Day2_Pg14

GraphExpo Show Daily September 14 2015

Komori Joins Forces with Screen It’s a pretty exciting time to be in print,” says Jackie Hudmon, Senior Vice President of Sales for Komori America Corporation (Booth 1248). At a press conference Sunday morning, Komori announced that Ontario’s Ellis Packaging Group will be the first North American installation of the Lithrone GX40, and that SG360° has been chosen as the first U.S. beta site for Komori’s highly anticipated Impremia IS29 inkjet press. But the major announcement, made by Kosh Miyao, Komori President and COO, was that Komori and Screen Americas have entered into a strategic selling agreement that essentially unites the two companies’ sales forces. Under the terms of this agreement, Komori will be the sole U.S. distributor of the new Truepress Jet520HD, Screen’s high-speed continuous-feed inkjet press. “The two companies are very similar in philosophy, and we have worked together for many years on the prepress and the software side of ( L to R) Kentaro Yamane, Akihiro Fujii, Yoji Otsuka, Katsuhiko Aoki, Eiji Kajita, Meishi Tsuya, Kazuyoshi “Kosh” Miyao, Eiji (A.J.) Kakiuchi the business,” says Miyao. “We used to be friends, now we’re family.” While the selling agreement is currently focused on the Truepress Jet 520HD, the two companies will pursue joint marketing opportunities for all Komori and Screen products. “This is a key component to our transformation process,” says Miyao. “This will help both of our organizations grow market share faster and more efficiently.” Another part of that transformation includes becoming a “print engineering service provider” (PESP) and transitioning to a more solution selling approach. This means having,” says Hudmon, “the right products, the right people, and the right processes in place. In order to have the “right products,” Komori is looking to expand the packaging and software lines. This is already in evidence with the IS29 coming stateside in October and the Screen agreement. “Inkjet is the future,” says Hudmon. “We have come out of the fog of the Great Recession and we’re a much stronger company than we’ve ever been before,” she says. “We’re much more interested in changing the face of print.” Robert Rath Executive Vice President, Komori America Jacki Hudmon Senior Vice President, Sales, Komori America Kazuyoshi “Kosh” Miyao President and COO, Komori America Michael E. Fox President, Screen Americas data printing and variable data foiling, but permits Kevin Abergel job-based Vice President Sales c u s tomi - and Marketing zation and MGI Digital Technology sheet-based personalization. And it is compatible with hundreds of products from major foil makers. Layered application of foil over foil and toner over foil for color variations limited only by the imagination are among the multiple rolland MGI Announces Printing Awith “Bling” t MGI Digital Technology’s (Booth 3013) Sunday morning press conference at GRAPH EXPO 15, Vice President of Sales and Engineering Kevin Abergel stated the company’s intention to change printers’ approach to the industry. “With MGI’s help, they will be printing with bling,” Abergel asserted. The company is being rechristened from MGI Digital Graphic Technology to its new name, MGI Digital Technology. The rebranding reflects MGI’s new broader capabilities, which include the result of recent company acquisitions. Abergel also noted that the company’s iFOIL technology is the recipient of the 2015 Intertech Technology Award for Innovative Excellence. He reported that the company had previously won the 2013 Intertech Technology Award for its MGI JETVarnish 3D. The result is a double award-winning digital solution. MGI used that solution to create 20,000 tip-on cover cards for the 2015 GRAPH EXPO Show Directory. The project was done in partnership with Mohawk Fine Papers (Booth 3002c), KDX America, and API Foils, along with the Printing Impressions Group, which publishes the show directory for GRAPH EXPO. Every card was printed with a personalized name on the MGI Meteor DP8700 X1+ with variable data (VDP). They then enhanced the JETvarnish 3D and iFOIL with Variable Data Finishing (VDF) techniques. The iFOIL T and Meteor Press combo not only allows for both variable pass options available. The iFOIL provides toner-based variable data foiling on hundreds of substrates. Those substrates include most commercial papers, matte and glossy laminated surfaces, sheets with or without aqueous coating, layered paper, plastic, PVC and other coated materials. In an earlier statement, Abergel noted, “This project demonstrates our VDP production press & VDF production finishing capabilities to industry professionals looking to expand their businesses with profitable services that attract new customers. Our 3D spot UV and embossed foiling effects can dramatically add value, impact and excitement to good designs and printed output.” Four different cover cards were printed featuring different decorative 3D textures and embossed foil highlights. In addition, every card was printed with a personalized name on the MGI Meteor DP8700 Xl+ with variable data (VDP) and enhanced on the JETvarnish 3D & iFOIL with Variable Data Finishing (VDF) techniques. Reliability and Service Keys to RSuccess for RICOH Customers ICOH hosted a panel Sunday morning of customer companies that represent a cross-section of the industry. Sterling, VA’s GAM Graphics and Marketing is a family-owned company that started in offset 40 years ago, but in the last three to four years has transitioned to 100% digital printing with a series of RICOH presses, starting with the C900. The company served as a beta site for the C7110, and liked it so much that it bought one. Nathaniel Grant, President of GAM, loved the five-color capabilities of the C7110. “We’ve been able to market the clear and the white inks, and the substrates it’s able to run are unbelievable,” said Grant. He also cited the increasing quality of the machines. “We noticed over the seven- or eight-year period, as RICOH has come out with new products, they’ve enhanced them so much that our service calls have gone far down.” MGX Copy is a four-year-old printing company based in San Diego that is 100% digital, 100% web-to-print, and has an average employee age of 26. In fact, 30% to 40% of the staff have a software engineering background. “No one knows how to run an offset press,” said Lawrence Chou, MGX Founder and CEO. Chou said that his business model was based on that of Southwest Airlines. Specifically, he said, Southwest’s use of only one type of airplane, the Boeing 737. “When we wanted to build this company, we said, ‘We need a Boeing 737,’” said Chou. Or, that is, a fleet of them, so that all the operators and mechanics know how to work on the machines, solve problems, keep them running and, if one goes down, another one can be substituted as needed. The more he researched it, the more convinced he became that the RICOH C9110 was MGX Copy’s Boeing 737. “The 9110 does 400 gsm, has an extremely straight paper path, the solids are beautiful, the gradients are beautiful, and it runs at exceptionally fast speeds,” Chou said. The company has four 9110s and runs an average of 750,000 12x18 clicks every month. MGX Copy has grown, Chou said, 580% over a three-year period, and has found that RICOH has been a valuable partner in helping the company scale up. “We watched RICOH go from trying to get into the production print marketplace to really understanding how to support it,” he added. The third customer was the self-described “old-school litho guy,” Bob Dahlke, Jr., Principal of Chicago’s VisoGraphics. Founded in 1946, the Dahlke family has owned Viso- Graphics since 1979, and until six or seven years ago was 0% digital. The company began its relationship with RICOH with the purchase of the C901 and, said Dahlke, “soon went beyond its duty cycle.” The company acquired a C9110, which was installed less than a month ago. Dahlke has already run 500,000 impressions on it. A recent project for a major client involving 1.2 million pieces comprising 94 different versions needed to be split between an 8-color Heidelberg press and the C9110—which has been in for only four days. He laid the offset print, the digital print, and an Epson proof side-by-side and, said Dahlke, “‘My customer said, ‘I can’t tell the difference.’” 14 September 14, 2015 | GRAPH EXPO Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com


GraphExpo Show Daily September 14 2015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above