Pf nov dec 2015

VolthinspXVIIthinspthinspbullthinspthinspNothinsp102thinspthinspbullthinspthinspdecember 2015

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One Day Seminar on Publishing - Exploring New Horizons was held on Thursday 28th November 2015 at Hall of Guinessrsquo68 Anna University Guindy Experts from Publishing Industry gave a very good presentation on the subject (Details inside)

FORUMrsquos One Day Seminar ldquoPublishing - Exploring New Horizonsrdquo in Pictures

November - December 2015 Vol XVII No 102 Print Forum 1

From Presidentrsquos Desk

P Chellappanchellappanpgmailcom

Dear MembersAn issue that all of us have faced in the recent past is the shortage of qualified andor trained manpower A concrete solution to this issue has been taken by the Karnataka Offset Printers Association (KOPA) and The Offset Printers Technology Trust (TOPTET) who have opened a training centre in Bengaluru Congratulations to them on their achievementThe growing importance and relevance of digital printing cannot be ignored This is amply evident from the fact that even traditional printers are slowly embracing this technology This issue has two articles about the key differentiator between offset and digital printing - Variable Data Printing (VDP) which also happens to be my area of personal interestThe first article is about how the printing giant HP with its Mosaic variable data software helped print a million different shrink sleeve covers for Diet Coke bottles These sleeves which became a sensational hit with the consumers even turned into collectibles The next article is about the other major digital printer manufacturer Konica Minolta which has come out with its own variable data software called EngageIT which works in tandem with InDesign to produce interesting variable data pagesContinuing the digital printing discussion the swift advent of this technology into the web printing segment was at display at the lsquo2015 London Digital Book Printing Forumrsquo Another significant change brought about is the complete revolutionising of prepress operations The articles about innovative concepts like lsquoPlate On Demandrsquo is truly a sign of things to come in all our officesOur magazine which has kept us up-to-date with the latest developments in the printing field has a number of interesting write ups in this issue on areas of major growth in printing including flexo- printingOur Prime Ministerrsquos key mantra of lsquoMake in Indiarsquo is slowly catching up Kudos to two youngsters Santokh Singh and Khushwant Rai for developing low cost Braille printers based on Dot Matrix printing technology They have been recognised appropriately by the National Innovation Foundation which has given them the Innovation Award at the 8th Biennial National Grassroots Innovations Award function held in March at the Rashtrapati BhavanThe HP Print Excellence Awards for the Asia Pacific and Japan region was held in Singapore in mid June this year 18 awards were won by 11 Indian printers and I am happy to inform you all that my company PM Digital Products was one among them We take new steps to improve participation in the forum we should also look at improving participation in the magazine Please make the magazine more engaging by sending in your articles to our editor

The PrintingTechnologistsForumREGISTERED No 1491989

2 Venu Reddy Street GuindyChennai 600 032

email theprintforumgmailcom web wwwtheprintforumcom

Office-bearers P Chellappan PresidentMobile 93810 01810Rm Senthilnathan Vice-President IMobile 98410 41997Dr B Kumar Vice-President II Mobile 94440 51707M Venkatesan Hony General SecretaryMobile 98842 74908KBSShanmugasundram Hony Jt Secretary Mobile 98842 74912 R K Sridharan Hony TreasurerMobile 98416 47690

Committee Members V S Raman 99403 19704R Venkatasubramanian 98402 60413S Giridharan 98840 30519 V Vaidyalingam 93828 67972Nitin Shroff 98400 22652KRSS Mahendran 86953 29444 N R Kumar 99401 72067Alan Baretto 98417 21406Murugavel 95001 22075

Co-opted MembersTE Srinivasan 98403 55284L Ramanathan 87540 16030Nizamappas 99625 28890

Advisory Committee (Past Presidents of THE FORUM)M S NagarajanV SubramanianVipin SachdevDr N SankaranarayananR NarayananD RamalingamR JayaramanRSBakshi

nensp

All communications about THE FORUM and the Journal are to be addressed to Hony General Secretary The Printing Technologists Forum 25 Peters Road Royapettah Chennai 600 014

2 Print Forum Vol XVII No 102 November - December 2015

New Offset Press from Codimag provides Alternative to Digital 2FORUMrsquos One Day Seminar 3Rajkumarrsquos life history in a two volume 2148page book 6Widest Inkjet Web Press Developed 7A young maker revives an old printing technique 10Medi Print for pharma Bible printing 11The Opposite of lsquoYesrsquo 12Wine-maker launches colourchange sensor labels 13Packaging may Pack a Trillion-dollar Punch for Print 14Why Printers Need Tools to Showcase Their Final Products 16Top ten product launches at Pamex 17Colour management Savings at the of the rainbow 18Braille press bags coveted award 19The power of print 20Getting the money 22New letterpress plate with soft layer 225 Reasons You Should Use a Spectrophotometer 23Kodakrsquos plate solutions 24

Print ForumRegd with RNI Under No 7181899

November-December Vol XVII No 102The Official Journal ofThe Printing Technologists ForumChennai

In this issue

Rs 120 per annum (Six issues)

nensp Copyright for all materials published in PRINT FORUM remain with the authorseditorspublishers of the respective magazines booksnewspapers from which materials are reproduced

n The facts set out in PRINT FORUM are from various sources which we believe to be reliable and true to the best of our knowledge However we cannot accept no legal liability of any kind for the publication contents nor for the information contained therein nor conclusion drawn by any party from it1

n FurtheritisnotifiedthatneithertheEditorPublisherorthePrinterorthePresidentandhisTeamofTheForumwillberesponsibleforany damage or loss to anybody arising out of any error or omission in PRINT FORUM MembersReaders are advised to satisfy themselves about the merits and details of each before taking any decision

n Articles and materials appearing in the pages of Print Forum are drawn from a number of sources books journals newspapers and internet - current as well as very old To many editors of various technical journals and newspapers the accomplished authors and business leaders who have shared their wisdoms and their words whose articles published in these journals and their publishers we owe ourdebtsandgratitudewhichisdifficulttoassessoracknowledgeWealwaysacknowledgethesourcesofeveryarticleandmaterialspublished in every issue of PRINT FORUM at the end of the articles with our courtesy

n Oursisamembersupportednon-profitorganisationandourmainobjectiveistospreadprint-knowledgetoallwithinourlimitationsandconstraints

Publisher B G Kukillaya Ph 4228 7300

Editor P Chellappan M 2454 1893

Designer RVenkatasubramanian M 98402 60413

New Offset Press from Codimag provides Alternative to Digital

Matik Inc has announced the newest release from offset press producers Codimag

The VIVA 340 evolution provides an alternative to digital presses offering a more profitable and flexible short-run solution The Aniflo inking system combines the superior quality of offset with the simplicity of flexo and flexibility of digital With a four-cylinder design (anilox form roller plate and blanket) the Aniflo eliminates the need for operator adjustments and provides a consistent and stable printing process Once on the press the proof can be matched right away

Other specifications include a minimum web width of 120mm allowing for competitively short runs in addition to a maximum print width of 340mm

The press can run at 50 mmin which combined with low plate costs makes it competitive in short to

4132016 New Offset Press From Codimag Provides Alternative to Digital

httpwwwpackageprintingcomarticleaniflo-technology-efficient-digital-flexo 14

For Printers and Converters of Labels FlexiblePackaging and Folding Cartons

SUBSCRIBE

Search

September 1 2015

OFFSET PRINTING

New Offset Press from Codimag ProvidesAlternative to Digital

0

The Codimag VIVA 340 evolution


The VIVA 340 evolution provides an alternative to digital presses offering a more

protable and exible short-run solution

The Anio inking system combines the superior quality of offset with the simplicity of

exo and exibility of digital With a four-cylinder design (anilox form roller plate and

blanket) the Anio eliminates the need for operator adjustments and provides a

consistent and stable printing process Once on the press the proof can be matched

right away

Other specications include a minimum web width of 120mm allowing for competitively short runs in addition to a maximum print

width of 340mm

The press can run at 50 mmin which combined with low plate costs makes it competitive in short to medium run lengths The VIVA

340 evolution can run with a xed set of inks (CMYK or expanded gamut) or with spot colors (PMS)

The Anio inking system has superior consistency that allows for the implementation of a four-color process and extended gamut

printing as seen on a digital models This serves as an opportunity to eliminate wash-ups and increase effective printing time

The VIVA 340 evolution integrates advanced automated features ensuring quick preparation before operation CODIReg is a fully

automatic register system that learns the color sequence and positions colors in register without any input from the operator

The evolution can be integrated into any MIS system and production workow for a better control and performance improvement

Source Matik Inc

Topics Business Guide Jobs Store Excellence Awards Events

x

medium run lengths The VIVA 340 evolution can run with a fixed set of inks (CMYK or expanded gamut) or with spot colors (PMS)

The Ani10487371048737o inking system hassuperior consistency that allows for the implementation of a four-color process and extended gamut printing as seen on a digital models This serves as an opportunity to eliminate wash-ups and increase effective printing time

The VIVA 340 evolution integrates advanced automated features ensuring quick preparation before operation CODIReg is a fully automatic register system that learns the color sequence and positions colors in register without any input from the operator

The evolution can be integrated into any MIS system and production workflow for a better control and performance improvement n

Courtesy wwwpackageprintingcom



FORUMrsquos One Day Seminar on

Publishing - Exploring New Horizons was held on Thursday 28th November 2015 at Hall of Guinessrsquo68 Anna University Guindy

M r S h a n m u g a S u n d a r a m J t Secretary THE FORUM welcomed all the participants from the Industry Academia and especially the speakers who in spite of their busy schedule accepted to be present

DrN Rajeswari HOD Dept of Printing Anna University Guindy inaugurated the Seminar

MrVenkatesan Honorary General Secretary spoke about the relevance of the seminar in the present scenario where everything looks like going the digital way

DrBKumar Associate Lecturer Dept of Printing Anna University Guindy introduced The Printing Technologists Forum to the participants about its genesis founding members its ideals and what it has achieved so far

Sriram Subramanya One of the sponsors of the event and Founder of Integra Software Services in his key note address spoke on the Change per se in the Past and that is happening all around us The technology is becoming highly disruptive and people are considering they are omniscient while the truth being somewhere in the middle He said more than anything it is Human Values and nurturing them is what is important not only to succeed in Business but in Public life as well

