Pf jan feb 2016 issue

Vol. XVIII • No. 103 • february 2016

Rs. 20

THE FORUM’s 35th Founding Day was celebrated on 11th January 2016 at Anna University, with a talk by Mr. Badri Seshadri, Managing Director, New Horizon Media Pvt Ltd., followed by presentation of Awards to the first rank students of IPT & Anna University final year (Printing) students.

(Details published inside)

Mr.R. Jayaraman, giving away the Cash Award and Certficate to Ms. R. Geeta Lakshmi the 1st rank student of B.E. Printing (Anna University)

Mr. R. Jayaraman giving away the Cash Award and Certficate to the Mr. K. Thiruneelakandan 1st rank student of D.P.T. (Institute of Printing technology)

Snapshot of Certificate given to Ms. R. Geeta Lakshmi the 1st rank student of B.E. Printing (Anna University)

Snapshot of Certificate given to Mr. K. Thiruneelakandan 1st rank student of D.P.T. (Institute of Printing technology)

View of the gathering

35th Founding Day Celebrations

January - February 2016 / Vol. XVIII, No. 103 / Print Forum 1

From President’s Desk

P [email protected]

Dear Members,

AFirst things first. On behalf of the Printing Technologists Forum, I would first like to pay our respects to Mr.Thirunavukarasu, the doyen of the Tamil publishing field, who passed away recently. He is a great example of the ÒRags to RichesÓ story. Having started Vanathi Pathipagam in 1955, he has published over 5000 titles. This is feat that a few of the regional language publishers can boast of. I am sure he will continue to inspire people to succeed in life.

While talking about publishers, thinking about the future of publishing is only natural. Conventional publishing is slowly but steadily giving way to mobile device publishing and an article in this issue draws your attention to this development.

The Bangalore Press, which is well known for itÕs calendars and diaries, is celebrating its centenary year. Our congratulations and best wishes for a profitable future.

The frequently discussed topic in the printing industry, is Digital Printing. As I have so often said, conventional Offset printers must embrace this technology if they are to remain profitable and survive. This issue contains an interesting article that talks about the change in workflow and mindset that is required for the transition from offset to digital. ItÕs a critical topic that is often not given enough importance.

When talking about printing, we usually take it for granted that the substrate is either paper or boards. But in todayÕs senario, while we are faced with decreasing volumes, we have to urn our attention to other media as well. Fabric printing without doubt is a major segment and this issue carries an interesting article about this.

I am sure you will also benefit from other interesting articles related to Workflow software, page layout software, printed electronics etc.

Happy reading.

The PrintingTechnologistsForumREGISTERED No. 149/1989

2, Venu Reddy Street, GuindyChennai 600 032

e.mail: [email protected] web: www.theprintforum.com

Office-bearers P. Chellappan, PresidentMobile 93810 01810Rm. Senthilnathan, Vice-President IMobile 98410 41997Dr. B. Kumar, Vice-President II Mobile 94440 51707M. Venkatesan, Hony. General SecretaryMobile 98842 74908K.B.S.Shanmugasundram, Hony. Jt Secretary Mobile 98842 74912 R. K. Sridharan, Hony. TreasurerMobile 98416 47690

Committee Members V. S. Raman, 99403 19704R. Venkatasubramanian, 98402 60413S. Giridharan. 98840 30519 V. Vaidyalingam, 93828 67972Nitin Shroff, 98400 22652K.R.S.S. Mahendran 86953 29444 N. R. Kumar, 99401 72067Alan Baretto, 98417 21406Murugavel, 95001 22075

Co-opted MembersT.E. Srinivasan, 98403 55284L. Ramanathan, 87540 16030Nizamappas, 99625 28890

Advisory Committee (Past Presidents of THE FORUM)M. S. NagarajanV. SubramanianVipin SachdevDr. N. SankaranarayananR. NarayananD. RamalingamR. JayaramanR.S.Bakshi

n

All communications about THE FORUM and the Journal are to be addressed to Hony. General Secretary The Printing Technologists Forum 25, Peters Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600 014.

2 Print Forum / Vol. XVIII, No. 103 / January - February 2016

Print ForumRegd. with RNI Under No. 71818/99

January - February Vol. XVIII / No. 103The Official Journal ofThe Printing Technologists ForumChennai

In this issue . . .

Rs. 120 per annum (Six issues)

n Copyright for all materials published in PRINT FORUM remain with the authors/editors/publishers of the respective magazines books/newspapers from which materials are reproduced.

n The facts set out in PRINT FORUM are from various sources which we believe to be reliable and true to the best of our knowledge. However, we cannot accept no legal liability of any kind for the publication contents, nor for the information contained therein, nor conclusion drawn by any party from it.1

n FurtheritisnotifiedthatneithertheEditor,PublisherorthePrinter,orthePresidentandhisTeamofTheForumwillberesponsibleforany damage or loss to anybody arising out of any error or omission in PRINT FORUM. Members/Readers are advised to satisfy themselves about the merits and details of each before taking any decision.

n Articles and materials appearing in the pages of Print Forum are drawn from a number of sources : books, journals, newspapers and internet - current as well as very old. To many editors of various technical journals and newspapers, the accomplished authors and business leaders who have shared their wisdoms and their words whose articles published in these journals, and their publishers, we owe ourdebtsandgratitudewhichisdifficulttoassessoracknowledge.Wealwaysacknowledgethesourcesofeveryarticleandmaterialspublished in every issue of PRINT FORUM at the end of the articles, with our courtesy.

n Oursisamembersupportednon-profitorganisationandourmainobjectiveistospreadprint-knowledgetoallwithinourlimitationsandconstraints.

Publisher B. G. Kukillaya Ph: 4228 7300

Editor P. Chellappan M : 2454 1893

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The Malayali's modern journey began here...

Even 200 years later the original missionary zeal is evident at CMS College here, India's first arts and science college. There is the wellstocked library, the astronomy observatory, the printing press and of course the classrooms, everything designed with an eye not just for scholarship but to make the effort pleasant too.

On Friday, President Pranab Muk her j ee inaug ura t ed t he bicentenary celebrations of the college that could rightfully claim to have ushered in modernity in Kerala. In 1817, English missionary Benjamin Bailey of the Church

Missionary Society, and the first principal of the college, started formal English education here. He formulated a curriculum with English, mathematics and geography as the main focus.

The teaching of quality English is one of the college's legacies. Retired Supreme Court justice K T Thomas fondly remembers his own time at CMS College during the 1950s. "Though the college was located in Kottayam town, there were no disturbances and the atmosphere was perfect for learning. I still remember the English classes of the famous professor of our time T R Subramanya Aiyer," he says.

Bailey went on to establish a printing press in the college. In 1821 the printing press from England reached

Kottayam, a milestone that not only helped Kottayam become the first town in India to become fully literate but also to become the HQ for several newspapers and publishing houses.

Though the college was started for Christian clergy, by 1824 Hindu students also started enrolling. Over the course of two centuries, the college boasts an alumni which includes names such as former president K R Narayanan,famous politicians like Oommen Chandy, Sardar K M Panikar, K P S Menon, scientist E C G Sudarshan and cul tural icons l ike Kavalam Narayana Panicker, Aravindan and Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan.

The main library remains an embodiment of the college’s founding credo. Apparently, it was awe inspiring even at its inception. Col. James Welsh, an officer of East India Company visited the college in 1825 and reported that it was a “library containing 2,250 elegantly bound volumes on theology, astronomy, mathematics and history ... in short every science and language...”

