2011 European Digital Press Association Awards Announced

The winners are:

Print Engines

Best Wide Format Printer up to 3.5m

HP Scitex LX800

The LX800 is the first introduction of Latex ink printing at 3.5m width. Coupled with the functional multi-roll capability this is what makes the HP Scitex LX800 printer stand out. According to independent reviews from FLAAR, it is very structurally sound as well. Its new size and multi-roll capability makes this printer ready for true production and gives print shops economies of scale previously not achievable with prior models. The winning factor is due to the three-roll option and the innovation is the ease of using the multi-roll feature - this product genuinely makes the printers' life easier.

Best Wide Format Print and Cut Device

Roland VersaCAMM VS Series

The VersaCAMM VS series uses a completely new print head design which means they can print and automatically contour cut images without any steps in between. New features enhance metallic effects and a pattern library allows users to easily add patterns to metallic colours.  There are two print modes for varying styles; Blend print mode prints CMYKLcLm and metallic ink together for more natural metallic colours; Layered print mode: prints metallic ink first, then CMYKLcLm with one pass, adding richness to metallic effects.

Best Wide Format Textile Printer

Mutoh Viper TX Soft Sign

It is not the first printer with a built-in heat fixating system, but the way Mutoh has done this in the Viper TX differs from others and their solution combines good print quality and high print speeds for an affordable price. It can take down the price per square meter for volume users.

Best Proofing Printer

Epson Stylus Pro 4900

There are developments in this printer with using the new generation printhead. It is easier to maintain and uses less ink to clean the printhead therefore saving money. The built-in spectrophotometer though not an entirely new concept, in this printer brings proofing to a higher standard for more graphic designers. They are still innovating and developing.

Best Photographic Printer

Canon iPF 8300

The development in the photographic market is dominated by papers and media therefore the printer manufacturers do not seem to be innovating as much, making this a difficult decision. The committee decided that the Canon deserved an award due to its use as an all-round commercial printer, giving the user more options. It has a 12-colour inkset and the colour gamut has been much improved so that all the colours can be utilised.

Best UV Curable Entry Level – Mid Range Printer

HP Scitex FB500/700 Series

The committee agreed that the HP Scitex FB500/700 series printer was certainly the most innovative UV Printer in the market. Reasons include the fact that it works like a waterbased printer in terms of ease of use. The series before struggled with inks and systems and all this has been completely changed and therefore it is a worthy winner.

Best UV Curable High End Production Printer

AGFA Anapurna 2500 LED

The Agfa Anapurna 2500 LED brings LED UV in the production area. LED UV uses less energy while printing and now produces no harmful VOC's. There is also no infrared that can reach the substrate so it makes possible to print on heat sensitive media like foam board, foils & PVC.

Best Production Cut-Sheet Colour Light Production Printer

Konica Minolta BizHub Pro C6000 

The Konica Minolta Biz Hub Pro C6000 offers speeds of up to 60 pages per minute with simple programming and up to 1200 x 1200dpi and, with its’ small footprint, is aimed at central reprographic departments and high volume office environments. Its processes are innovative and monitors for consistency during continuous printing without affecting performance. This device extends the availability of near-litho quality to reprographic departments and the graphics arts market.

Best Production Cut-Sheet Colour High Production Printer

Xerox 800 & 1000 Digital Colour Press 

The Xerox 800 & 1000 Colour press is innovative in design - it offers two 2000-sheet trays positioned below the print engine, providing a smaller footprint compared to other systems. An optional oversized high capacity feeder with two additional trays can increase capacity up to 8000 sheets for longer unattended run time. It also prints on coated and non-coated stock.

Best Web Fed Printer Colour

HP T200 Colour Inkjet Web Press 

The committee agreed that the innovation with this HP T200 colour inkjet web press is in its small size - which brings this technology to more people because of its affordability. It can print applications up to 20.5 in (520.7 mm) wide at duplex speeds up to 200 feet/min (61 m) in colour and 400 feet/min (122 m) in mono and delivers consistently high print quality on a broad range of media.

