Landa pushes beta test back to latter part of next year
The major outward change to the design of the presses involves the giant three-metre wide touchscreen control panel that featured on the models shown at Drupa. This has been ditched in favour of a wraparound ‘cockpit’ at the delivery end of the press that is more akin to a conventional litho press control console. The cockpit features several smaller touchscreens and retains the ability for the operator to monitor the press from a remote, hand-held tablet. Landa Digital Printing (LDP) founder and chairman Benny Landa said that after Drupa the LDP team had visited more than 120 customers in 10 countries “to really understand their needs”, and the huge touchscreen had been given the thumbs-down. “We goofed,” Landa admitted. “They said it’s a fantastic thing, but it’s in the wrong place. The operator will be running back and forth and that’s not practical.” The addition of the cockpit means the original compact design has considerably increased in size. The B1-format S10FC simplex press for folding cartons, which will be the first model to ship, has also had a conventional coating unit added to its configuration, again as a result of customer feedback. This, plus the cockpit, means the S10FC now has an overall length of 17m. Previously the press was 8.65m long (pictured below is the Drupa version of the S10 with touchscreen). Other changes include improvements to the formulation of the special NanoInk used, and a revamp of the press range’s internal design. LDP has changed the position of the printheads to make it easier for operators to carry out maintenance without needing to crouch down. LDP is now using 1,200dpi printheads, understood to be from Kyocera although the company will not confirm this, for its ink ejectors and the latest print samples show a level of quality that has vastly improved since Drupa. The samples included small Kanji text and fine linework, as well as flat tints, onto a range of substrates including high-gloss coated paper. LDP also has new samples showing conventional AM screening at 175lpi, as well as the stochastic screening that is typical of inkjet output. Over the past few weeks Landa founder and chairman Benny Landa and his team have been briefing customers who have paid deposits or signed letters of intent for presses about the shipping delay, as well as the latest quality developments. “No-one has cancelled due to the delay,” Landa stated. “We have 430 LOIs. Some people cancelled after Drupa but fewer cancelled than new orders we received.” Landa said that based on the firm’s print quality ‘s-curve’, it is now “80% to 85%” of the way to offset quality. He said he would not ship the presses until that benchmark had been achieved. “Everyone wants a machine that is reliable and fully tested,” he added. “There isn’t a mistake I haven’t made in my career, and one I’m never going to make again will be to ship a product before it’s ready.” 40% of the presses on order are for packaging models. LDP said it was still planning to roll-out the original range of seven presses, comprising four sheetfed and three web models, but would do so in order of customer demand. The B1 perfecting model, the S10, will follow the S10FC and is set to ship to beta...
read moreHollanders to launch entry level eco-textile printer
The ColorBooster 250 2.5m wide-format machine, to be launched in the US at next month’s SGIA expo in Orlando, Florida, will be available in the UK in the first quarter of next year, said chief executive Kees van der Looij. The ColorBooster 250 is designed to bring digital textile printing to a wider audience with low investment cost, he said. Three models include a Starter edition with four printheads costing around €100,000 (£85,000); a Productivity edition with six printheads for just under €125,000 (£105,000) and an Ultimate model at under €150,000 (£126,000). “The kit focuses on customers stepping into textile printing or those who already print on PVC and want to switch to soft signage,” he said. “It is a green product with water-based inks. Textiles are more environment-friendly than PVC and this offers a greener alternative to PVC.” The devices range in speed from 14sqm per hour to 64sqm per hour. The Productivity and Ultimate machines include on-board air conditioning and humidifiers to ensure a consistent print finish, according to the manufacturer. Managing director Peter Hollanders said: “Research and enquiries have demonstrated there is a strong market for a cost-effective solution that suits businesses entering the textile sector for the first time and want a modestly priced machine.”...
read moreHollanders to launch entry level eco-textile printer
The ColorBooster 250 2.5m wide-format machine, to be launched in the US at next month’s SGIA expo in Orlando, Florida, will be available in the UK in the first quarter of next year, said chief executive Kees van der Looij. The ColorBooster 250 is designed to bring digital textile printing to a wider audience with low investment cost, he said. Three models include a Starter edition with four printheads costing around €100,000 (£85,000); a Productivity edition with six printheads for just under €125,000 (£105,000) and an Ultimate model at under €150,000 (£126,000). “The kit focuses on customers stepping into textile printing or those who already print on PVC and want to switch to soft signage,” he said. “It is a green product with water-based inks. Textiles are more environment-friendly than PVC and this offers a greener alternative to PVC.” The devices range in speed from 14sqm per hour to 64sqm per hour. The Productivity and Ultimate machines include on-board air conditioning and humidifiers to ensure a consistent print finish, according to the manufacturer. Managing director Peter Hollanders said: “Research and enquiries have demonstrated there is a strong market for a cost-effective solution that suits businesses entering the textile sector for the first time and want a modestly priced machine.”...
