefront, as we are witnessing a clear increase in demand. The crisis has raised countless debates about the transmission of the virus through banknotes. Although I think it was a false debate based on false information, the discussion has brought banknotes into the limelight. Even Central Banks,

which saw banknotes as a safe bet, realised that digital means of payment are gaining power.

How do you position yourself with regard to the future of banknotes?

Today, printing works around the world are printing banknotes at the limits of their capacity. This year, the volume is higher than last year. The majority of people use banknotes and depend on

them. So you can be confident about the future of banknotes: for the next ten years you will have cash. However, banknotes must evolve! We have to reduce circulation costs, which are very high, and the environmental footprint.

The future will tell us whether banknotes will become intelligent or whether its functions will be diversified.

There are ideas about this, but there are various stake.

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Five in ten Singaporeans in favour of a cashless society •Singapore rank fifth, as 56% of Singaporeans would welcome transitioning to just electronic payments •Furthermore, 44% of Singaporeans have paid in cash less often since the Covid-19 outbreak • India is the country most in favour of a cashless society as 79% of Indians believe going cashless would have a positive impact on their country • Interestingly, just 24% of Americans think going entirely cash free would be a good thing for their country The argument for a cashless society has been around for a while, but the rapid rise of the Coronavirus crisis has intensified the debate again amid concerns about banknotes and coins transmitting the virus. In addition to this, the increasing decline of high street bank branches and ATMs has made the possibility of a cashless society in the next few years more likely than ever before.

Interested in financial transactions, MoneyTransfers.com analysed the latest data from YouGov, to discover which countries in the world would most be in favour of a cashless society.

MoneyTransfers.com found that India is in number one spot as an overwhelming 79% of Indians would like to have a cashless society in their country.

In second position is Malaysia, where 65% of Malaysians are in support of having a cashless society in their country.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indonesia are in joint third place,

as 63% of citizens in each respective country believe becoming cashless will have a positive impact on their society and economy.

Vietnam (60%) and Singapore (56%) are among the other countries where over 55% of citizens are in favour of transitioning towards a cashless society, respectively in fourth and fifth position.

Furthermore, 44% of Singaporeans admit to paying in cash less often since the Covid-19 outbreak.

Denmark is in 12th place, as 31% of Danes think going entirely cash free would be a great decision for their country.

Interestingly the United States is joint 15th (alongside Sweden), as just 24% of Americans feel a cashless society would be a good thing for their country.

At the other end in 17th position is France, where only 18% of French citizens would welcome their country being entirely dependent on electronic forms of payment. https://moneytransfers.com/

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We're transferring t into a print form "Video Killed The Radio Star", sang The Buggles in 1980 – but radio is still popular four decades later. "Digital brings print under pressure," is the lament in many quarters of the graphic arts industry – but this is not invariably the case.

A typical example of how the new digital world can also boost the print industry is the monthly magazine "Streaming" launched a few weeks ago by the publishing house Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz (and printed, of course). It is a guide to keeping your head above water in the growing market of Netflix, Sky Show, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

"As with classic TV magazines, we also make recommendations to users of non-linear offerings to help them find their way through the huge jungle of offerings. We transfer the digital world into a print form. Our readers can get an overview of the various streaming providers in the comfort of their sofa with a clear, compact and classy magazine."

"Streaming" presents the best series, films and documentaries from the most important streaming platforms every month on 76 to 84 pages – supplemented with background reports, interviews and star portraits.

True to the motto: "See what's worth watching."

Like a media library Leafing through the diverse range of programs at leisure in a printed magazine that plays off the haptic advantages instead of laboriously zapping on the screen with the remote control is the one big advantage of "Streaming" – which in this respect is not much different from a classic TV magazine. However, according to Gion Stecher, the second advantage of the streaming magazine is exclusive: "While the next issue of our weekly “TELE” appears after just one week, 'Streaming' is available on the TV table for a month and is therefore something like a media library.

Diving for pearls in the glossy magazine "We see our glossy magazine as a pearl diver, intended to serve as a guide for readers overwhelmed by the many streaming offerings," says Editor-inChief Gion Stecher. At Ringier, he is also responsible for five classic TV magazines.

In addition to pure program notes, subscribers – the majority of whom are men, by the way – find additional content value in the form of numerous stories. "Our content architecture corresponds to that of classic magazines," says Gion Stecher.

"However, we are the only ones in Switzerland to focus fully on streaming.

We've broken new ground with this and are still figuring out exactly what our readers want."

