inks newspapers - for forward thinking printing

THE MAGAZINE FOR FORWARD THINKING PRINTINGFEBRUARY 2014

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT. THE FUTURE IS

ULTRA VIOLETThe inks, the presses, the technology 18

INKS

NEWSPAPERS

IPEX

PAPER

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So, the question is: why not KBA?

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FEBRUARY 2014NEWS Paperlinx bids tochange mailing; Hobbs gainsworld first 4

I&I Ten-colour B1 XL forPureprint; Nexpress forIpswich; Landa will be drivenby Fiery 10

COVER STORY UV is preparedfor prime time 18

INNOVATION Guardian showswhat a newspaper can do 14

INKS Low migration gives thefood story a happy ending 25

THE CEASELESS RAIN HAS NOT HELPED, but the winds of change areblowing through the economy, witness reports from the BAPC conferenceand the number of investment stories carried in this issue. The weatherhas changed, even if the long term outlook for print and the climate itoperates under has not. For many the long term outlook remains gloomy.

The role that print plays is changing. There are numerous surveys toindicate that open rates on direct mail are better than email, that youngpeople like to see printed credit card statements, and so it goes on –statistic on statistic to show that print is maligned by marketing folk.Maybe so. But it’s not that simple. Any marketing message works whenit reaches the right target in the way that consumer is happy to beaddressed, however the communication is delivered. And that preferencewill change according to the message. In short, surveys are almostirrelevant without reference to the content of what is printed.

What marketers want is both a measurable response and a freshapproach that creates impact. Print has fallen down on both. Thecontinued complaints about price suggests that customers are not beingsold on either, but simply given a cost per thousand that can be used to setone printer against another. Innovation, feedback or impact do not comeinto it. Print has become stale. Print has abrogated responsibility for itsown effectiveness to designers and agencies and is suffering because of it.

Printers need to snatch this back, customer by customer, sometimesworking alone, sometimes in collaboration with an intermediary, accordingto what works for each customer. It will mean understanding your ownbusiness, beyond the internal costs, to appreciate the creativity your peopleare capable of and how that lines up with your customers. Only then areyou ready to engage with suppliers about the necessary investments.

For some those talks will be about reducing costs and improvingproductivity, for others it will be about increasing versatility. Digital maywin over offset, litho may defeat inkjet.The result will be what works bestfor your business with reference to all its assets, not what has worked forthe fellow down the road.

GARETH WARD Editor

COMMENTARY

EDITORIAL

COMMERCIAL

GARETH WARD 01580 236456 • 07866 [email protected]

DEBBIE WARD 01580 236456 • 07711 [email protected] • printbusinessmedia.co.uk

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NEWS

4 February 2014 www.printbusinessmagazine.co.uk Get the latest news every Monday morning: eepurl.com/dENeU

Paperlinx announces Maillinx initiative to promote print PAPERLINX CONTINUES to cascade initiatives into the UK printing industry aimed at increasing the volume of print and consequently the volume of paper purchased through the merchant.

The latest is Maillinx, the idea of using an envelope to carry marketing material alongside an invoice statement for minimal cost. Chief executive Andrew Price explains that weight of this type of mailing is always within the maximum allowed by the Royal Mail. This means that additional inserts can be carried at no cost to the mailer.

Credit card statements have in the past carried inserts, but from

affiliate companies rather than to general marketing campaigns. Price wants to change this and believes that marketers would welcome the opportunity to piggy back their marketing literature inside a transactional or other mailing. The missing element has been a means of marketing and organising this, which is where he believe Maillinx can play a key role.

It will offer a matching service via a website that sells envelope capacity to marketing busi-nesses. “If one bank is mailing its 1 million high value account holders, the bank can recoup the cost of the mailing through selling room in the envelope to

companies that would bid to reach these potential customers.

“The bank would be able to refuse messages that were inappropriate for its business, but by selling the space would more than cover its costs of printing and distribution. And the carriage of other messages increases the amount of print.”

The breakthrough is the use of the internet to handle the auction of space and the booking in aspect.

Price says he had the idea when, having bought a financial product, his bank called and asked why he hadn’t chosen their version. “I was told ‘it’s on our website’ but I don’t look on the

website; emails are ineffective, I don’t watch television or listen to the radio, but I will open the envelope with my bank state-ment in it,” he says. “Banks will push customers to online state-ments claiming it’s better for the environment, but it’s purely about cost. With Maillinx we cut the cost for them and allow others to reach their customers. There is no risk to data secu-rity and other marketers would welcome the change of reaching these customers and would pay for it.”

The website is ready to roll, says Price. “We’re giving this to the printing industry for nothing.”

Top class speakers for Ipex World Print SummitBENNY LANDA and Barry Hibbert head the speakers lined up for the World Print Summit during Ipex. Landa is not exhibiting at the show, thanks to a backlog in inquiries picked up at Drupa which need to be fulfilled before further sales activity kicks in. However, such is the interest in the nanographic technology that was unveiled two years ago, that its inventor was an obvious invitee.

He will speak on the second day of the show at 2pm taking the subject: Print: doomed or on the verge of a new digital renais-sance in a session moderated by Professor Frank Romano from RIT. The overriding theme for

the conference presentations is how print can cope with the digital age and the emergence

of new markets and new ways of operating. Hibbert moder-ates a session titled ‘How to future proof print in a digital age’ where DC Thomson chief executive Ellis Watson is the key speaker.

Ipex organiser Informa has also lined up contributions from a range of C level speak-ers. St Ives chief executive Patrick Martell, who is also Ipex president; Rory Sutherland, executive creative director and vice chairman of OgilvyOne and Ogilvy & Mather UK; Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI and Simon Biltcliffe, managing director of Webmart are among them.

Other sessions will look at

the relationship between crea-tives and printers and between print buyers and their suppliers as well as presentations on key new technologies. The confer-ence runs on the first five days of the show, starting on 24 March, because the final day has been designated as a day for youth.

The World Print Summit is one of a number of attractions that have been included in this iteration of the show, partly to compensate for the absence of certain major exhibitors, but mostly to reflect the changing nature of the printing industry, where business models become more important than the metal to execute them.

Brandz wins the Avery Dennison award for car wrappingBIRMINGHAM VEHICLE wrapping specialist Brandz has won the Avery Dennison award for car wrap, beating business from around Europe.

The winning submission was

of a yellow matt wrap with cut out matt laminate film very carefully poitioned on top.

The company decorated a Mark V Golf GTI in the Avery Dennison material, voted the

best in the UK and then judged the most impressive across Europe. “It was something a little bit different,” says a spokesman.

The prize was a four-day trip

for two to Barcelona for the grand prix. While there was no printing on the winning job, the company normally prints on an HP L2650X and has a Roland print/cutter.

Barry Hibbert is one of the speakers at the World Print Summit at Ipex.

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NEWS


Falkland Press moves to expanded space to house new equipmentFALKLAND PRESS has moved from Hatfield to Letchworth and to a former warehouse with four times the space of its origi-nal factory.

And the company is using the opportunity to add a range of new presses and finishing equip-ment that includes an HP Indigo 10000, the second Highcon Euclid digital finishing line in the UK and a new five-colour plus coater Speedmaster XL75.

This is replacing the 2009 XL75 that the company has operated since new. Falk-land has also bought an ST450 saddlestitcher and Vega Mira folder gluer. The Speedmaster is in place in the 35,000sq ft of production space, there is a

further 8,000sq ft of offices and meeting rooms. The company has retained its Speedmaster 52 and range of folders, binders and other finishing equipment. It upgraded its Autobond lami-nator in November and installed a Duplo DC645 in October.

Expansion, says managing director Jonathan Lancaster, will come from both commercial printing and packaging where the Euclid and Vega will come into their own. Staffing will increase as demand grows. In December the company took on a new software engineer to drive website development for web to print applications.

The HP10000 follows presses for Precision Colour and Pure-

print, both of whom have announced plans for a second press. It is the fourth of the digital B2 presses in the UK, with Indigo installing around 200 worldwide since the launch

at Drupa two years ago. It includes a white print option and began printing in January in time for Indigo general manager Alon Bar Shany to visit. Falk-land Press has been an Indigo user with a 5600 previously.

The Euclid will be the second in the UK following a machine installed ay Glossop Cartons. It uses a laser to die cut the printed sheet, offering the ability to cut out more intricate patterns than with dies. It uses a new type of creasing system, using a polymer applied to a backing sheet to create the creasing form in the machine.

It is intended for short run carton finishing work. It is due to arrive this month.

Marstan Press takes on ten-colour Speedmaster XL75MARSTAN PRESS is install-ing a ten-colour Speedmaster XL75, replacing both a ten-colour and five-colour SM74, both of which are around ten years old.

Despite the two for one replacement, Marstan is confi-dent that it will be boosting capacity by 50% thanks to faster makeready and faster print speeds. There will also be a substantial saving in waste explains marketing director Martin Lett. “We will be print-ing at 15,000sph rather than 11,000 and even if we make ready in 100 sheets and in seven minutes this is less than the 500 sheets and 30 minutes to an

hour we are currently taking,” he says.

The age of the machines has meant a monthly maintenance bill of around £3,500 and even more through paper wasted at make ready. This means that the finance, organised through Close Asset, for the new press will not increase outgoings at the Bexleyheath printer. “That’s the reason we can afford the new machine,” Lett explains.

The press is fitted with Inpress and Marstan has taken the opportunity to upgrade its Prinect prepress, to include the hybrid screening feature. This will allow the company to chase auction work and other projects

that require reproduction of fine details. With the new press settled in, the company will be seeking to run to ISO 12647-2 values and certification.

The company is also install-ing a refurbished Muller Martini Bravo saddle stitcher with six hoppers and a cover feeder. This runs at 11,000cph and also deliv-ers a big makeready advantage over its existing Muller stitcher. This will be needed to cope with the extra volume of work from the press. Folding and guillotin-ing capacity is adequate, and can be increased through changes to shift patterns.

The final piece of the jigsaw will be replacement of a Prism

MIS with a full Tharstern system, tightly integrated with Prinect and either connected via JDF to production equipment or via barcode reading. There will be an online portal for its customers.

“We looked at moving to B1 or else buying two five colour presses,” says Lett, “and we looked at what other manu-facturers could offer. But we have developed a profile of work that suits the long perfec-tor. We are looking forward to having the extra capacity with a fixed cost base. The market today is commoditised. It’s all about volume, productivity and efficiency.”

PINSTRIPE GROUP has capped a period of substantial investment, earning ISO 12647-2 certification under the BPIF scheme, making the Birmingham company the first B2 printer with the quality assurance standard.In the last year the company has upgraded its digital operation, its MIS and finishing operation and has bought an XL75 together with Inpress inline spectral measurement, Heidelberg’s Prinect workflow and is running the press with

chemistry free plates. It can offer carbon balanced printing through the World Land Trust backed Paperlinx scheme. And now it has achieved the BPIF ISO 12647-2 certification.Pinstripe Print managing director Nigel Lyons says: “This is a real challenging quality management standard to attain, with very few companies being able to achieve it. By attaining the BPIF ISO 12647-2 certification, Pinstripe is now among the elite in the print industry.”

Managing driector Jonathan Lancaster says expansion will come from commercial printing packaging.

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NEWS


Hobbs the Printers has world first with Presto II Digital stitcherHOBBS THE PRINTERS has scored a world first with installa-tion of a Presto II Digital saddle stitcher.

The system, which takes a flat sheet and delivers a finished stitched product, was previewed at Print 13 in Chicago and arrived at Hobbs’ Southampton factory at the end of the year. The feeder accepts flat sheets in pre-collated order from a digital press.

These are folded in line by an MBO folder before the folded sections are fed to an accumu-lator before plow folding and dropping on the saddle chain. Muller Martini’s ASIR recog-nition system is used to pick up end marks for each product

which can have a fully variable pagination.

The Presto at Hobbs also has four conventional hoppers and a cover feeder to allow it to run conventionally printed material either for litho only products or for mixed products. The system will switch between products without stopping, either for fully digital products or from digital to hybrid publications where litho sections are added to the digital section.

The company already has a six-feeder Muller Martini BravoPlus stitcher, hence the new machine needs only four feeders. Hobbs operations director Graham Bromley says: “We needed to increase

our conventional saddle stitch-ing capacity and we wanted to deal with short run digital products, finishing these to the same standard as litho, and small cheaper machines could not offer that as far as we were concerned.”

The company prints a wide range of publications using litho and both Océ and HP Indigo digital presses. These cover academic publishers, the educa-tional sector, transport and a growing volume of personalised magazines. “We are handing variable data as well as standard batch products,” he says. The Presto II Digital is limited to A4 products, which is not a problem given it will be handling digi-

tally printed sheets, the existing BravoPlus will run A3 sized stitched products.

Hobbs has noted an increase in digital printing and has until now been using a booklet maker to finish these.

As its digital presses are producing two page sheets, the Presto was the right machine for the job, delivering A4 to the quality that matches its litho printed work.

“We were not concerned at being the first,” Bromley says. “We tested the machine thor-oughly before installation.”

Muller Martini GB has also sold a second of the Presto II Digital stitchers, to Anglo Print-ers in Drogheda.

Platinum Press installs Komori H-UV four colourPLATINUM PRESS, Harro-gate, is installing a Komori H-UV press this week.

The four-colour B2 press replaces a five-colour Komori Spica at the business and is considered the ideal platform to continue growth in fast turna-round print.

Mark Plummer, who has recently become managing director of the business, says: “Over the last 18 months we have seen growth not only in our digital volumes but also in the demand for litho work

where we need to speed turna-round and increase capacity.” The company has been handling a growing volume of uncoated papers and the instant drying on these stocks is a key element of the decision. “We are a fast turnaround printer with many of our customers wanting to use uncoated stocks and these do not dry as quickly,” he says.

