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"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."
- Nelson Mandela - |
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Every year we produce more transistors than grains of rice.
A DVD has a about 100 year life span.
• The longest flight by a paper aircraft indoors is 20.9 seconds.
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| This week at Printers Post: |
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New Zealand's Hally Labels takes out HP’s Best of Show Award
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Hally Labels has demonstrated its progressive digital label printing capabilities once again by taking out the Best of Show Benny Landa Award at the second HP Indigo Digital Label & Packaging Competition. In addition to the label printed for Miada Corporation (pictured right), which topped the Food Best of Category Award, Hally Labels took out the Nutraceutical Best of Category Award in the international competition. Its success follows hot on the heels of its recognition at the HP Asia Pacific Awards.
HP launched the competition to promote quality and ingenuity in the digital label and package printing market, and invited HP Indigo press users to submit jobs that represent the distinctiveness of their company, prove their progressive printing capabilities and showcase an impressive execution of a digital production challenge. The competition recognises customers from around the world for their commitment to excellence and innovation in digital printing – the fastest growing
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 | segment of the label and packaging converting industry. Categories included wine, beverages, spirits, household, industrial, food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical labels; shrink sleeves; flexible packaging; unique application; and innovation.
“This competition allows HP Indigo users to share the outstanding and effective applications they are able to produce for a wide range of industries with HP technology and recognises the customers who have excelled in digital production,” said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo Division, HP. “We are very pleased with the number of entries we have received and continue to be amazed by the creativity and success of our customers.”
“After reviewing more than 140 contest entries from HP customers around the world, there is no doubt that digital label and package printing is a growing, viable industry,” said Michael Ferrari, associate director, Corporate Research and Development, The Procter & Gamble Co. “Judging these entries was very difficult, as each of the entrants did a superb job of showcasing the unique benefits of using digital printing technologies to provide innovative, effective solutions for their customers.”
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Hybrid offset unit expands its acceptance with SIDs certification
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Great satisfaction for Gidue: its Xpannd offset print unit (pictured right) meets the requirements in terms of dot gain, colour fading, slur and doubling, ghosting and streaking defined by the BVDM guidelines of the German Association for Printing.
The inspection of Xpannd was carried out by SID, the Sächsisches Institut für die Druckindustrie GmbH, at Gidue’s Graphic Arts Centre. The tests of the web-fed hybrid offset/flexo label printing press were conducted on the basis of the Technical Manual for the Inspection of Commercial Web-fed Offset Printing Presses.
Three test parameters taken into account: colour register, print quality and streaking. These elements have been measured, analysed and evaluated according to the BVDM
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 | (BundesVerband Druck und Medien) guidelines. The evaluation committee compared some special measuring printouts printed on the Xpannd 370 with five offset units and compared them to the given test parameters. The results were more than satisfactory: the measured values were within the tolerated values of commercial web-fed offset presses.
“These results represent a true source of renewed enthusiasm for us,” states Gidue S.p.A. president Federico d’Annunzio. “The Saxon Institute for the Printing Industry used its long experience in comparing the performances of printing presses and we are very proud of the results achieved by our Xpannd, mostly for what concerns the print quality. Some of the results were well below the strict tolerances adopted by commercial web-fed offset.
“This is a further proof of Gidue’s mission to achieve technological innovation: inside our wide product range, flexo and offset provide the same level of excellence,” he observed. “Our customers can obtain all the advantages of the flexibility of both processes for the in-line production of self-adhesive labels. Many European installations of Xpannd offset/flexo combination presses, equipped with rotary embossing, silkscreen, hot stamping, cold foil and die-cutting stations, are already producing high quality wine, olive oil and healthcare labels.”
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Over 12,000 attendees were spoilt for choice with 420 national and international suppliers exhibiting and 14 informative conference sessions.
Innovation and creativity abound at Labelexpo Americas 2008
Despite the current unstable economic situation, Labelexpo Americas proved the label industry is still a resilient and innovative sector. Nilpeter alone sold 29 presses at the show, five of them in the first three hours! The show demonstrated an excellent quality of attendees, with numbers exceeding 12,000 visiting the stands of 420 national and international suppliers.
