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April/May 2012

Digital Finishing Updates: Hardware and Software

p. 18

Growth Applications with Inkjet

p. 22

Understanding UV LEDs

p. 26

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APRIL/MAY 2012Volume 102 / Number 2

About the CoverTurn to page

18 to learn about recent

developments in digital finishing

solutions. Cover photo courtesy

of Esko. Cover design by

Keri Harper.

CONTENTS

FEATURES

18 Getting to the Cutting Edge Bill HartmanCheck out the latest updates to finishing tables and software for automated control of cutting, routing, and paper handling.

22 New Technology Applications to Grow Your Business in 2012 Harel IfharExplore what inkjets can do about addressing new markets and applications such as custom QR codes, variable data, and smaller print lots.

26 Pinning Inks with UV LEDs Paul Mills and Jennifer HeathcoteThis article discusses the science behind UV-LED pinning and curing.

30 A Look at Large-Format Pad Printing Julian JoffePad printing can make easy work of large-format applications, even when substrates are rough, undulating, or three-dimensional in nature.

COLUMNS

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES

12 The Power of Social Media for Printers Tim GreeneSee how printing companies take advantage of social-networking opportunities.

THE DIGITAL DIMENSION

14 Customization of Inkjet Head Technology Rick MandelLearn how advanced inkjet technology can benefit your operation.

DEPARTMENTS

4 NEWSWORTHY6 NEW PRODUCTS34 INDUSTRY UPDATE 36 SHOP TALK38 OPPORTUNITY EXCHANGE37 DISTRIBUTOR/DEALER DIRECTORY39 AD INDEX40 EDITORIAL INSIGHTS

SCREENPRINTING Online Communities

screenweb.com/news-trends/mesh-blogB

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ARTIST USES 3D PRINTING TO CREATE NEW WORKSDaniel Hilldrup, artist in residence at the London Metropolitan University, recently unveiled new artwork in a series titled “Fragments in Time.” Two pieces, Flux and Aquiform in Rest, were produced by Objet Ltd. on an Objet Connex 3D Printer, a system designed to print mul-tiple materials and properties in a single print run.

“Necessity being the mother of invention, I’m often influenced and motivated by technology, so I keep an ear to the ground for new technologies,” Hilldrup says. “It was the Objet Connex technology that inspired these pieces. For example, without the multi-material aspect it would not have been possible to print the Flux candelabra, and if I was to produce it via traditional methods—cast-ing it in a block of glass—it would be a very difficult thing to achieve, and there would be a loss of control over the final piece.”

Flux depicts black candle wax melting into the liquid base of a candelabra, captured, like a fossil, at a specific moment in time. The fluid wax was printed in Objet TangoBlackPlus, rubber-like material, which gives the element the appear-ance of melting into liquid, but it is in fact encased in a solid base of Objet Vero-Clear a transparent, rigid material. The removable candle holders were printed separately in Objet VeroBlack, a rigid, opaque, black material. Hilldrup finished the pieces by hand, polishing the surfaces to achieve desired clarity. Aquiform in Rest is a free-standing sink basin possessing a sculptural form. As its name suggests, it captures the motion of agitated water within a constrained volume. Printed in Objet clear transparent material, it has been finished with a two-pack polyurethane paint.

“My interest is the creation of functional sculpture and innovative object forms where there is an emphasis on the aesthetic and narrative of a piece, but not at the expense of usability. I wish to explore the boundaries between art and design by embracing digital tools, manufacturing technologies and through associated process pipelines and craft.”

NEWSWORTHYwww.screenweb.com

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SCREENPRINTING4

SCREENWEB POLL RESULTSWhat types of signage or graphics do you produce?

SPECIALTY (BACKLIT, FLOOR, ETC.) INDOOR

OUTDOOR

A COMBINATION OF INDOOR/OUTDOOR

20%

20%6%

54%

BRIPD-12046_1R.indd 1 3/14/12 1:36 PM

new products

screenprinting6

Automatic Garment Press

M&R (www.mrprint.com) recently added the Diamondback S to its line of automatic textile presses. Diamondback S fea-tures a servo index-drive system and is available in six- and eight-color models. It has a maximum image area of 16 x 18 in. (406 x 457 mm) and a maximum platen size of 18 x 22 in. (457 x 559 mm). Diamondback S can be ordered with an ad-ditional printhead over the unload station, and it is available in base and enhanced configurations. Both configurations feature pneumatically driven print carriages, microregistra-tion, calibrated squeegee-pressure adjustment, standard M&R three-point platen-leveling bracket with quick release, and rear stroke-length adjustment. The touchscreen display is mounted on an arm that swivels between the load and unload stations. M&R’s Revolver Print Program automatically operates individual printheads in programmed sequence and allows multiple flashing without losing a printing position. Enhanced Diamondback S models add pneumatic frame locks, pneumatic squeegee/floodbar locks, and pneumatic squeegee-pressure regulators.

Wide-Format Dye-Sub Printer

EFI (www.efi.com) has released the VUTEk TX3250r fabric printer, a XX-ft (3.2-m) system that images directly onto tex-tiles and transfer papers. The VUTEk TX3250r uses dye-sub-limation technology to decorate fabrics for soft signage and other applications. EFI says that printed images produced on the TX3250r can be washed, dried, and folded without leaving marks. The EFI VUTEk TX3250r supports print speeds up to 1800 sq ft/hr (167 sq m/hr) and four- and eight-color print modes.

Exposure UnitWorkhorse Products (www.workhorseproducts.com) re-cently unveiled its Luminator, an exposure unit the company

says is specially designed for start-up shops on a budget. The benchtop unit uses fluorescent UV bulbs and is compatible with direct emulsion or capillary films. It comes standard with a 16 x 20-in. (406 x 508-mm) pressure pad that’s engi-neered to ensure even contact between the film positive and screen. Optional upgrades include a vacuum frame, gas lifters, and more.

Direct-to-Garment Inkjet Printer

Brother’s (www.brother.com) new GraffiTee Series of direct-to-garment inkjet printers feature the ability to print CMYK and white ink, one-pass simultaneous printing for higher productivity, and imaging resolutions up to 1200 dpi. The GraffiTee Series consists of an initial lineup of three modular models: a CMYK-only printer, a CMYK with two white printheads, and a CMYK with four white printheads. Other features include a user interface without the need for RIP software, inks certified by Oeko-Tex Standard 100, and more. Brother says The new GraffiTee Series will replace the Brother GT-541, which will be discontinued.

RhinestonesStahls’ ID Direct (www.stahlsid.com) introduces HotFix Rhinestones and HotFix Rhinestuds, along with the necessary acces-sories to create new designs or add embellishments to existing garments. Rhine-stones can be used alone or applied to a heat-transfer or screen-printed design. Rhinestones are applied by heat press and are packaged

and sold in five-, 10-, and 50-gross bags. Seventeen colors and four sizes (10SS, 16SS, 20SS, and 30SS—crystal only) are available. Rhinestuds are made of metal and feature a flat surface similar to nail heads. They feature an adhesive back-ing and are applied with a heat press. Studs are available in 10- and 50-gross bags. Twenty colors and three sizes (3, 4, and

M&r

Workhorse products

Brother

Stahls’ iD Direct

april/may 2012 7

5 mm) are available. HotFix Rhinestones and Rhinestuds can be applied to cotton, polyester, and poly/cotton blends.

Printable CanvasSihl Digital Imaging (www.sihlusa.com) says its has devel-oped an economy matte inkjet canvas that combines maxi-mum ink loading and extremely fast dry-times to produce excellent print quality and color gamut designed for framed art or photo reproduction. Sihl 3579 Decor Brilliant Canvas is a 15-mil matte canvas with a 1:1 structure and a white coating formulated for quick drying when imaged with aqueous inkjet printers. Sihl supplies onboard print settings for printers from Epson, Canon, HP and others. Sihl Decor Brilliant Matte Canvas is availale in 40-ft (12-m) rolls and in widths of 24, 36, 42, 50, and 60 in. (610, 914, 1067, 1270, and 1524 mm). Each roll has a 2-in (51-mm) core.

Digital-Cutter MaterialImprintables Warehouse (www.imprintablesware house.com) debuted Spectra Eco-Film, a digital-cutter material that is free of PVC, made with polyurethane, and peeled hot. Eco-Film, which Imprintables Ware-house says will meet even high European environmen-tal standards, can be used on 100% cotton, 100% poly-ester, poly/cotton blends, and nylon and leather. It

is offered in 60 colors and comes in a 15-in.-wide (381-mm-wide) roll in lengths of 5, 10, 25, and 50 yd (4.6, 9, 23, and 45.8 m). According to Imprintables Warehouse, the pressure-sen-sitive film is perfect for use on all kinds of sports and work uniforms, spiritwear, fashionwear, and leisurewear.

Lettering/Numbering MaterialDal-Plus is one of the newest let-tering/numbering materials from Dalco Athletic (www.dalcoath letic.com). The company says that Dal-Plus has a look and feel similar to screen printing and features a matte finish, a soft hand, and a sticky back that makes it easy to position. Dal-Plus comes in 14 athletic colors, five metal-flake

colors, and neon pink and green. Stock letters, numbers, and mascots, are available. Stock fonts include plain block, antique block, full block, script, and more.

Dye-Sub FabricsFisher Textiles (www.fishertextiles.com) announces that it has replaced style GF 6640 Poly Linen with GF 6640 Poly Canvas (FR) in its line of grand-format fabrics for dye-sub and UV printing. GF 6640 Poly Canvas

(FR) is 8.4 oz/sq yd and 121 in. (3073 mm) wide. Fisher says the new GF 6640 is whiter than the original and an ounce heavier. It is flame retardant and passes NFPA 701. The base fabric is 100% polyester and is designed for a cotton, linen-like feel for home-furnishing applications, table covers, and more. Sample rolls are available.

Synthetic PaperHop-Syn XT synthetic paper from Hop Industries (www. www.hopindustries.com) is a white, opaque, synthetic, 10-mil paper designed for indoor and outdoor P-O-P displays. Hop-Syn says XT grade is a UV durable, extra tear-resistant substrate and notes that it is suitable for sewn-in banners, outdoor promotions, horticul-tural tags, pennants, and RFID-packaging applications. The company also reports that Hop-Syn XT features a high dyne level and is manufactured with additional whitening agents to improve its opacity and sheet brightness to 94%. It is available in roll widths of 4-63 in. (102-1600mm) and sheets from 8.5 x 11 to 60 x 72 in. (216 x 279 to 1524 x 1829 mm).

Software for DTG PrintingKornit Digital (www.kornit-digital.com) recently announced the release of its QuickP Breeze 2.0 program. The software was developed to improve hand-feel and the control of ink consumption. Color management is supported by ICC profiles and provides image previews for CMYK, white, and highlight layers. QuickP Breeze 2.0 features Web-to-print capabilities and is pre-integrated with self-service touchscreen applica-tions that provide the ability to customize T-shirts.

Imprintables Warehouse

Dalco Athletic

Fisher Textiles

Hop Industries

new products

screenprinting8

Wide-Format UV Inkjet Printer

Polytype (www.polytype.com) bills its new Virtu Quantum as a ground-breaking wide-format inkjet printer that prom-ises a blend of quality and speed previously unavailable. The system is available in widths of 8.2 and 11.5 ft (2.5 and 3.5 m) and features 10-pl printheads, imaging resolutions up to 1400 dpi, and print speeds up to 3229 sq ft/hr (300 sq m/hr) in production mode and 1614.5-1937.5 sq ft/hr (150-180 sq m/hr) in photographic mode. Polytype says the Quantum series will allow even more depth and color gamut for the accurate reproduction of typically difficult images, such as skin tones and sought-after brand shades, at productivity speeds.

Media for Indoor/Outdoor Graphics

Value Vinyls (www.valuevinyls.com) recently rolled out Rio 8 oz. Mesh Deluxe for use with UV or solvent printing systems. According to Value Vinyls, Rio 8 oz. Mesh Deluxe is well suited for indoor or outdoor long-term applications such as building wraps and street banners. It meets NFPA-701 FR test standards for indoor use or where additional fire-code jurisdiction is required. The company also notes that Rio 8 oz. Mesh Deluxe is engineered with high-strength yarns that provide approximately 35% openness for extreme durability against vigorous winds. Rio 8 oz. Mesh Deluxe is available in widths of 126 and 196 in. (3200 and 4978 mm).

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iPad App for Apparel DesignHirsch Int’l (www.hirschinternational.com) says the Pulse platform for the iPad allows customers to create their own shirt design on an iPad or PC/Mac for printing on Kornit direct-to-garment digital printers.

