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THE MAGAZINE FOR FORWARD THINKING PRINTINGNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

Explore more…Cover story Bluetree nails colours to inkjet mast.

Workflow We need to talk about MIS.

Inkjet It’s complicated… but well explained within.

Explore more at printbusiness.co.uk

www.printbusiness.co.uk November/December� 3

COMMENT

From the editorFacebook is the printer’s friend, perhaps even the industry’s greatest

friend at the moment. Facebook has published a printed magazine

to promote its services with propaganda about those that have

committed their marketing budgets to the social media channel.

It knows that to hit the real decision makers, the cut through of

print is essential. Likewise AirBnB, Amazon and others in Techland

are increasingly turning to atoms rather than bits to promote their

services. Print engages and print delivers.

Not only this, tech companies have been exposed for nefarious prac-

tices. Facebook enabled Cambridge Analytica’s scalping of personal

details, Google has admitted that perhaps video is not as popular with

the public as it told advertisers. And a report from Adobe reckons

that 28% of all web traffic is non human. Therefore, ad industry

guru Bob Hoffman calculates, that of a total ad spend online of $237

billion, $66 billion is likely to be fraudulent. As marketing grows so

does the waste of money on digital media.

Click farms, bots and the definition of what counts as a view have

undermined any trust in online advertising. Or it ought to have

done. Instead thousands of marketing lemmings have dutifully piled

millions into what is, at best, a dubious value exchange. And this is

without email which has been holed below the waterline by GDPR.

The pursuit of clicks, pandering to social media influencers and of

eyeball views has resulted in waste on a massive scale. Advertisers

are paying millions on the say so of untrustworthy data. Stupidly

the instant response or retweet that is just as instantly forgotten is

valued more than a run-of-press ad that sits amid engaging editorial

content.

In survey after survey, print is described as the most trusted medium,

that if it is in print then it is likely to be true and that if an advertiser

has bothered to send me a piece of direct mail, then I must have be

valued by that advertiser. But marketers, bewitched by vanity of

numbers, continue to throw money at digital. And the sales process

is complex, the result of many touchpoints along journey, not a flash

item on Facebook.

Printers are just as mesmerised instead of using this feast of statistics

to remind clients that digital is not what it claims. Because if we do

not tell them, then we can be sure that the digital marketing agencies

are not going to admit that they have been ripping brands off for

years. We know now which half of an advertising budget is wasted:

the half spent on website banners, on so-called influencers, on Face-

book, on all the digital charlatans that crawl and writhe across on the

face of the mediasphere.

Gareth Ward

Print Business goes out and talks to printers in their language in

their own factories to bring information, inspiration and insight to

the pages of the magazine. For this issue we went to Rotherham,

Edinburgh, Sutton Coldfield, the NEC, Foots Cray and Nottingham.

Now live…Out and about…

PackagingBusiness.co.uk examines the packaging sector

and how it is changing in response to technology and to the

requirements of retailers, brands and consumers.…at the Power of Print, London

4 November/December 2018 www.printbusiness.co.uk�

CONTENTS

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CONTENTContent is copyright © Print Business Ltd 2010-2018. All rights reserved.

ARCHIVEPrevious issues are available for a modest fee. See the Archive page at printbusiness.co.uk

TERMSApply for terms & conditions to [email protected]

THE INKJET ISSUE

Information/

Technology 6

Heidelberg’s deal to sign

MBO; Kall Kwik’s new

life begins at 40; Rapidity stays with digital in step up to B2; Xerox CEO

considers future of its

core technologies.

Bluetree stays ahead

with inkjet move 22

UK’s leading online printer

is shifting litho work with

Screen inkjet installation.

The story of inkjet’s

first decade 28

Inkjet technology has promised much, but

delivered relatively little. We explain why.

Reflections on trade finishing 32

Refections has evolved

over 25 years, changing to remain relevant.

Screen’s time is coming back 34

Screen printing is alive and well and opening new markets to print.

It all happened in Birmingham 36

There was enough to keep people coming back to the Print Show on its return to the NEC.

Print MIS takes new directions 41

With its head in the cloud and feet on the ground, MIS is trying to do both.

The China Syndrome hits paper 46

We find out what is driving the paper price.

There is life after digital for print 49

Print Power stages its most upbeat conference to date.

www.printbusiness.co.uk November/December� 5

COMMENTCOMMENT

Browse in peace in the uncluttered and calm environment of printbusiness.co.uk

Every Monday morning editor Gareth Ward offers his print thoughts. printbusiness.co.uk /Register

Wow! What an impact print makes!Two Sides summed up its Print Power confer-

ence in London last week with a press release

saying “Wow What a day!”. And for the first time

since the event began half a dozen years ago, this

optimism feels right. Previously there has been

an attitude that we had gathered to comfort each

other against the digital onslaught. Print was

defending its role. This time the whole event

simply felt more upbeat.

For a couple of years it has been clear that ebooks

were not about to kill off printed books. Now that

is spreading to other types of print, direct mail,

marketing collateral and more. Print achieves cut-

through against the digital noise; print is trusted

while digital is not; print engages through touch

as well as sight. And so on. A new day is coming.

This does not mean print is going to recapture mass

markets, but it has a valid role alongside and as part

of the digital media mix.

Of course this may be a false dawn. Despite the

clear advantages of ink and paper, agencies have

committed so much to digital, to targeted messag-

ing and more, that to admit that digital is not that

effective is so damaging to their self belief that they

will continue to deny what is now clear: print has

real power. If they can’t acknowledge this, printers

need to keeping driving the message home. Price is

important. But engagement is worth more. journey.

12 November

Size is not all that mattersThe deal for QuadGraphics to acquire LSC Commu-

nications is the strongest sign yet that fundamental

changes are underway in print. The failure of Pole-

star in the UK that has allowed Wyndeham to

acquire a dominant position was no surprise; the

consolidation in mainland Europe is equally explain-

able as print easily crosses borders and size matters.

This though is a stronger sign of market shrink-

age that anything in Europe. The collapse of major

retailers such as Toys R Us and the decision to

shutter the Sears catalogue both hit long run work

and are set against the growth of Amazon. Vanish-

ing newsstand sales and diminishing magazine

subscriptions add to the potent mix that meant a

debt funded business like LSC would find it hard

to reinvest. And with the announcement last week,

the inevitable has occurred.

But this is not a harbinger that the end for the

printing industry is in sight. Far from it. It indi-

cates perhaps that high volume, one size fits all

print is disappearing, and Quad’s promotion of

its marketing services strategy suggests that Quad

knows this. Instead print can flourish where it

can offer custom, personalised or versioned print

and has no time delays in production. Print that is

enhanced through striking colours, foils, varnishes

and other embellishments; print that lasts beyond

a one time reading has a power that will mean that

this type of print rather than print for print’s sake,

endures. So too will the printers that can deliver

the sorts of product that gives print its power.

05 November

The Halloween nightmare for printersThis week the streets will be filled with kids clutch-

ing buckets to collect sweets and dressed as ghosts,

goblins and zombies. None will be dressed as Pete

the Cut Price Printer, who is in reality just as scary

as anybody from a fictional horror story. Print is

experiencing something of a swing back from its

much touted extinction to a renewed appreciation

of its effectiveness as an advertising channel, of

printed books and specialist kick-back-and-relax

magazines. But if this applies to print, it does not

apply to printers. In the eyes of print buyers, too

many printers look like too many other printers,

just as one high street department store looks like

another high street department store. Pete the

Printer is dead.

Shoppers have switched away from the high

street to online channels. The experience of visit-

ing under invested stores is simply not enticing and

a click, a low price and the arrival of Dmitri from

DPD the next day is simply more convenient and

more appealing. Some shops will survive. These are

the ones that offer a bespoke tailoring service or have

created an image that extends beyond the goods that

are sold, which perhaps cannot be bought online or

are maybe too quirky for a would be Amazon. Just

as with overexpanded chains of concept restaurants

have found out, the middle of the road is not the

place to be.

Nor is it for print. The online model for speci-

fying and buying print is established and can only

continue to grow exponentially. The handful of

Saville Row printers, offering the highest quality

print, will also thrive. It is those that fail to under-

stand they need a valid reason to exist that must

suffer: They can remember when they used to be

important because they had the most advanced

printing press in the region, but that is no longer

enough. To today’s print buyers, these businesses are

now faceless, bland and destined to become zombies,

stumbling around, but dead from the neck up.

29 OctoberWo

rds

of

pri

nt

wis

do

m

INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY


MBO deal gives Heidelberg finishing with digital flavourHEIDELBERG HAS agreed to

buy MBO, producer of folders

and rival to its own Stahl port-

folio of folders, but will keep the

brand separate.

However, there are no plans

for changes to production

and distribution of the MBO

product line. Mark Bristow,

managing director of Friedheim

International, UK distributor

for MBO since that company

was started in 1967, says: “It’s

business as usual.”

Heidelberg plans to retain the

MBO brand, much as Muller

Martini has retained the Kolbus

brand following its acquisi-

tion of the German perfect

binder company earlier this

year. Muller Martini branded

machines will go to printers

with high levels of network

connectivity while Kolbus will

be the brand for trade finishers

where there is less need for this

level of integration.

Like that deal, this has the

potential to alienate some print-

ers and finishers: there are loyal

adherents for both brands,

printers seeming to prefer Stahl

folders to MBO.

With Heidelberg, MBO will

be the standalone brand with

fast set up between jobs, while

printers who want the inte-

grated systems approach will be

directed towards the Stahl port-

folio. But there is more to the

deal than simply this.

MBO builds the largest

sheet folders generally avail-

able, including the Herzog +

Heymann machines for pharma-

ceutical folding. This appeals to

Heidelberg’s strategy of expand-

ing into packaging markets.

More than 50% of its Anicolor

presses are sold to pharmaceuti-

cal packaging printers.

MBO also has a division

comprising reel handling tech-

nology, acquired from Ehret,

and Digifinisher technology that

delivers variable content mailers

from inkjet printed reels.

Heidelberg has steered clear of

any kind of webfed printing

since selling its commercial web

offset operations to Goss, but

has vowed to strengthen digital

printing.

Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of

Heidelberg, says: “By acquiring

MBO’s digital portfolio, we are

closing a gap for our custom-

ers and helping them achieve a

smooth industrial process in the

digital future. We also expect

to see synergies in our own

value added chain, which will

bring about tangible benefits for

customers, too.”

Adding such automated

finishing technology inline to

the Primefire 106 B1 inkjet press

would shift the press towards a

lights out operation.

The deal brings Heidelberg

450 staff, two production sites

in Germany and one in Portugal,

set up to producer folders more

cost effectively than was possible

in Germany. Heidelberg will be

able to make use of this capac-

ity to help productions of its

own folders.

Heidelberg adds MBO to its

own Stahlfolder portfolio.

Sussex�merger�across�the�Weald

HEATHFIELD company

Scantech has acquired Berforts

South West and will move all

its equipment to the Hastings

factory.

“They were strong in sales, we

are strong in assets. It makes this

a good marriage,” says Scantech

sales director Peter Feeder. “We

have come together to drive the

business in Hastings.”

Equipment from Heathfield

is already being moved to Hast

ings, with the aim of completing

the combination either by the

end of the year or early in 2019

he says. “It’s about bringing

everything under one roof.”

Scantech has large format

print and a Speedmaster XL75,

having evolved from a repro

business in the 1990s. It now

offers in addition digital and

display print, design and app

development and has built an

expertise in NFC technology.

Berforts has specialised in book

printing with a Komori Lithrone

SRA1 A37 HUV sheetfed press

and Xeikon 9800 for colour

book printing via an online

portal. There is also extensive

mono digital print and finishing.

This equipment is being

moved around in order to

accommodate the Heathfield

equipment, in particular the

XL75. The Hastings factory is

in need of some refurbishment

and this is being managed as

part of the move. “Otherwise

all that’s left in Heathfield now

is the large format and account

ants department,” he says.

“We decided that the best way

forward was to consolidate on

the Hastings site. When every

thing is in place there, we can

sell the Heathfield factory to

fund the investment.”

Gerald White, owner of

Berforts and former BPIF presi

dent, remains with the business

at least for the period of the

transition.

Dry�ground�drives�merger

A LANCASTER printer that

was flooded out by Storm

Desmond in 2015 has merged

with a Kendal company, occupy

ing ground beyond the reach of

the flood prone river Lune.

The merger between Pagefast

Print & Publishing and MTP

Media will also allow Keith

Simpson, who founded Page

fast in 1986, to retire. The move

will ensure that the business can

confident about maintaining

service levels to customers, even

if the river levels reach those

from three years ago.

Pagefast was out of action

for seven months as a result of

the flood and clean up activity.

It installed a pre owned Komori

S529 following the wash out, but

the company was not confident

that it could support customers

no matter what. And despite

plans to install a flood wall along

the river Lune, the experience

left scars and with Simpson

heading for 70, he has bowed to

pressure to retire.

The companies know each

other well. MTP Media was one

of the printers that handled …



Zenith opts for dual role Speedmaster ZENITH PRINT GROUP will

install a hybrid Speedmaster

in November, rounding off a

year in which the company has

upgraded its press room and

invested in finishing technology.

The new machine is a five-

colour plus coater Speedmaster

XL106-5+LX3 configured to run

both conventional inks and UV

inks with a twin-lamp system in

the extended delivery. It replaces

two five-colour Heidelberg

presses, a ten-year-old CD102

with UV and an XL105.

Autoplate Pro plate chang-

ing, Inpress Control for colour

and register automation and the

slight increase in sheet format

will mean there will be no drop

off in production capacity.

John Mooney, managing

director of the Zenith Group,

says: “We anticipate a split of

75-25% between conventional

and UV packaging work on this

press and an output of up to 40

million sheets a year.”

The press is configured with

separate lines and tanks for

blanket and roller wash and for

the coatings. Moving from one

set up to the other is a matter

of replacing the blankets for the

different chemistries and strip-

ping the ink from the rollers. A

full changeover will take around

an hour, says Heidelberg’s

Matt Rockley. The press will

run with combination rollers

able to take the UV as well as

conventional inks.

The press will be installed in

the Zenith Media press room

at Pontypool alongside a push

to stop eightcolour perfecting

XL106 which was installed over

the summer months, giving the

company with a high produc

tivity and one high flexibility

machine.

Zenith Print Group offers

both commercial printing and

through Zenith Media a pack

aging operation that focuses

on the needs of numismatists

and medal collectors. The

company has installed the UK’s

first Promatrix 106 FC foiling

die cutter this year, following

earlier investment in a Proma

trix 106 die cutting platen with

stripper and a Diana Smart 80

cartongluer.

The hybrid configuration is

something that more and more

companies are considering, says

Rockley. “We have done a few

in the last couple of years,” he

says. “Some of the carton print

ers like them to print with lower

cost conventional low migra

tion inks with a UV varnish to

provide the shelf appeal that

retailers and brands are looking

for with the cost of the UV low

migration inks.”

Zenith’s XL106 has both

conventional and UV drying.

work for Pagefast while it

was unable to print. It has a

fivecolour B2 Sakurai as well as

digital, both cut sheet and large

format printing.

There is little overlap of

customers. The Pagefast equip

ment is not moving with the

staff.

Roller�quality�guaranteed

KOENIG & BAUER UK is

introducing a Gold Star Roller

Service, to fit and maintain

rollers supplied by the press

manufacturer. The move

follows research to test demand

for something that skilled press

operators would previously

have done.

The company has found that

the requirement exists, part

of a trend to optimise press

performance with matched

consumables on machine. Roller

conditioning and setting is a

logical extension of this. First

customers have already signed up.

The requirement has grown

owing to increased calcium

build up on rollers, itself the

consequence of papermak

ers using calcium carbonate in

coatings. “The calcium hardens

the surface of the rollers and

affects performance,” says Craig

Bretherton, K&B UK product

marketing manager “This

increases demand for inspec

tions, conditioning to improve

overall roller life.”

The inspections can be

arranged during scheduled

downtime as part of a general

maintenance programme. It will

also fill a knowledge gap. Not

every minder has the skills to

set the rollers on print units, nor

perhaps the patience to carry

this out. However, the company

points out: “A press with rollers

in poor condition or incorrectly

set can cause major production

and quality problems for print

ers. Resolving these problems

can be time consuming and

requires an identical skill set

across all press crews.”

J�Thomson�Colour�boosts�binderyJ THOMSON COLOUR Print

ers is upgrading both saddle

stitching and perfect binding

at its Glasgow factory, placing

the double order with Muller

Martini.

The saddle stitcher, a Primera

MC, arrived at the start of

November. To accommodate it

and ensure that no production

is lost, the printer is moving

folders to a temporary home

during installation. Once the

new line is signed off, the old

Primera E140 will be removed

and the folding equipment

returned.

The Primera is a nineyear

old machine and is beginning

to show its age in terms of call

outs, says managing director

Kevin Creechan. “We have a

very robust investment policy

and even though both machines

were still performing to an

acceptable level, we felt that it

was time to upgrade our finish

ing capabilities,” he says. “It

made sense therefore to look at

a deal which involved replac

ing both machines at the same

time.”

The Alegro perfect binder

will replace an Acoro binding

line. This will be taken out first

and the new machine installed

in its place. This is due to take

place in January when there

is usually muted demand for

perfect binding. Any that is

needed will be handled by a

neighbouring printer.

The company anticipates “a

big uplift” from the new saddle

stitcher. J Thomson Colour will

run the Muller Martini Connex

control system to accelerate

make ready and to enable the

machines to be operated

…

K&B UK will offer roller

service.

…

INVEST TODAY.

ENJOY TOMORROW.

ifsl.uk.com

[email protected]

020 8997 8053

Automation at your fingertips.

FinishingStartsHere



Kall Kwik looks forward as it hits fortieth anniversaryFORTY YEARS after Moshe

Gerstenhaber introduced print

franchising to the UK through

the launch of Kall Kwik, the

organisation is still going strong.

Like nostalgia, it is not what it

was. At its peak there were more

than 100 Kall Kwik outlets and

another 180 Prontaprints under

the same group ownership,

while today there are 43 or so

Kall Kwiks and no Prontaprint

franchises left. However, the

model and the shops remain

relevant and, says franchisor

Nigel Toplis at a lunch to cele-

brate the anniversary, there is a

process of bringing in new fran-

chisees to replace those that have

bowed out.

As always there is a mix of

managed shops and owner

managed shops, but the set

configuration of small offset

press, finishing and on the spot

production has changed. Each

operation is likely to have a

mix of services driven by local

conditions and the customer

mix. Unlike Prontaprint, which

appealed to a walk up audience,

Kall Kwik has always focused on

B2B customers. If nothing else,

says Toplis, they are more likely

to return than a customer order-

ing invitations to a 50th birthday

party.

The smallest unit today would

be around 65m2 comprising a

small digital press and finishing

equipment. The print itself can

be outsourced either to a larger

printer or to another member of

the franchise family. The largest

Kall Kwik operation currently

is in Chiswick with 280m2 and

four-colour litho printing for

its own customers and serving a

number of others in the group.

Others will be strong in website

design, large format display

printing.

Basic business print, say busi-

ness cards, remains the core.

“We still print millions of busi-

ness cards,” says Toplis. “But

we think of them not as business

cards, but as communication

devices. We have to add value

through speed, through service

and through sensory impact.”

That might come through a

product like the Xerox Iridesse

or Duplo’s DuSense embellish-

ment printer. “Compared to

when we started, customers are

more demanding, more sophis-

ticated. Today customers come

in knowing what they want, so

the way that we service these

customers has changed.”

“The foundations of this

business are very sound. There’s

no reason why we can’t go on for

another 40 years.”

Nigel Toplis sees future for the print franchise.

from a single touch screen.

But there are no plans to link

this to a digital production

network.

The stitcher is a crucial

element of the production base

at the factory, handling runs

that can reach 1 million, though

more frequently at 5,000 to

10,000. “It is such an impor

tant part of our business,” says

Creechan.

Watkiss�sells�to�PlockmaticFIVE YEARS after buying

Morgana, Swedish company

Plockmatic has returned for

another slice of the UK print

equipment manufacturing

industry.

It has bought Watkiss Auto

mation for an undisclosed

sum, adding a high end inline

equipment specialist to the

offline technology supplied by

Morgana and the lighter weight

inline booklet makers sold by

Plockmatic.

In recent years, Watkiss

has achieved acclaim with its

PowerSquare inline booklet

makers. The PowerSquare 224

can produce a finished stitched

product with up to 224pp with a

flattened perfect bound. This is

greater than any booklet maker

that is currently available from

Plockmatic.

The PowerSquare 160 is at

the point of availability. This

is capable of handling a long

sheet, delivering an A4 land

scape product which has not

been possible with Plockmatic

machines. Both PowerSquare

machines are available as offline

as well as inline configurations

where deals with OEM press

suppliers will continue.

The connection between the

two UK companies runs deep.

Morgana started as an agent

for the Watkiss rotary collator

at the end of the 1970s and the

two have collaborated since,

notably with the Documaster

combining elements from both

companies.

Now the offline versions of

the PowerSquare machines will

be sold via the Morgana distri

bution channel while Plockmatic

will handle any inline sales that

do not come through supplier

arrangements.

Communisis�commits�to�greenCOMMUNISIS IS to source

all its energy from renewable

sources, cutting carbon emis

sions by the equivalent of 6,000

tonnes a year.

The company consumes

16.5MW across its factories

and offices in the UK and the

deal which came into effect last

month will uses electricity from

solar, wind and tidal sources.

This will be part of a move to

improve the environment foot

print of the business and will

appeal to clients in banking,

insurance and the utilities.

These are companies that

have adopted sustainable busi

ness practices and wish to work

with similar businesses. …

Watkiss has led the way with square back binding.

…

•

•

•



Rapidity sticks with digital for move up to B2RAPIDITY HAS taken deliv-

ery of an HP Indigo 12000 at

the former Lefa factory near

Sidcup it acquired at the start of

the year.

This was largely a litho busi-

ness and Rapidity had initially

planned to invest in litho

technology. Market condi-

tions through the year have

prompted a rethink. “We had

been thinking about LED UV,”

says managing director Paul

Manning. “We then mentioned

to HP that we would be think-

ing about the Indigo B2 press

in the new year, when they

mentioned that one had become

available if we took it before the

end of October. It was a very

good deal.”

