Mark Andy and Global Graphics partner on DFE update

Mark Andy has partnered with Global Graphics Software to launch a major digital front-end (DFE) update to its Digital Series HD hybrid press.

Now incorporating Global’s ScreenPro ultra-high-speed screening engine, the second version of which was launched in July, Mark Andy said process and RIP times on the Digital Series HD press – which is used in the manufacture of pressure-sensitive labels – have been reduced by as much as 50%.

Designed to “mitigate artefacts” in inkjet output, ScreenPro streams data and variable colour images at high speed. There is no limit to the number of variable data elements on one imposition, meaning every page can be different.

“The ScreenPro technology built in partnership with Global Graphics is a key development to provide streaming full-colour variable data printing options to meet the print speed requirements of today’s next-generation UV inkjet production presses,” said Mark Andy vice-president Ray Dickinson.

Mark Andy senior manager of digital press solutions Peter Rathje added: “We were able to seamlessly integrate high-speed streaming variable data into the existing ProWorx digital front-end.

“For a workflow to be viable, it has to be able to process and send full-colour, fully variable work at a rate that supports the press printing, nearly continuously, at high speed to produce hundreds of thousands of linear feet or metres weekly. This was previously a challenge with the production speeds of the Digital Series HD at 240 feet per minute.”

ScreenPro can be added to new or existing inkjet presses as either a cross-platform development component, integrated into the workflow, or as a branded user interface.

Global Graphics product manager Tom Mooney said: “Supporting full variable data printing at press speed and scalable from five colours to eight without loss of quality is what the customer has demanded. ScreenPro will meet their speed and quality requirements now and into the future.”

Global Graphics Software is a subsidiary of Cambridge-headquartered Global Graphics, which has just been selected for the FT Future 100 UK, a ranking of the country’s fast-growing businesses that are shaping the future of their sector and making a positive impact on business and society.