Users at a Pulse kiosk can choose a mannequin or garment, select a design, add text, see a preview, and finalize the order themselves. They also can use the camera on the iPad and put a photo on a T-shirt on the spot. According to Hirsch, the final file is created in high resolution with the proper machine parameters, and the garment is ready for printing in a matter of minutes. The iPad app is intended to facilitate a secondary point of sale for a store front or decorated apparel showroom, without needing an Internet connection or an ad-ditional salesperson, and there are no transaction fees.

Hirsch Int’l

Small-Format Screen PressInkcups Now (www.inkcup snow.com) recently unveiled the R160, a screen-printing machine the company says fills the void that has long existed in the specialty print-ing market. The R160 is a small-format, semiautomatic, one-color press that supports an imaging area up to 4.75 x 7.75 in. (121 x 197 mm). Inkcups Now says the R610 addresses the challenges of printing image sizes that fall between the traditional application ranges of screen- and pad-printing equipment. The press can be used to print neck labels, sleeves, pockets, accessories, insoles, bags, notebooks, puzzles, binders, mint tins and other garment and promotional applications. The press features six platens and a part detector designed to automatically prevent printing on an empty platen. It is equipped with a dual flash-cure unit.

u 11.8”x16.5” flatbed printing area. Compact machine footprint of 47”x38”.

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Mimaki_UJF3042HG_H_SP0412_Layout 1 3/7/12 2:14 PM Page 1

Inkcups Now

new products

screenprinting10

Wide-Format Flatbed UV Inkjet Printer

Inca Digital Printers (www.incadigital.com) announces pro-ductivity enhancements to the Inca Onset S20 wide-format UV inkjet printer, including a new 20-pass print mode and an increase in the speed of the existing 25-pass mode. The Inca Onset S20 now supports four print pass modes: 12, 16, 20, and 25 pass. Inca says the 20-pass mode offers a productivity increase of 26% compared to the 25-pass mode and notes that the 25-pass mode is 24% faster than before. The new modes

are available as a free software upgrade for existing Inca Onset S20 customers and will be included as standard on new machines. They are fully compatible with Colorgate Produc-tion Server and Caldera GrandRIP+. The Inca Onset S20 is capable of printing at speeds up to 3340 sq ft/hr (310 sq m/hr).

Vacuum PumpsAir Control Industries Ltd (www.aircontrolin dustries.com) intro-duces vacuum pumps that it says are ideal for screen-printing applications and offer operating benefits such as easy retrofit. The pumps are engineered for quiet operation and are driven by AC brushless motors. ACI explains that the brushless units ensure safe use in areas where solvents are present. The vacuum pumps are multi-stage units of cen-trifugal design with impellers mounted directly on the motor shaft. The impellers are sheet aluminum and are suitable for

inca Digital printers

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blowing and exhausting duties. ACI’s vacuum motors conform to BS5000 Class B standard insulation and are C.S.A. approved.

Pad-Printing PressPad Print Machinery of Vermont (www.padprintmachinery.com) introduces the EAZY90 pad printer, billed as an affordable system that offers high productivity, unbeatable reliability, easy setup, and operation. According to PPMOV, pneumatic operation guaran-tees excellent printing uniformity, and the 3.5-in. (90-mm) diameter sealed inking system enables color changes to be made quickly. The press’s control panel allows the operator to set speed, pickup and print strokes, continuous and/or single cycle, and more.

Flash-Cure UnitVastex Int’l (www.vastex.com) says its Air-Flash station is the screen-printing industry's first flash-cure unit equipped with adjustable heat shields on three sides of the enclosure, designed to improve edge-to-edge temperature uniformity for increased output and image quality. The heat shields work in concert with the unit's IR heater and forced-air system. According to Vastex, IR heat and forced air applied uniformly across the garment surface activate plastisol inks rapidly and evenly, while cooling nylon, polyester, and other heat-sensitive fabrics. Three Air-Flash models are offered. An optional Auto-Flash upgrade rotates the head into place above the platen with the touch of a foot pedal and automatically rotates the head away from the platen after a user-adjustable dwell time has elapsed.

Printer-Monitoring SystemMutoh America (www.mutoh.com) recently added the ValueJet Status Monitor (VSM) to its product portfolio. The company says VSM is a sophisti-cated software application, offered free to Mutoh customers, that is used to monitor the health and status of Mutoh ValueJet printers, including monitor-ing ink levels, heater settings, firmware

updates, color output, and more. VSM includes an e-mail notification system to alert the operator to several pre-programmed messages, including printer status, low ink, media end, and more. Through internet access, the operator can check the status of the ink level and

heater temperatures from any PC on which VSM software is installed. The system is currently available on the VJ-1324, 1624, and 1608HS printers. Mutoh says new VSM-capable printers and a smart-phone remote-access app are in the works.

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES

Smaller companies are more likely to already be engaged in social media—a function of their fl ex-ibility and the low cost to leverage social media.

THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PRINTERSTim Greene

Tim Greene has been the director of InfoTrends’ Wide Format Printing Consulting Service since 2001. He is responsible for developing worldwide forecasts of the wide-format-printing market and conducting primary and secondary research. Greene holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Northeastern University. He can be reached at tim_greene@infotrends.com.

One of the guiding principles of InfoTrends research these days is the need for printing companies to evolve beyond print and the traditional ways of doing business. The markets have become too intensely competitive for printing organizations to remain successful by doing things the same way now as they did just a few short years ago. We’ve been using a diagram to help explain how we believe that industry players need to evolve along two axes.

On the vertical axis we have the operations-driven side, which can enable improved performance in a number of ways, providing higher production levels, improved quality, and greater levels of efficiency, perhaps addressing sustainability, and better customer service. Along the horizontal axis there is the innova-tive aspect wherein companies develop new ways to provide new services, build new products, find new customers, and even create new business models. In an ideal world, printing organiza-tions would continuously improve along both lines in parallel, but in the real world this is almost never possible. Due to the amount of time, effort, capital, and other resources every com-pany has, they have to decide which initiatives are going to make the biggest difference in their individual businesses (Figure 1).

No matter what types of initiatives print-service providers undertake, it is critical to communicate these improvements to clients, prospects, associates, and employees. Printing orga-nizations should not ignore the opportunities to communicate presented by social networking.

Why social networking?I’m not going to be one of those guys who goes on-and-on about how every printing company simply has to jump onto every tech-nological fad that comes along, but I will say this: The statistics that exist on the adoption of social media are simply amazing both in the volume of users and the velocity of their growth. There are three major social networking sites that have become the leaders at this point: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, so just consider some of the numbers on these three.

Facebook was founded in 2004 and is looking at a billion users worldwide. More than half of those users log in every day. Think about that—that is the equivalent of 1.3 times the entire population of the United States—every man, woman, and child—going to one Website every day.

Considering Twitter, more than 250 million Tweets are sent every day. In October 2009, LinkedIn announced that it had 50 million users. By April of 2011, just 18 months later, the company

surpassed 100 million users. In February 2012, less than one year later, LinkedIn announced it had surpassed 150 million users.

There are many other social-networking sites and I am not going to get into which ones are going to emerge, especially because it seems that increasingly they are connected. That is, a post to one can be published to others with the click of a button.

Are these people just killing time online? Not exactly. A recent study done by Performics involved surveying nearly 3,000 people that use social media. It concluded that 50% of us-ers actively seek purchase advice and 50% of users actively give advice on social networks. Sixty percent of users are somewhat likely or more likely to take action on product, service, or brand recommended by a social contact. There were 59% of users who follow a company or brand who are more likely to recom-mend that company or brand, and 58% are more likely to buy the products of that company themselves. Social networks are used by 53% at least “frequently” to provide feedback to a brand or retailer. As many as 53% of users state that companies should communicate using social networks at least once a week.

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

SCREENPRINTING12

OPERATIONS DRIVEN

Recently, InfoTrends surveyed printing companies in North America about their social media usage. Only about 37% of the printing companies surveyed indicated that they are using social media for business presently. However, another 34% indi-cated that they are thinking about it, which just shows that these companies recognize the importance of social media in today’s market. Our research also indicated that smaller companies are more likely to already have engaged social media, which we think is both a function of their flexibility and the low-cost to engage social media.

The survey respondents that were using social media were asked to specify their top three objectives to utilization. As the chart below illustrates, most of the effort is an exercise in busi-ness promotion or brand building, using new channels and tech-nologies to get the word out about their company (Figure 3). Respondents also indicated that social media serves the purpose of connecting with customers, while also attracting new ones.

Top objectives when using social mediaAs the chart shows though, the utilization of social media tends to be very outwardly focused for the most part. There is still a great opportunity to leverage social networks for internal functions such as identifying potential employees or applying knowledge from social networks in the business.

There is a great example of the latter going on in one of the LinkedIn groups I am in right now. A company posted asking if anyone else in the group knows of a manufacturer of a very specific substrate. They post that question on their group and get answers to their question from around the world over the next several days.

The messageThe message here is that social media represents a way for com-panies to communicate both internally and externally. The speed at which social networking messages can be delivered is nothing short of astonishing. Many printing organizations are using social networking sites as a business building tool, so if yours is not, you definitely want to develop a strategy for utilizing social me-dia that helps your company achieve its business goals.

business perspectives

Setting and meeting objectives with social mediaThe last finding there is critically important. Over half of those people using social media expect regular communications from the companies they engage. Regardless of company size or oper-ation type, strategy needs to accompany a print business’ venture into social media (Figure 2). Any social media strategy should consider all of the constituencies that organizations need to com-municate with and how a social media strategy can help improve operational efficiency and the innovation of the company.

For example: How do you communicate with these constituencies now and what level of effort or investment is required? Using social media effectively can help reduce these costs and facilitate faster communication. Remember, use of all of the social networks identified above does not cost money except in the time that you use to use these tools. That means telling your customers about the new capabilities you have using your new equipment is free, telling prospects about one of the cool projects you’ve done recently is free, and finding prospects and even potential employees using LinkedIn is free.

While it is free and easy to set up an account on any of these networks it is important to design some goals for both the objectives of your company and the deployment of communica-tions. Social media should be used to address specific issues at the strategic level. Different elements of your company should contribute to these efforts; sales and marketing, production, and administration all will have separate goals that should be factored in to your social media strategy.

With the idea that people want to hear from you on a weekly basis, here are some ideas for Tweets, Facebook posts, or LinkedIn group communications that can help you get started, but can also facilitate communication across the groups you need to reach.

• Ask/answer questions—get your customers and prospects interacting with you, answer frequently asked questions about your products or services,

• Advise prospects and customers on the best ways that customers use your services.

• Celebrate the completion of cool or interesting (and profitable) projects.

• Communicate regarding business conditions in emer-gency situations.

• Write about any new or interesting technologies.• Introduce and welcome new employees.• Celebrate business milestones and anniversaries.

FIGURE 3Business promotion/brand building

Connect with customersProspecting/lead generation

Provide news and informationCustomer service

Connect with local businessesObtain news and information

Connect with VendorsDon’t know

What are your company’s TOP THREE objectives when utilizing social media?

N= 71 Respondants currently using Social Media

Source: Software Investment Outlook, InfoTrends, 2009

april/may 2012 13

Rick Mandel

SCREENPRINTING14

THE DIGITAL DIMENSION

Rick Mandel is the owner and president of the Mandel Company in Milwaukee, WI. He also serves as CEO of the company’s Screentech Division, a 115-year-old graphics firm that specializes in large-format color separations for commercial printing companies, as well as digital produc-tion of large-format graphics. Mandel is a member of the SGIA and the Association of Screen Printing Sciences.

This month, Mandel looks at the future for inkjet printhead development in terms of technology and business-management trends.

CUSTOMIZATION OF INKJET HEAD TECHNOLOGY

The advancement of inkjet technology has taken the customization of graphics imagery to higher levels for large-format graphics. Increased speed, resolution, and software advancement for variable data have opened these doors to a multitude of marketing opportunities.

The next phase of development is the customization of the actual inkjet heads to optimize the manufacturing of specific applications. Printhead development leads to more throughput (faster), more up time (nozzles are staying open), pushing through the particular ink that makes large format special.

Piezo and thermal heads are the mainstays of the inkjet printhead world for the drop-on-demand market. The fine tuning of thermal heads resulted in an explosion in the consumer markets for desktop inkjet printers during the last 20 years, and it continues to this day. Continuous tone appearance can be had for under $100 in desktop units for use at home. This is quite an amazing occurrence, when our clients have first-hand experience in our digital print prod-uct, albeit in a non-production desktop device. Any way you look at it, print clients know what looks good.

Thermal printheadsThermal heads, as the name suggests, use heat to create the droplet. Used by manufacturers such as Canon and HP (not Epson), this method is commonly referred to as bubble jet. In a thermal inkjet printer, small resistors create heat. The heat vaporizes ink to create the bubble. As the bubble grows, some of the ink is pushed out of a nozzle onto the substrate. When the bubble pops (collapses), a vacuum is created, pull-ing more ink into the printhead from the cartridge.