Thanks to makeready advan-tages over the existing presses, Plummer reckons that Platinum will be able to double output. Makeready, he says, will be in

35 sheets, around 25% of the current levels. The cost of inks is not a concern when judged against the benefits spread across the entire cost of a job.

“There will be big savings in energy, from not using the hot air dryer and through not having the anilox coater. From that point of view we will be making savings,” he says.

The company will also be able to print on films and other plastic substrates, where it can cross market with its growing display print division.

FACE CREATIVE Services has become the first company to buy Canon inkjet printers from M Partners following the signing of a distribution agreement with the Japanese company.

It has bought the 60in-wide, 12-channel iPF 9400 and the 24in wide iPF6450, which also prints up to 12 colours. Both

will be used for proofing, replac-ing Epson machines, with much faster output that Face believes will provide an edge over competitors.

Colin Harding, Face Creative production director, says: “The 12-colour models appealed to us because we never want to be in a position where we turn away

work because the equipment couldn’t handle the files sent in: these printers will handle anything.

“The tonal gradations are exceptional. The built in densi-tometer makes proofing a single process, again offering a speed advantage over our previously used kit.”

Face Creative buys first Canon inkjet printer from M Partners

Mark Plumer chose the press for increasing fast turnaround work.

Colin Harding: “Tonal gradations are exceptional.”

Still not convinced about inkjet for commercial print?

We’ll be running three high performance inkjet presses eight hours a day during the course of the show to demonstrate the power of inkjet printing. On show will be the Jet Press 720 B2 sheet-fed press, the Jet Press 540W web press, and the newly launched Graphium digital label press. We’ll be demonstrating the business models for all sorts of print from calendars, brochures and magazines, to books, labels, manuals and posters, with run lengths from 1 to 5000.

Visit the Fujifilm stand at Ipex to see the power of inkjet printing.

Visit us at IPEX

To find out more visit www.powerofinkjet.comor email [email protected]

Stand: S4-E330

INNOVATIONS & INVESTMENTS


LANDA NANOGRAPHY PRESSES TO HAVE RIPS BUILT BY EFIEFI WILL NEED to build a Rip capable of processing three B1 impositions a second to keep pace with a Landa Nanography press running at its stated speed with full variable data as promised during the EFI Connect confer-ence in Las Vegas last month.

In the world capital of gambling, Landa founder Benny Landa explained he is betting that EFI can do this. “Reaching this remarkable and exciting goal requires partner-ing with best in class providers. That is the reason we chose Fiery technology and EFI as our development partner: to deliver the highest quality, ultra high speed front end platform to match the quality and perfor-mance of our Nanographic

Printing presses,” he said. The first machines due to be

delivered to beta customers, including one UK user, before the end of the year will be carton specification machines, so have less demand for full variability, if any at all. This will provide EFI with more time to work on the advanced version of Fiery which will go beyond any previous Rip.

The stated aim is to be able to stream jobs at full speed for four- or eight-colour print-ing, enabling press operators to perform last minute corrections, to insert proofs or rush jobs on the fly and for the press to carry out dynamic colour corrections. While not all these need be functions of a Rip, the proposed

DFE will support static, varia-ble data printing and every page is different printing.

Guy Gecht was just as confi-dent as Landa in Las Vegas, telling 1,500 delegates that “Landa Nanographic Print-ing presses have the potential to accelerate the migration of mainstream commercial print-ing and packaging to digital printing. The Landa DFE provides a proven ultra high speed and well integrated front end platform that Landa customers will require.” It will also integrate tightly with EFI’s MIS, web to print and other business software solutions.

Currently the most power-ful Rips are those used on HP’s inkjet presses and what

is being proposed will demand far more powerful Rips than these. HP has linked its own blade server expertise from enterprise computing applica-tions to Global Graphics’ Rip architecture. This allows a job to be spread across a number of core processors and to be processing more than one page simultaneously.

HP has a very close relation-ship with Global Graphics which would prevent the UK company working with Landa or other competitors even if it wanted. Kodak has reduced its commit-ment to the Creo servers during its financial crisis and there are no other OEM Rip suppliers worth considering for a Digital Front End of this nature.

Ryobi and Mitsubishi form Ryobi MHI GraphicRYOBI MHI GRAPHIC Technology, the Japanese litho press manufacturer formed by combining Ryobi and Mitsubi-shi, is up and running.

The Hiroshima company has decided on a line up of presses and the direction its technol-ogy will take, but little will change as far as UK printers are concerned.

Neil Handforth, sales direc-tor of Apex Digital Presses, the Ryobi dealer for the UK, says: “In the UK it’s pretty much the status quo. We will continue to carry the full range of Ryobis with spares and service while responsibility for Mitsubishi

spares and service stays with M Partners.”

The Ryobi 1050 is dropped from the press range where B1 machines are represented by the former Mitsibushi V3000 avail-able in straight, long perfector and tandem perfector formats. Ryobi’s SRA1 920 series machine, which Handforth says Apex has been pushing against B1 sellers in recent years, remains. In future, he says “we will take a common sense approach to new sales”.

The new business is 60% owned by Ryobi, 40% by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which has retained web offset

and newspaper presses. Hideki Domoto is corporate president and Yuzuru Ichimasa senior vice president. In a state-ment on the new website, they say: “Despite today’s severe market conditions for sheetfed offset presses brought about by decreasing demands from devel-oped countries impacted by the global recession, the increasing demands for sheetfed presses in emerging economies and for high value added presses in established markets clearly indi-cate that there remains ample room for growth.”

New developments include the liquid toner press that was

announced at Drupa, using an imaging and liquid toner system developed by Miyakoshi. This is now the Ryobi DP760 B2 sheetfed press running at 6,000 sheets an hour and targeted at short run commercial and pack-aging work.

Both companies had devel-oped LED UV curing systems, Mitsubishi’s SimulChanger plate changing is highlighted as is its Colour Navigator colour management and press control system, though there is no suggestion that these will replace the Ryobi equivalent. Ryobi’s UV casting and foiling units are another key technology.

Digital press manufacturer sells strategic 10% stake to Konica MinoltaKONICA MINOLTA is taking a strategic 10% stake in French digital press manufacturer MGI. The funding will help MGI accelerate development of the next generation of printing systems, focused on the Meteor

press. This is a flatbed machine, able to print to almost any length and on heat sensitive plastics. It already uses Konica Minolta print engines.

There will be greater access to Konica Minolta’s distribution

channels around the world, while MGI will provide its expertise to the Japanese company.

While the focus is on the Meteor products it is not limited to this. MGI has been working on inkjet technologies, initially

with spot varnish applications, a demonstration of a four colour print engine at the last Drupa and the recent acquisition of Ceradrop, a company which uses inkjet to produce printed electronics.


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Benson takes XL106 with configuration first for HeidelbergBENSON GATESHEAD has ordered a new Speedmaster XL106 for installation at the end of May/beginning of June with a configuration which is at best highly unusual and is thought to be a first for Heidelberg.

The press can run as an eight-colour press, but also as a six-colour plus coat on one side with two colours plus coating, with both hot air/IR drying and UV curing, on the inside of the carton before the sheet is turned for printing the exterior. The configuration will allow the company to meet a growing demand from brands for infor-mation on the inside of a carton and will allow it to move into a higher value sector of the pack-aging market.

Andrew Pybus, general manager of the two Benson plants in the north east, says: “Customers seek to gain the maximum marketing potential from their cartons. We need to stay ahead of the game and this press will give us additional capa-bilities, both in the number of printing units that can be utilised for single-sided printing, and in the ability to print on both sides of the sheet in a single pass.”

If Benson already has a customer lined up to use the additional capabilities, Pybus is not saying beyond comments that it will enable the company to print for confectionery and drinks companies, producing cartons in a single pass. “We are already very much into food

retail,” he says, “and have been improving our performance year on year. There is new legislation coming and this press is part of gearing up for that.”

The press will meet the requirements of changing Food Industry Regulations, includ-ing running with low migration consumables, including low migration UV inks and coatings.

“This is all major investment going on in the north east,” says Pybus. It will provide Gates-head with a capability that has not been available at the central Bardon site without two passes through the press.

The decision to buy the Speedmaster follows on from the success of installations at Bardon. “They have given us

a performance edge and our customers have been delighted with the results,” says group managing Mark Kerridge. “The reliability of the equipment, coupled with the back up service from Heidelberg, has helped us to produce more printed sheets than ever before.”

This has been key to winning the order, says Heidelberg UK sales director Jim Todd. “The Benson configuration is highly flexible: it’s a long perfecter and it’s an eight-colour press and with coating units, there are all sorts of possibilities. We think it’s the beginning of more complex configurations as packaging customers want to differentiate what is placed on the shop shelves.”



Fuller Davies is latest East Anglian printer to add NexpressA KODAK Nexpress SX3300 has arrived at Ipswich printer Fuller Davies, adding to a recent run of success for the Kodak machine in East Anglia. Calen-dar printer Rose of Colchester has invested in the digital press and Healeys in Ipswich also acquired a Nexpress at the end of last year.

Fuller Davies managing director Neil Stones visited Germany for training and acceptance on the digital press which adds to a Xerox 700 that the company already oper-ates. However, Stones does not consider the new machine a separate process. He explains: “We don’t look at it as digital or litho, just print, and the most efficient and effective way to produce it. Our own internal research shows us that the run lengths aren’t any shorter than they were two years ago, proba-bly due to machines getter faster and better ref quality and also print prices coming down.”

The company operates a press room with Heidelberg

and Roland sheetfed press, working with Fujifilm’s on press process Pro-T plates as part of a strong environmental ethos that includes being able to offset the carbon footprint it uses through the Paperlinx Carbon Balanced Paper scheme. The Nexpress will help eliminate makeready waste that is inevitable with litho printing.

The build of the Nexpress, based on the original joint venture designs between Kodak and Heidelberg, appeals, says

Stones. “The Nexpress press is a printer’s press. It is 4.5 tonnes of beautifully manufactured machine. There is a proper sidelay for top quality finishing. It also offers so many options – RGB, light black, dimensional and long sheet. The results of the dimensional ink are amazing and I cannot wait for a customer to come up with a really clever design.”

The format allows a 914mm x 356mm sheet to be printed, giving a landscape A4 product.

As well as covering off the short runs that fall below litho’ s sweet spot.

As demand for shorter runs and faster turnarounds is increasing, thanks also to invest-ment in ROI360’s web to print technology, the dilemma will come with the next investment. “That’s the 64,000 dollar ques-tion,” says Stones. “Definitely a second digital device and prob-ably a replacement litho in time.

“Our analysis shows there is still a significant gap between the top end of where digital is competitive and the bottom end of where B2 litho is competitive, even though both are of course viable. Having both means you have the commercial choice as to which works for better for you any given day.”

The company generates sales of £3.2 million, adding Stuart Silkstone as sales director little more than 12 months ago and a further account handler in September. A laminator was installed last year to keep this aspect in house.

Neil Stones: “It’s not litho or digital. It’s just print.”

Romax installs Xerox iGen 150 to meet demandGREENWICH DIGITAL printer and marketing commu-nications business Romax has installed a Xerox iGen 150 to cope with an upsurge in business following a significant contract win in the telecoms sector.

This follows on from winning

a further three contract as direct marketing supplier to the South-bank Centre.

This will also involve devel-opment of fundraising and communications packs. Romax has worked with Southbank for 12 years.

The iGen 150 was delivered in December and was up and running for what the company describes as a busy January. As well as six-page work and landscape A4 for marketing materials, the iGen will be printing for the photo book

operation that Romax launched in June last year.

“There is always something new going on at this company, so we want the most recent and up to date technology availa-ble,” says business development director Wes Dowding.

Extended buffer table for Palamides Alpha allows more capacityPALAMIDES HAS developed an extended buffer table for its Alpha 500 and 700 stacking delivery systems. This increases the number of finished prod-ucts that can be handled to a maximum of 14 stacks of A4, 30 of A5 products.

The extended delivery can be fitted to plus versions of the Alpha models, which are a popular addition to folders to enable single operator running. Features include the ability to self set automatically from data entered at the indeed during

production to cope with any adjustments.

An intelligent output module will only forward book blocks to a subsequent finishing unit, a perfect binder for example, after they have been assessed for completeness using barcode

verification via on board cameras.

This is essential in inline digital book production where complete integrity is needed along the line, diverting any blocks that have a missed section or are incomplete.



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HALL N1STAND B135

PUREPRINT TAKES FIFTH XL WHICH REPLACES TEN-UNIT SM102PUREPRINT TAKES delivery of a ten-unit perfecting Speed-master XL105 this month to give it a five machine line up of the XL presses. The latest will be in full production in four weeks’ time.

The new machine will replace a ten-unit SM102 installed when the company expanded to a second factory in Uckfield to accommodate the long perfector and its Muller Martini perfect binding line XLs while the orig-

inal Beacon Press plant has two single-sided machines and Pure-print’s growing digital set up, headed by an Indigo 10000. The fifth XL is part of the Abstrakt factory in Kings Langley that the group acquired last year.

The ten-colour XL is substantially heavier than the SM classic it replaces requiring modifications to the press base that have been taking place. The press itself is coming from a high end printer in Germany

that is replacing the press with a 15-unit machine. Pureprint managers have print tested the press and it is being moved by Heidelberg.

The investment could double Pureprint’s capacity on perfect-ing work. The press is faster and with the company’s experience of XL levels of automation, the expectation is that throughout will rise by at least 40%.

The Sussex company has also invested in its IT infrastructure

moving the Kodak Prinergy workflow that drives both offset and digital operations to a virtual server set up and improving its capacity to handle variable data print that is becoming a key part of the digital print offering.

“The plan was always to have a full line up of B1 XL presses with digital replacing B2,” says marketing director Richard Owers. “We need the level of productivity these presses provide.”

