Landa releases white paper on packaging production

Landa has announced the release of the white paper “Accelerating the Growth of Packaging Production in the 21st Century.”  The white paper provides an in-depth profile of the folding carton segment, the target market of Landa’s first Nanographic Printing presses.

Landa plans to start shipping beta units of the Landa S10FC Nanographic Printing Press for folding carton applications in Q4/2014. The Landa S10FC delivers true mainstream production efficiency for folding carton production and supports B1 (41 in. / 1,050 mm) format media and off-the-shelf substrates without any pretreatment or priming.

Cartonboard Consumption: 43 Million Tons and Growing

Landa’s direct, primary research, combined with reports from Smithers-Pira and Karstedt Partners, shows that total, annual consumption of cartonboard currently stands at 43 million tons, and generates US$82 billion in revenue. Year over year growth is anticipated to be 4.5% through 2016.

The expected growth of the folding carton segment is fueled by powerful global population and economic trends as well as technological advancements unique to packaging and folding carton converting. The 3000+ converters in the world stand to benefit from the increased demand if they can meet the market’s standards for quality, speed, format, and substrates while complying with demands for much shorter runs.

The massive transition in global demographics, consumer preferences, and product branding is affecting every segment of the packaging industry.   Folding carton converters, who comprise the packaging industry’s largest segment, are increasingly limited by their ability to deliver shorter runs and may benefit from Nanography, Landa’s Nanographic Printing process.

Topics covered in the white paper include:

• Forces of change and the new consumer
• Converter markets, applications and competitors
• New opportunities, buying habits and tastes
• Limitations of short-run packaging production
• The Nanographic Printingâ„¢ solution

Ila Bialystok, Landa Vice President of Marketing, explains, “The white paper is the result of our intensive study of the packaging industry and the folding carton segment in preparation for the launch of the Landa S10FC Nanographic Printing™ Press. During the last year, Landa representatives have been on an amazing global tour in which we met with many of our customers as well as industry analysts and end users. Everyone shared their challenges, goals, and vision for the industry. We hope that by reading the white paper, you’ll feel as excited as we are about the industry and our game-changing technology.”

For more information, please visit www.landanano.com

To download the white paper, please visit http://www.landanano.com/lp/marketo/packaging1/gb/?utm_medium=banner&utm_source=blog_WPpackaging&utm_campaign=Landa

FESPA invites visitors to Dive Deeper Into Digital

FESPA is 'making a splash' with the launch of an international marketing campaign for FESPA Digital 2014, under the strapline â€" Dive Deeper Into Digital.  The sixth edition of the FESPA Digital event will take place at Messe Munich, Germany, between 20th and 23rd May 2014.

The new, multi-channel campaign features a scuba diver diving into a deep ocean, teeming with bright marine life. It is designed to evoke the colourful ocean of opportunity that is open to printers and their customers, helping them explore and enhance their businesses by diving deeper into new possibilities in digital print.

At the heart of the campaign is a comprehensive event website at www.fespadigital.com, which goes live today. Here visitors and exhibitors will find all the information they need about the event, including facts and figures, practical visitor information, visitor registration, exhibitor lists, floorplan and an overview of visitor features.

The content of the site will be refreshed regularly over the eight months until the event, making it a regular online destination for everyone with an interest in digital wide format printing. The site will also include information about FESPA Fabric and European Sign Expo (once launched), which will be part of the wider FESPA Digital event, addressing the broader interests of garment printers and sign makers respectively.

The @FESPA Twitter feed is prominent on the home page, immediately putting visitors to the site at the heart of FESPA’s vibrant global social media community. Further buttons link visitors to FESPA’s Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube presences.

FESPA Managing Director Neil Felton sets out the thinking behind the FESPA Digital 2014 ‘Dive Deeper’ campaign: “Digital printers are creative explorers who constantly push the boundaries of print. FESPA Digital events inspire visitors to discover innovations in technology and consumables, and network with experts and peers to make sense of what they find. Since we launched the Digital event back in 2006, our campaigns for FESPA Digital have captured the spirit of adventure and innovation.”

