Hardware - Industrial Print

generation druck Uses Three HP Designjet Printers to Deliver a Print Service that Helps Reduce the Impact on the Environment

HP announced today that generation druck GmbH, of Wettstetten, Germany, has invested in an HP Designjet Z6100 Printer, an HP Designjet L25500 Printer and an HP Scitex LX800 Printer to develop an environmentally aware sign and display printing service.

Established in June 2010 by co-owners Rainer Schmid and Christian Langen, generation druck was conceived as a company that would print with the environment in mind, and then move further into eco-solutions utilising green sources for substrates, energy, vehicles and other activities. In addition to offering print, generation druck also provides design services to its customers.

"This is a first step," said Schmid. "We're excited by the large format industry and market, but wanted to get away from the odours in the print rooms for health reasons and because we knew that now there was a better way of doing things. The water-based inks in all our HP printers make a big difference to our working environment."

The selection of the three HP printers will enable the company to print a wide range of applications including signage, vehicle wraps, billboards, wallpaper, POP/POS displays and other products for indoor and outdoor use. Finishing is done on its own cutting machine that handles substrates up to 1.7m wide, suiting the company's printers.

"As part of taking this first step into offering an environmentally friendly service, we are paying special attention to non-PVC substrates and talking to HP about using its range of recyclable substrates and its take-back programme for printheads, ink cartridges and certain substrates," Schmid explained.

The HP Designjet L25500 and the HP Scitex LX800 Printers use HP Latex Inks which, because they are water-based, omit no odours(1) and can be used indoors in hotels, restaurants, clubs, supermarkets, and even in private homes.

"I knew HP printers from my previous work," Schmid continued. "They were always easy to use and maintain and the print was always high-quality. I got to know the sales people and the engineers, so when we set up generation druck, we not only had the assurance of the printer quality, but the advantage of good advice from people we knew.

"One of our early jobs was for a wall covering which the LX800 does extremely well and the customer was very pleased with the result. The quality of the image and the fast and easy production impressed the customer very much," Schmid said. "The potential for this and other indoor graphics made possible by water-based inks is enormous and exciting."

PSPs can find local printers offering similar innovative applications by visiting www.hp.com/go/pspnetwork.

(1) Printers using HP Latex Inks use internal heaters to dry and cure the latex polymer film. Some substrates may have inherent odour.

For the fourth year in a row, Screen (USA) returns to SGIA Expo with the latest innovations for specialty imaging. The award-winning Truepress Jet2500UV will be the center of attention in the Screen booth at this year's SGIA show in Las Vegas, Nev. Live print demonstrations will showcase the vivid colors, exceptional image detail and sharp text that print service providers can offer their customers.

Designed as a true hybrid printing system, Screen's grand-format UV inkjet printer effortlessly handles both flexible, roll-based materials and flat, rigid substrates. The 98.4-inch-wide Truepress Jet2500UV produces near-photographic quality on paper, vinyl, film and other roll-fed media up to 164 feet long at a top production speed of 366 square feet per hour. It delivers equally superior results on rigid materials up to 51.1 inches long and 1.96 inches thick. Screen's original flexible UV-curable inks and variable-dot imaging technology and maximum resolution of 1,500 dpi ensure precise, smooth gradients and mid-tones and dense, uniform solids.

With industrial printing generating considerable attention at SGIA Expo 2010, Screen also will feature the Truepress Jet650UV flatbed UV inkjet printer. Screen developed the Truepress Jet650UV to bring outstanding quality and print-on-demand efficiency to graphic manufacturing applications. It allows designers to go far beyond the restrictions of traditional screen and pad printing for high-resolution production of dashboards and instrument clusters found in automobiles, motorcycles and other vehicles. Furthermore, the printing system fulfills the precision and visual confirmation requirements of membrane switches, labels and operation panels used in the manufacture of medical devices. At SGIA Expo 2010, Screen will provide printed samples, brochures and a video of the Truepress Jet650UV.

What: SGIA Expo 2010

When: October 13-15

Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada

Screen (USA) Booth: #147

HP today announced that Jet Print Storbilderat, of Uddevalla, Sweden, signed a deal at FESPA to purchase the HP Scitex XP5100 Printer.

The HP Scitex XP5100 5m machine can print at speeds of up to150m2/hr, producing both prints for outdoor applications such as building wraps, and billboards, as well as high-quality indoor signage, including point-of-purchase displays. It supports substrates including polyethylene, paper, mesh, vinyl, textiles, and Tyvek.

Magnus Hansson, general director, Jet Print said: "Our customers are increasingly demanding super-wide, high-quality textile prints and front-lit applications. The XP5100 will ensure that we are able to exceed these expectations".

With its robust media loading and collecting features and a heavy-duty frame, this printer is designed for production environments like that of Jet Print, that operate 24/7.

Resellers find early success with dedicated support from Artsystems

ArtSystems has successfully completed its first round of open days in July and August for HP resellers using the new demonstration units of the HP Scitex FB500 and HP Scitex LX600.

"Though both of these units were launched at IPEX 2010 in May potential users want to have a more focussed event where they can spend time both with the printers and their chosen HP reseller, these events have provided just that" says Steve Hawker MD, ArtSystems

With early adopters for the HP Scitex FB500 like Discount Displays, the format is proving popular with both users and resellers. A further series of applications days are now planned for 21st, 22nd and 23rd of September.

Hawker added "We will continue our investment in the HP channel with a further expansion of our HP Scitex demonstration fleet in the near future that will build on the success of the events to date, the FB500  is new to the market and the events in September will be the first chance for many users to see the unit in action."