First Horizon BQ-280 PUR goes to Hickling & SquiresHICKLING & SQUIRES has bought the first Horizon BQ-280 PUR in the UK for its Notting-ham factory. It will be used to handle personalised prospec-tuses for the Central College in Nottingham, a contract it won last year and which has seen the printer earn award nominations for innovation.

The single clamp binder has a 385mm spine length, longer than previously available with an improved milling motor as well as PUR. This is needed to handle the digitally printed

sheets from the iGen4 which is printing to order course guides for students as they enter infor-mation into a web page.

Operations director Simon Lowe says: “We have just launched the service to allow prospectuses to be ordered based on the student’s chosen courses. This enables the educa-tional institutions we work with to create personalised informa-tion simply and then we mail directly to the students.”

Gurjit Sidhu, head of market-ing at the college, told the

Nottingham Evening Post: “We are always looking at ways to improve how we communicate with and help students as they come to the college.

“This is one of many new initiatives that we hope will make their transition to college as smooth and easy as possible as students can choose just the subject areas they are interested in and contact us if they need any advice or help.”

The high level of automation on the perfect binder is essential to cope with rapid changes in

format for both educational and other perfect binding work. “We were sending out a number of small run perfect binding PUR jobs and to bring that in house we needed a solution that was easy to operate and quick to set up. We needed something that could switch from binding a 16-page product to 24 pages and 48 pages,” says Lowe.

The investment in the binder follows an upgrade to its wide format printing capability and installation of an Autobond laminator last year.

Heidelberg UK to represent Gallus presses in folding carton marketHEIDELBERG UK is to take on representation of Gallus presses sold in the folding carton market. It will continue to sell label presses directly.

Paul Thompson will head the expanded product range where the Gallus ICS 670 and CCS 510 web presses will sit alongside

Dymatrix platens and Diana folder-gluers.

Gallus is 30% owned by Heidelberg. In turn Gallus will continue to market the Lino-print L inkjet label press despite Heidelberg’s decision to sell the product line to Markem-Imaje. That decision follows the

strategic partnership between Heidelberg and Fuji to combine forces to develop new inkjet presses. Fuji is the sales channel for the FFEI Graphium inkjet label press. The Graphium will be a focus of Fuji’s participation in the Packaging Innovations show.

Paul Thompson is to head up the Gallus range.

NEWSPAPERS


The diet of falling circulations is a familiar one to most newspapers, provoking strategies to minimise costs while eking out revenues and

profits as copy sales and ad spend continue to slip away. When the publisher, in this case Guardian News & Media, adopts a ‘digital first’ approach, the pressure on the in house print operation increases. And then when another publisher comes along with an offer to take on the printing of the Guardian, for the in house production team it becomes a matter of innovate or die.

Danny Couchman, operations manager at the Guardian Print Centre in Stratford, admits as much. “We had to look at the costs of what we do ourselves. We couldn’t just match the costs that the other party had, we had to do more. Unfortunately there were a number of redundancies involved, but we managed it,” he says.

THE REORGANISATION HAS reduced the London operation to a full time staff of 32 running the presses, with contracted staff providing back up and the crews for the mailroom. It has also meant that the business has been looking to bring in outside work and to create innovative types of product that advertisers will support.

There are two MAN Colorman press lines each with two sets of five printing units feeding central folders. A third Color-man is in its Manchester plant. As with any daily newspaper plant these can be silent during the day, engineers working to clean and maintain these locomotives to perform their daily duty. If losing a couple of hours production on a sheetfed press is an inconvenience, losing that production on a newspaper is simply unthinkable. It is why nationals have tended to prefer to remain in

control of their destiny through managing their production.

However, the stark reality of an increas-ingly digital business coupled with the fixed costs of producing newspapers, is changing this line of thinking. Where it made sense to invest in the new presses for London and Manchester to print the Berliner format Guardian in 2005, it may no longer make commercial sense to continue to do so.

Couchman and the rest of the GPC team in London might have accepted their inevi-table fate in which case the paper might now be printed outside of Stratford. Instead they opted for survival, recognised that costs would have to come down and revenue increased. Had production of the paper been contracted out, just a handful of Guardian staff would have been needed.

THE AGREEMENT THAT took effect at the start of October has been the third reor-ganisation and has been the most far reaching in terms of change. At the second reorgani-sation, those remaining were already very good. With the third an extra dimension has been needed. At each point the publisher has been supportive, providing training in

a choice of occupations for those likely to be affected because redundant printers are not going to find work in the industry easily. Instead many have trained as plasterers or electricians, Couchman says.

THE REMAINING STAFF have also had to adapt to new ways of working. It has meant training engineers to be capable of running presses, at least as No2s, and creating engineers out of press assistants, creating what he calls “process technicians”.

It has meant taking lean to the extreme and using the highest levels of automation that Manroland provides with its presses. There is AuroSys to manage the delivery of reels to the correct reel stand, the only manual intervention necessary being to unwrap and prep the reel; there is MainSys to manage the maintenance schedule and ensure the press is available when needed. And there is the Pecom to run the entire operation. “The whole paper can be produced from the Pecom room,” says Couchman indicat-ing a strictly functional space with computer monitors and the blinking lights to indicate the network is operational. An upgrade to the Manroland’s latest software is planned for this year.

THE FERAG EQUIPPED mailroom is split over three levels, taking single copies of the freshly printed and folded paper into one of three cells for sorting and wrapping for onward delivery. Only two are needed each night, the third offering the degree of redundancy that is essential to a newspaper. Ferag Minirolls are used to deliver inserts printed elsewhere into the papers. There is no space for a quarterfold unit, but this is a minor inconvenience, the half Berliner format as a stitched product is a handy size

NEWS HEADLINES

Falling newspaper circulations have meant publishers

must innovate or die. How can

commercial printers learn from this?

NEWSPAPERS


The diet of falling circulations is a familiar one to most newspapers, provoking strategies to minimise costs while eking out revenues and

profits as copy sales and ad spend continue to slip away. When the publisher, in this case Guardian News & Media, adopts a ‘digital first’ approach, the pressure on the in house print operation increases. And then when another publisher comes along with an offer to take on the printing of the Guardian, for the in house production team it becomes a matter of innovate or die.

Danny Couchman, operations manager at the Guardian Print Centre in Stratford, admits as much. “We had to look at the costs of what we do ourselves. We couldn’t just match the costs that the other party had, we had to do more. Unfortunately there were a number of redundancies involved, but we managed it,” he says.

THE REORGANISATION HAS reduced the London operation to a full time staff of 32 running the presses, with contracted staff providing back up and the crews for the mailroom. It has also meant that the business has been looking to bring in outside work and to create innovative types of product that advertisers will support.

There are two MAN Colorman press lines each with two sets of five printing units feeding central folders. A third Color-man is in its Manchester plant. As with any daily newspaper plant these can be silent during the day, engineers working to clean and maintain these locomotives to perform their daily duty. If losing a couple of hours production on a sheetfed press is an inconvenience, losing that production on a newspaper is simply unthinkable. It is why nationals have tended to prefer to remain in

control of their destiny through managing their production.

However, the stark reality of an increas-ingly digital business coupled with the fixed costs of producing newspapers, is changing this line of thinking. Where it made sense to invest in the new presses for London and Manchester to print the Berliner format Guardian in 2005, it may no longer make commercial sense to continue to do so.

Couchman and the rest of the GPC team in London might have accepted their inevi-table fate in which case the paper might now be printed outside of Stratford. Instead they opted for survival, recognised that costs would have to come down and revenue increased. Had production of the paper been contracted out, just a handful of Guardian staff would have been needed.

THE AGREEMENT THAT took effect at the start of October has been the third reor-ganisation and has been the most far reaching in terms of change. At the second reorgani-sation, those remaining were already very good. With the third an extra dimension has been needed. At each point the publisher has been supportive, providing training in

a choice of occupations for those likely to be affected because redundant printers are not going to find work in the industry easily. Instead many have trained as plasterers or electricians, Couchman says.

THE REMAINING STAFF have also had to adapt to new ways of working. It has meant training engineers to be capable of running presses, at least as No2s, and creating engineers out of press assistants, creating what he calls “process technicians”.

It has meant taking lean to the extreme and using the highest levels of automation that Manroland provides with its presses. There is AuroSys to manage the delivery of reels to the correct reel stand, the only manual intervention necessary being to unwrap and prep the reel; there is MainSys to manage the maintenance schedule and ensure the press is available when needed. And there is the Pecom to run the entire operation. “The whole paper can be produced from the Pecom room,” says Couchman indicat-ing a strictly functional space with computer monitors and the blinking lights to indicate the network is operational. An upgrade to the Manroland’s latest software is planned for this year.

THE FERAG EQUIPPED mailroom is split over three levels, taking single copies of the freshly printed and folded paper into one of three cells for sorting and wrapping for onward delivery. Only two are needed each night, the third offering the degree of redundancy that is essential to a newspaper. Ferag Minirolls are used to deliver inserts printed elsewhere into the papers. There is no space for a quarterfold unit, but this is a minor inconvenience, the half Berliner format as a stitched product is a handy size

NEWS HEADLINES

Falling newspaper circulations have meant publishers

must innovate or die. How can

commercial printers learn from this?

THE GUARDIAN


for a range of applications from advertising products to manuals and programmes. It does have the ability to apply Post-It notes as advertising messages to the covers of prod-ucts as they pass in the gripper stream.

It is these sorts of applications that GPC is basing a future on. “We want to increase the third party work that we do to keep us going. The more we do, the more profitable we become and the longer the future we have,” Couchman explains. This is set out in five-year plans for the plant, the first starting in 2012, and endorsed by a management team, headed by Brett Lawrence as director of production, newspapers and Bob Steadman as director of newspaper operations, based at the publisher’s Kings Place head office.

ACCORDING TO THESE, printing will continue at least until 2022. “We are not looking to stop printing, but we don’t know what the capabilities of digital printing will look like then,” he explains. Consequently the five year plan is revisited each year to check its assumptions and to make updates if required.

Ultimately Couchman believes that digital production must take over, probably with digital printing plants in cities across the country each handling a number of titles and under joint or independent ownership. At the moment digital printing is too expensive and not productive enough, but other factors will come into play over the next decade to tip the balance towards digital, costs of trans-portation and environmental regulations for example. The key advantage however will be the ability to come closer to the sort of live news that the internet delivers.

Before then the task is to ensure that the twin Manroland lines remain relevant. It is not just about seeking extra work, but also

NEWSPAPERS


making the printed paper more attractive to advertisers. The publisher still gains 70% of its revenue from the daily publication and in recent months there has been an increase in advertising, and also a small rise in circula-tion. This is the result of a rising economy and a series of strong editorial issues driving readership. Perhaps this will herald a steady rise in print sales and the Guardian is enjoy-ing a circulation increase.

It means that “during October we had so much work going through it was ludicrous”. One issue reached 238pp in all, breaking the 220pp limit on the Ferag gripper, something that will not happen again he adds.

The GPC team has also worked to devise new advertising formats. The principal of these has been the bookmark ad, a verti-cal format that runs down a narrower than normal page with a number of widths avail-able to advertisers. In order to do this the press runs a narrower web, but with the same blankets in place demanding a solution that keeps the blanket damp without soaking it as if a reel of paper and plate were present.

THE SOLUTION IS BOTH simple and innovative: a grill of metal drilled with holes rather like a cheese grater to the required width placed in the spray dampening system allowing some but not all the normal flow of water through. Where the press manufac-turer quoted thousands to adapt the press, the GPC solution costs less than a round

of drinks. “After the cost of the hardware upgrade, we could report a 6,000% profit margin,” says Couchman. All the turbo dampening units have now been adapted using lasers to cut the slits to hold the gauze plates at a total cost of £6,000.

The company can also print six colours on the coldest press having converted one tower per machine. One colour might be a fluores-cent, another a metallic either for advertising or for editorial to make an impact. Ideally Couchman would like to have two towers per line able to work in this way, but with the cost of the software and adjustments to the web path, this is prohibitive. “We have looked at UV, but that would mean tying up at least one print tower, which is not accept-able,” he explains.

Likewise, while the presses can deliver a range of on press stitched products, Couch-man cannot justify the cost of a former stitching system to bring another innova-tion to fruition. “We would need the money in first, but until we have the capability, we will not get that work. If we can get a two-year payback, we can go for it,” he says. “We have some very good printers that have a lot of imagination; we will always encour-age ideas. A lot of the things that we do are slightly outside the norm.”

Other innovation comes through a will-ingness to print on different materials. He produces a samples folder with examples printed on a brown kraft-like material (used

to promote a video game), on a transpar-ent material as well as grades of newsprint far different from the 42.5gsm it is used to. Products for its own publications sit along-side a stitched brochure for London Fashion Week on brighter than normal stock. Before pressing ahead with a project, the company will run a reel of paper to check its suitability, durability of plates and most importantly quality. Anything above 5,000 copies is fair game.

“WE WILL ONLY PRODUCE a good quality product. If it is not acceptable to us we will not print. This happened with one job which instead of printing on 48gsm, we printed on 52gsm because it didn’t look good on the lighter weight paper. The customer was delighted,” he says.

GPC has won awards for print quality and is not jeopardising this reputation for the sake of printing a cheap job on cheap paper. Presses are calibrated each week, and as part of this attention to detail, every aspect of cost has been calculated down to the power that will be consumed on a job. “We do not want to be busy fools and will not work at a loss,” he adds. It is another reason for turning some jobs away.

If the company hooks a regular contract Couchman says it is prepared to bring in a new crew for that contract rather than rely on overtime or on the hot desking system that is used to cover shortages or peaks. In short GPC is prepared to think and act like a commercial printer.

“We will look at printing on anything we can. Advertisers are always looking for something different. We have very good printers here that have a lot of imagina-tion and they know the limits of what can be done,” he says. “We will sit down with the advertisers at meetings at Kings Place to share ideas and we’ll meet Manroland every six months to be brought up to date on what other Manroland users are doing. Last time we saw a glued product that some advertisers might go for. A lot of the stuff we talk about is slightly out of the norm, that’s something we have always been good at.”