Filmmakers love the place not only for the history it exudes but also for the picturesque campus, complete with wooded environs, a grand principal’s bungalow and a gothic chapel. Ettumanur MLA Suresh Kurup, a former student here, says the college’s charm extends to the liberal ethos of the authorities. “The students enjoyed great freedom. There was never any attempt to impose unnecessary discipline,” he says. n

Courtesy : timesofindia.com

The Malayali's modern journey began here... 2

FORUM’s 35th Founding Day Celebrations 3

Shift to Digital Print Requires a Different Workflow 5

Book to the future 6

Doyen of Tamil publishing 8

100 years of keeping up to date 9

Latest Half-size ('B2' Format) Presses : Digital & Offset 10

Taking cover 14

Tech Guide: CTP & Plates 15

UK launches first new daily newspaper in three decades 18

No printer’s devil this! 18

QuarkXPress 2016 19

RICOH’s new Software Launch 20

Have 'furn' with a digital touch 21

Thinking about printed electronics? It is all about functionality 22

TechNova @ Pamex 2015 24


Forum’s Founding Day Celebrations

35th Founding Day CelebrationsTHE FORUM’s

T h e P R I N T O N D E M A N D PRINTERS AND THEIR IMPACT ON PUBLISHING AND OFFSET PRINTING BUSINESS

Dr. Badri Seshadri, Managing Director, New Horizon Media Pvt Ltd., a multi faceted personality, With his experience connected with publishing, book fair and Tamil Heritage, addressed the Forum Members on 11th January 2016 (postponed from 10th December 2015, which marked the 35th year of commencement, due to Chennai floods fury, with his usual jest in the above mentioned topic.

He gave an insight into the change happening in the Digital Printing its impact on offset business and Digital take over. He made to realize over taking place in the printing sector restricting himself to his own area of business Book Publishing. With his experience as a print buyer, he told that more printing is taking place digitally with cost coming down almost challenging the offset printing this way, offset printing will vanish.

ImpactSkill replacement/requirement may change dramatically. Work conditions may change. Investment scale will differ. Business online and job seekers would change the scene. Due to Air Condition atmosphere and less knowledge required on machines, more people would like to operate Digital Printers. The learning period will be less to do a printing job with quality parameters.

Will Digital Take Over?It may happen due to the speed with which the Digital Printing delivery can take place, can be even virtual, quality is excellent with inbuilt colour system skipping the Prepress procedure (like plate making and associated operations) reducing the

cost of job considerably. Small unit offset presses may surface to do a job where it may prove expensive digitally due to length of run. New players may come to the business .

To make his points understandable, he shared his experience by doing a job with a Mumbai Printer. The jobs he does are 52gsm ones with various paper kinds. The cost works out cheaper than doing a job in offset in Chennai, jobs are done on Digital Printers by the Mumbai press. Due to affordable cost, New Horizon can do a job from just one to 1000 copies digitally resulting in cutting down cost in stock keeping. Earlier concept of ‘one job a day ‘ has changed reducing to 60 titles in a year. With a few copies printed digitally, they can do a peer review of the book then decide on no. of copies to be printed for sale. If it were more than 1000 copies, still offset works out cheaper.

As expected, the statement ‘offset will vanish; , flared up a discussion. A dedicated newspaper man told how is it possibleto produce a daily on 50,000+ per hour speed abouy lakhs of copies on day-to-day basis.

A successful large quantity book printing exporter with overseas customers, with a daily quota of a lakh books requires a few8-colour offset presses and Digital cannot come near him, he countered. The speaker reiterated that point made by him was restricted to his way of business where Digital rides supreme.

With the President warning the Members that any thing is possible, quoting the Mobile Industry which has grown from just a mobile phone to Smartphone, tablets, iPads, Kindle, etc., one should be prepared for a Change as pointed out by the speaker, Who knows in which direction the Printing Technology will change we don’t know. Printing will remain but the method may change, so be prepared for a change, he concluded. That point being understood in right sense, the audience adjourned for dinner.

The second part of the function saw Mr. R. Jayaraman, Former President of THE FORUM and Managing Director, Multivista Global Ltd giving away cash prizes to rank holders of IPT and B.E. Ptg. (Anna University).

Staring from 2014, The Forum’s Founding Day Celebration in a different format of Endowment

Seen on the dias (L to R) :Dr. B.Kumar, Vice-President, Mr. P. Chellappan, President, Mr. Badri Seshadri, Chief Guest and Mr. Rm. Senthilnathan, Vice-President of THE FORUM


Badri Seshadri seen giving his lecture to an attentive audicnce

Mr. N.R. Kumar, Committee Member of THE FORUM, presenting Appreciation Memento to Mr. Badri Seshadri

Mr. K.B.S. Shanmugasundaram, Jt. Secretary

Senior Member of THE FORUM sharing his thoughts

Lecture and TPTF Achievement Award to the first rank holders of IPT and Anna University, the idea catching with the Trustees, they increase the prize money this year. Hope the students take up the challenge in the coming years with a real competition.

Mr. Shanmugasundaram, J t . Secretary gave a Vote of Thanks thanking the Mr, Jayaraman, the Speaker and the audience.

T H E F O R U M Committee also thanks M/s Multivista Global Ltd. for their generous sponsorship of the evening.

Earlier, President P. Chellappan welcomed the gathering and

introduced the speaker. Vice President Dr. B. Kumar recalled the early days of The Forum which was founded on 10th December 1981. n

Report by Mr. D. Ramalingam

If one cannot enjoy reading

a book over and over again,

there is no use in reading

it at all.

– Oscar Wilde


Digital Insights:

Shift to Digital Print Requires a Different WorkflowI attended my first PODi conference in 2007. During the keynote presentation, PODi president Rab Govil said, “Companies who try to use their conventional offset workflow when they install a digital press will fail.” He went on to cite an example of one company that did it right (Vistaprint) and a few big players that were doing it wrong.The latter group was struggling to make their investment in digital profitable. Govil encouraged the audience to think of each impression on a digital press as requiring its own job ticket.Many faces turned ashen when he said that. Fast forward eight years, and workflow is still the biggest challenge when installing a digital press. Dave Johannes, SVP operations at IWCO Direct, has often been quoted as saying, “Buying and installing the equipment is the easy part.You just cut a purchase order and write a check. The hard part is figuring out the workflow that will optimize your investment. In other words, you wouldn’t buy an electric car and assume you make it run by pulling into a gas station and filling up with 87 octane fuel. If your electric car is a Tesla, you purchased it for a different experience than just getting to your destination without having to fill up. You purchased it for the excitement of great handling, great power, great design, and great space.Harnessing the Power to Excite Digital printing gives you the power to excite on a different level by providing content creators with greater flexibility than is possible using offset printing. It’s a way to make communications more personalized, more colorful, and more relevant. Identifying the capabilities that make digital so

compelling will help guide how your inputs and workflow need to change.Like figuring out how you charge your electric car, the transition to digital requires thinking about a number of things you may now take for granted with conventional offset printing. Digital workflow means thinking about file storage, how you will enable versioning, how files will be checked in and out, and how they will be managed over time frames that will vary now more than ever. Keep in mind that your clients will likely be expecting production cycle times that are compressed compared to conventional offset. They will not provide more time for you to produce what may be hundreds of versions. In their minds, they’re no longer paying for plate changes so versions are unlimited.One of the most important elements of digital workflow is education. In addition to training your operations, customer service, IT, and sales teams, you also need to be prepared to train your customers about how digital will impact their workflow for the art and data files they provide. Business rules will replace Excel spreadsheets and Word tables to automate job instructions to create a more robust environment to author and provide accurate content.Your digital workflow needs to be configurable to seamlessly handle variable data as well as the more complex dynamic content.

The workflow you implement for digital must also meet security standards and requirements. This is especially important for certain verticals such as financial services and healthcare where compliance with pr ivacy and consumer protection regulations is paramount.Your workflow must be capable of managing role and/or group-based permissions for accessing data files and create a collaborative environment for content authors and front line workers. It must be configurable for touchpoint, content and rules management. Access controls and permissions should be automated and have the ability to deliver specific tasks (e.g. approvals) to various stakeholders in your production processing.Ultimately your digital workflow should create a more robust content authoring environment that ensures accuracy of the final print files, optimizes production, and pre-media processes, and meets all client requirements for quality and brand integrity.Workflow is a crucial function at the heart of any print operation, whether offset, digital or a combination of both. In order to optimize the investment you make on a digital press, you need a workflow solution that provides a powerful and flexible production hub built around the technology.This allows you to offer a rich set of capabilities to achieve your clients’ goals for more personalized and relevant welcome kits, policy packages, direct mail, statements, critical communications and more.You may not be driving a Tesla, but your operators and clients should have a smooth, efficient, and exciting ride n

Courtesy : printingnews.com

In a good book the best is between the lines.