There were many presses launched by the market leaders: Nilpeter introduced its new FG-line of UV flexo presses; Mark Andy unveiled the Comco C1 ProGlide and demonstrated its updated XP5000 shaftless press; EFI Jetrion showcased its 4000 UV-inkjet printer; Epson’s new digital label press was on display showing its integration with the EskoArtwork and Kodak prepress software/hardware and the Grafisk Maskinfabrik DC330 converter. Having their debut in the Americas were the HP Indigo ws6000 digital-offset press and Xeikon’s new digital label press, the 3300.
The newly introduced Digital Printing Experience pavilion gathered the leading suppliers in digital printing technology – HP, Xeikon, EFI Jetrion, Epson, Impika, Degrava, Sun Chemical, Xaar, Konika Minolta, to name a few. The pavilion had more digital printing technology than ever showcased at any Labelexpo event or any other converting event before. Attendees were offered the best pick of digital presses, as well as digital prepress software, platemaking and and post-press finishing, with live demonstrations running continuously. In addition, the pavilion had a series of seminars and panel discussions, which focused on the present and future of digital printing and its role in the development of the label industry worldwide.
Another new feature area, Gather on the Green, received a lot of attention as converters were eager to see the wide selection of products created with the use of sustainable technology. Sustainability was an important theme of many conference sessions, and Avery Dennison, UPM Raflatac, Mactac, among many, showcased their latest environmentally-friendly products. Highlights of the conference program also included several international panel sessions that focused on the subjects of most interest and concern to the label community: the current market situation, the industry’s future growth, digital printing technologies, sustainable technology and end-user requirements, advancements in flexo presses.
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Degrava Systems acquires Australian distribution partnership
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In a deal that expands its global reach to a sixth continent, Degrava Systems has signed a distribution partnership with Australia's Label Power. Label Power executives say that the deal to distribute Degrava Systems' DP 8500 digital press used to print digital labels and tags will fill a critical need in Australia's print production industry.
“The partnership between Degrava Systems and Label Power means that commercial printers and other businesses that need an industrial short-run colour label and tag printing
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 | system can have a compact competitively priced solution," said James Malone, managing director of Label Power. ‘Until now the only solution available was ultra short-run inkjet printers or systems costing the better part of one million dollars. The introduction of Degrava and the DP 8500 into Australia means that finally an industrial digital colour label printing solution is available at an attractive price.”
“Australia represents another step in the expansion of our international business,” said Tim Sykes, vice president of sales and marketing, Degrava Systems. “We will continue to seek opportunities which expand our global reach and build our brand awareness throughout the print and manufacturing industries.”
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Yupo launches green initiative
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Synthetic paper manufacturer Yupo launched its YupoGreen initiative at Labelexpo Americas. The company’s synthetic papers are already 100 percent tree-free and created with polypropylene pellets, resins and inorganic materials, meaning they are 100 percent recyclable. However, Yupo is continuing to implement new programs to increase recycling
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 | initiatives for end users and manufacturers alike.
All Yupo trim materials can be reintroduced into the manufacturing process, keeping Yupo products out of the waste stream longer. Properly incinerated, Yupo produces no detectable amounts of sulfur, chlorine, nitrogen or dioxin gases. “There’s no pulp, no sludge and very little water is used in the creation of our products. Our initiative continues as we explore new programs, which will increase consumer awareness and access to Yupo’s recycling processes,” said Paul Mitcham, Yupo’s director of marketing and customer support.
Yupo is also continuing to make large investments in R&D. “Our IML product has revolutionised the packaging industry by providing a label option that actually becomes part of the product package design, eliminating the waste of backing materials and adhesives,” said Mitcham. Further releases include a PP grade, designed specifically for polypropylene bottles, a UV grade for UV presses, and a new grade focused specifically on sustainability. This grade, made for thin-walled IML extrusion blow molded containers, decreases overall resin use, saves energy and produces a lighter product, which results in more economically sound shipping and transport options.
Another example is new YupoBlue, a synthetic paper certified for use with HP Indigo printers. YupoBlue (pictured above) allows for customised 1:1 and variable data printing, which permits shorter runs and has none of the material waste associated with traditional offset printing, says the company.