E-mail newsletter as latest update Included in the subscription price of "Streaming" – 49 francs (about 45 euros) for twelve home-delivered issues per year, Fr. 4.90 for the single issue at the newsstand – is an e-mail newsletter sent once a week. "Because for time reasons," says Gion Stecher, "it is sometimes not possible to bring all the relevant notices in the magazine – either because streaming providers postpone shows or reschedule them at short notice. That's why we bring most important updates in our online

Editor-in-chief Gion Stecher: "'Streaming' is on the TV table for a month and is thus something like a media library."

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the digital world

content under the motto 'by the way'.

We occasionally include these as stories in the following print edition."

don't always eat schnitzel with fries in a restaurant, but ask the chef: 'What can you recommend for me today?'"

but then postponed it because of the corona crisis and developed it further during the following months."

No mixing of journalism and advertising Because "Streaming" is available during an entire month, has a high pick-up rate and a great utility value, Gion Stecher considers the new magazine interesting for advertisers. However, one looks in vain for paid editorial contributions from streaming providers. "We must and want to be independent. After all, our readers want quality. Mixing journalistic content and advertising would be dangerous."

The target audience for "streaming" is 35- to 65-year-olds. "Younger ones – I see this with my 18-year-old godson – are harder to reach. For one thing, they're not very print-savvy, and for another, they don't want to pay for content," says Gion Stecher.

To be sure, even the savvy connoisseur of the TV scene is convinced "that streaming has gained in importance during the pandemic. But nonlinear TV has been popular since before corona, and the increase isn't massive. To that extent, corona has no bearing on the success or failure of our magazine."

Speaking of advertising, anyone who watched the Conference Finals in American football on Pro 7's Swiss window last January did not miss the "streaming" ads. "We rely," says Gion Stecher, "on a colorful bouquet of advertising forms: advertising pillars, spots on linear television, social media.

Word-of-mouth is also particularly important, when satisfied subscribers recommend us to friends."

"What can they recommend to me today?"

"Pearl diver" is one image Gion Stecher uses for the latest innovation from Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland – "menu card" is the other. "After all, you

This is a phenomenon that Gion Stecher also observes with classic TV magazines: "Their importance is still quite high. It's true that the importance of linear television is declining, and the readership of TV magazines – as with many other print products – is getting older. But they are prepared to pay for a valuable guide. Among the younger generation, however, there is more of a freebie mentality."

Launch during lockdown was a coincidence To be sure, Netflix & Co. are generally considered winners of the corona pandemic, because people around the world can no longer go out and therefore sit in front of the TV longer.

However, the fact that "Streaming" was launched in the middle of the second lockdown is a coincidence, according to Gion Stecher. "We wanted to launch the magazine as early as spring 2020,

"Seriously, a TV magazine for Netflix?"

If the launch of "Streaming" during the corona pandemic was coincidental, so was the near coincidence with the launch of a magazine of the same name in Germany. This is published by the Funke Mediengruppe, appears quarterly – and even found an appreciative echo in the renowned German weekly "Zeit."

"Seriously, a TV guide for Netflix?" it admittedly titled its story about the new program guide for streaming portals.

"That's not as absurd as it seems at first glance," author Johannes Schneider put the provocative question mark headline into perspective right away in his article, however.

Where he is right, he is right.

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56 that: Seven in ten people agree that using the word ‘normal’ on product packaging and advertising has a negative impact. For younger people – those aged 18-35 – this rises to eight in ten.

McDonald’s rolls out new “playful” packaging globally McDonald’s has announced that it will be introducing new packaging to be implemented globally. The packaging will sport a modern, refreshing, and playful feel.

At the end of 2020, McDonald’s announced its “new global packaging system” which aims to unify branding in markets all over the world. The packaging rollout is expected to complete globally over the next 24 months.

For example, blue waves on the FiletO-Fish burger, and melting cheese on the Quarter Pounder burger with cheese. The entire packaging, from wrapper, clamshell box, and pack is meant to be simple, but identifiable.

Unilever to drop ‘normal’ in packaging Unilever has announced that it will be eliminating the word ‘normal’ from

In addition to removing the word ‘normal’, Unilever said it will not digitally alter a person’s body shape, size, proportion or skin colour in its brand advertising. It also committed to increasing advertisements portraying people from diverse groups who are under-represented.

“With more consumers than ever rewarding brands which take action on the social and environmental issues they care about, we believe that Positive Beauty will make us a stronger, and more successful business,” said Sunny Jain, President Beauty & Personal Care.