The press joins two Indigos

installed in central London

where space constraints

prevented the B2 press being

put in there. Instead it will be

operational in Foot’s Cray for

the start of the new year. “It also

needs more power than we had

available in central London,”

Manning adds.

“A lot of our customers

have asked for B2 digital and a

lot of competition has already

installed the B2 Indigo. People

have come to expect it.”

There are thoughts about

printing lightweight packag

ing and work to link it to the

Tharstern MIS and workflow to

be able to move work between

the separate factories. The

investment will give Rapidity

a true disaster recovery facility

that is increasingly important

for customers looking to guar

antee a fast turnaround.

The speed of turnaround

demanded was one of the reasons

why Manning’s position on the

next investment shifted. Jobs can

come in, be printed and finished

the same day. The litho work

might need to sit overnight before

printing the reverse side and to sit

again before finishing. Customers

having become used to instant

response could not go back to a

multiday turnaround. “With

litho we print then wait, fold

and stitch it on the Muller; with

digital it’s print and finish imme

diately on a booklet maker.”

There was consideration of

B2 inkjet and again familiar

ity with the HP technology

and business model won out.

Manning explains: “It came

back to the click model. We

understand that. How could

we work with a press where,

because of changing coverage,

one job might be 1p a sheet, the

next 10p? We have to run a busi

ness and we know where we are

with the Indigo.

“Even this year the litho

market has become even more

cut throat. It does not make

investment in litho very appeal

ing. And it remains very difficult

to differentiate yourself when

everyone has a B2 litho press

competing for the same work.”

Huge�order�opens�way�to�digital�packagingEPAC FLEXIBLE Packaging,

a US printer that concentrates

solely on digital print, has placed

an order for 20 Indigo 20000

presses, the largest single order

for HP’s webfed machines.

The start up packaging busi

ness currently has eight of the

Indigo 20000 machines, having

only started in business in 2016

with a single digital press. The

company becomes the largest

user of the digital press for flexi

ble packaging. HP has an installed

base of 160 machines to date.

The company now operates

from eight locations across the

US. By the time the last of the

new presses is installed in 2020,

ePac will have 28 Indigo 20000

machines running in 15 sites. It

will take delivery of one machine

a month over the next 16 months.

EPac is focused on packaging

for energy and sports nutrition

foods, the majority using pouches.

Its strategy is to offer these busi

nesses a more flexible service than

is possible with conventional flexo

printing, as well as opportunities

for personalisation that come

with digital printing. CMO Carl

Joachim says: “These markets

happen to be great markets for us,

in part due to the nature of our

products and services, and in part

because these are rapidly growing

markets with quite a number of

SMBs that benefit from our value

proposition.”

“Our customers are bene

fitting from an improved

experience, including complet

ing orders within ten business

days, compared to six to 12

weeks for conventional printing,

as well as reduced environmental

impact and on demand customi

sation,” says CEO Jack Knott.

The company has the backing

of Arion Partners led by Knott,

a former CEO of Coveris and

one time partner at Sun Capital

Partners. The first plant was

in Wisconsin, the second in

Boulder, Colorado, chosen in

part because of the expansion

of the cannabis industry in the

state where the number of start

up businesses is high.

Picon�celebrates�with�the�past

HUNDREDS OF YEARS of

industry experience gathered at

Stationers Hall, to celebrate the

centenary of Picon, the associa

tion representing the interests

of machinery suppliers to the

printing industry.

Previous chief executives,

chairmen and current staff

raised a glass to the next 100

years, though what that might

look like is as impossible to

describe as it would have been

for the 33 founding companies

of the Association of British

Manufacturers of Machinery for

the Printing and Allied Trades.

This was to be become the

British Federation of Print

ing Machinery Suppliers in

1982, following a merger with

the British Paper Machinery

Manufacturers Association. It

had become Picon in order to

broaden the scope of member

ship still further, before …

Rapidity gets Indigo

12000.

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Healeys backs digital growth with Ricoh investmentHEALEYS HAS become

among the first in Europe to

install a pair of the latest Ricoh

Pro C presses. It has taken deliv-

ery of both a Pro C9200 and Pro

C7200, the one for high volume

four-colour digital printing, the

other for added value print with

Ricoh’s fifth-colour option.

They will join a Pro C9100 at

the factory in Ipswich.

Earlier this year managing

director Philip Dodd had been

considering investment in the

latest Kodak Nexpress model,

the Nexfinity, but found that the

Ricoh approach provided better

value for the business. The

company also has an Autobond

laminator on order, he says.

“It’s still fairly early on with

the machines,” Dodd says,

“and we have experienced some

teething problems which have

been dealt with by Ricoh in

Japan.

“Digital is growing very

quickly for us and we are

looking forwards to a record

year.” The end of the current

year is in sight at the end of this

month allowing Dodd to predict

sales will reach £4 million for

the year, up from £3.6 million in

2017. “And there will be a near

doubling of profits,” he says.

The company was kept busy

in the traditionally slow summer

months he says, attributing the

success of the business to people

working incredibly hard. “We

have a very very good team of

people” he says. There will be

a profit share bonus to recog-

nise their contribution, Dodd

adds.

The growing importance

of digital print to the business

means it accounts for 35% of

sales this year, while almost

twothirds remains litho print

ing. “That too has been really

buoyant for us in the last few

months. It has help us have a

really, really successful year,” he

adds. The Pro C9200 will add

to capacity while the additional

colour options on the Pro C7200

offer neons as well as white and

clear toner options.

selling the trade show it

owned, Ipex, to IIR in 2006. It

was a deal which has secured the

financial future of the association.

Two years later, through a merger

with the Association of Printing

Machinery Importers, represent

ing the likes of Heidelberg, Picon

became the body it is today.

Thanks to this, Heidelberg

had three representatives in the

hall: current Picon chairman

and Heidelberg UK CEO Gerard

Heanue, George Clarke and

Wolfgang Gorth who had retired

before the merger with the APMI.

Others present included Michael

Knight, Laurence Roberts,

Martin Rickards, Martyn Elmy,

Paul Foster and Keith Dalton.

Deanprint�receives�England’s�firstDEANPRINT HAS installed

the first MBO K80 folder in

England as the next piece in a

modernisation programme for

the Stockport business.

The company has based its

folding requirements around

two Shoeis. One has been

moved on, the second retained

as standby, but the MBO will

have more than enough capacity

to meet demand.

The reinvestment programme

has topped £1.2 million since

a management buyout six

years ago. This has included

a Wohlenberg Quickbinder

and trimmer and three guillo

tines, all supplied by Friedheim

International, and Aster sewer

and a DA260 casemaker from

Kolbus UK. It also maintains

an extensive range of traditional

finishing machinery enabling

it to handle jobs that others

cannot, especially in out of

format products.

These combine with more

conventional fare: it is the UK’s

largest supplier of hairdresser

appointment books and supplies

thousands of school diaries.

“It is being able to offer what

other people can’t do because

they don’t have the machines

and combining this with digital

print.” says operations director

Kevin Lee.

The new folder falls into this

strategy, offering a lot more flex

ibility thanks to fast set up, and

shifting bottlenecks to other

parts of the process. Set up time

is reduced by 60%, it reckons.

Oil�City�investment

CANVEY ISLAND printer

Design 4 Print & Signage has

swapped out a fiveyearold

Xerox iGen4 for two of the latest

Ricoh machines, the Pro C7200

offering versatility through

its fifth colour option and the

Pro C9200, its 130ppm press.

A Xerox DC7002, ending a

12year relationship between

printer and Xerox.

The company had been

considering a Xerox Iridesse, the

much discussed new press that

offers sixcolour printing. “But

we now have two machines for the

cost of that one press,” says print

manager Doug Prin. “These have

been in for a couple of weeks and

we have had no break downs, no

problems at all.”

This compares well against

the iGen4, which was proving

increasingly troublesome and

where consistency of output

was becoming problematic as

the machine aged and was over

taken by newer technology. The

lack of support from Xerox

Phil Dodd commits to Ricoh for digital expansion.

…

…

Kevin Lee likes the versatility of the MBO.

Design4Print invests in Ricoh.



Xerox considers product line up under new CEOSALES FROM high end produc-

tion equipment continued to fall

for Xerox in Q3, despite the

better than anticipated demand

for the Iridesse, the FujiXerox

developed digital press uniquely

able to print six colours.

But this failed to compensate

for a fall in demand for the iGen

presses which are built by Xerox

in the US and which carry both a

higher price tag and must repre-

sent a bigger margin for Xerox.

There was a 17% decline in

installations of high end colour

presses, both iGen and Versant

models. Only in the mid range

machines was there an increase

in sales. Overall equipment

revenue fell by 3.8% to $511

million compared to $531

million in 2017.

Total revenue for the quarter

was 5.8% lower at $2.35 billion

($2.50 billion), delivering a

pretax profit of $192 million

($167 million).

Presenting the first quar-

terly figures since becoming

CEO, John Visentin stressed

instead the improvements at

the lower end and on efforts to

increase revenues. “We were

disappointed in the revenue

in Q3. We have an action plan

to improve revenues that

include, among other things,

simplifying the organisational

structure, improving alignment

of compensation and evaluating

contracts that are not profit-

able,” he said in an analysts call.

This amounts to head count

reductions in IT as the company

reduces the number of software

systems it operates to bring costs

in line with a business of the size

it has become; it is also looking

at hiving off some its property

portfolio as well as rationalising

the product portfolio in order to

remove costs from the supply

chain “eliminating numerous

configurations of essentially the

same product and by employ-

ing a better design for efficiency

through an increased use of

common parts”.

Also under threat is inkjet.

Under previous CEO Jeff

Jacobson inkjet represented

the future for the company,

with the Brenva cut sheet and

Trivor continuous feed inkjet

presses in particular carrying

the Xerox flag. Now the new

CEO says that “We are examin-

ing our RD&E investments in

xerography and inkjet to ensure

that we maintain technology

leadership and that we have the

best approach to realise the high

rates of return that we require.”

Xerox already produces print

heads that are used in 3D print-

ing, hence the development of

a roadmap to participate in this

sector. “We are also accelerat-

ing market growth in emerging

innovation areas to more quickly

decide whether and how to

incubate and scale opportunities

for monetisation. One example

of this is the work we are doing

around smart tags and printed

electronics.”

or its distributor also told on

the business leaving it feeling

neglected, only calling when

it came to replace the press it

seems. In contrast Prin says:

“We have been very well served

by SmartPrint which supplied

the Ricohs.”

The company will supply

anything from a business card to

magazines, to vehicle wraps and

large format displays, serving

a customer base that stretches

well beyond Canvey Island and

South Essex to Devon and to

Norfolk. “We do work for a lot

of holiday companies,” he says.

Foilco�flourishFOILCO LAUNCHED its new

environmental policy at Luxe

Pack in Monaco. The campaign,

using six foiled cards on Fenner

Papers Redeem 100% recycled

material, aims to correct miscon-

ceptions about the use of foil and

how foil waste should be handled.

StudioDBD was commis-

sioned to create a memorable

design and so get the message

about the impact of foil across to

designers. With foil increasingly

popular for high end brands, the

choice of Luxe Pack to kick off

the campaign was deemed apt.

“The six cards, foiled on the

front and the reverse contain a

mix of humorous and sentimen-

tal messages which will resonate

closely with brands and crea-

tives. The idea of the messages

on the front is to draw attention

to the cards and encourage the

recipient to pick them up and

turn them over,” says Foilco

marketing manager Jamie Evans.

“We looked for a hook for

each of the subjects on the

cards reverse and feel we’ve

managed to achieve this by

using a distinctly playful tone

to create interest. We follow

this caption to the reverse of the

card, where further information

can be found and the recipient

will hopefully learn a little more

about our company’s position

and stance on that particular

subject matter.”

The cards were printed

by Pressision Creative Print

and Finishing in Leeds, with

Dreyer Cliché in Copenha-

gen providing the dies. The

cards are presented in a tear

strip wallet also containing the

We Are Foilco environmental

statement.

My�Way�to�printSINATRA MARKETING

Group is up and running at a

2,800m2 factory in Rayleigh,

Essex. This houses a tencolour

Heidelberg Speedmaster 102,

Heidelberg stitching, guillotine,

folder gluer inkjet mailing line,

Agfa platemaking and directors

Barry Knight and Gary Knight.

Both had worked at Anton

and at companies that had come

together together to form the

business which collapsed in 2017,

but had not been in charge of

running Anton either then or

when Malcolm LaneLey became

chief executive at the head of an

employee ownership trust. …

…

Sales of iGens continue to fall.

Foilco is stressing the green

credentials of foiling.

www.xeikon.com



Mega deal brings US web offset giants togetherQUADGRAPHICS WILL take

over LSC Communications,

the high volume print business

part of the former RR Donnel-

ley print business, to create

an $8 billion turnover print

powerhouse.

RR Donnelley was split in

three two years ago in order to

increase value to shareholders

and one arm is now subject to a

takeover by QuadGraphics: LSC

alone has sales of $3.9 billion

with 22,000 staff across 46

factories in the US and Mexico.

The move will put much of the

high volume magazine and cata-

logue print capacity in the arms

of a single company, raising

fears that publishers will need

to pay more for their print going

forwards.

The merger will also

strengthen Quad’s position in

book printing, retail inserts and

direct mail. Book publishers will

get an end to end service plat-

form to manage stock, online

ordering, digital print built on

HP PageWide T series presses

and integrated finishing lines for

greater scope for versioning and

slicing time to market.

It is also indicative of the

decline in circulation of the big

hitting magazines and retail

catalogues that dominated print

in the twentieth century. Quad

believes that these customers

can migrate to a more complete

communications offering

where print has a key role to

play but is not alone in deliv-

ering marketing messages. Its

services include content crea-

tion and media buying across

publications, television and

radio. On the print side it is

involved in instore signage for

retailers as well as catalogue

printing.

This is what it calls Quad

3.0, “our strategy to create

more value by leveraging our

strong print foundation as part

of a much larger, more robust

integrated marketing solu-

tions offering, deliver cost and

time savings opportunities for

our clients” according to Joel

Quadracci, CEO who sees the

opportunity for the business

to become a marketing solu-

tions partner. There will be

greater scope for cross selling

by exploiting LSC’s production

base, its customers and invest-

ments in workflow and data

management.

The move will result in

savings of $135 million within

two years says Quad, $60 million

coming from closing excess

capacity. The remainder will

come from eliminating dupli-

cation and administration. The

LSC plants are most likely to

suffer: they are less well invested

and with a different culture to

Quad.

Quad has experience in

consol idat ing mult i-s i te

print groups having brought

its own operations together

with World Color and later

Versus and Brown Printing.

It failed to buy book printer

Courier Corporation which

was instead purchased by LSC

Communications.

“We are a print and direct

mail marketing company,” says

Barry Knight, adding that he

does not have the ambition to

rebuild Anton.

The company took delivery of

the ten-colour Speedmaster with

CutStar, previously installed at

Headley Brothers, from DPM

earlier in the summer.

“We aim to be a little more

exclusive with a simple service

led outlook. We will focus on

quality and customer focus

concentrating on the niche

below what the big boys do. We

can produce one-piece mailers

and have achieved Royal Mail

approval,” he says.

Currently there are just five or

six full time staff led by Knight

and cousin Gary Knight. The

plant is working from Monday

to Saturday at the outset and is

busy. “And we can call on help as

and when we need to,” he adds.

“Currently the priority is not

about the numbers, it’s about

getting the right type of work.

We reckon to be in profit in 18

months, and then can start paying

back some of the money that we

have put in,” Knight explains.

“The space is there for when

we want to grow. We would like

to keep it controlled to between

£5-£10 million predictable turn-

over within these premises, and

we are not trying to take on the

big boys.

“We decided on the Sinatra

name. It’s a bit cheesy, but we

thought we had worked for our

fathers, we had worked for Mr

Lane-Ley. Now we decided let’s

try to do it our way.”

Datalase�delivers�no�touch�printDATALASE IS close to instal-

lation of its first photonic print

line, its no contact print technol-

ogy that was introduced at the

last Drupa.

The UK company showed

a technology where a laser

instigates a phase change in a

coating, changing it from clear

to black for date information,

batch numbers or for promo-

tional messaging. At the show

the business model was to

partner with the likes of Xerox

and Ricoh for implementation

of the technology.

However, the company was

acquired by Sato, providing the

resources to change strategy

and offer the market a complete

package of laser, software and

coatings under its own name.

“The first products will come

to market in 2019 and 2020,”

says sales and marketing officer

Mark Naples. “The proposi-

tion is about driving consumer

engagement.”

The first application will be

as part of a Sidel bottling line,

which will help reduce the

number of Skus that need to

be sorted through labels. The

Datalase photonics approach

will apply mandatory infor-

mation or foreign language

versions. It will also increase

productivity through reducing

changeovers.

A second application,

currently in prototype form,

Quad will create mega

printer through consolidation.

…

…

For more information, please contact OLIVER OFFSET LIMITED at:

OLIVER OFFSET LIMITED, B3 Deseronto, St Mary’s Road, Langley, Slough SL3 7EW

Telephone: 01753 590800 Email: [email protected] Web: www.oliveroffset.com

LITHO PRINTING REINVENTED

SPOT OR FULL UV COATING

LESS POWER CONSUMPTION

PRINT ON PLASTIC

NO WASH-UPS

NO DRY BACK

LED IS SAFE UV

INSTANT DRYING

NO STARCH SPRAYLED-U

V

A SAKURAI LED PRESS IS GUARANTEED TO INCREASE YOUR PROFITABILITY



Park Lane Press invests to boost finishing offerPARK LANE PRESS has

stepped up investment in its

finishing area to retain more

work in-house. It follows instal-

lation earlier this year of an HP

Indigo 7900.

Now the Corsham company

has taken its first steps into PUR

binding and boosted laminat-

ing capacity. The business has

been able to offer short run hot

melt binding and wire binding,

but not PUR. “We were always

outsourcing work,” says manag-

ing director Phil Sudwell.

Park Lane has also taken a

Horizon BQ470 four-clamp

binder from IFS along with an

HT30C three-knife trimmer.

The idea is to work with litho

sheets as well as pre-collated

work from the digital press. A

Col-Tec collator will act as a

gathering line for litho work.

And the set up is working well.

“We should have done this a

long time ago,” he says.

The laminator is Foliant

Mercury 530SF able to lami-

nate both sides of a B2 sheet

and replaces a less productive

Foliant. “We have big job that

needs a lot of lamination and

being able to laminate both

sides the number of jobs we do

has grown. It is proving to be

well worth the additional cost.

We have had a very good year

this year and are trying to keep

everything in-house where we

have full control.”

Alongside these investments,

the company has installed a

Kluge foiling machine which

can also be put to service the

growing volume of books

produced. It has specialised in

printing on uncoated papers

using a two B2 Komori config-

ured to print waterless and is one

of the few in the UK committed

to this process.

The BQ470 is a four-clamp

binder running at up to 1,350

books an hour, with automated

set up triggered through touch

screen operation. The HT30

complements the binder with

rapid set up to finish 200 perfect

bound books an hour, storing up

to 40 jobs in memory.

is to personalise a coffee cup

in store. The unit will print a

marketing message, personal-

ised salutation, or offer on the

side of a cup in a few seconds,

opening the way for brands to

communicate with customers

and encourage the use of an app

to engage with the consumer.

Witherbys�returns�for�XL75

NORTH LONDON commercial

printer Witherbys has ordered a

five-colour Speedmaster XL75

for installation in December.

The press will replace an

SM74, now almost eight years

old and a year beyond the normal

replacement cycle the 275-year-

old business likes to keep to.

“We always try to replace each

press after seven years,” says

director James Greene.

The company installed a six-

colour XL75 in 2016 and once

the new press is installed, the

company will once again find

it easier to split a job across two

presses using the same plate

format and inherently closer

colour matching.

The new press, like the first

XL75, will have Axis Control to

store and recall settings for spot

colours. Choosing to source all

consumables through Heidel-

berg also helps with consistency

and worry-free operation.

“It’s pretty much five-

colour out, five-colour in,”

says Greene. “We looked at the

Speedmaster CS92 model, but

felt it wasn’t really for us even

with the benefit of a smaller

footprint. It just makes sense

for us to make this invest-

ment.” Nor was the company

convinced by the idea of accel-

erated drying, remaining with a

conventional set up.

There will be a makeready

saving though the greater auto-

mation that the XL provides,

matching the increase in shorter

run work being handled. Two

years ago a Stahlfolder CH56

was installed to add an auto-

mated folder to help with short

run work, but there has been no

temptation to increase the scope

of its digital print department.

Irish�moveDUBLIN PRINTER Impress

Printing Works has become

the first printer in Ireland to

install the five-colour Komori

Lithrone GL29.

The company gains the ability

to handle heavier stock at a full

16,500iph and will be better

placed to serve its expanding

overseas client base. More than

20% of its customers are from

overseas, says managing director

Pat Cotter.

The business will mark its

30th anniversary in 2020 and

has held true to a strategy of

providing high quality four

colour printing with service to

the fore and with everything

produced under one roof.

“Our clients know we do not

compromise on quality and we

meet their deadlines every time.

That’s why they come back

and recommend us to other,”

he says.

The company visited other

users of the GL529 before

committing to the Komori.

“We considered other press

manufacturers,” Cotter says.

“But the GL529 was best

suited for our work profile and

press room.” This included

power consumption as well

as speed of makeready and

running costs. n

Phil Sudwell: investment will keep work in-house.

Witherbys is replacing the SM74 with an

XL75.

…

I N N O V A T I O NT R A I N I N G S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y

YOU CHALLENGED. WE DELIVERED.

N A M E Jim Whittington

R O L E Digital Sales Manager

Jim is our resident expert when it comes to all things digital print.

Having worked at Antalis for over 15 years, he has built a vast knowledge

of our extensive product portfolio and specialises in helping customers

target new market opportunities. See how Jim has helped our customers

find innovative product solutions to maximise the use of their digital hardware

at digital2business.co.uk, or contact us today with your challenges.

