News

Zhengzhou New Century Digital Print Technology (New Century) is the latest OEM partner to develop and launch wide-format inkjet printers based on the Xaar 1201 Thin Film piezo printhead. It is introducing roll-to-roll aqueous and eco-solvent Sky-Color printers at Sign China 2016 this week.

The next Newtech showcase will take place in London on 4 October - the following one in Leeds on 1 November. Demonstrations will be provided by Epson/Service Offset Supplies, Ultima Displays, The Magic Touch, Ralawise, RA Smart, Golden Finishes, Etrader and Gateway 3D. Details at www.coactiveevents.com

Mimaki has launched the Tx500P-3200DS, a 3.2m direct sublimation printer with in-line heat fixation unit, that can run at up to 130m2/hr in four-colour print mode and up to 105m²/hour in six-colour. Print resolution is up to 720 x 1080dpi using 12 printheads in a staggered three-line array. It can handle textile rolls up to 130kg. The first machines are expected to be shipped in January 2017 and will be available in the UK via Hybrid Services.

Graphic display specialist Leach has secured its largest ever contract - a £2.5m project for the National Museum of Kuwait - as it celebrates its 125th year in business.

Signbox has completed a significant interior and exterior signage project for the West London offices of Japanese entertainment giant Bandai Namco.

Esko is running more than 120 free training webinars to help users fully adopt the functionality of the Esko Software Platform 16.

With the introduction of the Neenah Wide Format range of flexible and rigid board products the company has claimed it now has paper-based solutions for nearly every application in the wide-format printing market.

Soyang Europe has a new website at www.soyang.co.uk, where sales director Andrew Simmons, said: “We’ve added some superb new materials to our already extensive selection and are pleased to reveal our new consolidated material collections; Print, Self-Adhesive, Décor and Textile.”

A new family of inkjet printheads aimed at the ceramic tile industry is now available from Xaar. The 2001+ jets one colour at 720dpi or two colours at 360dpi each, is available in three drop sizes, and has 2,000 nozzles that have been designed to handle a broad range of oil-based inks.

Direct Color Systems has received a Notice of Allowance for US Patent Application No. 14/780,346 entitled ‘ADA-Compliant Braille Signage Printer and Method of Printing UV LED Curable Ink Using a Flat Bed Ink Jet Printer.’ The Notice indicates that all of the pending claims in the patent application are allowable, directed to various aspects of Direct Color Systems’ printer and process for producing ADA-compliant Braille signs efficiently with a high degree of control over dot height and dot accuracy. Issuance of the patent is expected in the coming months.

The Colour Crew offers complete print, packaging and PoS solutions and this results in the company handling anything from foam display board and FBB through to laminate, vinyl, acrylic, corrugated plastics, high impact polystyrene and aluminium composite to name a few. Many jobs from these materials had to be outsourced for cutting and if the shapes were geometrically challenging, the work was sometimes turned away altogether, but not now with the new DYSS. In addition, the company now has a large format roll fed Mimaki digital printer and a UV digital flat bed. By purchasing the DYSS X7 SuperHead machine with roll feeding capability, the cutting machine easily copes with work from both printers.

Cancelling the use of external cutting has slashed subcontracting costs considerably, but more importantly the company has also eliminated labour intensive hand-cutting operations. As The Colour Crew Warehouse Manager, Mr John Goddard says: "We have a lot of work with the Domino Pizza Chain that used to involve hand cutting pizza boxes and boxes for sauces and dips. This would take one employee at least 1-3 days a week, depending upon batch quantities. This labour resource can now be allocated to other tasks as the DYSS cuts hundreds of boxes in no time. In addition, we used to send the higher, 1000+ quantities of dip-boxes for die cutting, as it was too much to cut by hand. This is all now done on the DYSS, saving labour and external cutting costs. Also, the Kasemake software allows us to turn-out designs and samples for customers really quickly. When we win orders our flexibility and capabilities allow us react at speed, regardless of order quantities and design complexity."

New York-based large-format print business Carisma has created ten eye-catching 3D printed graphics to promote Sony Pictures’ summer blockbuster, Ghostbusters, using its Massivit 1800 3D Printer.

W&Co has been working with branding company Integrity to design, manufacture and install a series of fabric tension LED light boxes to create an illuminated feature wall at Inchcape West London Volkswagen in Brentford - Volkswagen’s largest UK car showroom and new flagship dealership.