Business

This years’ exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham from the 12-14 April, will see the launch of some important new product ranges for the graphic display and signage industry. Utilising the very latest technology and advances in R&D, visitors will be able to see the first ever showings of products from EFI, Durst, AGFA, Mutoh, Hybrid & Summa amongst others.

Registration is FREE, so if these leading manufacturers are choosing to launch their products in the UK, surely its worth a visit? Here’s a snippit of what to expect:

Hybrid Services will be launching 5 new products at the show. The Mimaki JFX-1615plus LED UV ink-jet printer will make its debut in addion to Mimaki's new white and metallic eco-solvent inks, suitable for graphics, decals and labels and can be retro-fitted to the Mimaki CJV30 and JV33 ranges. There will be a new clear UV ink for the creation of Braille, highlighting effects and glossy spot finishes and two more new printers; the JV34-260, dye-sub or outdoor durable banner printer and the new TS3-1600 entry-level dye-sub printer for soft signage production.

EFI will use Sign & Digital show to give a WORLD debut to its latest dye sublimation printer, the EFI Vutek TX3250r. The new TX3250r model can print in eight colours and in various output modes from 42sqm up to 84sqm an hour. EFI also confirmed that the machine could output up to 100sqm an hour on certain materials such as polyester-coated rigid or flexible substrates. Guy Gecht, chief executive of EFI, said the introduction of the TX3250r would help "eliminate the soft signage cost barrier" for its customers; using dye sublimation technology, the printer dyes fibre directly and is claimed to offer brighter colours than other textile printing methods. Their new dye-sublimation textile printer will share the stage with Klieverik's GTC81/3400, Georg+Otto Friedrich Textiles, Solent Sewing Machines and Hilord Inks.

Durst will be launching the Omega 1 printer also at Sign & Digital UK. The Omega 1 is an entry-level machine, aimed at sign makers, graphic display companies, screen printers, photolabs and studios. It is a continuation of the Rho line, but the production level and price have been set for entry-level customers. The machine is capable of handling fine art printing, with a resolution of 1,728dpi and features greyscale printing technology and a large colour gamut.

Summa will also be launching a new electronic oscillating knife for its new F1612 cutting table. The new knife can cut substrates up to 20mm thick and can cut a wide variety of medias including textiles, foamboard and corrugated card. It fits into the existing knife module and will be available early May. Other modules being released later in the year include creasing tools and wheels for the packaging market.

Mutoh will be launching their new  3D Flexible UV Inks suited for 3D Wrapping applications on curved, riveted or corrugated surfaces. Printing on rigid substrates is also possible.  Immediately dry and ready for lamination & application, the new stretchable 3D UV ink offers 200 % elongation capabilities.  This new ink set from Mutoh is ideally suited for existing solvent printer users or industrial users with focus on 3D wrapping, looking for a productive machine offering best print quality, rigid media compatibility and last but not least offering the flexibility to immediately laminate and apply prints. The zero VOC 3D UV ink has been tuned to Mutoh’s Zephyr UV 65” (1651 mm) wide digital UV inkjet printer.

Agfa Graphics has chosen Sign & Digital UK as the launch platform for 2 new models in its increasingly successful range of wide format printers.  This will be the first showing of the :Anapurna M1600, the latest in the popular range of :Anapurna UV printers.  The :Anapurna M1600 incorporates the latest print head technology to allow high quality printing of 4 colours with white in one print run. A maximum speed of 23sq/m per hour is achievable on both rigid boards and roll to roll substrates.  The Anapurna M1600 supports one of the largest print areas in its class at 1.6 x 3 metres allowing for all the standard sheet sizes.  The new :Jeti 1224 HDC FTR (High Definition Colour/Flat to Roll), high-productivity UV inkjet printer will also make its European debut.

With only one week to go don’t miss out - register for Sign & Digital UK free now at www.signanddigitaluk.com.

EskoArtwork Academy Gent has achieved the Qfor quality label for its training program. The highly respected label is awarded for customer satisfaction, and is a trusted third-party endorsement regarding the professional standard of the training provided by the company.

