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IPEX 2006—Blending of Offset and Digital Printing Technologies
By Ivars Sarkans
Editor’s Note
This is the second part of a two-part article on the large IPEX 2006 show in Birmingham, England. The first part of the article highlighted technologies and industry trends with significant implications for sellers and producers of business documents and related printed products. The second part covers more specific new equipment and systems at IPEX 2006 for conventional and digital printing, finishing and specialty niche applications, and the associated new product opportunities.
The equipment displays at the IPEX 2006 international printing equipment exhibition showed both complementary and adversarial relationships between offset and digital printing technologies. With over 20% of exhibit space devoted to digital printing equipment and related systems, the balance between technologies used in the printing industry is clearly shifting. One major trend is the integration of offset and digital equipment as complementary printing plant capabilities. This was one of the themes of the large Xerox booth. The leading display promoting integration of offset and digital equipment in traditional printing plants was a new version of Xerox Free Flow digital printing production management and workflow software that can now interface with some of the popular offset production “front end” workflow systems.
Many suppliers of digital presses promoted the various ways that short run and variable imaging advantages of their machines can complement what commercial, book, document and specialty printers can do with their offset presses. Printers visiting IPEX 2006 appeared to be receptive to this message. Digital printing was promoted to this audience with strong emphasis on business strategies, applications, marketing methods and new mixed printing technology workflows. A sizeable number of exhibits focused on the many ways that digital printing can improve the service level and responsiveness of traditional printing plants, add value, provide access to new market niches and form stronger service-based bonds between printers and their customers.
The adversarial relationship of offset and digital printing was evident in the diminished population of small format (2-page) two and four color sheetfed offset presses compared to previous IPEX shows. This sheetfed press format, typically 12”x18” to 14”x20”, currently represents the market segment where competition between offset and digital color printing is most direct and intense, and digital appears to be gaining market share. A large number of print buyers and users are no longer able to distinguish print quality differences between offset and digital color presses designed for commercial printing. At IPEX, digital color press suppliers stressed the advantages of their equipment over offset. Demonstrations of automated web-to-print workflows and integrated in-line finishing with minimal manual setup showed how digital printing can eliminate a separate page or signature collating operation and minimize printed product inventories by economical on-demand production of short runs.
To counter competition from digital color printing, small-format offset press designs are becoming more innovative with some capabilities that cannot be matched by digital color presses. New features on some models include very high levels of automation to minimize job changeover time, compact new designs and the ability to print on plastics, folding carton board and other heavy stocks. Automatic changing of plates, perfector setup and washup are becoming more common on 2-page presses. The highest level of automation is typically found on DI (Direct Imaging) presses, which may be the strongest small-format competitors to digital printing at this time.
Prepress Equipment
The advances in prepress and software at IPEX 2006 were mainly in using the Internet for linking creative service professionals, printers and print buyers, greater variety of web-to-print systems and “soft” proofing on color calibrated monitors as an alternative to printed proofs. For example, the Agfa Graphics prepress software demonstrated at IPEX 2006 allows all project participants to view high resolution color images and this soft proofing system has earned SWOP (Specification for Web Offset Publications) certification. Practically all printing workflow software developers are also advancing the use of JDF (Job Definition Format) standards to link prepress tasks and data with production equipment computers.
Digital workflow advances are creating new business opportunities, as exemplified at IPEX 2006 by Printing.com, plc, a franchise network in England for printed product distributors. In the Printing.com system, distributors can enter orders based on standard specifications and price lists for centralized gang-run production, which gives the distributors a competitive price advantage. New web-to print software at the show automates most creative tasks through use of design template catalogs and can provide links to digital printing specialists or conventional plants for automatic entry of press or plate-ready orders. This type of software will grow in sophistication and size of template libraries and can be expected to change how common types of printed products are created, sold, ordered, priced and produced. Web-to-print software, combined with digital printing, may also lead to more production by corporate internal print centers and departmental printers. Digital color press/printer suppliers at IPEX 2006 were clearly targeting the corporate in-plant market segment. It is also likely that more printing will be created from templates by end users and produced on desktop color printers.
