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"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King, Jr. "
- Martin Luther King - |
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More people die playing golf than any other sport, the leading cause of death is heart attacks and strokes.
A golf club remains in contact with the ball for half a thousandth of a second.
The Scottish government banned golf in 1647.
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This week at Printers Post |
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Lynx Opaque extends FSC offering
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The latest addition to the expanding portfolio of Spicers Paper FSC Certified products is Lynx Opaque produced by Domtar, USA.
With high whiteness, smoothness and exceptional printing quality, at an economical price, Lynx Opaque bridges the gap between traditional offset grades and specialty papers. Its unbelievable bulk and opacity allows for lighter grammages to be used, making it ideal for corporate communications, such as annual reports, corporate brochures and prospectuses, where paper and mailing costs are often a key part of the decision making process.
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 | Its FSC Mixed Sources Certification ensures that it meets the stringent environmental credentials that are expected in today’s business world. With a versatile range of weights – 74, 89, 118, 148 and 270gsm – desktop laser guarantee and archival properties, Lynx Opaque is capable of handling all your printed communication needs.
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New president takes the helm at GAMAA
GAMAA has announced the appointment of Mitchell Mulligan, Böttcher Australia, (pictured above left) to the role of president, GAMAA. Formerly GAMAA’s vice president, Mulligan, who replaces Alastair Hadley, will hold the position of president for a two year term. Ian Martin of Ferag Australia (pictured above right) has been appointed to the role of vice president.
“GAMAA is an association that is passionate about the development and promotion of our industry. It is both a privilege and a great honour to be elected by the membership to the position of president,” said Mulligan.
“As a not-for-profit association GAMAA is committed to working with the industry as a whole for a better future. Its member company representatives are an inspirational group of individuals that all share common goals. I look forward to continuing to contribute to GAMAA and to working more closely with executive director Karen Goldsmith and the GAMAA team.”
Of his appointment as vice president of GAMAA Ian Martin said, “My role on the GAMAA Executive and also as a member of the Pacprint09 Board, provides me with an opportunity to serve an industry which I have enjoyed working in for the last 27 years. I view my appointment to the role of vice president as an even greater opportunity to contribute.”
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Premier German manufacturer scores its 16th prestigious design seal
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Industrie Forum Design Hannover (iF) has presented Heidelberg’s Eurobind 4000 adhesive binder (pictured right) with an iF product design award 2009 which will be presented in Hannover on the first day of CeBIT, March 3, 2009. The Eurobind 4000, which produces paperbacks, magazines, annual reports and image brochures, won the award in the Industry/Skilled Trades category. Since 1990, Heidelberg has won a total of 16 iF design seals for its prepress, press, and postpress products.
The international judging panel selected a total of 802 winners from 2,808 entries entered by 1,025
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 | companies from 39 countries. The judges, all specialists in their relevant fields, award the iF design seal to products that meet all the requirements for contemporary design by satisfying a comprehensive range of criteria.
The new Eurobind 4000 adhesive binder reflects key elements of the Heidelberg corporate design. These include values such as quality, exclusivity, performance, appeal, and passion. The geometric structure and large surfaces with distinctive elements are key features of the product design. "We want our products to have an unmistakable look, and want to stand out from our competitors through our design," explains Eckhard Köbler, head of Heidelberg Industrial Design.
The Eurobind 4000 has a modular design that delivers exceptional flexibility and ease of use. This also helps to boost ergonomics and reliability in production processes. For example, because the adhesive binder is fully encapsulated with large, wide-opening windows, users can visually monitor production processes on the fly and components can be accessed quickly during setup. Operators use the local touchscreen concept to control the entire configuration during makeready. This dramatically reduces the distances operators need to cover during makeready, thereby cutting setup times significantly. Various settings are identified via intuitive symbols that are used consistently on all Heidelberg machines, a feature which adds to the user-friendly credentials of the machine.
A team of ten works in the Industrial Design department at Heidelberg, which is a regular recipient of international design awards. Heidelberg Industrial Design has been offering its services to other companies since the end of 2007
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Industry compliance system recognised as environmental milestone
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Printing companies can now choose their level of environmental compliance customised to meet their business needs following the Printing Industries Association of Australia launch of its Sustainable Green Print (SGP) program The state-based training programs will begin during February and March 2009.