A typical bubble jet printhead has 300 or 600 tiny noz-zles, and all of them can fire droplets simultaneously. The inks used are usually water-based (aqueous) and use either pigments or dyes as the colorant. Latex ink is in the aqueous category. The inks used must have a volatile component to form the vapor bubble (water), otherwise droplet ejection cannot occur.

The advantages of thermal inkjet technology include the potential for very small drop sizes and high nozzle density. High nozzle density leads to compact devices, lower printhead cost and the potential for high native print resolu-tion. The disadvantages of the technology are primarily

related to fluid limitations. Not only does the ink have to contain a material that can be vaporized (usually an aqueous or part-aqueous solution), but it must withstand the effects of ultra-high temperatures. Because no special materials are required, the printhead is generally cheaper to produce than in other inkjet technologies.

Relating to cleaning and clearing the head, the thermal head can use significant force to create a spurt to keep the head open. The piezo head does not clear in this manner.

Piezoelectric, patented by Epson, uses piezo crys-tals. A crystal is located at the back of the ink reservoir of each nozzle. The crystal receives a tiny electric charge that causes it to vibrate (resonate). When the crystal vibrates in-ward, it forces a tiny amount of ink out of the nozzle. When it vibrates out, it pulls more ink into the reservoir to replace the ink sprayed out. When nozzles refuse to fire, a techni-cian may ask you to increase the voltage to the particular color/head.

Piezoelectric inkjetPiezoelectric inkjet allows a wider variety of inks than ther-mal inkjet because there is no requirement for a volatile com-ponent, and no issue with kogation (buildup of ink residue). However, these printheads are more expensive to manufac-ture as a result of the use of piezoelectric material (usually PZT, lead zirconium titanate). UV and solvent inks tend to be the most common inks put through these heads. This electric charge is not enough to create that spurt alluded to earlier. With UV inks, UV lights are used to cure; therefore, care must be used to prevent ink curing inside the heads through reflec-tion off the substrate.

There are two types of inkjet printing systems: scan- and single-pass printing. In scan printing, the printhead carriage moves in the sub-scanning direction (laterally in re-spect to the print media), making several passes to complete the image printing process. Piezo and thermal heads are applicable for this process. In single-pass printing, the print-head carriage remains in a fixed position and completes image printing in a single pass while the print material is conveyed underneath. Because of their high-speed printing capability, single-pass printheads are the piezo version, and systems are actively in use in the field of industrial printing where high productivity is required.

april/may 2012 15

the digital dimension

Trends in inkjet headsWhere are the trends going with inkjet heads? Talking to insiders, the goal of the digital print or inkjet world is to encroach continuously on the analog markets of litho, flexo, and screen printing.

Ray Work, Ph.D., of Work Associ-ates, Inc., suggests that the ceramic tile industry will eventually be handled by digital printing. Inkjet printing is all but replacing the analog methods for deco-rating tile, and the return on investment with inkjet can be in just months, not years. The advancement is the relation-ship of inkjet heads and the inks to create a durable product. In essence, printheads can handle the specialized ink needed for ceramic printing.

Piezo heads can be, categorized as industrial inkjet heads. The cost at present is in the range of $1000 or more for each head. With arrays of heads in the hundreds, you can do the math to prove why some of the most robust presses cost more than hun-dreds of thousands of dollars.

Visually seeing the dots and noticeable banding are the elements that frustrate the digital print pro-ducer. Screen printing has crossed that bridge of resolution vs. produc-tion many times. As a solution to this issue, printheads are now able to vary the spot size within the jetting output, which fools the eye to simulate greater resolution, and hide banding. The result is the ability to keep speeds up, to give a continuous tone look, and to reduce banding.

Industrial printingLarge-format roll-to-roll and flat bed printing took off with the advance-ments of the piezo heads. The physical drop size of the Xaar 1001 heads are in the 6 to 42 picoliter range, which is more than visually acceptable within the event and POP categories that we now print. This head has a print swathe of 70.5 mm (approximately 2.8 inches), and fires at 5kHz. Therefore, this seems to position itself in the high resolu-tion, less production market for UV or

solvent inks. Whereas Xaar’s Electron head is focused in the wide-format indoor/outdoor market with a faster 6.5kHz firing, and a 70 pl drop size— more speed, larger drop, and specifies solvent ink only.

Chris Lynn, VP sales and marking of Xaar USA, expanded on the company’s perspective on inkjet printhead developments. Xaar believes that piezo has several inherent advan-tages over thermal inkjet for indus-trial strength imaging, she says. They believe the heads are more durable and have a longer MTBF (mean time before failure), with life times mea-sured in years and not weeks. They can impart more energy to a drop of ink, so larger drops and longer throw-distances are possible. And they can handle a greater variety of ink types and viscosities, making for a more flexible machine, which can handle a greater range of substrates.

Lynn continued saying that the crucial developments in printhead technology in recent years have been greyscale (variable drop size) print-heads, which Xaar calls XaarDOT, and the advent of side-shooter printheads in which the ink flows past each noz-zle orifice (Xaar’s TF technology). The Xaar 1001 uses both of these technolo-gies. The through-flow of ink across the back of the nozzles provides a number of benefits: easy printhead fill, increased reliability and self-recovery, minimal maintenance, and therefore reduced ink wastage through purg-ing. In addition, the internal design of the printhead for TF Technology facilitates easy cleaning and color/fluid changeover. The ink recirculation design allows the print head to self-prime and self-recover from jet-outs, leading to the high reliability needed for single-pass printing. It also allows inks with high solids (whites and me-tallics, for example) to be printed in a single pass.

Greyscale printing gives the high resolution and smooth tones of a small-drop print head while providing the high productivity of a large-drop

head. We have seen this optical illu-sion of variable dot size in the analog world of halftone printing. Many will remember second order stochastic dot patterns in color separations.

Lynn continued, “Xaar expects the market to continue to demand low-price, low-volume wide-format printers, as well as high-productivity machines with an attractive total cost of ownership.” The first category will be mainly thermal inkjet technology with water-based inks, and the second will be ever-faster piezo technology with UV-curable inks.

Konica Minolta’s view is their piezo inkjet heads are able to handle a wide range of inks to meet the requirements of various industrial applications. Their principle of “shear mode piezo actuation” with shared wall structure allows lower power consumption as well as a high-density nozzle array. On-demand dot size modulation, sometimes referred to as grey-scale mode, enables the printing of high quality images and functions to increase productivity. All the develop-ment work is based on advanced com-puter simulation techniques that can precisely predict the droplet formation process resulting from differential ink characteristics.

The KJ4A Series technology by Kyocera, is designed for UV inks and other inks with high viscosity. The unique technology powering Kyocera’s piezoelectric actuator enables 600dpi x 600dpi image quality with up to five levels of grayscale (visually 1,200dpi) by controlling drop size.

Variable Size Droplet Tech-nology (VSDT) is the description of Epson’s Micro Piezo printhead technology to eject ink droplets of different sizes by varying the electrical charge given to the piezoelectric ele-ments. This enables Epson’s printers to achieve variable sized ink droplets as small as 1.5 picoliters. The trend for greyscale/variable dot technology is also a mainstay for Epson.

FujiFilm’s recently released that the Dimatix heads also show diversity

screenprinting16

for applications. Variable drop sizes as-sist in simulating higher resolutions. Q Class Polaris of Dimatix heads has the ability to jet two colors simultaneously with picoliter drop size of 15 to 200.

“Polaris supports aqueous ink formulations in addition to UV-cur-able, and aggressive organic solvents, making it suitable for a growing range of commercial and industrial print-ing applications,” the company said. Dimatix has touted their variable dot technology with VersaDrop. The Spec-tra line has the VersaDrop technology and repairable advantages, while the Performa line is used in single-pass applications.

As an example of producing heads that advance specific industries, FujiFilm/Dimatix created the Inspira product for larger particle size applica-tions, such as direct-to-screen devices, ceramic printing, and textiles. Samba technology also incorporates VersaDot with native 1200 dpi resolution for single-pass applications.

Inkjet head advancements are creating more opportunities within the industries that are more related to litho and flexo, in the manner that affected the screen process a number of years ago. These are the collateral, label industries, and electronic boards. As for wide-format printing, the ther-mal heads are pushing its way back on the radar screen with the advent of latex inks.

Technology leapsVince Cahill, President of VCE Solu-tions, has a great feel for the jumps in technology within the industrial inkjet sectors. He mentioned many industries taking advantage of the improvements, especially textile and label arenas, as well as 3D prototype applications. Cahill suggests that the speed advances are assisted by single-pass technology and the large array of heads.

The resultant speed is achieved by adding multiple heads in synchrony to create arrays of heads. For ex-ample, the HP TJ8600 has 150 heads

the digital dimension

to produce over 5000 square feet per hour of production with a 42 picoliter drop size. While the Inca Onset S70 is designed to perform at more than 6000 square feet per hour with 576 Dimatix heads (128 nozzles per head, therefore a whopping 73,728 nozzles that fire). The Vutek’s GS3250 press uses a 24 picoliter drop, and a speed of over 2400 square feet per hour.

HP introduced their latex printer a number of years ago and has con-tinued to refine the ink formulation to create the required durable product for POP and outdoor imagery.

“It is the position of HP (Scitex wide format) that the utilization of both piezo and thermal technologies has its place,” says Tomas Martin, Scitex worldwide segment manager, large-format production, HP. Martin said that both technologies have a specific application for usage in large-format printers. The thermal heads fit high quality/high resolution printing with the dye/water-based inks, and stretch to added durability and medium volume printing with the latex technology within the water-based sector. Replacement thermal heads are said to be easily snapped into posi-tion by the print operator, though the piezo heads require a service visit for replacements.

In the HP products (and others), piezo is used for fast speed/longer run applications. The UV and solvent systems cannot print through thermal heads; therefore piezo must be used. HP makes their own heads, and focus-es their technology for specific print applications. The thermal inkjet print-head for the latex printer contains two colors within one head; therefore three heads are required. The cost for a replacement head would be in the $600 ($1800 for a full complement) range, while the piezo head can run higher than $3000 ($18,000 to replace all six).

Technology keeps on jumping for inkjet heads as Konica Minolta announced recently that it has suc-

cessfully developed a high-accuracy inkjet head capable of 1-picoliter drop size, the first for printed electronics applications. The new printhead uses the company’s proprietary MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) technologies for the first time.

This development does not affect the classic large-format digital print market, though it shows where the technology can go.

Ink advancementsMy quest to find advancements in inkjet head technologies kept swaying the focus to the ink. As Work reiter-ated, screen printers tend not to print with one ink system for all applica-tions and substrates, and we are asking inkjet to perform this minor miracle either, while going through a very small nozzle. Of all these trends, arguably the most important for adoption of inkjet technology, is increasing the range of jettable fluids.

As an example, in textile print-ing applications the use of sublimation dyes that volatilize at high tempera-ture to migrate and bond strongly to the textile fabric to produce a water-washable image are less than desir-able due to the ancillary heating and washing processes required. Using pig-mented textile inks can remove some of these process requirements. Other examples are printing of ceramic inks, direct printing of conductive patterns by using metallic nano-particles, and printing of 3D plastic structures.

As technology advances, real-ity steps in. Using smaller and more accurately placed drops, clever image processing/ manipulation, and greyscale techniques, inkjet has reached the limit of what the human eye can differentiate.

If vanity is the resolution (drop size) of the print, producing a quality product on time and on budget is the true beauty of large-format printing. This product must have the durability required with the visual attributes for the viewing distance intended. Sound familiar? Screen printing battled the

april/may 2012 17

the digital dimension

same issues with dot size for halftone printing. How do we produce a truck graphic that appears in continuous tone like litho printing? The race for fine-line printing was the vanity of screen printers. To produce such results, prepress costs rose, and the actual durability of the printed ink was in question with such small dots. Sounding more familiar? The new ink-jet printheads have incorporated the variable drop size in their architecture.

Large-format inkjet printing seems to be at that same crossroads, though learning from its senior sister. Jettable inks for large format possess the similar attributes of the screen process, namely durability and the need for intense colors. White (and now metallics) compound the issue with their large particle sizes that must go through these minute nozzles.

As with many processes, smaller re-quires advance engineering. As heads can produce smaller drops, the cost to manufacture such inks increase, as does the cost to manufacture the print heads. The smaller drop size opens markets for the equipment manufac-turers, though it has little affected to the wide-format printer, other than that insatiable vanity.

Cost controlOver the past number of years, the resolution of inkjet printers across all classes of productivity has been very good. The newer head technology for variable dot size within the print enhances the resolution. So, we can say that we are just fine with resolu-tion, and now the push is the ability to reduce the cost of operation. Fast is great, though up-time, maintenance

time and cost, ink cost, etc., are the next steps that the production houses have on the radar. As the drop sizes drop, the expense increases, and keep-ing those nozzles open is even tougher.