Agfa Graphics and News International Ltd. announced a very significant new type of strategic 10 year prepress services agreement at IPEX 2006. News International will supply plate-ready files to Agfa, which will use on-site equipment in 4 newspaper plants to provide press-ready plates on-demand. Agfa will staff, operate, update technology and maintain CTP (Computer-To-Plate) equipment and related enterprise-wide software in the four plants. This could become a new prepress services model for large printing operations.
Thermal CTP equipment dominated the 8-page and larger system exhibits at IPEX 2006, but violet CTP devices are clearly gaining market share in smaller format platesetters. Only thermal platesetters can image the eight common metal plates that require no developer chemicals or no processing at all. These plates are used on DI presses and in smaller plants where the advantage of no chemicals or no processing can offset the higher plate cost. Suppliers of machines with violet laser diodes claimed significant advantages over thermal platesetters in equipment cost, reliability and laser life, and indicated that more powerful lasers now being tested will raise future production rates. Exhibits included several “hybrid” platesetters, such as the Kodak Thermoflex machines for selected thermal flexographic, letterpress and dry offset CTP plates and the unique Lüscher FlexPose! Models, which combine the best internal and external drum platesetter features and can image thermal offset, flexographic and letterpress plates.
For forms producers, the high cost of both thermal and violet CTP plates has been a major concern. BasysPrint, now a division of Punch Graphix International, has been offering CTP machines that can image lower cost conventional metal plates, such as those exposed by UV light in ordinary vacuum frames. At IPEX 2006, BasysPrint showed new and faster imaging technology to produce up to 20 plates per hour and a new 6-page model for plates up to 27”x38.5”. This model offers maximum screen resolution of 200 lines/inch and should be able to meet all other typical forms plant requirements. At IPEX 2006 Lüscher announced that their unique Xpose! Platesetters can now be equipped with sufficiently powerful laser diodes to image conventional UV-sensitive metal plates.
Offset Presses
Heidelberg charted a new direction in the small format (2-page) press segment at IPEX 2006, announcing that the DI 46-4 color short run model, with on-press imaging of plates has been discontinued. The replacement model is a new Speedmaster 52-4 with conventional print tower configuration but a new compact ink train that, according to Heidelberg, reduces setup time and can limit startup waste to less than 20 sheets. The new ink train has one format-size temperature-controlled anilox cylinder for metering ink to the same size form roller without the need for zones and ink keys. The press has a dampening unit and uses common wet offset plates. Maximum sheet size of this machine is 14.5” x 20.5”. Heidelberg appears to view the conventional press tower layout as offering greater options for future versions of this model. Improvements in CTP imagers and digital plates have reduced the advantages of on-press imaging, and Heidelberg no longer offers any DI models.
Heidelberg also introduced the first 2-page 10 color long perfector model, the Speedmaster 52-10-P, running sheets up to 13.8” x 19.7”. This extends Heidelberg’s dominance in long perfectors to all common sheetfed press sizes. A 10 color 2-page press with on-line coating units also signals a difficult future competitive environment for many small commercial printers who are running 4 over 4 process color work on two and four unit 2-page presses and are not likely to have resources for acquiring a long perfector. As the 2-page long perfectors from Heidelberg, and other likely suppliers, enter the market in future years, the short run volume shift to those presses will also affect the competitive position of many printed product distributors.
At IPEX 2006, Heidelberg introduced a new on-line cold foiling unit for sheetfed 29” x 24” Speedmaster 74 presses, that matches a similar innovation by MAN Roland shown at DRUPA 2004. The cold foiling system takes two press towers, one to apply adhesive with an offset plate and the second unit for mounting the foil feeding mechanism, which can be easily disengaged when not in use. Foil can be applied as a large solid or in any pattern, including type. The cold foiling process can run faster then hot foiling, does not require costly foiling dies, and combines foiling and printing in one operation on sheetfed presses with enough print units.