The EskoArtwork Academy in Gent is responsible for all training in the Benelux region, and offers specialist support to other countries. Training is available for EskoArtwork customers and employees, distributors, and educational institutes. “Training is essential for individuals’ professional development,” says Kurt Soreyn, Manager EskoArtwork Academy. “Companies also benefit from the wide range of training sessions available at the Academy. The skills that attendees develop can be applied directly in the workplace, and can help businesses operate more efficiently and productively.”

Stringent quality criteria prove customer satisfaction

The Qfor label underlines the high standards of the training sessions at EskoArtwork Academy Gent. The label is awarded only after a thorough quality evaluation of the program and after overall customer satisfaction has been proven.

Soreyn explains: “The Qfor evaluation process is extremely thorough. Our program was assessed against ten criteria, including training preparation, the quality of the training itself, reporting and tools, trainer competence, and price versus quality.”

To be awarded the Qfor label, at least four out of five customers must grade the training ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. Moreover, all trainees must be at least 80% ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with all elements of the training program under assessment. Soreyn concludes: “A number of last year’s clients, from within and outside Benelux, were contacted by the Qfor organisation to evaluate their satisfaction. We’re very proud to land such a respected certification for our training program. It will help us attract even more people to the Academy, and in some cases – in Belgium, for example – even entitle them to special funding by the government.”

 

ArtSystems the UK specialist wide format solutions distributor and Caldera the French RIP vendor has announced a new strategic partnership that will see ArtSystems including the Caldera RIP range in its portfolio.

The move further consolidates the position of both companies in the high-end HP UV and HP Latex markets, whilst creating new opportunities in other sectors.

“The Caldera range gives us a true high performance RIP at the high end for our increasing involvement within the HP Scitex market. It also gives us the means to address new business in the grand format sector in general that we currently cannot" said Andrew Edwards, ArtSystems, Sales Division Manager Sign&Display

He adds, “This is just the start of our activities to promote Caldera to our partners over the coming months to enable them to start to include Caldera in their business.”

“We are very enthusiastic about this new commercial alliance. ArtSystems is an established professional which will give our Caldera customers and prospects a high level of service,” comments Caldera's VP of Marketing, Sébastien Hanssens.

The Caldera RIP can be seen in action with ArtSystems at Sign&DigitalUK 2011 at the NEC this month on the HP Scitex FB500 as part of a wider launch campaign to promote the Caldera range to ArtSystems partner resellers.

Large Format Review, (LFR), has announced impressive month-on-month growth figures for March 2011.  It received nearly ¾ of a million hits to its news portal site last month – an increase of 19% over February’s figures.  In addition, there was a 25% month-on-month increase in user traffic, with a total of over 46,000 unique visits in March.

LFR is continuing to build on its position as the news portal of choice for professionals in the large format digital printing industry.  The average daily visitor count now stands at nearly 1500 and total pages served grew by 14% between February and March to a total of 171,566. 

Abi Ricketts, Editor of LFR, comments, “Clearly, these figures are tempered by the fact that February is a shorter month than March.  However, the continued growth in our readership proves that we are serving timely, relevant news to our readers in a format that works for them.  Back in October last year, we were pulling in 500,000 hits a month.  We are delighted to have increased this figure to nearly 750,000 in only 5 months.”

LFR will be on stand H2 throughout Sign & Digital UK 2011.  Visitors to the show are invited to drop by for a drink and a chat to discover what editorial and advertising opportunities LFR can offer them. 

If your organisation is launching anything of interest at the event, please email details to editor@largeformatreview.com.

Meetings with the editor and / or marketing director can be booked in advance by sending an email to abi@largeformatreview.com. 

Epson today issued an update on the situation surrounding its employees and businesses in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck the Tohoku area of Japan on March 11. A Disaster Headquarters led by President Minoru Usui has confirmed the following:

Epson employees

The company confirmed that although no casualties had been reported among Epson staff as of release time, it was still unable to make contact with one employee. Epson is continuing to make every effort to confirm the employee's safety.

