Business

Roland DG UK’s team of RolandCare service engineers recently sat and passed the company’s new international technical accreditation certificate for RolandCare engineers.  The company-wide accreditation scheme was launched by Roland DG’s head office in Japan in 2012 and is currently being rolled out globally.

The aim of the accreditation is to create a clear standard of excellence for RolandCare service engineers and bring all the international Roland offices into line to ensure best practise and the highest level of technical excellence across all of its divisions and joint ventures on a world-wide basis.

Mark Jones, technical operations manager at Roland DG, comments, “Our RolandCare service engineers have always been exceptionally well-qualified and professional. However, what this certification does is help to globally formalise Roland’s standard of technical and engineering excellence. 

“The Roland DG Engineer Accreditation process includes a series of complex written and practical tests and we are absolutely thrilled, but not surprised that all of our UK RolandCare engineers attained an exceptionally high pass rate which is an outstanding achievement. I’m very proud of the whole team. This should give our customers that added confidence that when they invest in Roland they are investing not only in the best technology but the very best technical support as well.”

Fujifilm says that its 'eye-catching and vibrant stand' (F10S) will 'attract visitors the moment they arrive at FESPA 2013'. Highlighting the importance of print applications, the stand will create the impression of a high quality retail space, showcasing exceptional print in the type of environment it is designed for.

As a key supplier to the wide format industry, with a long heritage and unparalleled expertise in ink manufacture for large format print, Fujifilm will use the show to demonstrate a wide variety of solutions for print service providers of all sizes highlighting the versatility of its products and technologies and how each one has developed year on year in terms of productivity and quality. Fujifilm will also demonstrate how the company’s advanced suite of XMF workflow products has played a crucial part in this evolution, keeping print production processes as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

Ultra high quality print production will be visible in every area of the stand, as different applications and machine capabilities are highlighted in respective zones. These zones will range from those featuring the high-end, flatbed devices of the Inca Onset series of printers, through the first showing of Fujifilm’s five metre version of the Uvistar Pro8 roll fed device, to a range of the company’s well known models in the Acuity family, all with relevant application examples. A number of brand new products will also be revealed at the show, which are set to provide some exciting new developments for users.

In addition, a euromedia zone will highlight the variety of media that each of the Fujifilm printers uses and demonstrate just how versatile the work of a print service provider can be, through the choice of media used on a specific printer.

“We want to show visitors just how significantly things have moved on in terms of the productivity that can be reached at even higher quality levels,” comments Keith Harley, marketing director at Fujifilm. “The variety of products we have on the stand, all controlled via our extensive range of XMF print workflow technologies, allows us to demonstrate how easy it is for a PSP to improve the efficiency of his print production process while highlighting the versatility of the platforms and the wide range of final applications that can be achieved.”

Managing colour across wide format devices is also increasingly important, and to show how easy this can be, Fujifilm will be demonstrating its recently launched colour management solution, XMF ColorPath, in action through all areas of the stand. Both workflow and colour management systems have become well established in many commercial print premises in recent years.

XMF ColorPath allows full colour control of wide format devices to ensure consistent colour output, independent of the print device, and being a hosted system means printers can save money (by eliminating the need for installing software on many machines), as it can be controlled from any web browser, with the reassurance that every device connected to the system is using the exact same system and tools for managing colour.

“We are excited to be able to welcome visitors to a very different-looking Fujifilm stand at FESPA in London,” continues Keith. “We are confident they will walk away understanding the endless array of high quality applications that are possible today, all efficiently produced and colour-matched using the technology and expertise we can offer them.”

EFI has announced the sad passing of its founder and first CEO, Efraim “Efi” Arazi, who died on his 76th birthday, Sunday 14th April 2013.  Mr Arazi created his namesake company in 1988 after a pioneering, 20-year career as the founder, president and CEO of the first Israeli high-tech firm, Scitex Corporation. 

Arazi served as chairman, president and CEO of Electronics for Imaging (EFI) from 1988 until 1994, guiding the business from modest beginnings, with 18 employees in North Beach, San Francisco. Under his leadership and technical guidance, EFI launched Fiery®, the printing industry’s first colour server, in 1991. The product was an immediate success, leading to significant OEM partner contracts with the world’s leading colour printer manufacturers. Arazi completed an initial public offering for EFI in 1992. In 1994, Fortune magazine named EFI the nation’s fastest-growing public company.

“We are all deeply saddened by the passing of our founder and one of the most influential leaders in the history of our industry, and we send our sympathies and condolences to Efi’s family,” said Guy Gecht, the current CEO of EFI. “Though no longer with us, Efi’s spirit of entrepreneurship, brilliant creativity and love of innovation will always remain at EFI.”

Arazi is widely considered to be the father of Israel’s high-tech industry for his role with Scitex. In the late 1960s, Arazi also worked with NASA while studying at MIT, developing the camera used to broadcast the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

Today, Arazi’s original EFI Fiery product line is the world’s leading digital colour workflow technology, with more than 20 million Fiery users worldwide. EFI has grown to more than $652 million in annual revenues and manufactures award-winning digital colour printing workflow products, MIS and ERP systems and inkjet printing technologies.

To highlight North Print & Pack 2013, a series of short interviews with speakers who will be presenting at the event has been developed.  The first of these is with Gerry Mulvaney, European Sales Manager, Landa Digital Printing...

Which part of the print industry is currently showing the most interest in Nanography?

"Interest is coming from just about all areas of the industry, but packaging is where Nanography is likely to have the most impact initially. This is because digital is not yet a widely used technology in this market, for reasons I will explain in my presentation at North Print & Pack 2013. Most of the large brand owners around the world have been alerted to Nanography, and they are already starting to look at ways they will use the technology with their own products. So, the demand is building ahead of the beta sites which we expect to install at the turn of the year."