While the market for DI presses may no longer be attractive to Heidelberg, demand is sufficient for several niche suppliers, including KBA, Ryobi, Presstek and Screen. Presstek launched a new model in this category, the 4 color landscape format 52 DI, with 20.5” x 14.8” maximum sheet size and rated speed of 10,000 sheets per hour. The machine is built by Ryobi to Presstek specifications, and uses a central impression cylinder layout, with two plate and blanket cylinders, each carrying 2 plates and mated with 2 ink trains. This design, common to all Ryobi-built DI presses, needs only two laser stations to image all four plates. These highly automated presses use the waterless offset process and polyester plates that are in rolls, mounted inside the plate cylinders, and advanced mechanically for each new job cycle. In IPEX 2006 demonstrations, job changeover time was consistently under 10 minutes. The Presstek polyester plates are rated for 20,000 impressions and stochastic or conventional screening up to 300 lines/inch.
For forms and label printers looking for new capabilities, Drent Goebel showed a tower from the VSOP (Variable Sleeve Offset Press) model series designed primarily as a high speed alternative to flexographic, gravure and sheetfed offset presses for flexible packaging, labels, pouches, envelopes and folding cartons. The VSOP is now available in 20.5”, 33.5” and 49.5” web widths. All stations have servomotor drives and the press can be configured for practically any print repeat from 15” to 30” by a quick change of inexpensive light weight plate and blanket sleeves. The significant innovation shown at IPEX 2006 was a new plate mounting system that allows an irregular plate and blanket pattern to accommodate the maximum possible number of labels or folding cartons per press sheet. Plate edges are cut in the required pattern on a computer-driven flatbed plotter with a high speed milling head. The same plotter, equipped with a knife, is used to cut a blanket pattern. Traditional plate lockup is replaced with mounting using a special 2-sided adhesive tape. Plates and blankets can be mounted as the interchangeable sleeve inserts are held in a custom-designed off-line jig. VSOP presses can be configured with in-line flexographic coating, electron-beam ink curing, automatic register controls and other custom features. One of the unique capabilities of this press is the range of materials that can be printed, from 12 micron film to 320 micron board. Maximum rated speed is 1,200 ft./minute. Drent Goebel indicates that world-wide installed base of VSOP presses will soon surpass 40 machines, including six in the U.S.
Muller Martini had the only fully operational web offset commercial printing press at IPEX 2006, the 27” web width Alprinta 74V, with five offset towers, UV dryers and a blanket coater. This machine can be configured with typical size inserts for each selected print repeat, but it is also available with special print inserts that allow changes of individual plate and blanket cylinders. Changing light-weight cylinders expands the range of sizes that is practical and economical on one press. Rotatek showed an advanced version of a modular forms press with 4 offset towers, cold foiling attachment, in-line gravure and flexographic printing/coating stations, and UV dryers positioned over chill cylinders for printing films. In demonstrations, the press was switched from printing paper or film labels to production of folding cartons, with changeovers accomplished in 15 minutes or less. The gravure station was used for metallic inks.
Digital Printing Equipment
Digital printing exhibits appeared to hold both the biggest new business opportunities and the most serious threats for forms industry participants. Some monochrome and highlight color web-fed digital presses can be configured just like conventional forms presses with printing and processing stations for the production of documents and direct mail containing both fixed images and variable data. Matti Technology showed just such a press assembled from modular web handling, punching and perforating stations, a Kodak 9” wide ink jet head and several narrower ink jet units for highlight colors. Matti Technology offers a variety of water or solvent base and UV ink jet modules plus all typical forms press delivery options. Similar black-only to full process color ink jet web presses are available from Kodak, Screen and Agfa.
Xerox introduced a new black toner duplexing web press with two Fujitsu laser imaging engines in a single compact cabinet, which limits face to back print position variations to +/- 0.3 mm. Another innovation for Xerox is flash fusing, therefore, the new CF 495 Duplex Printer can run heat sensitive materials that would be melted or distorted in hot contact fusers. The demonstration form for the Xerox 495 had affixed plastic cards, integrated labels, RFID tags and cards with a plastic face laminate. This model runs only pin-fed continuous forms. Rated speed is 115 ft./minute, and net production rate with the 2 print stations and 18” maximum web width can reach 460 pages/minute.
