Digital Packaging

Digital packaging:
making packaging more interactive, customised and individualised

Digital printing is growing by leaps and bounds in the packaging landscape. It is widely used for sampling to short-run innovative packaging and also single-pass digital prints. P&P recently spoke to few of the experts in the industry to know more about the trend and perspectivesin digital packaging.

AppAdurai, Country Business Manager - Indigo, HP Inc; Manish Gupta, National Marketing Manager - PP & IP at Konica
Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt Ltd;Filip Weymans, VP Marketing, Digital Solutions, Xeikon; upal roy, Managing Director India & SA, Packaging Inks & Resins, Flint Group; prasanna Venkatesh,Managing Director, Zund India Pvt Ltd;Ajay Agarwal, MD & CEO, Insight Print Communications; and share their views on digital packaging, in conversation withVarsha Verma of print & publishing. Excerpts.

P&P: How important has digital printing become for packaging companies & why?
Appadurai: The huge transformation in the consumer behavior, millennials becoming important part of the consumer eco system, rapid urbanization is having a massive impact on how brands look at their marketing mix. Packaging has become the 6th P of marketing. Digital is helping brands with mass customisation that has become the order of the day, the recent campaign of Coco Cola with the ‘Share a Coke’ project is the greatest testimony to digital printing’s importance. 12 crore wraps around with 9200 art works were produced and distributed in 85 days. Personalisation in packaging is picking up momentum in India with few chocolate companies rolling out some amazing projects.

Manish: Packaging companies have been traditionally undertaking large print

lot orders. However, since last few years, marketers started targeting individual customers to attract towards their brands.
As target segment is found as concentrated customer category, packaging is also getting personalised with requirement of variable data to address individuals. Short lot quantity with VDP requirement has increased scope of digital in packaging segment.
Over the longer term, digital printing will be also the spark in the digital transformation
of print manufacturing where not only the printing but all the processes in the factory or digitalizing and becoming more automated.Filip & upal: Change is present around us all the time, also in the consumer market. With the changing consumer market, packaging that is more than just a package but because an interactive piece in the brand engagement, the demand towards print service providers is changing as well. Demand for large runs has broken down into more versions. This is where digital can provide an economical answer to such trends and make the shorter runs profitable again and also to integrate more creativity in the packaging.

Prasanna: In my opinion, with more customisation and individualization coming in, it has become imperative to look at digital printing for packaging companies. Besides, having a digital printing line adds more value to the company in terms of faster turnaround times, less wastage for shorter run lengths. This makes the company even more versatile.Ajay: Digital Printing in labels industry has already taken the lead over conventional presses in America and Europe and in India, the overall installation base of digital label presses has gone up by 20% in just one year.

P&P: How is digital printing contributing to the growth of the packaging?Appadurai: HP digital printing for packaging and labels are gaining traction world-wide with an accelerated pace of customer installations, enabling converters and brands to deliver unmatched possibilities. Today after doing lots of research and understanding big organizations like
Parksons Packaging and Huhtamaki PPL did the investments in new & latest HP Indigo technology in India. The potential and unique innovative capabilities of HP Indigo technology today are enabling our customers to produce high-quality, B2-format (20x30- inch format) applications allowing brand owners to communicate with end-users customers, providing a lean and agile supply chain, faster speed to the market, including on-pack messages.

Manish: New solutions have been created in packaging with the help of digital printing. Few solutions involving VDP and regionalisation’s for solutions to promote brand affiliation, brand protection, security etc, are the promoting factors of Digital Printing in Packaging segment.
Filip & upal: Digital print will not accelerate the consumption of packaging as this is more driven by a growing and changing consumer market. What it will do is make printers more profitable.
prasanna: I would say that this is complementing the packaging industry. It brings in more versatility and quicker turnaround times for handling short run lengths.Ajay: Again I will restrict my answers to label industry as I believe that label industry isripe to adopt digital in a big way. Digital will become a necessary addition to every label converter in a few years from now,without which they will not be able to survive.

