The Japanese manufacturer plans to create whole product ranges around the new technology, and one of the first will be its new SurePress L-6034V/VW UV inkjet label press. Announcing the expansion at the recent Labelexpo show, Minoru Usui, president of Epson, said: “PrecisionCore has the potential to place piezo inkjet as the dominant printing technology. We are just getting started. It can expand the scope of printing and open up new markets.” Usui said PrecisionCore combined simplicity, quality and speed thanks to the use of MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) and advanced piezo materials that are just one micron in thickness. The heads can be arranged in modules, making them suitable for both desktop and industrial printing devices. The SurePress L-6034V/VW was shown as a concept at Drupa as the SurePress ‘X’. It uses PrecisionCore in a linehead configuration. It is Epson’s first UV label press. The €500,000 (£423,000) device will begin shipping next summer. It can print CMYK plus white, along with digital varnishing in flood or spot, matt or gloss effects. The white ink facility is an option. In a standard configuration white would be applied first, but an optional rewind unit means it can also be applied last if required. Duncan Ferguson, director of professional graphics at Epson Europe, said: “We are achieving an exceptionally smooth UV ink finish without the relief or lumpiness typical with other UV inks.” The SurePress can print onto paper as well as labelstock, and can also print onto “sensitive” substrates such as polyethylene thanks to its low energy usage. It has a 330mm print width and runs at 15m/min, making it slower than competing devices. However, Ferguson countered the speed aspect: “Rather than focus on speed, we focused on quality because there have been some reservations about UV inkjet quality overall. “People get hung up on speed, without looking at the profit they can potentially make,” he stated. Epson’s new direct-to-garment printer also uses the PrecisionCore heads....

The Japanese manufacturer plans to create whole product ranges around the new technology, and one of the first will be its new SurePress L-6034V/VW UV inkjet label press. Announcing the expansion at the recent Labelexpo show, Minoru Usui, president of Epson, said: “PrecisionCore has the potential to place piezo inkjet as the dominant printing technology. We are just getting started. It can expand the scope of printing and open up new markets.” Usui said PrecisionCore combined simplicity, quality and speed thanks to the use of MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) and advanced piezo materials that are just one micron in thickness. The heads can be arranged in modules, making them suitable for both desktop and industrial printing devices. The SurePress L-6034V/VW was shown as a concept at Drupa as the SurePress ‘X’. It uses PrecisionCore in a linehead configuration. It is Epson’s first UV label press. The €500,000 (£423,000) device will begin shipping next summer. It can print CMYK plus white, along with digital varnishing in flood or spot, matt or gloss effects. The white ink facility is an option. In a standard configuration white would be applied first, but an optional rewind unit means it can also be applied last if required. Duncan Ferguson, director of professional graphics at Epson Europe, said: “We are achieving an exceptionally smooth UV ink finish without the relief or lumpiness typical with other UV inks.” The SurePress can print onto paper as well as labelstock, and can also print onto “sensitive” substrates such as polyethylene thanks to its low energy usage. It has a 330mm print width and runs at 15m/min, making it slower than competing devices. However, Ferguson countered the speed aspect: “Rather than focus on speed, we focused on quality because there have been some reservations about UV inkjet quality overall. “People get hung up on speed, without looking at the profit they can potentially make,” he stated. Epson’s new direct-to-garment printer also uses the PrecisionCore heads....

Fresh from his sell-out ‘Craic dealer’ tour last year, the all-round comic genius and host of Mock The Week and The Apprentice: You’re Fired, Dara O’Briain will ensure that this year’s Awards ceremony will be a night to remember. Held on Monday 21 October in the stunning setting of the Great Room at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane – there’s no better place to network with the industry’s leading printers and print buyers and celebrate the power of print than the PrintWeek Awards. Tables and seats are selling out fast. To book your place call, Rhiannon Hanson on 020 7501 6344 or click here to book online....

Fresh from his sell-out ‘Craic dealer’ tour last year, the all-round comic genius and host of Mock The Week and The Apprentice: You’re Fired, Dara O’Briain will ensure that this year’s Awards ceremony will be a night to remember. Held on Monday 21 October in the stunning setting of the Great Room at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane – there’s no better place to network with the industry’s leading printers and print buyers and celebrate the power of print than the PrintWeek Awards. Tables and seats are selling out fast. To book your place call, Rhiannon Hanson on 020 7501 6344 or click here to book online....

The Bristol-based company, which was founded in 1975, appointed FRP Advisory last week. Neither FRP Advisory nor Avon Graphic Technologies were unavailable for comment at the time of writing. Avon Graphic Technologies was one of the largest third-party equipment and consumables suppliers in the region with an estimated turnover of £3m to £4m, according to Agfa. Agfa Graphics UK & Ireland country manager Joergen Vad said that Agfa had contacted its customers in the region to try to minimise disruption caused by Avon’s collapse. “To my knowledge all of the manufacturers are doing this,” he said. Vad added that Agfa had been aware of problems at Avon for some time, but that the end had come quite suddenly. “I came [to the UK] in April and we were already aware then that there were problems,” he said. “The pay pattern was disturbing and we had them on cash payment [a lot of the time]. We tried talking to them to understand what the problem was but they had been giving us some hope that they would be able to sell their way out of the situation.” Vad said Avon’s collapse was a sign to everyone in the industry, including manufacturers and dealers, that they needed to differentiate themselves and make sure they were adding enough value in order to justify their businesses. “You have to ask what do I want to do and how can I specialise,” he added. “The trends are what they are: lots of products are commodities, pricing is transparent, so you need to understand what value you’re adding – it’s not enough to just buy and resell anymore. “You also need to make sure your costs are low – and this is the same for everyone in print – we all need to look very carefully at our businesses, not as a craft or as family [owned], but as a business. When I ask dealers, ‘how are your costs relative to the size of your business’ most would agree that they could and should trim. But they don’t because it’s a difficult thing to do.” Vad said that most of Agfa’s customers will be picked up by Litho Supplies, which is based in Weston-super-Mare, although Essex-based print supplies business Service Offset Supplies has said it is recruiting some former Avon staff to “provide continuity of supply to many of their loyal customers”....