At the end he said let us all be positive

MrSubramanian Oxford University PressEmphasized the importance of Content and Context Without proper content no published work can become successful He also mentioned that the content need to be appropriated based on the

context He said publishing would become successful only if we understand who the consumer is going to be and how the content need to be presented He agreed that plagiarism is becoming highly disruptive however latest soft wares are good enough to tackle the same In the end he said content is all and is indispensable

MrKSrinivas Kannan HCL- Head Talent CareIn his introductory remark he mentioned that the Typesetting and Prepress capitol of the world is Chennai He tried to dispel the myth associated with all big technical jargons like HTML XML Style sheet etc However simple the digital world may seem a lot of resource is required in the form of man power in the front end and technology and hard ware in the backend to survive and succeed in Digital Publishing world

MrRavanan Verse InnovationHe said India has become one of the largest mobile phone users in the world even over taking China However there is a huge challenge that is waiting to be tapped to create and convert digital content for mobile formats In the course of his presentation he mentioned some problems related to advertisements as a source of revenue through mobile phones He also said there is lot of research and experimentation is required as we need to cater to a large number of people who are proficient in their own native language This is a huge Challenge as well as an opportunity




MrDominic Prakash SPS He was telling about Smart content which are findable reusable with abilities to track and personalize with reference to each consumer Entity recognition is one such point he was mentioning in the e-publishing arena

MrAnandJeeth CadgrafIn his presentation he expressed his penchant for providing Publishing Solutions and a learning experience for a changing world He said the challenge is in curating and processing the content to disparate media Challenge is also in keeping the reader hooked to the content in a highly disruptive environment This requires a lot of research starting from Font style page dimension capability of display devices etcTo succeed in digital publishing one need to understand the trends

and study them Digital books need to produce and create an experience and feeling with augmented technologies otherwise it would be difficult to compete with traditional publishing

MrAbhaya Agarwal InstaScribe His talk was towards Cloud Publishing He went on to explain Cloud in the context Software systems which comprises Code and Data These can exist as 1 Code in Cloud and Data in local systems 2 Code is local and Data in Coud and 3 Both Data as well as code in the Cloud Publishing companies of future are going to have distributed teams and remote employees Hence Cloud based systems make it much easier for people to work remotely and hire the best talent wherever they are This could be very good as even small

publishers can provide same quality as that of big publishers

MrAnand Srinivasan Research Manager WAN-Ifra

MrSanjeevi SPSCompered the entire event More than that he organized the entire event from day one to culminate into one of the very successful one day seminars by The Printing Technologists Forum

A wel l a t tended and useful Seminar was appreciated by the participants n

Report by Mr D Ramalingam

Kannada filmdomrsquos iconic superstar Rajkumar has so far been the subject of at least 75 published works of writers and filmmakers including his youngest son and actor Puneet Rajkumar

Yet each of them pales before Doddahulluru Rukkojirsquos new Kannada book slated to be released on a grand scale here on Thursday mdash be it in size content quality of publishing or the lengths to which the author has gone for the work

On Tuesday Mr Rukkoji had the copies of the two volume biography Dr

Rajkumarrsquos life history in a two volume 2148page book

Rajkumar Samagra Charitre (Rajkumar a complete biography) weighing a humungous 10 kg ferried here in three trucks all the way from the press in Sivakasi

The first volume chronicles his early life times and family details The second volume delves into the more than 200 films in which Rajkumar acted

Mr Rukkoji says it took him over 15 years of research before he could complete the 2148page work He travelled to Chennai Mysuru Nanjangud Singannallur (Rajkumarrsquos family town) Muttatthi Bidadi Dharwad and Hubballi to source material and pictures Over 140 persons including directors producers artistes and technicians and family members of the thespian were interviewed

He amassed over 20000 exclusive pictures of which he has included 8700 in the two volumes They present the complete details of all the films of Rajkumar

It cost Mr Rukkoji Rs 87 lakh to print and publish the book Help came from a few friends ldquoThey lent me money without interestrdquo he said

He said he chose to get them printed at Sivakasi as the town was known for the quality of its printing

For all his efforts the writer himself has become the subject of an 80 minute documentary that screen writer JM Prahlad decided to produce on The making of Dr Rajkumar Samagra Charitre

Prominent personalities from various f ie lds compl imented the work after browsing through a sample of the volumes Rajkumarrsquos wife Parvathamma Puneet Rajkumar other actors and Rajkumarrsquos former leading ladies Harini Jayanthi and Sowkar Janaki have given their views about the volumes

A prerelease promotional booklet brought out a few months ago contains reactions of stalwarts from the literary film and cultural areas It records Pandit Rajiv Taranath Chandrashekara Kambara Girish Kasarvalli and Baraguru Ramachandrappa hailing the opus as one of its kind in the history of the Kannada film industry

Mr Rukkoj i or ig inal ly s tar ted researching Rajkumar for a PhD thesis under writer Siddalingaiah He subsequently decided against restricting Rajkumar to a thesis and did an elaborate work on him ldquoNow it has become a reference material for those who want to do research on Rajkumarrdquo he observed n


Aiming at Packaging HP and KBA Introduce the Widest Inkjet Web Press Yet DevelopedTwo technology leaders want to take digital printing for packaging to the next levelmdashand to several levels after thatmdashwith a 110-inch-wide web inkjet press specifically for thecorrugated market

The packaging industry has never seen anything like it and it may take time for package producers to know exactly what to make of it But one prediction can be given with absolute certainty there will be no indifferent or muted reactions to the PageWide Web Press T1100S from HP Inc and Koenig amp Bauer AG

The machine is remarkable for three things the scope of its technical innovation the unusual specificity of its intended application and the uniqueness of the business partnership that brought it into being The details tell a story of what could well turn out to be the one of most significant printing technology introductions of any kind in the last 20 years

News of the joint development had begun to circulate earlier this year Last week at a KBA factory complex in Wuumlrzburg Germany customers journalists and analysts got a first look at a working machine that is ready to go to market and if HP and KBA are correct will disrupt the market when it does

The look was a real eyeful because the T1100S easily is the biggest specimen of digital big iron ever to enter the print equipment market The newest and by far the largest member of HPrsquos PageWide series of inkjet web presses the T1100S is

sized to fit the requirements of the niche market it is being launched to serve the corrugated segment of packaging industry which is to be sold on the idea of using the press to print decorative top liners for containers POP displays and related items made of corrugated board

This meant upscaling the PageWide web architecture from 42 its widest format until now all the way to 110 (28 meters) a standard production size in the corrugated industry Built around the super-wide web is a press that stretches nearly 100 feet from end to end and stands 18 feet high at the apex of its printing arch

Prospective customers will be told that the formidable-looking machine is full of what Eric Wiesner vice president and general manager of the PageWide Press division of HP Inc called ldquoengineering experiences that amazerdquo

As a PageWide press the T1100S runs on thermal inkjet technology and software developed by HP KBArsquos contribution is paper transport and handling systems for web production at high speeds The combination is aimed at a $136 billion market segment where the partners see a largely untapped o p p o r t u n i t y f o r c o r r u g a t e d preprintmdashan opportunity they say the T1100S is the only digital press capable of addressing

First the technical breakdown The T1100S prints simplex in mono and color at speeds up to 600 feet per minute (183 meters per minute) equivalent to 330000 square feet (30600 square meters) per hour Printing can be on standard coated and uncoated stocks from 16-lb to

82-lb (180 to 400 grams per square meter) and 22-pt In the T1100S HPrsquos Multi-Lane Print Architecture (MLPA) apportions the web into multiple printing sections in a way that permits multiple short-run jobs to be gang-printed in one lane while a longer-run job prints in a lane of its own

The T1100S prints with the same thermal inkjet printheads as the other web presses in the PageWide series which use them in scalable arrays of five to 26 depending on the printing width of the machine Measuring 425 across each PageWide printhead contains 10560 nozzles that jet HP water-based inks at a rate of 150 million to 300 million droplets per second With its full complement of 260 printheads the T1100S can print at a resolution of 1200 dpi at top running speed

The press will use HPrsquos A50 aqueous pigmented CMYK inks The CMYK ink set could be expanded in future versions although UV inks probably will not be an option because of restrictions on the use of UV fluids in food packaging Drying is a combination of hot air and IR

As is the case with the other PageWide web presses printing uncoated paper on the T1100S will include dispersing a bonding agent from dedicated printheads before the ink is sprayed For coated papers a separate unit of the press will flood-coat the substrate with a primer to insure good ink adhesion HP says it is working the mills to develop papers that donrsquot need additional fluids to interact properly with inkjet inks

HP and KBA emphasize that in the T1100S they are supplying not just a press but a fully integrated production system for corrugated preprint To this end the T1100S can be optionally configured with autosplicer and turret rewind priming and varnishing stations and KBArsquos Patras automated paper logistics system Wiesner said that the strategy also will address one of printersrsquo main concerns


about fast-developing digital print technologiesmdashthe fear of buying a device that will be obsolete before it is fully paid formdashby providing an upgrade path for the T1100S as it evolves

Although the T1100S is not meant to be a single-purpose press HP and KBA expect its initial adoption to be specialized In the corrugated industry ldquopreprintrdquo means printing on liner that is then affixed to packaging material as a step in the corrugating process and that is the starting application focus of the T1100S Another PageWide web press the 42 T400S also prints top liner but in what the corrugated industry considers a narrow format

This is distinct from ldquopostprintrdquo which refers to printing directly on the corrugated surface Flatbed inkjet printers from HPrsquos Scitex division and other suppliers are multiple-pass postprint solutions for corrugated board HP recently announced that it is developing a cut-sheet inkjet press that will use PageWide technology to print directly onto corrugated board in a single pass

Robert Seay PageWide business development director said that the T1100S is aimed not only at corrugated box producers that now use preprinted top liners but also at those that donrsquot Box plants order preprint ahead of time and apply it to corrugated board during converting According to Seay the digital production efficiency of the T1100S will let them order small and medium quantities as well as large ones to keep inventories under tight control

Francois Mart in worldwide marketing director for HP Incrsquos graphic solutions business noted that because of improvements that make it more cost efficient digital print for packaging as performed by the T1100S is steadily moving the economic breakeven

with conventional production into higher volumes The machinersquos variable-data capability will bring personalization track-and-trace and anti-counterfeiting features to corrugated packaging Martin added