P&P: What are the limitations of digital printers for packaging applications?
Appadurai: There are no technical limitations with HP’s digital printing in the packaging application today. Infact our presses are 5- in 1 technology. The HP Indigo 6900 can produce applications that are produced in flexo presses, offset, gravure, screen and lettepresses. We have customers who use the same press for producing labels, cartons, flexibles, iml’s, lami tubes, foil printing etc. Pre press, color management is so much easier compared to conventional technologies. The perceived limitations are around the economic which keeps getting better. The important fact for packaging convertors to consider today is what is happening to run length and turnaround time demands of their customers. I guess all those stats are pointing them to look digital today.
Manish: Current limitation of digital is the productivity and high cost to print large packaging volume.

Filip & Upal: Imagination is the only limitation — every technology has a drawback, digital is no different. Hence, it is important to look at what it can deliver to their business. Xeikon realized this long time ago hence we are providing two complementary technologies — UV inkjet and Dry toner.

Prasanna: This would be still an expensive way for someone who is into large volume productions.

Ajay: Long run jobs continue to be more profitable in conventional presses — also digital presses cannot do Pantone colors. They work on 4 or 5 process color combination to achieve Pantone shades. For example, the Screen L350UV Plus model can deliver upto 84.7% Pantone shades but if a particular shade fall beyond 84.7% — then it has to be done on a conventional press.

P&P: Also how do brand owners look at digital printing for their products?
Appadurai: Today brands look at digital printing as a very important process that can help them to solve the issues of short runs, mass customisation, drastically reduce the time to market and value addition and brand protection through personalization and track and trace solution. Brands love HP Indigo’s digital printing for its unmatched print quality, the versatility with substrates and most importantly for the very unique features like special inks (invisible, white ink, sandwich printing), Mosaic and collage design technology of HP is being used by a lot of brands. Silver ink that we launched for HP Indigo is going to be game changer in the packaging industry.

Manish: Brand owners are interested to utilize digital technology for brand protection, security, initiate target marketing, increase customer loyalty towards their brands, and to initiate various special schemes.

Filip & Upal: Brand owners don't look at the technology as such. It is up to the printer to map his capability, the capabilities of digital with the needs from a brand owner. The focus areas, where digital adds value for the brand owner, is the higher diversity of the product range and they can help in delivery of any type of run length and a faster turnaround, they can even do the JIT business.

Ajay: Brand owners can experiment with more samplings with digital, they can introduce full variable information — like the

recent Coke campaign executed by Hutamaki — where the Coke bottles had names of people and customers can search for a bottle with his or her name. Security features can avoid counterfeiting and QR codes can help customers get more information about the product online. Brands can collect database of end customers using their products. The list can go on. Digital opens up a whole new world for brand managers to engage with the customers.

P&P: How do you see packaging affecting your product offerings now and in the future?

Manish: As packaging is one of the growth engines in the country, we have introduced our flagship product KM1 which can also be used for packaging and in future also, would be bringing innovative products which would be growth enablers for the industry.Prasanna: Due to increased personalization and short run lengths, which eventually
calls for more digital solutions than the conventional ones, we are always on the forefront of innovating features to increase the productivity aspects of our machines. We have already launched various innovative features on our machine like the Dual beam machines, Overhead cutter camera, the latest fully automated Board handling system, The Tandem operation etc., Also, our machines are already Industry 4.0 compatible.

Ajay: We expect the double our digital machine sales year on year for the next few years.

P&P: What are your current products being used in packaging printing?

Appadurai: HP offers HP Indigo – 6900 (labels, lami tubes, some flexibles, folding cartons); HP Indigo 20000 (for wide web – flexible packaging, IML & labels); HP Indigo 30000 (folding cartons) and HP Indigo 12000 (light packaging).

Manish: Packaging industry is already using MGI technology for Digital Spot UV & Digital Foil and AccurioJet KM1 effectively to create many applications.

Filip: We offer Xeikon Cheetah series (Dry toner) for self adhesive labels (food , Health and beauty, wine and spirits, pharma, craft beer, security print, etc). It can also be used for wrap around labels for beverages, in mould labels for small and very large containers, (standup) pouches, wet glue labels, heat transfer labels and blow mould labels. While, Xeikon Panther Series (UV inkjet) is useful for tube laminates, foil Flexpack
and self-adhesive labels (durable, industrial chemical, Household chemical, premium beer, health and beauty). Xeikon 3500 (dry toner)
is useful for paper cups and folding cartons (pharma, confectionery, food, etc).

