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Xaar’s latest printhead technology, the Xaar 1002 family, uses the company’s TF technology that recirculates the ink past the back of the nozzle. types of printing are not entirely relevant to commercial printers. Or are they? “The applications not only for production print will expand beyond books, marketing materials, and direct mail, as will the ability to do plastics to increase applications in packaging,” said Ricoh’s Promis. “What we can do in inkjet right now is kind of an open field.” Packaging is the most conspicuous point of overlap between commercial printing and what we can think of as industrial printing, or printing that is part of the manufacturing of a part or product. Some of the bigname inkjet printing equipment vendors are introducing packaging presses, and all these new applications have been enabled by advancements in what can be pumped through printheads. For example, we often speak of “labels and packaging” in the same breath, but new developments are working at removing the label from the equation. “From the packaging side of things, labels is a market that we’ve been in for a number of years,” said Mark Alexander, Director of Marketing for Xaar. “One of the more interesting recent developments is direct-to-shape printing. You eliminate the label and print directly onto the bottle, or plastic, glass, or metal.” Direct-to-shape printing—think of things like the jug of laundry detergent that has all the “label” content printed right on the plastic—has traditionally been the purview of analog processes like pad or screen printing, but more brand owners are looking at ways of printing these materials digitally. And if you have been at all following industry trends for the last decade or more, you can pretty easily guess why. “It’s really opening the brand owners’ minds to the creative aspects of engaging with their customers through the packaging in a much more variable-data and real-time perspective,” said Alexander. “Putting items onto the bottles that will be much more up-to-date and relevant to the people that are buying the product. It’s an exciting market.” Another hot area that Xaar has been actively pursuing is printing on ceramics. It may come as a surprise to many that inkjet printing on ceramic tiles, said Alexander, is actually much more prevalent than, say, inkjet printed labels. “Since 2008, 2009, we’ve seen almost 50-percent conversion on a global basis of more and more tile production,” he said. “That’s massive compared to the level Dye-based or pigment? No matter what type of digital inkjet press you run, our answer is yes. With options developed specifically for both dye-based and pigment-based inks, International Paper has new roll sizes in stock to make your press shine, along with additional sizes and basis weights available on a making basis. Get tips for growing your inkjet digital printing business, get specs on all our digital inkjet papers and learn a little about the power of color at www.ColorIsForever.com. ©2015 International Paper Company. All rights reserved. Accent Opaque is a registered trademark of International Paper Company. Accent® Opaque Williamsburg Digital Inkjet Paper For more information, visit MyPRINTResource.com/10071444 MyPRINTResource.com Inkjet’s Age | June 2015 15


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