Counting on all of these promises to be fulfilled is DS Smith a leading provider of corrugated packaging in Europe and HPrsquos and KBArsquos first customer for the T1100S A machine now being built is be installed in the companyrsquos Featherstone plant in the UK next spring During the briefing in Wuumlrzburg a spokesman for the company said that T1100S represents the first time that a digital press has come anywhere near to the production speeds that the corrugated industry requires He also pointed out that one benefit of preprinting on top liner will be ldquono more flute shadowrdquo from printing directly on the undulating surface of corrugated board

HP and KBA emphasized that they donrsquot have all the answers about how customers will use the press or how they will want it configured They foresee ldquoexperimentationrdquo by adopters as the machine enters the corrugated market which they donrsquot expect to be the only one to find work for it Martin said that publishing printers and commercial printers also have expressed interest in what the T1100S can do

Now that there is a working model to sell the next task is to see it through to commercial launch The machine unveiled in Wuumlrzburg will remain

there as a test bed According to Seay the plan after the pilot installation at DS Smith is for limited availability in 2017 and a broader market distribution the following year

The T1100S is an HP-branded product and will be sold exclusively by HP A blended service strategy now being worked out will involve both partners and probably will include provisions for limited self-service by customers During the briefing it was

stated that the T1100S will range in price from $7 million to $10 million depending on configuration

The market opportunity could be considerable given that so much of it is still waiting to be taken Martin said that while digital print accounts for about 14 of the value of all print and printed packaging it represents just 25 of the volume But digital value and volume are expected to be 174 and 34 respectively in 2020 by which time the total value of the market that can be addressed with digital printing solutions will have risen to $345 billion

The biggest slice of the digitally addressable market according to Martinrsquos numbers will be packaging at $136 billion Its corrugated portion he said is ldquothe next big frontierrdquo in digital print for packaging although as was true of digitally printed labels the market will need time to develop

Part of the reason why HP and KBA feel confident it will is that in their estimation only about 10 of corrugated packaging currently uses preprinted top liner Those producers will be courted first but the partners think that the bigger long-term stakes are with box plants that havenrsquot yet adopted preprint for package enhancement They believe that if adoption of preprint has been limited it arises from the fact that the economics of available preprinting methods havenrsquot permitted more than a small percentage of plants to take advantage of it


This is expected to change with the advent of cost-efficient digital printing on the T1100S The potentially adoptive universe is thought to consist of about 500 US and European corrugated producers that are in a position to shift from conventional to digital preprinting with the new machine The partners also hope to interest brand owners in what the T1100S can mean for branded corrugated packaging and will try to do this mainly through recommendations from customers

The marketing plan needed to evolve quickly in order to keep up with the unusually rapid development of the product which progressed from concept to the debut of a working model in only about two years Also out of the ordinary is the fact that the partnership was brokered by a friendly third party Wiesner said that OrsquoNeil Data Systems a customer that has made multiple installations of HPrsquos inkjet web presses originally suggested blending HPrsquos expertise in thermal inkjet with KBArsquos long experience of moving large webs of paper at high speed through conventional presses

The partnership was forged over dinner and the engineersmdashHPrsquos in Corvallis OR and KBArsquos in Wuumlrzburgmdashcommenced the RampD even before the two companies had signed a formal agreement Christoph Muumlller CEO of KBArsquos digital and web division quipped that the first test for KBA in developing the T1100S was growing used to the idea of ldquoputting water on paper and getting rid of the wrinklesrdquo

Neither partner was a newcomer to technology for the packaging printing market Claus Bolza-Schuumlnemann president and CEO of KBA noted that while KBA once was primarily a maker of newspaper presses today that category provides only about 15 of the turnover Much of the remainder comes from the sheetfed offset presses KBA offers for carton printing and its flexo equipment for film packaging Wiesner pointed

out that HP web inkjet presses with PageWide technology have printed 130 billion pages since 2008 In another segment of the market said Martin about 1000 HP Indigo digital presses are printing labels every day

KBA has fielded a web inkjet solution of its own in RotaJet a press series developed in collaboration with RR Donnelley and first shown at drupa 2012 RotaJet is ldquonot in conflictrdquo with the T1100S Bolza-Schuumlnemann said noting that its focus is on applications in publications direct mail and commercial and industrial printing

CommentarySuccess is never a sure thing for any new piece of printing machinery and precisely because of the high degree of innovation it represents the T1100S may have more than its fair share of market inertia to overcome

Citing a survey of 741 printers from around the world the 2nd drupa Global Insights Report notes that some technology investments pay back more slowly than others and that one of the longest payback periods occurs in digitally printed corrugated applications Packaging investment as a whole yields smaller gains says the report leading to the conclusion that ldquomaking new applications take off in the packaging market is more challenging for structural reasons than in other marketsrdquo

That doesnrsquot daunt HB or KBA Both companies have experienced long gestation periods for various products and both understand that their exceptionally rapid time-to-market with the T1100S has brought the press only to the beginning of its journey to market acceptance

But theyrsquore convinced that theyrsquore unleashing a juggernaut that the corrugated segment is going to find hard to resist and for all the right reasons As Martin observed in Wuumlrzburg the history of digital printing has demonstrated again

and again that whatever can be produced digitally eventually will bemdasha forecast that includes corrugated packaging

ldquoDigital is like watermdashyou cannot stop itrdquo he said ldquoDigital isnrsquot what you like or you donrsquot like Itrsquos what you have to deal withrdquo n

Courtesy whatthetthinkcom

The Hindu launches Mumbai edition with premium tagThe 137-year-old The Hindu from Kasturi amp Sons hit the stands in Mumbai with an exclusive edition for the city on 28 November 2015 The daily continues to be published from 17 other cities

In an off ic ial statement Dr Mal ini Parthasarathy editor The Hindu said ldquoWe realise our core brand strength is the credibility and integrity of our reporting This brings authenticity to our perspective At the same time we acknowledge Mumbairsquos great transformation into an upwardly rising global city Our edition has eight pages uniquely catering to Mumbai We hope to capture both the buoyant and the poignant stories emanating from hererdquo

The edition has launched with a subscription offer including door delivery at Rs 248 per month which implies a cover price of Rs 8 This makes it the most expensive daily in the market Early bird discounts have been announced to the tune of 24 per cent for all subscribers and 48 per cent for students

Announcing the launch at a press meet at the publicationrsquos Mumbai office were Dr Parthasarathy N Ram chairman KSL N Ravi director KSL Rajiv C Lochan CEO KSL and Sachin Kalbag resident editor ndash Mumbai The Hindu n


A young maker revives an old printing technique

Sporting a tidy pink sweater and pouring tea from a china pot Macon York does not look like someone who owns a guillotine

Its not what you think she explains The guillotine isnt for chopping heads Its for cutting paper in thick stacks She demonstrates the technique pulling a handle as high as her head and as thick as her arm on the hefty piece of 1898 machinery

Its one of several vintage devices in her studio in West Asheville where she creates stationary wedding invitations greeting cards posters business cards and other paper goods

York a former art director for Martha Stewart Living in New York City specializes in letterpress The designforward process couples digital layout technology with oldschool mechanical processes and fine materials such as handmixed dye and allcotton paper

Its a fun satisfying process York said I studied fine art in college and I didnt like how it was an elite world of art I love that letterpress is a way to send art out to anybody

Shes not alone in cultivating a newfound appreciation for the bygone process On Dec 6 at The Big Crafty Ashevilles twice yearly indie craft fair at the Asheville Art Museum York will be one of several letterpress artists Others include 7 Ton Design and Letterpress Co Pioneer House and Ratbee Press

Whats the appeal of the printing technology that began with Johannes Gutenbergs invention in the 15th century but was largely outmoded by computers about 500 years later

Theres a tactileness to letterpress York said Its very charming

She discovered letterpress in 2010 while she was living in Brooklyn and designing for Martha Stewart Living which she refers to as spending Marthas money While the results of her efforts at the lifestyle brand were satisfying the process left her yearning for something simpler

The art we were able to make working with that big team (and) big budget is something Ill never be able to do again she said But being in such a big operation started to wear on me

On a whim she took a oneday workshop at The Arm a community letterpress studio in Brooklyn Soon she was spending more time there and her friends were asking her to make their wedding invitations

Not long after that she discovered Asheville during a conference for Ladies of Letterpress an international trade organization thats partly based here

But she wasnt initially persuaded to move

When she decided to leave New York she hiked the entire Appalachian Trail and the immersion in the mountains called her to Asheville

She met her nowfiance Luke Costlow on the trail and the pair relocated here together

Letterpresser Macon York works with ink and a hand press to make custom thank you cards in her studio in West AshevilleNow letterpress is Yorks fulltime job and shes hoping to grow the business

Her customers dont need much persuading to explore the technique even if theyve never heard of it before I think theyre intrigued I have these big old heavy machines York said

Letterpress isnt entirely handmade since the machines apply the ink to the paper but its handfed

After York completes the digital design process she needs about an hour to produce 100 printed cards in a single color manning the press the entire time Each additional color she means she must repeat the entire process since the machine can only apply one color at a time

But how does York compete with digital printers which could print dozens of cards in the time it takes her to create one She doesnt she explained

T h e r e s e n o u g h r o o m f o r everybody she said Letterpress is a more expensive option than Moo or Mint but I think there are appropriate times to use both

Some clients have a set of cheap massproduced cards for trade shows and a set of letterpress cards for special meetings The quality of the cards has a return Recipients tend to spend more time with the fine paper and ink York said shes watched people examine them closely just as they might a painting before tucking them into their wallets or pockets

At about a dollar a card for orders of 100 the cards are luxuries York explained but theyre attainable ones The carefully tended printing process transforms a small ordinary exchange into an experience of artn

Courtesy citizentimescom

Custom wedding invitations all hand made with paper stock ink and a hand press by letterpresser Macon York in her studio in West Asheville

Letterpresser Macon York works with ink and a hand press to make custom thank you cards in her studio in West Asheville


Ballarpur Industries popularly known as BILT one of the largest paper manufacturers in the country which also ranks among the top 100 pulp and paper companies in the world introduced the 40gsm Medi Print brand at Paperex 2015

As its name suggests the paper is of lower grammage (thinner) and is targeted for the pharmaceuticals print market as well as the Bible printing segment