Prasanna: We offer ZUND High performance Digital Cutting Machines for sample making, short run productions of boxes made of various substrates, POP/POS Floor standing units, cutting varnish blankets, etc.

Ajay: Insight sells the Screen L350UV Plus digital press from Screen and Konica Minolta Accurio label 190.

P&P: Any new offerings on the cards?
Prasanna: Yes indeed, but cannot disclose now.Ajay: Insight will also be launching a flatbed digital press from HP for corrugation industry. We earlier had this product in our portfolio and we have installed one such press in India. The new launch is targeting the mid range of corrugation printers.Manish: Yes, few products are currently under development stage. We would announce at appropriate time.

P&P: What trends do you see in packaging in near future?Appadurai: Today’s consumers enjoy connecting with brands that provide relevancy and appeal to their community and the world around us is constantly changing at the faster rate than ever. Consumers expect the brands they love to evolve as fast as
their social media feed. They have become both critics and creators, demanding more personalized service and expecting to be given the opportunity to shape the products and services they consume. Consumers are willing to pay more for a customised product. 1 in 5 consumers who expressed interest in personalized products are willing to pay a 20% premium. It’s all about “ME” which is taking most of the attention and bringing innovation through digital print platform in labels & packaging market. Brands need to significantly reduce product lifecycle, and as a result speed up the process for hitting store shelves. Traditional supply chain model is changing. With the industry need to be leaner and
the emphasis upon cutting both costs and carbon emissions, there is an expectation for further collaboration across the supply chain. Numerous studies indicate that faster cycle times is the primary advantage and using digital printing the future in packaging is going to get evolved for next big change.

Manish: Packaging is one of the growth industries for Konica Minolta. We believe packaging is moving towards attracting individual customers, building environment sustainable products, protecting products from counterfeiting, end to end tracking,
and differentiating with smart packaging concepts. In other markets such a wide web flexpack, corrugated etc, new products will come to the market driven by the demand of the brand owners. The next drupa will be a big milestone for this.

Filip & Upal: In the labels, the symbiosis between conventional and digital will re-main and further evolve. All conventional processes will become also available digitally.

Prasanna: More and more digitization coming in terms of Augmented reality, AI, variable data printing, personalization etc.

Ajay: Packaging is growing at very healthy growth rate in India and I believe label industry and also short run/shrink sleeves flexible packaging will be the first to adopt digital in a big way. And we will see few applications in corrugation and board pack-aging that will go digital. Success of Parksons with their first digital installation will define further direction.

Print to Shape

Digital printing is gradually making inroads into newer territories, the latest being printing directly on bottles, balls, drinking glasses, ceramic cups, flacons, tubes etc. in round, oval, square, cylindrical or conical shapes. Varsha Verma explores this new technology trend and how it will affect the label printing industry. 

Labels and packaging is by far experiencing the maximum growth in the printing industry. According to Markets and Markets, a market research firm worldwide, the industrial labels market is expected to exceed 50 billion dollars (USD) by 2020. 

Packaging is all about innovation as every product clamours for attention. The winner is the product that stands apart and packaging plays a major role in the selection process. Even a good quality product fails to make the first impact if it has poor packaging. Substrates, shapes, curvatures, value added effects and now personalisation – all are changing the packaging industry. 

Digital printing has already made inroads into the packaging segment, with its label printing machines, corrugated machines and digital direct-to-shape printing. 

Packaging demands… 

Packaging industry is more demanding as it requires different pretreatment for different materials like glass, plastic, cardboard, metal, etc. Also, it is characterised by numerous shapes and curvatures. Besides, eco-friendly packaging, food-grade packaging – all make it all the more challenging. It is a constant effort to make the packaging better day by day. 

Direct-to-shape: the next technology 

Ever since the time digital printers were introduced, the digital printing industry has come a long way. Their quality has become at par with offset, the consistency has increased and it has become more feasible for short runs. With direct-to-shape printing, the technology has eliminated the cost of producing and applying the labels. This would result in considerable cost saving, would be faster and can be used for newer product ideas. There would be minimum changeover time from one job to another and run lengths can vary from one to many. 