Submit your

digital print challenges

Antalis.co.uk/jim-whittington

H A R D W A R EM E D I A

IN

NO

VA

TI O

N

22 September/October 2018 www.printbusiness.co.uk�

COVER STORY BLUETREE GROUP

A NEW ERA OPENS UP AT BLUETREEThe UK’s fastest growing print company is Bluetree. It has been a pioneer of online printing. Now it is a pioneer in its application of inkjet technology to improve offset litho printing.

BLUETREE HAS SURPRISED PRETTY

much everyone in print this year. First

it surprised many in the industry when

announcing investment in a Screen True-

press 520HD, a continuous feed inkjet

press that would replace a good chunk of

litho printing when coupled with a Tecnau

inline sheeter and stacker. Then, when the

press was in place and operational, Bluetree

surprised even these suppliers by ordering a

second inkjet print production line.

The two lines are now in place and

running alongside three long perfecting litho

presses, four Xerox iGens, a Fuji Jetpress

and HP Indigo 12000. The line up is unique.

No other company anywhere is using a

webfed inkjet press to handle what has had

to be printed litho until now. However, for

Bluetree the logic of the move is impeccable,

backed by the quality that is possible with

the Screen press.

Bluetree burst onto the scene four years

ago with the merger between a former

screen printing business and Instantprint,

a start up that had discovered that people

want to buy simple print online and also

want next day delivery. From an office above

a car dealership in Newcastle lifelong friends

Adam Carnell and James Kinsella had been

pumping out flyers, business cards and the

like, all sold through a website.

In Rotherham, Bryan Shirley, owner of

the Bluetree display print business, had

been pondering how to do online printing,

but had limited his horizons to the display

graphics market he understood. When the

two sides met up to discuss colour manage-

ment and consistency problems that the

younger business needed to solve, the

conversation jumped to how the two could

help each other expand. “My thinking was

too limited,” says Shirley. “For me and for

them, it seemed an obvious fit. Culturally we

were very similar.”

The union was the spark that ignited one

of the fastest growing print businesses in

Europe at a time when overall demand for

print on paper has been declining. Bluetree

achieved the Sunday Times list of the fastest

growing companies in the UK three years on

the turn and only missed out on the recogni-

tion this last year because the threshold was

48% growth and it fell 2% short.

Constant investment has been neces-

sary to provide the platform to achieve this

growth. The company has spent £5 million

last year and close to that this year, more

than £30 million since 2012.

This has brought a vast new factory on the

edge of Rotherham; the continual invest-

ment in the printing technology above, plus

the finishing equipment to match; there

� www.printbusiness.co.uk September/October 2018� 23

BLUETREE GROUP COVER STORY

is investment in its internally developed

workflow and other software; in its people

and data analytics to continually refine how

Bluetree pitches the service to customers

and there is investment in the production

solutions to achieve the slickest most effi-

cient process possible. If people are wasted

pulling a pallet of finished work to the

dispatch area, then Bluetree has replaced

people power with a conveyor system.

It is a lean management approach that few

others have attempted. The idea is that as

much as possible nobody touches the orders

from the time they are placed to despatch.

“Reducing the labour and waste and squeez-

ing what we can from each job is vital for

us,” says Shirley, who stepped down from

the board a few months ago.

BLUETREE WORKS THROUGH differ-

ent brands supported by customer teams

that understand the knowledge (or lack of

it) that customers have.

Instantprint serves irregular customers

with simple flyers and business cards. They

may not understand the intricacies of the

printing process so can need more guidance

than customers of Bluetree’s second brand

Route1. These are the trade buyers, print-

ers and agencies who have understood the

advantages of working with a business able

to consolidate similar job and so achieve

economies of scale. Now Route1 Connect

targets more regular customers, print

management businesses that are demand-

ing more complex products, multi-section

brochures and books for example.

These types of work are channelled to

separate production cells that are finessed

for the most effective way of producing

print. The B2 Indigo 10000 press is linked

inline to a Horizon SmartStacker that spits

out stacks of single page print jobs that are

checked, wrapped and sent off to dispatch.

The B2 Jetpress 720S is dedicated to busi-

ness cards. Sheets can be sent through a

Harris and Bruno coater or Autobond lami-

nator before being loaded to a purpose built

Rollem cutter slitter that slices and dices the

cards into boxes for the same dispatch area.

A Scodix in the same glass panelled room can

add a touch of embellishment to cards now

and to brochures and books in the future.

The iGen room has four of the Xerox

machines, one with a Tecnau reel sheeter

fitted that allows the press to print 80,000

sheets without any need to refill its feed

trays. It means that the digital press can

run uninterrupted for several hours rather

than needing the paper bins filling every few

minutes. Costs are minimised through the

application of technology.

Tecnau is also instrumental in the latest

development. Through UK dealer IFS,

it has supplied unwind unit, sheeter and

stacker to both Screen lines. In the start up

phase earlier in the summer, the press ran

to a rewind unit though only as a temporary

step. Now the sheeter and stacker change on

the fly according to information about each

job retrieved through barcodes.

This technology is well established as

Tecnau is worldwide market leader in paper

handling systems for continuous feed digital

presses. What is new at Bluetree is the

stacker which introduces soft touch grip-

pers to lift and pull each sheet into the stack,

avoiding any marking on what can be sheets

with a heavy ink coverage.

It is an approach which has worked for

generations in litho printing but has been

unnecessary in the digital world while mono

printing has dominated. The stacker had

previously used belts to control each sheet,

raising the risk of marking.

The development means that Bluetree

can print with heavy ink coverage without

concern that the sheet will mark because the

sheet is being dragged across the surface of

another sheet or in contact with belts. The

ink should be dry, but may not be fully hard-

ened at this point.

The ink is the Screen SC ink, a rapidly

coagulating formulation that will sit on the

surface of a standard offset paper without a

protective coating. This feature was crucial

to Bluetree selecting the Screen inkjet press

and to its confidence that inkjet would be

able to match litho for quality and that this

would give inkjet the edge that the company

is now exploiting.

“IT’S ABOUT TAKING THE LEAST

profitable work from litho and putting it

on the inkjet press, which in turn frees up

capacity on the litho presses and so helps

margins,” says Shirley. This work is short

run multi-section brochures and perfect

bound books, fewer than 1,000 copies but

with an average of 500-600. On the litho

press this will mean multiple plate changes

and makereadies.

Even with the 35 sheets used before good

colour, a four-section book can add substan-

tially to the percentage of sheets in a short

run job. Moving this to a digital press with

no loss of quality will release the offset press

for longer runs and reduce the amount of

folding, pallets of work in progress waiting

for the job to finish printing and the stitching

as the final step. “We were spending more

time setting up our Muller Martini than

running the job,” says Carnell.

Now an inkjet press can feed flat sheets …

Adam Carnell says: “We were spending more time setting up our Muller Martini than running the job.”



THE�SCREEN�TRUEPRESSJET 520HD is the latest generation of a press that began as a joint development with Ricoh and that has started to diverge with subsequent models.

Screen Europe senior vice president of sales Bui Burke says the first users were in transactional print “where the pigment ink delivered great results

on expensive paper”. The technology then moved into books (and the first UK user of this press is book printer Printondemand-Worldwide), and now the door is open for commercial print. “This is the future, the next generation of inkjet,” he says.

The technology, particularly what

the ink represented, is also a game change for Cees Rem. He is now product marketing manager at Screen Europe, but was previously working for CVG, the Dutch paper mill that has made its name with inkjet optimised papers.

“I had been involved in develop-ment of these papers for many year, but realised on the day that I saw the impact of the SC inks on stand-ard papers that I would have to find another job.”

The SC ink is key to the break-through. It does not sink into the fibres of the paper causing cockling and resulting in a flat finish as other approaches have created. Screen is not saying much about the technol-ogy, Burke saying only “it coagulates like blood”.

This ability is vital to the success of inkjet printing: the cost of the inkjet specific papers is €300 a tonne more than a standard paper . “Transactional printers do not need to run offset papers, but in commercial printing

we cannot expect customers to move back from the range of papers that they have always offered to a handful of papers for inkjet,” says Rem.

The press uses piezo printheads able to print four droplet sizes at 1200x1200dpi. The press uses a heated drum, air knives and now an Adphos NIR dryer able to remove 90% of the water before it soaks into the paper. The ink comes in 18 litre containers with the option of working with 200 litre drums for high volume users.

At Bluetree the sweet spot has been identified as 500-600 copies of a multi-section job. If there is light ink coverage this can stretch to 1,000 or more, but the cost of the ink is only one factor to be considered. “It is about other efficiencies,” Burke says. “It’s about removing people and processes, from a production chain that uses numerous people and processes to two people and two processes at Bluetree.”

SCREEN TRUEPRESSJET CHANGES THE GAME

to a Horizon StitchLiner MkIII or to a

BQ480 perfect binder even before the job

has finished printing. Jobs can be printed

faster, with less disruption and everyone

benefits in a sector which is one of the fastest

growing for Bluetree.

If this is the logic, it only works if Blue-

tree can be confident in the technology to

meet quality considerations and printing

on the same papers. And with the Screen

TruepressJet 520HD, Bluetree has found

that press. What has delivered the solution

is a new type of ink seen in an early version

at Drupa in 2016 and perfected since then

with the announcement of the press and

commercial availability of the ink the next

year.

THE FIRST SAMPLES WERE distrib-

uted at the Hunkeler Innovation Days in

2017. Carnell picked up a copy of the calen-

dar used as a sample to demonstrate the

print quality. “This was the first time we

had seen inkjet technology applicable to our

own markets. We saw the potential there was

for it to really change how we worked and to

let us transfer a big chunk of production to

inkjet printing. And we had to understand

the connection with other equipment.

“Another element is in the software

because a digital solution is the combina-

tion of hardware and software to deliver

the results we need. This was a brand new

area of technology for us, so one of the key

considerations was to work with suppliers

we already rely on.”

The company has three Screen-made

platesetters. It has existing technology from

Horizon via IFS, which also supplies Tecnau

in the UK. “We were confident because

Tecnau is world leader in handling systems,”

he adds. Tecnau was as eager to work with

Bluetree. “Companies like Bluetree are our

customers of the future,” says Harm Jan

Hullerman, sales director covering central

Europe, the UK and middle east.

Bluetree had watched other inkjet provid-

ers, but the Screen was the first continuous

feed inkjet press able to print litho quality

on coated offset papers. Previously there has

been compromises, in quality, in speed or in

the paper options. Inkjet optimised papers

are expensive and do not match the feel and

look of coated papers.

Bluetree is keeping control on the papers

that it will run on the Screen presses, just as

it limits the choice of papers that its litho

presses use. Its business model is built on a

limited selection of papers and maintaining

a standardised approach to printing.

The two inkjet lines meet this criteria. One

is set up to print sections for saddle stitched

brochures, the other for perfect bound

products. Each prints in collated order, the

stacks of sheets being taken across the aisle

to either a Horizon StitchLiner MkIII or a

Horizon BQ480 perfect binder. The Stitch-

Liner is capable of running at 6,000 copies

an hour and of switching between formats

in seconds; the BQ480 is equally swift to set

up, a four-clamp binder able to produce run

of one books and brochures.

Once the decision had been taken on the

technology, the work began on getting the

workflow in place that would allow as much

automation as possible.

At this point covers are printed separately,

but they need to be the same size and to be

printed at the right time and delivered to the

finishing lines ready for completion of a job.

Next year these will be printed on the UK’s

first Landa S10P. Bluetree has built its own

automated workflow and the new produc-

tion unit needed to be integrated into the

workflow, making it simple for an operator

to call up a job knowing that all the profiles

are part of the workflow.

…

…

� www.printbusiness.co.uk September/October 2018� 25

BLUETREE GROUP COVER STORY

Top: The entrance to Bluetree is bright and welcoming.

Above: Screen TrupressJet 520HD will run with minimal set up.

Right: The automated carousel storage unit holds part of an order until the complete job is ready for dispatch. The position of each element is recorded by the computer which retrieves it when the final part of the job arrives.

Below: Product teams are young and divided by brand.



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More from: Komori UK Limited. Tel : 0113 823 9200 e-mai l : sales@komori .co.uk

Komori UK Limited, Victoria Road, Seacroft, Leeds LS14 2LA

THE�PRESS� IS�ONLY�PART of the story for Bluetree. It needs the technology around the press to be equally slick and equally effective.

This means the Tecnau handling systems that deliver the paper into the press and collect it after and it means the Horizon equipment to process printed sheets into stitched booklets and perfect bound books. As with the press, Bluetree wanted to work with a partner it trusted, in this case IFS.

IFS had already supplied three StitchLiner MkIIIs to the company to handle litho sheets. It now has five. The systems have proved reli-able, versatile in terms of format and substrate, and are automated enough to make ready at the push of a button for almost instant set up from job data accessed through the barcode. This also helps track progress of the job and ensures its integrity.

Likewise the BQ480 four-clamp perfect binder was a known package. Bluetree has had a BQ470, so the step to the more automated machine linked to an HT1000V three-knife trimmed, was logical.

The BQ480 can cope with book of one production, switching in seconds between books of different lengths and thicknesses with measurements gained automatically.

Jason Seaber, technical director of IFS, says: “Bluetree is very much about fast turnaround. As everything has to go through finishing it could become a bottleneck, which is where they need automation.”

The Tecnau is somewhat different. The Italian manufacturer is specialist in handling systems for continuous feed web printing. It has taken this into its own book production lines. It has also developed a zero speed placer for digital web presses.

This will take away the down time spent replacing a reel when it it has run out by switching instantly to a new reel, much like a web offset press. In the digital world this unit

could enable a printer to switch between different types or weights of paper to cope with multiple short run jobs says Harm Jan Hullerman, sales director for central Europe, UK and Middle East.

“We have a wide portfolio of solutions around digital print,” he says. “Our ideas tend to come from customers and we will work with them to develop the products print-ers need.”

One of these developments is key to Bluetree. The ability to cut to different lengths and change this on the fly is well established and has helped Tecnau to its market leading position.

Now after sheeting, it has devel-oped a soft touch gripper to control the sheet into the delivery, much like the stacker on an offset press. It replaces a system of belts used to transport the paper with a no mark solution.

As inkjet moves into commercial printing with greater levels of ink coverage, the ability to move the paper in this way will be vital.

“We have previously sold into transactional and book printers. That market is there but it is not really growing and is no longer the biggest segment. Today digital print in the graphic arts is the biggest segment for us,” he says. “The gripper means that customers can run a wide range of media, including coated stock with heavy ink coverage.”

This requirement came up in the detailed presale conversations says Seaber, leading to the specifications of the Horizon finishing technology and for the Tecnau technology.

Adam Carnell says the choice for Tecnau was influenced by IFS and “the credit you give to the company that is world market leader in the transactional world”.

And for Hullerman the appeal is equally succinct. “Customers like Bluetree are the customers of the future – and we need to be part of that.”

FINISHING IS VITAL TO SUCCESS“It has not been an easy process,” says

Carnell, “though we believe that inline

production will pay off in the long term.”

The challenge for Bluetree now is to

manage the flow of covers to these machines.

And that will be solved next year with the

installation of the UK’s first Landa S10P

nano graphic press. “We knew it would

take a period of time. There are internal

complexities to the workflow that needed

to be sorted out, making sure covers were

correct took fine tuning but we could imme-

diately see clear benefits.

“The second press went in immediately

because of this. We had expected to run the

first for six to 12 months before buying the

second, but the benefits were so clear.”

The inkjet technology has proved highly

reliable, something that is needed for the

professionals who buy through Route1.

“They need to trust our reliability and

quality. Their expectations are that quality

from Route1 will be high and,” says

Carnell, “there have been very few adverse

comments.”

The company runs the presses at 50m/min

at a resolution of 1200x1200dpi. They will

run at 120m/min though at a lower resolution

and reduced ink coverage. New Adphos near

infra red dryers are waiting to be installed

on the presses. This will raise throughput to

75m/min, though not the 120m/min because

says Carnell at the 600x600dpi, the difference

in quality becomes noticeable. And while

that may not matter to the bulk of clients, to

switch between quality levels adds a decision

that operators will need to take rather than

run with the standard settings.

Work is also needed to better understand

the economics of ink coverage and costs to

ensure that the company’s workflow directs

jobs to the inkjet when that is best and to

litho when that is better. Inkjet fills the need

for the shorter run jobs. Longer runs will

stay litho. “The cost of paper per page is

why litho will always be part of the business

for a very very long time to come even as

economics will continue to shift the balance

with changes in the cost of ink for example,”

he continues.

There is also an environmental argument

for inkjet. The only chemistry needed to run

the press is a little cleaning fluid. In contrast

the litho process needs chemistry to process

plates, chemistry in the fount and to clean

down the press Carnell points out. Then

where the inkjet press is one or two person

operated, the litho workflow needs someone

in the plate room, two people on the press,

others to operate a guillotine then a folder.

All are cost factors both in terms of labour

and waste levels. n

…

Impremia IS29 inkjet digital printing system

Overturning digital conventions

Quality. Reliability. Stability.l Komori UV technology enables printing on the same

materials as offset.

l No special papers or pre-coating required.

l Sheet thickness range: 0.06-0.6mm simplex, 0.06-0.45mm duplex.

l Image quality to match offset.

l Digital<>offset colour simulation software system.

l UV inks cure instantly, enabling immediate finishing.

l Same high front-to-back register accuracy as offset.

More from: Komori UK Limited. Tel : 0113 823 9200 e-mai l : sales@komori .co.uk

Komori UK Limited, Victoria Road, Seacroft, Leeds LS14 2LA


INKJET

Inkjet is knocking on the doorInkjet�is�on�a�long�journey�for�customer�acceptance�and�printers�have�to�understand�the�challenges�for�the�technology�before�widespread�adoption�is�possible.

INKJET IS HARD. Very hard. Logically

the billions of dollars of research and the

time since the Inkjet Drupa was declared

in 2008 ought to have resulted in a litho

replacement press by now. Such high quality

machines as exist are few and far between.

Printers are still buying litho presses, still

buying established electrophotographic

technologies. The only conclusion is that

building the perfect inkjet press is harder

than it first appeared and harder than most

anticipated.

Inkjet has transformed the display print

market with firstly solvent ink presses, more

recently latex or UV machines. No one in

this part of the market will be buying screen

presses again. Nor will book printers be

investing in new litho machines when inkjet

presses can deliver the runs, the quality and

the overall unit cost that publishers require.

Label printing is rapidly succumbing to the

appeal of inkjet. More digital presses were

sold in Europe last year than conventional

flexo presses according to labelling associa

tion Finat.

INKJET IS BEGINNING to deliver a

digital transformation to textile printers and

there are some extraordinary applications

for inkjet in electronics, embroidery, wall

papers, wood laminates and ceramic tiles

that are absolutely transformational.

But commercial printers are slow to be

convinced that inkjet can be the solution

to their problems. In part this is because

inkjet has to overcome not just the analogue

litho process but also established digital

processes. Printers cannot afford any let

up in quality simply because they are using

inkjet technologies. Printers do not want to

relinquish the advantages that conventional

technologies provide in terms of versatility

of format or substrate, or productivity.

But there are incursions. Fujifilm has a

handful of Jetpress 720S users in the UK; the

Lettershop Group is using a Kodak Prosper

to replace conventional printing on direct

mail; Screen has a couple of TruepressJet

520HD users to print what has been printed

using litho or electrophotographically until

now. But these are exceptions.

HP HAS A NUMBER OF PageWide

presses in direct mail and book printers,

but as yet none replacing Indigos; Canon

has both inkjet web presses for book and

transactional print and a limited number

of i300 users; Ricoh likewise has custom

ers for the VC60000, but not as yet the

VC70000; Xerox has samples of its continu

ous feed and cut sheet inkjet technology in

use. Heidelberg has yet to ship a B1 Prime

fire inkjet press to a UK customer, despite

its undoubted quality. There is no queue

of buyers. Perhaps the exception to this is

Landa, where the nano ink is applied using

an indirect inkjet process.

This is in all a poor payback for the

hype and excitement generated at succes

sive Drupas from 2008. By now inkjet

ought to be if not the dominant technol

ogy, at least one that every printer has to

consider. And the key reason is that inkjet is

tremendously hard.

ON PAPER IT IS A SIMPLE PROCESS.

There is no contact with the substrate, no

ink and water to balance, no plates to make

and load into position and on a web press,

no restrictions in terms of page format. It

should be the ideal printing process. The

inside of an inkjet press looks simple,

compared say to the inners of an Indigo. But

in reality there are numerous considerations

that printers and developers are still coming

to terms with.

The first is the nature of the ink and paper

mix. Inkjet ink has to be fluid enough to pass

through microscopically small nozzles able

to fire a 2.5pl droplet thousands of times

a second. This means using water as the

solvent to carry the colour to the paper. And

paper does not enjoy being soaked by what

can be 5 litres of water a minute. This has

to be dried and the vapour has to go some

where to leave the image on the paper.

INKJET

� www.printbusiness.co.uk November/December 2018� 29

…

Standard offset papers are designed to

absorb some water. Consequently results

with inkjet have not been good. Book

printing can get away with it because ink

coverage on the page is low, minimising the

water problem. The scramble to tackle this

has been the key to delivering an acceptable

technology and printed quality.

Papermakers like Mitsubishi or CVG have

come at the problem with special coatings to

absorb the shock of drowning without the

water penetrating into the fibres. Produc-

tion is relatively limited and the paper is

more expensive than an offset paper. And

the printers customers do not want to

compromise when migrating work from

offset to inkjet.

THE SECOND APPROACH is with a pre

coating on a standard offset paper. This can

be applied as a universal fluid using an anilox

system or where the ink will be applied. This

is the bonding agent that HP has used on its

PageWide machines. The bonding fluid is

only applied where the image will be so does

not affect the look and feel of the paper as an

overall coating might.

The pre and sometimes post coat

approach is one that many developers have

taken, though this can affect the cost of the

overall machine and introduces a further

process. But it brings down the cost of the

paper, because standard papers are used,

and enables easier acceptance of a new

technology.

The third approach is with the ink. If

the ink can be made to dry more quickly

on the paper, or perhaps be engineered so

that it creates its own protective layer, the

problem may be solved. This opens up the

various inkjet technologies. Kodak’s contin-

uous inkjet approach has advantages here

because the continual flow of ink through

the nozzles, whether needed on the paper

or not, keeps them open. A piezo approach-

where the nozzle fires “on demand” may

need agents in the ink that prevent the

nozzle being blocked or partially blocked

by dried ink. Glycol is a favourite addition

for this purpose, but creates other drying

issues on the paper. HP’s thermal inkjet

approach is also a drop on demand technol

ogy that is dependent on vaporising water to

expel a droplet of ink through the nozzle.