Xerox also showed a fast new single engine laser printer, the DocuPrint 525/1050, rated at maximum 244 ft/minute. This translates to 525 pages/minute with one print unit and 1,050 pages/minute in a twin engine duplexing configuration. This new model also uses flash fusing to avoid web distortion due to heat. Webs can be pinless or pinfed, up to 19.5” wide. All Xerox web-fed laser printers can be switched between 240, 300 and 600 dpi image resolution, depending on the data stream. For even higher production rates, Nipson announced an upgrade of their fastest Varypress magnetographic printer rated speed from 450 to 500 ft/minute. Nipson digital printers have a long history of success in forms, label and direct mail applications, partly due to flash fusing.
The Oce 9000 series black plus “business color” web printers are also in effect digital forms presses, and the version demonstrated at IPEX 2006 could print 3 over 3 colors in one pass from blank mill rolls. The versatility to add highlight colors as needed can be a major advantage in forms and direct mail applications. The digital web presses at IPEX 2006 suggest that forms production will continue to migrate from offset to digital equipment, and traditional forms industry participants can choose to follow this migration or forfeit more business to service bureau operations and other types of digital document factories.
In sheetfed digital printing, HP promoted the versatility of Indigo 5000 to serve as a high speed black-only document press, with the option to add color to printed documents as needed. Printing black only, the Indigo 5000 is rated at 272 pages/minute or 16,000 pages/hour. Users can switch to process color commercial printing as needed to run 4,000 four color pages per hour. For black toner only, Oce introduced the VarioPrint 6250 duplexing printer with two imaging engines. This machine sets a new benchmark for sheetfed laser printers with a rated speed in duplexing mode of 250 pages/minute or 15,000 pages/hour. Oce indicates that their studies show 80% of all black toner digital work as duplexed. The 6250, with a very short and straight duplexing paper path (no turning of sheets) to minimize jams and sheet handling complexity, plus high production capacity, should have a huge competitive advantage over single print station black toner production machines.
Canon presented a major new entry in commercial color digital printing, the ImagePress C7000VP, rated at 70 four color pages per minute. In demonstration runs, color quality appeared to match other “top-of-the-line” digital color presses using toners. Image resolution is at a very competitive 1,200 x 1,200 dpi level and Canon has developed a new fine-particle toner for this machine. The C7000VP can run a wide range of papers, including tag and index grades, in sheets up to 13” x 19”. This is a significant development for forms industry participants considering digital color production, because two of these Canon presses can be purchased for approximately the same price as the fastest available alternative rated at110 pages/minute.
A radical new approach to sheetfed digital color press design at IPEX 2006 was a modular multiple-tower prototype from Inov-Media. The Jet7Pro was distinguished by the ability to print sheets up to 27.5” x 39.8” and heavy stocks up to 1 mm thick with a machine configuration somewhat similar to conventional sheetfed presses. Production rate can be increased from 60 to 1,100 sheets per hour by adding more print units equipped with arrays of Epson piezoelectric drop-on-demand ink jet heads. The Jet7Pro prints CMYK plus light Magenta and light Cyan at 720 x 720 dpi. This was one of the IPEX 2006 exhibits that hinted at the significant future potential of ink jet technology to compete on both commercial printing quality and speed. Another new ink jet print quality and color gamut benchmark was set by a new 12 color wide format machine from Canon. The iPF9000 prints at 2,400 x 1,200 dip and can run roll or sheet materials up to 60” wide.
A major UV ink jet development ready for commercial production was the Dotrix digital color web press demonstrated by Agfa. The IPEX 2006 configuration included a flexographic station for coating or white-ink preprinting of films before the color ink jet print station. The modular production line can have varnishing, cutting, punching or other processing stations after printing. Production rate is relatively high due to 80 ft./minute maximum speed and 25.6” web width. Print quality appeared to be very suitable for labels, packaging materials, documents and driect mail. At IPEX 2006, Agfa announced a contract to install several Dotrix digital production lines for printing high volume transaction documents.
Finishing Equipment
The vast range of finishing equipment at IPEX 2006 included several exhibits directly related to document production. Kern demonstrated a very innovative sheetfed machine for converting digital printer output into mailers without a separate envelope inserting and addressing operation. The new K515 EasyMailer can be programmed to feed and assemble batches of digitally printed and bar coded sheets, one of which has the recipients address. The other sheets in the batch may be statements, invoices, coupons or other documents. The addressed sheet is folded diagonally to form a unique-looking envelope around the contents, which have been prefolded in a separate step by the machine. The K515 EasyMailer is designed for letter size sheets and offers flexibility to combine digital imprinting of variable information with offset printed forms for the envelope or content sheets.