Cost of operation is being ad-dressed. Heads that can handle the different ink technologies without added problems is important. Speed and smaller drop sizes are targeted to encroach on other analog meth-ods—flexo, offset, and other industrial applications. Our large-format world lives and dies with up time, consis-tency, product durability, and ease of manufacturing. The more new head advances address cost of production, the more large-format digital printing will continue to thrive.

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SCREENPRINTING18

GETTING TO THE CUTTING EDGE

Getting the most out of digital finishing sometimes requires hardware and software decisions.

Bill HartmanEsko

FIGURE 1 Finishing tables are capable of feeding printed sheets and

picking up and stacking the finished pieces.

april/may 2012 19

As screen-printing companies explore and purchase digital roll-to-roll and flatbed inkjet printers, they are dis-covering that one other piece of hard-ware is needed to make their produc-tion operations truly efficient: a digital finishing table (Figure 1). Of course, by installing a flatbed printer, the chore of manually mounting artwork onto a substrate is avoided. Printing directly on foam boards, plastics, wood, and other materials has been made easy with digital printers. But, why rely on outsourcing or manually cutting materi-als by hand? If any graphics need to be cut in anything but a straight line, things get difficult very quickly.

At the most basic level of course, digital finishing systems are used for any printed graphics that are not complete at the final stage until they are cut, one way or another. P-O-P displays, decals, car wraps, and cling materials are just a few that are created from screen printing. Digital presses are tied to finishing systems for P-O-P, signs and displays, among others.

Even industrial or functional printed graphics can benefit from the use of a finishing system. A good example is overlays—control panels that require holes cut through them for switches and other devices.

Finishing tables are used on a wide range of materials, such as vinyl, paper, and cling material. Tables also cut rigid materials like PVC board or polystyrene, plexi, and wood. Most companies look for a cost-effective multipurpose cutting and routing ma-chine—one that can route, cut, crease and score on one machine. Through cuts, kiss cuts, and oscillating cuts are the most widespread.

You can’t do thatWhile extremely versatile, finishing tables are not a be-all end-all. There is a limit to the materials than can be used on them. Working with ceramics or glass can cause chipping, which is not surprising with a true knife and drilling technology. Lasers are a better choice for these substrates. It’s also difficult to mold metals into a shape. For example,

thicker, heavier aluminum sheets cannot be creased to make it easier to fold them. These are materials that are better left to specialists. More unusual work needs the help of others.

Cutting tables are also not help-ful for large volumes of work. While they are fine for a few thousand pieces, they are not going to cut 50,000 adhe-sive-backed vinyl decals. Keep that for diecutting. And, 3- to 5-m grand-format printed graphics for billboards and building wraps can be cut by inexpen-sive, XY-cut devices. However, if the artwork has any contours, there are some bigger challenges.

There are some industrial proj-ects that may not lend themselves to work on digital finishing tables. While tables are very accurate, there are no tolerances to cut holes into circuit boards with small holes for compo-nents. Here, a laser would be more helpful. As mentioned earlier, finishing tables are certainly appropriate for in-dustrial projects such as control panels.

What’s new with tables?Basic table technology is pretty mature for most applications. Speed is always being improved, in small increments, to try to keep up with the increased productivity of printers.

This leaves the challenge to finishing table vendors to think hard and introduce new and different tools. It’s not easy. Table manufacturers have implemented most of the finishing operations needed. There is a tool for just about anything, from cutting to routing. One of the more interesting new tools is a v-notch cutting tool, for miter cuts in thick materials such as triple wall corrugated and papercore boards (Figure 2).

Tables are also getting proficient at allowing the user to change tools. Changing a milling bit, for instance, can be done in seconds (including bit calibration). Many systems recognize the tool units automatically, through electronic identifiers.

No need to place and pick upWith the introduction of faster large-

format digital printers, there is a strong demand for a higher capacity automatic finishing solution for printed packaging and display materials. If table speeds are increasing in smaller increments, how do you deal with the workload? The real change in speed comes from automa-tion. Higher volume projects benefit from automated material handling.

Some of the more sophisticated machines offer the ability to automati-cally load, cut, unload, and neatly stack large printed sheets of paperboards, foam board and many other materials. Users can now offer their customers on-demand production with just-in time-delivery. The machines can run without the continuous supervision of an operator, thus saving considerable labor costs.

Getting a better look and cut at the graphicsSo where is the rest of the real im-provement in finishing tables? It’s in the supporting software applications and workflow automation.

Finishing mistakes are costly. It means that printed pieces—many times quite expensive—must be tossed away. How many times has a print shop had front to back misregistration? Or, how can it be assured that any misregistra-tion due to print or media registration is compensated for, when it gets to the cutting table? A good workflow will pro-vide coordination between the artwork and the printer and cutting tools. All of this is done with a coordinated commu-nication effort between what the printer prints and what the cutter cuts.

Vision control is necessary for digital finishing systems, because all printed materials contain some size, ro-tation and scaling distortions that can produce inaccurate digital die cutting, if not corrected—even more crucial with difficult, contour cuts. A good cut-ting table offers distortion compensa-tion enabling digital cutting systems to produce error free results.

Vision control systems seem to get better every year. A camera reads register marks on each individual im-age placed on the finishing system, for

SCREENPRINTING20

extremely accurate registration that compensates for local or overall distor-tion of the material, even handling non-linear distortions. Some systems even have the ability to register sheets with the print side facing down, most useful for processing corrugated board.

Where’s the bottleneck?While not completely germane to tables, we would be remiss without discussing workflow software. Print providers are seeing more and more files, requesting shorter and shorter runs, yet with quicker response. To stay profitable, you need to ‘feed the beast’ (the press or printer). Digital printers are becoming more productive. Where cutters used to be the bottleneck, it is often no longer the case. The next step will be prepress. A print provider must look at the big picture if they pur-chase a cutter solely for productivity. Often, after the installation, they find that the prepress software is now the bottleneck. Many shops are not always aware of dedicated workflow tools from design to print to cut, to reduce file preparation and operator time and eliminate waste.

Preflighting is the logical starting point for a true workflow. A good pre-flighting system will detect errors, gen-erate a professional report, and enable error fixing right within the PDF file.

Of course, if you are going to make cuts, you need to give instruc-

tions to the cutting table. Coordination of the cutting and graphics workflow is vital. If you don’t print a job right, you can’t cut it correctly. Making sure cut-ting instructions and registration marks are coordinated between the graphics and cutting instructions is paramount to producing jobs well. A print provider who can design to print to cut most effectively can complete jobs—some-times two to four times as many.

In the simplest form, a cutting path is generated in Adobe Illustrator. However, if the cutting system is more complex, you can do a lot more in the workflow. The biggest challenge is adding a cutting path if none is present or of poor quality. One thing that many people don’t think about is adding bleeds to the edges of the artwork. You don’t want the color of the substrate to show if there is any distortion in the print. And, you cannot expect your client to tile a job or prepare irregular shapes properly.

A good layout program will help save expensive substrate mate-rial costs, because it efficiently gangs artwork together to get the most use of each sheet and reduce waste. A good system can take rectangular shapes, irregular shapes, double sided jobs, and oversized jobs, and come up with the most cost efficient layout (Figure 3).In fact, nesting is often done in such a way that good-sized pieces of boards are saved to be used for future jobs.

Fewer boards are printed if artwork is placed on them efficiently.

Second, the software will work seamlessly with the vision control system on the finishing table, ensuring that even contour pieces placed off-kilter on a table are cut cleanly.

Add another dimensionThe real challenge is what is your busi-ness model? How do you make money? Are you involved in projects that encompass everything, from design to print to cut? Where do you meet your customer and offer value?

Much of the P-O-P/display indus-try sells its projects by the square foot. You print a job, perhaps make a square or rectangular cut, and sell it as a com-modity. However, the more complex a project becomes—the more a print provider meets the customer higher up in the value chain—the more value that can be added to the cost of a project. No longer are you selling by the square foot, but by the unit piece.

The challenge for a printer is not necessarily to broaden the range of substrates, but adding a dimension—the third dimension. Using a finishing table and the right software allows a screen or digital print provider the op-portunity to receive higher margins for project work.

A 3D display isn’t a few dollars a square foot, but perhaps $50 each. It’s the perfect opportunity to escape

FIGURE 2 (BELOW)New finishing table tools allow shops to construct projects eas-ier. The V-notch allows shops to fold thicker materials easier.

FIGURE 3 (RIGHT) Software plays a vital role in the finishing of sheets. The ability to nest graphics on a sheet saves material and time. Note that the cuts are contoured, rather than straight.

APRIL/MAY 2012 21

the cost per square foot pricing model (Figure 4).

The finishing table facilitates the transition but the owner’s creativity can bring higher margins. Installing a cut-ting device should just be a start. There is no talent required to cut straight lines, nor is that much talent needed to program contour cuts. The real chal-lenge is to be creative with the design of 3D projects.

What are some of the things you could produce? Just a few ideas are boxes, podiums, stands, chairs and tables. Start thinking about marketing communications and events and the materials that could be produced to support them. With a digital service, you can produce materials very quickly. Imagine an open house, kickoff meeting, or trade show. Instead of a flat wall sign, create something that stands with feet. How about boxes that contain hand-out materials from the event? You can build a podium from a paper core board product and add your logo. All you need is a start with structural templates, and then get into the design work.

Designing structure into 3D projectsFor 3D projects, there are typically

two types of design software: one for graphics (typically Adobe Illustrator), and one for structure. These design software solutions can significantly help sign and display shops do an ex-ceptional job creating structures for 3D displays. For starters, some solutions have created P-O-P display standards to their style catalogs. Users brows-ing a P-O-P library can find parametric design templates from which to either design P-O-P displays in minutes—with the freedom to resize or redesign components or stimulate the creative design process.

Structural software also offers tools to ensure designs do, indeed, work. Some tools allow for the simple assembly and (3D virtual) visualization of connected folds and parts. V-notches can be easily visualized as angle cuts (Figure 5). Designers can work with curved folds and cuts by allowing them to visualize designs with curved creases as part of its 3D module. Using 3D visuals, tab and slot assembly tools can help to assemble components of a display with just a few clicks. Some design solutions will even create auto-mated bill of material reports for the accounting department.

Get it finished rightSo, without a finishing table, your work is limited in range, shape and substrates. They are just tougher to work with. And, it is harder to consider working with three-dimensional P-O-P or displays. You are limited to flat, two-dimensional work.

With a finishing table, your range of projects expands. You can continue to work with 2D graphics. You are able to design and create 3D structural graphics, P-O-P, and displays. And, you can also help with packaging and boxes.

All print providers print. And, one way or another, they cut. Thus, the challenge is to evolve your business model to make money rather than to squeeze away by very tight, competitive pricing—and risk tougher times.

Bill Hartman, VP Business Development, Esko digital finishing, has more than 40 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development. He is currently responsible for North American sign and display channel partner relationships and market-ing programs. In 2006, he started as a consultant for MGE, acquired by Esko in 2008. Previously, Bill was a co-founder and V P of sales and marketing of Reed Business Systems Consulting (RBSC), an SAP Enterprise Software Solution National Implementa-tion Partner.

FIGURE 4A AND B (LEFT)The ability to produce creative 3D displays lets a print shop broaden its offerings.

FIGURE 5 (BELOW) V-notches can be visualized as angle cuts.

4A 4B

After several years of challenging economic times for the printing industry, worldwide demand for print increased in 2011, resulting in a commensurate jump in technology invest-ments as large-format customers sought to take advantage of the 6.2B sqm opportunity in the sign and display industry. The resulting boost in digital print growth is pushing print service providers (PSPs) to capitalize on new business opportunities tied to growing technologies like UV and latex.

The underlying analog-to-digital conversion in the large-format printing market reflects the rapid growth and develop-ment of high-end digital presses coupled with a higher demand for shorter, personalized runs. Some new solutions are capable of managing screen volumes and quality, while addressing new markets and applications that only digital can handle, such as custom QR codes and variable data. In addition, the average print job has dropped dramatically from 15,000 to 1,500 copies, driving higher rates of digital adoption.

PSP customers see major brands take a more sustain-able approach to wide-format print sourcing, setting strict environmental requirements for their print jobs and applying those to the service providers that produce them. This demand for green solutions is driving the decline in solvent technolo-gies, particularly as UV and latex devices reach new levels of performance maturity and application versatility, while offering certifications to validate their indoor environmental benefits to print buyers.

New large-format offerings and market penetrationIf you are a PSP committed to making 2012 a year of growth, consider these technology trends and take advantage of the new application opportunities created.

In the retail point-of-purchase (P-O-P), point-of-sale (P-O-S) and advertising segments, expect to see shorter runs, faster time to market, personalization, and variable data printing. As advertisers look to maximize return-on-marketing-investment (ROMI), they are evaluating each piece of collateral for efficien-cy and effectiveness, creating an increased demand for digital. Today, approximately 20 % of retail signage is printed digitally, but this number is growing by double digits, leaving millions of pages for digital providers to capture.