– Swedish Proverb


Book to the future

The publishing industry is going through a sea change, or rather an ‘e-change’, as it tries to move ahead with the times and explore new formats and opportunities.

IN APRIL last year, when Chiki Sarkar, former publisher at Penguin Random House India, announced her departure from the company to “pursue new opportunities”, all we knew was that she was likely to start her own publishing firm. In September, she surprised everyone when she launched Juggernaut, a new venture that attempts to put the mobile ahead of print to target India’s mobile boom.

More recently, publisher Westland tied up with Dailyhunt, a mobile publishing platform, to sell author Amish Tripathi’s Shiva trilogy, one chapter at a time, which readers can download and pay for on their cellphones (at a cost of around R15 per chapter). Popular abroad, especially in Japan, the format of book chapter downloads is a ‘first-of-its-kind’ in the country, claim industry observers.

Of the 16 Indian and international languages that the Shiva trilogy is available in, Dailyhunt will offer chapter downloads for the books in nine languages—Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and English—to begin with and will provide all 16

over a period of time, as per reports.

Readers can make payments using their mobile bills (the amount will be added to the bill) or prepaid balance instead of having to use their credit or debit cards. Dailyhunt, which focuses on local-language mobile users, is all set to introduce this feature to more books in the coming weeks, as it targets the next wave of smartphone users. The company has also solved the problem of digital payment by allowing users to purchase using their mobile phone bills with flexible price points ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 500.

As we can see, the publishing industry is going through a sea change, or rather an ‘echange’, as it tries to move ahead with the times and explore new formats and opportunities.

The flavour of the season, of course, is mobile publishing, which could change the landscape of publishing and reading in definitive ways if it comes up trumps. By stepping away a little from traditional publishing, Sarkar of Juggernaut sees her new venture as a way of giving the author a third life. “There’s the paper book, the e-book, but along with that,

there’s life on the phone,” she was quoted as saying in a media report. Initially publishing in English and Hindi, the mobile publishing company hopes to branch out into a new Indian language every year. For 2016, it plans to produce over 200 titles for its mobile app and 50 books for its select physical imprint.

Sarkar, it seems, has worked on the arithmetic. A recent study by marketing research firm AC Nielsen states that there are over 150 million smartphones in India, with nearly two-third users being under 25 years of age. The study goes on to say that users spend an average of 169 minutes on their cellphones every day and nearly a quarter of the 150 million download 18.5 apps and games on an average every month. Juggernaut, in such a scenario, definitely makes sense.

Co-founded by Sarkar and Durga Raghunath, former vice-president (growth) at restaurant search service Zomato, Juggernaut counts Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Fabindia promoter William Bissell and Boston Consulting Group’s India managing director Neeraj Aggarwal among its investors. It has already raised R15 crore, as per some reports.

Hachette India, whose international list is very strong in many genres, including children’s books, has also thought about mobile publishing, but “will pursue it only as a secondary strategy at least for the next two years”. “It’s a medium and platform that cannot be ignored given its sheer scale and demographics. But how much of that demographic matches our content and books is not very clear,” says Thomas Abraham, managing director, Hachette India.

New media, new opportunities The publishing industry is certainly witnessing change—a change in the way content is created and consumed, a change in the factors and variables affecting the industry and certainly a change in the way publishers are adopting strategies and methodologies to keep pace


with consumer and market needs. Ratnesh Kumar Jha, managing director, south Asia, Cambridge University Press (CUP), feels the possibilities of the digital revolution are endless and still evolving. “For CUP, the first phase—turning existing print content digital—has been happening for many years. The second phase— introducing rich interactive media—is also well under way. We are now in the third phase—the deep use of data to provide new and more personalised experiences, and more powerful solutions and tools, all of which offer the potential to improve outcomes,” explains Jha.

The country, is also betting big on the digital platform. “We’re going in for a lot of interesting initiatives across platforms, digital being one and audio being the other. We’re coming out with chapterisation (breaking down a document into sections headed by titles subsidiary to the main title of the work), mini books (simple and quick books mostly aimed at encouraging children to read) and e-singles (a story somewhere between 5,000 and 30,000 words—shorter than most books, longer than most magazine articles).

Basically, we’re looking at technology as a platform, which can be used to put out content for the end user. This end user might or might not be the traditional reader, but any reader—traditional or non-traditional—who might not want to walk into a book shop, but just read an e-book or two a year,” says Kapish Mehra, managing director of the 80-year-old publishing house.

As per Anurima Roy of Bloomsbury Publishing India, digital publishing has been around for a while. “It is growing slowly in India, but the thing is that publishing (through any medium) and selling have to grow because, apart from a few big ones, most books are only 3,000-odd in print run and difficult to sell. New platforms like e-books are actually a way to get these numbers to a higher level, but at a lower cost,” she says.

But are these new platforms and initiatives posing a challenge to traditional publishers?

Yes and no, says Abraham of Hachette India. “The adaptation and customisation—the shift, so to speak—have not been overly difficult to engineer. The problem is in defining the market and its needs, and the delivery channels. This is not a song download model or random bite-sized quotations we’re talking about, but actual re-thought content for a new audience. The first thing to determine is whether that audience, used to gaming, instant reference and ‘freemiums’, wants more varied reading content and is willing to pay for it,” he says.

Mehra of Rupa Publications says, “No, I don’t think so. It is a very different set of readers. It’s just that we need to reach out to both of them.”

Forgotten chapterThe past couple of years have not been too kind to bookstores, as they kept shutting shop one after another. Delhiites have bid farewell to some well-known names, such as Fact & Fiction in Vasant Kunj, The Bookworm in Connaught Place and Yodakin in Hauz Khas Village. Once a warmly-lit bookstore in Connaught Place, with stacks of fiction and academic titles, ED Galgotia & Sons, too, pulled down its shutters after over 80 years of existence.

Others have changed course. Quill and Canvas in Gurgaon, for instance, is now mostly an art gallery and Oxford Bookstore in Connaught Place has an upgraded chai bar as its main attraction.

“Bookstores are the backbone of the industry. There is absolutely no substitute for the well-curated store as far as building reading habits or discoverability are concerned,” says Abraham, adding: “Given the sheer range and depth of publishing, there should be room for all. In fact, we need varied bookstores. Or we will just end up as a country that

consumes either textbooks and/or bestsellers. This is certainly not the prescription for a country that wants its people to be well-rounded citizens capable of competing on the world stage.”

Internet growth and penetration have accelerated a dynamic that has affected brickand- mortar showrooms irreversibly, feels Jha of CUP. “Rise of e-commerce, consumer affinity due to excellent service and ease of transaction, massive buying power of ecommerce giants, as well as high discounts offered to consumers through this model have had an impact on brick-and-mortar showrooms. However, there is an opportunity for both channels to co-exist within the competitive environment.”

Jha adds: “It’s important for the industry to take stock of the evolving situation and respond adequately. It’s important to adopt an agile strategy to remain effective and successful in this time of change.”

The epilogueThe coming times should be exciting. Will readers pay to read stories chapter by chapter? What about mobile publishing? If Juggernaut is to be taken as the benchmark, the mobile publishing house has already got on board a variety of names—and not just from the literary world, in the strict sense of the term—such as authors Arundhati Roy, William Dalrymple, Twinkle Khanna, Rujuta Diwekar and Svetlana Alexievich, actors Sharmila Tagore and Sunny Leone, and journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, among others, who will reportedly write for the platform.

Going forward, publishers feel the market is quite dynamic and there are opportunities at various levels for everyone. “Online sales and e-books will be key, and marketing and publicity will play a very important role in the whole equation of publishing. For every publisher, their voice and the kind of books they publish should complement each other, and the total number


of books published should be manageable for marketing to be able to do justice to each book and author, so that the sell-out is great,” says Roy of Bloomsbury Publishing, which launched its India operations in 2012.