In the pharmaceuticals industry globally India has the third place in terms of volume and 14th in terms of value According to the department of pharmaceuticals the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers the total turnover of Indiarsquos pharmaceuticals industry between 2008 and September 2009 was USD 2104 billion While the domestic market was worth USD 138 billion as of 2013 it is expected to reach USD 49 billion by 2020

As per estimates the growth in Bible printing is in double digits According to the Bible Society of India the complete Bible is available in 65 Indian languages Portions of the Bible are available in 204 Indian languages As on 31 December 2010 at least some portion of the Bible is available in 2527 languages of the world The complete Bible is available in 469 languages across the world

ITC is the sole supplier of the BILT paper to the Bible Society of India which is the largest publisher of the Bible in India meeting 90 of the demand

Other manufacturers in the Bible paper segment include ITC in India and Tervakoski Mill in Finland

At Paperex 2015 Ballarpur Industries part of Avantha Group Company also showcased its range of writing printing and coated papers including coated

BILT introduces Medi Print for pharma Bible printing

W i t h o v e r 3 000 clients on five

continents Printer- Presence is the worldrsquos leading provider of website and marketing solutions for the printing industry

Each PrinterPresence website comes equipped with a content management system and over 200 pages of professionally written content that you can access 247 Easily update text photos products and services and do it all without any programming knowledge With PrinterPresence you can choose from a variety of design templates or let us custom build a site that meets your specific needs

All of our products were designed exclusively for pr inters by an experienced team of marketing experts graphic designers and successful printshop owners Thatrsquos why printers use Printer-Presence more than any other provider When

woodfree(for magazines brochures labels) uncoated woodfree (for books magazines notebooks) premium business stationery (for offices) and tissue paper

The company also showcased its office supply and stationery business featuring the range of notebooks pads photo paper and pencils

BILT is the first paper company in Ind ia to be FSC cer t i f i ed at all its manufacturing facilities (Bhigwan Ballarpur Sewa Ashti and ShreeGopal) including the Sabah Forest Industries Malaysia a leading uncoated paper manufacturer in Malaysia which the company operates

Overall the company has seven s ta teof thear t pu lp and paper manufacturing facil i t ies with a production capacity of pulp and paper to one million mtpa The company generated a revenue of Rs 3626 crore during 201415 and has four regional sales and marketing offices with a nationwide network of 135 distributors n

you choose PrinterPresence yoursquoll instantly make your life easier and your customers happier A PrinterPresence website includes all the vital website tools you wonrsquot find anywhere else

PDF PREFLIGHT Correct and verify print-ready PDFs Eliminate up to 90 of file errors

FILE TRANSFER Allow customers to send you pr in t - ready f i les without having to log in to an FTP site eliminating file restrictions and corruption issues commonly associated with email

PAYMENT PROCESSING Increase revenue by securely accepting online orders and credit card payments

The average PrinterPresence client receives approximately $4300 of business through online ordering each month

B R A N D E D S TO R E F R O N T S Personalize each storefront with your clientrsquos branding Your customers can log in view their documents place

orders see proofs track shipping and more

VA R I A B L E W E B - T O - P R I N T DOCUMENTS Minimize proofing cycles reduce turnaround times and increase your profit margin Variable web-to-print documents let your customers select their graphics and auto fit their text

VERSADOCtrade With VersaDoc print buyers can enter their data into easy-to-navigate customized templates and proof their work online

ANALYTICS Business owners can use Analytics to review realtime website statistics including visitor data visitor actions traffic sources most-visited pages and search terms

A n d t h a t rsquo s n o t a l l W i t h PrinterPresence yoursquoll get unlimited training and one-on-one technical assistance at no additional cost Plus yoursquoll have access to MarketPresence a fully integrated marketing program designed specifically for printers n


The Opposite of lsquoYesrsquoThere really arenrsquot that many things printing buyers say when theyrsquore not saying yes That means you can prepare your response to those obstacles in advance

I presented a seminar at an industry conference recently Immediately afterward I had a table set up alongside the stage to sell books I processed a few sales with cash and credit cards and finally there was only one person standing in front of me with a book in her hand

ldquoCan I sell you that bookrdquo I asked ldquoI havenrsquot decidedrdquo she said ldquoI have to go to the bathroom Irsquoll be backrdquo

She didnrsquot come back of course but you have to give her credit for creativity I have experienced rejection in many ways in my sales career but that was a new one on me

Common ObstaclesThere really arenrsquot that many things printing buyers say when theyrsquore not saying yes That means you can prepare your response to those obstacles in advance For example two of the most common obstacles I hear about come up at the very earliest stages of prospecting when the salesperson is trying to set up that first appointment and the buyer says either ldquoIrsquom really busy right nowrdquo or ldquoI donrsquot need anything right nowrdquo

The typical response seems to be ldquoCan I call you some other timerdquo Thatrsquos on the right track but not the best strategy I would rather have you take it out of the realm of a permission question and turn it into a collaborative question ldquoWhen would be a better timerdquo

The difference between permission and collaboration goes to the very common mindset that the buyer

is more important than the seller

Itrsquos a variation I guess on the idea that the customer is always right

Great salespeople though undercare stand that the goal i s a r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t we e n equalsmdasha happy customer and a valued suppliermdashand thatrsquos the relationship they position for right from the start

Call Me Next WeekSo you say ldquoWhen would be a better timerdquo The buyer says ldquoCall me next weekrdquo Please donrsquot say ldquoWhen would be a good time for me to call you next weekrdquo I see that as pushing too hard against a soft obstacle Just say ldquoI willrdquo

When you make the call remind the buyer that yoursquore keeping the promise heshe asked you to make

ldquoHi this is Dave Fellman from Daversquos Printing We spoke briefly last week and you asked me to call you this week We were talking about setting an appointment How does your schedule look for (some appropriate time)rdquo

Now what if the buyer says ldquoCall me in six monthsrdquo Thatrsquos the obstacle you should push against because thatrsquos what they say when theyrsquore hoping yoursquoll forget about them between now and then

So how about responding this way ldquoI can do that but first let me ask you one more question Are you saying that you do want to meet with me and that six months from now is the right time to do it Or is it that you donrsquot want to meet with me but yoursquore trying not to hurt my feelings I appreciate that but

Irsquom a big boygirl If itrsquos bad news I can take itrdquo

In my experience this approach positions you more as a person and less as a salesperson It might warm the conversation up enough to get you the meeting you want

Or it might not Irsquove been told everything from ldquoyes I didnrsquot want to hurt your feelingsrdquo to ldquono I couldnrsquot undercare less about your feelingsrdquo Either way I donrsquot think I risked much by pushing at this obstacle

Push Even Further A n d d e p e n d i n g o n t h e circumstances or maybe on just how Irsquom feeling that day I might push even harder I have said in the past ldquoI donrsquot get it Why would you not want to talk with someone who really knows his business and could maybe bring some value to yoursrdquo

Irsquove had people hang up on me at that point I have also had people apologize and start talking seriously with me

Irsquoll leave it up to you to decide how hard yoursquore willing to push The lesson for today is simply this The opposite of yes is not always no Sometimes itrsquos ldquoyou havenrsquot convinced me yetrdquo n

Courtesy printingnewscom


Wine-maker launches colourchange sensor labels

Taylors Wines has introduced a temperature sensor that appears on the back label of its Taylors Estate and Promised Land wines

The sensor uses thermo-chromatic ink technology that changes colour depending on the temperature of the wine turning green when the white wine is just right to pour and fuchsia for the red wines

The idea was executed by creative agency Mr Wolf and Denomination (previously known as The Collective) designed the packaging Collotype printed the labels

As part of its Live Better by Degrees media campaign the Clare Valley family winery said the new labels

were designed to help everyday drinkers appreciate wine the way the winemaker intended

Through specially commissioned IPSOS research Taylors discovered that eight out of 10 Australians drank their reds at room temperature meaning that every week 25 million bottles of red wine were inadvertently consumed in a way that stripped them of their character and subtlety

Experts recommend that most red wines are served between 12-18degC while theaverage household particularly in summer is at or above 22degC

Serving a red wine at lsquoroom temperaturersquo Taylors argues makes the wine flat and flabby robbing it of its subtle flavours and aromas

And while white wine is better enjoyed on the chillier end of the thermometer (between 6-12degC) bringing down the temperature too low will mask the winersquos unique characteristics

Taylors Wines chief marketing officer Cameron Crowley said sensor accuracy was vital before launch of the labels

ldquoOnce we understood the issue of temperature we immediately jumped into testing product viabilityrdquo he said

ldquoWe wouldnrsquot accept anything but a 1degC accuracy range and our label printers were up to the challenge to accomplish this taskrdquo

The media campaign w i l l i n c l u d e a n interactive website to educate consumers about the new labels a n d t h e d i e r e n t serving temperatures for wine as wel l

as social videos quizzes XML temperature driven banners as well as 30-second radio spots across Sydney Melbourne and Brisbane

Taylors Wines also worked with Mr Wolf to create an animated content piece designed to tell the story of enjoying wine at the right temperature The content piece will be amplifiedthrough social and pre-rolln

Courtesy packagingnewscom

Industry mourns the loss of print stalwart Pasupathy

Chennai printing stalwart and long-serving editor of Coromandel printer S Pasupathy passed away in his sleep at the age of 81 He is the father of P Chander past president of The All India Master Printers Association (AIFMP) and Madras Printersrsquo and Lithographersrsquo Association (MPLA)Pasupathy who died on 27 December 2015 was one of the most respected members of the Chennai printing community and continued to share his expertise beyond his retirement from his family owned press through MPLArsquos magazine as its editor and publisherHe is the son of late Shanmuga Mudaliar founder member of MPLA who founded the Artisan Company press Pasupathy is credited with modernising the press and was actively involved with the administration till 1989 He was a governing council member of AIFMP and served as joint secretary AIFMP Dring his tenure as the joint organising secretary at AIFMP the association organised the first Pamex 1981 exhibition in Chennai and he is acknowledged to have played a key role in the success of now popular eventHe was the president of MPLA in the year 1986-89 He compiled the facts and events of the association from its inception 1952-2002 lsquoSaga of MPLArsquoS Pasupathy was honoured by the AIFMP at the Diamond Jubilee celebration held at Chennai in 2013 for lsquohis yeoman service rendered to the printing fraternityrsquoPrinters from all over India paid tributes to his memory n


Packaging may Pack a Trillion-dollar Punch for PrintFromflexoandoffsettoinkjetpackageprintingisoneofthefewgrowth segments in our marketplace Is adding it as a service partofyourfive-yearplan