Felton continues: “‘Dive Deeper into Digital’ is an apt message for printers as we head towards 2014. We’re encouraging visitors to FESPA Digital 2014 to go below the surface, and delve further still into the myriad opportunities that exist to take their businesses forward. In a market where technology is becoming more mature, many of the visitors to our Digital events have already reaped the early benefits from the transition from analogue to digital. Now they are making second - or third - generation digital investments or upgrades, increasing digital capacity, and adding workflow software or finishing equipment to enhance the capabilities, productivity and functionality of their digital output equipment. FESPA Digital 2014 will reflect this evolution, offering a high-calibre educational programme that probes beyond the initial benefits of the digital ‘revolution’, helping visitors discover more about how digital technology can help them add new capabilities and services.”

To pre-register to attend FESPA Digital 2014, please visit: www.fespadigital.com

i-Sub Digital Open Days demo 'golden opportunities' in print

i-Sub Digital has reported two successful Open Days at the Crewe HQ of Hybrid Services, with representatives of over 30 companies attending on October 16th and 17th.

Guests were treated to up-close-and-personal demonstrations of wide-format printing systems from Mimaki â€" including the new Mimaki JV400 SUV and i-Sub Digital's innovative Digi-Foil system â€" with experts supplying all the facts on how these technology investments can boost business.

Digi-Foil is a groundbreaking system for the application of foils without the need for traditional dies and foil presses. Foil is applied only in areas required going down to 4pt text and even to a dot size of 0.3mm. Using a desktop Mimaki UJF UV printer, design houses and printers can produce personalised decorative products or colour-accurate packaging mock-ups in less than ten minutes with minimal waste â€" a formerly impossible achievement.

The speed of production and accuracy of colour means clients can see a variety of different packaging options at the first stage and potentially sign off mock-ups on the same day, rather than decisions taking weeks or months.

Richard Wildsmith, Operations Director at promotional merchandise specialist SPS, travelled to Crewe from Blackpool specifically to see Digi-Foil at work. As an existing user of the Mimaki UJF-6042, Wildsmith wanted to see how to achieve even greater value from the printer.

"It's dead easy to do," he said after attending the demonstration, adding he was impressed by its potential: "If you can print on it, you can foil it."

The Open Days were also a chance for graphic display businesses to see the new Mimaki JV400-160 SUV wide-format printer. The machine, first unveiled at FESPA 2013, combines the bright, punchy colour and glossy finish of solvent with the abrasion resistance of UV inks.

Through this hybrid approach, businesses can benefit from a wider colour gamut and more substrate options, as the instantly dry print does not need to be laminated and has outdoor durability for three years plus.

"The Open Days with Hybrid Services and Mimaki were a great success, with wide-format print businesses, design houses and packaging producers coming to Crewe from all over the UK," says Andy Spreag, Director, i-Sub Digital.

"Open house events like this provide a one-on-one, dedicated look at the machines available, educating clients to make them fully aware of the technology and its potential applications," he adds. "Many guests took the opportunity to revisit the innovations they'd seen at this year's trade shows, but this time in much more detail."

The Zünd S3 digital cutting table was also put through its paces at the two-day event, alongside the Mimaki JFX500-2131 UV flatbed printer. Demonstrating a raft of print and cut applications, including cutting and creasing polypropylene, routing Foamex, cutting display card and creating packaging products all previously printed on the Mimaki JFX500, allowed visitors to get first-hand experience of the capabilities of both machines working in harmony. With print speeds of up to 60sq/m per hour capable on the Mimaki JFX500 some amazing results were achieved with visitors able to take away the samples produced.

The Open Days with Mimaki UK and Ireland distributor Hybrid Services are part of a series of events planned by i-Sub Digital in addition to trade shows in 2014.

Doors open for Cross Media 2013

Cross Media 2013 will open tomorrow (23rd October 2013) with a strong line-up of exhibitors from across multi-channel communications landscape. From Konica Minolta and Layar to Brand Perfect and CHILIpublish, Cross Media 2013 provides the insight and inspiration to effectively deliver fully-integrated multi-channel marketing campaigns. Visitors can still pre-register for free entry today at www.crossmedialive.com.