The aim is for the ink to sit on the surface

of the paper, without running around to

combine with other droplets. The most

successful approach to date is to include an

agent to promote rapid coagulation. Fujifilm

uses this on the Jetpress 720S and Landa also

creates a film for the pigments to sit in as

part of its nano ink.

Fujifilm uses a combination of the rapid

coagulating ink and a coating design to

enhance this characteristic. Konica Minolta,

also with a B2 sheetfed machine, is using a

UV ink instead of water. UV inks are more

viscous than water based inks so are harder

to push through the piezo nozzle. KM gets

around this by heating the ink to make it

more fluid through the print head with the

extra advantage that as the droplet flies the

1mm or so to the paper, it cools and holds

its shape better when it strikes the surface.

A fraction of a second later the UV energy

delivers the final cure.

DEVELOPMENT ON WEB presses is

towards an ink, not unlike the latex ink that

is used in large format printing, that is an ink

which contains its own coating to prevent

penetration of pigment into the paper. To

date, Screen’s SC ink for the TruepressJet

520HD is the best known example. Ricoh

has taken a similar approach for the ink on

its equivalent machine the VC70000. This is

only 50% water and delivers the lightfast

ness that is needed in display applications

and the density needed in commercial print

applications without the need to apply more

ink than is needed, which in turn creates

drying problems.

The drying issue is a big one for water

based inkjet. In labels and packaging appli

cations it has encouraged the development

of energy cured inks and presses, almost

always UV of some kind, but also now

including electron beam. The web is passed

through a modified Xray scanner to cure

at speed with no risk of the migration of

photo initiator particles that cause major

problems for food brands in particular. As

most labels are applied to the outside of an

already impermeable glass or plastic bottle,

this is not a great problem, but for flexible

packaging with films rather than glass, UV is

unwelcome. Inkjet print for flexible packag

ing, in Europe at least, must either be water

based and electron beam cured.

THIS IS NOT A SOLUTION for commer

cial printing however. And drying technology

has become a fascination for the different

suppliers. Even HP with the three differ

ent widths of press in its PageWide series

has three different approaches to drying

the web, partly explained by the different

centres that developed the machines.

Canon has also come up with different

approaches for each generation of machine

and as the demands on drying have increased

with greater ink coverage and demand to use

standard papers. It has used heated drums,

hot air knives and combinations of these.

With the ProStream 1000, its latest offset

replacement machine, it has adopted an

HP has been one of the most successful with inkjet printing with a stable print technology that has gained the trust of book and transactional printers.


INKJET

… offset approach. The web is dried in what

is to all intents and purposes an oven from

a heatset web offset press. The web runs

unsupported through a long drying section

beneath the print heads.

The concept is that this dries the paper

more gently than a high heat approach and

avoids contact with rollers that may cause

unwanted marking. Ricoh’s VC70000 takes

almost the opposite approach. Its web path

winds around under IR dryers and then

around a heated drum. Again the purpose

is to dry the ink not cook the paper by using

the longest path possible and to keep the

paper smooth by eliminating any tendency

to cockling.

THE THIRD WAY, adopted by Kodak

initially and now by Screen is to use a near

infra-red technology. Adphos developed

the concept to use tune energy to evapo-

rate only the water molecules present in

the ink. There is almost no heating of the

paper which retains its shape without the

stretching and shrinking that is a risk when

dowsing the web with water.

In a Kodak Prosper there are NIR drying

units between the print colours, a configu-

ration that creates a design that is closer

to commercial heatset web press than to

a design originating in the laser printing

world. The design means that the press is

printing wet on dry rather than wet on wet.

An additional dryer is used for the highest

quality version of the press. As the Prosper is

currently the fastest press available, it needs

the most effective drying that can be found.

Now Screen is adopting Adphos for its

TPJ 520HD rather than rely on hot air and

heated drums. The drum approach dries

the ink through the paper so can have a

disproportionate impact on its stability. It

will allow the press to deliver dried paper

at 75m/min rather than 50m/min currently

and will go to 120m/min, though this will

men printing at 600x600dpi rather than

1200dpi or 1200x600dpi.

THE RESOLUTION QUESTION is one

that frequently confuses. While finer drop-

lets will mean higher quality, larger droplets

at 1200dpi for example confer little advan-

tage. Binary systems like the thermal inkjet

or continuous inkjet can fire only one size

of droplet, though HP addresses this by

having two print heads in one on its HDNA

heads, one firing a normal sized droplet and

a second array of nozzles to fire a half-sized

droplet to add smoothness or fine detail to

an image.

The piezo systems can be set to deliver

different sizes, perhaps three in a four-level

greyscale head according to the level of

detail required with larger droplets used for

greater efficiency. The resolution therefore is

not a de facto indicator of quality, but refers

to the addressable points on the substrate,

not the amount of ink at that point.

This has raised a further complication

to the development process. Higher ink

coverage means more water, meaning more

drying is needed. It makes sense therefore

to reduce ink without losing quality. In the

offset world this is achieved with under

colour removal, grey component removal or

similar technologies.

IN INKJET, WITHOUT screening mech-

anisms needed for an analogue process,

algorithms are needed to optimise quality

and avoid artefacts that can occur. This is

where Global Graphics is pitching Screen-

Pro, an ultrahigh speed screening engine

designed to overcome some of the unwanted

characteristics inherent to inkjet printing

at speed.

There are two versions, Pearl to tackle the

absorbency of the paper and Mirror which

tackles the orange peel effect that can afflict

uv inkjet printing on non absorbent mate

rials. It calls on a long background in Rips

and screening algorithms covering both AM

and as one of the early developers of FM

screening for digital imaging. With version

2 of the software announced earlier this

year, Global Graphics is taking on variations

that may be noticeable between printheads,

within a head due to wear, by addressing

individual nozzles regardless of the head

and the electronic systems used to integrate

the printhead into a printing press. This will

mean an end to banding issues. The baseline

densities that each head has can be compen

sated for in the software at high speed and by

crunching millions of calculations a second.

Simply put, that is not easy. It was perhaps

not accounted for when inkjet first arrived,

hence why it has become an issue now, ten

years on from the first machines. For all

the manufacturers the decade has perhaps

been an extended beta test for the different

approaches to delivering a reliable, produc

tive inkjet press that can replace offset litho

in future. Much needs to be done to refine

the process: lower costs would also help,

though those are a factor of business models

rather than trying to match litho in ink costs

for example.

THIS IS A LONG AND expensive game.

The potential remains vast even if some of

the early forecasts have proved way off the

mark. The slow development is putting a

strain on some of the smaller players. The

integrators will always find projects, solving

specific problems with a combination of

smart thinking, experience and the right

printheads. For a producer of print heads,

demand is dependent on the success and

speed of take up of the larger end customers.

Kodak’s next generation Ultrastream

technology for example ought to have

shipped a year or so ago. 18 months ago

the company fully expected to be able to

announce first partners for the heads at the

end of 2017. Those discussions continue

behind closed doors though Kodak remains

confident that something positive will

emerge from the kits that are now being

shipped. Commercial products will come in

2020 it said in its most recent results. Like

wise Xaar is holding its breath for its thin

film technology print heads and uptake in

new high volume applications in commer

cial print, packaging and textile. CEO Doug

Edwards has said that the company might

need to find a larger partner to achieve this.

The predictions for the long term remain

extremely positive, and perhaps on the

high side to judge by recent experience.

The opportunity continues to attract the

dollars. At Ricoh, head of production print

Peter Williams has said that the company

is constantly being approached about new

opportunities for its piezo printheads: “We

might be approached about 300 projects. We

filter those so that 200 may receive a test kit

and then 100 will get our detailed support.”

And those projects may be in textiles, in

printing the threads used in embroidery, in

printing large format, in printing direct to

shape. All may be less demanding that the

graphic arts applications that will replace

offset printing. Inkjet is hard. n

Kodak’s Prosper is the fastest inkjet press currently available.

The Ricoh VC60000 is joined by the VC70000 with a new ink to print on non pre treated offset papers.

Canon’s

sheetfed

VarioPrint

i300 press.

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Professional quality. Maximum flexibility.


FINISHING FOILING

Value added on ReflectionsReflections�can�foil�its�own�silver�anniversary�literature,�or�laminate�it,�varnish�and�apply�a�compete�range�of�special�finishes.

IF THE FUTURE OF PRINTING is about

added value special effects, the future of

printing can be found in Foots Cray. It is

an historic village on the fast flowing river

Cray, once home to numerous paper mills

along its banks, now swallowed up in South

London’s sprawl where the Lefa Business

Park is over shadowed by a vast highly auto-

mated bottling plant for Coca-Cola. Yet on

the industrial estate is a trade finisher as

adept at creating inspiring effects as Willy

Wonka was a devising sweets to fire a child’s

imagination.

This is Reflections, a company now cele-

brating 25 years in business and one that

has changed and developed through the

decades as what printers look for in trade

supplier has evolved. Managing director

Luke Hastings does not reference Roald

Dahl’s character, but does mention Harry

Potter. One arm of the business is repairing

and rebinding ancient books from the Law

Courts of London that would not look out

of place in the Hogwarts library, he says.

“There are texts from the 1600s and that

law still exists,” he says. “And it’s something

that will never be digitised. Every week we

receive volumes to be repaired, reclothed

and rebound.”

THIS FALLS UNDER THE J Muir Book-

binders operation. Muir has an even longer

pedigree than Reflections, and had been

one of London’s leading book binders. It

operated from a factory in Blackheath that

the landlord thought would look splendid

redeveloped for residential use. The trade

binder had struggled in recent years and this

seemed the last straw.

“We had always sent them our PUR and

sewn bound work; they sent use foiling,

laminating and embossing,” says Hastings.

It was less of a marriage made in heaven than

one from either end of the A20. Around 18

months ago, J Muir moved into the 3,300m2

factory along with a Kolbus binder, Muller

Martini sewers and 15 staff skilled in the arts

of book creation and preservation.

It has worked well, coinciding with a

growth in the value of the printed word

between two pieces of greybeard, enhanced

with foil or a laminated film.

Lamination is where the Reflections

story began. Hastings’ father, having

served an apprenticeship in print, and then

having worked for Ultrachem, spotted an

opportunity with the then new thermal

laminating technology.

AT THAT TIME, lamination was either

solvent based or required vast machines

to perform aqueous lamination. Thermal

seemed to offer a more responsive, cleaner

and more affordable alternative. Reflections

was a swift success, adding spot UV varnish-

ing before expanding to six sites across south

east England. Luke Hastings and his brother

Paul had built careers in the City, but when

their father fell ill, came to look after the

business and then were swallowed up by it.

“We wanted to spend more time with

our father, and to support whatever deci-

sion he needed to make about the business,”

says Luke. “After a few months wondering

whether to sell it, we came to realise we quite

liked it, and if we took it on that we could

do something with it. Dad was very proud

of that.”

DURING THE FIRST DECADE of the

century, Reflections had become a big busi-

ness, employing 200 and running trucks

around the region to pick up and drop

off work. Then came 2008 crash and the

slow years that followed. The industry has

contracted from 10,000 printers to what

Hastings says is around 4,000 now. The

overheads had to be trimmed. Sites closed

and people left, but the business remained.

“We just about held it together,” he says.

It was a shock and prompted the realisa-

Luke Hastings and his brother took over from their father who

had started Reflections 25 years ago.


FOILING FINISHING

tion that Reflections would have to diversify

to survive. Printers were starting to invest in

thermal lamination for at least some of their

work, digital thinking has meant shorter

runs and the fast turnarounds that suit in

house applications.

Fortunately now digital thinking also

means more value added processes and

applications. Foil can be any colour you like,

including silver and gold; laminating foils

can be soft to touch or rough to handle as

well as gloss, silk or matt. Many are the sorts

of films that few printers will stock. A half-

finished roll after a job is delivered is money

tied up in a material that might not be used

for some months or more.

Dies for foiling need to be sent out for most

printers: Reflections has a digitally controlled

CNC machine to cut magnesium or brass dies

and can instantly respond if one breaks. It

has the UK’s only Heidelberg Speedmaster

Duo, a litho press adapted into a coating

machine that can also emboss and die cut

at 14,000sph. There are laminating lines,

including a water based machine that runs

with an adhesive that the company developed

internally and which is sold into Germany.

There are Sakurai screen presses to create

the high gloss all over varnish or spot varnish

and effects that are possible using litho

consumables and dryers. There are guillo-

tines, B1 die cutting platen for carton work

and a Vega folder gluer line.

CARTON PRINTERS LIKE TO RUN

volumes of standard cartons on their own

glueing lines and will send out four and six

corner crash lock boxes which are compli-

cated to produce. Needless to say a high value

perfume bottle container will carry embellish-

ment using foils and varnishes to produce the

sought after shelf appeal, all possible under

the Foots Cray roof.

“We really focus on three key areas: the

customers, who when they tell us to jump,

we say ‘how high?’; the staff we have and

who share the vision of the business and are

prepared to turn their hand to anything; and

the suppliers because having suppliers that

understand what we need to achieve for our

customers and react the way that we have

to. This has been the secret for our little bit

of success.”

The company does not yet have digital

embellishment. It has unsurprisingly been

approached by Scodix and MGI and has so

far been able to resist their arguments. The

quality is appealing but Hastings says that it

is not possible to calculate an ROI.

Scodix further needs target registration

marks to be printed on the sheet, something

that suits a printer who can have full control

over origination as well as printing, but not

a trade house that has to work with what

comes off the pallet.

“We have watched developments in this

area for a long time,” he says. “These are

very expensive machines and getting the

ROI is difficult. We might spend £500,000

and find it’s worth £50,000 in five years’ time

when everyone wants the new version.”

Currently, the digital aspect aside, Reflec-

tions can achieve the effects from a digital

embellishment machine through screen

printing.

The varnishes it can apply include glit-

ters, textures, soft touch, pearlescent as

well as applying more unusual fluids for

thermochromic response, opaque white or

fluorescent inks, latex scratch off and reseal

glue, scratch and sniff and glow in the dark

effects that are currently beyond the reach of

digital print or embellishment technologies.

It adds up to a palette of creative effects

and finishes that can create the impact

designers are increasingly seeking. It is also

a marketing challenge for Reflections. It

cannot go over the head of its direct custom-

ers to appeal to their clients “That’s always

very difficult,” Hastings says. Instead there

are samples in the post to help the printer

sell on to his customer base. “We can do so

many combinations of weird and wonder-

ful effects and will send out samples to show

good ideas of what can be done with print.

“We want to be the inspirational trade

finisher, working on special projects and

bespoke jobs,” he says. Some have come

following the acquisition of J Muir, produc-

ing the hand finished history of every

thoroughbred racecourse in the country

for example. Spending similar amounts of

money on a yacht, apartment or car will

result in a high quality printed and embel-

lished brochure.

These are not the sorts of luxury items

that are sold through websites. Even a piece

of foiling for a carton on a supermarket shelf

creates an impression of luxury he points out.

THE FOCUS ON SPECIALITY and high

value jobs has ensured the survival of the

business while many trade finishers that

focused on high volume but low margin fold

stitch trim work have been squeezed out by

vanishing margins and by printers bringing

the work in house. They continue to do so

for short run laminating or digital foiling,

says Hastings, “where it makes no sense to

carry the set up costs we have.

“We will invest hundreds of thousands of

pounds on a big laminator that can run for

24 hours a day. And as a trade house, we will

always get the complicated stuff that people

do not want to tackle.” n

Reflections stocks many variety of foils for blocking and it makes its own dies.

Books arrive from the Law Courts for rebinding each week.

The

company

has taken

in J Muir

Bookbinders

with its

Kolbus and

its book

restoration

business.

SCREEN PRINTING

Big screen opportunities for printScreen�printing�is�perhaps�the�forgotten�process,�but�as�its�role�in�display�printing�fades,�now�opportunities�are�continuing�to�open�up.

SCREEN PRINTING HAS frequently

been considered the least subtle of print-

ing processes. Ink, or perhaps a varnish, is

forced through a mesh to reach the substrate

beyond. It was associated with large display

posters, the 48-sheet and bigger advertis-

ing hoardings that dot the motorways, city

centres and railway land up and down the

UK. That market has gone, lost to large

format inkjet printing and where it remains,

for the application of large areas of solid

colours – red for a sale say, or a fluorescent

which is hard to deliver with inkjet – nobody

is investing in screen presses. Only they are.

These are not the great brutes of

machines handling full out quad format

sheets, but high precision presses able to

print with fluids that are beyond litho or

inkjet let alone flexo and gravure; able to

print on substrates that are equally beyond

the conventional processes and designed for

work that is frequently outside the experi-

ence of the commercial printer.

The applications in industrial printing

in short are booming and Sakurai is enjoy-

ing the results. Its rotary screen presses

are designed for precise register, using the

same sort of gripper and side lay systems

that its offset presses employ to achieve the

sub millimetre precision that was beyond

the old Svecia machines where the print

was to be viewed from 100 yards away, or

at best, from across the railway tracks.

Precise registration was not needed. But for

producing touch panels, dashboard displays,

part numbers and so on, precision is crucial.

There is plenty of print in the average

new car, well beyond the brochure and the

owner’s manual, and Sakurai’s machines will

be responsible for it.

The commercial printer is not ignored,

though it is in finishing rather than ink on

paper that Sakurai’s screen press excels.

The screen technology can apply a deeper

layer of high gloss or matt varnish than any

other process. It can apply those metal-

lic and fluorescent inks and now it can

apply foils more effectively than other

technologies.

THE FOIL APPLICATION, THE Liquid

Metal Embosser, was revealed in Europe at a

recent open house where it was put through

its paces with solid area and filigree enhance-

ment across the full width of a sheet. It is

an extra module that fits in the embellish-

ment line, pressing the foil into a screen

applied varnish. To this extent it is similar in

approach to the foiling attachments to lami-

nators, but without the limitations of paper

The Sakurai open house concentrated on applications for screen printing, half about enhancement for print, half for specific industrial applications.


SCREEN PRINTING

or cost effective production run. In this

sense it slips between the ultra short runs

tackled by the combination of digital press

and laminator and the dedicated hot foiling

press. There is no expensive die to produce,

no heating up or cooling down between

production runs, and a way of deliver-

ing high impact enhancement for short to

medium runs for book jackets, folders, high

end brochures and more. While the costs are

not disclosed, the cost of ownership will be

less than an MGI or Scodix, though there

is the additional step of making a screen to

create the mask for the foil.

AT ITS HOUNSLOW showroom, Sakurai

has installed a Grunig system to demon-

strate how painless this is. There is none

of the heady smell that used to identify a

screen print operation, nor any of the messy

washing down area. Sakurai has the facility

set up for training as well as demonstrations.

“It is screen printing without the smell,”

says country manager Claudio Moffa. “The

LQM should appeal to an existing customer

currently doing a spot varnish and to offset

printers who want to take this work in house.

“It is also very clean for the sorts of printer

with experience of digital printing. We know

we have to make the process easier for these

customers. To that extent it’s like a Scodix.

We have the partners in place to supply the

ink, varnish and the foil and the experience to

help customers achieve the high build effects

as well as the fine details which can be created

in screen printing.”

And the screen process is more cost effec-

tive than the digital alternatives: inkjet

ink and varnish is undoubtedly expensive.

There are also limits to the amount of liquid

that can be applied in one pass. To achieve

high builds, inkjet must apply successive

layers of fluid for example. A screen print

varnish can cost €7 a kilo, the inkjet version

can be ten times as much, with a significant

impact on cost per sheet.

Moffa continues: “We will also provide

an instructor, which is something that is

normal in offset printing, but which is revo-

lutionary in screen printing.”

FOR THE INDUSTRIAL customers, this

also means running training courses in Houn-

slow and acceptance tests. It means that when

the press is delivered and installed, the user is

ready to go into immediate production. This

is because the customer has a defined appli-

cation and demand to meet, rather than the

traditional modus operandi of the commer-

cial printer of making the installation and

then trying to develop a market for it.

Stefan Keseler joined Sakurai in June as

technical sales manager for the screen busi-

ness. He began his career with four years

studying print in Switzerland 25 years ago.

“When I started I thought that screen print-

ing was dying. The graphic display market

had gone. But this is not so.

“Screen printers are smart people and

they are adept at finding applications which

will survive. Today screen printing is more

about applying industrial layers where you

can control the inks and the layers, printing

with UV sensitive inks, thermally responsive

inks and pressure sensitive inks. There are

applications in electronics where printing

conductive silver inks on films has replaced

copper wiring. Screen printing is a very

underrated form of printing.”

The printed electronic circuits end up

in vehicles. There are touch panels while

traditional dials used by automotive manu-

facturers are printed on screen presses

because of the density of the inks that are

possible on films. As printed instrumental

panels are being replaced by programma-

ble displays, screen printing has moved into

production of the touch panels and sensors

that cars now bristle with.

“In 25 years of working in screen print-

ing I have not seen all the applications yet,”

he says. “There are quite a few applications

using the technology that I haven’t thought

about. Screen printing is now part of a

completely industrial process.

“This means that we are selling to process

engineers who ask about the performance of

the machine and what are the parameters that

you can achieve. There can be three or four

days of conversation about these parameters

and about the specific process questions that

they want to have answered: provide the right

answers and you are in. We are not selling a

machine, we are selling a solution.”

AFTER PRODUCTION OF THE touch

panels, applying the layers of conductive

materials that will allow the software and

the user to display whatever information is

required, there will be a vast numbers of

sensors to print as a step towards autono-

mous driving. Even the fuel cells that will

power the car of the future can be part

produced by screen printing he adds.

This diversification has been good for the

company as sales to the commercial printing

industry have stagnated. This sector of the

market is very much a replacement business,

though there are printers bringing more

finishing in house and a growing demand

for value add finishing with spot varnishes,

high build varnishes and foiling. A deal like

this was struck on the eve of the open house

and the event attracted a number of print-

ers as well as trade finishers. Carton printers

are investigating the options particularly as

luxury packaging concepts grow. “Everyone

is looking for something special,” he adds.

