The Graphic, Print & Media Alliance (GPMA) is made up of seven founding members; Fespa UK, the British Association for Print & Communciation (BAPC), British Coatings Federation (BCF), Independent Print Industries Association (IPIA), Picon, the Process & Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA), and the Rubicon network. The BPIF is not currently signed up to the GPMA, but the federation’s chief executive Kathy Woodward said representatives would attend GPMA committee meetings and offer support where they could. However, she added that for the time being the BPIF would continue to lobby independently on the industry’s behalf. “We already have a great lobbying infrastructure at the BPIF and that will continue. We already sit on a CBI board and the Government’s Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group for example,” said Woodward. However, she added that the BPIF had not ruled out the possibility of joining the GPMA at a future date. The GPMA is also currently in talks with other bodies and hopes to soon consist of 15 or more member organisations. The first aim of the pan-industry consortium is to pull together detailed statistics on the industry, including information on average turnovers, number of employees and the value the sectors adds to the UK economy. “Our long term objective is to raise the performance of the sector and we can’t do that until we know what we’re dealing with, through credible numbers,” said Peter Morris, chairman of GPMA and of Picon. GPMA activities will include lobbying, including government lobbying and raising awareness of the threats of electronic media, the commoditisation of print, and an ageing workforce profile, and implementation of training infrastructures. Tim Webb, executive director at Picon, said: “There are areas where we have good statistics and strong training infrastructures, but others where it’s poor. We don’t have any training schemes in Picon’s membership for example.” He added: “Up until this point there’s been no formal way of industry trade associations talking. There are no cross-industry conversations and no cross-industry policies and we need to work to provide that.”...

The ink, previewed Drupa in 2012, enables printers to add a gold metallic effect as a fifth colour, said product category manager for digital printing Andreas Nielen-Haberl. He added that no other digital cut-sheet press in the market offered a gold metallic solution, especially with the option to print lengths up to 36in (914mm) on more than 800 different substrates. “The Nexpress has about 800 qualified substrates, from thick paper, thin paper and linen paper to plastics, and all of them can take the ink,” he said. “We try to help customers differentiate from their neighbours and almost any printer can do four-colour work.” Gold ink could enhance frames, certificates, postcards and tickets. The technology was being used for material for the Bolshoi Orchestra, he said, and other areas “that clearly want to differentiate from the rest of the market”. “Most people think there is one gold ink, which is a misunderstanding. It’s gold but only solid gold if you apply 100%. With the Nexpress you can mix it with an underlying colour to create hundreds of gold metallic effects; such as warm or cold or greenish gold.” According to Nielen-Haberl, the ink can be used in most Nexpress machines, while retrofitting costs around €15,000 for software and a station for holding the ink. Printing gold added an average of €0.02 to the cost of producing an A4 sheet, he added. Clients of beta tester Westamerica Graphics in California had incorporated gold for direct mail and certificates and as part of a brand colour or accent for use with certain projects, said Kodak’s digital operations manager Ken Dunn. “They have seen an immediate benefit from being able to print digital jobs with gold – from the economy of short runs and quick turnaround to the savings of not having to send out for expensive gold foil or embossing work.”...

The unit will be installed at the London, Docklands-based high-end commercial printer on 17 July and is expected to be operational by the following week. The S200, details of which were revealed in January this year, is the first product to be manufactured by Coventry-based firm LumeJet. The much anticipated machine, which will have a list price of £145,000 when it becomes commercially available later this year, combines digital printing with silver halide-based substrates using an inkless, LED-based system that ‘prints’ light in dots that are four microns across. LumeJet claims that by exposing just 400dpi, the machine can output the equivalent of 8,000dpi inkjet quality because it gives the same continuous-tone result as traditional analogue photographic printing. The beta test is initially intended to run for three months, but will be extended “on an open-ended basis” depending on customer requirements. Altaimage director Rob King said: “We are very excited about the arrival of the LumeJet S200, as we believe it opens up new markets for us. “The ultra high-quality output is a step up from anything we have been able to offer previously. For those looking for pin-point sharpness and absolute colour reproduction, we now have a machine that can deliver.” LumeJet commercial director Miles Bentley said the machine was attracting “very strong” interest and that samples had been requested by a number of well-known UK printers. Meanwhile, he said he was in discussions with potential global distributors in countries such as Macedonia, Malta, Portugal and Germany. “We’re also talking to some of the biggest photobook manufacturers in Europe,” he added. Bentley said that the LumeJet S200 was particularly targeted at high-end commercial printers with interior design, fine art and architect clients, as well as the photobook market and professional photographic studios....

The unit will be installed at the London, Docklands-based high-end commercial printer on 17 July and is expected to be operational by the following week. The S200, details of which were revealed in January this year, is the first product to be manufactured by Coventry-based firm LumeJet. The much anticipated machine, which will have a list price of £145,000 when it becomes commercially available later this year, combines digital printing with silver halide-based substrates using an inkless, LED-based system that ‘prints’ light in dots that are four microns across. LumeJet claims that by exposing just 400dpi, the machine can output the equivalent of 8,000dpi inkjet quality because it gives the same continuous-tone result as traditional analogue photographic printing. The beta test is initially intended to run for three months, but will be extended “on an open-ended basis” depending on customer requirements. Altaimage director Rob King said: “We are very excited about the arrival of the LumeJet S200, as we believe it opens up new markets for us. “The ultra high-quality output is a step up from anything we have been able to offer previously. For those looking for pin-point sharpness and absolute colour reproduction, we now have a machine that can deliver.” LumeJet commercial director Miles Bentley said the machine was attracting “very strong” interest and that samples had been requested by a number of well-known UK printers. Meanwhile, he said he was in discussions with potential global distributors in countries such as Macedonia, Malta, Portugal and Germany. “We’re also talking to some of the biggest photobook manufacturers in Europe,” he added. Bentley said that the LumeJet S200 was particularly targeted at high-end commercial printers with interior design, fine art and architect clients, as well as the photobook market and professional photographic studios....

“It was a natural progression from our Roland XC-540, which it will replace,” said Group 101 managing director James Sahota. “Roland do a lot of things really well, like loading the roll from the rear, the VersaWorks RIP and also reliability. For the next few years I won’t need to do anything, I don’t need to start thinking that in a year’s time I will need new heads or schedule some maintenance,” said Sahota. The eight-colour XR-640 has a maximum resolution of 1,440dpi. It can be configured CMYK plus Lc, Lm, Lb and white or metallic silver or CMYK plus Lc, Lm, and white and metallic silver. “I haven’t finalised the ink configuration yet, I’m going to go away and think about what which way I want to move,” said Sahota. The 1,625mm-wide XR-640 was launched last September and has a list price of £20,999 plus £2,499 for the heaters. It’s capable of 21.6sqm/hr in “production mode”. Group 101’s machine was sold through Roland reseller Signmaster Systems and will be installed next week. As well as the XR-640, the company bought a refurbished Agfa Anapurna M1600 roll-to-roll printer earlier this year as part of Sahota’s growth strategy for the Thurrock-based business. The company was founded six-years ago in Sahota’s spare bedroom, when he was a graphic and industrial design teacher/lecturer. Today the business employs five staff and has sales of £500,000. “We’re confident we can grow and one day I want to come to a show like Fespa and buy a machine like the HP Scitex FB10000, for me there’s no limit and I’m dreaming big.”...