Short runs and customization are also taking hold in the corrugated packaging market which, with an addressable digi-tal market of 6B sqm, represents a tremendous opportunity for digital providers. By complementing their existing operations with digital technologies, customers can go from the digital file straight to production, making it easy and inexpensive to produce customized output and turn around packaging for a test-market by the client’s deadline.

Many customers are achieving success by diversifying beyond traditional signage applications and entering new mar-kets, while using the same printing equipment. They are taking advantage of water-based, latex ink solutions to open a door to the decoration market, with applications such as curtains,

New Technology

Applications to Grow Your

Business in 2012

screenprinting22

The following article explores you can expand your printing capabilities in many ways and

stay in touch with the latest trends.

Harel IfharHP

april/may 2012 23

pillows, rugs and custom wall coverings, and using flatbed UV-curable technolo-gies for custom-printed furniture, doors, ceiling tiles and flooring (Figure 1). Certifications like GREENGUARD and AgBB are making it easier to place prints in the most sensitive environments, such as hospitals and schools. The decor market holds limitless P-O-Ssibilities and profitable opportunities. Today, many interior design applications are printed completely on analog devices. Few people are thinking about printing them with digital, in fact, sometimes no one is thinking about printing them at all!

How to produce growth applications in your shopLet’s take a look at how you can make the most of these trends and start pro-ducing a few key growth applications in house. As discussed, the retail and advertising signage market presents a major opportunity for customized output, be that on-demand signage for specific promotions or the use of vari-able data by region or store. Consider the following four applications as op-portunities for growth:

Free-standing display units (FSDU) An in-store display, FSDUs can be a dynamic and creative way to draw customers’ attention and demonstrate a retail product. Typically produced on corrugated cardboard, FSDUs are most often seen in retail environments, but can also be found at tradeshows and events. FSDUs are used as shelves to hold products close to eye-level for customers and, in parallel, are used as a platform for advertising and messaging.

You can produce these displays ei-ther by printing the design directly onto corrugated cardboard with a flatbed printer or by printing on a self-adhesive vinyl with a roll-to-roll printer and then laminating the design onto cardboard. Direct printing on a flatbed device is more economical, as it reduces the cycle

time significantly and eliminates the need for multiple media types and labor to laminate the design to cardboard. UV-curable flatbed devices are also preferred over solvent printers as they reduce waste and produce output that is dry and ready for finishing right away.

Manufacturers generally offer two levels of flatbed printing technology that are suitable for the production of FSDUs: entry-level products, or indus-trial printers for low-volume production or prototypes, or high-volume devices. Among these, solutions that offer white inks can be a major benefit to PSPs that want to print high-quality, full-color graphics directly on natural kraft board or on a colored media.

Finishing for FSDUs is simple and involves cutting the display into the appropriate shape with a contour cutting system and then folding the final prod-uct so that it’s ready to stand on its own. One thing to keep in mind when produc-ing FSDUs is the viewing distance as this will determine the resolution of the design and the quality used during printing. Always consider how closely consumers will approach the final piece and let this guide your decisions in the quality of the output and materials used. Additionally, the flexibility of the chosen ink is important, as the wrong ink can lead to chipping at the FSDU edges or breaking when folded.

Styrene P-O-P/P-O-S signageA tried and true application in the

screen printing industry, styrene P-O-P and P-O-S signage is quickly becoming an essential application for digital print-ers as well. Styrene is a P-O-Pular media choice because it is tear- and water-resistant, inexpensive, bright white, and a durable alternative to paper. Styrene is also available in sheets or rolls, so it can be printed on a roll-to-roll or flatbed press.

Conventionally, styrene has been a go-to media for the screen-printing in-dustry because of its durability and low cost, but digital printers often ran into issues with ink adhesion when it came to printing styrene with digital devices. Today, styrene is available in a digital-compatible, coated option, eliminating adhesion problems and opening the door to this profitable media for digital print shops. Furthermore, some printer manufacturers have introduced digital solutions, like specialty inks that allow for printing on uncoated styrene. With these solutions, you can use the same materials in your digital and screen printing processes and reduce costs for yourself and customers.

In terms of finishing, styrene can be cut into any shape from a rectangle or circle that is then snapped into a fixture or frame to a hanger.

Dan Kimmerly, graphics director with KDM P.O.P. Solutions in Cincin-nati, OH, says styrene is one of the most common substrates used for the high-volumes of P-O-P displays the company produces (Figure 2). The substrate’s

FigUre 1 Images for interior decorating can be done using digital printers. These bedroom wall

coverings are printed by New Era Portfolio, designed by New Era Walls by an HP tool.

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P-O-Pularity is due to the variety of thicknesses available, from 0.010 to 0.125 inches, and appearances, with translucent styrene for backlits or dead white for double-sided output. KDM’s frequent use of styrene was one of the key factors in its decision to upgrade to specialty inks late last year, as the inks eliminated any previous adhesion or edge chipping issues experienced. Now, the company can take styrene P-O-P displays printed on their printing device directly to the guillotine or die cutter with the confidence that the final output will be top quality.

Backlit displaysAnother solution reflecting the benefits of digital printing is backlit displays.

Prominent in department stores, air-ports, fast food chains and other public venues, backlit displays are a P-O-Pular option for retailers due to their high-quality appearance and the ease with which they can be changed.

These displays are printed directly onto a translucent film, with options in-cluding gloss or matte translucent films, translucent PVC or PETG, depending on the look, feel and budget the client is trying to achieve.

Today, many backlit displays are produced using a digital photographic process in which a machine is used to digitally exP-O-Se a piece of film with the desired image. While this process creates a high-quality product, it is also very expensive and does not allow for variation amongst images. As a result, the market is quickly transitioning to us-ing digital printing processes for backlit displays, especially as this technology matures and solutions like the photo-graphic process in terms of quality at a fraction of the cost. Digital printers can also cost effectively format backlit applications in sizes that are beyond the limits of photographic technologies and

use variable data printing. In one run, a printer can produce backlit displays for a store in New York with a discount of 35 % while the store in Atlanta offers 40 % off of merchandise.

The most common challenge people experience when printing backlit signage is achieving the proper sharp-ness and density of the image (Figure 3). Since you are taking the printed im-age and flooding it with light, the print can have a tendency to look washed out if not produced properly. A washed-out print is the last thing you want to provide your customers with the high-quality output they are looking for in retail signage. Some manufacturers are addressing this problem with solu-tions which include built-in saturation control. With this control, you can fine tune the amount of ink used in a single pass, so that images do not lose their sharpness or clarity, while maintaining production speed.

Growth applications beyond signageMoving beyond traditional signage applications, the interior décor market represents an untapped opportunity for digital printers. The age of custom-ization is upon us, and interior décor that is printed with the homeowner’s family photo, the designer’s imagery or the shop owner’s brand is a natural next step.

Wall coveringsWall coverings provide an easy entry into the realm of interior décor. Like all of the signage applications described here, the designs can be produced using the Adobe Suite or a more customized solution for wall coverings. One Web-based product is available for license and allows customers to create wall coverings on the PSP’s website. PSPs may offer their customers an existing portfolio of images or the ability to upload their own. In the tool, customers can enter the exact dimensions of their rooms and design around windows, doors, light switches and other obsta-cles. The final design is then sent to the PSP for printing.

There are many media choices

FiGure 2Frankie thacker of KDM p.O.p. Solutions in Cincinnati, OH, prints a job on 0.030 styrene with Hp FB225 Scitex inks on the Hp Scitex FB7600 industrial press.

FiGure 3 Backlit advertising signage is becoming a trend in mall p-O-p settings. image courtesy of Hp Scitex.

april/may 2012 25

available for wall coverings, ranging from textiles like polyester or canvas to self-adhesive options to pre-pasted papers. The option you choose should be based on the cost per square foot re-quired and the texture and look desired. One product is a PVC-free wall paper, a pre-pasted paper that is easy to apply with water and a sponge and equally simple to take down, as it peels off in a single sheet when water is added and residual paste washes away.

When reviewing your options for wall coverings, you’ll want to take into consideration end-user priorities. Choices are mold, mildew, and flame-resistant—all important specifications for a wall covering substrate. Certain solutions can also offer environmental or safety advantages, such as contribut-ing to a building’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED certification points—a huge incentive to environmentally-minded architects and designers.

The majority of wall coverings today are printed using analog pro-cesses, such as screen printers. While this results in high-quality output, it does not allow for customization as it requires long runs to be cost effec-tive. With the digital print processes now available, you can print custom wall coverings on demand, perhaps providing a retail customer with a wall covering that is easy and cost-effective to install and update as promotions change. You will likely want to use technologies that produce odorless output, such as latex inks, which also provide the quality and durability needed to withstand months or years on display at a close viewing distance.

One publisher taking the wall covering business to a whole new level is Joe Garcia, CEO and president of New Era Portfolio. New Era Portfolio is a large limited-edition fine art publisher, printmaker, and artisan framer, serving design professionals responsible for the selection and installation of art in commercial and hospitality projects. The ultimate, single-source art solution for all interior design projects, New Era Portfolio routinely consults with design clients, customizing, revising

and modifying image-based products to meet even the tightest budgetary con-straints. New Era Portfolio is dedicated to on-time delivery and exceptional quality. The company recently took its interior design offering to the next step by introducing custom-printed wall coverings.

Diversify and avoid commoditizationOne common thread among the most successful customers is the fact that they are constantly looking to differ-entiate themselves and expand their current capabilities. They take the act of providing printed output to the next level—whether that means printing jobs that others turn down because they seem imP-O-Ssible, printing on unique substrates or diversifying as marketing services providers who can advise cli-ents on more than just print and bridge that digital gap.

Demonstrating a commitment to upholding environmental standards is also key for winning print jobs, especial-ly when leading brands are seeking to implement sustainable practices across their business. PSPs who offer recycling options, like one company’s large-format media take-back program, and provide polypropylene substitutes to PVC are more competitive. These measures also help to strengthen customer relation-ships, retain and grow existing accounts and even win new business. Make no mistake, your customers are taking a closer look at their own commitment to the environment, which links to what they are sourcing from suppliers. If you can prove that you’re using printing technologies and substrates that reduce their impact on the environment then you’re already meeting the requirements of many customers.

Print buyers need help achiev-ing their corporate objectives, whether improving the ROMI of advertising collateral or going green, and are look-ing for knowledgeable partners to offer consultative expertise that helps them reach these goals. Many PSPs are al-ready P-O-Sitioning themselves as print service consultants, rather than order takers. They realize the need to work

very closely with their customers to establish goals, advise where improve-ments can be made and provide new ideas to expand marketing activities or improve sustainability efforts. These PSPs quickly become valuable partners to their customers.

What does 2012 hold?Building on the growth and transitions of the past year, 2012 promises to be a dynamic year for large-format printing. Large-format at drupa will be exciting, not only for small-format providers interested in adopting wider technolo-gies to diversify offerings, but also for existing large-format PSPs looking to reach new customers and improve workflow. As we have witnessed in other industries, the cloud will change how many PSPs do business, allow-ing them to connect their customers directly to digital printing technologies. Manufacturers will respond by paying more attention to the overall printing process with new solutions to optimize workflow, while increasing productivity and efficiency.

The year 2012 also will mark strong growth in new applications falling outside the traditional realm of signage printing, some of which we have detailed here. Advertisers will look for output that cuts through the clutter and makes the biggest impact on their customers, while driving new, personalized pages and increasing print values with versioned output. And as brands move out of survival mode and strengthen their corporate social responsibility platforms, expect to see even more businesses taking a sustain-able approach to large-format print sourcing as they look to place green requirements on their printing.

This is a year of great P-O-Ssibil-ities, particularly for PSPs willing to grow their offerings to make the most of today’s printing technologies.

Harel Ifhar is the director of marketing for HP Scitex. In this role, he is responsible for current business and portfolio management as well as long-term strategic planning. He has been with HP since 2000, acting in various business management and development roles across the company.

This article reviews how UV-LED is used to gel UV ink droplets and cure printed ink.

Paul Mills and Jennifer HeathcoteIntegration Technology

Pinning inks with UV LEDs

scrEEnprinTing26

APRIL/MAY 2012 27

Splat. You can picture a tiny drop of ink thrust from a piezoelectric inkjet nozzle landing on a substrate. The ink droplet will not remain intact for long. Even under calmer condi-tions—like delicately depositing the drop onto a sheet of paper—it tends to spread out; increasing in diameter and altering its shape. The dimen-sional change from spreading, called dot or drop gain, is a nagging problem for digital printers. In a world where precise drop size and location deter-mines print quality, drop gain tends to blur images and muddle colors with a loss of resolution, color integrity and gloss control. It is a finicky problem, confounded by a lot of variables, but one that is being helped by a new technology: UV LEDs.

