The firm chose the £23,500 guillotine for its low power consumption, compact size and quality. “Our Schneider 75EM that this replaced served us well- we’d had it in for ten years since we brought it new. We shopped around and considered all makes and models, but we considered Polar to be the best on the market in terms of quality, value and performance,” said owner of JR Press Geoff Fone. He added: “It’s an eco-model so it’s eco-credentials were important to us, as we’re a company striving to become carbon neutral.” The Polar install has come ahead of a planned expansion of JR’s in-house packaging finishing capabilities. The company intends to order a new KAMA die cutting and new KAMA gluing machine ready for installation in the first quarter of 2014. The investments, which will bring JR’s recent spend on finishing kit to the £400,000 mark, will hopefully see JR Press become the first UK printer to install a KAMA automatic die cutting line, reported Fone. “The beauty of that machine is that typically people are running about 2,000-3,000 an hour, but this machine runs at 6,000 an hour and has a optional stripping unit on it, which means you only need one person running it,” said Fone. Of the company’s strategy of moving away from commercial print and into printed packaging, he added: “We’re a B3 printer and have been around for 25 years and have been doing commercial print for 23 of them, but two years ago we moved into a brand new purpose-built factory, invested in new machinery to diversify into printed packaging and away from commercial print. “Since then our turnover has grown by 30% and the amount of packaging we do is now 50% in as short a time as two years.” The Polar 78 ECO has a cutting width of 780mm, a maximum loading height of 120mm and knife speed of 45 cycles per minute. It also features Polar OptiKnife for fast knife changing and positioning accuracy of 1/100mm....

Each comprehensive school bringing more than 35 students to the event will be given a 3D printer. The 3D Printshow education session will also run in the Paris and New York shows and is part of a long-term plan to support 3D printing in schools, which will include an education tour in 2014. Show director Kerry Hogarth said the education initiative was budgeted at £120,000 and she expected to give away around 50 printers at London, which were Ultimaker models retailing for £1,700 each and £900 Up Mini printers. “Since the first show last year we have worked with the industry on how we can build 3D printing into the curriculum,” she said. “Software, design and print is going to play an increasing part of people’s lives and it seemed wrong to host such a show without involving young people.” Organisers hope the initiative will prompt more students to take up science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Each participating group will attend a 3D printing workshop and each child will make and take away a 3D print. Seminars will be held in a 3D Printshow Lab. The lab will be a classroom environment equipped with giant Lego-style furniture and constructed in partnership with Ogilvy Labs. Sessions will be hosted by The Denford ‘F1 For Schools’ Team, Autodesk, Legacy Effects, Stratasys, MakerBot, Printcraft, KIDE, EuropePac, and Robosavvy. Students will also be shown Printshow London’s key attractions, including a catwalk show of 3D printed clothing and accessories, a 3D movie zone with props from Iron Man, Avatar and Pacific Rim, and a scanning zone offering full colour and texture 3D body scan prints. The 3D Printshow at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London from 7-9 November, for more details click here...

The new Tesco magazine, forms part of a new content strategy from Cedar, Tesco’s content marketing partner, including a new online hub at tesco.com/foodandliving, print and tablet versions of the magazine. Italian printer Eurogravure has been charged with printing the 98pp title, while Walstead subsidiary Rhapsody is responsible for the pre-press. Tesco’s old A5 magazine had an average circulation of 1.9m from January to June 2013, according to the official audit figures, while the 2012 NRS survey found that each issue attracted up to 7.2m readers. The new-look title, which launched in Tesco stores on 16 September, features an augmented reality cover and click-to-buy features delivered through the Metaio platform and the Tesco Discover app. Social media activity is running across six channels, including: Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Google+. Emma Arnold, head of publishing and content at Tesco, said: “The new Tesco magazine and digital content marks a fresh approach to sharing our passion and care for food with customers. “All the recipes and lifestyle ideas have been designed with our customers at heart, and we can’t wait to hear what they think when the magazine hits stores.”...

The Dynamic range is suitable for applications including point of sale, sign and display, exhibition and photographic purposes. It includes gloss, matte and sandgrain options, is 100 microns thick and is available in multiple widths from 880mm to 1,520mm. Antalis is exclusive UK and Ireland distributor. Antalis sign and display product manager Mick Crook said: “Dynamic is a cost-effective laminate for general indoor large-format graphics, but it can also go outside for short-term use. “It has a solvent adhesive and brings us and Drytac into the market in the standard laminate sector. Drytac has lots of high-end laminates – UV, polypropylene and anti-scratch – but there was a little bit of a gap at the everyday end of the market. Dynamic fills that gap.” Drytac Dynamic Gloss has a high-gloss reflective finish that is water-resistant and provides UV protection. The gloss finish enhances colour vibrancy and is very durable, said the firm. Drytac Dynamic Matte laminating film has a non-glare water-resistant PVC laminate that eliminates reflection while maintaining colour contrast and details. Drytac Dynamic Sandgrain is a pressure-sensitive, non-glare PVC over-laminating film with a crystal finish. It is hard-wearing and ideal for applications where extensive handling is required. A Sandgrain film costs less than £100 for a 100m roll of 880mm width, said Crook. The company said all three films offered good performance with outdoor exposure if applied to water-based print and two years if applied to a solvent-based print. Drytac sales director for Europe Steve Broad said the Dynamic laminating films were introduced to offer good quality at a keen price. “The laminates are an ideal everyday range of pressure-sensitive films and are perfect for enhancing and protecting indoor prints and exhibition graphics,” he said. “Dynamic laminates have a solvent-based adhesive and can also be used for short-term outdoor graphics applications. Longevity depends on print technology, type of substrate and environmental conditions such as weather, but they can generally withstand outdoor exposure for quite a few months.”...

The new Tesco magazine, forms part of a new content strategy from Cedar, Tesco’s content marketing partner, including a new online hub at tesco.com/foodandliving, print and tablet versions of the magazine. Italian printer Eurogravure has been charged with printing the 98pp title, while Walstead subsidiary Rhapsody is responsible for the pre-press. Tesco’s old A5 magazine had an average circulation of 1.9m from January to June 2013, according to the official audit figures, while the 2012 NRS survey found that each issue attracted up to 7.2m readers. The new-look title, which launched in Tesco stores on 16 September, features an augmented reality cover and click-to-buy features delivered through the Metaio platform and the Tesco Discover app. Social media activity is running across six channels, including: Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Google+. Emma Arnold, head of publishing and content at Tesco, said: “The new Tesco magazine and digital content marks a fresh approach to sharing our passion and care for food with customers. “All the recipes and lifestyle ideas have been designed with our customers at heart, and we can’t wait to hear what they think when the magazine hits stores.”...