Digital Domain - August 2011

Siver Foil Board

CHICAGO—GPA has introduced Ultra DigitaL® 10 pt. C1S Silver Foil Board for HP Indigo presses, a new paper designed to allow the printing of metallic color effects without the added cost of special inks or foils. It offers a smooth, transfer metalized surface in a glossy silver finish and is RIT and HP Indigo certified for high-quality image reproduction. It is also acid free, pH neutral, and recyclable.

Ultra Digital 10 pt. C1S Silver Foil Board can provide true metallic effects in short runs, and gives a brand a premium feel and added dimension. Printers can achieve the look of metallic inks or foil stamping in virtually any color without added time, cost, or equipment, and using only five colors (four color process, plus white). It is also suitable for variety of finishing processes including laminating, diecutting, scoring, gluing, folding, embossing, debossing, and UV coating.

Flexible UV Ink for Inkjet Printers

IRVINE, Calif.—Roland DGA Corp. has introduced ECO-UV S, the next generation of the company’s ECO-UV ink. Offered in CMYK and white, ECO-UV S has been developed specifically for use with four of Roland’s VersaUV UV-LED inkjet printers, including the 64-inch LEJ-640 printer, 54-inch LEC-54 printer/cutter, and both the 30-inch LEC-330 and LEC-300A printer/cutters.

“With ECO-UV S ink, users can create realistic packaging prototypes using shrink films or other packaging materials, enabling them to explore a wide range of design options,” says Hiroshi Ono, group product manager for Roland DGA Corp. “ECO-UV S expands up to 220 percent, allowing graphics to stretch around uneven shapes, indentations, corners, and curved surfaces.”

Greater elasticity allows ECO-UV S prints to mold accurately to the contours of PET bottles and plastic cups. Users can also create three-dimensional wide-format graphics, including POP displays and signage.

Forecast for Color ­Digital Printing

WEYMOUTH, Mass.—InfoTrends published its 2011 forecast for production level color digital presses used to print labels and packaging. InfoTrends estimates that converters worldwide spent $166 million on this category of color digital presses in 2010 and that the total will grow at a 10.3 percent annual rate, 2010 to 2015.

“2010 was a bigger year for color electrophotographic presses than we expected, meanwhile inkjet placements were not as robust as we had earlier forecasted,” said Bob Leahey, the forecast’s author and associate director of InfoTrends’ Color Digital Label and Package continuous information service. “There’s good growth, though, on both sides. Converters now often use color digital presses Vtems, and some converters operate both electrophotographic and inkjet presses.”

The new report, “Color Digital Packaging and Labels Market Forecast: 2010-2015,” includes a detailed numerical description of the regional markets for color digital presses made by such ­companies as Agfa, EFI Jetrion, HP Indigo, Xeikon, and Xerox. The forecast estimates and forecasts revenues for media, toners, and inks broken down by label, ­folding carton, and flexible packaging applications, and it calculates the value of printed output for each.

“Right now label and packaging converters worldwide bill about $2 billion annually for the output of their color digital presses,” Leahey continued. “While about 95 percent of that value is for labels for consumer goods, the young folding carton and flexible packaging applications are themselves ­growing.”

Spartanics Carton Laser Cutter

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill.—Spartanics’ new Carton Laser Cutting Machine is designed to provide significant cost savings for carton converters/printers in such industries as pharmaceuticals and food and beverage packaging. The machine decreases costs of production in three ways: it totally eliminates tooling costs of traditional diecutting methods, can reduce the use of scrap material during job setup by 20 percent, and reduces job set-up time and associated labor costs by up to 20 percent.

Inline Slitting on Digital Web Press

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J.—OKI Data Americas announced the availability of the DigiPro lineal slitting system for use with the OKI pro510DW digital web press. The slitter—developed by DigiFlex Distribution. LLC—is designed to fit pre-existing rewind units for the OKI pro510DW. DigiFlex Distribution will offer the DigiPro slitter within the flexographic market.

The DigiPro system allows users to slit inline as part of the printing process, producing a finished product in a single pass. Typically, printing wide-web formats requires offline slitting equipment. The DigiPro system allows users to make lineal adjustments during the printing/slitting process to ensure optimal cutting of all media.

“OKI Data Americas continues the expansion of its innovative proColor Series through the development of such complimentary components as the DigiPro lineal slitter,” said Rich Egert, general manager of the Strategic Technology Provider Business Group for OKI Data Americas. “OKI’s continual advancements in digital printing generate limitless possibilities for the print-on-demand market.” pP