Underpinned by its expert speaker programme, Cross Media 2013 is running over 50 seminars across its five specialised theatres: Print & Innovation, Cross Media, Digital & Direct Marketing, Content Marketing & Publishing Strategies, and the brand new Mobile Marketing theatre. All the theatres provide visitors with the opportunity to listen and immerse themselves in lively debates that will help redefine their vision of the marketing arena.

Driven by exciting advances in technology, marketing channels are multiplying at an exhilarating rate and this means only one thing; opportunity. Cross Media 2013 not only showcases these innovative technologies and solutions, but also how to harness their vast potential to take brand engagement to a whole new level.

One must-see feature is on the stand of 3D technology company Inition. At the vanguard of experiential marketing, the company will be demonstrating its virtual reality (VR) experiences via the Nissan-approved 3D sky-dive and the terrifying ‘Vertical Vertigo Challenge’. Elsewhere the AR (Augmented Reality) Hall of Fame will display the industry’s best AR campaigns.

There is also the ‘Freestyle Cross Media’ feature â€" using documobi’s pioneering solution â€" which offers visitors the opportunity to participate in the world’s first ever interactive caricature. They will be drawn by a caricaturist at the documobi stand and walked through a compelling, interactive and personalised campaign that links mobile, photo, video and social media â€" with ‘intelligent’ print at the heart of the action.

Another stand-out cross media solution is DirectSmile’s all-in-one software for ‘Marketing Automation’. Developed to help visitors capitalise on the great opportunities that the shift to data-driven communication opens up for service providers and businesses, Transeo Media will demonstrate how to create, personalise and automate marketing campaigns across web, e-mail, mobile and social media with ease â€" but to stunning effect.

Meanwhile award-winning digital production studio Special Moves will demonstrate the power of integrating print with digital media via its eye-catching interactive portrait. Using the latest gesture-control and facial-recognition technologies to engage and surprise visitors, the interactive portrait challenges the audience’s expectations of a framed photograph that is guaranteed to leave a lasting impression.

Finally Ogilvy & Mather will be running its popular ‘Ideas Workshop’, providing its expertise to small businesses on a vast range of marketing disciplines for free. To participate, drop by the company’s stand to book an appointment during the event.

Andrew Thornhill, Marketing Manager, Cross Media 2013, comments: “Last year’s inaugural event gave the industry a snapshot of what is possible in the fast-evolving marketing mix, and this year we have parted the curtains further to present an even wider, more vibrant picture of the rapidly growing cross media market.

“We have some top suppliers from across the communications landscape exhibiting over the two days, demonstrating solutions that will help businesses enhance and refine their marketing disciplines. It is vital for commercial printers, marketers, brand agencies, designers, publishers and other content creators to ensure they’re up to date with the latest solutions driving the communications industry. Cross Media 2013 provides that, and more.”

EFI hails LED growth and celebrates Printcafe anniversary

EFI's Industrial Inkjet division generated revenues of $87.1m for the three months to 30 September 2013, up 10% year-over-year and contributing 49% of EFI's quarterly revenue, while UV ink volume grew 21% year-over-year.

Gecht attributed the growth to strong demand for EFI's VUTEk, Jetrion and Cretaprint industrial printers, its UV ink and in particular, the growing demand for the firm's LED curing technology, which he said was a major differentiator.

"We're not the lowest cost provider in inkjet but we bring a lot of value - especially with LED technology," said Gecht. "We are the only one that can do LED curing at a very high speed, giving people benefit of being more green [and] being more efficient.

"It's cheaper to run and also you can run it on slimmer materials, which are cheaper and let you do applications that otherwise you cannot do."

Gecht added that EFI was the only wide-format industrial inkjet manufacturer capable of LED curing in roll-to-roll production level output, although he added that the firm had yet to figure out a way to bring the technology to its top-end 334sqm/hr, 3.2m-wide Vutek HS100 Pro.