Business planning news flash The year 2020 is less than five years and one month away What will your firm look like 61 months into the future Will it still be around Will it offer wide-format printing Andwhat about printing packages Wide-format and packaging remain two growing segments of the otherwise flat print marketplace The global packaging market is poised to increase to more than $1 trillion (USD) by 2018 according to some current forecasts So whether yoursquore a digital offset flexo or hybrid printing firm opportunities abound

Digital and InkjetAmong digital package and label printing hardware OEMs Hewlett-Packard is the worldwide market-share leader with more than 60 percent share (in 2014) according to research firm IDC led by its Indigo and Scitex models HP is followed by Xeikon EFI and Epson Newer entrants include Screen Durst Delphax Founder and Fujifilm

S m a l l e r p l a y e r X a n t e h a s enjoyed strong sales abroad of its Excelagraphix 4200 a 42-inch inkjet system first introduced in mid-2013 that can print custom full color containers with special promotions personalized ad copy and graphicsmdashall on demand Recent installations have been at CCA Packaging in China and at U-MOOV Packaging in Saudi Arabia

The Excelagraphix 4200 is powered by Memjet Waterfall Printhead Technology which delivers more than three billion drops of ink per second for print speeds up to eight times faster (up to 12 inches

per second) than traditional inkjet technology This speed combined with a compact footprint and price point allows the device to open new business opportunities and markets previously unserviced by the packaging industry says Xante

An adjustable media path allows users to print on a wide variety of media including ultrathick foam board and corrugated cardboard (up to 38 inches thick) and sheet sizes from 827x12 inches up to 42 inches by 50 feet

Applications include full-color POP displays packaging folding cartons and corrugated boxes produced in a matter of seconds on-demand The best part is that variable data can be run full speed to personalize individual piecesmdashin one pass

The complete solution is driven by the iQueue Simply Brilliant Prepress Workflow IQueue automates prepress production and makes it easy to manage multiple digital files make independent CMYK and density adjustments match critical spot colors select the desired linescreen screen angles and dot shape Users can also apply and save custom imposition templatesnudgerotate a digital file on a specific sheet size track multiple run counts and estimate individual job cost from multiple user workstations

Larger Offset Press RunsFor larger volumes in the sheetfed- offset realm ldquopackaging is based on price per sheetrdquo pointed out Andy Rae senior VP of equipment at Heidelberg USA ldquohellip and postpress is a big part of its overall costrdquo To avoid production logjams and bottlenecks

ldquosmart printers plan backwards from the binderyrdquo Rae explained ldquoItrsquos unlike commercial job-shop thinking In packaging folders and gluers are the fastest machinesrdquo not the presses themselves These print service providers have more of a manufacturing mentality he added acknowledging that ldquoprinting is not as much of an art and craft anymore

ldquoWersquove seen a move to half-size [29-inch presses] in the pharmaceutical verticalrdquo noted Rae Package printing still is ink on paper added Kian Hemmen account manager for 15-year-old California equipment dealer Print amp Finishing Solutions (PFS) which distributes RMGT (formerly Ryobi MHI) offset presses as well as MGI digital presses But with diecutting and other finishing features the packaging space can be ldquoa whole different worldrdquo he added

Diamond Packaging won three awards in the 29th annual packagePRINTING Excellence Awards Competition The Rochester NY-based firm took second place in the ldquoSustainability ndash Folding Cartonsrdquo and ldquoFolding Cartons ndash Offsetrdquo categories for Elizabeth Ardenrsquos Green Tea Cucumber carton which was converted using Tullis Russell Trucard 0 matt recycled paperboard and offset printed with four-color process and two PMS inks in-line with UV matte andDiamondEmboss specialty coating The cartons weremanufactured using 100 percent clean renewable wind energy and produced in a Zero Manufacturing Waste toLandfill facility


RMGT had a packaging focus for its Ryobi brand sheetfed presses at Graph Expo this past September h i g h l i g h t i n g L E D 2 4 - p o i n t and 31-point capabilities The convergence of the printing and packaging worlds will continue Hemmen contends ldquoRMGT has a press that meets their needs for commercial print and will help lead them into the packagingrdquo he told me in a video interview at the show in Chicago ldquoWe are showing people what they can do with their commercial printing press in the packaging marketrdquo

Energy-Curing ExcitementThe trend toward energy-curable inks is opening doors for customers according to Ryobi dealer Hemmen ldquoItrsquos something new thatrsquos fun to research LED-UV technology gets customers excited toordquo

The inaugural meeting of the Elite RMGT LED-UV Userrsquos Group was

held September 13 ldquoWe are proud to participate as founding membershelliprdquo commented Mitch Weinberg COO of Woolverton Printing Cedar Falls IA ldquoWe see great value in sharing in this forum We knew that leveraging the benefits of LED-UV curing technology would take us to unique challenges such as printing on plastic substrates Learning from other printers in this userrsquos group has shortened our learning curve from a production standpointrdquo

A n e w e r L E D - U V u s e r i s WholesalePocketFolders com which this past April installed a RMGT LED-UV press purchased through Hemmen and PFS Formerly known as Can Do Printing the Phoenix-based trade-only printing firm rebranded its commercial printing shop and reinvented themselves by going online with presentation folders With this intent the team searched to find an ideal press to produce short-run two-sided printed products

ldquoWe were the first US site with a straight five-color configuration of the Ryobi MHI 920 LED-UV with Simultaneous Plate Changingrdquo explained GM Ty Blankenship whose father Franko started the business in 1983 ldquoRunning eight up is imperative to our work-and-turn productionrdquo he noted With between 15 and 25 orders coming in daily Wholesalepocketfolderscom has produced as few as 100 folders and as many as 250000 But their sweet spot is in the 1000 to 5000 range

ldquoWe are thrilled with the new LEDUV curing technology Press sheets can immediately advance through our die-cutter and foldinggluing machines without scuffing or scratching issuesrdquo stated Kyl Blankenship Tyrsquos brother and production manager at the 35000-sqft plant ldquoThe UV inks are a little more glossy with good coverage

Scores are not cracking on the Top Coat Gloss premium paper that we userdquo The WholesalePocketFolderscom facility runs two shifts six days per week and employs 20 full-time personnel ldquoWe are more of a custom

shop [than some competitors]rdquo he said ldquooffering over 35 templates to choose from plus custom diesmdash start to finish whatever you wantrdquo Ty relayed ldquoOn short-run jobs our

Ryobi MHI press gives us the superior print quality of offset coupled with the quick turn of a digital press On a 250 run wersquoll have 300 good sheets where before it took 700 Makereadies are way faster compared to where we used to be so we are saving a lot on paper On average our set-ups have gone from 20 minutes to down to five [minutes] because we can get up to color in so few sheetsrdquo

With annual sales in 2014 of a p p r o x i m a t e l y $ 4 m i l l i o n Wholesalepocketfolderscom now is saving money on short runs ldquoWe felt like we were throwing labor and paper down the drain with the older pressrdquo says Ty ldquoWe are saving on electricity too since LED-UV curing is more lsquogreenrsquo using 65 percent less power than conventional presses This new model has lsquoartificial intelligencersquo and is so much more efficient overallrdquo

On the web-offset side the Goss Sunday Vpak variable repeat press systems have represented game-changing technology for packaging producers Quick-change sleeve technology allows infinitely variable repeat setttings within the design range of each press model making it fast and simple to match the cylinder circumference to each specific job

Finish LineOne recent highlight on the postpress finishing side is Rollem Internationalrsquos new Insignia Series sheetfed flexo-magnetic rotary diecutters which are ideally suited for producing labels and packaging says the manufacturer At 5000 sheets per hour (sph) the Insignia diecuts kiss-cuts perfs and cutscores papers plastics and magnetics up to 24-point in thickness Two sizes were shown at Graph Expo this past fall the I5 20times15 inch and I7 30times24 inch models n


Heret Printing used HP SmartStream Mosaic on this Passover variable-imaging luxury packaging campaign for cosmetics firm Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories this past spring In mid-2014Heret installed the worldrsquos first HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press bringing packaging innovation to a whole new level


Why Printers Need Tools to Showcase Their Final ProductsWhere does digital fit in todayrsquos print landscape How canadding5th-colorcapabilitieshelp

When digital first entered the communications world there were many who thought ldquopaperlessrdquo would be the new direction and printing as we knew it would disappear That didnrsquot happen Instead digital technology forcedmdashand helpedmdashthe print industry to reinvent itself and find ways to use new tools to enhance expand and improve print offerings making digital work for them not against them

Todayrsquos commercial printers need powerful tools (or apps) for showcasing the level of work they can produce and stand out in a communications environment thatrsquos filled with distraction

Advancements in technology have redefined the way we communicate While traditional print remains a key communication channel in todayrsquos market companies are integrating emerging technologies with that print component to add value increasing demandmdashand expectations That is where it gets tricky for print service providers

(PSPs)

T h e s e communications s h i f t s h a v e required them to not just offer quality printed documents but t o a l s o o f f e r access to a much larger variety of media variable data processing and market ing capabilities for doing cross-media or multichannel

campaigns in order to remain competitive

After the digital revolution in many cases the only limit on a commercial shoprsquos output is its designersrsquo imagination

Still many are finding themselves asking ldquoHow do I demonstrate the value I bring to customersrdquo

The truth is in todayrsquos on-the-go world attention is a commodity that is difficult to come by For commercial printers getting their output to stand out among the constant stream of information that bombards their audience can be an uphill battle Even more challenging is that many of these attention-giving (or denying) decisions are made in the first fraction of a second in which someone sees a piece of information and so that information has to not only get attention but keep attentionby providing something new or intriguing to look at

Potential customers have to make s imilar considerat ions when deciding which PSP to select for their

direct mail campaign or sales catalog project One glimpse of a portfolio of offerings might be all that customer needs to decide so that portfolio better stand out

For example the increased availability of color applications has gained much traction in recent days While a standard CMYK setup is all well and good the ability to utilize a fifth colormdashadding white or clear tonermdashopens up a whole new world of vivid pastel colors bright whites glorious clear coats and dark substrates

For all kinds of printers thatrsquos a huge value-add potentially increasing ROIFor commercial printers especially those eye-catching capabilities can translate directly into revenue as impressed customers come back for more and word of mouth brings in new business But print service providers need to be able show not just tell potential customers that they have the color gamut to create unique patterns on say a brochure or magazine cover via clear toner or print bright images or words on dark substrates for a sign or business card using white toner