It can print full colour images and text directly onto cans, bottles, sleeves and other shaped containers for beverage, personal care and home care products, etc. Thus, you can use the full package for printing as there is no limit to the label size. One can print on ridged or grooved edges as well. This opens up the entire surface for printing, which advertisers and product companies can make use of. 

Further, it can be personalised – one can create different designs or messages for different target audience or location, thereby engaging the consumers at a different level, enhancing brand loyalty and driving new revenue streams. It can also be used for test marketing new products. 

What’s more? One can also integrate coding and marking into the printing process, which include barcodes, manufacturing dates, expiry dates, etc. One can print when one wants, thereby reducing the cost of storage. 

Technology for direct-to-shape printing 

Xaar 1002 is the core of the direct-to-shape printing. Xaar’s TF Technology keeps inks in constant motion and prevents sedimentation so that heavily-pigmented white ink is jetted smoothly and consistently onto clear PET and glass containers in a single pass as opaque under- or over-coat layers and for liquid labels. It also enables printing onto curved and shaped surfaces in both horizontal and vertical ‘skyscraper’ modes, making Xaar printheads compatible with many production line handling systems. They also give the flexibility to configure multi-colour units and dedicated spot colour print stations/carousels to suit specific applications. Its 1000 Optimised Geometry nozzles deliver precise nozzle uniformity and highly accurate drop placement. With 360 nozzles per inch, and up to 8 grey levels result in an effective print resolution greater than 1000 dpi/li. These combine to deliver exceptionally smooth tones and wide gamut vibrant images, alongside pin sharp text and fine detail. 

While, adhos, Germany, has launched the aLITE technology (advancedLight Initiated Thermal Emission) at drupa 2016. It is based on an area-focussed, high intensity energy source, to allow instantaneous thermal processing. Thus water based or solvent based coatings can be instantly dried or even cured, which is a mandatory requirement to overcome the present application barriers to coating applications in “direct to shape printing”. aLITE also allows the performing of inline drying and sintering of functional coatings applied by inkjet or aerosol, as necessary, for cost competitive 3D-production of 3-D components. Typically these are only processed today in hot air ovens, mostly offline in standalone production units, requiring much space and much time. 

Printers in this category… 

Heidelberg and Fuji offer “Omnifire” 4d technology – which customers can use to personalize and individually print on objects. Be it footballs, packages or, in future, maybe cars or planes. Soon, the company will launch “Omnifire 1000” which is capable of printing on objects of up to 1 meter in size. Furthermore, they are working on a robot-mounted “Omnifire XL” as an alternative to individual coating. 

Mimaki offers UV inkjet printer UJF-7151 plus, which enables high-precision ink dot placement and beautiful printing through Mimaki’s proprietary technology and at top-level productivity. It can print on media up to 28- by 20-inches – a familiar format size in the screen printing industry – and on materials up to 6 inches thick. Mimaki’s Kebab option can print on cylindrical objects such as bottles and cans, and is expected to be available in late 2016. 

Roland offers LEJ-640FT UV flatbed printer, which delivers exceptional graphics that are anything but “flat”. In addition to unmatched material size and thickness capabilities, the LEJ-640FT utilizes CMYK, White and Clear Coat ECO-UV inks for stunning special effects including textures and simulated embossing. It all adds up to powerful visual impact. The LEJ-640FT UV flatbed printer has a 64”x 98” print bed that works beautifully with both thick and thin substrates - print on delicate film one job, and dense, rigid materials the next. While the LEJ-640FT is ideal for use with standard materials like foamcore, plastic, wood, glass and metal, it’s also the perfect solution if you want to print on hundreds of USB drives, smartphone cases or distinct items like guitar cases, water bottles and more. 

There are many more such printers on the block, which are poised to take packaging printing to an absolutely new level. While it is still early to comment whether it will replace labels in the long run, but one thing is clear –this new technology is creating lot of interest and making headlines all over.

Skill development to be the theme at Delhi Book Fair!

The Delhi Book Fair is all set to open its doors. ITPO and FIP are trying their best to provide a perfect ambience for book lovers. Dr Ashok Gupta, president, FIP, in conversation with Varsha Verma, shares the various initiatives taken by them to make it successful.