AND WITH SOMETHING special there

is a requirement for absolute consistency.

This is delivered through the Maestro 102

NS, a screen press conceived as an inspec-

tion machine. Four high quality cameras

sit above the sheet and check for flaws, for

colour consistency and for marks that would

render the box unsaleable. Inspection avoids

very costly mistakes.

The scanning of the entire sheet will

pick up flaws any bigger than 50 microns

and takes place while the sheet is held in the

front lays, consequently speed is restricted

to 4,000 sheets an hour. It is a machine that

was only introduced last year and to date ten

have been sold in Japan where buyers are

fanatical about quality. A version that uses

the cameras to scan at lower quality while

the sheet is moved on a conveyor is less

expensive and faster. Any sheets that come

up short are rejected so that those in the

delivery have the ticket to prove they have

achieved the right quality.

The big opportunity is in the industrial

print markets and where opportunities

extend to biotech as well as printed elec-

tronics. “There are applications which we

have never imagined, that we never knew

existed. This market is is fast moving, it’s

changing and that’s what makes screen print

so very interesting,” says Keseler. n

The screen process can deliver the

finest quality print, say delicate foiling, as well as printing with high impact printing inks.

Stefan Keseler

says that even

after 25 years

in the sector

he still comes

across new

applications for

screen printing.


EXHIBITIONS PRINT SHOW

Print Show delivers audience of cautious optimism THE NUMBERS attending the

Print Show set new levels for the

fourth outing of the now estab-

lished annual event. There were

perhaps some eyebrows raised

and others wondered whether

some of the esports enthusiasts

attending an event in the next

hall had been counted as they

wandered past, but ultimately

the absolute numbers are less

important than the experience.

And to compare with the

last print exhibition held at the

NEC, the visitor experience was

incomparably better.

Whether this means they will

return on numbers next year

cannot be predicted: there is

Brexit for example while on the

other hand there will be no other

exhibitions for UK commercial

printers next year.

Inevitably there were areas of

the hall which were more densely

populated than others and some

dark areas at the far side from the

entrance. And the trend towards

digital equipment was very much

continued. It is simply not cost

effective to install a litho press

for a few days when pretty much

every printer in the country has

been identified, analysed and

listed by press suppliers. The

disappointment was perhaps

that neither was there any litho

focused consumable pres-

ence: almost nothing from the

growing field of LED UV, for

example. Here might have been

a good opportunity to discuss a

commercial opportunity for hard

pressed litho printers.

Exel Machinery was a valiant

presence for litho presses,

Benford for the UV area, but no

inks, no plate supplier to discuss

the advantages of process-free

or chemistry-free plates.

There were new products to

view for those interested in digital

printing, with the Xerox Iridesse

vying with HP’s R2000 flatbed

latex printer for the biggest draw

at the show. There was also a

strong presence from the MIS

sector. The pressure to cut costs

and handle shorter production

runs is stoking new interest in

IT and a move away from MIS as

estimating and stock control into

true business administration.

And there was plenty to poke

and prod in the print enhance-

ment space. If printers could

recognise the competitive

advantages of boosting margins

through extra varnishing,

foiling, laser cutting and lamina-

tion, then the NEC in September

was a good place to be.

The Print Show drew a record audience, the organiser claims.

Morgana�offers�a�little�extra

MORGANA FLEW under a

Box Clever slogan during the

Print Show and offered one of

the most popular products at the

show.

This was the RDC, Morga-

na’s rotary die cutter, for

producing small runs of

cartons, cards and other

value added print samples.

The simple to operate unit

comprises feeder into the die

cutter itself and then to the

delivery, the scrap having been

removed.

The die is produced from

a digital file, usually with a

24-hour turnaround, and loaded

on to the cylinder, held in posi-

tion by powerful magnets. A

deep pile feeder will hold B3

sheets to 380gsm. Accuracy

of registration is assured with

correction of skew and timing

into the cutting cylinder by

adjusting the position of the

feedboard.

This has bearer to bearer

guides to ensure pressure across

the sheet while the unwanted

material is left behind as the cut

and creased blank is ejected to

the delivery table at a rate up to

4,500cph.

Morgana had positioned the

die cutter on the edge of the

stand to attract passing custom-

ers. Another innovation was

rather more hidden. The Flexo

Seal builds on the same charac-

teristics of toner printing that

has enabled digital foiling on top

of film lamination.

In this product the mailer

is printed with a deep black

border. As the sheet is folded,

and perforated to create the tear

off edges that open the mailer,

heat applied softens the black

toner which adheres to the toner

on the opposite face and creates

a strong bond without any need

for a pressure seal adhesive.

Clean�counting�adds�up

HARLOW PRINTING, South

Shields, had the honour of

placing the first order of the

Print Show, signing for two

Vacuumatic machines before

noon on the first day.

The two Viscount sheet

counters will ensure that what is

shipped to customers is precisely

what they have ordered. With

shorter runs and a focus on

reducing waste, represented by

printing too many overs, being

able to accurately count what

goes out, becomes an essential


PRINT SHOW EXHIBITIONS

facet of the lean manufacturing

strategy.

The counting machines earn

their keep at the other end too.

Vacuumatic was able to demon-

strate that what a printer had

received in a ream from the

paper supplier had only 497

sheets, the next ream 498 and

so on through hundreds of

reams of paper. Each fell a few

sheets short, culminating in a

significant shortfall on what was

ordered.

Duplo�plays�hand�of�three

DUPLO HAD TAKEN the

largest stand in Hall 9 of the

NEC and had filled it with

examples of existing machinery

as well as three new products

and a return of the DuSense

which received its formal launch

at the same event 12 months ago.

“We have exciting new prod-

ucts to share and wanted to

raise awareness,” says Duplo

International managing director

Andy Benson. The DC516 is a

new unit for the multifinisher

range, taking a slightly differ-

ent approach. While the new

machine can crease, perforate and

slit like the larger machines in the

range, it is limited in functions

and is intended to be used for a

limited number of product types.

Typical would be a company

producing large volumes of busi-

ness cards where the artwork

changes rather than the format.

The DC516 includes inter-

changeable cassettes for the

different functions, switch-

ing to creasing where it will be

twice as fast as the more sophis-

ticated machines. “It is more

affordable because there is less

automation,” says Benson. “It

suits a customer with volumes

of three or four product types.

It is a semi automated dedicated

product type machine.”

The same simplicity is applied

to the PFI2100 PUR perfect

binder, a replacement for the

PFI2000. It uses the same closed

tank PUR unit where the glue

is applied through a circular

opening which closes to prevent

air ingress immediately the

glue is applied. This minimises

maintenance and cleaning. Glue

is supplied in blocks which are

melted on the top of the binder.

It is intended as an entry level

machine for PUR that any busi-

ness can adopt with minimal

experience. “PUR has previ-

Sewing delivers more than perfect finishPERFECT BINDERY Solutions

gave a worldwide debut to the

latest Smyth sewer, the FF70.

This replaces the older model of

short run sewing machine says

PBS managing director Steve

Giddins.

The big difference comes with

a rotary feeder which is capable

of handling lightweight paper

to 30gsm, and ensuring that the

lap opens correctly to land on

the saddle leading to the sewing

head. This has a thread break

detector.

It will cash in on the growth

in demand for case bound books

Giddins believes, handling

volumes to a maximum of

520x350mm at speeds up to 120

copies a minute. While the rotary

feeder is designed for litho papers,

the FF70 is capable of handling

digitally printed material via an

extension to the saddle to include

a folder to turn the flat sheet into a

16 or 32pp folded signature.

Combining both flat sheet

feed and rotary feeder can

deliver a hybrid publication,

marrying variable content

printed digitally with fixed

content pages produced on the

litho press and pre folded. This

might combine digitally printed

text with pre-printed colour

sections he explains.

The finished sewn block can

be applied to covers in a perfect

binder or to a casing in line. At

the show, PBS had options for

both styles of binding. There

was a single clamp Smyth-

Risetec binder running PUR on

the spine and EVA glue on the

side. This is the BR3 running

a book from a minimum of

120x120mm to 440x320mm,

to a thickness of 50mm at 300

cycles an hour.

Casing in was absent.

However, PBS showed an auto-

mated unit for producing the

boards for a case. The DC904

will cut the end board, the spine

board and the second end board

in sequence and with precision

each time. It might be set to

run spine boards ahead of time,

confident that each is precisely

the same size.

Cutting on a guillotine can

never be as accurate, says Giddins,

and it will quickly wear the blade

whereas the shearing action of

the DC 904 will continue oper-

ating far longer without the

burring that is a tell-tale indica-

tion of a guillotine action. “One

company that has been using the

manual version of this machine

has not changed or sharpened

the blades in more than a year,”

he says.

The boards can be a minimum

of 6mm across and are limited to

420mm deep. Its computer will

hold 19 cutting sequences.Smyth caters for demands for short run sewn binding.

New iSaddleX received NEC launch.

…


EXHIBITIONS PRINT SHOW

ously been restricted to larger

printers,” says Benson. “This

democratises PUR binding.”

The most significant intro-

duction is the iSaddle X, an

upgraded version of the saddle

stitcher that offers greater

agility in terms of switching

between formats. It will switch

quickly between A4 portrait and

landscape formats, down to A6

and across the paper types. The

focus will be to help commer-

cial printers take on the online

printers who are able to offer low

prices on standard format prod-

ucts thanks to the volume of

jobs they can attract. A commer-

cial printer will need to offer

something a little different to

customers to maintain his appeal.

“We can also run five differ-

ent paper stocks in a single

product and different page sizes

in the same booklet,” Benson

says. The new machine will use

barcodes to record every page

that it handles to provide an

audit trial for clients where such

integrity is an essential part of

the offering.

Iridesse�brings�the�sparkleTHE XEROX IRIDESSE

attracted a constant flow of

inquiries to Xeretec, the leading

concessionaire for Xerox at the

show and able to introduce the

six-colour toner press to the UK

market.

The press has garnered

attention both for the quality

of four-colour printing and

extended component life, but

especially for being able to print

silver, gold and clear toners well

as four-colour process. A white

was expected to be introduced

as early as US exhibition Print

18. A long sheet capability is

also in the works.

“The Iridesse has drawn a

huge amount of interest,” says

marketing manager Rhian-

non Phelan. “We have been

showing it to existing custom-

ers as well as to potential new

customers. They understand

that they need to invest to

find new revenue streams and

this opens up new creative

opportunities.”

The company had enjoyed

good feedback from two previ-

ous appearances at the Print

Show, but could have been

nothing compared to the inter-

est being shown in the much

hyped new press.

Demonstrations by Xerox

staff highlighted the new

features for delivering consist-

ent colour as well as showing

how simple it is to switch from

one additional colour to another.

IFS opens new approach to lay flat conundrumIFS IS TO HANDLE UK distri-

bution and sales for VPaper,

a development by Belgian

company Peleman Industries.

The company is best known

for the Unibind glue binding

system for dissertations and

photobooks, but produces far

more paper related products

than this. Now it has come up

with a way of delivering a stay

open book using perfect binding

and a way of creating a hinge in

the pages of the book so they

loose any tendency to spring

back and close the book.

This results in a book that is

bound in the conventional way

and which opens easily at the

point of side glue application.

Only a single additional process

is required, otherwise there is no

change in materials or workflow

procedures when making the

book.

The unit itself is a tower

which takes a sheet up to B3 in

format, lifts it to the apex of the

tower applying a score, crease

and fold along one side of the

paper and the same process on

the reverse of the sheet as it

descends to the delivery. The

second hinge line is 3mm from

the first to cope with differ-

ing thicknesses of the finished

volume.

The paper is scored first, then

folded by a plow head turning

the edge of the sheet which

then passes through a nip roller

before opening out and twisting

the sheet for the second pass.

The gentle but firm approach

means that the fibres in the

paper are not damaged unduly

leaving the paper.

The process can be applied

either post printing or ahead

of printing using plain paper,

or after the sheet has been

printed. It can then be bound

in a limp cover or between

hardback covers. The result

is a more attractive product

than a straightforward perfect

bound book, that has had

negligible impact on produc-

tion. The VPaper runs at 6,000

sheets an hour on paper from

70-250gsm.

“Our challenge now is to

make people aware of the

product because nobody knows

that this is possible,” says

sales director Luc Augustinus.

The VPaper was first shown

some 12 months ago leading to

installations in the US, Nether-

lands, France and Spain as well

as in Belgium. There is as yet

no installation in the UK, but

that will change as IFS becomes

responsible for distribution and

support in this country.

IFS will handle VPaper distribution.

…

Iridesse was put through its paces at the show.


PRINT SHOW EXHIBITIONS

Industry combines to bring children’s book to lifeA NUMBER OF companies

have helped an author realise a

dream of publishing a children’s

book to raise money for charity.

Companies exhibiting at

the Print Show combined to

produce a charity children’s

book written by Richard Barr

to raise funds for the Downs

Syndrome Association.

Barr’s son had suffered

from the condition and died 14

years ago. The City IT expert

has raised funds in a number

of ways ever since. This has

culminated in You Can Do It

Tom Mouse!, an illustrated book

which was printed and bound

at the show. Konica Minolta

provided the printing, Morgana

the creasing and Perfect Bindery

Solutions the final touches, with

the spot varnish and foil on the

cover applied through an MGI

digital enhancer and perfect

binder that was on its stand.

Barr will now show the

printed samples to bookshops

to capture orders in advance of

the formal launch at the Downs

Syndrome Association head

office in Teddington. A further

launch is planned for a book-

shop in Barr’s home town of

Letchworth.

The book relates the adven-

tures of an intrepid mouse,

but might equally be about the

author’s journey to take the

story from outline to finished

product.

“I left my job in the City 18

months ago thinking ‘it will be

easy to complete the book in a

couple of months’,” he says.

“But I was entirely new to

publishing. When I visited the

London Book Fair in 2017, it

was fascinating and I realised

that my own drawings would

not be good enough.”

A small competition to find

an artist resulted in teaming

up with experienced illustra-

tor Joanne Scott. “She was able

to work with me to develop the

story,” he says. The project was

sent to eight publishers and

agents and when one responded

that they receive 10,000 chil-

dren’s book submissions a year,

Tom Mouse became a self

publishing project. The skills

of a graphic designer further

honed the artwork ahead of

printing.

Fortunately Barr had met

David Evans, agent for MGI in

the UK, who then proposed the

idea of using other exhibitors

at the NEC to create enough

samples to hawk around book-

shops and to send off to the

celebrity patrons of the charity.

The high street will not be

the only route to market. The

charity has agreed to sell it

through its online store and a

Tom Mouse website has been

set up. It will also sell the 300

toy mice that have been ordered

from China.

While not producing the

samples or the first run of the

book, another encounter at the

NEC has led to further conver-

sations with Prime Group. It

has the skills to create a version

that can be personalised to a

child and the ability to help the

Downs Syndrome Association

create the online front end to

capture the required data and as

a sales channel for an enhanced

version of the tale.

If the publishing part of

getting the book to readers has

been an adventure, so too has

turning the idea into a tangible

product. “There is a lot more to

it than I thought,” Barr says. “I

never realised how much there

is to creating a good quality

printed book.”

Richard Barr and David Evans.

This is a 20-minute process, with

a switch of a pair of colour units

reckoned to take 30 minutes in

all with a further few minutes

to restart the machine with the

changed colours in position.

Commercial�print�shows�interest�in�new�areasTHERE WAS A STRONG

showing with large format

presses, reaching a different

audience to the Sign & Digital

show in the spring.

Epson had brought Amal

Clooney’s dress from the Met

Gala Ball, printed on its presses;

SwissQPrint mesmerised with a

flatbed printer; CMYUK had a

collection of print and cutting

tables.

Phil McMullin of Epson says:

“For us a show like this is about

selling units an ink because

we are relatively new in terms

of printing textiles and soft

signage, and winning market

share. We need to make sure that

people are aware of what we can

do. We are the challenger brand

for these areas.”

And it is the commercial

printer looking for new oppor-

tunities that has shown most

interest. “We thought we would

be selling most of these printers

to the sign and graphics sector

where they know they have to

go digital, but most are going

to commercial printers,” says

McMullin.

Lindstrom�cleans�up�with�cloth�bin

LINDSTROM introduced a

metal bin for the safe storage of

spent wipes and as a dispenser

for its new cloth wipes.

There are options on the style

of unit which are intended to

improve safety as well as tidi-

ness over the open plastic bin

that printers frequently use says

Andrew Sprechley, “With wipes

in a plastic bin, there is always

the risk of spontaneous combus-

tion,” he says.

“For this reason insurance

companies are starting to insist

that rags are stored in metal

cases. This is why, at the Print

Show, we have launched a range

of metal dispensers for new

cloths and to hold old cloths

until we come and pick them up

for laundering and reuse.”

Lindstrom has over the last

couple of years consolidated the

UK’s cloth supply to the indus-

try, making three acquisitions,

EnviroWipes included. n

LEARN: • Why automated workflows break

and how to fix them permanently.

• Why you need to adopt a ‘Shift Left’

culture to automation.

• What the leading printers are doing.

MIS

www.printbusiness.co.uk November/December 2018� 41

Time to talk about MISThere is more to MIS than selecting the software provider. Printers

need also to think about who will be using it and where, whether an

in-house server approach is better, or a hosted approach in the cloud.

SUDDENLY EVERYONE IS interested in

MIS, if not actually committing to an invest-

ment. Pressure on margin, on coping with a

growing number of jobs, and on automation

is why a new MIS is moving up the shopping

list. At one time few would contemplate

moving to a new MIS, much as customers

stayed loyal to their bank unless compelled

to move. Now printers are prepared to suffer

the pain of shifting databases and calculat-

ing a new set of costs if the current system

has become a backwater in technical terms.

The MIS has to be simple to operate

because account handlers and others are

expected to know how to generate a quote

and track a job through production. It

has to be built around the latest operating

systems, preferably cloud computing if

that is what a customer wants, but certainly

something that is built on open systems for

ease of maintenance. It has to spread from

creating an accurate estimate, stock control

and raising an invoice, into an overlap with

prepress workflow and online job flows.

And it needs to be able to flex as the user

grows and develops new areas of busi-

ness, perhaps interfacing with other third

party applications as what is a Management

Information System becomes a Business

Information System. This means support for

open interfaces, through a published API,

support for cloud computing and support

for remote working. This evolution should

of course be a lot easier than when MIS tran-

sitioned from MS-DOS operating systems

into Windows of some type.

AND ALONGSIDE THE technology

targeted at commercial printers there are

specialist MIS for labels, for cartons, for

large format and for corrugated. Now there

are new providers coming to the UK. …

Printers will use tablet computers

to track and communicate with

their MIS or production workflow as with Heidelberg.


MIS

Crispy Mountain is the German devel-

oper with an entirely cloud based system

that launched at The Print Show. And New

Zealand is on the act with PrintIQ heading

to the UK having established a user base in

Australia and the US. This too is a modular

system built around the cloud and developed

to be fast to implement modular system that

cuts the time to get up and running.

THESE ARE NOT THE FIRST. Optimus

Dash was a complete rethink of the MIS that

had served well in the commercial printing

industry (and still does). It was developed to

suit businesses that were non traditional in

their products and diverse in their experi-

ence and skill levels. It is icon led to allow

a non expert to build a quote and hosted in

the cloud to ease the installation and support

requirements.

The decision whether to run a cloud based

MIS or one with a server is says sales direc-

tor Steve Richardson largely cultural. “We

have clients that are mindful of data integ-

rity want a box on their premises; others

that insist the MIS is hosted in the cloud.

The decision is based very much around the

available bandwidth,” he says.

For a secure system there may need to be

multiple entry points for a WiFi connec-

tions, though as 5G technologies roll out

this may become less important. This is no

different from ensuring that the server based

MIS is backed up securely. And with live

connectivity to the internet, data and cyber

security increases in importance. “It sounds

great, but there is a wider business consid-

eration as to what is offered and to ensure

that the MIS is only accessed by the right

people,” he says.

The wider availability of the MIS is one

of the key drivers for cloud computing. With

cloud hosting, access will be to anyone with

a web browser and the necessary passwords

and privileges. A manager on the road, or on

the proverbial beach in Corfu, will be able to

generate an estimate or communicate via the

MIS with customers.

This is how Dean Anderson, techni-

cal director of Imprint MIS pictures some

customers behaving. Imprint has been

working on cloud versions of its software for

the last couple of years he says, creating the

API that allows others to integrate with the

MIS. All the recently developed functional-

ity and features are available in versions for

the cloud. “Everything from now on will

run in the Microsoft Azure Web Services

platform, hosted behind a firewall,” he says.

This is arguably more secure than an instal-

lation including a server.

ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES of the cloud

is that life becomes easier for the software

provider because version control is more

secure and the company moves away from

regular upgrades to almost invisible changes

that can happen without causing disrup-

tion. It is not failsafe. Imprint MIS uses

TeamViewer to support customers to guide

users and to take control remotely. “Team-

Viewer is good for us,” says Anderson. “But

not long ago everybody was offline for a day

while TeamView underwent a complete

upgrade.”

There are he says some cultural issues to

overcome, the production manager is freed

from a study of spreadsheets used to manage

the business and schedule production.

Worse still is the position of IT manager

who may fear emasculation if the server is

removed and replaced with something he

can’t tinker with.

The MIS then is accessible to all with a

laptop or tablet computer, enabling someone

to go on a beach holiday without losing

contact with the office. This may or may

not be a benefit, but it is coming Anderson

reckons. “The API has already allowed us

to improve functionality and we are putting

a lot of work in to bring applications and

modules across.”

It will also lead to a series of Apps to

enable users to interact with the system.

Imprint is working with an App developer

to apply an Imprint green logo on the home

screen or a smart phone or tablet computer.

THARSTERN ALSO MAKES the MIS

accessible through a mobile device and the

cloud. “Users can access it where they want

to access it. There is a final server, it just

happens to be in the cloud rather than some-

thing that you have in a dedicated room,”

says business development manager Ross

Edwards. “The actual cost may end as more,

but it’s worth any extra cost because you do

not have to manage and look after the server.

The hosted server approach is ideal for a

business running across a number of loca-

…

Dave

Wigfield has ambitions to

take EFI into

larger sites.

Tharstern will use the cloud where

appropriate but many customers

prefer an in-house server.