read moreNGS enters voluntary liquidation
It follows a members’ meeting, which took place yesterday (19 September), where it was agreed to place NGS into creditors’ voluntary liquidation. Carl James Bowles and John Anthony Dickinson of accountancy firm Carter Backer Winter were appointed as joint liquidators. In July NGS Print Finishing closed the doors of its Perivale, West London site and moved into the Wembley facility of Purfect Binding Company, taking all NGS staff with it. NGS managing director Neil Sharp was appointed managing director of the new entity, while PBC’s co-directors Reginald Walwyk and Yat Ng positions were terminated on the same day, according to Companies House. Sharp was unavailable to comment on NGS’ liquidation. In a letter to clients, dated 11 July, Sharp explained that the amalgamated companies would trade immediately as PBC, with a rebrand to be scheduled during the new entity’s first quarter of trading. He stated that the new business would take on NGS’ equipment as well as PBC’s 16-station Wohlenberg Master E perfect binder and a six-station Muller Martini binder with cover feeder and stacker, replacing NGS’ older four-station model. Sharp formed NGS Finishing Solutions in February 2011, which he then used to buy his previous company, NGS Print Finishers, out of administration the following month....
read moreNGS enters voluntary liquidation
It follows a members’ meeting, which took place yesterday (19 September), where it was agreed to place NGS into creditors’ voluntary liquidation. Carl James Bowles and John Anthony Dickinson of accountancy firm Carter Backer Winter were appointed as joint liquidators. In July NGS Print Finishing closed the doors of its Perivale, West London site and moved into the Wembley facility of Purfect Binding Company, taking all NGS staff with it. NGS managing director Neil Sharp was appointed managing director of the new entity, while PBC’s co-directors Reginald Walwyk and Yat Ng positions were terminated on the same day, according to Companies House. Sharp was unavailable to comment on NGS’ liquidation. In a letter to clients, dated 11 July, Sharp explained that the amalgamated companies would trade immediately as PBC, with a rebrand to be scheduled during the new entity’s first quarter of trading. He stated that the new business would take on NGS’ equipment as well as PBC’s 16-station Wohlenberg Master E perfect binder and a six-station Muller Martini binder with cover feeder and stacker, replacing NGS’ older four-station model. Sharp formed NGS Finishing Solutions in February 2011, which he then used to buy his previous company, NGS Print Finishers, out of administration the following month....
read moreCould you be one of the UK’s 500 biggest print companies?
Once again we’ve teamed up with the UK’s leading accountancy group Grant Thornton to compile the industry’s most anticipated survey and if you have annual sales of more than £750,000 you might qualify for inclusion in this year’s ranking of the 500 biggest print businesses. To ensure we have up-to-date information on your firm, so that you can see how you measure up against your peers, please email your latest audited accounts to: top500@markallengroup.com. However, if your company has a turnover of less than £6.5m or fewer than 50 staff, which means you file abbreviated accounts at Companies House, it’s particularly important that you send in your full accounts or download and complete the Top 500 entry form, available here....
read moreCould you be one of the UK’s 500 biggest print companies?
Once again we’ve teamed up with the UK’s leading accountancy group Grant Thornton to compile the industry’s most anticipated survey and if you have annual sales of more than £750,000 you might qualify for inclusion in this year’s ranking of the 500 biggest print businesses. To ensure we have up-to-date information on your firm, so that you can see how you measure up against your peers, please email your latest audited accounts to: top500@markallengroup.com. However, if your company has a turnover of less than £6.5m or fewer than 50 staff, which means you file abbreviated accounts at Companies House, it’s particularly important that you send in your full accounts or download and complete the Top 500 entry form, available here....
