Drupa News

One of the delights of attending exhibitions of all shapes and sizes is that you never know what you might find. Drupa 2008 was no exception, with a plethora of the quirky and the plain useful to be found around every corner. Some products came from smaller suppliers, some from familiar names and some suppliers we'd never heard of before.

Calypso Systems corrugated packaging
This new industrial inkjet system hails from Andoversford and employs Spectra drop-on-demand inkjet heads to print spot- or four-colour secondary packaging (E flute through to double-wall) at 100x200dpi in a fully automatic, single pass process. It’s a compact unit aimed squarely at the short-run market of up to 5,000 units. Calypso puts the break-even point against flexo at around 3,500. Print speed is up to one metre per second, or about 3,000 cartons per hour. Print width ranges from 25cm to 50cm and the DP can handle board up to 105cm in length and 76cm wide. The inks used were developed with SunJet after an extensive trialling process. The price of a four-colour system is around €280,000 (£227,000). A 200x200dpi option for higher quality applications is available at additional cost.
Contact: www.calypso-systems.com

Caslon Foil-Tech
While this isn’t a new product, it’s a die-less method of foiling that’s really taking off due to the growth in short-run applications. Foil fusing bonds the foil onto the toner image area of sheets that have been printed using laser/electrophotographic printers, and it can work successfully with output from presses such as HP’s Indigo and Kodak’s NexPress. A wide choice of foils is available. As well as adding value to short-run applications such as business cards, it’s also proving popular for mock-ups and proofs of items such as greetings cards and packaging. The Foil-Tech handles sheets up to A3 size and costs £1,700. Complimentary business card slitters start at £299.
Contact: www.caslon.co.uk

Centurfax Sprint
The nifty sprint is a high-speed, low-cost scanning spectrophotometer aimed at making colour and process control a breeze. The £1,500 device is a fraction of the cost of automated strip readers, and can read a typical test strip in 30 seconds. The initial version is targeted at wide-format graphics and signage – a version for the proofing market is set for launch by the year-end, with press control to follow by the second quarter of 2009.
Contact: www.centurfax.co.uk

Jadason B2 digital press
Designed in Japan, and made in China, Jadason hopes it has found a point of difference with its compact B2 format electrophotographic colour digital press. The machine has been designed to dissemble into five pieces that will fit into a normal lift, giving considerable flexibility about where it can be installed. It prints 20 B2 sheets per minute, or 44ppm
A3. Resolution is 1,200dpi and there’s a fifth colour option too. With a price tag of circa €250,000 (£200,000), it should be available in Europe next year.
Contact: www.jadason.com

EZ Turner pile turner
Invented by a printer, more than 1,000 of these compact, mobile and easy-to-use pile turners have been sold worldwide and it’s easy to see why. Momentum, inertia and gravity are employed to turn the load in less than 30 seconds, and it’s child’s play to operate for even the lightest of press minders – only those of Victoria Beckham-like proportions would struggle to use it. An added benefit is that it makes a boring, back-breaking task fun too. UK price is around £4,000-£5,000. See it in operation at www.ezturner.com.
Contact: Integra 01420 593680

FFEI Emblaze
This inkjet coating device uses Xaar printheads and can jet matt, silk or gloss coating with one fluid. In fact, you could use all three effects on single sheet. The B2-plus format machine runs at 2,400sph and will be available at the end of the year. Price is circa €200,000 (£160,000).
Contact: www.ffei.co.uk

Hiflex iPhone interface
MIS supplier Hiflex is big in JDF integration on the continent, and the firm has a mission to reduce human intervention in workflows wherever possible. Its Web2Print Business Automation Software allows users to track orders and access live sales information on the move through an iPhone. Users can track orders and make changes using the iPhone’s touch screen functions.
Contact: www.hiflex.com

Matti Technology inkjet web
While there was much focus on the future inkjet web kit from HP and Kodak, Matti Technology quietly launched the widest production inkjet press at the show, a 1m-wide reel-to-reel system that’s available right now. The firm’s DR980 uses Kodak heads and prints at 150m per minute duplex in colour. It’s highly configurable for a variety of applications, which could include direct mail and products such as lottery tickets. Belgium’s V-Print has already bought one.
Contact: www.mattitech.ch