UV-LED UV LEDs are light sources that allow digital printers to gel or freeze UV ink droplets quickly before they have time to spread out (Figure 1). This is possible because the UV-LED light sources are more compact than con-ventional curing systems and can be easily positioned between successive print heads. The process of freezing ink droplets between print heads is called pinning and is somewhat differ-ent from fully curing the ink (Figure 2). While pinning stops the drop from spreading, it leaves the ink flexible and soft enough for proper inter-coat adhesion to other ink droplets and for further handling.

Full or final curing ordinarily occurs at the end of the process and transforms the ink into a more rigid film with the required final surface properties. All pinned inks must still pass underneath a final cure UV source to be fully cured.

Pinning is also different from so-called inter-deck curing found on some larger offset printing presses, where colors are early completely cured near the drum before other colors are ap-plied downstream. A close-to-full cure

is necessary with an offset process because the transfer plates make physical contact with the cured surface during printing. Pinning is possible with inkjet processes because inkjet printing requires no physical contact with the cure surface (Figure 3). The extent of dot or drop gain depends on properties of the ink, substrate, and the process environment.

Drop gainJust as it’s easier to shoot water from a squirt gun than it is cream cheese; thinner, less viscous inks jet more eas-ily. UV jettable inks are typically in the 10-15 cP viscosity range and tend to spread more easily than thicker inks. Any number of formulating tweaks for color, gloss, or rheological properties can have unintended consequences when it comes to drop gain, and so there’s not likely to be a one-size-fits-all setting.

The substrate plays an equally important though often less predict-able role in determining drop gain. While some materials absorb ink and have varying degrees of porosity, other materials present a slick surface making it easier for inks to spread around more easily. For example, coated papers designed to promote wetting also promote drop gain. With an ever expanding choice of paper and plastic films and the advent of variable data printing systems designed for small production runs on a range of parts, it is unrealistic to expect a “set it and forget it” solution.

Other nuts and bolts of the pro-cess also affect drop gain—such as the

web or press speed, the distance from the print head to the substrate, and the local airflow, heat and humidity. In the end, a daunting combination of vari-ables from ink to substrate to process requires a pinning system that can be quickly, but precisely fine tuned—sometimes color-by-color, to achieve the needed resolution. UV LEDs pro-vide that level of simple, but effective control over the pinning process.

DiffErEncE from UVAs the name implies, UV LEDs are an ultraviolet variety of light-emitting diodes. They differ dramatically from traditional UV lamps used for print-ing both in how they produce UV, and in their benefits. Traditionally, lamp suppliers have produced UV by energizing a small amount of mer-cury that is sealed in a quartz tube. When high voltage is applied to the lamps electrodes, (or with microwave

lamps, when the tube is placed in a microwave generator), UV (along with a large amount of visible light and in-frared heat) is created. So the output spectrum of mercury lamps contains a large number of peaks over a broad range of wavelengths that extend from 200nm to well into the IR region above 1000 nm.

UV LEDs, on the other hand, are semiconductor devices; modern cousins of the LED on your garage door opener except that UV LEDs emit light in the longer-wavelength portion of the UV spectrum. The exact output of the LED is chemistry dependent, but typically the output is a relatively monochromatic or narrow

“The use of sTaTe-of-The-arT uV-LeD TechnoLogy To improVe DoT gain is aDVancing DigiTaL prinTing.”

screenprinting28

peak of energy somewhere between 365-405 nm

At first, the more specific, nar-row bandwidth output of the LED caused UV chemists some fits as they scurried to adapt ink formulations to these new sources. But the benefits of UV LEDs for digital printing clearly made this effort worthwhile, because UV LEDs offer many advantages that arc lamps do not. For example, they do not generate dangerous short wavelength UV that can be a safety hazard, and they do not produce ozone. They do not contain mercury, another potential safety hazard, or use high voltages.

But LEDs are also much cooler than arc lamps, and they can be turned on and off instantly with-out the need for shutters. LEDs are compact in size, and produce more uniform light sources that last much

longer than arc lamps. But it is the ability to precisely control the UV output of the light source, along with their compact size, and cool-running temperatures that limit heat build, that make UV LEDs ideal for pinning inks. Compact UV LEDs can be located in the tight confines between inkjet heads, a trick that would be impossible for arc lamps.

Figure 1 illustrates the ability of UV-LED pin-ning lamps to improve the quality of digital images by limiting drop gain on a difficult substrate. Without pinning, each color spreads as it is applied, mixing and muddling with other droplets. With pinning, the droplets remain distinct and sharp.

The use of state-of-the-art UV-LED technology to improve dot gain is ad-

Figure 1 Without pinning, (left) ink droplets spread and colors become muddled. With pinning, (right) droplets are distinct, and drop gain is controlled.

Figure 2 A schematic of the pinning process. A UV-LED light source located after each inkjet head freezes the droplet.

Figure 3 Compact UV-LED pinning lamps are positioned between inkjet printheads.

APRIL/MAY 2012 29

vancing digital printing on two related fronts. While pinning helps to produce higher quality images with existing technology, it also makes it possible for press designers to achieve a higher perceived resolution with less expen-sive or complex jetting hardware. Af-ter all, resolution is not determined by the number of dots applied per inch alone, but also by the distinctness of those droplets to the reader’s eye. If ink droplets are fuzzy, or mingled with others, even a high density of droplets per inch can be a wasted investment.

In conclusIon While there is broad agreement that pinning improves image quality, there is no consensus yet regarding the ide-al settings needed for optimal pinning. Ink formulators, UV-pinning-system manufacturers, and integrators are ex-perimenting with UV settings, timing, and ink sets to find the answers. The activity is a strong indicator that more and more systems are, and will be, incorporating pinning into the inkjet printing process.

Paul Mills, Integration Technology, has been involved in UV curing since 1994. He has partici-pated in a number of innovations in UV including UV powder coatings development, robotic UV curing and the development UV LED light sources. Paul holds BA and MA in economics, and has been a longtime member and board member of RadTech. 

Jennifer Heathcote is general manager, North America (based in Chicago, Illinois), for Integration Technology. Heathcote received a B.S. in mechani-cal engineering from Purdue University and earned her MBA at The Ohio State University. Integration Technology, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Oxfordshire, England, is a supplier of both con-ventional mercury lamps and UV LED light sources to a wide range of industries including the global graphic arts and printing markets.

Find MESH blog at screenweb.com under “News & Trends”

SCREENPRINTING30

A Look at LARGE-FORMAT Pad Printing Pad printing is an imaging

process that can make easy work of products designed with irregular surfaces. Find out about technological advancements that make the method a match for large-format applications.

• How large is the total image area?• How many colors are to be printed?• How much area does each color cover?• Can the images be broken down into more manage-

able, smaller images that fit within the limits of the pad-printing equipment?

• Are we dealing with large, solid areas of ink or realis-tic coverage that is broken up somewhat?

• How curved or uneven are the print surfaces?

Large areas of ink coverage are difficult to handle. In dealing with a single color, printing the part with a single hit using a large pad printer may be possible (Figure 2). Another way would be to break down the image and hit it many times to complete the image area. The same applies to a multicolor image. This option works, but it also decreases productivity, especially on single-color pad presses, which require multiple cycles to complete the printing. On the other hand, if a pad-printing machine that supports two or more

FIGURE 1 Shown here are examples of large-format pad printing used in the manufacture of keyboards and keypads for consumer electronics.

Most printers, when faced with a large-format print job, choose from a few popular methods—mostly digital or screen printing. Either choice is a suitable one when the substrate is flat and the images are composed of large areas of back-ground color. Few engineers consider alternatives to the typi-cal options, except when those processes will not work.

One such scenario is when the substrate is rough or un-dulating, or referred to as being three-dimensional in nature. In fact, they’ll often look for ways to manufacture the part flat then print and change it to the desired shape later, often going out of their way to avoid printing a compound surface. This option is expensive and unnecessary when a more con-venient solution exits: pad printing.

We define large format for the purposes of this discus-sion as items such as control panels for appliances, front bezels on televisions, keyboards and keypads (Figure 1), and satellite dishes. The consideration for using pad print-ing as an alternative should be based upon the following considerations:

Julian JoffePad Print Machinery of Vermont

APRIL/MAY 2012 31

A Look at LARGE-FORMAT

Pad Printingcolors or a servo-driven, CNC-equipped printer is used, the job can be completed in a single hit with a large pad or with multiple hits that occur in sequence during a single cycle of the machine.

Several advances in pad-printing equipment have been made to allow large-format printing to become an affordable and doable option. Advancements in pad-printing inks—from primitive, hand-milled pigments to inks that are formulated with better flow-control agents—allow adherence to a variety of substrates with faster curing and durability. Pad materi-als have also been modified from a gelatin base to a high-tech, fast-curing, durable silicone material. Pads can now be designed and created in any shape and durometer to meet specific requirements.

On the other hand, the evolution from open-inkwell to sealed-cup systems has moved the industry slightly back-wards in terms of the total image area available on a single cliche. The sealed ink cups are limited to a diameter of 10 in. and smaller. One exception is the development of the cupslide, which uses a longer cliche, thereby permitting the image length to far exceed the cup diameter. With the use of a cupslide, images as long as 3-4 ft are possible with a single cliche and print pass. This technique has been used success-fully in marking catheters for medical applications.

Pad-printing equipment and technology exists at its current level of sophistication due to advances in other technologies. Pad printers have progressed from manual to motorized to pneumatic to servo-driven systems. The integration of computer-numeric-control (CNC) servomotor technology was the single most important factor in making large-format pad printing possible. Servo-driven CNC pad printers (Figure 3) are able to select a suitable pad, step to the cliche area, and precisely pick up one of the multiple im-ages from a polymer plate. The image being picked up could be a very opaque, white, solvent-based ink or a UV-curable ink, depending upon the choice or requirements of the manu-facturer. Large, hollow pads allow us to pick up and print much larger images than we did as few as 15 years ago. Inks with better flow-control agents allow us to print smoother and larger surfaces of ink.

Pad printers can be designed with a row of indepen-dent pads, a conveyor system to move the parts, and cliches with multiple images etched. These systems can operate without limiting from where the images are picked or placed or in what sequence. The servo drive gives more flexibility in positioning and, coupled with independent pad systems, the

ability to print an image wherever it needs to be printed. As an example, a pad printer can reproduce a 15-in. line using two 7.5-in. lines etched on a plate side by side and print both in perfect alignment.

A comparison can be made to the machine-tool indus-try in printing situations where the substrate needs to be decorated with multiple images of different shapes and sizes. A CNC machine can change cutting tools or drills mid-job, just as the pad printer can change from one pad shape to another. This process combines several single-color jobs into a single multicolor run.

Servo- and stepping-motor drives adopted in areas of tooling and fixtures also facilitate the printing of large-format parts. Some situations require printing on more than one surface using the same image or a group of images. The creative use of this technology allows a part to be printed in one pass through the machine even though multiple sides re-quire images. Previously, if a large-format part were printed, smaller machines would be used and the part would have to pass through a series of machines. Each machine would be responsible for decorating a part of the whole, thereby add-ing labor and space for moving and storing parts during the print operations.

The shuttle-type conveyor with its servo-drive is designed to add the extra axis needed to print large-format components with multiple images over a large surface area, while using sealed ink cups with diameters as small as 5 in. The servo drive on the printer gives the necessary position-ing capability on the Y axis, and servo shuttle provides the positional control for the X axis.

Let’s not forget the one thing that binds all this technol-ogy together—the computer or programmable logic control-ler (PLC). Machines now run on industrial PCs, coupled to a PLC, integrating all of the automation. Some pad printers can now memorize production routines, repeat the job, and even recall all the critical settings so that there is a minimal amount of repeat work when setting up previous jobs. It is

FIGURE 3 Pad selection and precise picking are among the automated fea-tures possible with multicolor, servo-driven, CNC pad presses.

FIGURE 2 Propane tanks present the challenge of printing large areas of ink coverage.

screenprinting32

possible to network through an intranet where management can see at any moment how the machines are working in the manufacturing process.

AdvAntAges And chAllenges

The advantages of pad printing are the ability to print a vari-ety of applications with unique decorating requirements. Un-even substrate surfaces (Figures 4 and 5) present little or no problem to malleable pads. Wet-on-wet printing is not an issue because of the limited amount of ink transferred to the surface and the quick drying capability of the inks. The cost of producing the cliches in-house can be very reasonable and often requires a nominal investment in equipment. Pad print-ing is relatively simple to learn and implement, and four-color process is now commonplace with pad-printing equipment.

