Jade Adds Specialist Digital Finishing

Further to the recent announcement regarding its first move into digital print production with the purchase of an HP Indigo press 3500, Jade Press Ltd, Leeds, has detailed the purchase of specialist finishing equipment for its digital department. The Morgana products were also purchased from Digital People UK Ltd, Chessington, Surrey, the company that supplied the Indigo machine.

Commenting on the decision to add a Morgana Documaster and Morgana CardXtra for the finishing of its digital output, Darren Shepherd, Managing Director of Jade Press, said: “The Morgana equipment was purchased to provide creasing, folding and stitching capabilities for the shorter runs typically produced by digital. Our research, prior to the purchase, suggested that some local suppliers seemed to be completing digital work by hand producing very poor finished results, poor folds , cracked spines, and inaccurate stitching. In our opinion, adding a professional finish to a digitally produced job is just as important as getting the print end of the work right.

“The Morgana kit is producing superb quality, and we have also included the Square Back option to create a square spine on booklets with higher page counts. This has been so popular with customers that we have even finished a few litho jobs with the Morgana kit to achieve the square spine.

“These units are very important additions to the investment as it means we have created a high quality digital finishing solution, where delivery time is not compromised by the volume of litho work that we are working on.

Established in 1973, Jade Press has built a reputation for quality, reliability, honesty and integrity – all the values that a family owned business can ensure are continued to be delivered. The company works in partnership with UK and international clients, providing the best solutions for their general commercial printing requirements. Print advice is based on a wealth of experience from a dedicated team capable of delivering a wide range of solutions.

Morgana DocuMaster

The JDF-ready Morgana DocuMaster is a complete digital finishing system which provides near-line bookletmaking for printers producing pre-collated sets from digital print engines. Because it creases sheets as part of the feeding and bookletmaking operation it dispenses with the need for removing sheets that need creasing, creasing them and then re-collating the set. In addition to producing quality booklets with a perfect bound appearance, the unit will also act as a stand-alone creaser for 4pp documents and handles perforating as well.

The DocuMaster will handle variable data material, sending and retrieving data via a web browser, ready to be integrated into a complete workflow and MIS package. It is designed to work with any existing system without the need for any additional software.

The DocuMaster takes a maximum sheet size of 630 x 330mm and handles weights in excess of 350gsm. It has a programming facility that allows 9 repeat jobs to be stored and instantly retrieved.

Morgana CardXtra

In contrast to the multi-functional DocuMaster the Morgana CardXtra is a highly specialised unit designed specifically to produce business cards simply, quickly and cost effectively. It offers several programmes to store jobs for repeat work and optional cutters for other work, such as postcards, are available.

The suction-feed CardXtra is fast to set up, takes A3 sheets up to 325gsm and produces 140 business cards a minute. It offers huge savings over conventional methods of business card production.

Commenting on the installation for Digital People, Jerry Widdowson, Chairman, said: “Jade Press is a high-quality litho printer that can see real opportunity by expanding into the digital printing sector. Darren and the team can appreciate the need for a complete solution with regard to digital, and it was important for them to make the additional investment in finishing equipment in order to provide the company with a department that could produce work regardless of what is being produced by the litho side of the business.”

For further information on Jade Press call 0113 248 0929 or visit the www.jadeprint.com web site. For further details about Digital People call 0845 130 1445 or visit the www.thedigitalpeople.com web site.

Ryobi DI Elected Winner by Kall Kwik Horsham

Ryobi's Direct Imaging Press

Kall Kwik Horsham has declared its recent purchase of a Ryobi 3404X-DI press to be a real winner following a significant vote in its favour from political party UKIP.

A local UK Independence Party (UKIP) representative recently approached the high street based franchise to produce some posters. After a swift and cost effective job was produced, further discussions took place with party leaders, and an agreement was reached for Kall Kwik Horsham to produce the political group’s publicity material for the whole of the UK during the recent local and European elections. An ongoing relationship is now being forged.