Do you see this changing?

"I believe packaging will continue to set the pace for the introduction of Nanography – our first beta sites will be for folding carton printers – but we will be quickly following with beta sites at commercial printers.

As the technology is taken up in emerging markets, I expect publishing will be an important market as more populations in the developing world such as China and India gain in literacy. We can already see that with many languages and dialects in use today, there will be a growing demand for publications versioned in these local mother tongues and the volumes will fit firmly into the sweet spot for Nanographic printing."

How do you see Nanography developing in the future?

"The technology has wide applications and is not just limited to large offset press formats. From the long list of manufacturers who made the pilgrimage to the Landa stand at Drupa and their continuing interest, I expect that the licensing programme will grow significantly and we could see Nanography in just about any industry that needs to put ink on a substrate."

Gerry Mulvaney’s presentation ‘Nanography – fromconcept to commercial reality’ will take place on Thursday 16th May 2013 at 14:00 in The New Printing Landscape Theatre.

For more information, please visit www.printandpack.co.uk

HP will be showcasing an extensive range of HP Scitex and Designjet products at Sign & Digital UK 2013.  The solutions enable production of a variety of indoor and outdoor applications and present new revue opportunities for large-format print service providers.

HP’s product line up, which can be seen on stand J10, will include the HP Designjet L26500 Printer which uses water-based HP Latex Inks that produce odourless prints, enabling users to offer an comprehensive range of creative applications. The printer is ideal for applications such as POP displays, vehicle graphics and soft signage.

Visitors to Sign & Digital can make the most of their day by taking advantage of the promotions HP will be running during the show. PSPs that purchase an HP Designjet L26500-L28500, HP Scitex FB500-FB700 or LXseries will be given £1000 worth of marketing vouchers to redeem against marketing materials, such as brochures and leaflets that will be used to promote their new printing services. Alongside the vouchers, a free Latex wrapped espresso coffee machine will also be given away for the first 10 purchased units. 

Another of HP’s promotions at Sign & Digital UK will be up to £750 cashback on the purchase of the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer. Also on the stand, this versatile device uses HP Vivid Photo Inks and produces high-quality applications including blacklits and POP displays.

A third promotion from HP allows those that purchase an HP Latex Printer, or an HP Scitex FB500 or FB700 Printer at the show and have it installed by 24th May to receive an HP ElitePad 900.  

HP will also host live on-stand demonstrations of latex applications being printed and applied to furniture, demonstrating the ease with which this can be done as well as the high quality end result. HP will also hold daily presentations which will discuss the business enhancing opportunities of latex printing technology, and include tips on how to produce and market other applications created with HP Latex printers. 

HP will hold a seminar demonstrating its digital printing solution for wallcoverings.  The solution consists of a modular range of design software, including the HP WallArt Solutions, media, printing and finishing options to help customers expand their wallcovering business.

Also on display will be the 3.2m (126in) HP Scitex LX850 Industrial Printer and the HP Scitex FB500 Printer. The HP Scitex LX850 delivers increased versatility and productivity with multiple workflow enhancing features. These include dual-roll, roll-to-free fall and roll-to-collector handling, and an ink collector that enables printing on porous substrates and textiles, further extending application possibilities.

The HP Scitex FB500 Printer provides PSPs with the versatility to produce indoor and outdoor applications on both rigid and flexible substrates. The HP Scitex FB500 has a print speed of up to 37m2/hr, and offers the optional white ink capability, enabling PSPs to break into new markets with the ability to print undercoats and overcoats, and print on coloured substrates.

Throughout the event, HP’s experienced product managers will be on hand to demonstrate the key features of the HP products on show, and discuss revenue enhancing opportunities they offer.

For more information, please visit www.youtube.com/hpgraphicarts

FESPA has announced that visitor pre-registration for FESPA 2013 is up 8% compared with the same period leading up to FESPA 2010 in Munich. Visitors from over 123 countries have already pre-registered to the show, all set to start their business journey at the ExCeL, London (25th - 29th June 2013). The top 20 pre-registered visitor countries cover Europe, North America, Africa, India and Australia.

So far, the UK has the highest number of visitors preregistered to the show, with Germany, Italy, Spain and France following in close succession. With just under three months still to go until the show doors open on 25th June 2013, the show is set to be the most international FESPA yet.

This year over 100 exhibitors have announced a ‘New Wings’ product launch or a product being shown for the first time at FESPA 2013, indicating that the show is this year’s platform of choice for new product innovation, particularly for companies targeting an international audience of key decision makers.

Neil Felton, Managing Director, FESPA comments, “FESPA moves to different locations in Europe with each show. As a result, the audience is constantly being refreshed, introducing new dynamics to the event every year. At FESPA Digital 2012 in Barcelona for example, almost half the visitor audience came from the Iberian peninsula, so we learned a lot about the particular business drivers in those markets, and grew our community in these countries. With the move to London for the flagship FESPA 2013 event, while still of interest to our usual international visitor audience, we are attracting more printers, agencies and brand owners from the UK and Ireland. London also appeals to printers from the Americas, Australia and Asia, who see it as a compelling business destination.”

Pre-registration is still open and delegates that register before 30th April 2013 are in with the chance of winning two nights’ free accommodation (25 & 26 June) at the four star Hilton Hyde Park hotel, London.

To pre-register to attend FESPA 2013 please visit www.fespalondon.com. For help with travel and accommodation, visit www.fespalondon.com/travel