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Award-winning UV inkjet label printer adds more innovative features
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EFI Jetrion kicked off its largest presence at Labelexpo showcasing its award-winning Jetrion 4000 industrial inkjet system and several new product features. The Jetrion 4000 UV inkjet system offers label converters a cost-effective, full-colour narrow web alternative to toner-based digital printers for label runs of up to 50,000 labels. With speeds of up to 30.5 metres/minute at more than 1000 dpi with greyscale technology, the Jetrion 4000 delivers high quality, full-colour label printing up to 13.9 cms wide.
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 | On display for the first time was a Jetrion printing onto pre-die cut labels, a feature that differentiates the Jetrion 4000 from its toner-based competitors. The ability to print on labels that have already been die-cut means converters can purchase blank die-cut labels, run them through the digital press and produce finished labels.
Building on its VDP leadership position in the label market with its large installed base of Jetrion 3000 series monochrome systems, the Jetrion 4000 is now able to print 1D and 2D barcodes, as well as variable text, numbers and graphics. This enables Jetrion users to fully seize the opportunity for business growth resulting from the ongoing explosion of security, track and trace, barcode and other VDP applications in the industrial inkjet market.
A new UV CMYK ink, designed by EFI’s chemists to spread easier and work on an ever broadening range of substrates, is also available. Unlike toner-based systems, Jetrion can now print onto lower-cost uncoated stock, an important benefit to cost-sensitive converters. The system will continue to provide outstanding colour reproduction combined with exceptional durability, reducing the need for costly over-laminates.
New software for the Jetrion 4000 includes EFI XFlow (PDF-based workflow solution), the Print Manager easy-to-use interface for advanced job management, and the Fiery XF RIP (raster image processor), which brings all the strength of EFI’s software capabilities to label converting. The Jetrion 4000 is the only digital label printing press whose hardware, software and UV ink are all designed and made by the same company, thus ensuring an optimised product for its users.
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UV exposure upgrades boost digital plate quality and consistency
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EskoArtwork has taken another step forward to improve quality and consistency in digital flexo platemaking, while reducing cost of operation and environmental impact. At Labelexpo Americas, the company announced a new Inline UV Main Exposure option for its smaller format CDI Spark 2530 and CDI Spark 4835 Cyrel Digital Imagers, making this unique approach available
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 | to the tag, label and narrow web flexible printing markets.
Inline UV Main Exposure technology allows digital flexo plates to receive the UV Main Exposure within the same device where they are imaged, rather than requiring a subsequent separate exposure step on an offline light frame. Combining these two process steps on the same device provides both economic and quality benefits.
“The imaging quality of our CDI is already second to none,” explains Dr. Thomas Klein, EskoArtwork R&D manager, Flexo Business. “For the next step in the platemaking process, our Inline UV Main Exposure technology offers a precisely controlled environment, in which every dot imaged on the plate is receiving exactly the same amount of UV radiation. This control of dot formation further increases the level of repeatability and consistency of the plate – leading to significant higher quality and stability on press.”
A plate imaged and exposed on a CDI with an Inline UV Main Exposure unit will provide the same printed result today, and a year from today. On-press colour fluctuations due to UV inconsistency can completely be eliminated, which may reduce the total job-to-job colour variations in half.
Compared to offline UV exposure units, the new CDI Inline UV Main Exposure light source is more stable, lasts longer and guarantees improved plate consistency. “Requiring less energy and cooling, eliminating frequent lamp replacement and reducing production waste and time, EskoArtwork’s unique Inline UV Main Exposure technology is a much more attractive value proposition for the tag and label printer, both from an economic and an environmental perspective,” concludes Jürgen Andresen, vice president Flexo Business.
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Good sales characterise first time at Labelexpo Americas
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After its success at the last two Labelexpo shows in Brussels, Polar decided to exhibit its products at the North American label trade fair. On show were the high-speed cutter Polar 92 XT with single-head bander BS-23 and a stand-alone die-cutter DC-M. With the focus in Chicago being almost exclusively on self-adhesive labels and flexo printing, Polar was one of only a few exhibitors to show finishing solutions for sheet-fed offset printing.