“The Ryobi 3404X-DI was only installed by Apex Digital Graphics at the beginning of May,” said Zoe Glavin of Kall Kwik Horsham. “It took a couple of weeks for training and for us to get ourselves used to the press, and then we were producing election material for UKIP at all hours of the day! The new press is so quick – we just couldn’t have produced this volume of work without it. We were downloading files into the press straight from the customer’s e-mail, and then taking the printed sheets from the press to the guillotine for trimming and packing. The waterless inking system of the DI meant that we didn’t have to wait for sheets to dry – they are dry to the touch when they come off the press.” The performance of the press has enabled Kall Kwik Horsham to out-perform most other UK Kall Kwik businesses, according to recent monthly production statistics.

With regard to the selection of a DI press, which has joined an traditional two-colour Ryobi offset press, partner George Glavin added, “We typically handle run lengths from 500 through to 5,000, but our most regular requirement is for runs of 1,000 or 2,000 prints. This work is ideal for the DI style of press. Our customers are also very demanding with regard to turnaround time, and the waterless printing system on the DI is ideal from this perspective. The other important factor in favour of the DI is its footprint. We are in a high street location – which suits our business very well – but space is at a premium. To be able to have platemaking and printing in one compact unit is ideal for us.

“Our press operator thinks the machine is absolutely fantastic,” added George Glavin. “Four-colour images are in perfect register from sheet one.”

Kall Kwik Horsham employs a team of six, and has been in the hands of Zoe and George Glavin for two years. The Kall Kwik Horsham business itself has been running for some 20 years and still benefits from a high street location.

With regard to the support provided by Apex Digital Graphics, Zoe Glavin has nothing but praise: “Apex have been fantastic right the way through the purchasing process. They are a nice company to deal with. We purchase all of our supplies through them now, and it is such a pleasure to be able to actually speak to a person when you phone, rather than an automated answering service!”

Ryobi 3404X-DI

The 3404X-DI provides for A3-sized, portrait format, four-colour digital offset printing, and feature on-press imaging and waterless printing. The machines incorporates the ProFire Excel imaging system, which uses a 16-micron laser spot size, imaging at 2540 dots per inch. This resolution makes the 3404X-DI capable of supporting FM screening and conventional screening up to 300 lines per inch (120 l/cm).

As an aid to further automation, 3404X-DI also features an enhanced Ryobi Program Inking system. This automatically selects the conversion curve for each colour according to the image area ratio calculated from pre-press data. The ink-key settings, ink fountain roller speed, and the number of contacts by the ink doctor roller are all controlled via information from the conversion curves, assuring optimum inking throughout the run. The system is claimed to provide highly accurate inking from start-up, and thus minimal waste.

Commenting on the installation for Apex Digital Graphics, Neil Handforth, Sales and Marketing Director, said: “The requirements at Kall Kwik Horsham suited the DI’s capabilities very well. A typical run length of 1,000 to 2,000 copies, quick handling of the sheets for fast turnaround, and a limited amount of space – an ideal set of demands for a DI press. The press has already shown it capabilities under pressure during its first few weeks with the fast and efficient production of time-sensitive election materials. This illustrates very well the sort of performance that such a machine is capable of.”

Apex Digital Graphics can be contacted on 01442 235 236 or via the www.apexdigital.co.uk web site.

For further information on Kall Kwik Horsham call 01403 211 511.

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New AniCAM Set to Optimise Press Up-Time

Troika Systems Limited, Highworth, a UK company at the forefront of innovative development for print-based quality control products, has announced the release of a significant enhancement to its AniCAM product, an in-depth measurement tool for anilox rolls used on narrow and wide web and corrugated flexo presses.