THAT WILL BE ESSENTIAL in a future where the core purpose of the plant appears to be eroding, perhaps more slowly than anticipated, but declining all the same. For GNM, print brings in 70% of revenues, reducing though not as steeply as antici-pated. The initiatives to bring in other contract and spot work, there is a means of mitigating the slide towards digital. Couch-man is optimistic: “At the moment, you can’t have digital without print.” n

Danny Couchman is dedicated to finding opportunities for newspaper printing.

FUTURE PROOF YOUR BUSINESS


Europe’s printers, including some at last in the UK, are taking to energy curing with Komori’s H-UV well out in front. After Japan, France is

the main market for the machines that use a doped UV lamp and matched inks to deliver instantly dry and ready to handle sheets, regardless of the substrate printed on.

With Komori’s success spreading into Belgium and the Netherlands, where there is an eight-colour perfecting H-UV in use, German manufacturers are taking notice. At Drupa Heidelberg demonstrated what it calls LE-UV and has begun installations in Switzerland and has users in Germany; KBA has customers for its HR-UV tech-nology which uses LED lamps rather than a tuned UV lamp, but is essence the same: less energy consumption, none of the para-phernalia associated with standard UV like extraction hoods to remove ozone, and instantly dry sheets to pass to finishing or back through the press.

THE ECO ASPECT is that a single lamp curing system requires far less power than a standard UV system and less energy than a hot air/IR combination dryer. Commercial printers, in the UK at least, have tended to select presses with an extra unit to lay down an aqueous seal which is dried to allow sheets to be finished, even if not fully dry. For this reason Heidelberg and KBA have tempered any enthusiasm with reference to the reality of much higher ink prices, and limited demand in this country for same day turnarounds.

However, the conventional print and seal does not work well on the increasingly popular uncoated papers, which must there-fore be left to dry fully before finishing. With UV curing this is no longer a problem. Print-

ers can print on uncoateds and are able also to print on synthetic materials, if they feel confident enough. This is because there is no almost no heat generation in new generation UV or LED UV, so temperature sensitive non absorbent materials can be printed.

THE TECHNOLOGY ALSO DELIVERS a brighter result, thanks to the use of higher pigment ink. The quality has convinced some of the major French perfume houses to insist that their work is printed only on H-UV presses. Without the application of an aqueous coating, the feel of the paper is not hidden beneath the seal.

In Japan UV is fast becoming the domi-nant litho process, Komori has more than 150 presses running with H-UV, Ryobi reckons that 80% of recent sales are presses with LED UV, Sakurai has customers running with LED UV. David Ryan has taken a UK customer to see one of these. “Jobs booked by 10am are delivered by 4pm,” he says. “There is only so much you can do with a litho press. LED is the saviour of conven-tional litho, allowing it to compete.”

THERE ARE FACTORS IN the Japanese market which make it ideal for UV: lack of space restricts the ability to operate presses with extended delivery systems; the demand is for very high quality print with no signs of scuffing or marking and no evidence of spray powder; print runs can be well below 1,000 copies; and crucially Japanese compa-nies have had to find ways to cut energy consumption following the earthquake which put the Fukushima nuclear power plant out of action.

This does not explain the increasing popularity in Europe or North America. In the latter area, adding UV is a way to expand

On the right WAVELENGTH

Ultra violet technology is

available to litho printers in many

guises. Is it the next big thing and does it really use huge

amounts of energy? Yes and no.

KBA’s HR_UV uses LED technology.



Europe’s printers, including some at last in the UK, are taking to energy curing with Komori’s H-UV well out in front. After Japan, France is

the main market for the machines that use a doped UV lamp and matched inks to deliver instantly dry and ready to handle sheets, regardless of the substrate printed on.

With Komori’s success spreading into Belgium and the Netherlands, where there is an eight-colour perfecting H-UV in use, German manufacturers are taking notice. At Drupa Heidelberg demonstrated what it calls LE-UV and has begun installations in Switzerland and has users in Germany; KBA has customers for its HR-UV tech-nology which uses LED lamps rather than a tuned UV lamp, but is essence the same: less energy consumption, none of the para-phernalia associated with standard UV like extraction hoods to remove ozone, and instantly dry sheets to pass to finishing or back through the press.

THE ECO ASPECT is that a single lamp curing system requires far less power than a standard UV system and less energy than a hot air/IR combination dryer. Commercial printers, in the UK at least, have tended to select presses with an extra unit to lay down an aqueous seal which is dried to allow sheets to be finished, even if not fully dry. For this reason Heidelberg and KBA have tempered any enthusiasm with reference to the reality of much higher ink prices, and limited demand in this country for same day turnarounds.

However, the conventional print and seal does not work well on the increasingly popular uncoated papers, which must there-fore be left to dry fully before finishing. With UV curing this is no longer a problem. Print-

ers can print on uncoateds and are able also to print on synthetic materials, if they feel confident enough. This is because there is no almost no heat generation in new generation UV or LED UV, so temperature sensitive non absorbent materials can be printed.

THE TECHNOLOGY ALSO DELIVERS a brighter result, thanks to the use of higher pigment ink. The quality has convinced some of the major French perfume houses to insist that their work is printed only on H-UV presses. Without the application of an aqueous coating, the feel of the paper is not hidden beneath the seal.

In Japan UV is fast becoming the domi-nant litho process, Komori has more than 150 presses running with H-UV, Ryobi reckons that 80% of recent sales are presses with LED UV, Sakurai has customers running with LED UV. David Ryan has taken a UK customer to see one of these. “Jobs booked by 10am are delivered by 4pm,” he says. “There is only so much you can do with a litho press. LED is the saviour of conven-tional litho, allowing it to compete.”

THERE ARE FACTORS IN the Japanese market which make it ideal for UV: lack of space restricts the ability to operate presses with extended delivery systems; the demand is for very high quality print with no signs of scuffing or marking and no evidence of spray powder; print runs can be well below 1,000 copies; and crucially Japanese compa-nies have had to find ways to cut energy consumption following the earthquake which put the Fukushima nuclear power plant out of action.

This does not explain the increasing popularity in Europe or North America. In the latter area, adding UV is a way to expand

On the right WAVELENGTH

Ultra violet technology is

available to litho printers in many

guises. Is it the next big thing and does it really use huge

amounts of energy? Yes and no.

KBA’s HR_UV uses LED technology.

LITHO PRESSES


the range of services a printer has to offer, hence companies like AMS, Baldwin and Benford from the UK have produced retro-fit systems to upgrade existing presses. In Europe, Komori has had success in France, into Benelux and Scandinavia.

Ryobi has an installation in Switzerland where a five-colour press has replaced an SM74-5 in an otherwise all Heidelberg house. It is printing catalogues for watch companies with no spray powder. “Because of that it is a very clean machine,” says Apex Digital Graphics sales director Neil Handforth. “It has been in operation for 18 months and it remains in showroom condi-tion.” This aspect will have an impact on reducing maintenance costs as powder can find its way almost anywhere.

HEIDELBERG HAS NOTCHED SALES of B3 presses in Switzerland where they compete against digital printing says sheetfed sales manager Matt Rockley. This makes sense, he says. “I think that LE-UV is suited to lower volumes where a printer is producing fewer than 8-10 million impressions a year. There’s also a retro fit opportunity to fit to an SM74 operating on day shifts or to revive B3 in print on demand.”

However, Heidelberg has also sold LE-UV on much larger presses, including both CX 102 and XL 106 models. Müller Ditzen in Bremerhaven in northern Germany installed a five-colour plus coater CX 102 in October, the first in the region. “We can now offer our customers a broad range of surface finishing options such as high gloss, drip off and matt coatings and even a combination of matt/gloss effects in a single pass. The sheets are dry when they reach the delivery, which means we can process them straight

away,” explains CEO Ronald Huber. “This opens up a whole new range of applica-tions - and that applies to the substrates we can use, too. The LE UV offset press gives us even greater flexibility and ensures we can provide our customers with previously unimaginable results - taking in everything from commercial to PVC foil printing on absorbent and non absorbent materials and even on uncoated paper.”

ENERGY SAVINGS COMPARED TO IR and hot air drying are 60% he says, making the curing technology an environmentally friendly option as well.

But it is the versatility that explains the appeal of the technology and the interest that is being shown by UK printers. Komori has sold three H-UV presses in the UK. Platinum Press in Harrogate will be the second with an LS294 arriving this week to replace a seven-year-old press.

Managing director Mark Plummer says: “We are short run, fast turnaround print-ers with a lot of customers wanting to use uncoated papers, and they do not dry as quickly as coated papers. We believe we will get 50% more production from this press than our seven year old machine. And there is going to be big savings in terms of energy, there’s no need to drive or clean an anilox roller. We will be making savings from the energy alone.”

ONE OF THE OBSTACLES to more rapid adoption has been the cost and supply of the consumables. Inks are considerably more expensive and Toyo has been the only provider until recently. Huber, Flint, INX and Heidelberg are now able to supply inks suitable for the new generation UVs, Toyo will be producing ink in Europe from the

Platinum’s Mark Plummer: H-UV suits short runs and uncoated.

Apex Digital Graphics’ Neil Handforth: close to an LED sale.

Heidelberg’s Matt Rockley: will be transparent about LE-UV.



Arets factory in Belgium that it bought last year.

Apex too is getting strong interest and like Sakurai is close to a UK order says Handforth. Apex will have a demonstration machine in its Hemel Hempstead show room this year. “The fact that other ink manu-facturers are coming on board is breeding confidence,” he explains. “We have been through a deep recession over the last four or five years and there are a lot of printers who might have made a purchase but haven’t done so, so there is a latent demand. People are starting to look to invest, but they don’t wan to replace like for like. And those four or five years match the period where LED has developed. We are confident that LED has come of age.”

FOR STEVE TURNER, sheetfed sales director at Komori UK, the same argument applies. “People are moving away from the long perfecter even if make ready times are

not much different from a straight press. Print runs are becoming shorter, there are no ceramic jackets to handle to prevent marking on the reverse of the sheet and you achieve super high quality with H-UV.”

THE COST OF THE TECHNOLOGY remains an issue. Certainly the LED systems are considerably more than a standard UV system. However there are advantages. In six years of use, Ryobi has never had to replace a failed diode, says Handforth. Prices should fall as use rises, and not just from the print-ing industry. Yolé Developpement, a French research organisation, predicts the market for LED UV will grow five fold between 2012 and 2017, a rate at which cost will fall as take up increases.

The energy levels have risen consider-ably. The first Ryobis were restricted to four-colour printing on a limited range of materials. Today there is no such restriction.

The tuned UV lamps, so called because

More ways to future proof your businessTHERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS FOR THE COMMERCIAL printer looking to find security for the years ahead. For some the investment will in digital technology, for others in wide format. However there are still viable choices in the traditional litho arena, not only by adopting new generation UV technologies.

The latest offset presses include closed loop colour control so that a properly calibrated and maintained press can be trusted to stay within the colour set; asynchronous plate changing means that all plates can be lifted and new ones loaded in little more than a minute; with an extra set of print units, it is possible to run non stop as KBA demonstrated at Drupa, as a number of Goss web customers do in the US and as book printers using Timsons ZMR press can do.

There are other options on format. On the one hand printers can make savings from choosing SRA1 presses (or SRA2 for that matter) rather than B1 and B2 machines. Ryobi and Sakurai both offer 920 format machines, though the German manufacturers do not. For those sticking to A4 formats, this approach offers capital savings and lower running costs.

In the other direction there is the concept of ganging multiple jobs on a sheet, “so a VLF press can be like eight B3 presses running in tandem” according to Heidelberg UK national sales manager Paul Chamberlain.

IN GERMANY SOME OF THE BIG WEB TO PRINT operations are doing just this with Speedmaster 162 perfecters churning out sheets with dozens of jobs to view. Nobody in the UK has taken this route. Indeed the only SM 162 is in the very traditional world of book printing.

There are more options with digital printing, not least with the arrival of B2 format digital presses. The Indigo 10000 is joined by inkjet machines from Screen, Fuji and from Drupa by Komori and Konica Minolta who have shared development on a B2 inkjet press.

“The IS 29 will be available from the end of the year,” says Komori UK’s Steve Turner. “Digital print quality is now acceptable for most print jobs.”

Chris Matthews at Heidelberg UK agrees. “Quality in digital is now a given and is often comparable with offset in the eyes of many customers,” he says. The consequence has been that sales of B3 press have plunged, to the point that last year Heidelberg ceased production of the GTO.

However, B3 offset continues. Heidelberg has the SM52, the combined Ryobi MHI operation will still produce B3 presses and there are numerous Chinese B3 presses, most not comparable with western requirements.

THE HANS GRONHI RANGE IS UP TO SPEC and has a growing user base to demonstrate this. UK distributor is The Printers Superstore where Graham Moorby says: “The number of inquiries we have been receiving lately has gone crazy.” The Chinese presses have a reputation as a solidly built press, but have levels of refinement as well. “It has features that are not available on other presses,” he says. “The print quality that sells other presses also sells ours. At Ipex you will see presses printing at high speed with good turnaround times and very high quality.”

Moorby reckons that a lot of businesses have failed to keep up with technology, preferring to sit tight during recession to the point that they are now uncompetitive. “Many are happy to run what is a life style business and are not concerned about developing for the future. But even these owners should come to Ipex to see what is available.”

Alongside the Hans Gronhi machines, TPS is showing the B2 Shinohara at Ipex, as the technically advanced five colour plus coater press. This will go to an as yet unidentified customer after the show, proof that to guarantee a company’s future the only choice that is not sensible is to do nothing at all.

Ganging up jobs on a large format press is highly efficient.