“It’s an exciting, if mixed, future. The demographics and market trends foretell growth, while industry conditions in the short term indicate a churn that will arrest that growth.

In between, what will matter will be the ability to run one’s business well, tuning into a volatile market and not blindly running with the herd,” explains Abraham of Hachette India. Mehra puts in the last word: “It’s a matter of change, and change has to happen.”

The fine printThe Indian book market in a nutshell…Rs 306.6 bn

The current value of the Indian book market; this makes India the world’s sixth-biggest publishing market - Rs 739.7bn

The projected value of the Indian book market by 2020; it will grow at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 19.3% in the next five years - Rs 221.7bn

The value of school education

(K-12) in the overall Indian book market in 2014-15

Rs 66.1bn

The value of higher education in the overall Indian book market in 2014-15 - 9,037

The number of publishers in India; this makes India the world’s second-largest English language print-book-publishing country - 21,800

The number of organised and unorganised book retailers in India - 70%

Publishers in India who have digitised their content to produce e-book versions - 15%

Share of books in the e-commerce trade in country; books just trail

behind electronics (34%), and apparel and accessories (30%)- 56%

Respondents* who bought at least one e-book a year; nearly half of these bought at least three-four e-books a year * The survey was conducted among 2,000 consumers (representative of the urban population aged 18-plus years)

Source: India Book Market Report 2015 , conducted by Nie lsen Book India with the Association of Publishers in India and the Federation of Indian Publishers

Kapish Mehra, managing director, Rupa Publications: We’re going in for a lot of interesting initiatives across platforms, digital being one and audio being the other. we’re looking at technology as a platform, which can be used to put out content for the end user. This end user might or might not be the traditional reader, but any reader— traditional or non-traditional—who might not want to walk into a book shop, but just read an e-book or two a year

Thomas Abraham, managing director, Hachette India: It’s an exciting, if mixed,future. The demographics and market trends foretell growth, while industry conditionsin the short term indicate a churn that will arrest that growth. In between, what willmatter will be the ability to run one’s business well, tuning into a volatile market and not blindly running with the herd

Sreekumar Narayanan, founder, SansRack, an on-demand book distribution platform: Our focus is on acquiring more titles and helping publishers create a revenue stream from their out-of-print titles. We are working with many foreign publishers to bring their titles to India at a price that is relative here. This would save a lot of time and money that goes into importing books into India. The only difference is that these books will be listed first and printed only upon order, thereby reducing the risk of printing in bulk and the cost of warehousing. n

Courtesy : www.financialexpress.com

Doyen of Tamil publishing

Vanathi Pathippakkam publisher Vanathi Thirunavukkarasu

Vanathi Pathippakkam in 1955, he published over 5,000 Tamil titles. There are few publishers in any Indian language who are likely to have published more. His list of authors included Rajaji, Kalki, Chandilyan, Sivasankari and Kannadasan not to mention such religious leaders as Kanchi Paramacharya and Kripananda Variar. From popular crime fiction to philosophy, Thirunavukkarasu published the lot, but he drew the line on publishing material on astrology, palmistry, numerology and related topics which might be considered ‘superstitious’.

His was a ragstoriches story. He was a schoolboy in Burma, where his father was in business, when the Japanese swept through the country.

Fleeing before them, he was one of the hundreds of thousands who trekked all the way to northeast India and safety. Not the most successful of students in his native Devakottai, Thirunavukkarsu made his way to Madras to seek his fortune. That seemed to elude him for years as he moved from job to job, usually to a firm associated with publishing. When he caught up again with a school friend,


100 years of keeping up to dateBangalore Press, the brainchild of Sir. M. Visvesvaraya, which is synonymous with calendars and diaries, is set to celebrate its centenary

It was once the “official publisher” of the Wadiyar royal family and part of a dream to modernise the then Mysore State. Hundred years later, Bangalore Printing and Publishing Company, popularly known as Bangalore Press, is today synonymous with calendars, diaries, panchangas (almanacs). The press, the brainchild of Sir. M. Visvesvaraya, is now set to celebrate its centenary year.

H.R. Ananth, managing director of Bangalore Press, recalls that the journey began with a wedding i n v i t a t i o n . “ W h e n N a l wa d i Krishnaraja Wadiyar got married to Pratap Kumari Devi, princess of Kathewada, printing of the invitation cost him eight Varahas (the then currency which meant big money). He had quipped to Sir MV that they could as well have set up a printing press with that money, and the ingenious engineer took him on his word. Thus, was born the dream of a printing press for Mysore State.

Wadiyar, who went to London on the invitation of King George V, contacted Royal Company and purchased a printing unit. Though Sir MV, with the support of philanthropist Sir K.P. Puttanna Chetty, set up Bangalore Press in 1915 in a house at Shankarapuram in Bengaluru, it got official recognition in 1916.

Puttanna Chetty was the first chairman of the publication, while noted personality Rao Bahadur

Hayavadana Rao was its first secretary.

Initially, the press was located on the State Bank of Mysore premises on Kempe Gowda Road. In 1917, it was moved to Chamarajpet, where it stills functions. It was incorporated as a public company under the Companies Act in 1956. The press had the distinction of being the “printer by appointment to the Maharaja of Mysore.”

B. Puttaiah, who trained in printing technology in London, designed the first calendar. Services of British Officer George, who was working with a calendar company, was drafted to maintain quality of printing.

It was in 1921 that the company first published calendars in English. It started publishing the calendar in Kannada in 1936. Interestingly, Jnanpith recipient writer Masti Venkatesh Iyengar designed the first Kannada calendar.

The calendars brought out by Bangalore Press were unique because it aimed to meet the needs of all sections of the society regardless of caste, creed and culture. Till Independence, calendars had small photographs of Wadiyars in its corner. After 1947, pictures of national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Vallabhbhai Patel, occupied the corners. Bangalore Press churned out calendars, and a range of dairies and related materials.

Mr. Ananth says that there is a big challenge in devising calendars and panchangas. Collection, compilation and flawless listing of information about Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Jain festivals and other events is the biggest challenge. “We collect authentic information from Panchangakartas, Archbishops and Islamic Arabic colleges and compile them,” he adds. n

Courtesy : www.thehindu.com

Lena Tamilvanan, who was then working as an editor in one of these publishing houses, they decided to strike out on their own and established Jil Jil (Cool) Publications. Tamilvanan, however, soon left to edit Kalkandu magazine and Thirunavukkarasu decided to start Jil Jil magazine for children. A printing press to print the publication and a lending library were other ventures he started in a spirit of expansionism. None of these proved successful. Then, he tried his hand at a pioneering venture, what was possibly Madras’s first Chettinad ‘hotel’ (restaurant). This too came to a sad end. Then, his luck changed.

A manuscript titled Ven Puraa was shown him by its author, R.S. Mani. Thirunavukkarasu decided to publish this detective story and found himself with a roaring success, especially after Kalki had critically commended it. Soon, other manuscripts began to reach him and he began publishing a series of popular titles that he hawked around town himself as well as in the mofussil areas. And Thirunavukkarasu was on his way.

In 1955, he established Vanathi Pathippakkam, named after a Kalki character in Ponniyin Selvam , and a new name in Tamil publishing was born, to become one of the most successful names in the field. But till the end, the khadiclad Vanathi Thirunavukkarasu remained a figure of simplicity and humility who’d be hard to spot in a crowd. Few persons of eminence were as selfeffacing as him. n

Courtesy : www.thehindu.com


Latest Half-size ('B2' Format) Presses:

Digital & OffsetWhat print language do you speak? Twenty inch? Three-quarter format? How many up? Whatever we call it, it works

Half-size, three-quarter format, 20x28 (give or take a few inches): The perception of what many printers once described as “B2” size presses is changing, according to industry observers and original equipment manufacturers.

In the print-on-demand space, several B2 size inkjet presses now are satisfying the product and quality needs of the commercial printing market, including short runs, fast turnarounds, high registration accuracy, and the use of variable data. Screen’s Truepress JetSX, for example, is a B2-format duplex printing system that boasts quick startups and production flexibility to handle diverse applications requiring offset quality. The B2 size is familiar for most print firms and, therefore, easy for them to navigate, especially when it comes to workflow: from paper-buying economies of scale to the corresponding sizes of finishing devices.