Good anilox roll maintenance, measurement and management lies at the heart of what flexo printers require to ensure the minimum of press downtime. To date there has been no really effective product to help printers to solve these issues. “Most flexo printers know that good anilox measurement and management is the logical move towards a healthier balance sheet,” said Phil Hall. “Poor management of a printer’s anilox inventory is a guaranteed way to increase press downtime. A significant percentage of print problems in the flexo sector are down to anilox roll issues, and with press time costing typically 400 Euro’s per hour, it doesn’t take too many anilox problems causing density variations or job re-runs to show how cost effective an investment in anilox measurement and management with an AniCAM can be.”

The latest enhancement has led to the company releasing two versions of the specialist camera-based unit, AniCAM-P and AniCAM-M. The two new variants are targeted at specific markets – AniCAM-P for flexographic print producers and AniCAM-M for anilox roll manufacturers. “Our research and our experiences with the first generation of AniCAM product has shown us that the requirements of anilox manufacturers differ slightly from printers needs,” said Phil Hall, Managing Director of Troika Systems.

With regard to the anilox roll manufacturers, Troika already has 19 of the 40+ suppliers worldwide using its AniCAM products. The new AniCAM-M product provides many additional features, including the ability to read more complex engravings such as trihelical, emerald and HVP, as well as “Press-O-Film” aluminium foil cell profiling materials.

No Worldwide Standard

“Perhaps the most significant enhancement for manufacturers, however, is our ability to be compatible with their current system of measurement,” states Phil Hall. To explain this statement one needs to appreciate that there is no universal system for measuring anilox rolls. Manufacturers have historically developed their own standards. Phil Hall explains further: “As the number of anilox manufacturers grew over time, so anilox measurement evolved. Each manufacturer adopted the method of measurement they knew best and could afford. Consequently there is often a large difference in ink released from rolls from different manufacturers, despite the rolls being marked up as having the same volume.”

Troika conducted its own research into these issues back in 2007. It took an anilox roll with 12 bands (from 40 lpcm – 480 lpcm) to 15 anilox manufacturers in Europe and North America where the manufactures were asked to measure the bands using their standard method of measurement. “The results were stunning. We found the minimum variation on one of the bands was 27% and the most extreme band had a 141% volume variation,” explains Phil Hall. “This makes life particularly difficult for the manufacturer of anilox volume measurement tools, as each anilox manufacturer will, of course, defend its own standard of measurement and will not want to change the standard which they may have used over the past 5, 10 or 15 years. Our solution is to calibrate the new AniCAM-M to translate readings to any manufacturer’s standard. This means that roll suppliers can either translate AniCAM readings to their own internal system, or use our standard readings. This will help us to overcome a major objection.”

AniCAM-P for Printers

Effective anilox roll management has the potential to save a flexo printer a significant amount of press downtime. Measuring and archiving volume readings for each roll helps to monitor cleaning issues as well as wear of the roll – both major causes of press downtime. By reducing machine downtime by just 2% the owner of three presses running double-day shift could save over €300,000 over a three year period – significantly more than the €10,350 investment that would be required to purchase the AniCAM-P.

“We currently have in excess of 150 installations of our original AniCAM products, and believe that our new enhanced system will appeal to a good number of new customers,” said Phil Hall. “The important thing for the printer is to take the guesswork out of problem situations. If you know that the anilox is doing what it should do, then that reduces the potential problem areas within the press significantly. Certainly printers that are already using the original AniCAM product appreciate the savings that they have been able to make, and the more efficient printing service that they have been able to provide for their customers.”

Wider Market

Whilst AniCAM-P will be targeted initially at the flexographic printing sector, many lithographic printers may also find a need for this solution. The majority of high-performance coating units on litho presses are based on a flexo printing system. Printings with a keen eye for the quality and consistency of coating should be measuring their anilox rolls. In addition to this a number of recent press introductions, including the Heidelberg Anicolor and KBA’s Cortina, Karat and Rapida G machines, incorporate anilox rollers within their inking system. “Such developments need a quality control solution, and AniCAM-P offers the ability to measure the important detail on such machines,” concluded Phil Hall.