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there is an element of iron added to the tube before it is sealed to produce light in the desired narrow band spectrum, do suffer from reduced life compared to standard UV lamps and care must be taken that the wave length does not move from that needed to trigger the photo initiators in the ink.

THE INK REQUIRES MORE careful handling, shutters on ducts may be required and if there are windows adjacent to the press, a film to filter out the UV component of day light will be needed. Ink pumping is also ruled out at present, though Tech-notrans and others are working on solutions.

However, the big drawback to the technol-ogy is the cost and whether the investment will ever pay for itself. Heidelberg will be staging a seminar on LE-UV during the Vision 2020 open house held at the end of March.

IT INTENDS TO LAY THE CARDS openly on the table, Rockley says, point-ing out the costs as well as the benefits. The saving in energy for example will not cover the increased costs of the ink, and while conceding the benefits in printing uncoated papers, he wonders how much of this work is printed.

“If someone is printing a lot of uncoated material, the balance might change espe-cially if a customer is willing to pay for fast delivery. But is a customer willing to pay for that,” he says. And there is the alternative

of standard UV which will provide the same range of benefits, albeit with the installation issues associated with extraction hoods and without the energy saving gain.

FOR ROCKLEY THE UK is such a price sensitive market that printers will not be able to carry the additional costs and compete against an XL75 fitted with Inpress and full automation. “Printers are printing on the XL75, coating, and putting the sheet back already,” he says. “We are trying to be totally honest.”

Andrew Pang, managing director of KBA UK, also wonders whether a printer committing himself to new generation UV is making the right long term decision: “Does accelerated drying suit your business, or is it another of the trends that comes and goes?

“People can achieve added value through different coating effects on a standard press. Our HR-UV just dries sheets faster than before. It is not going to change finish-ing processes that can provide the added value.

“We believe that a five-colour press with coater is as versatile a machine as a printer would want. It will still be viable in seven years and will be able to address more markets than UV printing.”

THERE IS NO DOUBT, HOWEVER, that there is huge interest in new generation UV technologies, particularly after articles in Print Business in September. “95% of our inquiries are about it,” says Turner. “The benefits are incredible. Here is a process that can dramatically change the way people print their products.” n

Ryobi was the first to bring LED to market, launching at Drupa 2008.

INKS


At first there was just Toyo. It developed H-UV with Komori, matching the photoinitiators in the ink to the wavelength that

the iron doped UV lamps could deliver. It also worked with Ryobi on the same process to match the UV wavelength produced by LEDs.

Other Japanese companies also produced inks sensitive to this part of the UV spec-trum, but have almost no presence outside Japan, leaving western companies to choose Toyo.

That lack of choice is ending. Huber introduced inks that have been endorsed by Komori last year and has also worked with Heidelberg on its LE-UV technology. Heidelberg has announced its own Saphira branded UV inks for LE-UV. And for LED there are inks from Flint, from Sun and INX and a great deal of understanding about LED UV and printing inks has been gained from narrow format printing where LED is supplanting conventional UV in label printing and from wide format where LED is doing the same on flatbed UV printing. The reasons are the same: LED emits less heat, making it suitable for heat sensitive substrates.

H-UV ALSO PRODUCES less heat than standard UV by restricting production of UV to a useful narrow bandwidth. With standard UV wavelengths outside that needed to trigger the cross linking reac-tion in the photoinitiators which traps the pigment against the substrate, create unwanted heat and so waste energy. H-UV controls this, hence less energy is needed to trigger the reaction in the UV sensitive inks that have been developed to match the spec-tral profile of the lamps.

That of tuned UV lamps unfortunately is not an exact match for LED, meaning that different inks are needed.

LED curing arrived at Drupa 2008, as a demonstration by Ryobi, dismissed as too limited in application because the power of the LED’s was too low at the time and cost too high. H-UV was presented at Ipex two years later as a technology for high quality printing, for printing on slow to dry materi-als and one with environmental advantages.

IT QUICKLY TOOK OFF IN JAPAN, leading others to ponder the technology. Heidelberg has followed the Komori route, developing LE-UV as low energy UV system, which it has installed in Japan and now into Europe. It too has worked with Huber, but is not saying if the range of Saphira consumables, including inks, coat-ings and the necessary blankets and rollers to run UV inks without glazing, has been produced by the Swiss ink maker.

There is no doubt that the explosion of interest in new generation UV has coincided with the availability of Huber’s ink. Stehlin Hostag’s Trevor Amps says: “From a very very slow start we are now seeing great interest from Switzerland, Benelux and

France in particular. We are an approved supplier to Komori, Heidelberg users have been running our inks from the very begin-ning and we have seen it grow across Europe. We are just surprised that there have been so few takers in the UK so far, though we are definitely getting more direct questions of the ‘What can I print that the guy down the road can’t?’ type.

“We have had more interest in the last three months than in the two previous years.”

It is not just a new market. Retrofit systems are appearing which can be fitted in place of a conventional UV fitting if using tuned UV lamps, or on a standard press if using LED.

FLINT HAS RECENTLY launched Ultra-king XCura LED, developed in collaboration with Air Motion Systems to work with its LED UV system. It has previously created inks for LED UV on narrow web presses, now sees huge potential in LED UV on sheetfed litho presses. Energy consumption is 40% less for drying than standard UV and LED has a greatly extended lamp life.

Business director UV sheetfed Jim Buchanan says: “There are long term cost advantages with UV LED compared to tradi-tional UV, and with energy curing’s instant drying offering faster turnaround of work, the door is open for conventional commer-cial printers to adopt this technology.

“Retrofitting of LED lamps is very easy, and takes less than a day, while the ROI on a five-unit plus coater B1 press can be under 12 months. This means Ultraking Xcura LED brings the perfect balance of press stability, cure speed and increased opportu-nities to the commercial print market.”

The ink is also being pitched at carton

LIGHT FANTASTIC

As press manufacturers come

on board UV inks are finally coming to the mainstream and with good reason.

INKS


At first there was just Toyo. It developed H-UV with Komori, matching the photoinitiators in the ink to the wavelength that

the iron doped UV lamps could deliver. It also worked with Ryobi on the same process to match the UV wavelength produced by LEDs.

Other Japanese companies also produced inks sensitive to this part of the UV spec-trum, but have almost no presence outside Japan, leaving western companies to choose Toyo.

That lack of choice is ending. Huber introduced inks that have been endorsed by Komori last year and has also worked with Heidelberg on its LE-UV technology. Heidelberg has announced its own Saphira branded UV inks for LE-UV. And for LED there are inks from Flint, from Sun and INX and a great deal of understanding about LED UV and printing inks has been gained from narrow format printing where LED is supplanting conventional UV in label printing and from wide format where LED is doing the same on flatbed UV printing. The reasons are the same: LED emits less heat, making it suitable for heat sensitive substrates.

H-UV ALSO PRODUCES less heat than standard UV by restricting production of UV to a useful narrow bandwidth. With standard UV wavelengths outside that needed to trigger the cross linking reac-tion in the photoinitiators which traps the pigment against the substrate, create unwanted heat and so waste energy. H-UV controls this, hence less energy is needed to trigger the reaction in the UV sensitive inks that have been developed to match the spec-tral profile of the lamps.

That of tuned UV lamps unfortunately is not an exact match for LED, meaning that different inks are needed.

LED curing arrived at Drupa 2008, as a demonstration by Ryobi, dismissed as too limited in application because the power of the LED’s was too low at the time and cost too high. H-UV was presented at Ipex two years later as a technology for high quality printing, for printing on slow to dry materi-als and one with environmental advantages.

IT QUICKLY TOOK OFF IN JAPAN, leading others to ponder the technology. Heidelberg has followed the Komori route, developing LE-UV as low energy UV system, which it has installed in Japan and now into Europe. It too has worked with Huber, but is not saying if the range of Saphira consumables, including inks, coat-ings and the necessary blankets and rollers to run UV inks without glazing, has been produced by the Swiss ink maker.

There is no doubt that the explosion of interest in new generation UV has coincided with the availability of Huber’s ink. Stehlin Hostag’s Trevor Amps says: “From a very very slow start we are now seeing great interest from Switzerland, Benelux and

France in particular. We are an approved supplier to Komori, Heidelberg users have been running our inks from the very begin-ning and we have seen it grow across Europe. We are just surprised that there have been so few takers in the UK so far, though we are definitely getting more direct questions of the ‘What can I print that the guy down the road can’t?’ type.

“We have had more interest in the last three months than in the two previous years.”

It is not just a new market. Retrofit systems are appearing which can be fitted in place of a conventional UV fitting if using tuned UV lamps, or on a standard press if using LED.

FLINT HAS RECENTLY launched Ultra-king XCura LED, developed in collaboration with Air Motion Systems to work with its LED UV system. It has previously created inks for LED UV on narrow web presses, now sees huge potential in LED UV on sheetfed litho presses. Energy consumption is 40% less for drying than standard UV and LED has a greatly extended lamp life.

Business director UV sheetfed Jim Buchanan says: “There are long term cost advantages with UV LED compared to tradi-tional UV, and with energy curing’s instant drying offering faster turnaround of work, the door is open for conventional commer-cial printers to adopt this technology.

“Retrofitting of LED lamps is very easy, and takes less than a day, while the ROI on a five-unit plus coater B1 press can be under 12 months. This means Ultraking Xcura LED brings the perfect balance of press stability, cure speed and increased opportu-nities to the commercial print market.”

The ink is also being pitched at carton

LIGHT FANTASTIC

As press manufacturers come

on board UV inks are finally coming to the mainstream and with good reason.

UV INKS


printers where Buchanan says the limited heat that LED produces does not dry out the board in the way that standard UV can do. The concentration of UV-A that LED creates is also ideal for deep curing, so miti-gating fears about migration if there has not been a full cure.

Air Motion Systems leaped on LED when it first appeared in 2008, introducing its tech-nology at Print09 and has been perfecting the technology since. “LED is an absolutely fantastic story,” says CEO Stephen Metcalf. “At that time the only market ready for it was Japan. Printers there don’t have the space for hot air drying units.”

TODAY AMS HAS FITTED presses from all the major manufacturers, both inter deck units and end of press systems where it can position the LED bar about 100mm above the sheet thanks to improvements in the power of LEDs.

The longevity of the diodes, around 20,000 hours (20 million sheets), is a further advantage. Doped UV lamps by contrast suffer a drop off in power after around 600 hours and will need monitoring before this. LED remains consistent as each diode can only produce light at a narrow wavelength. In an LED UV unit this is either 365mm or 395mm. The latter is less expensive and more readily available, though ink makers have greater scope in terms of consumables with a 365mm emitting diode.

MOST OF AMS’S ACTIVITY has been in the US. It has however installed an LED system on a Ryobi 784 at Adler Druck in Bavaria. The company has moved from being a heavy user of spray powder in an attempt to reduce standing times to one where it can work the sheets immediately.

This has given the company more time for sports it jokes. It reckons to get through 12 hours of work in seven hours. And there are no concerns about leaving ink in the ducts overnight, which had been a problem before.

Apart from fitting the LED bars into a press that had not been built to accommo-date any kind of UV drying, the only change was to a UV suitable roller.

Metcalf is even more bullish about ROI, claiming this is possible in six months. This is aided by availability of inks. INX, he says, has cut the premium on the LED inks so that the price is a match for its conventional UV inks. These are still priced well above a standard four colour set. A printer paying £3.50 a set can find himself paying a similar amount for a single can of ink.

THE COSTS OF THE DIODES has also dropped as increasing uses are found for them, from dentistry to ceramics. “We are 100% behind LED,” says Metcalf. “We still support UV technologies of all types but inquiries are running 10:1 in favour of LED and the results that printers are achieving are astonishing, with 45% gains in productivity not unusual.”

This is illustrated by a printer in Japan which runs a CD102 five colour. It prints brochures for Nike with heavy ink cover-age requiring the application of copious amounts of spray powder to have any hope of drying the sheet. “Now they have switched to LED curing, there is no spray powder, the work is cleaner and there is a 45% increase in productivity because the operators do not have to slow the press to cope with the job.

“And the printer can open new accounts because he can print on a wider range of substrates. This is a sea change of a process. This is the year when LED makes a name for itself.”

AMS is not the only convert to LED. Its German equivalent is IST-Metz which initially cold shouldered the technology as unable to offer the power and cost that the printing industry required. However as better LEDs have appeared, IST has stepped into the game and at Labelexpo offered a system which could switch between stand-ard UV lamps and LEDs for narrow web applications.

JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR of IST UK Simon Mitchell says: “IST development of LED has been underway for some time across all markets, in collaboration with ITL which has a range of small LED units.

“Between the two of us we are developing a more streamlined system for commercial print because that is where we want to be.”

IST has built its reputation in standard UV, working closely with Heidelberg and that continues with new generation UV technologies. The company will be part of the Vision 2020 open house for example. Heidelberg has already installed LED systems on presses in Japan, though this is not a generally available option.

FOR MITCHELL THE KEY advantages are around the lack of heat build up and the digital nature of the lamps, either on or off with no warm up period. It is also possible to operate just the number of lamps needed to cover the size of sheet being printed.

IST also sees potential in the retro fit market, converting existing UV installa-tions to LED or upgrading presses to work

UV INKS

IST continues to work with conventional UV lamps alongside LED.

INKS


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with doped mercury vapour lamps. “This is a way to step into LED in the future,” he explains. “We think that LED is going to become very affordable. At the moment it is twice the price of conventional UV, but LED is attracting the interest – 70% of the time we are talking LED UV.”

Baldwin, which owns the former Nordson UV plant in Slough as well as associated Primarc lamp manufacturer, is offering LED UV, supplying the systems to Sakurai which country manager David Ryan hopes to be able to demonstrate in the UK showroom once a brace of presses has been moved on.

THE BALDWIN SYSTEM claims a throw of 120mm above the sheet, showing that the use of LED need not involve compromises or changes to existing working practices.