The packaging project was done by creative agency Pearlfisher, which has bases in the US and Europe.

According to Pearlfisher, it “evolved the brand’s design system away from prominent on-pack messaging, cooking up graphic representations of their iconic menu items instead”.

The new designs veered away from McDonald’s previously prominent on-pack messaging, to implementing graphic representations of the iconic menu items instead.

packaging of its beauty products. The company will also eliminate the word from its advertising. The move is part of its new ‘Positive Beauty’ vision and strategy.

Beauty and personal care brands that will be affected by the move include Dove, Lifebuoy, Axe and Sunsilk.

The decision to remove ‘normal’ is one of the initiatives to signify a new era of inclusive beauty.

It comes as global research as using the word ‘normal’ to describe hair or skin, makes most people feel excluded.

Commissioned by Unilever, the 10,000-person study was conducted across nine countries. It found

In addition to removing the word ‘normal’, Unilever will not digitally alter a person’s body shape, size, proportion or skin colour in its brand advertising, and will increase the number of advertisements portraying people from diverse groups who are under-represented.

Positive Beauty follows the launch of Clean Future, the sustainable business strategy of Unilever’s Home Care Division in September 2020, and Future Foods, the sustainable business strategy of Unilever’s Foods & Refreshment Division in November 2020.

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57 It complements existing actions being taken across Unilever to tackle plastic waste and support the company’s investment in a €1 billion Climate & Nature Fund, which aims to tackle a range of environmental issues, including water preservation, landscape restoration, reforestation and wildlife protection.

Canva and Snap inks deal to transform digital design-to-print experience Online design platform, Canva, and Australia’s Snap Print & Design partner up to create a digital design-toprint solution.

With the collaboration, the companies hope to create an integrated and seamless solution that will help individuals, businesses and community organisations streamline their marketing efforts and create professionally printed materials.

Born in Australia, Canva is a global graphic design software solutions provider that is now worth about $8.6 billion. The platform utilises a simple drag-and-drop design interface combined with a stock library of photographs, illustrations, and imagery. Snap Print & Design is one of Australia’s biggest print franchises network.

The collaboration is the first of its kind in Australia, and the first in the world between a print franchise and Canva.

"This desire to continually offer the greatest value for our customers has

been firmly embedded into the Snap DNA since our early beginnings in 1899,” said Sonia Shwabsky, CGO, at Snap. "Deeply passionate about the printing craft, our founders were disruptors and innovators in their own right, and the first ones to bring digital printing to the masses in Australia.”

There are 132 Snap centres across Australia.

"With their razor sharp focus on continuously improving the customer print experience and the value they place on superior customer service across their whole network, the collaboration with Snap Print and Design made complete sense for Canva as we continue our mission to empower the world to design,” said Aaron Day, Global Partnerships Lead at Canva.

Manroland Sheetfed reports revenue increase Langley Holdings plc, parent company to the Manroland Sheetfed group, has published its IFRS Annual Report & Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2020.

Manroland Sheetfed revenues increased in 2020: €214.7 million. In

2019, the company logged €203.5 million.

Orders however decreased, from €61.2 million in 2019, to €54.6 million in 2020.

Overall, the report revealed similar financial year in 2019 and 2020. The uptick in order intake occurred in the later stages of 2019, and continued in the first two months of 2020.

COVID-19 impacted the business from March onwards and inflows remained subdued for the remainder of the year. Group chairman, Tony Langley, noted in his yearly review that January 2021 has now seen a significant increase in inflows.

Manroland Sheetfed had recently announced its factory is already in full production.

In the year to 31 December 2020, the Langley group recorded a profit before tax and non-recurring items of €28.5 million on revenues of €766.8 million.

Non-recurring costs of €4.5 million, associated with the closure of the group’s Marelli Motori division factory in Malaysia during the period, resulted in a profit before tax of €24.1 million.

The group acquired Marelli Motori, an Italian electric motor and generator producer, in 2019. In June 2020, the decision was taken to discontinue manufacturing operations in Malaysia.

Net assets at the year-end were just over €707.2 million and consolidated cash around €288 million. The group has zero debt.

Manroland announced the ROLAND 900 Evolution printing press in 2020, together with the ROLAND 700 Evolution, Speed, Elite and Lite variants.

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58 off to a terrific start to the year. This quarter demonstrated the power of print to help people learn, create and perform with 7% revenue growth, 16% unit growth, and 32% profit growth.”