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and that statement rings very true in the case of a print shop demonstrating its capabilities Unfortunately too often sales and marketing are not equipped with the right tools for demonstrating differentiating capabilities with important information getting lost in a slew of wordsmdashor worse in dull photocopied images on a PowerPoint presentation

This is where old-school hard copy comes in handy after all how can you showcase the specific brilliance of a printed brochure or sign display with PowerPoint Digital technology is important for so many facets of todayrsquos printing but what a commercial printer is selling is print Having the right tools for showcasing that print can mean the


difference between winning a new piece of business and not itrsquos a key factor in remaining competitive

While simply introducing an audience to a type of output theyrsquore not used to seeing can help win their attention another huge component of such a winning formula is leveraging beautiful and interesting visuals to showcase that output At Ricoh we understand that need for commercial printers to have quick and easy access to tools for promoting the quality of work they are producing As such when we started to expand into fifth color capabilities we developed something called the 5th Color Kit which helps provide tangible proof of a print shoprsquos capabilities The kit is organized into real-world customer-centric themes such as ldquomusic venuerdquo and ldquoretailrdquo each with its own high-quality eye-catching and relevant samples By providing practical samples that customers can hold in their hands and see up close a printer can show not just tell his shoprsquos capabilities

Whether showcasing the latest five-color printing capabilities or demonstrating cross-media marketing services like QR codes in a direct mail piece the quality of a print service providerrsquos work is only one piece in the revenue-generating puzzle If you produce the best most breathtaking most effective applications in the world and no one knows about it or can see the value you bring it doesnrsquot in the end bring that much valuemdash itrsquos a tree falling unheard in the forest As printers look to find ways to grow their businessesand expand their offerings they need to take a step back print something great and use the appropriate tools to share it with the world Be seen be heard be selling Because in the end winning new business can come down to something as simple as show donrsquot tell n


Canon The launch of the C10000 VP was one of the highlights at Pamex The machine is an upgrade at various levels to its predecessors first introduced in Ipex in 2007 The make of the machine is such as to produce 100ppm in colour with a 2400x2400 dpi resolution Upgrades have also been made in the front end and the finishing assembly contributing to a better imaging process

EFI EFI marked its first appearance at Pamex with an expanded portfolio of advanced print technology which included the debut of EFI Matan roll-to-roll LED printers workflow software and the EFI Fiery digital production printing technologies But for me the highlight at the EFI stall was spotting the company CEO Guy Gecht A true fan boy moment for a young upstart like me

Konica Minolta Konica Minolta showcased the new Bizhub Pro C71hc and the new smaller version of Jetvarnish 3D the Jetvarnish 3DS From MGI the Jetvarnish 3DS smaller footprint than its predecessor but this format takes in 1433x40 inches which fits in to digital space The advantage of the Jetvarnish kit is that it can not only do photo embellishing but can be used for packaging finishing

Pratham Technologies Pune-based Pratham Technologies the manufacturer of paper folding machines displayed its carton sorting system Supersort at the show The offline inspection system was launched during PrintPack India 2015 The speed of the machine is 200mmin It works out to be 50000 cartons per hour for smaller cartons and 20000 cartons per hour for larger cartons The machine can handle a maximum size of 500X500 mm

Proteck Machinery Proteck Machinery distributor of post-press machines from Horizon highlighted the RD 405 a rotary die-cutter and Smart Finishing Solution which has folding stitching binding and sheet processing system to cater to the e-commerce and digital segments respectively

Reprographics India The KIP 800 colour series printer saw its launch at Pamex The printer is AO sized LED-based multi-functional printer and has the functions of printing scanning and photo copy It offers a comprehensive solution for wide-format printing and the help to improve the quality and performance of print The systems workflow provides print control for a range of print submission applications of cloud printing scanning variable data printing and fully integrated stacking and folding

Ricoh India The Ricoh Pro C9100 series and the C7100x presses were the star products The C9100 which was launched in September 2015 can deliver a monthly volume of one million A4 pages as well as high print speed of 110ppm and 130ppm The machine prints at a print resolution of 1200x4800dpi and accepts a wide media range from 52-400gsm

SLKCG Beijing Daheng Image Vision Star JP420 carton inspection machine was on display at the SLKCG stand The Star JP420 can inspect at a speed of up to 130-lakh cartons per hour and look for print defects foil and emboss registration and defects and lamination defects all at one go ldquoItrsquos perhaps the only proven machine that can inspect for defects on metpetrdquo claimed Munipally

Suba Solutions The Chennai-based Suba offered a range of UV systems for offset printing The UV curing system has the technology of electronic ballast water cooled UV shutters and quartz mirror reflection Not as sexy as some of the other offerings during Pamex But very useful

Xerox There was a capability upgrade to the Xerox Versant series 2100 and 80 where the kit can now print banner sizes (330x660mm) in production mode Xerox also showcased the Color 1000i capable of printing gold silver and clear inks Saw lots of products samples The results were yum n

Courtesy printweekcom

Top ten product launches at Pamex


Colour management Savings at the of the rainbowAuto colour management tools the key to customer satisfactionAs kids we hear the story that there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow

Pretty soon it sinks in that the end of a rainbow is an elusive and illusory thing Indeed colour itself can sometimes seem equally intangible despite being a crucial aspect of print production But it does not have to be like that

There are some surprisingly downtoearth things that you can do to get in control of your colour reproduction

One of the first things to do is to identify what the most common problems are what causes them and what can be done to address them

Colour management specialists reckon that as a rule of thumb one quarter of problems are with the files supplied another quarter derived from the choice of the substrate and half the problems are with onpress process control

If that is correct and the biggest source of problems are onpress then thatrsquos a good place to start looking for quick wins in the quest for better colour

There are still printers measuring by eye and densitometer ndash they donrsquot trust the tools Their reluctance is understandable printers with decades of experience may find it hard to believe that a machine could be better than them

Print business owners are urged to sell colour management systems to their print staff as a way to take the heat off them For minders it is a way to get into colour within their allocated waste sheets ndash they know they canrsquot send a job on short and no one likes going back

to the production manager to ask for more sheets to makeready Thatrsquos the buyin for the minders

Ultimately it is about saving sheets ndash and therefore time and money It is about showing the minders that these tools make their lives easier It is one less thing to worry about

If you do go down the route of onpress colour control ndash and it is now pretty much a standard feature on presses of B2 and above with 98 per cent of Heidelberg press installs now including a device of some sort ndash it is important to maximise the return on investment by ensuring your staff are trained to make the most of the technology That takes time and should be considered an ongoing process rather than oneoff training

For instance onpress controls can start with three days training onsite then it can be left for a week then there is followup training then on like that picking up a bit more over time It is a good way of training walk before you can run

Some pr inters le t the press manufacturer look after the firmrsquos colour setup rather than doing it all itself The thinking is that they are the experts so leave it to them You could do it yourself but it would mean investing a lot of time You might save a few dollars doing it yourself but if you lost a few thousand having to do a reprint it seems a false economy

So what about the other causes of colour confusion once you have sorted out any problems in the press hall A lot of the problems stem from customers selecting substrates then supplying proofs that donrsquot match which means that there is a disconnect between what printers are asked to produce versus what they are supplied All the players in

the supply chain want to fix colour and avoid finger pointing but it is often seen as being the responsibility of someone else

One of the ways to address that is also through training Informal colour training can be found online by those with the desire to find it and many of the vendors of colour prepress and printing technology have materials available

Sometimes it is better to go back to college and do a course and even when it comes to helping clients learn about colour maybe even running one if yoursquore up to and up for it Educating the clients can be positive

However that depends on them being happy to learn and likely to take on board the lessons

If you are not there are courses avai lable wi th the vendors increasingly realising education is an important part of their service offering Sometimes though the nature of the work doesnrsquot lend itself to training your clients For instance if the orders are small and the customers unlikely to become regular it may not be costeffective

Likewise if they donrsquot have the skills necessary to implement their own colour management it may be pointless in offering training In those situations there is another approach

For the printer the choices are to educate and assist clients or install colour server software If you consider that a colour server costs around $12000 ndash thatrsquos a lot of training But if you or they donrsquot have the time or the inclination then thatrsquos where colour servers do come in


Colour servers can be used to take incoming PDF files and to reprocess the colour separations to match the desired printing conditions of the press and the paper used

They use clever file analysis and colour management to account for and correct any errors in the original set up of the files This can be invaluable for helping out your less experienced customers

Alas the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow just a myth However like most myths therersquos a grain of truth in it It illuminates that the route to good colour reproduction is long and may never have an ending fairy tale or otherwise Nor will there be a pot of gold but there are definitely benefits including financial savings from going on a colour quest

Top tips for implementing colour management bull Consider the cold hard cash

savings Reducing makeready waste can save thousands of pound per month

bull Treat implementing colour management as a journey not a destination

bull Do not attempt to do everything at once Assess your situation and then plan to implement colour management in stages

bull Work out what the source of each problem is and tackle them separately focusing on supplied files substrates and pressroom process control

bull Training is important Lead on practical training based on doing some theoretical training to back up the how with some why

bull Sell the benefits to your staff Make sure they understand how colour management can benefit them Build on operatorsrsquo existing colour skills working with density and dot gain adding in spectral data as an additional tool to make their lives easier on press

bull Engage your clients and offer them training too ndash a good marketing tool as well as helping to reduce production problems

bull If your client base and work mix arenrsquot suited to training look at colour server software as a way to automatically fix common colour problems without adding to their or your workload

bull When investing in new kit and software make sure the vendors provide proper training so your staff can use the new tools

bull Phase the training over several months to dripfeed information rather than drowning users in too much too quickly n

Courtesy proprintcomau

Braille press bags coveted award

Christian Foundation for the Blindrsquos Braille printing press recently received an award from Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for its service to the visually-impairedThe press was started by Alfred George in 1978 to build a storehouse of Braille books for the blind ldquoThe press was started by my father who was visually-impaired Back then there was not much literature available for the blind My father wanted to change thisrdquo says Sam Simon George who took over the management of the press after his fatherrsquos demise 11 years agoA specialised machine was brought from Germany and the press started