Like AMS certain applications may require a more conventional lamp in the delivery and as David Ryan points out there can still be issues over coatings. Some have a tendency to yellow depending on the photo initiators used.

However, LED remains on the leading edge and while showing promise, doped mercury vapour systems are already in widespread operation as retro fit systems. UK company Benford UV is part of this development, offering its Ecocure system. It

will be showing this off at Ipex as a replace-ment option. The company has also fitted its Dual UV technology to a new Komori LSX 629 in Toronto as an alternative to the manu-facturer’s H-UV technology. The Dual UV system offers both conventional three lamp UV and tuned single lamp UV option when the printer is ready to make the shift.

The inter deck unit is running the Ecocure lamp at minimal power, just 2kW compared to 12kW normal expected on a lamp performing the same specification. “If we are replacing a set up at an existing UV printer they will still need inter deck lamps,” says Marc Boden, “but there is lots of capability and latitude to play with.” On a KBA retrofitted with the Ecocure system, the power consumed was 28 amps at 10,000sph, and just 2.6 amps when not in use. Start up was 30 seconds.

IPEX IS THE FIRST EXHIBITION for the company “but we are confident it will be good for us,” he adds. The Ecocure UV system it is showing in the Ipex Eco zone is a single lamp unit that can be retrofitted into almost any litho press. Most of Benford’s success to date has been in North America, the show it hopes will accelerate interest in the UK. Boden cautions, however, that printers need to understand that it is not just about the source of the UV energy, whether conventional lamps or LEDs.

The ink and lamp supplier need to be integrated. It is why Apex Digital Graphics will run the same Toyo inks on demonstra-tions in Hemel Hempstead as it shows in Japan. As Boden says: “It is all about the ink.” 2

LED was a key topic at the IST open house last year.

INKS


High Sensitivity UV InksSuitable for papers, plastics, foils, absorbent & non absorbent stocks.Full product range available including Metallics, Pantones, Fluorescents & Opaque White.

Market leaders in latest UV technology, call us for more information.T: 0115 986 0477 E: [email protected] www.stehlin.co.uk

with doped mercury vapour lamps. “This is a way to step into LED in the future,” he explains. “We think that LED is going to become very affordable. At the moment it is twice the price of conventional UV, but LED is attracting the interest – 70% of the time we are talking LED UV.”

Baldwin, which owns the former Nordson UV plant in Slough as well as associated Primarc lamp manufacturer, is offering LED UV, supplying the systems to Sakurai which country manager David Ryan hopes to be able to demonstrate in the UK showroom once a brace of presses has been moved on.

THE BALDWIN SYSTEM claims a throw of 120mm above the sheet, showing that the use of LED need not involve compromises or changes to existing working practices.

Like AMS certain applications may require a more conventional lamp in the delivery and as David Ryan points out there can still be issues over coatings. Some have a tendency to yellow depending on the photo initiators used.

However, LED remains on the leading edge and while showing promise, doped mercury vapour systems are already in widespread operation as retro fit systems. UK company Benford UV is part of this development, offering its Ecocure system. It

will be showing this off at Ipex as a replace-ment option. The company has also fitted its Dual UV technology to a new Komori LSX 629 in Toronto as an alternative to the manu-facturer’s H-UV technology. The Dual UV system offers both conventional three lamp UV and tuned single lamp UV option when the printer is ready to make the shift.

The inter deck unit is running the Ecocure lamp at minimal power, just 2kW compared to 12kW normal expected on a lamp performing the same specification. “If we are replacing a set up at an existing UV printer they will still need inter deck lamps,” says Marc Boden, “but there is lots of capability and latitude to play with.” On a KBA retrofitted with the Ecocure system, the power consumed was 28 amps at 10,000sph, and just 2.6 amps when not in use. Start up was 30 seconds.

IPEX IS THE FIRST EXHIBITION for the company “but we are confident it will be good for us,” he adds. The Ecocure UV system it is showing in the Ipex Eco zone is a single lamp unit that can be retrofitted into almost any litho press. Most of Benford’s success to date has been in North America, the show it hopes will accelerate interest in the UK. Boden cautions, however, that printers need to understand that it is not just about the source of the UV energy, whether conventional lamps or LEDs.

The ink and lamp supplier need to be integrated. It is why Apex Digital Graphics will run the same Toyo inks on demonstra-tions in Hemel Hempstead as it shows in Japan. As Boden says: “It is all about the ink.” 2

LED was a key topic at the IST open house last year.

LOW MIGRATION INKS


Packaging is long held as the sector for printers to move into as traditional publishing and adver-tising led markets decline. Press

manufacturers too have spotted that pack-aging is resilient both to digital substitution (websites do not wrap breakfast cereal well) and to quantity erosion.

Indeed with demographics in the mature economies creating more single-person households, there is a linked demand for smaller pack sizes of convenience foods. Good news for print. And the statistics bear this up. While conventional print volumes are declining at a steady 5% a year, packag-ing volumes are at worst steady.

DIGITAL PRESS PROVIDERS have equally latched on to the opportunities in packaging as has Landa, with the first UK beta site at the end of this year due to be a carton printing company.

However, the transition is not necessarily so simple, especially for those contemplat-ing printing for the burgeoning artisanal food sector for a host of issues need to be taken into consideration, not least the risk of contamination of food by chemicals in the ink. Sensitivity on the issue surfaced in 2005 with the discovery of ITX, a photo initiator used in UV inks, in milk substitute in Italy. Nobody knew whether the product was harmful, only that it should not have been there.

ITX is no longer used and Reach (Regis-tration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of Chemicals) regulations ensure that all components used to produce printing ink in the EU are known, understood and are not harmful in any way. After the ITX issue, regulatory bodies jumped into action. The

EC issued EC Regulation 2023/2006 (the Good Manufacturing Practices directive) to codify that there should be no transfer of materials in quantities that would be harmful to health or alter the nature of food. Barrier materials should be used to slow this migra-tion because only glass, metal and metal foils will prevent migration completely.

SWITZERLAND WENT FURTHER issuing what is known as the Swiss Ordi-nance, tightening the regulations another notch and now German authorities are preparing their own set of rules. The problem was not whether the chemical was or was not harmful, but that nobody actu-ally knew because at that point there was no register. Consequently it was safer to ban its use.

Food contamination issues have not gone away. Tests in Germany last year found unwanted oils in advent calendars. The finger was immediately directed at the print-

ing inks used, but nothing was found; the card, especially recycled boards that might contain material using ordinary inks, came under suspicion but was exonerated.

Eventually the source was traced to the chocolate manufacturing process. In the UK the ‘Horsegate’ scandal last year shows how much damage can be done to a brand’s reputation and sales when supply chains are not secure and auditable. Retailers have responded by demanding more information about what goes into burgers and what goes into their packaging, insisting on action from all suppliers, including printers.

THE SOLUTION FOR PACKAGING printers is to use low migration inks, both conventionally dried and UV cured. And ideally, to satisfy brands completely, the press used for low migration work should be isolated to eliminate risks of contamina-tion from standard inks, fount solutions and blanket washes. Just in case.

The whole subject has been gaining momentum since the horse meat issues hit, leading to the staging of seminar by the British Coatings Federation at the end of last year. It was a sell out with an audience drawn from brands, ink makers, board suppliers, converters and contract packing companies. All need to understand their role in mitigat-ing the risks of contaminated packaging. It will almost certainly be followed by a similar event later this year.

TOM BOWTRELL, BCF CHIEF execu-tive, says: “We are looking at October this year. By that time we hope we will know more about the German regulations by then.” As presently drawn up Bowtrell says the German rules will make it impossible

The MIGRATIONSITUATIONThe ‘Horsegate’ scandal has alerted the public to the importance of how food is produced and brands are making sure that printed packaging stays clean.

Inks are in the frontline of low migration.

INKS


to make ink. “It’s simply not very practi-cal,” he says. “We would rather there was some pan-European regulation. Most of our members are pan-European and would not want to be making different products for different countries. We will be pushing for common regulation through EuPIA, the European federation we belong to.

“We called the first seminar to tackle the low migration myth. It’s not a myth that inks can migrate. The myth is that it’s out of control. If printers are choosing the right inks and brand owners are designing the right kind of packaging there will be no problem.”

THE PROBLEM COMES FROM the additional pressures on brands and retailers. There is pressure to select lighter weight packaging to be seen to be acting in the best interests of the environment and as a result choosing to reduce the size of cartons, while at the same time having to use space to promote the product contained and to carry an increasing amount of legally required information.

Through Reach every raw material used has to be registered, and that process has to be completed by 2018 even for the small-est producers where the danger is that the burden of paying for registration will force some producers from the market and reduce the pool of chemicals that an inkmaker has to select from.

THE INK INDUSTRY, which in the UK generates sales of £350 million a year, is ahead of the game in identifying the components it uses, Bowtrell explains, but this is a concern that might stifle innovation. “There are no toxic chemicals used in print-ing inks,” he says.

Where there might be a problem in

managing compounds used in inks could be from the digital press suppliers. Not all are members of EuPIA or the BCF and as their toners or inks may be produced outside the EU, they are not necessarily subject to the rules. Bowtrell would obviously like to see these companies taking an interest and joining the association. Any kind of contam-ination incident would be disastrous along the supply chain, regardless of whether the printing process was offset, flex or inkjet.

This is why he calls for a strong regulatory regime, while as head of a trade association also looks for a business friendly approach from government that adheres to consist-ent policies despite the democratic process acting against this. “If people are going to invest in manufacturing, they need a longer term view,” he says.

THAT FALLS UNDER THE BCF’S lobbying activities, both within the UK and the European Commission through EuPIA. The organisation is also a member of Two Sides as consumption of paper is of direct interest to his members. The seminar is likely to be repeated this year, such has been the feedback. “We should continue to educate the industry along the supply chain and we want to get to the converters and the contract packers so they can understand their role. Currently the focus is around best practice. It could easily become around legislation if the EU responds to the lobby-ing efforts. Then the use of low migration inks in food and other sensitive packaging will be proscribed by law and the penalties for succumbing to temptation of using lower cost inks might include jail terms.

The brand owners driving the best prac-

tice guidelines are well informed. It is not about penalising the printing industry, but as Bowtrell points out, it’s about commu-nication, “from the brand owner along the supply chain so that everyone understands what is required.”

Certainly there has been widespread take up of low migration inks. All the key ink manufacturers from Sun Chemical and Flint Ink to niche players like Classic Colours have an offering and will also provide advice to printers wishing to switch.

HUBER GOES A STEP FURTHER, issuing a written guarantee that the compo-nents in its MGA ink cannot migrate into the food. There are provisos that the press is used correctly and the material is as speci-fied, nevertheless the company is happy to produce its promise before the inks reach the press. Trevor Amps, UK technical manager for packaging at Stehlin Hostag, Huber’s UK arm, attended the BCF seminar and says: “It was loaded towards the top end of the supply chain with representatives from the brand owners and supermarkets and it was good to hear their perception. It was the first seminar I’ve been involved with the involvement of the front end.

“At Huber we believe we have what is the best stand alone system with the only written guarantee that provided the board is right and the press well maintained, we are 100% confident in our MGA branded formulation – even with UV, or wet UV where there has not be a full cure – that the constituent parts will not migrate.”

Those constituent parts can drive up the price of the ink, but with all carton print-ers being pushed towards the use of LM inks, there will be little change relative to other printers. As these inks do not dry by oxidation, a water based coating is essen-tial to provide the rub resistance needed in packaging that has to be packed, unloaded, placed on supermarket shelves before the customer selects it. The inks are also a little more viscous, none of which should pose problems for printers.

HOWEVER, THE NEED TO isolate production to avoid inadvertent contamina-tion when running a press that is set up to work with either standard or low migration inks, means that converters will prefer to keep one press for low migration work. The press needs to have a wash and post-wash blanket cleaning system to eliminate risk of wash up solution remaining on blankets and rollers to transfer to the substrate. The wash up solution must be kept away from the fount solution. Only approved lubricants

Presses for food packaging may need to be isolated from non LM components.

LOW MIGRATION INKS


can be used and any spray powder, needs to be food grade.

Huber has created a protocol to allow printers to carry out the process of moving from conventional inks to LM inks, what needs to be cleaned and in what sequence. This is backed up by case studies that show that the system works. It is in Huber’s inter-ests to do so: its guarantee holds for a well maintained press, and any lurking contami-nants would damage that guarantee and Huber’s reputation. “We know how to get the printer from A to B,” says Amps, “and that has become the basis for the protocol we have implemented. We trust the process as well as the product itself, and that is as important as the guarantee.”

IT CALLS FOR NOTING WHAT has been done at each step, making it both an essen-tial checklist and an audit that can be offered to brands and supermarkets for them to monitor that what they are buying has been correctly produced.

However, as low migration becomes more important, and perhaps enshrined in law, printers will be separating a press or even a plant for low migration production. Thus the new Heidelberg XL106 eight-colour headed for Benson’s Gateshead plant will be

dedicated to low migration printing. It is also configured to print and coat on the inside of the carton before the sheet is turned and the outside of the box printed.

There is increasing demand to do this, as space on the outside of a pack is reducing at the same time as legislation requires more information to be printed on the box. Print-ing on the inside of the carton is one way to square the separate pressures.

CUSTOMERS WILL ALSO REQUIRE full information about the products used in printing packaging in accordance with the Good Manufacturing Principles guidelines. And it is likely that they will seek to extend the use of low migration inks from food and toy packaging to other packaging. On labels for example, it might avoid the use of secondary packaging, both expensive and a waste that the consumer has to dispose of.

There will also need to be some move on toners and inkjet inks if digital packag-ing is to become the mainstream force its supporters believe. In principle the larger the molecules used, the less the ability to migrate and the fewer intermediaries used (such as a carrier oil) the better; the compo-sition of the pigments used should naturally be considered safe.