“With growth in the packaging sector and emerging markets increasingly outweighing the decline in traditional commercial print markets, the outlook for Manroland is positive and I expect a much improved performance from the division in 2021,” said group chairman, Tony Langley in his yearly review.

Thai packaging giant SCGP invests in Vietnam company SCG Packaging Public Company Ltd (SCGP) has signed a joint venture agreement with Duy Tan Plastics Manufacturing Corporation (Duy Tan), a manufacturer of rigid plastics in Vietnam. In the agreement, SCGP will buy a 70% stake in Duy Tan, expected to be completed mid-2021.

Duy Tan has a revenue of approximately THB 6,100 million (UD$203 million) and has a production capacity of approximately 116,000 tons per year. It has a multinational customer base for its rigid plastics packaging. It also manufactures plastic household utensils in Vietnam, known locally as “DuyTan”.

The investment in Duy Tan is part of SCGP’s expansion across Southeast Asia. The expansion follows the company's strategy to diversify its products and support the growing consumer market over the past 10 years.

Duy Tan joins other Vietnamese companies under the SCGP umbrella, including Vina Kraft Paper Co., Ltd and Tin Thanh Packing Joint Stock Company.

In addition, as recently as January

2021, SCGP acquired a 94.11% stake in Bien Hoa Packaging Joint Stock Company (SOVI), a leading packaging manufacturer. SCGP also acquired a 100% stake in UK-based Go-Pak Ltd., a foodservice provider in the UK, Europe and North America.

Go-Pak has many manufacturing facilities located in the southern part of Vietnam.

HP reports Q1 revenue and profits increase HP Inc. has reported revenue growth for its printing business in Q1. Printing net revenue was $5.0 billion, up 7% year over year. The operating profit was at $998 million, taking up 19.8% of HP’s revenue.

In total, HP Inc. and its subsidiaries reported a net revenue of $15.6 billion, up 7.0% from the prior-year period. The APJ region took up 21% of the total net revenue, down 5% from the previous year.

In a webcast, HP president and chief executive Enrique Lores said: “Print is

“In industrial printing, we continue to see growth in digital labels and packaging, with double-digit growth in impressions and square meters printed.

Georgia-Pacific, one of the world's largest packaging and paper goods providers, is deploying their third inkjet web press to expand their digital printing business. This is a great milestone and validation of our technology. We are excited for the disruptive potential in this sector as our innovative technology opens up entirely new possibilities in personalization and digital manufacturing,” said Lores.

“Commercial Print improved in Q1 with most product categories showing sequential revenue growth. In CQ4, total Print market units grew 6%. We continue to expect a gradual recovery in the overall Commercial Print market, though the pace might be uneven given the varying pace of economic recovery,” said Lores.

Total hardware units were up 16% with consumer hardware units up 18%. Commercial hardware units were “flat”. While consumer net revenue increased 55%, commercial net revenue decreased 11%. Supplies net revenue was up 3%.

“HP is outperforming its printing peers and remains uniquely wellpositioned given our leadership across both Consumer and Commercial

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

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The Future of Flexo Plate Making

+

Improve plate print quality and consistency

+

Reduce handling errors

+

Lower total cost of ownership

+

Higher productivity

www.xsysglobal.com

info@xsysglobal.com

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

60 Print,” said Lores. “Our strong Consumer business is a clear competitive advantage as hybrid work and school becomes the norm. We have seen that people who didn't have home printers went and bought them, and people sign up for Instant Ink in record numbers, accelerating an already growing part of our business.”

“We continue to execute on our strategy to modernize Print and evolve our Print business models. In Q1, we roll out our end-to-end platform strategy called HP+, that combined convenient Instant Ink and HP Smart app services with innovative hardware.

It's early days, but we are already seeing positive adoption. In the coming quarters, we will be rolling HP+ out more broadly across multiple markets and product lines,” Lores continued.

The company reported double-digit growth in instant ink subscriptions, surpassing 9 million subscribers.

Durst embarks on AI project to predict maintenance Durst has started an EU-funded project ‘PREMISE’ to develop a technical infrastructure with database technologies that enables predictive maintenance measures on production facilities. The project is a collaboration with the Free University of Bozen (unibz) and snowmaking systems company, TechnoAlpin.

The project runs until July 2022 and will be extended until the end of 2022 depending on the status.

“In the PREMISE project, we are calculating appropriate algorithms that

make predictions about maintenance requirements, including for sub-areas,” said Johann Gamper, Professor and Vice Rector for Research at the Faculty of Computer Science. “In this project, we can test technologies that we have been researching for years with our industrial partners on the basis of specific case studies and adapt them to specific requirements. We are thus contributing to technology transfer an important mission of unibz."

