The package, ZCC 2.0 is the latest offering from the flatbed cutting and routing equipment manufacturer, and is commercially available now, according to a spokeswoman. “ZCC user interface and workflow suite is completely tailored to customers’ needs,” she said. “It integrates effortlessly with any production workflow and interactively guides the user through every phase of production finishing.” Zünd Cut Center 2.0 is designed for preparing and processing cutter-ready digital cut files. Files from all widely-used RIPs and nesting programs can be processed, without going through any additional file preparation saving time and money, she said. Another feature on the stand at Fespa will be a tandem vacuum system, a material-handling option available for the Zünd’s G3 and S3 cutters, which allows for loading of sheets and boards during production. UK sales director Peter Giddings said: “We are excited about some of the new features of Zünd Cut Centre 2.0, which we believe will be of interest to anyone just setting out on the digital cutting and finishing road as well as our existing users.”...

The winner, Katrina Wight, who used a hand-cranked, manually-operated CreaseStream Mini to crease 47 cards in a minute, received the £1,500 unit as her prize. The event took place at London’s Business Centre in Islington. Wight specialises in creating hand-drawn illustrations of dogs and cats and adapting them for greeting cards made from 100% recycled paper and card for her company, Katrina R Wight. “I use a scalpel to crease my cards, which works fine, but the CreaseStream produces a better result and is much, much faster, enabling me to make products that are more cost effective,” she said. CreaseStream founder, and managing director of Tech-ni-fold, Graham Harris said: “Many of our products require no electrical input, yet can produce more output than those that rely on such appliances. The competition gave us invaluable feedback, and the show has taught us a lot.” Harris said desigers fell into three categories, using basic scalpels or rulers to score their card stock, buying pre-scored substrates or outsourcing their artwork completely. “Because of the growing popularity of card creation coupled with the increase in digital print processing, the problems of cracking are becoming more evident, and there lies an opportunity,” he said. He said there weren’t enough simple and straight forward creasing solutions on the market to accommodate designers who could not justify the cost of an automatic machine. “Our rotary method of creasing lends itself to this market because it is faster and more accurate than most of the clumsy types of desktop solutions in the lower price bracket. We can address some of the market, and now hope to develop something to suit the majority.” The CreaseStream Mini range starts with the manual hand-fed version, for materials from 75 to 400gsm and up to 52cm in width. Optional micro-perforating devices give users more scope to produce a wider range of finishing applications. A quick-feed version is supplied with a sheet-feeding mechanism that speeds up output to an average of 3,000sph, while an auto-feed version can produce more than 4,000sph....

The package, ZCC 2.0 is the latest offering from the flatbed cutting and routing equipment manufacturer, and is commercially available now, according to a spokeswoman. “ZCC user interface and workflow suite is completely tailored to customers’ needs,” she said. “It integrates effortlessly with any production workflow and interactively guides the user through every phase of production finishing.” Zünd Cut Center 2.0 is designed for preparing and processing cutter-ready digital cut files. Files from all widely-used RIPs and nesting programs can be processed, without going through any additional file preparation saving time and money, she said. Another feature on the stand at Fespa will be a tandem vacuum system, a material-handling option available for the Zünd’s G3 and S3 cutters, which allows for loading of sheets and boards during production. UK sales director Peter Giddings said: “We are excited about some of the new features of Zünd Cut Centre 2.0, which we believe will be of interest to anyone just setting out on the digital cutting and finishing road as well as our existing users.”...

The Southampton-based company was prompted to make the move to digital due to increasingly short runs and more customers switching to web2print ordering on its Pageflex system. The Linoprint C751 is billed by the manufacturer as an entry-level digital colour production model, and cost-effective for very short runs. It outputs up to 75 A4 pages per minute on media up to 300 gsm. Hamble Valley Press, which runs a Speedmaster SM74-5, a SM52-4 and Quickmaster 46-2, looked at equipment from a number of other manufacturers before settling on Heidelberg, said managing director Martin Strong. “Once calibrated, this machine will sit well with our existing sheetfed presses giving us confidence and flexibility,” he said. “Whichever production route a job takes the end product will be comparable in quality.” The ability to be future-proof was another argument in favour of the Linoprint, Strong said. The company currently uses Heidelberg’s Signastation imposition software, part of the modular Printect Workflow system, as well as its Prinance MIS. The business is also considering installing Prinect’s Digital Print Manager to give the flexibility of a single workflow for both offset or digital output....

The HP Latex 3000 is a significant departure from exisiting HP latex machines and those offered by other vendors, according to the manufacturer. “One of the things people in this market have said previously is that they love the look and feel of latex but production is not fast enough for them,” said Jane Rixon, HP’s UK and Ireland large format production products channel business manager. The Latex 3000’s 77sqm/hr and 120sqm/hr speeds, for indoor and outdoor applications respectively, have solved this issue, added Rixon. According to HP, this boosted productivity is down to improved curing technology allowing substrates to move through the machine faster. The new printer also boasts improved cost-effectiveness, scratch resistance, ink capacity and roll handling capabilities. “As well as having the six colours, our third generation latex inks also have an ink optimiser, a transparent almost seventh ink that is laid down before the other inks to make these adhere to the surface even better,” said Rixon. She added: “You’re able to use heavier rolls on the Latex 3000 than you could on the previous 850. You’ve also got larger capacity, five-litre cartridges.” The current line-up of HP latex printers includes the L26500 and L28500, and the LX600, 820 and 850. HP said it had no plans to update these models to make them compatible with its new third generation latex ink. The models will however become part of a newly rebranded ‘HP Latex’ family, equivalent to HP’s Designjet and Scitex series. “Other manufacturers are bringing out latex technology but there are a number of differences between the formulation of those inks and in HP’s machines. “So we want to make it very clear what we mean when we talk about latex, which is completely water-based technology. There are no hazardous components in that ink,” explained Rixon. The HP Latex 3000 will be commercially available in August and will be priced at £230,000....