Optimus Dash has

always conceived

to use the cloud.

…

MIS


tions. Everyone is working with the same set

of data. There may not be a great call for this

in the UK, but “now that we are in the US,

rather than maintaining lots of computers

you have one server that links everyone is

running on the same platform. There is a lot

of interest in this.”

This is not surprising. More and more

equipment suppliers, from Heidelberg

down, are collecting data on the cloud. The

mass of data will be useful to identify trends

between companies, to interrogate machines

to uncover any training and maintenance

needs for example. And there is the ability

to compare the performance of the same

machine in different locations from around

the world.

The cloud provides an easier way to apply

new capacity than adding an extra server as

the number of jobs multiples in coming years.

Along with familiarity from other applica-

tions that are hosted in the cloud, this more

than anything will direct users to the easier to

upgrade approach. In theory companies will

be able to flex the capacity they use, adding

capacity during busy periods and removing it

when the industry is quiet.

THE BIGGEST OF THE INDUSTRY’S

MIS providers is EFI thanks to pulling

together different MIS companies either

for the technology they had developed or

for a customer base in a particular sector

or country. In those days the company was

very US centric and anyone using one of

the conquered softwares was expected to

convert to one of the core platforms that EFI

had developed.

Even before the new CEO Bill Muir gets to

work, the attitude is softening. If EFI wants

to expand it realises it has to pay attention to

regional tastes and ways of working. “Now

we are using local know-how, expertise and

knowledge,” says Paul Cooper. And this is

having an impact. EFI’s software business is

growing “and we are performing better than

we did before” he adds.

The opportunity is there. The market

is reckoned to be growing 6% in Europe,

4.5% in the US, driven by the new pres-

sures that printers face. “We still have MIS

applications for every type of printer,” says

Dave Wigfield. But the opportunity for

EFI is with the larger companies and more

sophisticated demand. It will not be able to

match the price of a localised MIS supplier

with a limited number of customers.

“And we are seeing consolidation among

those smaller customers, especially in the

publication space across Europe.” This is

bringing EFI up against the BIS platforms

from the likes of SAP, Oracle and so on.

These are more general business systems

that have grafted on a print management

module without necessarily understanding

the intricacies of the print industry.

EFI wants to head in the opposite direc-

tion. It starts with the print industry

knowledge and wants to be the specialist

element of a procurement and planning

system that starts with the enterprise soft-

ware providers and feeds to print. It will be

an organic expansion says Cooper, “some-

thing of a first for EFI where we have grown

by acquisition until now.

“We know there’s a demand that we

haven’t provided solutions for them. This is

a huge opportunity going forwards.”

AND IN LINE WITH THE approach that

BIS technology is headed, the cloud will be a

key element of a future focused approach to

managing a print business. It is an inevitabil-

ity. Not only does it suit the MIS developers,

managed services is a key focus for those

providing computer hardware, whether

IBM, HP, Microsoft or Amazon.

But there will no immediate switch to the

cloud. The industry is simply too conserv-

ative for that. Richardson at Optimus

comments: “There are still printers that

cannot pull themselves away from T card

production planning. Others will trust the

data and they want more automation. It is

always down to the human aspect.”

How�to�benefit�from�bottlenecks

UDI ARIELI HAS DEVISED Total Global

Optimisation as the theory that describes

how every print company operates, and how

every print company can improve.

Every business needs a theory. It’s the

lodestar by which the company takes deci-

sions: perhaps lean manufacturing, perhaps

the Theory of Constraints, perhaps six

sigma. Ever since Adam Smith’s The Wealth

of Nations described the division of labour

in making pins, manufacturing has been

about finding the right theory to fit the

business.

The discipline really took off with

Henry Ford’s production lines then Edward

Deming’s Total Quality Management

which has spurred Japanese concepts like

Kaizan, Kanban and continual improve-

ment. In recent years the Theory of

Constraints, described in Eli Goldratt’s

book The Goal, has been popular in the

printing industry. It emphasises the elimina-

tion of efficiency sapping bottlenecks which

act as a constraint on production efficiency.

But this not suitable enough for the printing

industry says Udi Arieli.

He says bottlenecks could help not hinder

efficiency. Arieli, who met Goldratt, and

discussed business optimisation theories

with him, prefers the Theory of Global

Optimisation, which was specially devel-

oped for the printing industry to the more

generic TOC.

TGO IS ARIELI’S OWN THEORY and

explanation for how to manage a print busi-

ness and the task of juggling many different

jobs, papers, delivery times and machinery

in order to achieve a greater efficiency and

profit.

“The printing industry is a job shop or

tailor-made industry and needs its own

theories to handle the bespoke nature of

every job,” he says.

The visible manifestation of TGO is

PrintFlow, a smart, automated, dynamic

scheduling application that is part of

EFI’s Productivity Software portfolio.

Indeed it is the heart of EFI’s different

MIS products, pumping the jobs around

a plant and ensuring that these are

processed in the most effective way.

Udi Arieli believes bottlenecks could

help not hinder efficiency.

…


MIS

There is a need to distinguish between

constraints and bottlenecks, these are not

the same. A bottleneck in itself is not a

problem, he argues, provided it does not

become a constraint, at which point action

will need to be taken. But a bottleneck, at

say the press (of any kind, analog or digital),

will allow a manager/scheduler to chose jobs

from the queue to sequence and group jobs

that share the same sheet size paper, format,

colour or any other variable.

“The more similar jobs we include

in groups, the less time is needed for

makeready. This means the switchover

between jobs is reduced, less waste and more

efficient production,” he explains. Like all

his ideas it is blinding common sense; but he

is battling the received wisdom of genera-

tions of printers and the shibboleths of the

printing industry. These need to be disman-

tled in order for a new way of thinking to

take hold. Arieli has a set of presentations,

adjusted to fill the time available, which bust

the myths of the printing industry, up to 40

of them if there is the time.

AND THEY HAVE NOT been devised in

a dusty university office, but from observa-

tions on the shop floor and put into practice.

His petrie dish was the print shop in Israel

that his grandfather and father owned where

he saw first hand how a printing business is

making different products at different times

for different customers. The lessons and

insights formed the basis for the TGO –

Theory of Global Optimisation.

As it suggests, the idea is not to polish one

part of the process, say investment in a super

quick sheetfed press able to make ready in an

instant, if finishing retains the ancient anti-

quated machinery it purchased 20 years ago.

The production problem becomes exacer-

bated because the end to end system is not

optimised. As in quantum physics, in the

Theory of Global Optimisation, everything

is linked.

Arieli has gained converts to the TGO

approach from across the world, perhaps not

as many as the approach deserves. But where

runs are becoming shorter, turnaround

faster and margins tighter, new thinking is

needed. He says: “The problems a printer

faces is how to increase retained margin

when labour and overheads are 50% of the

cost of running the business and material

can be 40%. This means margin is at best

6-8%. Printers have to increase through-

put using the same resources. Consequently

everyone is looking for the silver bullet: what

can I do that will change everything?”

If TGO is not the bullet, it is certainly

the gun. Automated equipment alone is

not enough and by itself is not the silver

bullet many are looking for as many strug-

gling printers have discovered, nor is a

shift to digital printing the silver bullet as

digital printing can be at least as complex

to manage. Nor for that matter is JDF

(not withstanding its limitations) the silver

bullet. “You need all the pieces of the

puzzle to solve the problem of productivity

and profitability, like modern new theories,

modern new equipment, modern software

to manage the business from A-Z ,” Arieli

says. “In print you need to make the plates

or create the files before you can print or

cut and fold. Some processes are serial, but

many can be operated in parallel.

IT IS NOT ABOUT ASSIGNING cost to

cost centre A or B, nor to customer 1 or

customer 2. You have to push for end to end

continuous improvement and as demands

and processes keep changing, continuous

improvement never ends. Job costing like

this gained traction as it was something

that can be counted. However, says Arieli,

“The profit of the company is created by

the sum of all its jobs, not the theoretical

profit on one job. Throughput of all jobs is

more important, so increasing throughput

using the same or less resources is the most

productive way to make a profit. The wider

perspective of a printer should prevail over

the narrow focus on a single job.”

These ideas up end a number of the

standard processes that MIS and printers

follow in making day to day decisions about

what and how to print.

THE SOFTWARE MANIFESTATION

of this is PrintFlow, the application that

Arieli and his team at EFI developed, and

which is now a key part of EFI’s produc-

tivity software suite. MIS is not replaced;

that calculates the price and costs. “Print-

flow will take the least constrained way of

production, and maximise throughput ” he

says. “Scheduling is key to everything. In

slow times, you need to optimise capacity

even more so in order to gain from labour

and material waste reduction, closing down

under utilised cost centres and moving

people to people where they can be the most

productive.

“At times overtime is not a problem, but

can be the most cost effective way of coping,

not in a constrained cost centre which needs

dealing with.

“Then there is the saying ‘if it ain’t

broken don’t fix it’ which is a mistake that

many companies make. Everything else is

changing, the equipment available, the type

of jobs. You have to continue to change to

maximise business potential.”

In some circumstances it will make sense

to print a four-colour job on a six-colour

press if there is a queue of four-colour jobs

waiting to go on press. This puts scheduling

at the forefront, something that many have

ignored or pushed to one side. However,

according to Arieli: “Scheduling affects

everything and is the key tool to turn nega-

tive trends into positive ones.” It is as they

say, something worth thinking about.

Mountain in the cloud

CRISPY MOUNTAIN’S KEYLINE MIS

is typical of a new breed built around open

applications, standard interfaces and calcu-

lations in the cloud.

Three years ago one of the most talked

about MIS systems today did not exist. The

company behind the Keyline MIS is German

software house Crispy Mountain and it was

wrestling with improving logistics systems.

Then came the idea about porting this

experience into helping the automation

of the printing industry. In Germany and

across Europe that is a growing user base

from small shops to the 300-seat system at

Livonia, the largest book printer in Lithu-

ania. In the UK, Paul Warren spotted the

…

Udi Arieli believes bottlenecks could

help not hinder efficiency.Crispy Mountain’s Keyline MIS is built around open applications, standard interfaces

and calculations in the cloud.

MIS


potential and Cloud to Print has been selling

the technology to printers in the UK. It took

a stand at the Print Show where Colourfast

was announced as the first UK customer,

and a second deal was completed on the final

day at the C2 Group was the second. More

will follow.

KEYLINE IS STILL A YOUNG platform

that is not yet 100% comprehensive. There

is no ganging function for example, but

many MIS systems that have been around

for more than 30 years do not offer a fully

fledged ganging function. There is enough

in place already for it to be worth a look.

Joint managing director Christian Weyer

is cut from the mould of tech entrepreneurs.

He is a neuro scientist by training, who wears

his knowledge of the workings of the human

brain lightly, when introducing the software.

He runs through the way that technology is

seen, at first in terms of the technology it

threatens before shedding those clothes to

emerge as a paradigm changing technology.

Thus the desktop computer sat in an office

to replace a typewriter – hence the paperless

office predictions – before coming of age.

In terms of the personal computer this was

the introduction of iPhone. “This was the

computer as it should be used,” he says.

BY IMPLICATION MANY of the MIS

systems in use in print still belong to the

pre-iPhone era. Keyline doesn’t. It is hosted

in the cloud, giving the developer the ability

to update the software several times a day

without impacting user data. It is built

around open APIs, enabling straightforward

connectivity to third party applications.

That to Salesforce was completed within a

few hours.

This is not the lengthy process that has

handicapped the widespread adoption of

JDF (a format set in the pre iPhone age).

Data is presented in a highly visual way,

making it easy to understand where a job is.

Most importantly though, for Weyer, the

arrival of Keyline is timely. “Thirty years

ago, the industry was characterised by large

orders and slow turnarounds. Over the last

20 years runs have been getting shorter and

shorter and printers have to handle many

more orders but without increasing the

overall administration costs. In that period

there have been numerous improvements

in production technology, but the business

has not been automated because printers

are using the same software as they did 30

years ago.”

The connectivity of Keyline and the

systematic approach that underpins its

technology is the response. “Standardisa-

tion is needed, not of the product, but of

the process,” Weyer says.

STANDARDISATION ALSO requires

agreed semantics, what he described as a

taxonomy, a structure to describe any job

which becomes more precise the deeper into

the description that you get. “Semantics is

the foundation for automation, it is what

is needed for a computer to interpret the

data.” For Keyline this means a consistent

way to enter data, and to build the templates

that define the processes, resources and

materials needed for any job.

“It’s hard work and takes time, but once

you have gone through this, you can auto-

mate pretty easily,” says Weyer.

As the job proceeds, the status is changed

by adding a simple adjective. Thus ‘plates’

become ‘exposed plates’ and a resource that

is available to the next step in the process

that would not be available until being quali-

fied as ‘exposed’. By parsing the stage that

each job is at and what is entailed for each

job, it becomes possible to decide the best

method to produce each job, and when to do

so, batching by job type for example.

There is allowance for the non productive

time, that needed for cleaning a coating unit

for example, which takes a press offline, and

there is appreciation too for time that each

task might take: lamination taking longer

than folding the same number of sheets.

A very experienced production manager

might understand this intuitively, assigning

T cards to the planning board as jobs are

booked in. But the flow today is too fast and

the rules about how long jobs take and what

equipment is used to match the job definition

needs to be distributed across the business.

These are the rules that can be defined by the

user and which are used to build the produc-

tion paths. These can be straightforward says

Weyer: “If the paper specified goes beyond

300gsm, then use this press, for example. We

try to get printers to use the simplest formula

that is possible,” he says. In Germany this can

be a challenge. No printer has yet suggested

that relative humidity becomes a variable that

needs to be understood, but it is only a matter

to time,” he jokes.

Statistics comparing the schedule against

the reality, the costs compared to the esti-

mate, are retained for comparison and to

adjust for the next comparable job. It is

not artificial intelligence, Weyer insists,

but application of smart algorithms. “It’s

not artificial and it’s not intelligent. Our

competitors might claim this is artificial

intelligence but it’s just algorithms, we can

call it machine learning.”

Most tasks that a printers handles are

repetitive “90% don’t need to be intelli-

gent” he says. “We want to free people from

doing the stupid tasks to allow them to do

the intelligent work.”

This opens the way to automation, both

of pricing and especially of scheduling.

During a presentation at the Print Show, he

asked printers present to raise their hand if

the schedule planned at the start of a day was

completed exactly as conceived. Nobody did.

WITH FEEDBACK FROM direct inter-

faces or from iPads if a direct interface is

not available to enter simple data (job at

makeready, running, stopped or finished)

the software can adjust the schedule on the

fly accommodating rush jobs, or those where

artwork has not been signed off or where the

paper has not yet arrived. “Our MIS looks

at planning every five minutes,” he says.

Not even the most obsessed lean manage-

ment maven can do this, let alone during the

turmoil of a typical day of production with

the pressure to deliver overnight. This is the

logistics problem where Crispy Mountain

cut its teeth, where the cloud provides the

ideal vantage point to monitor everything

that is going on in a print business. n

Colourfast celebrates the purchase.


PAPER CHINA ANALYSIS

The great wall of ChinaChina’s decision to ban imports of waste from

the west is having consequences for the price

that a printers have to pay for their paper in

Europe.

NOBODY HAS ESCAPED PAPER price

increases this year. It seems to have been

a trend to hike the cost every few months

regardless as if the paper industry is on

some kind of retribution for the years when

printers have used market conditions to keep

paper prices lower than mills and merchants

would like. Simply there has been overca-

pacity in certain grades, an overcapacity that

seems to be coming to an end.

There is no question that paper

consumption is falling, at least that is paper

consumption for printing papers. At the

same time demand for packaging materials

is soaring, particularly for corrugated boxes

spurred by the explosion in online shopping.

This has also encouraged investment in

digital machines to print on corrugated.

While paper companies have scrambled to

covert mills producing graphical papers to

making either carton boards or corrugateds.

This is at it starkest with StoraEnso. In

the summer it announced plans to convert

coated paper production at its Oulu mill in

Finland to produce carton boards. Around

1 million tonnes of coated paper would be

removed from the European market at a

stroke. This is in itself around 13% of total

European production and close to what

is estimated to be the amount of excess

capacity in this part of the world. Only 15

years ago mills producing 250,000tpa were

only marginally profitable and were closed,

a trend which all but wiped out the UK

production of this style of paper. Now mills

need to produce 1 million tea and then are

not assured of continuing support.

That review is ongoing, but there seems

little doubt that it will uphold the original

decision. The only chink of light is that

revenues and margins from paper increased

in Q3, but its packaging division reported a

record busting quarter and the giant forest

products company has already committed

to a €9 million development of a corrugated

plant in Latvia.

StoraEnso’s plans are just part of a wave

of conversions and investments. Paper

industry consultants at Euwid reckon that

for 2019 and 2020 there are already projects

underway that will add 4 million tonnes a

year of new capacity for corrugated.

This is without the conversion projects

that are also in place. So far the amount of

new capacity coming on stream has been

balanced by growing demand, now it seems

that capacity is out running demand and the

familiar paper industry pendulum where

everyone jumps into a segment resulting in

a massive increase is production and supply

without the demand for the material, is back

in play.

The Chinese

government has

decreed that the

country should no

longer be acting as the

recycling centre for

western economies,

with a knock on effect for paper prices.

CHINA ANALYSIS PAPER


Whether this will save Oulu is moot. Nor

will sentiment that suggests a move back

to print and paper from online marketing.

Printers must brace themselves for more

price increases and perhaps even supply

shortages in some grades in the next couple

of years.

But this has not been the cause of price

increases this year. For that we have to look

east. At China. The Chinese government has

put in place a policy of not accepting waste

from western countries in July last year.

It took effect at the start of this year. The

country wants to eliminate all imports of

recycled material by 2020.

THIS IS CAUSING PROBLEMS in the

plastics industry, and it is causing a massive

problem in paper. Vast quantities of paper

have been sent to China for recycling,

turning into pulp and then carton materi-

als and corrugated. Without this supply of

fibre, China has had to turn to world markets

for its pulp. There is not enough forest cover

in the country to meet demand for pulp and

such as there is is already accounted for.

At the recent EMGE conference this was

spelled out by a number of speakers. EMGE

started as a consultancy for office papers

and now also runs one of the most success-

ful independent conferences for paper in

Europe.

Two-thirds of China’s paper making

industry is dependent on recycled fibre,

amounting to 60 million tonnes, 50 million

tonnes of which has been imported, 12%

of that from the UK alone. This is putting

pressure on the UK recycled paper sector as

it has to find alternative outlets for its raw

material closer to home.

For the Chinese industry there will be

an increase in fibre collection domestically

(one of the strategies behind the policy) an

increase in demand for pulp from recycled

fibres, an increase in imports of paper and

board and a large increase in demand for

virgin fibre pulp. It is the latter two that are

driving up paper prices in the UK.

One way around this is for Chinese

companies to invest in recycled fibre capacity

outside China and use these to produce the

pulp it needs and a number of such projects

are underway. Another factor comes into

play for the US at least. The Trump admin-

istration is levying extra duties on papers

from China, something that is blamed for

the collapse of a web offset print in Hawaii.

recently. And should the trade war continue

and hit imports into the US, there will be an

impact on demand for corrugated.

Berry Wiersum, CEO of Sappi Europe,

provided the view from a European paper

making, looking further into the future than

merely the next 12 months. His presentation

took in the effects of climate change: more

than 20 million cubic metres of spruce trees

in Germany died as a result of this year’s

long hot summer, and if these conditions are

to become the norm, the impact on available

fibre will increase.

At the same time industries are looking to

greater use of trees as a renewable resource

rather than fossil fuels. The current policies

and practices will not be enough to stave off

climate change he warned, bringing it home

by comparing the average temperatures in

the 1950s when his mother was a child and

the conditions when his daughter retires in

2060. Under the current scenario he said

the average temperature will be 7ºC higher.

This will cause major changes to climate and

living conditions.

BUT THE KEY INFLUENCE ON current

price levels has been what is happening in

China. The price of softwood pulp has risen

from less than $1,000 a tonne to more than

$1,250, with Sappi and other papermakers

expecting it to oscillate around the $1,200

level for the next few years. The current

round of paper price rises it seems will stick.

As sustainable alternatives for fossil based

plastics are developed demand for cellu-

lose derived from wood pulp will increases

changing perception of the pulp and paper

industry from one that is responsible for the

destruction of forests and other environ-

mental damage to the saviour of the world’s

consumption led economies.

Consequently packaging in paper and

board is becoming more popular and will

continue to expand, hence the conversion

of capacity that was dedicated to commer-

cial print magazines and catalogues to carton

boards and corrugated.

Globally this also driven by the maturing

economies in Asia and South America where

urbanisation creates demand for more pack-

aging, both to preserve food and for retail

convenience.

GIVEN THESE CONDITIONS IT IS

perhaps surprising that the paper price

has not increased more than it has, a func-

tion of the over capacity that exists as the

traditional printing and publishing industry

declines. And the rise in the price of paper

may hasten that decline. At least one offset

printer has been told that by one publisher

customer that the increase is going to lead

to the closure of some magazine titles in the

new year.

There is hope as Wiersum told the EMGE

delegates, just as those attending the Print

Power conference heard. Print is underval-

ued in terms of influence and as fake news,

spam and concerns abut privacy increase,

print is regarded as a more important and

influential channel.

It always has been for luxury brands that

have understood that they need to stand out

through their choice of paper and quality

of printing. Others will discover this.

Peak digital is coming, perhaps by 2023

when consumers can give no more time to

connected devices and as people turn away

from screen time in favour of a digital detox

each week.

BUT THE PRICE OF PAPER WILL NOT

fall to accommodate this. Instead printers

will need to learn to manage paper better,

opting for slightly lower weights and higher

bulk papers, specifying sizes from merchants

that do not leave trim on the cutting room

floor.

EBB has plans to stock Sappi’s GalerieArt

in a greater choice of weights and formats

from the new year when Sappi becomes its

sole supplier of coated papers. Denmaur

will provide advice to printer on how to

manage paper better. Ultimately however

prices will have to be passed on to custom-

ers. We can thank the Chinese for that. n

Paper mills in China are dependent on recycled

material from the west as a key source of fibre.