One major challenge associated with large-format pad printing is that large surfaces of ink coverage are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to deal with. The problem can be managed by using halftoned cliches to prevent scooping and using multiple hits to improve coverage. The multiple-hit option works, but it is costly in terms of production speed lost, particularly on single-color pad printers, which require multiple cycles to complete the print. Using a multicolor pad press speeds up the process of printing a one-color job that requires two or more hits to complete the image. Jobs put on multicolor, servo-driven, CNC pad printers may be completed in a single hit with a larger pad or with multiple hits during a sequence in the single-job cycle.

Large areas of solid ink do not print very evenly be-cause the pad, to print well, rolls into the image. A properly designed pad generally has a wedge-shaped profile of a roof-top or mountain shape. The point of the pad applies more pressure on the ink’s surface than does the outer perimeter and, when picking up a large pool of ink, the point zone will usually displace the ink more than the outer area. This cre-ates a surface of ink that is uneven and, in many cases, will look like the surface of a pond with ripples emanating from the center.

The orientation of images on a cliche also plays an im-portant role in whether or not scooping will occur. For exam-ple, if a 5- x 1-in. rectangle were positioned with the smaller

Figures 4 And 5 Uneven surfaces are suited to the pad-print-ing process. Shown here are appliance panels on press and finished.

edge perpendicular to the cup motion, scooping would be minimized. On the other hand, if the cup were to cross the image at the widest dimension, scooping could occur, causing faded areas in the image. It would seem that rotating the im-age is a simple solution, but then the substrate needs to be ro-tated as well in order to orient the image correctly. In fact, it is no problem as head/pad rotation with servo control exists, and the image orientation on the cliche can be manipulated. The operator can save time by programming the head/pad rotation into the software. The rotating head is a great feature for preserving the registration of multicolor images.

The number of colors and the image area are important factors, as the size limitation of some multicolor pad printers may be as small as 8 in./color in diameter. In the past, pad printing a large image was defined by the limitations of the machine’s cup/cliche size. The precision of modern, servo-driven equipment and the sophistication of the logic systems that control them allow the images to be broken into pieces and colors to be printed in separate hits. The greater the num-ber of printheads on the press, the more efficient and precise the printing. Another solution for extremely large image areas is to use a pad printer that has the capability to print the part corner to corner.

Other printing challenges include jobs in which the overall size exceeds the traversing range of the conveyor or shuttle system holding the parts being printed. In these circumstances, the only option may be to reset the printer to have two separate passes to print the part. While this method is not the most economical, it will get the job done.

The flexibility that pad printing offers in decorating irregular surfaces not only makes this process an excellent complement to screen printing and digital imaging, but it also makes the technology an effective first choice. Advances in pad-printer technology and accessories make large-format printing more accurate and cost effective. This technological evolution makes pad printing and exciting field.

Julian Joffe is CEO and owner of Pad Print Machinery of Vermont (www.padprint-machinery.com) East Dorset, VT. He has more than 30 years of experience in the pad-printing industry, including equipment engineering and machine design.

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Arlon of Santa Ana, CA, promoted Ken Huggins to customer service assistant manager. Global Imaging of Louisville, CO, added Tom Stopulos and Todd Waltz as senior directors of sales for the eastern and western regions respectively. South Hadley, MA-based Intel-liCoat technologies added Tom Shea as northeast re-gional sales manager and Tommy Le as western regional sales manager. Cleveland, OH- based PolyOne Corp. promoted Robert M. Patterson to chief operating officer. Polytype America, Mahwah, NJ, added David Bartram, Anthony Costanzo, and James Cain to their Digital Imaging sales team. Quadrant EPP promoted Charlie Costello to regional sales manager for the Midwest. Sandon Global Engraving Ltd. appointed Torben Andresen sales manager for Germany and Scandinavia.

industry update

Huggins CostelloBertram Costanza

Integration Technology and Lumen Dynamics Cross-License for UV LEDLumen Dynamics and Integration Technology Ltd. (ITL), companies active in the global UV-LED market, have entered into a cross-licensing of intellectual-property patents expand-ing access and protecting customer rights to the technology. By agreeing to cross-license, ITL gains entry to the North American market and Lumen Dynamics enhances access to European ones.

Under the patents each holds, users are able to control individual segments of a UV-LED array to optimize the optical profile for each application. Applications could range from simply zoning the array for curing target areas of the image to more complete scenarios enabling the identification and exposure of complex geometric shapes. The lumen patent specifically addresses varying power intensity across the array to optimize its cure efficiency.

“This agreement marks an important step taken in both recognizing the emerging new market potential for UV-LED curing and for protecting ours and Lumen Dynamics’ respec-tive rights together with our customers usage of our technolo-gies,” says ITL managing director Adrian Lockwood.

INX Builds Facility in EnglandINX Int’l UK Ltd. held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new manufacturing facility in Heywood, England on February 27, 2012. The 40,000-sq-ft facility is expected to be completed in 2013. Located in Hareshill Business Park, it will be 75% larger than the current location at Transpennine Trading Estate in Rochdale, England.

Sakata INX Corp., though U.S. subsidiary INX Group Ltd., began blending and storing ink for the printing of beer

and soft-drink cans in Rochdale in 1992, though a newly estab-lished subsidiary, INX Group UK Ltd., has expanded its mar-ketshare to become a leading supplier of in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, the company says. INX Int’l UK Ltd. currently employs 70 people in Rochdale and another 36 overseas. It is anticipated the new facility will result in a workforce increase when it opens.

“The development of this building shows INX In-ternational’s commitment to all of our customers but, in particular, to the beer and beverage market in Europe and the Middle East,” says Jonathan Ellaby, VP of international operations for INX Int’l. “Despite the hard times Europe is going through, INX is committed to the market and to im-proving our manufacturing capability in the region. We will add equipment that will allow us to increase our out put for the European market.”

Ellsworth Adhesives Continues Mexico ExpansionEllsworth Adhesives has expanded to larger facilities in Tijuana and Guadalajara, Mexico. Ellsworth Adhesives is a global distributor of adhesives, sealants, lubricants, coatings, encapsulants, tapes, soldering products, surface preparations, specialty chemicals, maintenance and repair products, and dispensing equipment.

Ellsworth relocated its Tijuana facility, doubling the company’s warehouse and office space. The facility in Guada-lajara is a new location offering the benefits of local stocking and enhanced delivery options to western-pacific Mexico. Both locations are predicted to allow the company to provide closer levels of customer support throughout the country.

Xaar Brings Inkjet Technology to Latin American Ceramics Market

At the 10 edition of EXPO REVESTIR in São Paulo, Brazil, in February 2012, visitors to the Xaar stand could see how the Xaar 1001 industrial inkjet printhead is used for decorating ceramic

tiles. Digital inkjet decoration of ceramic tiles allows creativity even in small quantities of customized designs. It also offers potential savings in inventory and distribution costs.

“The adoption of digital inkjet print techniques is transforming the economic viability of small-batch production as well as the cost and time involved in ceramic tile print-ing,” says Edsel Lonza, Xaar sales manager for Latin America. Sample tiles, identical to final production with batch-to-batch reliability can be delivered through the distribution network, and they can be printed in small quantities with custom de-signs, he adds.

april/may 2012 35

Partnership Formed for Color-Quality ManagementMeasureColor and Schawk Inc. have worked together to offer print provid-ers a simplified way to collect and deliver print and color metrics through Schawk’s Enterprise Print Quality (EPQ) Solution while delivering print providers immediate feedback on qual-ity measures. The Schawk EPQ Solu-tion is a scalable quality-control system that captures data directly from print providers from a single or multiple print locations globally and is designed to simplify entering, presenting, and deliv-ering instrument and visual attributes.

Student Print Showdown Contest at drupaThe final round of the global print-sim-ulator-based productivity contest will be a face-to-face showdown at drupa on May 7 on the Sinapse Print Stand, E64, Hall 6. More than 150 students from Asia, Europe, and North America have been competing remotely from simula-tors at their technical schools. UPM is sponsoring the travel of the internation-al finalists to Dusseldorf to participate in the finals.

The competition is based on solving a series of simulated printing problems in a limited time. The winner will be determined after five 10-min-ute heats on who solves the problems with the highest quality and the lowest production costs.

The “SHOTS Heard Round the World” productivity contest encourages skills improvement of printing students globally. The event is co-sponsored by UPM, Printing Industries of America (PIA), and Sinapse. Contestants will operate the SHOTS sheetfed simula-tor from Sinapse—winner of the PIA Intertech Award and used in the recent WorldSkills Competition.

Send uS your newS! Please send your news releases and photos announcing new products, changes in your busi-ness, awards, appointments, and other noteworthy developments to: gail.flower@stmediagroup.com.

screenprinting36

shop talk

A recent forum discussion on www.gigposters.com con-cerned a request by a screen printer who wanted to know how to disconnect the safety bar on his semi-automatic press. Seems he kept bumping it when reaching underneath to retrieve a printed piece. This led to a lot of comments from other printers, probably the best one by a certain Mr. Smith: “If there’s one consistently good idea, proven again and again throughout humanity’s technological evolution, it’s that disabling safety countermeasures is an excellent way to save time and simplify tasks.”

To be perfectly clear, dear reader, that statement is an example of sarcasm. Don’t try it at home, the shop, or anywhere.

If you’ve been in this business for any length of time, and had the joy of working on the wide range of presses we use, you will be familiar with safety systems—or the lack of them. Some older machines that are still in service have nothing. Newer machines use either mechanical safety gates, or infrared sensors. Their primary purpose is to stop the downward motion of the printhead and instantly reverse it if anything, including hands, arms, upper body or head, hap-pen to be under or in the way when the screen comes down. Textile presses have similar guards to prevent workers from getting diced by rotating platens and heads.

The gory detailsVeterans who have paid their dues operating screen-printing equipment can tell stories of getting hands or other parts of their body stuck under a press, with varying degrees of carnage. Some quick research on the subject turned up two stories of fatal injuries. They both occurred when a worker went under the printhead and the machine came down.

In Massachusetts, a worker who had no safety training and had been just two weeks on the job went under the press from the side at the end of a run to remove some tape, and the safety system malfunctioned—a deadly combination. The worker’s action was unexpected, and he was not instructed to take that action. Keep in mind, this occurred in 1994. Many things in our industry have improved since then, and in read-ing the full report, both company and the machine manufac-turer immediately undertook remedial action to ensure this would never happen again. Based on what I have been able to find, it hasn’t.

In the 1970s in California, a worker was killed after the safety bar was deliberately disconnected. The worker went under the press to clean it, and his head was crushed. The company was found at fault and was fined. As tragic as both these examples are, the screen industry as a whole, when

Andy MacDougall is a screen-printing trainer and consultant based on Vancouver Island in Canada and a member of the Academy of Screen Printing Technology. If you have production problems you’d like to see him address in “Shop Talk,” e-mail your comments and questions to andy@squeegeeville.com.

compared to the rest of the printing trades, and then to other businesses, is actually pretty safe. Although my research was minimal, these were the only two examples I could find of deaths in a screen shop, and these incidents span 40 years.

What the statistics showU.S. government stats show seven deaths in all the printing trades in 2010, (screen printing was not reported separately for fatalities) but not one was due to contact with equipment. Compared to other industry sectors, we have a very low fatality rate. Figures from 2010 indicate: fisheries 116 deaths per 100,000 workers; loggers 92; air crew 70; farmers 41. Print trades were 1.4. Overall, the average is around 3 per 100,000 workers for fatalities occurring on the job.

Looking at the U.S. Department of Labor charts on workplace fatalities, I was struck by something, and it wasn’t the screen coming down on my head. The leading causes of workplace fatalities in the USA are transportation related at 39%. The second biggest, and this is bizarre to me, are assaults and violent acts (18%). Of those seven deaths in the printing trades, four were from workplace violence. More than half the deaths in the whole year! This leads all the other categories: falls (14%), struck by object (9%), struck by equip-ment (7%), exposure to substances or environment (9%), and fires and explosions (4%).

Job safety is everyone’s responsibility. If you are a business owner or manager, you know the blame is going to fall on you if an accident happens at work. Although safety meetings are looked at as boring and there may be a tenden-cy by employees to tune out the safety officer, somehow you have to impress on all the workers to maintain a clean work-place, be constantly aware of what’s going on about them, and take an active interest in reporting unsafe situations. We need to find solutions that protect everyone. Training work-ers in the safe operation of equipment and use of materials is paramount.

I still maintain one of the best safety systems in any manufacturing environment is the one attached to each work-er’s shoulders. Unfortunately, like our friend at the beginning of the column asking how to disconnect the safety bar, if you don’t use it, all the work-safety programs in the world, and all the government rules and inspectors will not help.