"We sell our digital printing systems worldwide and for this reason we equip them with analytics software," said Christian Casazza, Customer Service Director of the Durst Group.

"The combination of intelligent sensors and software evaluation for component and machine data forms the basis for predictive maintenance - the detection of error states or the need for service or replacement of spare parts "in advance" so that production can be adjusted accordingly. With the “PREMISE” project, we go one step further and use artificial intelligence methods to make these predictions and interventions before an emergency even more efficient and to be able to apply them even to complex, causal relationships. This is a decisive advantage, especially in times when international traffic is restricted."

Specific sensors are built into Durst printing machines that provide information on the functioning and condition of individual components and parts. To prevent machine downtime, there are specifications and cycles for maintenance, but every printing press has different production-related factors and / or loads that affect productivity and operating times.

For this reason, algorithms are required that make predictions when something will happen or maintenance in a sub-area outside the standard will be necessary. All of this serves to increase the machine availability, even in remote production locations, and to minimize or plan production downtimes.

“The PREMISE project is a further component in our vision of a smart factory, where networked infrastructures, intelligent production systems and innovative software enable an automated business process,” said Michael Deflorian, Business Unit Manager Software & Solutions of the Durst Group. “With the predictive maintenance developed in the project Framework and the machine learning techniques used will in future trigger the maintenance of the printing systems independently in order to guarantee predictable and trouble-free operation.

Agfa launches fastest Jeti Tauro printer The Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED is Agfa’s new flagship, targeted to the high end of the sign & display market.

This UV LED inkjet engine prints media up to 3.3 m wide in four or six colours at a speed up to 600 m²/h, and is said to be even sturdier and up to 30% faster than its predecessors. The hybrid printer can handle boards and sheets as well as flexible materials in different configurations.

The new Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED (UHS for ‘ultra-high speed’) is designed to sustain highly productive, reliable print operations with low maintenance requirements and high uptime. Examples include the high-speed autoloader for fast media processing and the large ink tanks for greater autonomy.

Thanks to the extended vacuum zones and media guides, it is also well-suited for corrugated cardboard packaging printing, thus enabling sign & display printers to expand their offering and cover all deliverables for their customers’ marketing campaigns.

5th INTERNATIONAL PACKAGING AND PRINTING EXHIBITION FOR ASIA

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

61

22- 25 SEP 2021 BITEC • BANGKOK

www.pack-print.de

325

National Pavilions and Groups

leading exhibiting companies from

from Germany, Taiwan, Thailand, China and Singapore

30

countries and regions

International Visiting Delegations

More than

19,000

from the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Korea, Japan and many more, as well as local group visits from Thailand's printing and

trade visitors from

63

countries, making up a 30% overseas participation Supported by:

I

Messe DUsseldorf / Organizer of:

packaging industries

For enquiries:

Within Thailand:

Exposis Co., Ltd Tel (66} 2559 0856 _ Fax (66} 2559 2893 info@exposis.co.th

Overseas:

Messe DUsseldorf Asia Tel (65} 6332 9620 _ Fax (65} 6332 9655 ppi@mda.com.sg

Jointly organized by:

8* au1Aumsuss,il'irurllna

THE THAI PACKAGING ASSOCIATION

The Thai Printing Association

f Messe Diisseldorf Asia

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

62 • the ‘entry-model’ Jeti Tauro H3300 S, which was introduced in the Fall of 2020 and provides an attractive growth path for print service providers. It enables them to expand their possibilities as it can be upgraded to the speed of the original model.

• the new Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED top-model.

All Jeti Tauro H3300 LED printers can be used in different configurations for boards, sheet and roll-to-roll printing.

The master roll-to-roll configuration can handle both single- and dual-roll printing, and features an optional camera for accurate double-sided printing of block-out media.

“The Jeti Tauro was already a synonym for highly productive hybrid printing with advanced automation, yet with the Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED, we have raised the bar even more,” said Reinhilde Alaert, Product Manager Sign & Display at Agfa. “When developing this new flagship, we went all out to make it fit for extreme workloads. On top of that, it is a versatile all-in-one machine that can print rigids and sheets as well as roll materials at the highest quality and the lowest ink consumption. It is the epitome of our ‘Extreme Productivity. Extreme Quality.’ motto.”