Printing Industries’ CEO Philip Andersen said that completion of the project, which had commenced in April 2005, was an environmental milestone for the Australian printing industry. “While ISO 14001 remains the international standard, not everyone can achieve this in, say 12 to 18 months, and many smaller companies servicing geographically limited markets would not be able to afford the resource commitment and financial
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 | cost. Our multi level SGP printing industry specific program recognises this and provides a choice of four audited and certified levels beginning from entry level (level 1) and progressing through to Level 3 which prepares a company for its ISO 14001 audit. Level 4, industry leading practice, goes beyond ISO standard for those companies wanting maximum accreditation.”
Printing Industries Western Australian general manager, Paul Nieuwhof, who project managed SGP, stated: “The print industry specialist nature of SGP is such that it actually reduces the cost of achieving ISO 14001 compliance by giving you what you need to know rather than requiring you to spend time and money trying to figure it out yourself.”
“For example, you need to know which environment laws you need to comply with as each state has different requirements. You must know the environmental risks associated with the printing industry and the control measures needed to prevent non-compliance with pollution and other laws and also how to document actions, undertake internal audits and manage the system. Sustainable Green Print provides all that at your fingertips and provides the necessary training and support to make the process as straightforward as possible.”
All SGP certification is audit driven and based on the Printing Industries Environmental Principles (PIEP) Environment Management system comprising comprehensive EMS documentation (worksheets, guides, and templates), a website for specialist print sector guidelines, Federal, State and Territory legislative requirements and links to other helpful resources.
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Early Bird deadline for Pride In Print Awards closing fast
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The first deadline for entries into next year’s Pride In Print Awards is fast approaching offering a $15 saving per entry. In addition, a number of category improvements have been introduced to bring the 2009 Awards even more closely in line with new trends in the print industry. Entries are open for materials printed in New Zealand between January 1 and December 31, 2008. Entries can be from any printing process and can be made by any person or company associated with the production or purchase of print.
As a special offer to encourage early entries, and to help those companies considering multiple
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 | submissiona, entries received before December 21 will only cost $45 each compared to the normal $60. Awards manager Sue Archibald said that this could amount to a reasonable saving for some entrants. “Some companies may be considering a number of possible entries covering several processes, and the ‘Early Bird’ saving will add up to a significant discount for those companies.”
Changes have been made to a number of categories, reflecting new trends within the print industry. Category 8 which used to cover only Business Forms now covers the wider concept of ‘Business Print’, which groups together annual reports, stationery and forms both reelfed and sheetfed. Category 10c is now called ‘Personalisation – Creative use of Print in Direct Marketing’ to accommodate direct marketing jobs which can include innovative postage, handling and distribution solutions.
In Category 11, which is for ‘Industry Development – all processes’ there is an opportunity to showcase products, processes and business developments that represent innovations within the NZ market. To further assist entrants find the right category for their work, six sub-categories have been formed, namely: 11(a) Self-Promotion for the Printing Industry; 11(b) Export Award; 11(c) Innovation in the Printed Product; 11(d) Innovation in the Print Business; 11(e) Innovative use or Design of a Barcode; and 11(f) Innovation for the Environment.
“By pitching this Early Bird offer at such a reasonable price, we are aiming to make the Awards an attractive marketing opportunity,” Sue Archibald said. “This is just one more reason to consider the benefits of making an entry in Pride In Print.”
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 The HP Scitex XP2300 printer allows signage producers to reduce operating expenses and increase profits.
Increased speed and cost savings for large format market
The latest addition to HP’s broad portfolio of large-format solutions, the HP Scitex XP2300 printer, is the first 3.2m UV roll-to-roll press that is designed specifically for the outdoor signage market where reducing variable costs is key to business success. “This new printer features an array of integrated productivity features that allow signage producers to reduce operating expenses and increase profits,” said Shane Lucas, director HP Graphic Arts South Pacific.