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PRINT POWER CONFERENCE


The pendulum swings backPrint has proved its value against digital in the books sector; interest

is�now�growing�from�the�advertising�and�marketing�sector.�But�first�the facts need to get through to the brands and marketing decision

makers this year’s Print Power conference in London was told.

EARLY IN HIS PRESENTATION Whistl

Door Drop managing director Mark Davies

provided an inadvertent image for the day.

He showed a graph of spend on door drops

over the last decade by one of his clients.

It had flatlined at zero for most of that

time until a spike in 2017 and what will end

up as a larger spike this year. It was as if

someone had applied a defibrillator to the

printing industry and jolted it back into life.

Speaker after subsequent speaker continued

the theme: print had appeared to be a dead

medium wiped away by online and digital

channels, now it was alive. Print may never

again be the only game in town for most

brands, but at least it had found a place.

Davies was not the only speaker to use the

same graph showing the decline in spending

on print for marketing purposes and demon-

strating that spending on digital has rocketed

in that time. It is now forecast to account for

more than 50% of ad spend said the day’s

final speaker Kathrine Punch from August

Media. And with television accounting for

a further 40%, the amount to be shared by

print based media is thin indeed.

BUT BY FOLLOWING the trends the

broadsword approach of print, with no

metrics, no way of measuring the ROI of

a piece of print or print ad, compared to

the rapier precision of digital where agen-

cies can satisfy data hungry clients with click

rates, response times and Facebook activity,

would have no chance. Print should have

become a curiosity, like steam engines.

However, it seems that the digital evan-

gelists have over played their hand. Even

without the quasi-fraudulent numbers used

by social media brands to promote their

effectiveness, there is a consumer backlash.

Davies pointed to the increasing number of

ad blockers in use, the failure of program-

matic advertising to deliver the right

message. It has led to Proctor & Gamble

turning sharply away from digital market-

ing. Its product managers, many digital

zealots, now sit alongside a business analyst

able to see what is really effective. And that is

the door drops and putting product samples

into the hands of a consumer rather than a

‘like’ on a social media channel.

He attributed a renewed interest in the

door drop to GDPR and concerns about

misuse of personal data. A door drop uses

anonymised data and demographic infor-

mation to reach households and consumers

in tightly targeted groups, probably not

qualified customers of the brand. Door

drop becomes an effective tool for customer

acquisition. “It is at the intersection between

reach and effectiveness,” he told the Station-

ers’ Hall delegates.

Equally print had not yet regained

its strength and as digital consumption

and access continues to grow, it cannot

be ignored. Print needs to use the same

language and arguments that have helped

digital gain its dominant position. The

industry has begun to do this, cooperating

on research to prove that something arriving

through the letterbox is read multiple times

and hangs around for 18 days before reach-

ing the recycling bin.

THE SAME RESEARCH underlined how

door drops followed by a piece of direct

mail can magnify the return over both used

separately. It gives the agencies evidence to

support print. The problem though is not

with the agencies. The creative characters,

whether at director or intern level, love print

and enjoy it – the Sunday papers in a country

pub, the look and feel of an effective …

Audience in Stationers’ Hall was rapt by

presentations about print’s effectiveness at all points in the purchasing cycle.

CONFERENCE PRINT POWER


piece, and they think print according to

Punch’s work to understand why agencies

and their clients are not as in love with print

as their personal experience suggests they

should be.

The blame, she says, lies with their

clients, the brands that want to say that any

campaign elicited measurable results in the

short term. “And clients are obsessed with

‘share of voice’ compared to their competi-

tors,” she said. “Because of this very few

are prepared to step out and do something

different.”

It means that agencies have their hands

tied when making recommendations. At its

most extreme, one agency, supposed to be

advising how to make an impact through

most effective choice of media was told that

billboard sites had been booked in March,

six months before the content and message

of the campaign had been decided. When

the internet first arrived, using websites and

banners was considered daring and print was

the safe option. Now it appears that print

carries the risk.

BUT THE SHEER VOLUME of content

flowing through websites, emails, SMS and

social media channels like Facebook is creat-

ing so much noise, that some are finding that

print is best able to achieve cut though.

Dan Davey, CEO of Progressive Content,

has been on this journey. His was a story

about the growth of customer publications

as an alternative to major magazines, and

then wholesale adoption of digital media,

able to target individuals with negligible

cost other than the ongoing costs of creating

content (where his business steps in). “Why

send a piece of direct mail, when you could

send an email for close to free?” he said was

the universal question a decade ago. “But

now things are changing. Print is being

recognised as offering a real difference – real

value that digital can’t always match.”

AND THE GIANTS OF THE digital world

have recognised this: Facebook’s publication

of Grow, a magazine focused at business

decision makers about why they ought to use

print; Google’s Think publication and others

from AirBNB and even Amazon’s bricks and

mortar supermarket to be joined by Google’s

pop up shop in London.

“Companies need to do more to get

people’s attention and print can easily do

that,” he explained. And when those people

are on the top floor, executives making

decisions about major investments, a piece

of print is valued and trusted, that the

publisher thinks enough of the reader to

go to the trouble and cost of printing and

mailing a magazine or book. “These people

are digital weary and digital wary,” Davey

said.

According to surveys quoted several times

during the day, print is trusted above digital

channels by people across the age spectrum.

There are the tactile advantages of print.

It is a medium without distractions for the

growing number of consumers that want to

switch off from the digital haze. That adver-

tisers dislike this will be another factor in a

renewed interest in print.

However, facts are necessary, said Vanessa

Clifford, CEO of Newsworks, a body to

deliver the facts about advertising in news-

papers. This was not about the exclusive

use of newspapers to the detriment of other

channels, but how the right message using the

right medium can have a multiplying effect on

a consumer’s intention to make a purchase.

HER RESEARCH WAS THOROUGH,

calling on a wide range of analysis, even

studies promoting television and radio, to

show that planners and buyers underesti-

mate the power of print. Consumer research

finds that newspapers are the third most

important influencer and magazines fourth;

the same questions posed to agencies found

that newspapers are ranked eighth and

magazines tenth. Online video was rated

highly by agencies even though Facebook

has admitted that very few people actually

view the majority of these films.

The result is a piece of work that can

place any advertiser within a matrix for how

it ought to divide its budget across the chan-

nels to achieve the greatest return and profit.

The sweet spot for a supermarket’s market-

ing spend is between 19.4% and 31.3%

towards newspapers. Above this there is

little marginal gain. In 2013, supermar-

kets were directing 23.2% of their budget

to newspapers: in 2016 this had fallen to

16.2%. Spread across all sectors, inefficient

use of print means that brands are losing out

on £3 billion of profit she said. “It’s what

print can do,” she pointed out.

In truth, the case for print is about a

slower burn, about brand building rather

than a call to action where the speed of

digital holds sway. Few consumers can recall

digital advertising and the limited format of

a mobile phone restricts creativity and the

message. The instant response of the Face-

book like (not a click through because as one

speaker pointed out “you are more likely to

survive a plane crash or climb Everest than

click through a banner ad”) has distracted

the agencies, what Davey called ‘vanity

metrics’. “Each channel does something

unique and we need to prove what that was,”

said Clifford.

Scott Barclay, Williams Lea TAG,

produced a graph to show the consumer

journey from awareness to purchase and

which media delivers the influence at that

point in the journey. “Print remains a

significant channel: it’s a vital and enduring

part of the communications method.” In

the days of bots, Russian bloggers and click

farms in the Philippines “print side steps

these issues. And it has the high value that

online can’t give you”.

THIS SUMMATION COULD NOT be

bettered, a message that 200 delegates could

take away and employ across their own busi-

nesses. And there were practical examples

of the power of print from cancer care

charity Macmillan, where millions of infor-

mation booklets are consumed each year.

These provide clear, concise, accurate and

trusted information that those receiving an

unwelcome diagnosis require. In the confu-

sion of differing opinions found on websites,

blogs and forums, there could be no better

example of just how important print in real

life actually continues to be. n

…

BPIF CEO Charles

Jarrold hosted the

morning sessions,

pointing out that

printed books

have made a very

welcome return

to popularity.

BCF SEMINAR LED UV


The silver lining to LED UV printingThe BCF staged seminars in Edinburgh and Birmingham to bridge

the knowledge gap that is evident in LED UV for litho and label

printing. For any hard pressed printer or converter, there are multiple

advantages, speaker after speaker explained.

THE RISE IN INTEREST in LED UV

curing is unstoppable. There are more than

500 installations of the technology, some

retrofitted to sheetfed litho presses world-

wide, numerous installed as new since 2008,

and in addition there are around 250 narrow

web label presses with LED fitted. In addi-

tion the technology is beginning to make

inroads into newspaper and heatset web

offset printing.

But as the first UK Shining the Light on

LED UV seminar organised by the British

Coatings Federation revealed, there is still a

yawning information gap. This can lead to

misleading information both in favour and

against the technology and certainly about

what is what is not possible with light emit-

ting diodes.

Even during presentations some stated

that LEDs were available only at the

365-395 nanometer wavelengths that create

UV-A energy for a penetrating cure and

are used in printing. This is very differ-

ent from the broad spectrum UV that is

created by conventional mercury vapour

lamps and which includes UV-C for a strong

surface cure.

THE LIMITED RANGE OF UV ENERGY

limits the abilities of the chemists at ink

companies to deliver inks and coatings that

meet the requirements that printers have.

If LEDs with different wavelengths could

be combined, a new set of photoinitiators

might be used and new applications open

up. This are not yet available said speakers

from Sun and IST.

But they are responded Phoseon. The US

company has supplied more LEDs than any

other (100,000 diodes for printing according

to Rob Carson) and now has a 210nm version

in its catalogue. It might be too costly, not

powerful and enough and not yet readily

available. But it exists and over time, a short

time, these issues will surely be solved.

It is an indication that LED UV is still a

relatively immature technology where inter-

actions are not fully understood. Richard

Wilson, a consultant who has a formidable

expertise in retrofitting LED technology,

says that the technology has been applied

to presses from narrow web to a Heidelberg

Speedmaster XL162.

“ALL THE MAIN PRESS manufactur-

ers support the technology. And it will

break into packaging. It has done this at a

heatset web offset printer where the conven-

tional dryer has been switched off and the

company is running LED UV with no emis-

sions,” he said.

This will be a spur to adoption in commer-

cial web offset. In many countries legislation

is restricting emissions that industry can

create, particularly in urban areas where

many printers in Europe and the US are

located. In Japan where such installations are

not unusual, the impetus towards LED has

been about saving energy as well as reducing

emissions.

Wilson also called for better information.

“We need best practice guidelines: the toler-

ance for running a litho press is a lot tighter

than with conventional inks. UCR is essen-

tial: ink coverage should be no more than

320%. This is because UV inks can feed

back and blend into the yellow ink resulting

in a dirty image.”

To remedy this he suggests that printers

consider changing the lay down sequence of

inks and keeping a close check on density

measurements which will also differ from

those a printer may be used to. Matched

fount solutions, roller coverings and blan-

kets are essential.

AND WHILE ONE OF THE BENEFITS

of running with UV is that it becomes much

easier to print on uncoated papers and non

standard substrates (both highly absorbent

and non-absorbent), it is not an automatic

win-win. Rougher papers where there can

be abrasion of the surface or on silk papers

where the coating may flake from the paper.

A lick of seal will stop this.

“Don’t just buy a lamp unit, put it and run

because you will come up against problems,”

said the consultant who has been adviser on a

large number of retrofit projects.

This means that inks, founts, rollers and

press settings need to be taken into consider-

ation. Nick Ivory, Sun Chemical, explained

that ink makers are hampered by the limited

number of photoinitators that operate in the

spectrum of LED UV energy.

And when they do there is a tendency to

yellow: not noticeable in dark colours, but

obvious in clear coatings. “And as 395nm

is very close to visible light, UV products

are prone to ambient light curing,” he said.

“We would suggest duct covers or filter- …

IST believes

that LED will boost demand.

LED UV BCF SEMINAR


ing films, treatment to the lighting in the

pressroom to prevent this.”

There is also the risk of oxygen at the

surface of the ink inhibiting the curing

action by reacting with the free radical

compounds before they can link up. This is a

greater risk for low viscosity flexo inks than

litho paste inks.

Inkmakers could research new photoini-

tiators, but the process of having these

assessed for safety and then registered for

use, is lengthy and expensive. Few suppli-

ers want to endure the trial. “We would like

to use UV diodes at 250-365nm so expand

the range to one very similar to conventional

mercury lamps. It is easier to wait for LED

providers to deliver their technology – it will

be faster than waiting for new photo initia-

tors to be approved.”

The solution to the yellowing problem he

suggested is a combination of LED to cure

the process colours and a conventional lamp

after the coating unit and running a stand-

ard UV coating. Lamp design has leaped

forward as energy output has increased. The

first units needed to be close to the substrate

with relatively low ink coverage. Now an

IST unit can be positioned 80mm above the

sheet and will deliver a peak power of 40W/

cm2. “But the distance above the substrate

and the optics will bring that down to 13W/

cm2,” says Chris Schofeld, joint managing

director of IST UK.

For narrow web and digital press applica-

tions, the diodes are close to the substrate

so little help is needed. For sheetfed litho,

reflectors and optics are needed to deliver

enough power across a swathe of each sheet

in order for the press to run at 18,000sph.

This is well below the energy consumed

by the hot air dryers on a litho press and

below the energy needed by a standard UV

system. Craig Bretherton, K&B product

marketing manager, explained that a B1

press with two inter deck lamps and three

in the delivery will use 107kW/hr; a single

LED array will run at 14kW/hr.

The press manufacturer has two UK

installations and takes a holistic view over

the economic viability of LED. “We don’t

just look at the ink costs. There’s lots of

areas are not considered: non productive

time while waiting for sheets to dry, the

saving from reprints, reduced costs in the

finishing department from faster running

and the well documented ability to print on

uncoated substrates.” It amounts to LED

UV having a cross over point with conven-

tional litho at around 7,000 sheets.

Nevertheless Kevin Creechan, manag-

ing director at J Thomson Colour, one of

K&B customers, told the delegates that the

calculations alone were not convincing. He

presented one of two case studies, explain-

ing that the investment in a six-colour LED

UV press alongside a ten colour perfector

was “a leap of faith” as the figures were not

clear.

“We asked ourselves could we afford not

to do it?” When the company looked at the

time it spent cleaning down the coating

unit on the existing six-colour press which

would no longer be needed when printing

UV. Suddenly 12 hours of production time

were freed up each week.

“IT’S THE BEST THING WE HAVE ever

done,” he says. “I’m still not convinced we

would do it on the ten-colour press. It’s for

the high quality work, for difficult substrates

and we can turn jobs the same day.”

Creechan admits that the printer is

cautious but found each of the press suppli-

ers it spoke were advocating some kind of

UV printing leading to further investigation

of the technology. “But we didn’t want to go

with anything but LED, thinking that other

forms of UV will be not be viable three years

down the line,” he says.

The figures, however, did not add up for

the ten-colour press. This is the machine

for the longer run work, which by impli-

cation have a longer turnaround time. The

six-colour is handling more work than

anticipated because of the clear production

benefits beyond the press.

It is also using a 1% dusting of spray

powder, used not for drying but to prevent

any risk of blocking. A lick of coating is

applied to silk coated papers, not for any

problem with the printing process, but to

add a protective film to stop the paper’s

surface flaking off when finished brochures

were stacked against each other in the deliv-

ery box.

THE BIGGEST IMPACT, HE SAYS, has

been on one regular job printed on Natura-

lis. “We would print one side and leave that

for two days before printing the reverse side;

then it would sit for another two days before

thinking about finishing. Now it takes one

hour to do the whole job,” Creechan says.

Dave Stones, sales and marketing direc-

tor at B&B Press, was equally enthusiastic.

The LED UV goes hand in hand with setting

a new platform for print, changing the

perception in the minds of the 25-30-year-

olds that are charged with designing and

buying print. “We do what we say we are

going to deliver to them,” he says.

It has created the Be Brilliant club to

widened the discussion around print and

inviting buyers into a working place where

jobs are printed cleanly without spray,

where there is no waiting time and where the

consumables are sustainable. “It took us six

months to get the chemistry right,” he says.

THERE WAS ALSO A LEARNING curve

for operators and to understand how LED

affects the quality of a job. Creechan had

noted this being called in to a client to explain

why a reprint looked different compared to

the initial run. “I pointed it out that it looked

better,” he says. J Thomson Colour has

subsequently won all that customer’s busi-

ness. This would not have been part of the

…

Ink manufacturers have a restricted palette of ingredients to select from.

BCF SEMINAR LED UV


business plan, nor would there have been a

figure against the energy savings from using

the instant drying system rather than hot air

or IR units. Stones says that this amounted

to a 75% reduction.

INSTANT DRYING HAS AN IMPACT

on colour behaviour on press. Where Stones

had been buying spot colours to achieve the

result customers want, it has shied away

from purchasing spot colours sensitive to

LED UV. These are expensive, says Stones.

“but the colour gamut is much better so

we buy very little spot colour. Just because

you can does not mean that you should and

customers accept the colours that come from

CMYK.

“The biggest frustration is trying to teach

and engage people about why they should

pay a little more for a quality product that

we believe is worth paying a little more for.”

This can mean running comparison

sheets between the processes to highlight

the difference. It has also attracted other

work. A greetings card publisher needed

bespoke envelopes to match the cards and

B&B supplies flat sheets printed on enve-

lope paper, responding a lot faster than the

customer had been able to print previously.

“It means that they can work on making

envelopes immediately they receive the

sheets from us,” he says.

As with Wilson, Stones believes that

education is needed and not just in bring-

ing together the different elements of the

technology. Many printers remain in the

dark about LED UV, let alone the custom-

ers. Suppliers need to work with the printers

on projects to educate the clients in order to

get the word out.

This is also the case in label printing.

Mark Andy has installed countless LED UV

presses around the world, far more in North

America than in Europe. This is because

Phil Baldwin mused, label printers in

Europe had already converted to UV flexo,

but using standard mercury vapour lamps.

In North America it was a bigger leap from

water based inks to UV and it made sense

to leap the chasm to the newest technology.

Keith Redmond from Flint Narrow

Web puts the global base of LED UV label

machines at 250, 160 of which are in the US

and 40 in Europe. Many are also swapping a

conventional lamp for an LED version and

running hybrid press set up. This will enable

some energy savings, but may compromise

the ability to run thinner films or highly

heat sensitive products that is a key part

of the appeal for label converters and their

customers.

A thinner film will mean less environ-

mental impact and many more labels on a

reel and a longer run time on press without

stopping to change the reel. There are also

no moving parts as the lamps are either on

or off, cutting the need to shutter lamps or

for cooling down and warming up periods.

Companies like IST UV have responded

with systems that are hot swappable between

conventional and LED arrays. The switch

from one to the other takes only minutes.

The same switch on a sheetfed litho press

will take a little longer, but the same ethos

of changing the lamp unit only and keeping

control cabinets, applies.

It is a step forwards towards a mature

market. Before that the implications for

the technology, whether offset or flexo, are

about educating the market that here is a

technology that brings many of the bene-

fits associated with digital printing with

the known advantages of litho and other

analogue printing technologies. n

The quality alternative to OEM perfecting jackets.

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SCAN FOR OURNEW CATALOGUE


LED UV

Paragon enjoys the UV lifeParagon�CC�in�Rotherham�has�switched�one�press�to�LED�UV�and�is�treating�it�as�a�digital�rather�than�litho�press.

PARAGON CUSTOMER Communications

is considering a second LED UV equipped

press to follow on from the success of its first

UV investment. That machine was a retrofit

on one of its three Sakurais at its Rotherham

plant. Any second press will be a new machine.

Operations director Kevin McGowan

explains that the experience of fitting the

LED UV has been so positive and the results

so beneficial that further investment is now

likely. The company went to UK supplier

Benford UV for the fitting and installation

of the LED array and control equipment.

Benford also provided the support

and training needed to get the printer

comfortable with the new technology.

PARAGON BEGAN looking for a

solution to the problem of how to

meet demand for fast turnaround from

customers who wanted next day if not

same day delivery. In common with

other litho printers, Paragon would not

know how long any job would have to

sit on the pallet before being dry enough to

finish. There were pallets of work in progress

all across the factory. The switch to LED has

put an end to this.

“Work can be backed up straight away,”

says McGowan. “In fact it’s performing

pretty much like a digital press. It’s load the

plates and paper and off you go.” The press

that has been modernised in this way is a

five-colour Oliver 66. Installation was swift

and McGowan is not going to switch away

from the technology now. He says that before

making the commitment “we investigated our

options around UV drying. Other parts of

the group are using UV. We sort of stumbled

across Benford, looked at their technology and

spoke to other customers they had. It seemed

to be a simple retrofit and a cost effective one.”

The company was offered different styles

of UV before choosing LED. “The electric-

ity consumption is next to nothing,” says

McGowan. “Whereas older style UV tech-

nology will consume a lot of power and the

lamps have a relatively short shelf life. LED

is more robust.”

From Benford’s point of view, LED is

indeed robust and an on/off digital technol-

ogy, but the operating window is narrow,

certainly compared with conventional litho

and with other styles of UV. It means,

says Marc Boden, managing director, that

companies need to be careful about the on

press chemistry. Many are set up to run

well with a certain ink but once the system

is up and running the printer will switch to

the UV ink provided by his previous ink

supplier only to find that creates problems.

This has not happened at Paragon.

McGowan says that the recommended INX

Sakata ink and fount are in use and that “the

training and support provided was brilliant.

They were printers and could relate to what

we were seeing. Now my lads are loving it

and the technology is trouble-free.

“WE HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE in that

the transition has been pretty easy. It took

us a couple of weeks to move from conven-

tional to UV. Now we are not going back. A

job can come in and we can turn it around on

the same day which is keeping our custom-

ers happy. It has opened doors to doing what

was previously too complicated for us and

would have to be outsourced.”

Paragon has the press on three shifts,

hence the thoughts about adding further

capacity. “I can’t believe how simple it has

been. The press stays clean because there is

no spray powder and while the price we pay

for ink has gone up, that’s nothing compared

to the benefits. It’s an all round win-win and

so easy to do,” he says.

Other than changing ink and fount,

Paragon also changed rollers, putting the

new compound in before the conversion.