For further information on Troika Systems quality control products visit the www.troika-systems.com web site.

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Benson Group Triumphs at Profit Track 100 Awards Dinner

Andrew Benson receives the award

Following its inclusion in The Sunday Times “Profit Track 100” listing back in April of this year, Benson Group celebrated again this week when the Bardon, Leicestershire company was named the Customer Service Company of the Year at the Profit Track 100 awards night.

The invitation-only awards event for the owners and directors of companies featured in the latest Profit Track 100 table took place on June 16^th at The Dorchester in London. The annual Profit Track 100 league table, now in its tenth year, ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits over the last three years of companies’ latest available audited accounts. This year’s listing featured just one packaging company, with Benson Group entering the list at number 78.

Speakers included Charles Dunstone, chief executive officer of Carphone Warehouse, which featured on the very first Profit Track 100 ten years ago, and Rt Hon Ken Clarke QC MP, the Shadow Business Secretary.

The awards dinner honoured companies on the latest league table, who each received a personalised certificate. Sponsors also presented a number of special awards ranging from the award for best management team to the value creation award.

Commenting on the presentation of the award, Mark Kerridge, Managing Director of Benson Group, said: “Whilst it was a great pleasure for us to receive independent recognition from such a well respected source as The Sunday Times of our successful growth during the last three years by appearing in the Profit Track 100 league table, the award came as a complete surprise. It is of course very much down to our customer service team, but we also have to recognise the hard work put in by everyone involved in Benson Group. Owners, managers, and shop floor staff all make vital contributions every single day to the success of the company.”

Whilst astute acquisitions have helped to boost the overall figures for the group, it is the strong focus on efficiency that has created the true success.

Executive Chairman, Andrew Benson, added: “What a most enjoyable evening! I am especially pleased that our strong focus on customer service has been recognised by such a valued and independent source as The Sunday Times.”

In the three years under review for the latest listing, profits at Benson Group had risen from £1.173 million to £4.355 million, giving an annual profit growth of 54.71%. The company, founded back in 1920, currently employs some 880 personnel across four production sites. The Sunday Times summarised Benson Group’s activity as supplying 5 million pieces of sustainable packaging a day.

This latest success for Benson Group follows hard-on-the-heels of the company’s triumph at the UK Packaging Awards in November of last year, where it won both Packaging Company of the Year and the Cartonboard Packaging Award in a fabulous double.

About Benson Group

Benson Group, the Packaging Company of the Year for 2008, is the UK’s leading privately owned printed carton supplier, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Headquarters are in Bardon, Leicestershire, where the company owns 130,000 sq ft of production and warehouse space. Benson Group achieves annual sales in excess of £93 million. Food manufacturers are the main customers at Bardon and for the company’s two North East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead. These two sites have a combined total of 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space. The fourth site in Crewe, Medica Packaging, serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. It has 73,000 sq ft of manufacturing, warehouse and office space. Since 2000, investment in new plant and equipment across the four sites totals in excess of £25 million. The company recently announced details of the acquisition of various trading assets of Glasgow-based packaging company Cameron Linn.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include GlaxoSmithKline, Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Bakkavör, Samworth Brothers, and leading supermarket chains.

For further information on the Benson Group visit the www.bensongroup.co.uk web site.

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Ministerial Visit to Rhyl-based Borble

Rhyl-based self-adhesive label specialist, Borble, was visited by Welsh Deputy First Minister and Minister for Economy and Transport Ieuan Wyn Jones on Thursday, June 11. The company installed its second Xeikon digital label press earlier this year – the UK’s first Xeikon 3300.

The Welsh Assembly Government supported these developments with a £75,000 AIG/SIF grant for the new printing machine.  The company currently employ a total staff of 11 full time and are now in their fifth year of operation.

Ieuan Wyn Jones said: “It is good to see a company which is investing in leading edge technology, training staff in new skills and serving other businesses in the Welsh economy.  I understand the company have printed over 30,000 different designs including brand labels for food packaging, cheese producers, chemical manufacturers and the cosmetics industry.”