As many as 390 billion pages may be available to print digitally by 2019, according to Canon Solutions

Amer ica (CSA) pro jec t ions . “The make-up of these pages is promotional materials, such as direct mail,” explained Francis McMahon, senior VP of marketing at CSA, “as well as specialty items like calendars and holiday cards.” Then, there are publications. “Black-and-white, on-demand books represent some 70 percent” of those 390 billion pages, McMahon added. And although declining, transactional printing still represents a healthy chunk: as many as “60 billion pages,” he noted.

HP estimates that it produced 3.2 billion B2 pages on its digital presses in 2015, which averages out to approximately 300 million pages per month. In the nearly four years since the 20.9x29.5-inch HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press caused substantial buzz at drupa 2012, HP reported it now has between 250 and 300 of the five-up devices in the field. The 10000 model can print as many as 4,600 color B2 size sheets per hour and now supports white ink and up to seven ink stations—evolved functionality akin to other HP Indigo presses.

In Grand Rapids, MI, Foremost Communications has been running Screen’s sheetfed Truepress JetSX for three years. Like the models it competes with, the full-color, duplex variable printing system narrows the gap between digital and offset print production. It meets the demand for applications requiring the B2 format that the current crop of toner devices cannot handle, said marketing director Mark Schlimme, while cost-effectively printing quantities up to about 3,000 copies compared with sheetfed offset. Building dry-toner engines wide enough to handle B2 formats is challenging for manufacturers. Only Xeikon (now owned by Flint Group) has done it with any commercial success. Most every other OEM sticks to SRA3 widths of 12.6x17.7-inches, although there are increasingly more long-sheet models coming to market that can print 26-inch and even 39+ inch lengths.

The Truepress JetSX prints on standard offset papers, including high-gloss materials, without pre-coating— even those that have previously been printed by offset. It accommodates coated and uncoated cut sheets up to 20.8x29.1 inches. Flexibility is further enhanced through a paper-handling system that is based on traditional press technology, meaning the machine’s output can be processed on existing postpress/bindery equipment. Newly developed Truepress ink dries almost instantly, allowing sheets to go directly to postpress for folding, cutting, and binding.

The Truepress Jet SX prints 1,620 simplex sheets or 810 duplex sheets per hour. The grayscale printhead emits a minimum droplet size of 2 picoliters, producing a maximum resolution of 1,440 x 1,440 dpi. Screen’s FM screening provides exceptional color and smooth tone reproduction, says the manufacturer.

Thanks to the reversing mechanism that enables duplex printing inside the main unit, the Truepress Jet SX delivers full-color printing on both sides of the sheet in one

The J Press 720S, a B2production inkjet press, featuresFuj i f i lm Dimatix’s Samba printhead, capable of jetting droplets as small as two picoliters.


pass. Incorporating the lateral sheet position method found in conventional offset presses ensures highly accurate front-to-back registration. Sheets are in register from the first sheet, saving time and money on makeready waste.

B2 DigitalInterestingly, some 30 percent of HP Indigo 10000 customers have purchased more than one of the digital presses. One such firm is GLS Companies, Brooklyn Park, MN, added two HP Indigo 10000 Digital Presses in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The company also has conventional web and sheetfed presses and has been an HP Indigo customer since first moving into digital print in 2004. GLS’s equipment list also includes HP Indigo 5000 and 7500 Digital Presses and HP SmartStream Production Center.

“We knew what HP presses could do, but the B2 format was what we wanted in a digital press,” explained marketing director Jim Benedict. “GLS Companies was one of the first in the US to install an HP Indigo 10000 to support our direct mail business with highly targeted, one-toone personalization. We have seen steady growth in our digital variable product offering since installing the first press … leading us to install a second HP Indigo 10000 to meet client demand.” Prior two the first 10000’s arrival three years ago, GLS produced direct mail on roll-fed inkjet presses and its B3 size digital devices. Using a 20x29 sheet, however, provides more flexibility for creative folds and other types of applications. The manufacturer

has planned upgrades rolling out for the series, the latest of which feature a “new level of reliability, uptime, and print quality,” said Ed Wehbe, category manager for the HP Indigo Commercial Print unit. As print volumes on the 10000 model have gone up, HP engineers have been focused on fixing bugs and adding enhanced sensors and newer hardware, he added.

“Restart jam rates are declining.” JDF-compliant workflow automation is another Indigo advantage cited by Jacob Shamis, formerly of the Indigo division who now is marketing manager for HP PageWide Web Presses in the Americas. “Imposition also is more To date, HP Indigo also has 20 or more installations of the 30000, the B2 sheetfed press that mainly prints folding cartons and heavy board, according to Ralf Schlozer, director of InfoTrends’ On Demand Printing & Publishing Consulting Service in Europe.

More B2 InkjetIn the B2 inkjet world, Fujifilm’s Graphic Systems Division offers the four-up (8.5x11 inch), 20.9 x 29.5-inch J Press 720S, a four-color model where the “J” stands for Jet. The J Press “runs variable data at speed—not half speed,” pointed out marketing VP Terry Mitchell. A barcode reader on the feed side enables variable data and graphics to be indexed and matched to specific sheets on the fly; integrity is ensured even in the case of a misfeed or other mix up, he noted.

The digital sheetfed press’s most endearing feature, however, may be Fujifilm’s Rapid Coagulation Primer (RCP). Each sheet is treated inline with RCP, allowing the J Press

to print on many standard offset papers. RCP works in conjunction with Fujifilm printhead and ink technology to jet two-picoliter droplets of aqueous pigment- based inks, resulting in printed output that “looks and finishes like offset,” Mitchell said. “It has been very well received.”

Screen Truepress JetSXA J Press service improvement comes in the form of its printheads, which no longer are housed in a bar, Mitchell reported. Now, the heads are individually replaceable. The drying system also has changed to a combination of infrared and an airflow system that uses knives to drive air through the sheets. Engineers have opted for an aqueous ink set, making the inkjet device’s impressive image quality even better. In addition, printed sheets can be laminated or aqueous-coated just like offset.

The J Press customer profile is a print mash up: There are the traditional print service providers (PSPs) with offset equipment, according to Mitchell, looking to meet increasing demands for shorter run lengths and multiple versions. Then there are the digital-only, web-to-print houses, which operate under a completely different business model, specializing in quick turns and shipping same-day orders. “There also are specialty users, too, like book printers doing covers and direct mail companies,” he said. “The challenge for all of them is to do digital cost-effectively.” While “clicks” may make costs easier to calculate, in Screen and Fujifilm’s case there are no click charges. Instead, they run on a consumables model: “So, lower ink coverage equates to lower costs, while print jobs requiring higher ink coverage will cost more but about the same cost as a click,” Mitchell Printing margins continue to be squeezed as run lengths plummet, driving overall production costs higher. Obviously, “a 1,000- or 1,500-piece inkjet job doesn’t have all the makeready and

HP Indigo 10000

Screen Truepress JetSX


printing plates that offset requires. The mentality out there is changing, but it’s a work in progress.

Today, we are getting questions from customers and prospects about cost per sheet,” Mitchell said, adding that the old-school days of printers quoting cost per thousand are all but gone.

The capital costs of printing using inkjet technology have come down somewhat, Mitchell continued. “Ink and paper costs have decreased considerably,” he said. But today’s customer mindset has more of a marketing slant, taking response rates into consideration. “It’s true that there is less print overall, but it is proven that more targeted pieces, using individualized data, get better response rates: up to five percent” versus one percent for static print. “But an offset printer would take it on the chin printing 500 each of four different versions as opposed to one version of 2,000 pieces.”

Offset press manufacturer Komori also is playing in the digital game with its 23x29-inch Impremia IS29 inkjet press, a four-color sheetfed machine featuring high-quality resolution of 1,200 dots per inch and output speeds up to 3,000 sheets per hour. The technology enables the use of normal printing paper, Komori said, and also matches the OEM’s offset colors.