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 | All the more surprising for Polar’s marketing director, Rolf Brand, therefore, was the number of exhibition visitors showing interest in wet glue labels. “Almost everyone who came to the Polar stand had already done their homework and came to us with specific questions.”
It was, however, no surprise to Brand that the first machines were sold during the trade fair. “We actually sold four machines in Chicago, including a stand-alone die cutter and a bander. I am especially pleased that we managed to acquire a lot of new ‘hot prospects’ in the die-cut label sector,” he stated.
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Fineprint flatbed screen printing line targets label and packaging industry
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The Spartanics-Systec partnership has produced the Fineprint flatbed screen printing line designed for unprecedented throughput in roll-to-roll screen printing technology. It can be used for printing UV and chemical resistant labels, high-end cosmetics labels, transfers for printing packaging and other label/packaging applications.
Distinguished by fully electronic controls that eliminate time-consuming
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 | manual adjustments, the line is custom-configured to dimensions that will allow optimised print formats for faster throughput – for the smallest print layouts to the largest –even with jobs as large as 2032 x 4191 mm. Job set-up requires only a few keystrokes and the job parameters for up to 2500 separate jobs can be stored.
The Fineprint Flatbed Screen Printing Line features synchronised vacuum release on the printing table to speed throughput of large format jobs. The system also incorporates a high precision servo drive motor for squeegee assembly, delivering unsurpassed quality for small-sized images with only 1.016 mm gap between first and second prints. The unique screen holder design with less than 1 mm distance between the screen and printing table assists in achieving high quality in challenging applications.
Tom O’Hara, Spartanics president and spokesman for the Spartanics-Systec partnership that developed the Fineprint flatbed technology, comments: “We’ve brought the advantages of the digital age to bear on screen printing throughput in a way that has never been done before. The advanced algorithms in the Fineprint flatbed system’s software controls and the innovative redesign of squeegee assemblies and screen holders not only precisely register the material positioning but also automatically compensate for screen stretch. The days of operators needing to look at every single print are a thing of the past.”
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Market leaders combine their expertise to deliver a colour guarantee
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Avery Dennison has teamed up with EskoArtwork and ExxonMobil Chemical to make colour guaranteed printing a reality for digital label converters. In this market segment, where the predominant printing technology is provided by HP Indigo, EskoArtwork and ExxonMobil Chemical broke new ground last year by offering a colour guarantee. This guarantee provides
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 | converters who prepare their jobs using EskoArtwork software with PacVantage technology and print them on ExxonMobil Chemical's Digilyte polyolefin films the assurance that they will be able to make colour adjustments during the proofing stage and match them on press with little or no adjustment.
Now, Avery Dennison has joined EskoArtwork and ExxonMobil Chemical to introduce self-adhesive rollstocks faced with ExxonMobil Chemical’s Digilyte polyolefin films which exhibit excellent print quality and offer a one-year print shelf life. This will allow narrow web label converters using EskoArtwork software with PacVantage technology to buy Avery Dennison self-adhesive labels faced with Digilyte films that activate the colour guarantee. Avery Dennison has extensive experience collaborating with industry-leader Hewlett-Packard to deliver pre-optimised digital labelling materials for printing on the full range of HP Indigo industrial roll fed presses.
Label converters who adopt PacVantage technology reap the benefits of a guaranteed colour match between a proof and final print. With PacVantage technology, digital proofs are printed on an easy to use HP Designjet Z3100 proofer in the prepress department or at the customer's location. With a guaranteed colour match between the proof and the HP Indigo printed label, approvals can be made up front and the productivity of the press can be optimised.
Because PacVantage technology can ‘lock in’ colour before releasing the job to printing, it delivers many advantages to a converter. There is much less colour matching time and consumables waste. Not only are media saved, but wearing on blankets is also reduced by as much as three times less. Overall colour-matching downtime is reduced by up to 35 percent. In addition, digital converters can offer remote proofing, connecting them much more closely with their customers and allowing their customers to print true, contract quality colour proofs at their locations.
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