Challenge

• Produce varied street signage in different formats and media for Swedish royal wedding celebrations, while complying with stringent requirements for:
  - High image quality and colour matching.
  - Production process, inks, and polyester-based media that reduce the impact of printing on the environment.
• Meet increasing customer demand to reduce the impact of printing on the environment.
• Expand production capacity to support growth plans.
  
  

Solutions

• HP Scitex LX800 Printer (1)
• HP Scitex LX600 Printer (1)
• 2 x HP Scitex XP5100 Printers
• HP Scitex FB6700 Printer
• HP Scitex TJ8350 Printer

Results

• Won prestigious contract to produce signage for city of Stockholm's royal wedding celebrations.
• 20-30 percent sales growth due to ability to produce near photographic quality on polyester, canvas, and other media.
• 24-hour productivity supports high-volume projects, ongoing growth.

HP Scitex prints form backdrop for wedding Celebrations

The total 3200 m² (10,800 ft²) of signage, from small portraits up to a massive 5 x 7 m (16.4 x 23 ft) banner, were all digitally printed on HP Scitex wide-format printers by GigantPrint, one of Sweden's leading suppliers of customised printing. With such a high-profile print project, GigantPrint knew there was no room for error. The signage not only had to have perfect, high image quality, with flawless finishing and framing, it also had to comply with stringent environmental requirements specified by the bridal couple.

As a producer of approximately 1 million m² (10.8 million ft²) of print output every year, GigantPrint already had an excellent solution for printing the wide variety of signage required - a varied range of HP Scitex wide-format digital printers offering a choice of HP Latex Ink and UV-curable and aqueous ink printing. But, when First Sight, the event marketing company hired to produce key parts of the public celebrations, offered GigantPrint the chance to become an official print supplier to the royal wedding, GigantPrint decided to expand its capabilities.

HP Latex Ink printers deliver on every important Point

"Many of our customers want environmentally responsible printing; it's becoming more and more common in Sweden, so all of our purchases nowadays are green machines," says Torbjörn Gunnarson, Project Manager, GigantPrint. "But the main reason we took our first HP Latex Ink machine, the HP Scitex LX600 Printer, was for the quality and the productivity and because we can run so many different materials on it."

"We do a lot of polymers and polyesters, which work really well on the HP Latex Ink machines, and we wanted to move up to a bigger width. With this wedding coming up and because they had environmental concerns, we decided to improve our productivity and add the wider HP Scitex LX800 Printer."

"For the wedding project, it was very important to have the correct pattern and colours on different materials, and the HP Scitex LX800 Printer was perfect for the job," recalls Gunnarson.

"We made a lot of prints to show the customer and we won in particular because of the HP Scitex LX series printers. We could do nearly everything on it and we could hold the colour on all the materials, with very good results on the canvas and polyester, on everything from the smaller prints right up to the biggest ones. Being able to use different materials on the same printer was something that others didn't have."

Near-photographic prints

This advantage was key to First Sight deciding that GigantPrint was the right print service provider for the royal wedding. "GigantPrint proved their professionalism all the way through, and particularly with the material," recalls Brian Modin, Part-owner of First Sight.

"Products that are claimed to be 'environmentally friendly' tend to produce prints that lose quality. But, the prints that GigantPrint produced kept their high image quality. We have people that walk by and ask us: 'It looks like a huge photograph… How was it done? How can anyone print those big photos?'."

Broad HP Scitex printing capabilities bring in Business

GigantPrint uses the HP Scitex LX800 Printer mostly for polyester materials for indoor applications, as well as for its growing business of printing on vinyl for store windows. The flexibility to print with excellent quality on varied materials on one printer is enabling GigantPrint to grow its business, particularly in the retail, events and fairs segments. Gunnarson attributes four new large customers to GigantPrint's HP Latex printing capabilities and estimates that sales are up 20- 30 percent as a result.

The royal wedding project was too large for just one machine. So, along with its HP Latex Ink printers, GigantPrint also put its HP Scitex FB6700 Printer and its two HP Scitex XP5100 Printers to work on the wedding signage. This enabled it to produce the huge amount of signage on polyester, canvas, paper, and backlit film and gain excellent, consistent quality and colour across the entire project.

Beyond the large royal wedding, having an array of HP Scitex printers is an important strategic advantage for GigantPrint. "The HP Scitex XP5100 Printers and the HP Scitex LX800 and LX600 Printers make it easy for us to sell new products because the machines produce high quality, are efficient and very fast, and the HP Latex Ink printers help us answer growing environmental concerns," says Gunnarson.

(1) This printer can print on HP recyclable media. HP offers the HP Large-format Media take-back program in the U.S. and Europe, through which most HP recyclable signage media can be returned. Availability varies. Some recyclable papers can be recycled through commonly available recycling programmes. For details visit www.hp.com/recycle.

HP today announced that Staudigl-Druck GmbH & Co. KG , of Schwabia, Germany, has purchased an HP Scitex TJ8350 Printer.

This recent purchase joins the company's existing Scitex TJ series printer and several HP Designjets. Staudigl hopes that the machine will enable it to consolidate its position as a leading supplier of high quality posters.

"We have found that the demand for personalised campaigns is growing exponentially in the poster market. Ever more medium-sized firms are discovering the poster as an effective advertising medium, as digital printing allows shorter and more flexible production runs which can be versioned and placed in targeted locations", said Hans Schneider, Division Head (DataPrint Services) at Staudigl-Druck GmbH & Co. K.G.