The four-colour UV press is equipped with 16 piezoelectric printheads, each with 256 nozzles that can image uncoated PVC, self-adhesive vinyl, mesh, woven polyethylene, and other substrates common in the outdoor signage market. It is ideal for the production of billboards, building wraps and other high volume outdoor signage applications. Its low ink consumption of 180 m² print out of one litre of ink, realised at a top speed of up to 233 m²/hr at a resolution of up to 360 dpi, makes the digital production of high volume signage even more cost effective.
A streamlined production workflow enables RIPped files to move directly from the prepress department to the printer, and an integrated on-core collector allows users to take off printed output while the press is printing. An integrated automatic elevator adjusts the height of print heads to ensure a constant distance between media and printheads. Other features include front-side loading and back-side unloading for ease of use.
The XP2300 Printer is part of HP’s strategy to reinforce its leadership position in the large-format digital printing segment with its expanded portfolio targeting the growing indoor and outdoor signage market in Asia Pacific and Japan
”HP is dedicated to providing the broadest portfolio of large-format digital printing technology and end-to-end solutions, along with an unwavering commitment to our customers’ success,” said VS Hariharan, vice president of Graphic Solutions Business, HP Imaging and Printing Group, Asia Pacific and Japan. “The additions to HP’s portfolio strengthen our leadership position in the large-format printing industry by providing our customers with leading products and solutions that help them grow profits, meet new challenges and capture business opportunities.”
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Sporteze score points with dye sub ValueJet
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While inspecting the new technologies on display at a Sydney printing expo, Sporteze 2000+, a husband and wife screen printing operation from Barragup, Western Australia encountered the Fujifilm Sericol Mutoh ValueJet 1604W1 digital dye sublimation water-based inkjet printer. They felt that this was their next purchase, but it was something other than the technical ability of the machine that convinced them.
The Mutoh ValueJet 1604W1 printer has been specifically developed as an
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 | entry level digital dye sublimation water-based inkjet printer which is easy to set and use for even inexperienced operators. It offers impeccable print quality up to 1440 x 1440 dpi and print speeds of up to 15 m² per hour. The machine uses CMYK ink and offers a media width of 1625 mm and a printing width of 1615 mm. The ValueJet incorporates the new generation piezo drop-on-demand variable drop ‘wide-model’ print head. The 1440 nozzle head incorporates four colour sections – two nozzle rows of 180 nozzles per colour.
“We really liked the machine but were sceptical at taking the plunge,” says Jackie Watson. “Meeting the Fujifilm Sericol people changed our mind. They showed us how the machine worked and we were impressed with it, and reassured with them. We’ve never looked back.” Sporteze chose the complete ValueJet package that included the J-Feeder continuous ink delivery system, J-Eco Subly Nano NS-60 inks designed for polyester textiles, and Jetcol digital transfer papers.
Jackie Watson believes the ValueJet 1604W1 has made her job easier and been instrumental in bringing in more business, due to the higher quality of their product (see samples above) without a commensurate higher cost. “You’re not lining up screens and washing down anymore. You just do the artwork on the computer, transfer it into the printer and heat-transfer the printout onto the product. Much easier and the result looks much better. I like the way the (water-based) inks don’t sit on top of the fabric. They sink in and you don’t have to flash-cure them colour by colour so the printing is quicker. The final colours are so vibrant. It’s easy to operate and I enjoy working with it.”
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Compact printer to boost productivity
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Canon Australia has launched a high capacity 24-inch wide printer specifi-cally designed for the production printing market. The imagePROGRAF iPF6000S is equipped with an 80GB hard drive, built-in calibration, an array of software solutions and cost-saving functions such as the Economy Color Mode and Roll Media Preview with automated 90 degree rotation to help reduce media waste. The new device
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 | is aimed at inplant, retail quick print and commercial print-for-pay businesses looking to increase production capacity and reduce turnaround times.
"The launch of this product is in response to calls for a device with a smaller footprint and greater productivity," said Nick Webb, AGM Marketing at Canon Australia. "It's also ideal for print production environments that aren't permitted to install UV or Solvent based printing systems."