Organised by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and co-organised by Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), Delhi Book Fair 2015 will be held at Pragati Maidan from August 29 – September 06, 2015. “The theme of the fair is ‘skill development’, which our prime minister Narendra Modi is also focussing,” told Dr Ashok Gupta, president, FIP. The special theme pavilion would be showcased in hall 8 and it will present the initiatives taken by Government of India in this direction, besides a display on books by various publishers on this subject.

The stats...

The show will be spread over hall 8-12 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. “Last year, there were 550 stalls with 300 publishers and we are targeting a similar number this year,” he shared. There will be a publisher wise display. On asking about the foreign participants at the fair, Dr Gupta replied that there might be few exhibitors from Pakistan, US and British High Commission.

And it will not just be display of books... there will be a painting competition, Lekhika Sangh, besides programmes by Sahitya Akademi, Authors Guild of India, Bachpan Society, National Book Trust, India, etc. Authors Corners in every hall are also planned.

What’s more?

“We wish to make it a cultural event and hence requested ITPO to arrange Nukkad plays. We are trying for Police Band to perform at the fair,” told Dr Gupta. It is a positive factor that there will be two concurrent exhibitions during the fair – Stationery Fair and Office Equipment Fair. “These will further push up the visitors to the show,” said Dr Gupta.

Visitors promotion...

Talking about the promotion of the fair, Dr Gupta told that they have requested elementary education secretary, HRD, Govt of India to instruct all schools in NCR to buy books from Delhi Book Fair, with the grants received under Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA). Under this scheme, all schools can buy books worth Rs 15,000. “We have also invited libraries like Raja Ram Mohan Roy Foundation and universities librarians to buy books from DBF,” he added. ITPO has also announced that school students visiting the fair in school dress with their school teachers, would get entry free of charge. They will utilise a multitude of channels to promote the fair. These will include FM channels for a month, hoardings, metro panels, print media advertisements, auto panels and bulletins in newspapers. “We expect around 2.5 lakh ticket sales during the fair,” told Dr Gupta.

Awards in book

production The FIP will also hold the 35th ‘Awards for Excellence in Book Production.’ The awards, given on an annual basis, are industry benchmarks in assessing national production standards. The objective of the competition for Awards is to motivate publishers to improve the quality of production of books in terms of printing, binding, layouts, designing and general get up. “Last year we received 1,100 books, of which 90 were awarded.

We are expecting good number of books this time and have invited government publications to participate in it as well,” told Dr Gupta. “These awards have seen the production quality of Indian publishers gone up tremendously and these are now comparable with international standards.”

On a concluding note...

“It is a consumer fair as it is more reader-oriented. Almost 90 percent of stalls have books which are required by general people. Delhi Book Fair presents an environment for reading and browsing books as one can easily move around. We provide an air-conditioned friendly atmosphere for visitors,” concluded Dr Gupta.

Print + Innovation: further challenge to the printing industry

IGAS ’15 getting ready for the solution

The market environment in printing industry is going through rapid changes. The print volume in the developed countries is decreasing while that in the developing countries is rapidly expanding. With the growth of the Internet, the role and value of print media is being changed. These global environmental changes have a big impact on the printing industry. The innovation by proactive thinking and action is a crucial aspect of the printing industry in the 21st century. What are these innovations and how to adapt those changes, were the few questions addressed at the recently concluded IGAS 2015 Media Conference in Tokyo, Japan. Here, Varsha Verma of Print & Publishing brings a report.Under the theme of “Print + Innovation – Further challenge to the print technology”, IGAS 2015, aiming at innovation in the printing and communication industry, is all set to showcase the latest technology, solutions, and innovation potentiality for the future of printing industry, from September 11-16, 2015 at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan.

IGAS 2015 Media Conference was recently held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, where select media from countries like India, China, Australia, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan had gathered alongwith media from Japan, to know more about IGAS. The conference started with the IGAS 2015 Outlook, wherein Takeshi Hirotsune, secretary general of Japan Graphic Arts Suppliers Committee (JGASC) declared that as of date the number of exhibitors is 323, using 2065 units of booth space.