The press has printed 1500 titles till date

printing magazines in Braille form ldquoArticles and stories from Chanda Mama Kumudam were published in one magazine in Braille formrdquo he addsThe press publishes school college books journals magazines and Christian literature as well Though aided by the government Sam says printing Braille books is quite expensive ldquoBut we sell all our titles at a subsidised rate For instance if a dictionary costs Rs 2500 for printing we offer it for Rs 700rdquo The press has printed 1500 titles in the 37 years it has existed Also it received the lsquobest employer of persons with disabilityrsquo award a few years ago ldquoAround 50 per cent of our employees are visually-impaired Of the 55 staff we have 25 are blindrdquo he adds The Foundation also runs a free blind womenrsquos hostel where it trains women in tailoring bag making cooking and rehabilitates themThe press is located at No 33A Annadurai Street Anakaputhur For details call 2248 6773

Courtesy thehinducom

Pamex 2017 announcedAfter a successful Pamex 2015 the next edition of the exhibition has been announced to take place from 18 to 21 December 2017

The event will take place at Bombay Exhibit ion Centre Goregaon Mumbai Being one of the premier events of Indian Printing and allied industries it is organized by All India Federation of Master Printers in association with PrintPackagingcom

The tenth edition of Pamex held from 912 December 2015 at Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC) Mumbai reported 20441 unique trade visitors even as it featured 300+ exhibitors 200+ running machines and 75+ product launches n


The power of print

In a digital world dominated by pixels tech fatigue is on the increase and communicating the tactile value of print is becoming more important than ever before

Bombarded with a range of media like radio television and the internet marketers have a range of options when it comes to determining the most effective option for increasing ROI But there is no silver bullet and each choice should be integrated into a broader marketing mix But which choice is likely to provide the biggest return on investment

It is true that each channel has its own strengths and weaknesses but print is the only one that has stood the test of time and it remains a viable option even if it has faced a significant degree of questioning throughout the 21st century However the fact is that people spend less time with digital advertising while print is long lasting It gives audiences something tangible to hold in their hands that can be put down and picked up later

There are many challenges facing todayrsquos commercial printers from learning how to drive demand back to print staying on top of changing technologies and trying to carve out a niche to stay competitive but Ricoh believes that these challenges should not be tackled alone

So to help commercial printers address these challenges Ricoh is set to launch an online community space that connects printers to sales resources market insights and peer to peer events where printers support each other by sharing their successes and challenges

As part of this launch Ricoh is releasing the Power of Print (PoP) Kitmdasha set of four highvalue sales booklets that printers can customise

with their details to support print businesses in driving demand and educating the market on the power of print and the innovative ways it can be used Later this year Ricoh will also release an inspirational series of Printer Success Stories

bull This PoP sales kit will enable printing businesses to

bull Get the market thinking about the innovative ways print can be used

bull Provide their customers with valuable data and insights regarding the use of print in their marketing mix

bull Feature their business with dedicated space for their company details

bull Drive demand and generate prospects directly for their business

Whatrsquos next

This set of PoP booklets is just the beginning of Ricohrsquos move to give commercial printers access to resources designed to help grow their business and adapt to the changing market

Over the coming months they plan to continue to share some fresh and innovative content and success stories exclusive to Ricoh which are designed to provide inspiration and practical knowledge

Ricohrsquos vision is to continue to provide a wide library of essential resources specific to the printing industry that can be accessed and utilised to help business owners to make smart and strategic business decisions for longterm sustainability and growth

Other great ways for printing businesses to use this powerful contentProvided with the kit will be three marketing campaign ideas with brief instructions to further leverage this powerful content to assist in the sales and marketing effort These include

1 Email campaignUse content from the booklets to create an email campaign For example you could pick your top six ideas from the PoP booklet lsquoReignite your Relationship with Print 10 Companies that Nailed the Art of Delighting and Disrupting with Printrsquo and create a set of six emails each one highlighting a reason for your customers to use print in their marketing for a different print application Then produce an email to introduce your themed email series Send the intro email to whet the appetite then send the other six emails on a regular basis

2 Direct mail campaignSelect from your list of customers and prospects the accounts that you think are most likely to take action or draw inspiration from the PoP booklets Send a handwritten note alongside a printed application something that stands out and shows you creative and innovative ways for customers to market themselves Also include a copy of one of the PoP booklets

3 Social MediaIf you use social media channels to promote your business you can use the content within the booklets to create your posts Consider creating a social media calendar to develop a schedule of when you will post stats insights or print innovation examples If you want to get really creative you could produce a video series in which you dedicate each episode to discussing a unique print application that you provide featured in the PoP booklet lsquoReignite your relationship with Letterbox Marketing (Catalogues amp Flyers)rsquo

Ricoh is releasing a kit printers can use to support print businesses in driving demand


TEN REASONS to still believe in the power of printW i t h c o n s u m e r s f e e l i n g overwhelmed by the number of emails they receive each day printed marketing materials have become a welcome disruption when executed in a smart way This guide provides ten reasons to let your clients understand the benefits of enhancing your next marketing piece with print and how to make print work for you

Print persuades online purchasesAccording to Plumtree Marketing (2011) print increases online traffic to your website This study shows that 67 per cent of online searches are driven by printed messages From this 39 per cent of these people ultimately make a purchasing decision based on the print materials they initially consumed

Higher engagement ratesConsumers are more engaged when reading printed material ndash unlike websites which are often skimmed through in as little as 15 seconds Printed material offers a longer time to engage your reader and catch their attention because the information is physically in their hands People are more likely to do something with this information

More creative potentialPrint enables organisations to wow their customers with creative excellence In fact a lot of brands take advantage of this using innovative techniques such as thermochemical inks holograms video brochures scented paper popups and many more formats to grab their attention

Leave an imprintPrint is by far the strongest performing medium when it comes to etching a brandrsquos messages into the minds of consumers People remember what they feel and see more than what they hear

This gives a distinct advantage by putting something in their hands Companies can be memorable with marketing by utilising the power of print

Legitimacy and trustPrint retains a sense of legitimacy The saturation of email banners email marketing and other digital forms of communication can become overwhelming The fear of spam viruses and privacy invasion is enough to make people wary of clicking With print what you see is what you get ndash there is no imminent danger in picking it up

Print is affluentialPrint is popular with those from an affluent background From 2012 to 2013 the number of affluent people in Australia who read a print publication rose to more than 50 million (Ipsos 2013) Print has the right tools to produce highend quality with style to convey feelings of luxury and glamour You can integrate print with your other marketing channels For example simply by including your Facebook or twitter URLs on your printed material you can direct traffic through to these channels so that customers can continue their buying journeys This enables you to continue the conversation with your customers to really drive and engage them

Build stronger relationshipsPrint has a close relationship with its readers It is often referred to as the memedium and can become an integral part of a readerrsquos world More importantly this relationship extends well beyond the initial readthrough Print materials can stay in the one place be picked up or moved around with ease and referred back to over time

PersonalisationPrint media exists in many forms ndash from mass media (hundreds to millions of copies) ndash to one on

one more personalised version In between there are formats such as the personalised newspaper or magazine with titles that have content tailored to the specific reader This adds flexibility and adaptability in print technologies to supercharge your marketing

Sensory engagementDifferent types of substrates can add to the overall print experience They can include textured samples such as metalics and pearlescents to maximise the effect on the consumer When you combine this with generating certain feelings and memory triggers the opportunities for print are endless n


Gallus DCS 340 Digital Label PressWith the official sales launch of the new Gallus DCS 340 digital press for the growth market of label printing Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is opening up new business models and applications in printing for its customers The sales channel for the new system is the Heidelberg subsidiary Gallus The press is supplied with the Prinect Digital Frontend developed by Heidelberg which the company is already using with great success in its digital presses for commercial printing Users can therefore integrate the systems into their existing workflow environment The comprehensive software expertise offers Heidelberg easier access to new and attractive market sectors such as digital label printing

The new label press system is based on Fujifilmrsquos stateof- the-art inkjet technology and is the result of a joint development between Heidelberg the Heidelberg subsidiary Gallus and Fujifilm It is already setting a new benchmark in the industrial label printing market in terms of combining print quality flexibility and productivity

Gallus and Heidelberg unveiled the press to the public around a year ago and are now launching it on the market following successful field trials n


Getting the moneyOne of the things I really truly hate about running my own business is having to collect money I love having it but the delicate art of extracting it from the slow paying customersrsquo wallet fills me with dread Most of my clients pay great normally to their own schedule but always reliably on time And if they missed one or I have stuffed up sorting it out is as much a pleasure with these clients as any other dealings I may have with them

And it is even not so bad when you have had someone go walkabout with a sizable amount That is a fair fight and notes about lawyers or actual lawyers almost always bring them to the table although thankfully I have never actually had to go to court

The ones I canrsquot stand however are the dollar dazzlers ndash the ones that owe you a piddling amount and will not pay They know it is not worth the lawyerrsquos letter to chase them down and they are counting on you giving up

In the past I have had a fairly uneven success rate with these guys Some end up paying but most of the time I have done the maths and the cost of my time getting them to pay was good money after bad I have written it off all the while cursing myself for letting another one get past me without paying upfront But recently I worked out a new strategy and I thought it might be useful to you

I had one customer who had had not sent me a job in months and who had an outstanding account of $500 or so I emailed him once a month for a few months reminding him in a friendly way about it To be honest I was not all that worried over such a small amount and probably would have let it slide But one day he emailed me back saying the job was crap he was sure he had paid for part of it anyway he was not going to pay and I could get stuffed He was always an ignorant pain in the backside but it was the unwarranted rudeness that got to me So I politely emailed him again And again this time with a scanned in PDF of his bill attached all up about six megabytes of email For a week I sent one email a day All I got back was an

email telling me to get stuffed again The next week I upped it to two emails a day one at 730am and one at 500pm so my reminder was the first and last thing he saw each day

Nothing So I escalated At 9am I sent 5 copies of the email ndash 30 megabytes At 10am I sent 10 copies of the email ndash 60 megabytes At 11am I sent 15 copies of the email ndash 90 megabytes I stopped at 12pm with 20 copies ndash 240 megabytes At five orsquoclock I answered the phone to a burst of expletives that would have made Kevin Rudd blush For a minute I had forgotten what I had done but I was pretty quickly reminded This guy worked out of his garage and had come in at knock off to find 300 megabytes of email downloading ever so slowly all reminding him politely to pay up He gave me a full and frank character assessment and insisted he was not paying I said no worries I guess you will call again this time tomorrow That set him off again So I sent him another copy of the email to remind him