A new start-up business back in March 2005, Borble specialises in digital label and printed wallpaper border production (the name Borble came from an amalgamation of the words border and label, the markets that the company was designed to serve). The business has already grown past its £1.2 million turnover for 2008, and is running its two Xeikon presses on double-day shifts.

Borble Director Barry Griffiths was delighted for his company to be the subject of a ministerial visit: “It was a great pleasure for us to be able to show off our business to Mr Wyn Jones and he found the visit very interesting. In addition to the production facilities we were able to show him our recently added web-based ordering system, which has grown significantly in recent months.”

The new web-to-print based system at Borble, which can be found at the www.labelsprint.com address, provides visitors with the ability to obtain a quote or place an order in three easy steps. The password protected customer area of the site allows users to archive and manage files so that only current designs are visible. Reprints of these labels can be ordered online quickly and easily.

Some 50% of Borble’s label business is from trade accounts. “Flexo printers just cannot match digital for cost when it comes to short run work,” explains Barry Griffiths. “Because we have very little in the way of set-up costs we are always competitive where low quantities are required. Because no plates are required we can also very quickly produce a press-proof for a customer, using the exact colours and stock of the final job. Press-proofs are a tremendous advantage – the customer can see exactly how the job will look on the selected substrate.” Other key markets for the company include chemical, food, cosmetics, industrial and promotional labels.

The five-unit Xeikon 3300 features the ability to print standard four-colour process along with an opaque white, a special colour, or a security toner. It will print at up to 19.2 meters per minute, with a monthly duty cycle of up to 700,000 meters. Imaging width is up to 322mm, and the machine can print on materials from as light as 40 gsm right through to 350 gsm. The dry toner electrophotography imaging process enables the use of conventional substrates without coating or pre-treatment. As with the Xeikon 330, the new machine has been supplied complete with its own inline finishing station via Xeikon’s relationship with Danish equipment supplier GM.

For further information on Punch Graphix and Xeikon e-mail infouk@punchgraphix.com or visit the www.xeikon.com web site.

For more details on Borble call 01745 360159 or visit the www.labelsprint.com web site.

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First Lamination Glue Exports for Solutions

Solutions, Aylesford: lamination glue specialists

Solutions, Aylesford, Kent, an adhesive manufacturing business wholly owned by Reflections, the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, has announced details regarding the first export orders for its lamination glue product.

The water-based adhesive specifically formulated for the purposes of lamination has been gradually increasing its UK business since the creation of the company some two-and-a-half years’ ago. The weak exchange rate has recently helped to up opportunities for sales of the product into international markets. The first two export orders have recently been despatched to Brazil and to Germany. Luke Hastings, Managing Director of Reflections, said: “Changes in the currency markets have now made UK product very attractive to overseas businesses. We are currently in discussions with a number of potential distributors for our products in leading markets, but welcome further enquiries from both users and suppliers worldwide.”

Solutions is wholly focused on the provision of glue products for laminating, meaning that the company can be very responsive to urgent requirements, and even bespoke products. “We understand laminating,” explains Luke Hastings. “That means for customers that need a specific glue formulation, for work that is to be embossed for example, can place orders with us for a fast delivery. We can react quickly and positively to provide a product that meets a particular demand.”

Solutions is already believed to be the largest UK producer of lamination glue following the withdrawal from the market of Akzo Nobel and H B Fuller during 2008.

Printers, packaging specialists and international dealers seeking further information on lamination glue products from Solutions should call Tony Scott, Adhesive Technician and Plant Manager on 01622 718 862 or e-mail tony@solutionstoday.co.uk for details.

About Reflections

Reflections the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, with three production centres in London, Essex and Kent. The services provided by Reflections to the print trade include: laminating, overall UV varnishing, spot UV, foil blocking, die-cutting and creasing along with many other more specialised effects.