The Impremia, first announced nearly four years ago, got its first US beta site in 2015. Chicago-area marketing services provider SG360° (formerly known as Segerdahl Group), Wheeling, IL, now is testing Komori’s highly anticipated inkjet press. The $300-million firm’s new CEO is Mary Lee Schneider, former chief technology officer of RR Donnelley and, during a 20-year career, president of the mega printer’s Digital Solutions group.

Sheetfed Offset, TooPurchasing even a new B2 digital press can be cost-prohibitive for smaller print firms, in access of a

$1-million investment for some models, warned Chris Manley, president of Graphco, the Cleveland-area equipment dealer that sells both digital (MGI) and offset (RMGT/Ryobi) presses.

“A lot of smaller-format [offset] presses are being sold,” Manley added, largely due to the shorter run lengths still prevalent throughout the industry.

And then there’s over-capacity, of course, which still plagues printers. The attrition rate for larger presses definitely is higher, Manley added, citing the equipment auction emails many of us receive regularly: “Probably 95 of 100 auctions have full-size, 40-inch machines” for sale, he observed.

Why go smaller? Manley cited three main reasons if your shop uses, on average, between 7,500 and 10,000 sheets or fewer per job:

Less volume: If you are a “short-run printer,” turning increasingly more jobs but at fewer quantities, the smaller format size features faster makeready and uses less waste paper to get “up to color.”

Flexibile job change-overs: With more jobs in the queue, changing sheet sizes is easier and quicker on a smaller printing press. Time is money in a short-run environment.

Hourly rates are less: A lot of print service providers (PSPs) don’t have or want full-size equipment, and they never will, Manley said, because these owners and managers like being able to run a press with a

single operator. Most full-size, 40-inch presses require twice the labor, or two operators.

From a paper-buying perspective, pr inters can run e ight-page signatures on larger presses using 24x36 inch sheets, which is a standard stocking size, he continued.

Being able to run six 8.5x11-inch pages in “three-quarter format” is a strong lure, Manley said. About a year ago, commercial printer The Messenger Press Inc. installed a 24x31-inch Ryobi MHI 755XL GP perfecting press with aqueous coater at its Carthagena plant in northwestern Ohio. Mitch Kremer a 30-something COO working side by side with his father, Allan, made a conscious, total-cost-of-ownership decision not to move “up” to an eight-up machine, saying he did not want to have to buy a bigger plate-maker and a bigger cutter. The press is providing Messenger with significant increases in productivity and enhanced print quality as the Kremers grow their presence throughout Ohio and the Midwest.

“This will be our main production machine for short-run offset,” reported the younger Kremer, who joined the now 134-year-old firm seven years ago and became a VP in early 2012. “It will bring us into the next 10 to 15 years.” Messenger replaced a 2001 vintage six-color (2 over 4) sheetfed perfector from a different manufacturer.

“There is a lot more automation on the new press,” Kremer added. “There is better registration and

Oce VarioPrint i300


less makeready, which means it is quicker and we can turn more jobs in a shorter [amount of] time,” he said. “One of our goals is to get to sellable color while wasting less paper” on the direct mail and other work printed at Messenger Press. One feature that the Kremers and their team like is the robust feeder. “It’s beefed up and is more heavy-duty, with less strapping,” Mitch noted. “[Running at] 16,000 sheets per hour helps on all of our work, and with no electrical cabinet near the feeder there’s more room to work.”

Kremer traveled to RYOBI MHI customers in Cleveland and Cincinnati to observe similar perfector presses in action. “We saw the LED-UV feature on the press in Atlanta, too,” he recalled, in addition to chatting via phone with some East Coast plants. John Arnold, the technical service manager for Graphco, then “walked us through the design changes and improvements on our specific configuration.

“We’re a job shop,” Kremer continued, “so we will need to determine where best to put the

work: on our MGI digital press or the new Ryobi. When we consider the final trim size and finishing requirements of a job, we find that it can be faster to run 2,000 on the RYOBI MHI 755 XLGP than on the digital press.” The bottom line, he said, is operating as efficiently and leanly as possible—no matter which output technology is used.

RYOBI MHI Graphic Technology Ltd. (RMGT) since has rebranded its Ryobi 750 G series, which prints a full 31- inch sheet and now is designated as the 790 model (the metric equivalent in millimeters). “The maximum sheet size is 23.83x31 inches, versus 29,” explained Manley.

“The extra two inches fits in nicely with the packaging aspects of the machine,” he noted, adding that it is two inches wider than competing presses in that category 3(namely, Heidelberg and Komori’s).

The 790 series also is available with Ryobi’s RPC system that “can simultaneously change plates in under two minutes, even on a 10-color press,” according to Manley.

It features a re-engineered, 55-inch color monitor mounted to the press console, giving “operators a much faster and more intuitive observation,” he reported. Cameras placed around the press monitor activity at the feeder, for example. On perfecting models, these cameras

“peer inside the press at 15,000 sheets per hour,” Manley added.

“The camera system backs up the previous 15 minutes of operation onto an internal hard drive, allowing for review, adjustments, and corrections.

“RMGT’s engineers went back to the drawing board” on this one, he concluded. The new design represents the “convergence of [the] user-selected interface from an iPhone or a laptop.” Sakurai, too, offers its 66 Series offset press, a 20x26-inch format size available in four to six colors plus coating and perfecting. The fully automated 66 Series is available in straight or perfecting versions and incorporates the proven features from Sakurai’s SD family, including double-diameter cylinder configuration and built-in automation. The popular sheet size and large (19 1/8 x 26 inch) image area allows the use of standard paper and cover stocks. The top running speed of 16,000 sheets per hour, plus high pile delivery, help trim the time required for long-run jobs. The manufacturer also offers a fully automated, space-saving 466SD/SDP, 20x26-inch, four-color convertible perfector, which runs at 16,000 impressions per hour.

B3 FlexibilityLast year CSA introduced the Océ VarioPrint i300, which prints up to 294 letter images per minute or more than 8,500 duplex letter sheets per hour. It targets heavy production volumes of one million to 10 million pages per month and supports a large variety of paper sizes up to 13.9x19.7 inches, which technically is B3 format.

CSA has installed 37 of the new sheetfed inkjet presses globally; 15

Sakurai 466SDC sheetfed analog press with coater.

Ryobi 750 G series Océ VarioPrint i300


of them in North America. “We will install another 60 in 2016,” said CSA marketing chief McMahon. “It’s all we can get in the factory for the US. We have orders for 35” as of late December 2015.

The cut-sheet i300 is versatile, added CSA’s McMahon, accommodating different types and sizes of paper in its drawers. “And in many cases,” he noted, “this inkjet technology has 30 percent less running cost than toner.” Up to eight paper trays feed a broad range of standard offset and inkjet substrates from 16-pound bond to 110-pound cover. Proven Océ VarioPrint 6000+ input and output technologies help enable a white-sheet-in, finished-application-out workflow required to meet the demands of today’s shorter run, fast turnaround print market place.

Reliable high-speed sheetfed inkjet production is powered by Océ iQuarius technologies, a range of innovations that allow for robust, high-quality prints on sheets of paper, at high speed.

At Merrill Corp. in Minneapolis, MN, senior operations VP Pat Foley has run some 20 million impressions on the Océ VarioPrint i300 printer in a four-month period. “The VarioPrint i300 fills a gap that no other product can offer by providing high quality, inkjet efficiency, and the flexibility of a true sheetfed production press,” Foley said. “A cutsheet inkjet revolution is imminent,” predicted Jim Hamilton, group director of industry research firm InfoTrends. “It will follow the path of the high-speed continuous- feed color inkjet market with its first successes in transaction, direct mail, and book applications. Canon is in a great position to take advantage of this opportunity with the Océ VarioPrint i300 and capitalize on the high speed and volume capability, combined with integrated finishing and quality levels that will help it succeed in the transaction, direct mail, book, and manual markets.” n

Courtesy : printingnews.com

Taking cover

We are said to be living in a new golden age of great book cover design, and part of the reason is that book discovery is becoming ever less serendipitous. Space for books in bookshops, whose financial survival is itself under stress, is declining — and the effort to grab the reader, target or casual, needs to be better focussed.