These would include wide range of exhibitors from the prepress, print, and post press fields while from the digital print field, there will be significant number of companies. “The general theme of IGAS 2015 is print + innovation, further challenge to the print technology. We will make IGAS 2015 an exhibition which provides problem solving solutions and opportunities for communication for print by involving not only the print related companies but also the print buyers and the brand owners,” he said.

Salient features...

It was also declared that IGAS will switch to a cycle of three years now onwards. The main events at IGAS will include +Session where over 100 special lectures, panel discussions, and seminars will be held to attract key visitors such as managers who make purchasing decisions. Topics directly related to business, such as the latest printing technologies, marketing, business style innovation and new business model will be discussed. While, +Tour will feature professionally guided tours with total 5,000 participants capacity. This will be the perfect chance for exhibitors to promote the products, technologies and services offered by their companies. A special tour allowing visitors from abroad will also be offered.

Another important feature would be + Live Studio, where industry specialists will summarise the exhibits, speak and discuss topics, highlights and industry trends. This also will throw the spotlight on the normally overlooked small-scale exhibits and exhibits in new categories. A talk show will be presented and timely information will be offered to enhance visitor satisfaction.

An exhibition area for new technology and new business fields ‘+Future’ would showcase cutting-edge/next-generation technology, future marketing/business models including 3D printers, printed electronics, next generation inkjet system and nanotechnology, etc. Further, business-matching corner for exhibitors and visitors from abroad will be featured in + International. Here, exhibitor information by multi lingual presentaions including English, Chinese, Korean and some other languages will be provided. Also, business matching services by professional coordinators will be prepared.

Exhibitors preview...

Prominent exhibitors like Komori Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd, Horizon International Inc, Screen Graphic and Precision Solutions Co Ltd, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Japan Co Ltd, Ricoh Company Ltd, Miyakoshi Printing Machinery Co Ltd, Sakurai Graphic Systems Corp, Morisawa Inc, Fujifilm Global Graphic Systems Co Ltd, Canon Inc and Taiyo Kikai Ltd previewed their showcasing solutions at the exhibition to be held in the month of September this year.

Komori Corporation is aiming at elimination of all bottlenecks in printing companies – production cost, education, colour, use of IT, secure the volume of work, expansion of the business area and human resources. The IGAS exhibits would include core products – offset printing systems + digital printing system including Lithrone GX, Lithrone G40, Lithrone A37, Impremia IS29 and KStation 4 and K-ColorSimulator 2. While, their PESP (Printing Engineering Service Provider) portfolio will include Impremia C Series, Apressia series, K Supply and Komori Kare.

Natsohiko Yamada from Horizon International informed that they will have a 1000 sq m booth at IGAS, under the theme ‘The world loves books.’ They will focus on post press as it is the key to production efficiency. The booth would be divided into distinct zones – die-cut, binding, stitching, folding, crease & perforate and smart finishing solution.

IGAS 2015 stand at the Print China 2015

Lisa Watson from HP Indigo & Inkjet Web Press Solutions, Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, explained their theme for IGAS – Innovation wins. She explained that innovation is multi-dimensional through partnerships, synergy and acceleration. She gave interesting case study of Coke using personalisation in their ad campaigns. She told that at IGAS, they will showcase full HP Graphics Solutions portfolio, including end-to-end complement of solution partners. They will also highlight customer and brand applications focus in commercial printing, photo, labels & packaging, publishing, design and direct mail.

Yoshinori Tsuruya from Screen focussed on how to diversify business in printing industry. At IGAS, Screen will showcase TruePress Jet520HD, TruePress Jet L350UV, Jet Converter L350 and Motioncutter.

Junichi Arai from Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Japan explained their products portfolio in office business products, production print, healthcare, optical products & systems and functional materials. Their theme for IGAS 2015 is Advanced synergy of offset and digital.

The showcase would include electrophotography digital products – bizhub Press C1100, bizhub Press C1070 and bizhub Press C70hc; monochrome digital press – bizhub Press 2250/1250; workflow solutions; proof and CMS solutions; spectrophotometer and softwares. They will focus on new business like packaging printing, and label printing, by announcing new products in these categories. Kaname Miyazaki from Ricoh Co Ltd informed that they will showcase Pro C9100, Pro C7100S, VC6000 and workflow solutions. He also focused on the transition from print service providers (PSP) to marketing service providers (MSP). Miyakoshi Printing Machinery will display MHL18A rotary sleeve-offset press and MJP20MX full-colour waterbased inkjet printer.