"We've been offering it only on the kind of the mid-range, what we call the hybrid product that can print on any surface, now we're introducing it on roll-to-roll, so now we're going to have other types of customers that can actually purchase LED," he said.

"As far as the HS100, this is still printing at a speed that is too fast for the LED to cure, but we're working on that as well and I'm sure we're going to get there faster than anybody else to this type of production speed."

Gecht also remarked on the fact that LED ink consumption was "substantially higher" for customers who had bought presses with the LED option versus those that had not. "I think that shows that customers are getting much more business when they go off the LEDs," said Gecht.

"It's not like LED is consuming more ink, it's just that you get a lot more utilization and more business when you take the LEDs. I think that's definitely going to continue to grow interest in the market we're very pleased with the interest.

"I definitely think that we're going to see that as a global opportunity through next year."

Meanwhile, EFI is today celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its acquisition of Printcafe, which kick-started the growth of EFI's MIS business, now its Productivity Software arm.

EFI trumped Creo in an acrimonious bidding war for the listed Printcafe's shares, which ended up in court after Creo accused Printcafe of trying to unlawfully block Creo's acquisition of a block of shares.

Contex's Q3 figures boosted by impressive HD Ultra sales

Contex Americas has reported that its early Q3 sales are up by more than 1.5 times that of the same time period in 2011. The company attributes this success to the recent launch of the updated HD Ultra wide format scanner which incorporates several new, customer-requested features that improve overall throughput by at least 30%. These new enhancements, along with attractive pricing and warranties, make the HD Ultra a highly demanded product.

"The strong sales this quarter are directly related to the success of the HD Ultra, as well as to our new distributor channel sales strategy," comments Steve Blanken, GM, Contex Americas. "With the HD Ultra, we took the world's best scanner and made it even better. This new technology has truly energised the wide format scanning market."

"We've just completed our month-end for July, and these are the highest Contex sales we've had since 2008," comments Doyle Cryer, Wide Format Specialist, Promark, a value added distributor. "Contex's wide format scanners are well-priced and backed with great warranties. It is truly a risk-free purchase of the highest-quality scanners in the industry."

Ideal for scanning maps, drawings, posters, or fine art, the HD Ultra is the newest scanner in Contex's suite of wide format scanning solutions. This scanner incorporates several customer requested features, including scanning speeds of 8 inches per second in colour, new colour spaces, and 48-bit colour processing. The HD Ultra's colour reproduction is unparalleled, giving users unprecedented control over scanned images.

For more information, please visit www.contex.com

Chris Grice to head PaperlinX commercial print division

PaperlinX has appointed Chris Grice as Head of Commercial Print for PaperCo, Howard Smith Paper Group and Robert Horne Group and Ian Hunt as Commercial Director - moves that signal the Group’s intention to cement its market leading position in the commercial print business.

PaperlinX Procurement Director, Grice, has 30-years industry experience and has worked for the company for 24 years. Hunt has extensive experience in leading sales operations and has previously worked for Thomas Cook, American Express and RAC. Both are charged with developing and growing the Group’s business and services provided through all three OpCos - PaperCo, Howard Smith Paper and Robert Horne.

Commenting on the appointment, Dave Allen, PaperlinX Executive Vice President said, “Commercial Print is our core business, we are the market leaders; the Strategic Review is now complete and our focus is firmly on growth.

“Our aim is to provide customers with an unparalleled portfolio of products and services. Chris and Ian have a clear brief to define and deliver a sales strategy and process that will further improve the division’s customer-centricity, performance and profitability.”

PaperlinX has also announced that Adrian Dennis, Divisional Director Sign & Display and Mike Thomsett, Divisional Director, PaperlinX Procurement Solutions Division and Brightstream; will join the UK Leadership Team. These two new appointments signify its commitment to diversified business areas that also includes packaging.

Paul French, PaperlinX Director UK & Ireland, is to leave the company at the end of September. French is to join Metamark, a specialist sign and digital materials manufacturing business as CEO.