Page 80 - Print 21 Magazine Sep-Oct 2018

Wide format
Mimaki ID Cut slashes labour time
Mimaki’s stand featured a range of roll-to-roll and flatbed products for sign and display, as well as flatbed UV for promotional products. According to Brad Creighton, national marketing
Ready to roll: Russell Cavenagh, Mutoh
Mutoh ready to roll
Mutoh drew in customers with the debut
of its new ValueJet 1638UR roll-to-roll UV inkjet printer, which prints at 23 square metres per hour and is priced at around $30,000. “We have already got a lot of interest in it, because it’s an aggressively- priced machine,” said Russell Cavenagh, general manager of Mutoh. “It comes ready to roll. We have sold the first couple already, and they haven’t even arrived in the country.”
The stand featured high-quality backlit displays printed on the 1638UR, which Cavenagh said impressed the stand builders as much as the customers.
ID Cut: Brad Creighton (right) and Iman Monem, on the Mimaki booth
manager, the focus of the stand was on one main feature, shared across its signage equipment.
“It is called ID Cut. We create an identification code that can be used to cut on a lot of different platforms,” he said.
ID Cut is built into a broad spectrum of Mimaki products, including the UCJV series of UV-LED printer/cutters. “It enables immediate printing, immediate post-production benefits – there’s no waiting for drying, outgassing or curing,” said Creighton. “You can apply the graphic immediately, laminate immediately, and cut into it immediately.”
ID Cut also enables batch cutting, says Creighton. “We can send lots of prints with cut data down to the printer,” he said. “That data
is stored, you can take the product out and laminate it if you want, then put it back in. It will register those ID codes and autonomously grab the data from our software. That takes a lot of labour out of the converter’s hands.”
Kissel + Wolf sell Mutoh to CMC Gold
Kissel + Wolf supplies equipment for digital, offset and screen printing across three brands. At its stand, Martin Stacher, managing director, showed off a Mutoh ValueJet 626UF flatbed UV printer, sold to CMC Gold in Victoria. “We actually sold this a couple of days before Visual Impact, but we wanted to show it here because we are excited we did,” he said.
Sold: Kissel + Wolf Mutoh to CMC Gold
Orafol gives snapshot
German company Orafol is the world's biggest manufacturer of computer cut coloured films, and the only one of the big suppliers to go direct to market, with visitors to Visual Impact gaining a snapshot of the sheer scale of the company and its huge product range. Greg Nichols, managing director of Orafol in Australia says, “The main factory in Germany is 270,000sqm, the equivalent of 41 football fields. The company is coming out with new products all the time, and with our Australian sales and marketing staff having some 300 years experience between them local sign, display and commercial printers getting into wide format can be assured that there is no better partner.”
Agfa shows flatbed and hybrid printers
Agfa showcased two wide-format inkjet printers on its stand: the Annapurna 1650i hybrid machine, and the flatbed FB2540. Michael Culver, inkjet manager for Oceania, says that the printers meet a clear need in Australia and New Zealand. “Our market requires two types of solutions: true flatbed, and hybrid. Both of the new printers have been getting plenty of interest as they provide the ideal solution, printers are seeing that for themselves at the show,” he said.
Fuji Xerox looks broader
At the Fuji Xerox stand, staff showed off a pair of roll-to-roll printers, one from Fujifilm and the other from Epson – but both were mostly covered up. According to Paul Budgen, national portfolio manager for wide format and 3D
at Fuji Xerox, this was part of a clean sheet approach to engaging with customers. “Too often we fall into the trap of just talking speeds and feeds with customers, whereas there are
a number of different elements that, if we include those into the mix, can show how our customers can make a lot more money,” he said.
Graphic Art Mart wins 3D
Dominating the Graphic Art Mart stand was a full-size 3D statue of a rugby player, printed on Massivit 3D equipment. “We have just signed an exclusive dealership arrangement with Massivit, so we have our 1.8-metre rugby player here to show off the capabilities of the 3D printers,” said Jessica Tailby, product marketing manager. “He has generated a lot of interest for us.”
OKI colours stretching
OKI Data Australia exhibited two of its roll-to-roll ColorPainter devices: the popular M64s and the H103.4. According to Renato Locano, wide-format technical support specialist, ink density and durability are two key advantages for OKI printers.
Pozitivebreaking bottleneck
The Pozitive stand highlighted a variety of print finishing solutions, including flatbed cutting tables from Summa, which boost production, says managing director Philip Trumble. “When you no longer have staff standing around for hours doing menial trimming and cutting tasks, then your productivity is a lot higher and your costs come down, that is the benefit of automation,” he said.
Spicers offering full range
Spicers distributes a range of hardware solutions for sign and display, including Roland and Mimaki printers, and finishing equipment from companies including the likes of Neolt and Rollsroller. These were on show at its stand, with media from 3M.
Jetmark offers price point
Jetmark had the Vulcan 3.2m roll-to-roll LED UV printer on the stand, with the company also importing the 5m version. Both are made in India, and have a price point that may be compelling for some print business owners when lined up against the big brand grand format printers, the Vulcan 3.2m comes in at around $170,000. 21
80 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018