But book covers have always been integral to the communication between publisher and reader, and Roberto Calasso in his recent collection of essays, The Art of the Publisher (Penguin, £5.99), revisits the decisions that had to be made when he and his colleagues set up Adelphi, a leading (and iconic) Italian publishing house. At the heart of the book is the question: what makes a publisher great? The answer: “The capacity to give form to a plurality of books as though they were the chapters of a single book.” Adelphi, in this regard, had decided that it would publish “singular books”, and when it came to the next step of deciding on a look, “We immediately agreed on what we wanted to avoid: whiteness and graphic designers.”

Cover design, he explains, “is an art on which there is a heavy onus”. It must convey the essence of the book. It must “be perceived to be right” by potential readers who may know nothing about the books, but “at the same time the cover must look right after these unknown people have read the book”.

A great deal of effort goes into designing the cover, and also into rejacketing, printing a book with a new cover. (As an aside, isn’t it curious how our relationship with a favourite text evolves with the change in book cover? Who said don’t judge a book by its cover!) At Adelphi, they decided to strike

a separate pose. Images for covers would not be commissioned based on the text. Instead: “We felt, at the outset, that with a little perseverance we could find something each time from the sea of existing images — whether pictures or photographs or designs — that would be appropriate for the book we were about to publish.”

So may I suggest a little game? Take a book you know well, and find existing paintings or photographs that would be appropriate for a front cover. n

Courtesy : thehindu.com

In old days books were

written by men of letters and

read by the public. Nowadays

books are written by the

public and read by nobody.

– Oscar Wilde


Tech Guide: CTP & PlatesHow do the latest crop of CTP units and plates stack up? Platesetters and Imagers

AGFA GRAPHICS AVALON N8The Avalon N8 is actually a range of eight thermal B1size platesetters. They are upgradable, and can process up to 65 plates per hour, with a maximum plate size of 1,165 x 950mm. Printers can start with any one of the eight models and upgrade it as their business grows.

The Avalon’s plate productivity is linked to the laser technology of the imaging heads. The fastest models use Grating Light Valve (GLV) technology with 1,024 beams, resulting in a top speed of 65 plates per hour.

A variety of automated functions adds to the overall productivity and profitability, allowing printers to customise their computertoprint solution according to their specific needs.

Agfa says the key benefits of the Avalon N80 series include reliable platesetting, accurate registration, h i g h q u a l i t y i m a g i n g a n d automation.

The Avalon N860 and N880 models apply GLV imaging head technology, using 512 and 1,024 beams to deliver between 32 and 65 B1 plates per hour in a fully automated CtP configuration.

The Avalon N8 series features an external drum design, and an automated lightweight clamping and vacuum system secures plates to the drum.

The internal punching system punches for the onpress registration immediately before mounting the

plate on the drum to improve register on press and reduce makeready times. Because the punching is done while another plate is being imaged, there is no loss of plate throughput. By adding optional press punch blocks, imaged plates can be loaded

straight onto presses with different punching, eliminating further manual steps and increasing makeready efficiency.

The Avalon N8’s upgrade path can meet expanding production requirements by using the same base engine. Printers can upgrade from an entrylevel manual machine to a fully automated model by simply replacing certain key parts on the job.

Agfa maintains a team of service engineers and plate specialists to show printers how to get the best results from their kit and take steps to make sure performance is achieved consistently.

ESKO CDI 4260Esko claims the CDI (Cyrel Digital Imager) offers flexo print results that were previously only achievable in offset or gravure. There is a CDI for every need, from narrow web label printing to flexible packaging and wideformat corrugated printing, printing singlecolour corrugated boxes to sophisticated multicolour packaging and security printing. With its larger size plates and productivity at an entrylevel price,

this device fits the demands of trade shops and converters.

The CDI 4260 is designed primarily for outputting flexo, letterpress and dry offset printing plates. Secondary support is available for some types of offset plates and film. It has a standard resolution of 2,400/2,540dpi with options to image at 4,000dpi and 8,000dpi. It offers imaging speeds up to 8m2 per hour, and a range of sizes from 43 x 25cm to 127 x 203cm. Esko says it is the only CtP device to offer HD flexo.

The CDI Spark 4260 Auto offers full automatic plate loading and unloading for maximum throughput with little operator intervention Esko’s Flexo Implementation of Quality (FIQ) team ensures immediate startup of the flexo process, with flexo prepress, plate setup and configuration, fingerprinting and press profiling.

GLUNZ & JENSEN ICTP PLATEWRITER 3600 PROLast September Glunz & Jensen released the iCtP PlateWriter 3600 Pro, which produces press ready aluminum plates without the use of chemical processing, in a daylight environment. Glunz & Jensen products are distributed in Australia by Australian Graphic Servicing. The iCtP Platewriter 3600 Pro is suitable for commercial printers, quick printers and inplants, small and midsize newspapers and book printers.

The PlateWriter 3600 ProTM is based on a new technology that


Glunz & Jensen claims takes inkjet platemaking to a completely new level in productivity and usability. It is based on its stable solvent ink technology which is used in the PlateWriter 2000/2400 systems, with over 40 installed by Australian Graphic Servicing throughout Australia.

The PlateWriter 3600 Pro is an enhanced format model offering landscape plate loading for an even higher throughput speed. It is suitable for 2up, 4up and 8up press formats up to 915 x 1,140mm plate sizes. It produces press ready aluminum plates without chemical processing in daylight operation for commercial printers and small newspaper applications. This small footprint CtP solution is completely selfcontained and its chemical free approach means no additional equipment, such as plate processors or washout units, is required.

T h e s e m i a u t o m a t e d p l a t e registration system provides a plate handling approach so multiple plate sizes and gauges can be used in parallel, with no changes. This makes the PlateWriter ideal for printers with more than one printing press.

The PlateWriter applies a Liquid Dot image on to nonphotosensitive aluminium printing plates. The imaged plates are manually fed through the integrated finishing unit that dries the plates and bonds the liquid dots to the plate surface, making them capable of printing more than 50,000 impressions on press.

HEIDELBERG SUPRASETTERThe Heidelberg Supraset ter family has a very small footprint, making it accessible technology for businesses of all sizes. Their low energy consumption meets environmental concerns and reduces operational costs. Every Suprasetter is delivered with a CO2 neutral certificate confirming that Heidelberg has offset the carbon used in the manufacture of the unit.

The laser head of the Suprasetter family is designed by Heidelberg’s own engineers, and the company says its reliability is backed by a warranty of up to seven years. The machines also feature an inbuilt temperature control to ensure a stable environment, which has made the Suprasetter popular in rural locations and tropical climates.

A popular benefit of the Suprasetter is they are upgradable in the field, so those who start with a basic model can upgrade from manual to automated processes and also increase speed.

Suprasetter CtP devices require minimum maintenance as the units selfcheck each day when they are turned on. For occasions when there is a problem, Heidelberg’s engineers can remotely access the machine to make a diagnosis ensuring minimum downtime.

The most popular model in the range is the Suprasetter A75, which is ideally suited to the A2/B2 market and comes in various configurations including Automatic Top Loader and Dual Top Loader for high volumes. The Suprasetter A75 produces plates at 2,540dpi up to 5,080dpi for special applications such as stamps and security printing. The A75 runs on low power consumption using only 5 watts on standby and 550 watts on average when imaging. The Suprasetter family is competitively priced and Heidelberg provides options for financing.

SCREEN PTR4600ZThe popular Screen PTR4300 B2size thermal platesetter has been discontinued and an allnew series, the PTR4600, was introduced last November. According to Screen,

the main differences are a shift from CANtype LEDs to Fibre LEDs used in imaging the plates for sharper, higher definition, and a higher speed ‘Z’ model capable of 33 plates per hour at 2,400dpi.

Peter Scott, Screen GP managing director for Australia, noted other improvements. “The new PTR4600 also benefits from the environmental advances in power usage, inherited from the larger B1 PTR8600 series.