Sakurai Graphic System Corp will display direct servo drive cylinder type roll to roll screen printing line MSDR60, B2 wide 5 colour sheetfed offset press with LED-UV system Oliver-580SDC. Akihiko Morisawa from Morisawa Inc explained their proposed display profile – advanced type font solution for embedding, embedding font for CE devices, C catalogue + ebook, webfonts, etc.

Hirotsugo Hosono from Fujifilm Global Graphic Systems told that Fujifilm will focus on digital press solutions, offset printing and package printing at IGAS. They will showcase Superia CtP system, Flenex water-based flexographic plate making system and xmf workflow solutions. Jun Ozawa from Canon Inc Tokyo explained their broad portfolio in the production printing arena. He highlighted their dry toner and inkjet technology for DPS, newspaper and commercial print while liquid toner for package printing. He said that Canon is new in packaging printing and will offer digital printing packaging solutions also at IGAS. Taiyo Kikai Ltd will offer STF- 340 mid-range flexo printing press, STF-370 C low-end flexo printing press and TFX-350 highend flexo printing press.

Besides, Junichiro Yamashita from Brighter Later discussed on Printing Market in Japan: Now and Future – How IGAS will drive the innovation. He explained the concept of MarTech— Marketing Technology which integrates two worlds of marketing and technology.

“You imagine, we print; we create, we print”

–says Timmy Dang of Impression Creative Agency, Ludhiana, in conversation with Varsha Verma. 

We are a small company, with big ideas, says Timmy Dang (Sukhwinder Singh) of Impression Creative Agency, the winners of HP Digital Print Excellence Award 2015 in the decoration category of sign & display. “We started our operations in printing in 1998, by printing carry bags. I am basically a graphic designer and art director, my passion being design,” he shares. Impression Creative Agency offers designing services like logos, brand management, packaging, etc. “We also offer decoration solutions for offices, restaurants and residence,” shared Timmy.

“We also offer full turnkey solution, right from design to printing and fabrication. For our offset printing needs, we have a set of high-quality printers on our panel. Also, we have installed HP Latex 2260 printing machine. Our award-winning Belfrance Chocolates & Bakeries project uses myriad capabilities of the latex printer,” he shares.

For Belfrance, they created the logo, pattern and theme of the showroom, which included wall papers, glass printing, ceilings, floor tiles, furniture (leatherette printing), murals, etc. The effect is scintillating, with each element of the store in sync with the theme. The whole project took four months to complete and with the help of Hp latex printer, Timmy was able to deliver excellent prints on varied substrates.

“My vision is that design is everything. I look forward to design textiles, shoes, lamp shades, interior designing, etc. I feel India has huge capability but limited exposure. My motto is simple – you imagine, we print; we create, we print,” concludes Timmy.

“Indian market is proactive rather than reactive now”

said Jeff de Klejin, director and general manager, graphic solutions business – sign & display, printing and personal systems group, HP APJ, in an interview with Varsha Verma. 

HP has recently unveiled the HP Latex 3500 and 3100 printers, expanding its proven HP Latex Technology portfolio, and grew its digital corrugated offering with the HP Scitex 17000 Corrugated Press. These new solutions help sign and display print service providers (PSPs) and corrugated converters increase productivity and workflow efficiency. Jeff de Klejin, director and general manager, graphic solutions business – sign & display, printing and personal systems group, HP APJ, shared, “We are looking at newer applications like decorative wall paper, flooring furniture for both residential as well as commercial purposes. We are also looking at printing with cheaper and recyclable materials like polypropylene, besides offering multiple possibilities on paper and textiles.”

To remain competitive, high-volume PSPs are constantly challenged to deliver short turnaround times across varied applications, while maintaining top-of-the-line quality. HP is addressing these challenges to better meet the various production needs of sign and display PSPs with the new 3.2-meter (126-inch) HP Latex 3500 and 3100 printers, which build on the success of its more than 26,000 HP Latex printers installed worldwide. “There is a market of 380 billion sq ft prints, which is growing at 48 percent year on year,” added Tomas Martin, business manager, HP sign & sisplay, graphic solutions business, printing and personal system, Asia Pacific and Japan.