Andy MacDougall

Job SAfeTy

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U.S. Distributor & Dealer Directory

APRIL/MAY 2012 37

› COLORADODenver

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co.5301 Peoria St., Unit F, 80239-2319. (800) 332-3819. (303) 373-9800. Fax: (800) 332-3820. Fax: (303) 373-9700. E-mail: midwest@midwestsign.com. Contact: Al Menzie, RAMON FONTANES, Aaron Remsburg. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

› ILLINOIS

SaatiPrint2050 Hammond Dr., Schaumburg, IL 60173 (800) 368-3243. (847) 296-5090. Fax: (847) 296-7408. E-mail: info.US@saatiprint. com. Website: www.saa-tiamericas.com. Contact: Jan Bill. Busi-ness Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 2,4,5,6,14.

› INDIANA

Atlas Screenprinting Equipment & Parts, Inc.31 N. Davis St., Dublin, IN 47335. (765) 478-9481. (800) 533-4173. Fax: (765) 478-9462. E-mail: atlasckg@skyenet.net. Website: www.atlasckg.com.Mar-keting area served: National. Product Codes: 2,4,5.

› LOUISIANA

Reece Supply Co. of Louisiana, Inc. 1017 Dealers Ave., Harahan, LA 70123. (504) 733-7799. Contact: Ronnie Garic. Marketing area served: Regional. Prod-uct Codes: 1,2,4,5, 6,7,10,11,12,13,14.

› MASSACHUSETTS

Garston Screen Printing Supplies, Inc.8 Parkridge Rd., Haverhill, MA 01835. (800) 328-7775. Fax: (978) 374-9777. Contact: Dean Garston. Business Class: A,B. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14.

› ARIZONAPhoenix

Advanced Screen Technologies, Inc.619 S. Hacienda Dr. #5, Tempe, AZ 85281. (480) 858-9804, (877) 509-7600 Website: www.advancedscreen.com. Contact; Tom Bays. Business Class: A,B. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,14.

› CALIFORNIA

SaatiPrint15905 S. Broadway, Gardena, CA 90248. (800) 992-3676. (310) 523-3676. Fax: (310) 523-3610. E-mail: info.US@saatiprint.com. Website: www.saatiamericas.com. Business Class: A. Market-ing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 2,4,5,6,14.

Los Angeles

NuSign Supply, Inc.1365 Darius Ct., City of Industry, CA 91745. (626) 961-7688. Toll Free: (877) 6NU-SIGN. Fax: (626) 961-7225. Contact: Tony Le. Business Class: A,B. Marketing Area served: Local, Re-gional, National, International. Product Codes; 4,6,12,13.

San Francisco

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co. 21054 Alexander Court, Hayward, CA, 94545-1234. (510) 732-5800. (800) 824-2468. Fax: (510) 732-7624. Fax: (800) 824-2474. E-mail: midwest@midwestsign .com. Contact: Marilee Fox-Cichon, Paul Louie, Kevin Todd, Steve Michel. Business Class: A. Mar-keting area served: Regional. Product Codes:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

› MINNESOTA St. Paul

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co.45 E. Maryland Ave., 55117. (651) 489-9999. (800) 328-6592. Fax: (651) 489-0202/ Fax: 800-328-6599. E-mail: midwest@midwestsign .com. Con-tact: Jason Knapp, Dan Fleming, Pete Weinberg, Ryan Warner, John Hermes, Kevin Wood. Business Class: A. Prod-uct Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

Rhinotech2415 Pilot Knob Rd., Mendota Hts., MN, 55120. (651) 686-5027. (888) 717-4466. Fax: (651) 686-9745. E-mail: rhinotech@isd.net. Website: www.rhinotechinc.com. Contact: Todd Michaels. Business Class: A,B,C. Mar-keting area served: National. Product Codes: 2,4,5,6.

› MISSOURI Kansas City

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co.1806 Vernon St., Kansas City, MO 64116.. (816) 333-5224. (800) 233-3770. Fax: (800) 233-3771. Fax: (816) 333-5446. E-mail: midwest@midwest-sign .com. Contact: Junior Costigan, Patti Fairchild. Business Class: A. Mar-keting area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

St. Louis

Lawson Screen Products Inc.5110 Penrose St. 63115. (314) 382-9300. (800) 325-8317. Fax: (314) 382-3012. Contact: David Landesman. Business Class: A,B. Marketing area served: National. Product Codes: 1,2,4,5,6.

› NEBRASKAOmaha

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co.9313 “J” St., 68127. (402) 592-7555. (800) 228-3839. Fax: (402) 592-5267. Fax: (800) 228-3886. E-mail: midwest@midwestsign .com. Contact: Trish Nelson, John Schnackenberg, Dan Thomas. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1-2-4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

› NEW YORK

SaatiPrint247 Route 100, Somers, NY 10589.. (800) 431-2200. (914) 232-7781. Fax: (800) 829-9939. E-mail: info.US@saati-print.com. Website: www.saatiameri-cas.com. Contact: Paul Cylenica. Busi-ness Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 2,4,5,6,14.

New Hartford

Reich Supply Co., Inc. 2 Campion Rd., New Hartford, NY 13413. (315) 732-6126. (800) 338-3322. Fax: (315) 732- 7841. E-mail: sales@reichsupply.com. Website: www.reichsupply.com. Contact: Neil Reich. Business Class: A,B. Marketing area served: National. Product Codes: 1,2,4,5,6,7,11,12,13,14.

› OREGON Portland

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co. 5035 N.W. Front Ave. 97210-1105. (503) 224-1400. Fax: (503) 224-6400. 800-228-0596. Fax: 800-278-0596. E-mail: midwest@midwestsign.com. Contact: Karen Walker, Pat McNamara. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

› TEXASDallas

Reece Supply Co. of Dallas, Inc.3308 Royalty Row, Irving, TX 75062. (972) 785-0212. (800) 938-8330. Fax: (972) 785-0512. Contact: Kelly Leon-ard. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14.

El Paso

Reece Supply Co.1530 Goodyear Dr., Suite J, 79936. (915) 592-9600. (877) 776-0128. Fax: (915) 592-9050. Contact: Aaron Wie-berg. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14.

Vancouver

Ryonet Corporation11800 NE 60th Way., Vancouver, WA, 98682. (360) 576-7188. (800) 314-6390. Fax: (360) 546-1454. E-mail: sales@ryonet.com. Web Site: www.silkscreeningsupplies.com. Contacts: Jeff Held. Ryan Moor. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Na-tional, International. Product Codes: 2,4,5,6,8,11,12,13,14,15.

› WISCONSIN Milwaukee

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co.16405 W. Lincoln Avenue, New Berlin, WI 53132. (262) 641-8550. (800) 242-7430. Fax: (262) 641-8555. Fax: (800) 242-7439. E-mail: midwest@midwest-sign .com. Contacts: Tom Robinson, Craig Gray, Marty Campell, Fred Horn. Business Class: A. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

Houston

Reece Supply Co. of Houston, Inc.2602 Bell St., 77003-1753. (713) 228-9496. (800) 776-0113. Fax: (713) 228-9499. Contact Labon Tatum. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes:1,2,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14.

San Antonio

Reece Supply Co. of San Antonio, Inc.4960 Eisenhauer Rd. Ste 110 (78218). (210) 662-6898. Fax: (210) 662-6945. (800) 776-0224. Contact: Ricky Brown. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Pro-duct Codes: 1,2,4,5,6,7,10,11, 12,13,14.

› UTAHSalt Lake City

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co. 1160 So. Pioneer Rd., Ste. 2, 84104. (801) 974-9449. (800) 497-6690. Fax: (801) 974-9442. Fax: (800) 497-6691. E-mail: midwest@midwestsign.com. Contact: Sean Hession. Busi-ness Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

› WASHINGTON Seattle

Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co. 401 Evans Black Dr., 98188-2912. (206) 433-8080. (800) 426-4938. Fax: (206) 433-8021. Fax: (800) 426-4950. E-mail: midwest@midwestsign.com. Contacts: Jeff Macey, Todd Colvin. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,11,12,13.

› ONTARIO

Cosmex Graphics Inc.390 Deslauriers St., St. Laurent, Quebec, H4N 1V2, (514) 745-3446. Fax: (514) 745-3449. Contact: Enzo Di Gneo. Business Class: A,B. Marketing area served: Nation-al. Product Codes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,12,14.

Ecoscreen, Inc.300 Commerce St., Vars, Ontario, K0A-3H0. (613) 443-1999. (888) 265-3556. Fax: s(613) 443-1909. E-mail: sales@eco-screen.ca. Website: www.ecoscreen.ca. Contact: Mike Brugger. Business Class: C. Marketing area served: National. Product Codes: 5,6.

SaatiPrint1680 Courtney Park Dr. E., Units 1 & 2, Mississauga, Ontario L5T 1R4, (905) 564-5388. (800) 567-0086. Fax: (905) 564-5391. Contact: Alfred Guinness. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: Regional. Product Codes: 2,4,5,6,14.

Markham

Sias Canada Ltd.3400-14th Ave., Units 37 & 38, L3R OH7, (905) 305-1500. Fax: (905) 305-1501. Contact: Karl Bakker. Business Class: A. Marketing area served: National. Product Codes: 2,4.

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Advertiser Page Advertiser Page

Air Control Industries Limited 17 Gran Adell Mfg. 10

Anajet Inc. 11 Hewlett-Packard IBC

Brother International 5 Lawson Screen & Digital Products OBC

Douthitt Corp. 1 Mimaki USA 9

Dynamesh Inc. 29 Northwest Screen Systems Co. 35

Flexcon IFC Roland DGA Corp. 3

Franmar Chemical Inc. 8, 39 Speciality Graphic Imaging Assn. 33

George Knight & Co. 35 ST Book Store 10

April/May 2012

EDITORIAL INSIGHTS

Everything we know changes constantly if it is to survive, even business. The economy at large has been iffy since 2008 and now shows signs of stability and upward growth. You can look at lots of indicators. The Housing Index is slated to climb, and in 2013 will begin recovery, according to The Week magazine. The stock market has shown healthy numbers recently.

Alan Greenspan follows the men’s underwear index, among others. When times are improving, men buy under-wear. Hanesbrands, which produces and sells Hanes, Champi-on, and others, upped its full-year sales and earnings guid-ance, following better-than-expected sales during its fiscal second quarter, according to stocks.investopedia.com. This is just another wacky indicator.

But what about our industry? What kinds of change can we expect? According to the SGIA’s member survey, printers are thinking about how to increase sales, how to price what they are marketing competitively, and how to ac-cess the marketplace. Printers in graphics and garment areas are savvy business men and marketers, and right now they are focused on present and future growth. So far, at this pace, the predicted growth seems healthy. “The Benchmarking Re-port also confirms that the community predicts sales growth of more than 13%,” said Mike Robertson, president of SGIA in his latest SGIA Journal.

In this April/May issue of Screen Printing, we look at ways in which the wide-format-inkjet industry has changed and continues to introduce new technology and new ways of producing prints. The first flatbed UV machine was installed in a print shop in 2001, and the technology grew in more common usage from that point. In this 2012 issue, Paul Mills and Jennifer Heathcote talk about the latest technology twist, which uses UV LEDs to pin inks or stabilize them before cur-ing in inkjet printers.

After several years of challenging economic times for the printing industry, for those that have survived and includ-ed inkjet capabilities, Harel Ifhar’s article, New Technology Applications to Grow Your Business in 2012, will open up a few lucrative, creative ideas. In the retail point-of-purchase

(P-O-P), point-of-sale (P-O-S), and advertising segments, we can expect to see shorter runs, faster time to market, personalization, and variable-data printing, he claims. He also presents many new markets to consider for inkjet print-ing: wall paper, pillows, curtains, furniture, doors, ceiling tiles and flooring, to name a few.

Lest we forget about the finishing side of things, Bill Hartman’s feature, Getting to the Cutting Edge, discusses how to make the most out of digital finishing. He talks about the digital finishing table and how it allows for control when cutting overlays and many substrate materials. He talks about the limitations, such as routing holes in circuit boards, and many capabilities that software and vision systems can make when included on the latest automated finishing table. Our cover photo, which shows print material handling, comes from Hartman’s discussion.

Change for change sake doesn’t always create positive rewards, but if you increase your company’s capabilities, you might appeal to a broader audience. In this issue, Julian Joffe, Pad Print Machinery of Vermont, in his article looks at how pad printing can make easy work of products designed with irregular surfaces. According to Joffe, pad printing makes an excellent complement to screen printing and digital imaging. This might make for an exciting new field of expertise to consider.

Andy MacDougall’s column on workplace safety talks about the human element. We always want to make equip-ment run faster, and in some instances we want to disable safety features in an attempt to improve productivity. Andy’s article points out how stupid that idea is. And he finds in the statistics for the most recent years that the few deaths in the printing industry are most often caused by person-nel issues (arguments, fights, disagreements). Some things never change. But that might also be another tool—conflict management—that printers might want to concentrate on for future growth and prosperity.

In the print industry, the community predicts sales growth of more than 13% in 2012.

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR

Editorgail.flower@stmediagroup.com

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