The wide range of speciality finishes available from Reflections include MicroMotion, a unique screen printing process that provides colour shifts and subtle sparkling of the image when the final print is angled by the viewer. Suitable for application to virtually any stock, MicroMotion is just one of the patented special finishes available from Reflections.

The company provides the highest level of quality alongside a fast and reliable service to meet the needs of today’s modern print environment.

For further views of Reflections visit the www.reflections.co.uk web site, or call 0208 305 6333.

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StudioRIP Develops Screen Printing Breakthrough

UK-based independent software RIP provider StudioRIP UK Limited, Leighton Buzzard, has announced details of a new variant of its recently released Version 3.0 StudioRIP product that has been specifically designed for the screen printing sector.

Linked with this development is a European distribution agreement with Italian screen printing specialist Grafco srl. The product, engineered by the StudioRIP team, will be branded by Grafco as Xerio RIP.

The new Xerio RIP product is already being described by screen printing experts as the “missing link” that will enable screen printers to properly utilise the potential of stochastic screening.

At the heart of Xerio RIP, the StudioRIP software RIP is compatible with PostScript Level 3 and PDF 1.6, and is designed for high performance imaging tasks, making it suitable for interfacing to a wide range of computer-to-plate systems, imagesetters, inkjet and laser printers.

“Our friends at Grafco in Italy – specialists in the screen printing market – saw StudioRIP in action and liked the way that the product worked. They asked if we could create a version for them specifically tailored to the needs of the screen printing market, including taking mesh frequencies into account as well as standard screen frequencies, and we have developed an OEM product for them. Xerio RIP incorporates Grafco’s screen printing knowledge with our RIP building knowledge,” said Andy Hemmings, Sales Director of StudioRIP UK.

Three versions of the Xerio RIP software will be available: START, PRO and MASTER.

Grafco, based in Treviso, Italy, is well known throughout Europe as a leading supplier of ink and equipment for silk screening onto textiles. Grafco srl will be appointing sub-dealers for the Xerio RIP product throughout Europe. Prospective UK representatives can either contact Grafco direct, via the www.grafco.it web site, or call StudioRIP directly on 01759 304 333.

Summary of StudioRIP Product:

Why Does the World Need Another RIP?

Originally designed as a low cost solution to meet the needs of the second-hand imagesetter market, StudioRIP has grown to become a highly suitable alternative to mainstream RIP products for most output requirements, including computer-to-plate, all formats of imagesetter, inkjet and laser printers. Still a cost effective product, StudioRIP also offers highly productive throughput comparable with all of the competition.

One significant advantage offered by StudioRIP over the majority of competing software RIP products is the ability to include many workflow operations within the RIP architecture. Functions such as imposition and trapping can be included within StudioRIP, rather than users having to purchase separate software packages, usually at significant extra cost. StudioRIP is also “flexo friendly” with flexographic screening, distortion, and imposition features optionally available.

One of the most exciting and unique features of the product is that it can be configured around a user’s needs, with the optional inclusion of post-RIP imposition, in-RIP trapping, ink duct control software, second order stochastic screening (hybrid AM screening included as standard), TIFF output, multiple print engine output, and digital proofing output. StudioRIP Client software can provide for remote operation of all RIP functions from any PC or Mac workstation.

StudioRIP’s “Smart Screening” offers customers the very latest in hybrid screening techniques – again, without the need to buy highly priced “extra’s”. Features of the AM screening package include user selectable screen angles, and smooth gradients via the combination of 4,096 shades of grey and low pass filtering.

StudioRIP 3.0 also includes a flexographic option, which is capable of providing 37.5 degree angles, flexo dot, dot gain, and dispro compensations. The software also provides a seamless option for flexographic sleeve production.

Pre-press experts who would like to examine and test the performance and features of StudioRIP can download a free “demo” system of Version 3.0 by visiting the www.studiorip.co.uk web site.

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