“PSPs are increasingly faced with complex jobs and shorter lead times, stretching existing equipment to meet client demand and digital is the only solution,” said Jeff. Talking about the Indian market, he shared, “India is top five in the APJ segment and is fast in adopting new technologies and HP Latex is making strong inroads here. Indian market is innovative and PSPs are coming up with very creative solutions for their customers.”

“There has been an overall transformation of Indian market, which was earlier more reactive, but now it is more proactive. We are extremely optimistic about this market as the macroeconomic environment is also conducive. PSPs are brave enough to do something different, be successful at it and have followers later on,” added Jeff.

Talking about the packaging segment, Jeff said, the new HP Scitex 17000 and 15500 Corrugated Press help converters address market demand for shorter runs and faster turnaround times. The new press features the recently introduced HP Scitex Corrugated Grip and HP HDR230 Scitex Inks and prints at speeds of up to 1,000 sq m/hr (10,764 sq f/hr) for economical, high-volume production of industrial-grade corrugated boards.

On a concluding note, Jeff said, “HP is your partner to grow and expand and have the broadest portfolio to serve all kind of needs.”

Helping people preserve and cherish their memories!

Photobooks is an ever-growing segment of digital printing in India. More and more people are opting for digital solutions, rather than silver halide solution to create and preserve their memories. Here, two top-of-line photobook printers in India, who recently won the HP Digital Print Excellence Awards 2015 - Asia Pacific and Japan, share more about it, in conversation with Varsha Verma.
Weddings in India offer numerous business opportunities…wedding albums being one of the must-have items on the list. These wedding albums have now come of age, becoming a style statement and lot of effort goes in designing them. Value-added features like innovative boxes, UV printing, lamination, etc make them striking. Here, Varsha Verma talks to Klick Photobook and Canvera Digital to know more about this business of digital printing.

Dr Dhiraj Kacker of Canvera Digital

Klick Photobook – Sweet and Slim, Surat: With their tag line ‘Sweet and Slim,’ Klick Photobook is one of the leading names in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, in photobook segment. “We were a photo lab since 1993 but we started this digital printing business in 2009, with the installation of HP Indigo 5500 and later HP Indigo 5600. In 2014, we also installed Scodix S75, the first machine in western India, to offer ‘touch and feel’ effect to our prints,” told Bhavinbhai Navapara of Klick Photobook.

“The HP Indigo machine offers better quality than silver halide as there is lot of picture depth as well,” he shared. They produce 150-200 albums in a day, with each album having an average number of 70-80 pages. With a 10,000 sq ft facility, they have a staff strength of 100, with 45 people engaged in just binding.

On asking about his reaction on getting the HP Digital Print Excellence Award 2015, he shared that he feels good on being rewarded for his work as it also brings future benefit in terms of marketing support.

Bhavin Bhai is so impressed with the HP machine that he might go for a second machine like HP Indigo 6000/6600P and HP Indigo 10000 and targets to produce 300 albums everyday.

Canvera Digital – Preserving Memories, Bangalore: With their tagline ‘Preserving Memories,’ Canvera Digital is utilising the capabilities of digital printing to do just that. Dr Dhiraj Kacker, founder & managing director, Canvera Digital, shared, “We are a seven-and-half year old company and our focus is only Indian market. We create photobooks, of which 70-80 percent are wedding albums.”

“We are photographer-centric and have a database of 10,000 photographers on our web hosting platform. We offer design and printing services,” he told. For this, they have three HP Indigo 3550 installed in Bangalore. They have 15 regional offices and 450 sales people in 200 cities.

What’s more? Each photobook printed at Canvera Digital comes with a mobile app, which is a digital version of the book and can be shared on all social media platforms. “We wish to help people not just preserve memories, but also share them,” he shared.

On asking about winning the HP Digital Print Excellence Award 2015, Dr Dhiraj replied that they have been a regular winner at these awards, which is a recognition to their work.

“It’s a happy business and it is ever-evolving,” concluded Dr Dhiraj.