For finishing rolls of forms or mailers printed on a digital web press, MegaSpirea International, Inc. introduced a novel production system that cuts and assembles all mailer components from one web. Forms with the recipients address are die cut to become the outer envelope, which is formed around folded content sheets. The IPEX 2006 demonstration machine was configured specifically to process 2-forms wide18” rolls printed on a Kodak Versamark color ink jet press, but it can be adapted to roll output form other offset or digital web presses. The MegaSpirea Mailliner 100 is intended for high volume applications that can justify a substantial investment. Rated speed is 21,000 envelopes/hour with a single insert sheet, and 14,000 envelopes/hour containing a 2 sheet insert.
Forms industry participants who sell or produce saddle stitched booklets and brochures may want to consider Watkiss equipment for forming square backs on saddle stitched products. Benefits of this process include a neater appearance and ability to print covers in the spine area. Watkiss supplies square back machines for off-line operation or integration with digital printers and booklet makers.
IPEX 2006 had a multitude of folders with gluing and ink jet attachments for forming and addressing mailers. The show had affixing, inserting and digital imprinting equipment for niche applications and new products that may be envisioned by document design specialists. One of the recognized suppliers of forms plant tooling and finishing equipment, Schober, exhibited a new machine for moderate volume assembling of RFID tags and labels. For short to medium runs of forms with high value features, Dimuken displayed an exceptional variety of modular pin-fed machines for foil stamping, hologram encoding, patch application, die cutting, imprinting and other specialties.
The intense competitive nature of the printing industry was clearly visible at IPEX 2006, but the show also had an abundance of innovations that can create new high-margin product and service opportunities for both manufacturers and distributors of printed products.
Ivars Sarkans is president of Los Angeles consulting firm Sarkans & Associates. Email him at isarkans@sarkans.com.
Exhibitors mentioned in this article
All trade names, model names and trademarks mentioned in this article are the property of the respective companies. Exhibitors have been identified as listed by IPEX 2006.
Agfa-Gevaert, NV, Mortsel, Belgium www.agfa.com
Basys Print, Lier, Belgium www.basysprint.com
Canon Europe, Uxbridge, England www.canon-europe.com
Dimuken (GB) LTD, Peterborough, England www.dimuken.com
Drent Goebel, Eerbeek, Netherlands www.drent-goebel.com
Heidelberg UK, Ltd., Brentford, England www.uk.heidelberg.com
HP (Hewlett Packard-Indigo), Maastricht, Netherlands www.hp.com/go/graphic-arts
KBA (UK) ltd, Watford, England www.kba-print.com
Kern SAS, Niederhergheim, France www.kern.ch
Kodak Graphic Communications Group, Waterloo, Belgium, http://graphics.kodak.com
Lüscher AG, Leutwil, Switzerland www.luescher.com
MAN Roland Great Britain Ltd., Mitcham, England www.man-roland-gb.com
Matti Technology, AG, Zihlschlacht, Switzerland www.mattitech.ch
MegaSpirea International, Inc., Norwalk, CT, USA www.megaspirea.com
Muller Martini Ltd, Iver, England www.mullermartini.com
Nipson Printing Systems (UK) Ltd, Dartford, England www.uk.nipson.com
Inov-Media SA, LeValde Reuil, France www.inov-media.com
Oce (UK) Limited, Brentwood, England www.oce.com
Presstek Inc., Hudson, NH, USA www.presstek.com
Rotatek SA, Barcelona, Spain www.rotatek.com
Ryobi Limited, Hiroshima, Japan www.ryobi-group.co.jp
Schober GmbH, Eberdingen, Germany www.schober-gmbh.de
Screen Europe, Amstelveen, Holland www.screeneurope.com
Watkiss Automation Ltd., Sandy, England www.watkiss.com
Xerox (UK) Ltd., Uxbridge, England www.xerox.com |
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