Issues may arise with the polymer that surrounds dry toner pigments or solvent used in liquid toners and inkjet inks. Poly-mers may remain after fusing, not all photo initiators in UV inkjet may be triggered.

It is important that the UV process is complete and that with liquid toner, as being used by HP Indigo and Océ for pack-aging presses. Dry toner, with its thicker layer, offers less opportunity for migration. Xeikon plays on this with the QA-1 toner using different pigments to ensure it is in line with food safety regulations.

REACH CONFORMITY WILL impose transparency on all suppliers, even if not manufacturing in the EU. If not, it will only take a scandal involving digitally produced packaging for brands and supermarkets and consumers to be scared away from the new opportunities that might come from digitally printed packaging.

The challenge is therefore to ensure that everything is in place to prevent a scandal breaking out with print at the centre of any storm.

The BCF has started the process of engaging with players along the supply chain. The second seminar in October may need to find a bigger room. n

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PLATES


The environment is due to return to the priority list of many corporate enterprises. FTSE quoted compa-nies must now report on their

carbon footprint alongside their financial performance while those in the public eye will be looking to tighten supply chains in the wake of the ‘Horsegate’ scandal.

It is good news for UK manufacturing as shorter supply chains mean that it is easier to monitor and control what is going on. It is going to put pressure on printers doing busi-ness with the larger companies to tighten up on compliance and to seek an advantage by moving ahead of the herd.

One increasingly popular way to do this is through adoption of a plate with better environmental performance. This generally means a process free or chemistry free plate, which means the on press developed plates from Kodak and Fujifilm or the water wash and gummed Azura plate from Agfa.

All three have been upgraded in the last year to improve operating latitude and to broaden their scope so that more printers are able to use them. Future oriented litho printers most certainly will be.

The key attraction at first, and still a major driver towards using these plates, is the lack of processor, the absence of chemical waste to dispose of and reduction in energy and water bills that follow.

This continues to hold true, even if plate imaging speeds remain below those of a more conventional thermal or violet plate. Nor is there any performance problem on press, though the relatively low contrast with the on press processed plates means that mistakes can occur.

This is not an issue for Agfa’s Azura TU as the non image areas are washed away before the plate is loaded on press.

The Azura TU was launched at the end of last year as a plate which extends the reach of the chemistry free plate up from the B2 sector to mainstream B1 printers, printing up to 150,000 impressions. It is not a plate for UV work, however, and carton printing will increase wear on the plate.

NEVERTHELESS THE PLATE is opening improved environmental performance to a much larger volume users. A new CX Clean Out Unit was introduced at Drupa and the two bath approach that this takes has meant a significant reduction in the amount of water that is used in the process. It uses 95% less water than processing a standard thermal plate would need.

Now the first bath removes the plate coating that has not been locked to the plate’s surface while the second bath removes any remaining residue. A constant trickle from the second bath to the first keeps it replen-ished and fresh. This reduces the amount of cleaning needed, to around once every three months for a printer using 30 000 sq m a year. It would also need 800 litres of gum, which may or may not need collecting.

The Azura TU scores on the key require-

ments of durability, throughput, image quality, ease of use and stability as well as sustainability reckons Agfa’s vice president prepress Dirk Debusscher. As average run lengths are falling, the plate is going to cover a greater part of the market by virtue of this alone. The durability is necessary he adds to compensate for the use of cheaper inks and papers as well as a decline in operator skills.

The high contrast is useful he adds because printers are looking to measure the plate to ensure that it conforms to process control requirements.

THERE IS ALMOST NO PENALTY in terms of imaging speed, perhaps running at 19 plates per hour from a 20pph plate-setter, a big step up from earlier versions where imaging speed could drop off steeply. This is achieved through reducing the size of the latex pearls which are melted to fuse the coating to the plate, which has a slightly altered surface thanks to improvements in the manufacturing process and the aim of achieving a strong lithographic performance on press.

Agfa was quick to move away from the on press processed plate, where the non image area of the plate is removed by action of the fount solution washing over the plate and the debris is carried away in the first sheets through the press. Aside from concerns that image does not offer a high enough contrast, there have been fears that debris would find its way into the fount system requir-ing that to be changed more frequently than with standard plates and needing additional filtration.

This is not the case says Technotrans UK managing director Peter Benton. “There were perhaps issues with the first generation plates causing a residue build up that meant

Shifting PLATES

That essential staple of litho has been the subject of different priorities over the

years. Now the environment is back on the plate agenda.

PLATES


The environment is due to return to the priority list of many corporate enterprises. FTSE quoted compa-nies must now report on their

carbon footprint alongside their financial performance while those in the public eye will be looking to tighten supply chains in the wake of the ‘Horsegate’ scandal.

It is good news for UK manufacturing as shorter supply chains mean that it is easier to monitor and control what is going on. It is going to put pressure on printers doing busi-ness with the larger companies to tighten up on compliance and to seek an advantage by moving ahead of the herd.

One increasingly popular way to do this is through adoption of a plate with better environmental performance. This generally means a process free or chemistry free plate, which means the on press developed plates from Kodak and Fujifilm or the water wash and gummed Azura plate from Agfa.

All three have been upgraded in the last year to improve operating latitude and to broaden their scope so that more printers are able to use them. Future oriented litho printers most certainly will be.

The key attraction at first, and still a major driver towards using these plates, is the lack of processor, the absence of chemical waste to dispose of and reduction in energy and water bills that follow.

This continues to hold true, even if plate imaging speeds remain below those of a more conventional thermal or violet plate. Nor is there any performance problem on press, though the relatively low contrast with the on press processed plates means that mistakes can occur.

This is not an issue for Agfa’s Azura TU as the non image areas are washed away before the plate is loaded on press.

The Azura TU was launched at the end of last year as a plate which extends the reach of the chemistry free plate up from the B2 sector to mainstream B1 printers, printing up to 150,000 impressions. It is not a plate for UV work, however, and carton printing will increase wear on the plate.

NEVERTHELESS THE PLATE is opening improved environmental performance to a much larger volume users. A new CX Clean Out Unit was introduced at Drupa and the two bath approach that this takes has meant a significant reduction in the amount of water that is used in the process. It uses 95% less water than processing a standard thermal plate would need.

Now the first bath removes the plate coating that has not been locked to the plate’s surface while the second bath removes any remaining residue. A constant trickle from the second bath to the first keeps it replen-ished and fresh. This reduces the amount of cleaning needed, to around once every three months for a printer using 30 000 sq m a year. It would also need 800 litres of gum, which may or may not need collecting.

The Azura TU scores on the key require-

ments of durability, throughput, image quality, ease of use and stability as well as sustainability reckons Agfa’s vice president prepress Dirk Debusscher. As average run lengths are falling, the plate is going to cover a greater part of the market by virtue of this alone. The durability is necessary he adds to compensate for the use of cheaper inks and papers as well as a decline in operator skills.

The high contrast is useful he adds because printers are looking to measure the plate to ensure that it conforms to process control requirements.

THERE IS ALMOST NO PENALTY in terms of imaging speed, perhaps running at 19 plates per hour from a 20pph plate-setter, a big step up from earlier versions where imaging speed could drop off steeply. This is achieved through reducing the size of the latex pearls which are melted to fuse the coating to the plate, which has a slightly altered surface thanks to improvements in the manufacturing process and the aim of achieving a strong lithographic performance on press.

Agfa was quick to move away from the on press processed plate, where the non image area of the plate is removed by action of the fount solution washing over the plate and the debris is carried away in the first sheets through the press. Aside from concerns that image does not offer a high enough contrast, there have been fears that debris would find its way into the fount system requir-ing that to be changed more frequently than with standard plates and needing additional filtration.

This is not the case says Technotrans UK managing director Peter Benton. “There were perhaps issues with the first generation plates causing a residue build up that meant

Shifting PLATES

That essential staple of litho has been the subject of different priorities over the

years. Now the environment is back on the plate agenda.

PLATES


extra filtration was needed, and we used to get a lot of calls about this. But this has not happened for a good while and we are not selling more filtration units,” he says.

This is inline with the plate manufacturers stating that the latest generation of plates, Pro-T3 for Fujifilm and Sonora for Kodak, can be used without compromise compared to a standard thermal plate. Sonora is one of the key technologies that Kodak is building its future upon. Brad Krutchen, president of Kodak’s graphics, entertainment and commercial films division, says: “Sonora is about eliminating the trade offs. It used to be environmental performance at the cost of other aspects. But no more.

“The use of Sonora plates will save 36 million gallons of water and half a million gallons of water this year and 100mW of energy used to operate processors as custom-ers switch from a processed to a process fee plate. Processs free is a major change.”

KODAK RECKONS THAT 60% of appli-cations are suitable for Sonora (there is also a newspaper version). “We see it as a mass market product,” he adds, “We are achieving run lengths well above 100,000 impressions. We really believe that process-less is ready for prime time.”

From launch until the end of last year Kodak had converted 400 users to Sonora, many from the previous Thermal Direct

plate. It is also a plate that has been produced in Leeds. Other plants are being made capable of producing it, Oesterode in Germany and then its China plants.

The third key player in this area is Fuji-film, which initially shipped the Pro-T3 plate from Japan, but is now manufactur-ing in the Tilburg factory in Holland, where wind power contributes to lowering the environmental impact.

This is the third generation of the on press processed plate and, like Kodak’s, is break-ing out of the ghetto of the environmentally committed and smaller format printers.

FUJIFILM ALSO PLAYS IN what it has dubbed ‘lo-chem’, delivering processing chemistry in a highly concentrated form to reduce delivery journeys and packaging. It means that it can offer a better ecological solution even when customers are not suited to the process free product, that is those with demanding applications in packaging. “It is not user dependent,” says Sean Lane, “It’s application dependent. Though as you rise through plate formats the demanding applications increase, but run lengths are decreasing and Pro-T is certainly capable of more than 100,000 impressions, so is more than capable of meeting the require-ments for most of what people produce and a number of larger volume printers have made the switch.”

Fuller Davies, which runs B1 Heidelberg and Manroland presses, is among them in line with its strategy of being environ-mentally friendly. Indeed the continuous improvement measures that are part of ISO 14001 is a key consideration for print-ers looking at their plate production for a greener solution.

“OTHER REASONS WILL BE that the company needs to invest in a new processor or that are upgrading the platesetter. Most are looking for the environmental benefits and advantages in not having a processor to clean out or chemicals to handle,” says Lane.

Fujifilm has the carbon data prepared for requests from commercial printers when they ask. Currently few do, though for newspapers it is a normal part of the communication process with customers. “It’s starting to filter down into mainstream printers,” he says. “They need to show they are responsible companies and understand the legislation, particularly if their customer base includes high profile corporations like the banks.”

Today these are the customers that need to be seen to be operating with a squeaky clean supply chain. Energy and retail are close behind to be followed as the grip of recession loosens, by any number of other print specifiers. n

Fujifilm plate production in Holland is aided by wind power.

vivid-online.com

Stand N3-C230& & &

find out at

BAPC CONFERENCE


NOBODY ACTUALLY SAID “For the print industry, Opportunity Knocks!” at any point during the BAPC annual conference, but despite the event having the theme ‘The best is yet to come’, its real message was that opportunity is knocking for those that want to hear it.

Unfortunately, to judge from the rela-tively sparse attendance, few in printing are listening.

From the opening presentation by Dennis Turner on the state of the UK economy through to stand up Marc Hogan who closed the day, opportunity, how to recog-nise it, how to take it and how to create it ran throughout.

From Canon there was news of an ROI generator for print; from Konica Minolta news of research that identifies where progressive printers should be operating; from Ipex and Inprint, news of exhibitions that will present technological opportuni-ties; from Lumejet, thoughts about where to look for business opportunities and from a panel discussion on marketing using the internet and social media, ideas for creating opportunities for printers.

ANY NUMBER OF OPPORTUNITIES would be wasted without the will and busi-ness conditions to exploit them and here former HSBC chief economist Dennis Turner offered welcome news. The UK economy had not suffered a double or triple dip recession; it had not even suffered an L shaped recession. The economy is growing, not as steeply as a Nike swoosh, but stead-ily. This is proven by growth in the housing market and the numbers of new car regis-trations. This was coming, said Turner, not from fleet purchases, but from private buyers who are feeling more confident about the financial outlook. Turner even praised chancellor George Osbourne for spend-ing policies that were working despite the rhetoric about savage cuts. “He may be said to be a failure, but his policies are actually working. He has failed in the promises he made: every time he delivered a forecast,

12 months later he’s had to explain why growth is lower than expected.” That causes a shortfall in tax receipts and an increase in borrowing which will continue to grow until 2018 at least.

The missing element is business confi-dence and he called on the chancellor to use his Budget to stimulate investment in the manufacturing sector. The economy needed to shift towards manufacturing and to exports of those manufactured goods, Turner commented in a joke-littered presen-tation that explained what has been called the dismal science in an unusually entertaining way. “The question that should be asked is not about recession, but why it has taken the economy four years to recover?” he added.

BUT THERE WERE SIGNALS that consumer confidence is returning. The Great British Public is likely to continue to eliminate personal debt, government will continue to reduce borrowing levels leaving exports and business investment to drive the economy. And he explained that invest-ment has been on hold since the start of the recession, leaving £750 billion in corporate coffers. “Companies haven’t spent money so there’s a backlog of investment that needs to be done,” he said. “That investment boom is about to take off.”

The future for the UK is not in trying to

compete on cost with China, but in being smarter and providing added value. Thus the country has a strong chemicals indus-try, not producing bulk chemicals through ICI, but in pharmaceuticals; the car indus-try is not about factories in Birmingham, but about building racing cars.

THE UK HAS A LONG TRADITION of entrepreneurial and development busi-nesses, Steve Lovatt, business development manager for Lumejet, the latest in this line. Lumejet has designed a way of focusing and using laser light to print, delivering unmatchable levels of quality. And it has come from the same tradition as the jet terrine engine, developed by three engineers working in Coventry.