Sustainable inks with the lowest consumption The Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED uses Agfa’s GREENGUARD Gold certified Anuvia UV LED inks, characterized by a wide colour gamut and high colour vibrancy. Ink consumption is the lowest on the market thanks to Agfa’s patented ‘Thin Ink Layer’ technology – which relies on the exceptional colour strength of the pigments in Agfa’s inks, the smart algorithms in the Asanti software, and perfectly matched printer components. White ink and primer are optional.

Powered by Asanti workflow software The Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED is powered by Agfa’s Asanti workflow software, which controls and automates the entire printing process from prepress to finishing, while guaranteeing colour consistency and optimizing

ink consumption. The smart Asanti Production Dashboard displays ink and media consumption and printing time for each job and printer. Calibrated Print Modes (CPMs) are personalized production templates that control all parameters for a particular substrate and enable automatic job creation.

More about the Jeti Tauro H3300 range Agfa introduced the first Jeti Tauro H3300 in the spring of 2018. These high-end hybrid large-format inkjet engines have since helped print service providers around the world to make their business more efficient and to acquire new business. The Jeti Tauro H3300 range now includes: • the original Jeti Tauro H3300 LED model, which is available in a 4- and 6-color version, with the previous dedicated to speed and the latter to top-quality.

Drop on Demand (DOD) – THE Inkjet Technology of the Future?

Drop on Demand printing is expected to be the fastest growing inkjet sector in 2021! The benefits of this process range from flexibility and functionality to lower downtimes and mass personalisation. So it is time for us to take a closer look at this emerging inkjet technology.

What is the “Drop on Demand” Technology?

First things first: What does “Drop on Demand” actually mean? You’re most likely already familiar with the term “on demand” from online video libraries or other online service features.

It means that you only pay for what you actually use. However, Drop on Demand technology works similarly and is based on the inkjet principle, which in turn is divided into thermal and piezo inkjet.

Printing Innovation Asia Issue 3 2021

63 benefits like flexibility and functionality. Moreover, DOD printheads can create gradients and greyscale effects at effective resolutions of 1200 dpi and higher. If fast-curing UV LEDbased inks are used, Drop on Demand inkjet printers can achieve throughput rates at very low cost.

As the Grand View Research by Ink World Magazine points out, the industrial end-user segment is expected to grow up to 6,9 % which is attributed to the higher operational speed of industrial inkjet printers. With this, coding and marking of products is enabled with high velocity.

The concept behind it is what gives this technology its name: Ink is only fed through the print head when a print dot is to actually be set, in other words, on demand. With Continuous Inkjet (CIJ), on the other hand, the inkjet is generated continuously, regardless of whether or not marking is to take place. But back to the Drop on Demand principle which is also applied in both thermal and piezo inkjet printing: In front of the nozzle is a chamber that is filled with ink. By reducing the volume of this chamber, the ink is ejected through the nozzle. This principle is the same for both thermal and piezo inkjet printing. The difference only lies in the technique used to achieve the volume reduction. In thermal inkjet, the liquid inside the ink leads to the explosive formation of a vapour bubble, which in turn presses the ink through the nozzle.

Piezo printers push the ink through the nozzle with the help of a piezo element instead.

Pigment Ink vs. Dye Ink Print novices will think that inkjet printers are mainly used in small or home offices, but the range of applications is in fact very wide. For example, it’s also used for industrial purposes for printing cardboard, plastics or packaging.

As previously explained, DOD printers rely on individual droplets generated on demand, which makes the

technology significantly cheaper – only what is needed is produced.

But before we take a closer look at the advantages of Drop on Demand printing, let’s keep an eye on the different inks that can be used in this operation: pigment ink and dye ink. With the former, pigments are suspended into a liquid which is what gives the ink its color. Pigment ink is particularly long-lasting and achieves stronger color results that are more resistant to water. In return, dye-based ink offers a wider color range. The inks consist of dye molecules that are dissolved in the ink fluid.

Prospects for the Future Printers equipped with Drop on Demand inkjet technology offer many

Additionally, manufacturers can design their products in different shapes and sizes because the nozzle can be positioned at a significant distance to the product. Especially for the packaging industry, large format inkjet printers with Drop on Demand technology offer many opportunities to print high-quality labels and packages. These printers not only cause low printing costs but are also flexible and have a fast turnaround time.

“There is little doubt about the future growth and adoption of industrial inkjet printing across various markets.”

The environmental awareness, for example, is rising and companies are encouraged to minimise their waste and simultaneously maximise efficiency. Drop on Demand opens up many possibilities in this area and will therefore be an important technology in the future of print.

www.xeikon.com