This 24-inch addition to the Large Format S-Series printer family offers a small, versatile footprint for those seeking high-speed, high-quality output. Ideal for professional service providers who need to produce more output in less time, the imagePROGRAF iPF6000S can achieve speeds up to 90 m/hr and print an A-1 sized print in just one minute. Canon's innovative eight-colour LUCIA ink configuration helps increase print efficiency and creates vibrant colours and tones that are ideal for production applications. And with an 80GB hard drive, Economy Color Mode, built-in calibration, and borderless printing, the iPF6000S delivers the productivity and capacity to produce more high-quality work, at a lower cost and in less time.
The imagePROGRAF iPF6000S includes PosterArtist Lite, Canon's easy-to-use poster creation software that offers many pre-designed templates, royalty-free images and clipart, as well as advanced editing options to help create posters, banners and signage in just four easy steps. You can even personalise your creation by importing your own images and digital camera photos into the program.
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Graphic design students gain recognition
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Australia’s print and design franchise, Worldwide Online Printing, supported the graduating graphic design students at Edith Cowan University by providing them with stylish business cards and sponsoring three excellence awards for rising stars. Winners included Carl Mobilia for Worldwide Online Printing Top Student Award; Mill Micevski who was awarded the Worldwide Online Printing Rising Star Award; while the Worldwide Online Printing Developing Designer Award went to Jadwiga Daley-Thompson.
Worldwide national trainer, Ron Woodbine, presented the Worldwide Online Printing excellence awards at the final exhibition of the students' work held at the Western Austraian
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 | university on November 27. He is pictured above left with award-winning student Carl Mobilia at the presentation. “I was impressed with the high standard of design shown by the ECU graphic design students for 2008,” said Woodbine. “This group of students really understand typography. It’s refreshing to see this level of comprehension in these latest ECU graduates.”
Woodbine presented a tutorial to the students during the semester, offering advice on professionally designed business cards. All 36 students then designed their own business cards in preparation for the working world, which Worldwide Online Printing printed at its Morley franchise. Jeremy Lloyd, franchisee at the Morley store, said, “They’ve turned out really well. They’ll impress prospective employers.”
ECU graphic design course coordinator, Adam Newcombe, was very impressed with the quality of the cards. “It’s the first time we’ve gone with Worldwide for our printing and we’re very happy with the results. Jeremy and the team at Worldwide Morley were terrific. They understood during the process that these are students and that sometimes mistakes are made or things need to be changed to get it right. It’s all about educating young designers within the corporate body and I think it’s just a fabulous way for the industry to engage with what we do.”
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Inkjet technology may help produce artificial organs
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Japanese scientist Makoto Nakamura is undertaking pioneering research into the use of the simple inkjet printer to see if it can also produce human organs. The idea is for the printer to jet out thousands of cells per second - rather than ink droplets - and to build them up into a three-dimensional organ to save lives.
Experimenting with a Seiko Epson printer Nakamura found that droplets from inkjet printers were about the same size as human cells, which are as small as one-hundredth of a millimetre in diameter. After receiveing technical support from Epson he
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 | confirmed that cells survived even after the printing process, becoming one of the first researchers in the world to unveil a 3D structure with real living cells using inkjet technology.
The technology works a bit like dealing with sliced fruit: an organ is cut horizontally, allowing researchers to see an array of cells on the surface. If a printer drops cells one by one into the right spots and repeats the process for many layers, it creates a 3D organ. Much like a printer chooses different colours, the machine can position different types of cells to drop.
Nakamura has succeeded in building a tube with living cells, which measures one millimetre in diameter and has double walls with two different kinds of cells, similar to the three-layer structure in human blood vessels. He has also made a smaller single-wall hydrogel tube that measures one-tenth of a millimetre. The tubes are made by a 3D inkjet bioprinter that Nakamura's team developed in a three-year project completed earlier this year. The printer can adjust where to drop cells in the order of one-thousandth of a millimetre and produce a tube at a speed of three centimetres per two minutes.
In the future, Nakamura also said the technology could pave the way for bioprinting with stem cells – which could go into building healthy new organs. "Ultimately I hope to make a heart," said Nakamura, professor at the graduate school of science and technology for research at the University of Toyama.
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