MGI spot UV coater
Inkjet coating was a topic of considerable interest at Drupa. The MGI JetVarnish is an offline, spot UV coater for B3 format applications that comes with an integrated infrared dryer. It’s suitable for both digital and offset applications and UK distributor GAE reports a lot of interest in it. It should be shipping in the first quarter of 2009.
Contact: www.gae.co.uk

Morgana Digifold 5000P
Another example of British innovation being alive and well. Morgana’s DigiFold has been around for a while, but this new version makes the compact creasing and folding unit even more versatile – and much faster. The firm has added DynaCrease technology which has upped the speed to 5,000-plus A4sph, allowing it to keep pace with the latest digital printers. Perforation is included as standard, with up to five perforation wheels in operation. What’s more the £23,000 machine is now just at home with litho as it is digital, and it’s selling like hot cakes with more than 100 sold since drupa. Morgana has also been busy in the coating arena, and its new sub-£30,000 DigiCoater employs a simple roller system for all-over gloss or matt coating to protect and enhance digital output. It can also be used to prime sheets for HP Indigo printing, enabling users the flexibility to handle small quantities of specialist papers.
Contact: www.morgana.co.uk

Olympus inkjet web
Olympus quietly introduced a new inkjet web system at Drupa, a joint development with Riso that’s available in both colour and monochrome configurations. The machines are extremely compact thanks to Olympus’ expertise in miniaturisation technology. The OP-1cd is the duplex colour version and prints in full colour at 33m per minute with a price point of circa $300,000 (£170,000). The OP1-bd is its monochrome sibling, and this prints at 80m per minute and come as a simplex or duplex configuration. The printhead array is 316mm wide. The machines should be available at the tail end of this year and the company was looking for distribution partners at Drupa.
Contact: ps-planning@ot.olympus.co.jp

Taiwan Lung Meng Technology paper
An intriguing substrate from Taiwan Lung Meng Technology can accurately be described as wood-free paper, because however unlikely it may sound it’s actually a paper made from stone. Its Rich Mineral Paper (RMP) is made by combining limestone powder (calcium carbonate) with a non-toxic resin. You can print on it just like a normal stock. The company is making great play of its environmental credentials because there’s no wood pulp (obviously), no acid, no bleach (the paper’s whiteness comes from the stone itself), and no water consumption is required during manufacturing. RMP can be completely submersed in water for long periods without deforming or falling to pieces – you can even write on it underwater with a pencil. But leave it outside and it will photo-degrade in six-to-seven months. Ideal applications for this ‘paper’ include printed matter for hostile environments, such as mining, and packaging that needs to withstand moisture. It can also be used for in-mould labelling, horticultural trays, and is being touted as an alternative to PVC for the display market. Being made of stone it’s a bit heavier than a normal sheet, so you’re looking at 20% less yield per tonne than conventional paper.
Contact: UK distributor Duraflex www.enpluspaper.com

Think Laboratory engraving
An alternative take on gravure cylinders from Japan’s Think. Instead of cylinder etching and plating, the company employs a polymer coating on a photo-resist layer. The cylinder is made of a "diamond-like carbon" said to be two times harder than chrome. The shallower cell depth possible also reduces ink use. Product release is scheduled for next year. Intriguing.
Contact: www.think-lab.com

Zund G3
Zund’s G3 digital cutting table is hypnotic in operation. A new variable vacuum technique is used to fix materials to the cutting bed, and the table senses what’s on it and adjusts accordingly, thus reducing the amount of electricity used. It has a range of modular tool options and bed sizes, and users can easily swap the tools in and out for a huge variety of applications. It can cut everything from a single sheet of tiny self-adhesive kiss-cut labels up to substrates 50mm thick, as well as tricky substrates like textiles, foamboard and even varnishing blankets. It looks cool too, having been designed by award-winning industrial designer Richard Amiel.
Contact: www.zund.com