read moreCWU serves ballot legal notice
On 27 September ballot papers will be sent to 115,000 postal workers in the Royal Mail and Parcelforce, with the results to be announced on 16 October. Post Office staff are excluded. Strike action could then commence from 23 October, following a seven-day legal notice period to Royal Mail. The ballot was originally supposed to take place today (20 September), with results due to be announced on 3 October and industrial action possible from 10 October, however the union said the ballot had been delayed due to logistical details. Open-ended negotiations are still ongoing between Royal Mail and the union. A spokesman said: “Really we still want to reach an agreement, industrial action is a last resort, but I think finding a resolution in this time scale is extremely unlikely.” Last week a union spokeswoman confirmed that the organisation was consulting lawyers about how it could include a boycott of DSA providers as part of planned industrial action. The union is in dispute with Royal Mail over pay, pension and contractual terms as well as last week’s confirmed privatisation of the national postal organisation. The Royal Mail has proposed a three-year legally-binding agreement that includes an 8.6% pay increase. But the CWU has rejected the proposal, which it claims was linked to accepting major pension changes and a no strike deal. It is demanding an above inflation, no-strings pay deal. CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward, said: “The government’s privatisation agenda has destabilised everything. Postal workers are rightly concerned about their future so we want a legally-binding agreement on protections for jobs, terms and conditions – regardless of who owns the company. Without an agreement strikes are inevitable.” “We want the company to recognise its main asset – its workers – who literally deliver the success of the business. This union still wants an agreement and we are hoping this strike ballot will focus the minds of Royal Mail and bring us to a legally binding deal that will protect the interests of postal workers for the long-term foreseeable future.” He added: “Attacks on terms and conditions and the threat of new employment models in a potential race to the bottom with competitors are a real risk for postal workers and we intend to achieve legally binding protections that mean the future of postal workers jobs are secure and Royal Mail continues to set the benchmark for pay and conditions in the postal industry.”...
read moreIvor gears itself for ISO certification
The company bought a new dotmeter from Centurfax-owned ccDotmeter, replacing its 13-year old predecessor. Ivor sales and account manager Nikki Brin said: “In order to comply with British standards we needed official confirmation that the ccDot was still reading accurately.” CcDotmeter sales director Paul Foster said: “While dotmeters might not be viewed by some printers as an essential piece of kit when CtP units and plates are far more reliable, companies still recognise these units are an effective investment. “It takes only one small error to creep into this process to produce an incorrect colour, equalling a job that the customer rejects. This can turn into a customer that starts to look elsewhere for the next large print run. An investment of just a few hundred pounds can pay for itself in weeks,” he added. Ivor Solution’s 50 staff based in London prints stationery, leaflets and fliers on a range of litho and digital kit including four Heidelberg GTOs, two HP Indigos, a Ricoh Icon black-and-white printer and a four-colour Presstek device....
read moreCross Media 2013 set to build on 2012’s success
Marketing manager Andrew Thornhill said that the Cross Media 2013 team had listened to feedback that 2012’s show was too print-centric and featured too many seminars. He said: “Feedback from exhibitors and visitors suggested there was just too much content. Exhibitors were concerned that while there were a lot of visitors on the floor – it seemed quite busy – they all seemed to be rushing from one seminar to another. So we’ve reduced the number of theatres form six to five and staggered the talks better.” He added: “One of the things that was leveled at 2012 as a criticism was that it might have been too print-centric, but I think having listened to what all the stakeholders and visitors said, we’ve now shifted it to a more balanced cross-media event.” Thornhill said another key aim was that this year’s show should attract a more even spread of visitor types than last year’s, also held at the Business Design Centre, Islington. He said: “We received a mix of visitors last year, both printers, but also marketers, brand owners and people from creative or digital agencies, and then also publishers. We’re hopeful we’re going to grow the publisher background; we’d like to steal some back from the marketing section so we get a more even spread.” So far Cross Media 2013 has attracted pre-registration figures 150% higher than at this point before last year’s show. Though this is expected to level out slightly, visitor figures are predicted to be 3,000-3,500, up from 2,500 last year. Thornhill attributed this to an overall highly successful 2012 show. “The feedback we got was that 89% of visitors thought Cross Media was in tune with what was going on in the marketplace. With a figure like that you can’t argue that people weren’t happy with what they’d seen. 83% of people said they’d consider exhibiting again.” This year’s show will feature more special features than 2012’s, including an AR (Augmented Reality) Hall of Fame, Virtual Reality Skydive, interactive portrait and Oglivy Ideas Shop for small businesses to receive one-to-one guidance from this marketing agency. Thornhill said: “It’s been quite challenging to pull together a features programme, as obviously budgets are quite tight at the moment. But we’re confident we have a fantastic programme and a really informative seminar schedule featuring first-class speakers.” He added: “Printers coming to Cross Media will access a wealth of new possibilities in areas such as automated marketing and mobile technology, so how they can augment the work they’re already doing with technologies like near field communication and augmented reaility.” Cross media 2013 takes place 23-24 October. Register at: www.crossmedialive.com/register....
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