Major Epson facilities affected

Epson has a network of more than 40 manufacturing sites located all around the world. Of these, the four plants listed below were affected by the earthquake with all other sites remaining fully operational. Recovery work is underway at the affected plants with the exception of the Epson Toyocom Corporation Fukushima Plant, which is within the 20-km compulsory evacuation zone around the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station.

• Epson Atmix Corporation (Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture: manufacture of powdered metals, components manufactured with metal injection molding, and artificial quartz). Epson plans to resume production of components manufactured with metal injection molding and artificial quartz from the start of April. Production facilities and equipment for powdered metals was affected by water in the tsunami, and we plan to resume production at the end of April.
• Akita Epson Corporation (Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture: manufacture of printer components, crystal devices, and ultra-precision components).  We resumed production of all product lines on March 22. We will continue production while constantly assessing the power and fuel supply situation.
• Seiko Epson Corporation Sakata Plant and Tohoku Epson Corporation (Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture: manufacture of inkjet printer components and semiconductors). We resumed production of inkjet printer components and partial production of semiconductors on March 28. We will continue production while constantly assessing the power and materials procurement situation.
• Epson Toyocom Corporation Fukushima Plant (Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture: manufacture of crystal devices). This plant has been closed indefinitely.

Impact on other businesses

Production may be affected by issues relating to procuring certain components. Epson is now looking to minimize the impact by procuring alternative components and making technical adjustments.

Impact on business results

Epson is presently assessing the impact of damage caused by the earthquake and the subsequent effect on the full-year consolidated financial results (year ending March 31, 2011). The company will issue a timely disclosure release as and when it becomes necessary.

 

Colourgen’s influence will be found right across Hall 18 at the Sign and Digital UK show this year with representatives and products on Mutoh’s stand (G40), City and West End Solutions (C46) and Digital Print Innovations (E46).
 
Mutoh and Colourgen will be working together to demonstrate a broad range of new innovations on their stand. These will include Mutoh’s MS Ultra inks, which increase productivity through more efficient printing, Mutoh’s Bio-Lactite inks for environmentally conscious print providers and a their new 3D UV inkset. Immediately dry and ready for lamination and application, these new stretchable 3D UV inks offer 200% ‘stretchability’, making them ideal for 3D vehicle wrapping.  Visitors will be able to see thesedemonstrated on the Mutoh Zephyr 65 with live wrapping demonstrations.   As Master Reseller for the Zephyr 65 roll-to-roll flatbed UV printer, the dye-sublimation range and the direct to textile printer range, Colourgen will also be on hand to show and talk about these products.
 
Mutoh has also created a handy mobile website designed for smartphones specifically for Sign UK.  Visitors can navigate their way round the Mutoh stand to see what’s on display by visiting m.mutoh.be while walking round the show!
 
On the City and West End Solutions stand, Colourgen will be showing the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 mild solvent-based inkjet printer and the Kala Mistral 1650 laminator. Also on the CWE stand, Colourgen and Seiko will be previewing a brand new ColorPainter, Sign UK being the first public preview of this exciting new printer.
 
Digital Print Innovations will be showing the Seiko ColorPainter H-74S, a printer that is achieving high acclaim from users across the country for its speed, reliability and image quality.
 
Melanie Enser, Colourgen’s Product Marketing Manager, comments, “Even though we decided not to have our own stand, we are really excited by the new products we are showing with our partners this year. It is important for us to show the market the value we put on our relationships with both suppliers and resellers. By working with Mutoh, CWE and DPI, we can reach out to many more visitors than ever before and we can utilise the additional knowledge and expertise that will be on hand.”
 
She concludes, “Sign UK has always been a great opportunity to form, strengthen and consolidate new and exciting relationships with everyone in the industry. It is also gives us the opportunity to talk directly to end users and develop a better understanding of market requirements. Many visitors don’t know exactly what they want and relish the opportunity to discuss their business needs and the solutions that are available.”
 
To arrange a meeting with Colourgen at the show, please contact Melanie Enser on 01628 588700 or menser@colourgen.com.
 
Any press that would like to meet, please contact Jack Gocher at jack@jgc-pr.co.uk or call 01494 724113.