And according to Lovatt this type of SME business provides a huge opportunity for similarly sized print businesses. “Larger print businesses do not have the agility that SMEs do. They can’t move as quickly,” he explained. He draws on 20 years’ experi-ence in digital print, doctors, consultancy and now Lumejet. At times printers have pushed to print more pages, when custom-ers have wanted fewer pages because this is the way technology pointed. Digital print has changed this.

The opportunity therefore comes from focus on agility and creativity, riding the

BAPC CONFERENCE SAYS OPPORTUNITY IS ABOUT TO KNOCK FOR PRINT

Former chief economist says that there is a backlog of investment that needs to be done and that investment boom is about to take off.

Former HSBC chief economist Dennis

Turner died of a heart attack days

after predicting that the UK economy is

on the turn.

BAPC CONFERENCE


www.apexdigital.co.uk 01442 235 236

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BAPC CONFERENCE


waves of change and not being afraid of competition. “When digital print came out the questions was ‘When will it be cheaper than litho?’ That’s the wrong question. It should be ‘What can I offer my customer using this or that technology that I can’t do conventionally?’”

He reminded the audience that people buy from people and their ideas. What is printed is not dictated by press manufac-turers, but by the users of their equipment. He suggested using Kickstarter, a crowed sourced funding mechanism to raise money to test a new venture. “In the modern age, this is where you plant the acorn of an idea that can grow into the oak.”

The internet and digital communications were picked up by the panel on social media

that followed. Laurence Knopf provided the experience in search engine optimisation to enable a business to be discovered via Google and other means.

Participation in Google+ can help as the search engine ranks its own social media service highly. However, the main thrust of questions for Knopf, Duplo UK manag-ing director Peter Jolly and David Packman director of Plucky Marketing, was Twitter and the way that this can raise the profile of a company that is aware that it should be about thought leadership rather than blatant selling.

Packman urged companies to control the company Twitter or Facebook account as damage inflicted by a careless posting can be considerable. The BAPC has drawn up a draft social media policy which is available to members. A large company could have a 150pp handbook setting out its rules for engagement with social media that staff have to abide by.

JOLLY POINTED OUT THE advantages of LinkedIn to identify the right person in an organisation able to make the crucial purchasing decision. A few emails later there is an invitation to meet and the traditional rigamarole of cold calling to talk to right person is pushed aside.

The conversation also covered the oppor-tunities offered by videos on YouTube to tell a story in a few minutes. Duplo uses video to demonstrate products with the benefit that

when customers come in for demonstra-tions they already understand what the key features of the machine are.

The exhibition remains the prime loca-tion for seeing machines and Ipex director Trevor Crawford feels that this opportunity is even more important in the digital age. For InPrint director Frazer Chesterman this is even more the case as the show he is organis-ing in Germany focuses on the new market of ‘industrial printing’, namely printing on non conventional surfaces, ranging from tiles to fabrics, car panels to 3D objects. As traditional graphic markets are in decline this is the opportunity. He charged through a presentation with a potpouri of slides to demonstrate how traditional structures are disintegrating, proving fatal to some, and

providing opportunities for others.Both Canon’s Andy Harris and Mark

Hinder from Konica Minolta described the research they had conducted into the plight of the SME printer and the conclusions drawn. For Harris the conclusions of the Insight research it had carried out among print buyers and which was published last year, has resulted in the ROI calculator. Printers can use this during a negotiation with a customer to demonstrate the effec-tiveness of print and the return on the investment spent as a result.

THE INSIGHT REPORT had found that 71% of buyers state print is at least or more effective than other media. However, the tools to prove this are lacking. “They want ways to measure ROI, but don’t feel they have the capacity or resources to do that,” he explained. “Around 10% of print and media buyers have a process for checking and measuring the ROI of what they buy.”

Currently Canon has drawn on widely available research to show the open rate and thus the return that buyers can expect from direct mail, point of sale campaigns and so on. It admits that this cannot capture data about every form of print, but trying to establish any kind of correlation in a simple to use way is a first.

Canon has made the calculator available as a download and has so far distributed it to around 200 printers, looking for feedback on its effectiveness and suggested changes.

Konica Minolta has covered much of the same ground, seeing print as an element in a marketing campaign. Its direction is to help printers work more closely with agency to identify when print becomes the most effective channel to use, while also helping printers understand what other services they might offer.

The full package will be revealed at Ipex, so delegates to the BAPC conference enjoyed a heads up about the key messages. “The biggest opportunities for print come from the SME market place,” said Hinder, echoing Lovatt from earlier in the day. Joining him was Charlotte Cummings, from agency Ice Blue Sky and who will also be speaking at Ipex. Her issues related to the use of data that has been gathered about

consumer behaviour. “It’s how can I extract value from that data without having to trans-fer it all into a CRM database over a long period of time,” she said. “How can you as printers help SMEs and agencies to solve some of these issues.”

AUTOMATION CAN BE USED to drive out repeated processes, hinting at directions that KM is heading to remove complexity from such processes. It is also about what Hinder called a community approach. Ice Blue Sky is already doing this with partner-ships across a number of services that can be offered. Unfortunately for her, printers have not been part of this. “The big gap has always been engaging with the print sector. Marketing people do not understand print as well as they should. For us that is start-ing to change, we are adapting into a more collaborative way of working and looking for printers to come in and suggest ideas and become part of a supply chain of services,” she said. “It’s not about formal arrange-ments, but about mutual value and benefit.”

In short the opportunities are there for those that want to adapt their way of working and way of thinking and so take advantage of these opportunities, or as Marc Hogan put it in his presentation about putting on a stand up show during the Edin-burgh festival contrary to all common sense and with no previous experience: “You have to say No to your inner editor, that voice that says you can’t do this.” n

Frazer Chesterman extols industrial printing; the delegates pay attention; the social media panel; Sidney Bobb’s introduction

PEOPLE IN PRINT

www.printbusinessmagazine.co.uk February 2014 33

Industry bodies strive to increase appeal to young peopleTHE INDUSTRY IS MAKING stronger than ever efforts to appeal to school leavers and students. The Print Futures Award scheme which provides grants up to £1,500 for young people working or studying in the print and graphics industry has received a boost by taking in support from the John Crosfield Foundation and St Bride Foundation.

The John Crosfield Foundation had helping young people as its core aim, so is aligned with the Print Futures Award, which is administered by the Printing Charity. Its chief executive Stephen Gilbert says: “The Print Futures Awards will acknowledge this funding, continuing the Crosfield name.

“St Bride Foundation will be this year’s judging venue, helping to promote its facilities to the new generation entering the UK printing, publishing and graphic arts sectors.” The closing date for entries, from students, apprentices and youngsters looking to fund educational or training related to printing, publishing or the graphic arts is 30 May.

Before then Ipex is staging a Youth Day on its final day, hoping to inspire school and higher education students to join the industry. A number of attractions will be organised with youth in mind and a competition organised with the prize of winning St Ives chief executive Pat Martell as mentor for a year. The day will

features presentations, workshops run by a combination of print gurus and recent students who have already made their mark in the printing industry. The day has received the endorsement of the BPIF and the Shine Awards, created to recognise creative talent in schools.

l MICHAEL JOHNSON has been promoted to production manager at POTTS PRINT (UK), one of five additions to its management team in order to devolve some decision making and improve efficiency at the Cramlington business. MICHAEL BLAKE, now purchasing manager; ANDREW JAMES, IT manager; PAUL MURPHY, quality systems manager and STEPHEN OATES, digital print manager have also taken up new roles at the start of the year. All have been in a supervisory capacity previously.The moves pave the way for expansion in the digital print side as the volume of personalised printing increases; with web to print coming during 2014.

l MARC OLIN has become chief operating officer of EFI after several months as its interim chief finance officer. DAVID REEDER fills this gap, allowing the former CEO of Printcafé and senior vice president in charge

of its productivity software group to become chief operating officer. This is a new role at EFI which is expanding both organically and through acquisition. It has been named as technology partner to Landa to provide the front end to its nanographic presses.

l PHIL HEAVER has retired from WILLIAM POLLARD & CO, Exeter, after 49 years with the same company. After reaching 66, he stayed on for a further year before deciding to step down for good. He joined the business in 1964 as as a trainee order clerk being paid £3 10s a week. While Heaver has spent his working life at the business, the business has itself been running for more than 230 years, making it one of the oldest print businesses in the UK.

l THOMAS POTZKAI has taken over from Jens Maul (right) as head of web press after

sales service at KBA. Potzkai will continue as head of the web press division in charge of project management while Maul will focus

on his own non printing business activities. Maul has been responsible for overhauling web press service since 2011.

l BHUPINDER BHARAT has joined M PARTNERS WIDE as sales and support specialist as the company expands its operation taking on Canon’s wide format ink

jets for the proofing sector. Bharat has perviously worked as support roles for Xeikon, Manroland and Agfa and more recently at OneVision. supporting its PDF workflows. On joining M Partners Wide, he says: “This is one area of the

print market that is still growing, with new companies continuing to enter the sector. Customers, however, are demanding more and more from their investments.”

l DAVID BOHN has joined INTEGRATION TECHNOLOGY as business development manager in the North American market as the UK company is expanding alongside strategic partner IST-Metz. At the same time PATRICK MCMANUS has become technical sales manager at ITL North America. The moves follow the decision last year for ITL and IST to join forces to expand sales of LED UV in the North American market.

Ipex is staging a Youth Day on the last day of the show in March.

STRAPLINE

34 February 2013 www.printbusinessmagazine.co.uk

l WARREN BOARD SALES has produced a presentation box to highlight the qualities of International Paper’s Artika boards which it sells in the UK. The box is made from 350gsm while a presentation booklet was printing on Artika 200gsm, adding a spot gloss varnish over a matt seal and then foil blocked in silver.

l FEDRIGONI customers and prospects have received a limited edition Woodstock Wonders notebook to mark an update of the Fedrigoni Woodstock range of coloured papers and boards. There are six new colours added to the range which was last updated in 2001. “It was long overdue a revival,” says the paper company. Woodstock is a range of pastel shades made from 80% pre consumer recycled waste and 20% FSC pulp. Details from Fedrigoni consultants or the Imaginative Papers Studio.

l ELLE DECORATION has again chosen Arctic Paper’s Munken Polar Rough for its biannual directory of country cottages across Europe. The 260pp publication was printed by uncoated paper specialist Westdale Press, Cardiff on its Speedmaster XL105.

l SAPPI EUROPE has won recognition from RISI for its packaging papers incorporating a mineral oil barrier, designed to prevent migration from inks and other coatings into food products. The product will allow the use of recycled fibres in secondary packaging applications. Sappi is making significant investments to ramp up production of its speciality packaging papers.

Cepi heads up Basta red tape campaignTHE CONFEDERATION OF European Paper Industries is spearheading a campaign for the EU to reduce red tape and support Europe’s manufacturing industry.

The ‘Basta!’ (Enough in Spanish) campaign wants to slice through red tape, wants to level the playing field against low wage, low tax regions, balance energy costs with these areas and include an industry competitiveness dimension to EU policies.

The campaign has created a website and has garnered support from paper makers around Europe. It wants to engage with other industries that are also perceived to be suffer-ing against competition from outside the EU.

Cepi director general Teresa Presas says: “The Basta! messages are meant for the current Commission and the next one. The campaign seeks to make the Industrial Renaissance more concrete.”

The campaign comes as the European paper industry is further whittled down in size as its markets continue to shrink. Since the new year, UPM has confirmed the closure of its 160,000tpa fine paper mill at Docelles in France. UPM explained it needed to adjust its graphic paper capacity and support operations to match the declining demand in Europe.

Stora Enso is planning to take 190,000tpa of coated mechanical papers out of commis-sion with the closure of a machine at the Veitsiluoto mill in Finland. This is equivalent to 2% of Europe’s coated mechanical papers capacity. The company blames weakening

demand for magazine papers in Europe.Stora Enso is also examining the future

of its LWC mill at Corbehem in France. It produces 330,000tpa and will either be sold or closed with the end of June reported to be the cut off date.

Cepi believes that recent statements from the European Commission indicate that a shift in policy is possible. It points to the 2030 Energy and Climate package which has an analysis of energy costs and was part of the European Industrial Renaissance Communication.

It says that while the reports are stuffed with reports and promises, the only concrete change is to the Environmental Trading System for carbon trading which would come into force in 2020 in order to achieve a CO2 reduction of 40% by 2030.

Cepi has welcomed the suggestion that subsidising bioenergy is having a negative effect on European wood markets.

Premier Paper plants treesTHE PREMIER PAPER GROUP has taken to the English countryside to plant trees as part of its Carbon Capture programme.

Customers of the paper merchant were invited to join staff at the the Prince William of Gloucester Barracks, home to the Royal Logistics Corps Territorial Army and a partner to the Woodland Trust which works with Premier Papers on the scheme.

“For every order placed, we can calculate the amount of CO2 generated in the produc-tion and delivery of the paper. Customers can then elect to capture the associated carbon and the amount is added as a sepa-rate item to their invoice,” says Premier’s environmental sales director Chris Stanyon.

This has involved planting native species on 160 hectares at several Woodland Trust projects.

On this occasion 65 customers joined staff from 16 regional offices at the site near Grantham. A hectare of freshly planted woodland will lock up 400 tonnes of CO2 the trust estimates.

Carbon specialist Dr Nick Atkinson says: “Premier Paper is leading the way, demonstrating its commitment to environ-mental responsibility and a tree planting event like this allows its customers to see for themselves and be a part of what they are supporting by participating in the Carbon Capture programme.”

PAPER NEWS

34 February 2013 www.printbusinessmagazine.co.uk

Cepi director general Teresa Presas says Basta messages are meant for the current Commission and the next one.

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