Best Industrial Printing Solution

Barberan BIJ

Barberan is the biggest manufacturer of wood machinery in the world. They have been developing a printer that will print onto wood. It prints 600 dpi at one meter per second. Incredibly fast. It is used for printing parquet and laminate flooring. The committee agreed that the Barberan BIJ is a worthy winner and demonstrates true innovation.

Printing Consumables

Best Environmental Ink

Xerox Production Inkjet Technology

There are some key reasons for our winner in the environmental ink category. The solid ink technology patented by Xerox uses a granulated, resin-based ink formulation which does not need any water to be transferred onto the paper. It is based on the ColorQube technology but developed for the Production Inkjet System itself. Vibrant, consistent colour can be printed on low-cost, offset paper and uses less energy to dry. Documents are completely deinkable and recyclable and the deinking of documents printed on a Production Inkjet System is already certified by Ingede.

Best Alternative Ink Technology

Mutoh Zephyr 3D UV Ink

This ink is stretchable up to 200% making it ideal for car wrapping and self adhesive applications. Until now you couldn't use 3D inks for car wrapping unless you used a very slow solution. This ink produces 16sqm per hour and is also eco friendly in terms of power consumption and is immediately dry.

Best environmental Substrate

Hexis NATURally HXL300WG2 

There were many substrates in this category and a few stood out. The overall winner is Hexis HXL300WG2 as there is no need to coat this film and it works on latex and Mutoh Bio inks. It’s also PVC free and contains no plasticisers.

Software 

Best Variable Data and Versioning Software

DirectSmile Cross Media 

With Direct Smile's "all-in-one" solution for PURLS and Personalized imagery, a print shop no longer needs to have a vendor for PURLS and a vendor for personalized imagery. Direct Smile has developed these products into a cohesive package that also reduces the amount of developer time needed to get an attractive campaign to the market. Other competitors in this market require significant developer time which equates to an increased cost to the printing company as well as increased complexity.

Best Workflow Management Solution

Zünd Cut Centre 

This software helps to automate the print and cut workflow. It helps with lowering set up times and job preparation but also helps with saving material and printing time. There was great debate over this category in particular but the committee found that the Zünd Cut Centre offered the user more options and flexibility than the others in the same category this year.

Best Web to Print Software

ColorGate CG Web to Print

The ColorGate W2P solution was presented at the last FESPA in Germany. It has been chosen for two reasons. The first one, it allows small printer businesses to create a personalized W2P web with very small investment in time and financial resources. The second one is the easy user interface that allows seeing in real time, the look of final product, integrating the complete workflow from the submission or creation of the job, the preflight, verification and correction, the invoicing and the final printing in all kind of output devices.

Best Special Application

Optimus Dash  

This MIS System was brought in for the sign and wide format industry in 2010. It gives the signmaker or graphic display professional the flexibility of an excel spreadsheet but in an MIS system with histories, searches and reporting. It can also incorporate costs such as design and consultation. It is a very comprehensive system that simplifies the management of your entire processes. For this reason the technical committee agreed it was worthy of an award in this category.

Finishing

Best Wide Format Finishing Device

Summa F1612 Flatbed Cutter 

This is a brand new concept and fits right in the middle of the cutting market - it is smaller than all the other flatbeds and is useful for textiles and vinyls, etc. It fills the gap between roll to roll and heavy duty flatbed cutters. This Summa table is specially designed for light weight media. It also means that the table itself is much lighter and can be placed almost anywhere.

Best Production Printing Finishing Device

Scodix1200 UV Digital Embossing Press  

The world’s first Digital Embossing UV Press, allowing the coating of selective areas in gloss or matte, adding texture and tangible depth digitally for any size print run. It’s also extremely eco friendly using 91% less energy consumption than traditional systems, eliminates needs for plates, molds, screens and chemicals and it also supports recycled materials.