“There has been a slight change in the ink

ducts and maybe we are running the press

slightly slower because of heat restrictions

in the rollers. But as we are not doing long

runs, this isn’t a problem. It’s about short

runs, fast turnarounds and

doing as many make readies as

we can.”

NOT EVERY INSTALLATION

runs as smoothly says Boden.

His experience with fitting UV

systems to sheetfed press extends

back 25 years and covers all the

flavours and complexities that

are possible. One recent installa

tion of UV included a mix of LED for inter

decks and traditional UV on the coating

units for both sides of the sheet on a tenunit

Komori Lithrone in Las Vegas. Standard UV

is popular to avoid yellowing on coatings that

work in parts of the spectrum addressed by

the LED, and to keep the costs of the varnish

down.

The interest is coming from commercial

printers coming to UV for the first time.

This is why Benford has taken on minders

who can do the hand holding necessary to

make the transition. “It is so important that

we train the customers to understand the

technology. We have learned a lot from our

experiences in getting this in place, so we

know that it’s so important to get right. You

need to hold people’s hands.

“Once it’s right though there are huge

benefits. And you only have to check the

fount and clean the filters once a month.

That’s all it takes.” n

Sakurai with LED UV technology.

INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY LARGE FORMAT


KM joins large format sector with hybrid pairKONICA MINOLTA has intro-

duced its first self developed

large format inkjet printer for

display graphics under its own

name at the Print 18 show in

Chicago.

Previously the company has

had a deal to sell EFI Vutek

machines, but while there are

Konica Minolta inkjet printers

for textiles, there has been none in

the commercial and display print

space. That is changing with the

introduction of the AccurioWide

160 and AccurioWide 200, 1.6

metre wide and 2.0 metre wide

hybrid machines respectively.

Both operate with Konica

Minolta 1024i printheads giving

a resolution of 1440x720dpi.

The printhead is in widespread

use in other sectors and uses

a high pigment ink which is

claimed to give a thinner ink

layer and reduce overall ink

volumes required.

Speed is dependent on reso-

lution. The AccurioWide 160

comes in a four-colour plus

white or six-colour versions,

while the AccurioWide 200

offers six-colour plus white

printing. Both combine LED

UV and conventional UV curing

for speed across the range of

substrates.

The AccurioWide 160 will

print at 63m2/hr in draft mode,

falling to 7m2/hr in finest

quality. It will print on most

media including rigid sheets to

45mm thick.

Konica Minolta will link the

machines to its FD-9 scanning

spectrometer and both FD-5

and FD-7 hand held spectropho-

tometric colour measurement.

These link to the AccurioPro

WideDirector workflow appli-

cation. This automates step

and repeat image placement,

nesting colour profiling and

offers suggestions about optimal

settings having analysed and run

a preflight check on the incoming

digital file. It will balance produc-

tion across multiple printers.

The move comes hard on the

heels of Ricoh’s first flatbed/

hybrid printer the Pro T7210,

which is now available in the

UK. This is in a different class

with a 50m2/hr standard mode

and twice that in draft mode.

It also offers primer and clear

ink channel and is config-

ured as a flatbed rather than a

hybrid printer.

Rocket�takes�off�with�new�Vutek

ROCKET GRAPHICS has taken

on an additional unit, installed a

3.2metre Vutek hybrid printer

and increased its cutting capacity

with a 3.2metre Zund to accom

pany the printer. The extra space

adds 30% taking floor space to

2,600m2.

Sales director Antony Rider

explains that the extra capacity

will allow the Watford company

to keep ahead of demand. “The

Vutek will let us produce what

used to take 15 hours on our

Mimakis in six hours with no

loss of quality and the same

versatility,” he says.

The Vutek LX3 UV hybrid

printer joins a 5 metre wide

Vutek GS5000r roll to roll

printer and a 3.2 metre MTex

dye sublimation fabric printer.

There are also five Mimaki roll

printers, the most recent of

which is a JV300 1.6 metre wide

LED UV print.

And the boost in capacity is

needed. The company recently

delivered wraps and graphics

for the Ryder Cup near Paris,

producing the structures and

mounting for 42 sponsors in on

site hospitality pavilions. This

required more than 3 km of

fabric, printed, mounted and

delivered to the course near

Paris in two weeks.

“We have to have the equip

ment to be able to react quickly,”

says Rider. Equally important

is accurate colour matching

across all the devices. Rocket

purges every machine every day

“so that we can guarantee the

quality” he adds.

The extra floor space will be

used in a variety of ways, build

ing the structures to support the

fabrics stretched over them, or

bringing in 100 vans for wrap

ping as it did for a recent project.

“We specialise in experi

ential jobs for events, some

bespoke retail: most work is for

agency customers where we can

add value rather than supply

commodity print. That comes

through adding our ideas and

prior experience. It’s this that

helps us to grow.”

The new cutting table, a Zund

G3, provides greater automa

tion and expands the maximum

width processed to 3.2 metres

from 2.2 metres. it will increase

throughput of print work that

needs cutting down before

shipping.

Demo�time��at�Zund

NICKI KAY has taken over as

managing director of Zund UK

in time for a twoday open house

at the UK demonstration centre

in St Albans.

She fills a gap left when

Stuart Cole stepped because

of ill health earlier this year.

Her career to date has been in

manufacturing and component

supplier, but outside printing. A

first task will be integration of

ERP and CRM in the UK with

the Swiss head office.

The open house was a show

case for G3, S3 and D3 flatbed

cutters running display print and

leather cutting applications.

KM’s AccurioWide 160 prints 1.6 metres wide at 1440x720dpi.

New Vutek in the new space at Rocket.

Zund open house showcased

G3, S3 and D3 flatbed cutters.

…

LARGE FORMAT INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY


HP introduces flatbed latex to UK usersHP’S R2000 hybrid latex

printer made its UK debut at

the Print Show. The R1000 was

launched at Fespa, too late for

the Sign & Digital event earlier

this year.

These are the first two hybrid

machines which will replace

existing UV ink flatbed and

as with the original roll to roll

latex printers expand into an

extensive portfolio. The advan-

tages of latex ink come with its

flexibility, its minimal environ-

mental footprint (because it is

water based) and its broad range

of applications, including criti-

cal areas like children’s rooms,

restaurants and hospitals.

The challenge for flatbed

printing is to manage the water

based inks and achieve adhesion

on non porous rigid substrates,

something which has help propel

the popularity of UV ink.

Without being specific, Ignasi

Avellaneda Malgosa, HP tech

nical consultant, explains that

there have been slight changes to

the ink to achieve this. Whatever

these are, it has worked. The ink

moves with the material as it is

bent with no signs of flaking or

cracking.

Operation of the printer

has drawn from a wide range

of experience to make this as

simple as possible. It is largely

maintenance free using auto

mated routines to minimise

intervention. There is touch

screen control designed to be

highly intuitive to use, following

on from the roll to roll versions.

The belt under the heads has

a vacuum to hold materials in

place and to pull the roll mate

rial through the press without

skewing, something that can

limit the performance of hybrid

machines. On the R2000, the

roll can be left to print overnight

he says.

“UV printing has been

around for 20 years and is well

established,” Malgosa contin

ues. “But it is limited in quality

and in coping with flexibility

and versatility of media. With

UV, because the ink is dried

on the surface there is always a

raised image.

“In contrast we print with

a very thin layer of ink which

because it is transparent takes

on the characteristics of the

surface media, whether matt or

gloss, smooth or textured. And

these colours have been show to

be very bright using latex giving

a larger colour gamut than four

colour UV.”

White ink has been added in

response to customer demand.

Again this will take on the prop

erty of the media being printed

he says and “it is not a white that

will become yellow”.

The white print unit can

be completely removed when

not in use and plugged in

again without fear that the

nozzles have become clogged.

In use, the white ink is

constantly being circulated to

prevent this. “There is never

any need to purge the white,”

he adds.

R2000 attracts attention at the Print Show.

Lighting�up�opportunities

LEACH IMPACT has unveiled

its latest display panel, the

Vision Lightwall, to appeal to

retailers aiming to make a high

impact in a small space.

The panel is a self assembly

lightweight pop up unit with

various lighting options includ

ing built in video screens, LED

edge lighting and backlighting.

There are three main formats

to a maximum of 2 metres tall by

3 metres wide. And while aimed

at giving a striking impact to

hard pressed retailers, the Vision

Lightwall has also attracted the

attention of events businesses

and the company is hoping the

reusable unit will appeal. “The

level of waste left behind at

trade shows and conferences is

staggering,” says head of inno

vation Mike Willshaw.

Atlantic�bolsters�service

ATLANTIC Tech has extended

service coverage for both HP

and Mimaki solvent and latest

large format printers.

The company has taken in

Stuart McBride and Graham

Harvey from Hybrid Services

to strengthen the service team

with experience of the Mimaki

rolled and flat bed printers and

from McBride’s experience with

Art Systems, deep knowledge of

HP’s machines also.

Dale�widens�outlook�with�AnapurnaDALE STUDIOS has upped

capacity and is looking for a

business transformation after

installation of an Agfa Anapurna

H3200i LED, supplied by

dealer iSub.

Creative director Ben Millard

says that the company chose the

3.2 metre wide hybrid press

rather than dedicated roll to

roll printer to cope with over

flow and additional flatbed work

from its existing machines.

The Anapurna has plugged

into an existing Caldera work

flow. Millard says: “Our growth

over the last ten years has been

rapid and with the addition of

the new Agfa, we fully expect to

keep this going.” n

Ben Millard with i-Sub’s Emma Plant.

Portable lightwave product.

WE MAKE INNOVATIVE

USE OF TECHNOLOGY

AND CREATIVE PROBLEM

SOLVING TO BRING YOUR

WORK TO LIFE.

0 1 1 4 2 9 4 5 0 2 6

s a l e s @ r o u t e 1 p r i n t . c o . u k

w w w . r o u t e 1 p r i n t . c o . u k


ONLINE PRINTING INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY

Cats delivers solutions for personalised productsCats Solutions has found its personalisation workflow software is a solution that retailers have been looking for.

GREG SMITH HAS been quiet of late.

The managing director of Cats Solutions in

Swindon has simply been too busy handling

inquiries from the sorts of brands and clients

that other printers would give their eye teeth

to work for.

He brought the reason for the interest to

the Print Show at the NEC with a corner

stand under the Emagination brand. It

demonstrated that pretty much anything can

be printed, and that if it can be printed then

it can be personalised with print. Conse-

quently there were chocolate bar wrappers,

phone cases, even greetings cards featur-

ing a Mr Potato Head cartoon figure that

can be generated in millions of potential

combinations.

The secret is not in the printing, that is

relatively straightforward and a case of

fitting the required object in a jig for the

Canon Arizona flatbed UV inkjet printer.

Nor is it in the storefront applications that

enable consumers to place orders for the

personalised paraphernalia. The secret is in

the software that links the order received at

the front end to the job queue on the printer

with minimal touch points.

It solves the production problems that

personalisation has bumped up against.

“The brands tell us ‘we know there’s a

market place that we can identify, but we

don’t know how to do it. We can’t find the

easy to use software and we have no clue

what to do’,” says Smith. In short, online

retailers can capture personal details and

payments but cannot manufacture and

deliver.

On the production side in Swindon,

incoming jobs are fed through automatically,

ganging up similar work on the same print

run. It’s about organising the workflow by

the media used, not by the customer, Smith

points out, and being able to assign the

finished jobs to their destinations.

WHERE CATS CANNOT produce the

job on its own equipment it will find the

way to do so. At the Print Show, Smith was

proud of a knitted scarf that is produced on

demand and fully personalised, not a poor

quality product that has been over printed.

He points to stationery set where all compo-

nents, pencils, ruler and so on, carry the

name of the girl who will receive it as a

birthday present.

Any existing software for this is at best

clunky Smith explains. His business has

called on its years of experience in deliver-

ing overnight digitally printed work through

automated processes for a wide spread of

customers to do the same with new styles

of print. “This is on demand production of

printed products,” he says. “We have the

app designers and have been able to plug

into the retailers’ websites or to a white

label site. The retailers can send the order

for existing suppliers to produce or we can

supply what they want.”

For the Mr Potato Head card for example

this can include one of a possible 30 million

designs and the image on each card is

repeated on the envelope being sent out.

“It’s the next level of product innovation,”

Smith says.

THE INTERACTION WITH brands and

retailers has led to pop up print operations in

stores for peak season to deliver on the spot

personalisation, often using OKI printers.

“Now the brands and retailers are getting

on board with this. They don’t know how

to go about it and we can solve their prob-

lems,” he says.

Early on Smith had to decide whether to

lock down the software and handle all the

work internally or else to licence the appli-

cation so open up the market. The first

option would have meant creating the largest

warehouse in Swindon to accommodate all

manner of products to be personalised, and

becoming a distribution business. He chose

the second route.

Now the software is available to others

who want to tap into the rapidly expanding

opportunity. There were dozens of leads

to follow up from the exhibition to show

that this seems to have been the right call.

And there were thoughts to ponder for the

company’s next move. When it becomes

possible to make the products, using 3D

technology, as well as to print on them,

expect Greg Smith to be there. n

Greg Smith and software screens.

•

•

•

PAPER INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY


EBB strengthens position with Sappi for 2019EBB HAS STRENGTHENED

its three year old partnership

with Sappi. From the start of

the new year, the merchant

will concentrate purely on

Sappi as supplier of coated

woodfree papers, in sheet and

CutStar reels.

EBB had switched to Sappi

when Antalis took on distri

bution of the MSC range of

papers four years ago. Now it is

dropping distribution of Lecta

and Burgo papers in favour of

Sappi’s GalerieArt brand.

Sappi is the largest paper

maker specialising in woodfree

coated papers in Europe and at

the Gratkorn mill in Austria, it

produces around 1 million tonnes

a year. The move will assure EBB

of continuing supply of coated

paper as moves elsewhere are

likely to change the supply in the

coming 12 months. And EBB

is the UK’s largest supplier of

coated woodfree papers.

EBB will expand the range of

sizes and weights of the Sappi

substrate to cover gaps that had

been filled with product from

other suppliers says sales and

marketing manager Kevin Smith.

“There is no need to double what

we hold in the warehouse, but we

will be making sure that we have

everything covered but stock

ing in greater depth,” he says,

“including more short grain

product.”

“We had initially considered

moving from three coated paper

suppliers to two, but followed

the logic and decided to go with

one.” Having a single supplier

eliminates the costs associated

with double stocking and with

modern production, there is little

to distinguish one brand from

another. “Sappi is the supplier

that creates fewest complaints

from printers,” Smith adds.

StoraEnso has proposed

switching its Oulu mill in

Finland from coated printing

papers to packaging grades,

which would remove some

1 million tonnes a year from

the market. Burgo has also

been investing in packaging

grades and while Sappi has also

switched to speciality packaging

papers, it remains committed to

coated woodfree papers, invest

ing to improve productivity at

the Gratkorn mill.

Sappi Gratkorn mill in Austria is

its largest coated paper producer.

Warren�adds�IP�board

WARREN IS TAKING on

distribution of International

Paper’s well regarded Pro

Design digital paper.

The FSC certified paper is

available from 100350gsm and

in A4, SRA3 and SRA2 sizes.

The high white sheet also offers

HP’s ColorLok technology. The

paper has been produced at the

Saillat mill in France for more

than 15 years.

Paper�is�star�of�Stora’s�third�quarter��FINNISH WOOD products

group Stora Enso claimed a

seventh successive quarter of

sales growth helped by strong

growth from the paper division.

The company is still inves

tigating the potential of

converting its Oulu mill in

Finland from production of

coated printing paper to pack

aging grades. And during the

fourth quarter production of

uncoated papers at Nymölla

was hit by a low water levels

in a local lake which forced

restrictions in production. This

is expected to result in a €10

million hit in the final quarter

of the year.

But for Q3 the results across

the board were looking upwards.

Its sales in the quarter rose

3% to €2585 million (€2,509

million) and operating profit

increased 23.4% to €358 million

(€290 million). In the mean

time both packaging and paper

produced increased sales and

profits to help the group achieve

the reported growth.

CEO KarlHenrik Sondström

highlights the contribution from

paper: “Paper stands out with

strong sales growth, solid prof

itability and cash flow,” he says.

However, it is unlikely to deter

the company from its switch to

packaging grades at Oulu where

an environmental impact assess

ment is ongoing.

Investment at Nymölla will

create energy from the waste

effluent at the mill, while there is

a spend of €9 million to expand

corrugate board production in

Latvia. Packaging enjoyed an

all time high quarter with sales

reaching €330 million (€316

million).

Work to introduce a replace

ment for fossil fuel derived

plastics is being accelerated and

the company is expecting to be

able to launch its first products

in Q1 next year.

The paper division increased

sales to €779 million (€727

million), up 7.2% while Ebit

rose to €65 million (€29 million).

While pulp prices increased

again in the quarter, it did not

harm the rise in paper prices

Stora has been able to achieve.

At the group level, paper’s

importance is diminishing and

is considered a cash generat

ing operation to underwrite

the transformation of the busi

ness into a renewable materials

growth company.

The company has agreed a

further environmental target, to

cut carbon emissions per tonne

of paper or wood produced by

31% of the 2010 level by 2030.

Germans�unitePapier Union, the German

merchant belonging to the Portu

guese Inapa group, is taking

over Papyrus Deutschland in a

further move towards consolida

tion of the distribution network.

The new business will have

sales of €900 million with 1,000

staff in Germany and sales

of more than €1,400 million

with 1,900 employees across its

operations. n

Oulu mill is heading towards

conversion to producing

packaging grades.

18_0285

For more information

please go to:

www.denmaur.com/

Fine-Wine-Competition

CompetitionFINE WINE

PEOPLE WHO, WHAT AND WHERE


Michael Passmore, Mr Litho of Kent, dies aged 90MICHAEL PASSMORE, head

of one the last of the UK’s print

dynasties, has died aged 90.

He joined the family company,

which had been founded by his

great grandfather in 1844, as a

training letterpress operator in

1948. He rose through sales and

estimating to become managing

director of the Alabaster Pass-

more and Sons business in Tovil,

near Maidstone, in 1963.

He introduced the factory to

litho printing and in the 1980s

to heatset web offset printing

with Albert, Baker Perkins and

Harris heatset presses. Unfor-

tunately the factory was built

into a hillside that meant opera-

tion on several levels, which

limited efficiency and restricted

the potential for further expan-

sion (it is now a housing

development).

This led in 1982 to the acqui-

sition of Ambassador Press in

Radlett, equipped with short

cut off Solna web presses to cope

with a regular contract for an

evangelical magazine. It made

Passmore International one of

the leading printers of medium

run web offset magazines, espe-

cially for business publications

and earning the Queen’s Award

for Export Achievement.

Meetings were held in a

boardroom at Tovil, overlooked

by portraits of the previous

Passmore generations. In 1990

Michael retired leaving three

children, Chris, Stella and

Stephen to take on the business

while he set up a small letterpress

shop at his house in Barming, just

a few miles from the Tovil factory.

He ran this for a further 25 years.

Michael had been an enthusi-

astic supporter of the industry’s

associations: the Young Master

Printers and Trafalgar Club; the

BPIF and Stationers’ Company;

Wynkyn de Worde, the Insti-

tute of Print, National Printing

Heritage Trust, British Printing

Society and Kent Printers Guild.

Michael Passmore has died aged 90

Simpson�prepares�for�growthSIMPSON GROUP has made

four appointments as part of a

move to strengthen customer

relationships.

Kevin Wills become finance

director having served in

accountancy roles across a

number of sectors, including

for Sunderland printer Edward

Thompson.

Dale Havens and Nigel

Lawton join the business devel-

opment team to look after new

and existing accounts. Adam

McNall is coming back to the

company as trainee regulatory

compliance officer having spent

the last year at the London

North Eastern Railway.

FlyerAlarm�finds�Mr�UK

LUKE STONEHAM has joined

FlyerAlarm as the lead executive

for the UK, filling a gap that has

existed for the last year.

Stoneham has been instrumen-

tal in setting up the Print Show,

where he first came into contact

with FlyerAlarm and Divyesh

Chotai, its international sales

director. When began looking to

fill the gap this summer, Stone-

ham was approached.

“I am now key account

manager for the UK,” he says,

speaking at the end of a week-

long bedding in session in

Germany. “My aim is to expand

the UK market and really start

educating the UK market about

what FlyerAlarm can offer.” and

that, he explains, is the largest

spread of printed marketing

related products available in

Europe and supplied by a busi-

ness with nine sites in Germany

and sales of €340 million.

PCS�strengthens�teamPLASTIC CARD SERVICES

has named Paul Hansford as

sales director and Louise Ray

as director of marketing and

communications. Hansford has

worked for PCS for 20 years,

Ray for three years. Their new

positions come as a result of

ambitious growth plans needing

the management team to be

strengthened.

YM�Group�picks�development�manTOM KILROY has been made

group business development

director at YM Group as part of

the senior leadership team.

His remit includes support

and development to internal

teams to help grow the business.

He joins the web offset group

from the post and delivery

sector. He was sales and business

development director at Secured

Mail – The Delivery Group and

at Royal Mail before that.

Of prime importance is the

paper wrap development at

TLG at a time when plastic wrap

is under pressure from custom-

ers wanting to increase their

sustainability.

Zünd�targets�growthDEAN ASHWORTH has joined

Zünd UK as sales and market-

ing manager working with and

expanding the current customer

base. His appointment follows

on from Nicki Kay joining the

business as managing director.

Ashworth has a background in

leather and footwear, an area that

Zünd has targeted for growth.

More recently he has worked at

Morgan Advanced Materials in

its ceramics division.

Boore�joins�in�strategic�roleTIM BOORE has become digital

sales consultant at CMYUK

following 19 years helping to

convert ImageFactory to digital

operation as head of digital

technologies. He will focus on

building long term strategic

partnerships with customers,

particularly in integration and

automation projects. n

Dale Havens (left) and Kevin Wills

Ultimateperformance for digital printingInspired by the purity of the snowy Finnish winter, it is incredibly white making it ideal for showcasing your creations. With its exceptional print quality, Lumi is the perfect choice for all digital printouts.

Lumi is redefining business in terms of sustainability, printability and performance.

Learn more about Lumi papers on www.storaenso.com/lumi

Stora Enso UK – Lumi Paper Phone 01449 765553E-mail: [email protected]

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