Surprisingly the next morning the money had not appeared in my account He seemed to be of the view that I was not enjoying myself tremendously So I had another fun day and another fun phone call from him and low and behold the next day I got all my money ndash except $20 For some reason he decided to keep this going and while I was still having fun I didnrsquot think $20 was worth the daily effort so I cut back to one or two emails a week One day I sent three in the morning and he sent me my $20 that night Since then Irsquove used the tactic on a few other similar deadbeats I scaled the emails back to one missive every hour on the first day then every half an hour on the second day and by the time I was sending them every fifteen minutes on the third day they were almost all emailing me remittances

Now I admit this is immature and petty Take it and use it as you will But remember it worked and did not cost me a cent ndash all it took was the willingness to be a major pain in the arse n


Flint Group introduces new letterpress plate with soft layer

New water-washable film-based nyloprintreg WF-S plate for more flexibility and improved ink transfer

Proven quality and new advantages - Flint Group Flexographic Products as the global supplier of nyloprintreg letterpress printing plates introduces the new letterpress plate nyloprintreg WF-S The new plate stands for ldquoWater-washable Film based - Softrdquo and replaces the nyloprintreg WF-M printing plate type from November 2015

Compared to the previous type the new water-washable nyloprintreg WF-S film-based plate has an even softer plate surface for more flexible applications Moreover the soft surface provides improved ink transfer resulting in optimal ink lay-down especially on rough surfaces The nyloprintreg WF-S plate is particularly suitable for special applications such as blister pack printing but also for rotary letterpress coating units and imprinting units Beyond that the new letterpress plate shows all advantages of the nyloprintreg WF plate range very efficient and fast plate processing as the reproduction is completed within 25-35 min Additionally it offers a wide exposure latitude combined with high intermediate depths and very good durability for long print runs

The nyloprintreg WF-S plate is available in thicknesses of 070 080 and 095 mm A digital version of the film-based plate with all the advantages of digital processing is also available on request n

Courtesy flntgrpcom


5 Reasons You Should Use a SpectrophotometerAre you leveraging benchmark processes and technologies to reduce costs and streamline color measurement and management for minimum waste and rework Here are five reasons a spectrophotometer can bring your color measurement and management to benchmark levels

When you measure color with a spectrophotometer the spectral data you get is like the DNA of that color

Anything that can be done with a densitometer can be done with a spectrophotometer but the reverse is not true Densitometers are good at checking density on process colors but they actually donrsquot see colors at all Spectral data is extremely valuable for anyone in the printing trades because it gives great guidance on things like whether it is possible to hit a color with the current ink mix or predicting how the color will look under different lighting

Spectrophotometer data is the DNA of color and can capture the target color DNA at the point of approval For example if a printing company measures a standard when the operator knows that it is right the company will no longer have to worry about standards fading working out data prints or finding the signed off copy in that overstuffed filing cabinet

Spectrophotometers are now more affordable and deliver a fast ROI

Warren Werbitt founder and chief fisherman at Montrealrsquos Pazazz Printing put it best when he said ldquoWhile we tend to think in terms of cash flow and ROI when making business purchases from my perspective having the best possible instrumentation is non-negotiable It is a tool not a capital investment and I find it more valuable to think of the spend in terms of the cost per

job For example if I spend $8000 on an instrument and process 3000 jobs per year the cost translates to about $3 per job in the first year you own the instrument Clearly the ability to reduce waste on each and every job by using proper instrumentation to measure and manage color will save much more than $3 per job in paper alone to say nothing of labor and other related costsrdquo

Relying on visual evaluation of color is risky Spectrophotometers see color drift long before the human eye can

With todayrsquos spectrophotometers not only can more accurate spectral values be measured but companion software can inform the press operator of exactly what needs to be done with ink key settings to ensure appropriate ink densities and or to bring color back into tolerance often before shifts are even visible to the human eye The human eye is not an effective evaluator of color The way that we perceive color depends on many factors that are changeablemdashtime of day how tired we are what our blood sugar level is genetic factors age and much more By contrast a spectrophotometer isextremely consistent This device can simulate the way humans see color without the confusion of color vision anomalies Spectrophotometers donrsquot have bad days They donrsquot get tired or emotional Background colors donrsquot influence their perception As long as itrsquos properly maintained and used correctly a spectrophotometer will give you accurate color data time after time You donrsquot need a data mining expert to interpret and act

on spectral data Printing companies and packaging converters that use spectrophotometers to monitor and control their printing operations can find gold in those numbers if they do a little data mining This is not to say that a data mining expert is needed to accomplish this Todayrsquos instruments and software make data analytics and comparisons easy through the use of clear graphics and enterprise- wide consistency in collection and communication methods

Print managers and shop personnel donrsquot need to pore over rows and columns of numbers to unravel a measured colorrsquos DNA or try to understand the exact color that a customer wants The whole number-crunching process has been standardized and automated so print shop personnel can access the spectral data of a color specified by the customer through the Internet then compare that data with the measured color that is being printed on the shop floor New software programs make those comparisons easy through the use of clear graphics ldquoOne nice thing about todayrsquos software for spectral data is that instead of looking at rows and columns of numbers that represent the wavelengths of reflected light that make up a color yoursquore getting a graph that gives practical understandable informationmdash information that clearly shows what changes an operator may need to make on the sheet to produce a consistent colorrdquo said Brian Ashe Esko color expert

Using spectral data is just the next evolution in the pressroom

Think Ink

A spectrophotometer is also useful in the ink kitchen to check the quality of incoming inks and to validate ink formulations Letrsquos face it If the ink color is wrong it doesnrsquot really matter what you do on press The color will still be wrong Many ink kitchens are managing thousands of colors And it is not the norm to evaluate


the accuracy of new colors as ink is received nor to assess whether a new customer- specific color can be met by existing ink inventories Using a spectrophotometer in conjunction with ink formulation software enables printers to provide ink suppliers with very specific guidance and to check incoming supplies for compliance This combination can also make it easier to use leftover inks reducing overall ink inventory

By taking spectral measurements of both wet and dry ink samples ink technic ians can bui ld a baseline against which to measure performance from job to job and within the same job

Isnrsquot It TimeIn a recent color management survey conducted by X-Rite one respondent summed it up by saying ldquoColor accuracy is everythingmdash you canrsquot produce a good job without it being accurate We do a lot of high-end work and often have to match printed images to physical objects like bed sheets or shoes We have to make sure that whatrsquos on the piece of paper matchesrdquo

By introducing a spectrophotometer into the production workflow prepress and pressroom operators can quickly and easily ensure that color matches customer expectationsmdash using the DNA of the color and taking emotion and opinion out of the process Whether you are matching digital standards or physical standards or producing a customerrsquos colors across a variety of jobs and over a span of time you can count on your spectrophotometer to ensure that you are producing color right the first time right every time Yoursquoll have happier customers faster review cycles less need for press checks and a significant reduction in waste and rework

I s n rsquo t i t t i m e y o u a d d e d a spectrophotometer to the mix n

Kodak launches two new plate solutions for offset

With the launch of the Kodak Electramax Thermal Plate and the Kodak Trendsetter Q2400 and Q3600 Platesetters Kodak is ldquobuilding upon a tradition of innovation providing sustainable and high-performance solutions to a broad variety of printersrdquo

Electramax Thermal Plates provide numerous advantages for offset printers ndash such as long unbaked run lengths strong chemical resistance and 10-micron FM and 450 lpi AM high-resolution capabilities The versatile thermal plates are suitable for use in a diverse range of printing environments including offset packaging web publications commercial sheetfed and demanding UV or H-UV applications

C h a r a c t e r i z e d a s t h e ldquo N o Compromiserdquo plate it also delivers low developer consumption with no preheating requirements ndash making it ideal for printers looking to boost performance while reducing their environmental impact

The Trendset ter Q2400 and Q3600 Platesetters feature award-winning Kodak Squarespot Imaging Technology and deliver dependable accuracy regardless of plate emulsion sensitivity processor variation or laser power Increased efficiency enables users to reduce imaging power consumption by up to 27 while reducing costs due to fewer remakes and less time adjusting for variables said the OEM The technology enables throughput with large-format plates

that can image from 394 mm x 394 mm up to 1600 mm x 2083 mm The manual device is versatile enough to image a large range of plate sizes ndash from two pages to some of the largest offset plate sizes available It easily handles a variety

of applications such as packaging directories and other large-format applications It can also be used as a back-up machine to handle overflow of automated platesetters ldquoThis versatility allows customers to differentiate and grow their businesses through high-resolution printingrdquo Kodak added

ldquoWith todayrsquos technology itrsquos not only possible but expected that businesses remain competitive while taking steps to be environmentally responsiblerdquo said Brad W Kruchten President Print Systems Division and Senior Vice President Eastman Kodak Company ldquoWe support our customers as they strive to meet those expectations while delivering the high performance capabilities critical to their business The core of everything we do has revolved around efficiency and sustainability since our first recycling program that re-purposed the silver used to make film in the 1920rsquos It continues today as we provide a holistic approach that offers more value and productivity with less of an environmental impactrdquo

The Kodak Electramax Thermal Plate and the Kodak Trendsetter Q2400 and Q3600 Platesetters are currently on display at Graph Expo 2015 in booth 823 The Electramax Thermal Plate will be available in Canada and the US in early 2016 The Kodak Trendsetter Q2400 and Q3600 Platesetters are available now n

Courtesy graphicartsmagcom

Published by B G Kukillaya on behalf of The Printing Technologists Forum from No 2 Venu Reddy Street Guindy Chennai 600 032 amp Designed by RVenkatasubramanian at Industrial Prints 23 Second Cross Street Trustpuram Chennai 600 024 Edited by P Chellappan

FORUMrsquos One Day Seminar ldquoPublishing - Exploring New Horizonsrdquo in Pictures












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OFFSET PRINTING


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right away


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Source Matik Inc


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The power of print













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Think Ink























In this issue


















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September 1 2015

OFFSET PRINTING


0









right away


width of 340mm








Source Matik Inc


x






































































































































































































































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The power of print













Whatrsquos next










































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Think Ink


















































































































































































































































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The power of print













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The power of print













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The power of print













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The power of print













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The power of print













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The power of print













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Documents

Pf nov dec 2015