Introducing the Industrial A Printing Pavilion brand new show floor feature at GRAPH EXPO 15 is the Industrial Printing Pavilion, sponsored by the Society for the Plastics Industry (SPI), Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC), and CPP EXPO. What is industrial printing? It can refer to a variety of technologies and markets, but in its most basic sense refers to printing that is done as part of the process of manufacturing some kind of object, as opposed to commercial printing, in which the printing itself is the manufactured object. Industrial printing is also sometimes referred to as functional printing, although that latter term is starting to refer to something more like printed electronics. More or less traditional examples of industrial printing are the button labels on a TV remote control, the gradations on a hypodermic needle, the control panels and/or decorative trim on appliances like washing machines and dishwashers, the instrument panels in automobiles, and so on. Industrial printing has long been produced by analog technologies like screen and pad printing, but digital printing technologies are starting to make inroads. Flatbed UV machines, for example, can now print on the same types of materials and objects as analog presses, while also imparting all the benefits of digital printing. Indeed, the migration of digital into industrial printing is being impelled by many of the same drivers we have been seeing in general commercial printing: shorter run lengths, customization, and even personalization. Industrial printing can also include such topics as printed electronics and 3D printing. 3D printing can more rightly be called additive manufacturing, but “3D printing” is a catchier term, even if, technically speaking, all printing is 3D printing. Ink on paper, after all, has three dimensions, even if one of those dimensions is very very small. For the past several years, the trade press has featured more and more stories about these new types of printing, and while they are certainly “cool” and futuristic, are they really relevant to today’s commercial printers. More importantly, do they represent real business opportunities? The goal of the Industrial Printing Pavilion, and especially Future Print: The Experiential Lab sponsored by FlexTech Alliance (Booth 4436), is to identify what the applications are, what the technologies are, and what the opportunities are. Presentations are combined with hands-on demos and examples of actual printed products that give attendees a comprehensive overview of what may very well be the future of print. These applications are not the stuff of science fiction, and while some are still a bit over the horizon, there are a large number of industrial printing applications that printers can start getting involved with today, using equipment and processes that are not far removed from what they may already have. Start at Booth 4436 and see the future… today! The Fast Action of Digital Action Mailers is an Aston, PA-based print-and-mail supplier with a history steeped in direct mail and family. Three generations of the Dobbin family has presided over the business since 1972. And though the family’s ownership carries on in tradition, the business of direct mail inside has been in a constant state of change. “One of the things we’re noticing, because of digital technologies, is that our turnaround times are being compressed,” according to Bob Kolva, Action Mailer’s Director of Information Technology. “As our customers try to deal with the ‘NOW! Age of Information,’ The team at Action Mailers is pictured here with the company’s two Standard Roll-to-Fold lines. (L to R) Mike Wallace, Dick Dayton, Daniel Chamontee, Dan Dobbin, and Bob Kolva. direct mail has been challenged to keep up and stay current. So we get shorter lead times, and that puts us in a position of producing the same amount of work, but within a shorter timeframe. “Our customers need to be able to make edits to their projects right up until the time we say to them, ‘We have to print, or we’ll miss the mail date.’ And we’ve been afforded the opportunity to do that for them, to be flexible, and that’s allowed us to negotiate more projects from those customers,” Kolva explains. Action Mailer’s business flourished, especially after it made some key digital investments, including finishing solutions, with the help of Standard Finishing Systems (Booth 831) and local dealer Northern Machine Works. “Twelve years ago, 400,000 pieces of mail was a week’s worth of work. We would panic if we couldn’t get it started by lunchtime on Monday,” Kolva recalls. “Now, we can do that in a single overnight. The speed-to-market has definitely changed, and that’s been a result of the digital culture.” In addition to four legacy laser printers, Action Mailers has two high-speed inkjet presses in place: a Ricoh (Booths 1231, 5114, and 5116) InfoPrint 5000 MP, installed two years ago; and a Ricoh InfoPrint 5000GP, a color engine that was installed in January 2015. Both of those engines have been configured with Standard Hunkeler’s Roll-to-Roll technologies—the UW6 Unwinder, and the RW6 Rewinder. It’s these complements that help keep the presses running at their maximum potential, and with the growing volume of work, pressroom efficiency is essential. The integration between the pre- and post-press Hunkeler solutions and the Ricoh presses is seamless, according to Kolva, who says the presses run ‘round the clock, at the highest speeds possible, with lightweight and heavy stocks—27-pound offset to 110 pound cover—without any hitches or glitches. Near-line, the company placed two Roll-to-Fold lines comprising a Standard Horizon AF-566 Digital, in-line with a Standard Hunkeler UW6 Unwinder, FM6 Folder/Merger, and a CS6-II Rotary Double Cutter. The systems produce complex variable-data direct mail pieces in a single pass using the printed rolls coming off the Ricoh presses. Kolva says the configuration allows for a virtually endless combination of folds required in direct mail work. Based on the productivity of the two current lines, “We’re now looking to add a third,” Kolva reveals. “Our digital equipment output is much higher than we initially anticipated—both in the volume of work we’re asked to do, and the production speeds we reach while doing that work. And one of the reasons why we invested in this equipment is so that we can produce higher volumes and higher quality,” he adds. The executive team at Action Mailers isn’t resting on the laurels of those investments, however. “We’re now taking a look at all of the other technologies that Standard Finishing Systems offers, and trying to make some decisions based on where we see our business going and growing from here,” Kolva says. “One of the things I tell visitors when they come for a tour and see the equipment is: There’s a reason why top printer manufacturers show Standard Hunkeler and Standard Horizon equipment with their presses. And that reason is 100-percent reliability.” PRemove Complexities from Your Process resstek (Booth 2640) is featuring eco-friendly imaging and plate technologies engineered to remove complexities from the print production process, raise productivity, increase profits, and deliver the highest quality offset output. Live in-booth demos include: • On-press direct imaging with the chemistry-free fully automated Presstek 52DI digital offset press. Available brand new and Certified Pre-Owned, Presstek’s waterless 4- to-6-color DI digital offset presses feature on-press media imaging, no click charges, and enable greater profitability on jobs between 500 and 20,000 impressions. • Streamlined metal platemaking on the chemistry-free Vector FL52 thermal Computer-to-Plate system • The Presstek JT plate being imaged on an all-in-one CTP system/ standard inkjet printer. Also, Presstek is introducing the all new GemPlate, a true chemistry free, develop-on-press thermal plate. Once imaged, GemPlate is mounted directly on press where fountain solution and ink remove the plate’s unexposed areas, leaving the polymerized, hardened, exposed ink-receptive image areas unaffected. 38 September 13, 2015 | GRAPH EXPO Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com
GraphExpo Show Daily Day 1
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