This means that, in Eco mode, power consumption is reduced by between 74 per cent and 83 per cent while idling. Main power supply is down from 20Amps/4.0kW to 15Amps/3.6kW but despite this, the laser power is up 13%, making the PRR4600 ideal for lowsensitivity processless plates such as the Fujifilm Brillia ProT and the Agfa Azura TS/TU.”

Three models comprise the PTR4600 series, designated E, S and Z. Productivity is 11, 21 and 33 plates per hour respectively. Another saving for B2 printers is that the bridge to connect the CtP setter to a processor can now be builtin.

For plate loading, a simple manual feed tray comes standard, with either 100plate single cassette or 300plate triple cassette autoloaders available as options.

“Other minor changes have been made in response to market requests such as new small plate sizes of 324 x 330mm or, as an option, 270 x 330mm,” said Scott. “Maximum plate size remains the same as the 4300 at 830 x 660mm – or 830 x 680mm by special order. The interface is now Gigabit Ethernet for full connectivity to e ither Screen Equios or most other workflows. Plate edge detection is also new for precise registration.”

He concluded, “All in all, the advances inside the new PTR4600 models represent significant quality, cost and productivity benefits for our B2 format customers and also those of our plate partners Fujifilm, Xingraphics and Agfa. Needless


to say, it is backed by Screen’s renowned quality reputation and locally available service technicians.”

Plates

AGFA AZURA TUAgfa says the Azura TU plate is designed for highvolume printing using simplified platemaking by eliminating process variables for more consistent results.

The Azura TU offers consistent results because of its proprietary ThermoFuse technology, claims Agfa. The Azura TU can be used for highvolume printing up to 150,000 copies in commercial sheetfed printing. It is made of highgrade

aluminium, allowing image quality up to 240lpi. It offers environmental advantages because it uses no chemicals and water usage is reduced by up to 95%.

Plates can be processed faster as a result of high plate sensitivity and easier handling due to daylight immunity and its scratch resistant surface.

A plate sensitivity of 160mJ/ cm² allows for more than 50 B1 plates per hour.

The Azura TU is a true chemistryfree plate; as the image formation is a physical process there is no need for developer or replenisher. With no chemicals used, printers can expect lower disposal costs, a safer work environment and less waste.

In combination with the Azura CX cleanout unit, a long gum bath life of up to 7,000m² reduces equipment maintenance to a minimum. When switching from conventional processing to the Azura TU, a water reduction of more than 95% can be realised, as no rinse water is required.

CYREL EASY PLATEIn mid2015 Du Pont announced the market launch of a new flexographic printing plate technology platform called DuPont Cyrel Easy.

The Cyrel Easy technology platform simplifies the prepress process by building the flat top digital dot directly into the plate, resulting in increased consistency. Cyrel EASY plates are based on a new polymer that produces higher ink transfer and higher resolution. DuPont says customer testing has shown significantly higher SID without compromising on highlights. Cyrel Easy plates are available for Cyrel Fast thermal and solvent processing and in engineered and smooth surfaces.

“DuPont is excited to bring forward yet another key innovation to advance flexography,” said James Quirke, DuPont Packaging Graphics Austra l ia and New Zealand manager. “By building flat top dot capability directly into Cyrel Easy plates, we’re making it fast and simple to enhance productivity, while delivering worldclass print quality.”

Cyrel Easy plates are aimed at flexographic printers, converters and trade shops looking for a technology platform that offers a choice of both smooth and engineered surface plates for higher ink transfer and colour saturation, regardless of existing workflow.

It also offers a simpler platemaking workflow, with fewer steps and higher consistency, and no need for a nitrogen exposure unit, LED technology or lamination equipment to get flat top dots.

It is available as the thermally processed Cyrel Fast Easy EFE engineered surface, and Fast Easy EFX in a smooth surface. They are based on a completely new polymer that delivers higher ink transfer and resolution, all in less than an hour.

The Cyrel Fast Easy EFX and EFE are suitable for extended gamut printing.

The Nyloflex Gold A from Flint produces gloss and matt effects, bright metallic sparkles or shimmers, tactile surface structures and scented print designs.

Print finishing using lowviscosity coating systems in sheetfed offset printing opens up a multitude of possibilities. To generate these effects printers need a flexo coating unit with doctor blade and anilox roll system, lowviscosity coating systems (colourless or pigmented), and the coating plate as a transfer medium.

The Nyloflex coating plate for inline and offline print finishing is the transfer medium for print finishing on film, foil, paper, coated paper and board. On rough substrates the Nyloflex Gold A plates can meet most coating requirements and covers all printing press formats up to size VI.

Features of the Nyloflex Gold A include a unique coating plate on an aluminium base and a broad application range from low to high resolution, solids to line and screen designs.

Lowviscosity coating systems are available for nearly every application: as a waterbased varnish, as gloss and matt varnish and also for use in UV printing. Pigmented metallic or pearlescent varnishes can be used to produce high quality printing with special visual effects.

Rub and smell varnishes containing microscopic scent capsules are now available in many different fragrances. The scent is long lasting and can increase sales appeal. These coating systems are also able to meet technical requirements such as sealing of printed materials or water or grease repellence.

Nyloflex Gold A plates provide consistent varnish transfer over long print runs. In combination with soft touch varnishes, gold and silver metal pigment and pearlescent inks, Nyloflex coating plates are ideal for packaging for high quality cosmetic, confectionary, food and toy products.

Distributed by WRH Global in Australia, the Xingraphics range of plates has a new addition, the Primus Plus Hybrid, which provides


both environmental and economic benefits through a reduction in water requirements and a corresponding reduction in ink. The Primus Plus Hybrid reduces water usage by 2030% and reduces ink coverage by 520% in offset printing.

The new Xingraphics Primus Plus offers other benefits. Printing with less water ensures faster drying times, fewer wateronpaper related problems on sheetfed presses, and it can also lead to a reduction of paper breaks on web presses. All these factors further assist the bottom line through a reduction in in energy consumption.

Xingraphics has also released another new plate, the UV Envase. It utilises double layer technology specifically designed for UV printing, which is rapidly gaining in popularity. The UV Envase does not need any baking, which is commonly required for most current plate technologies due to the aggressive nature of UV inks. n

Courtesy : proprint.com.au

No printer’s devil this!

Gutenberg: Showing visitors how it works.

If you want to read a book you head to the book store or library. It is so simple. Can you imagine, there was a time when there were no books!

Imagine a world without books. We would not then have the joys of reading Enid Blyton, Lewis Carroll and J. K. Rowling and so many others.

Unthinkable, right?

But for the invention of the printing press in 1455 by Johannes Gutenberg, we would perhaps still be grappling with the alphabet! Gutenberg started experimenting with printing by 1438. The printing press dramatically changed the way society evolved and today, we hail Gutenberg as one of the most influential people in the annals of history. Gutenberg was born in Mainz, Germany, in 1395. His father was a modest merchant and young Johannes apprenticed first as a goldsmith. He tried his hand at making polished metal mirrors to sell to pilgrims, but the venture did not take off. His surname is derived from the house inhabited by his father and his ancestors.

The earliest books were written by hand on scrolls by people called scribes. By the Middle Ages, books were produced by monks who used quill pens and ink. This meant a single book could take even a year or more to complete! Gutenberg came up with the movable type of press.

This was more practical than carving complete word blocks for printing. Each small metal type was a single letter or character.

Creating historyGutenberg's masterpiece and first ever book printed using movable type is the Bible. It weighed 14 pounds and 50,000 sheets of paper were required for what came to be called “The 42line Bible”. Yes, 42 is the number of lines on most of its pages. Some 180 copies were printed, mostly on paper, and some on vellum (parchment made from calf skin). This signalled a colossal moment in the history of information and learning. Within a few decades the printing presses spread to over 200 cities in Europe. History tells us that by the year 1500, printing presses throughout Western Europe had churned out 20 million volumes!

His other major achievement was bringing out the Psalter, a collection of devotional songs.Sadly, the genius became blind in the last months of his life. He died in 1468.

Project Gutenberg (PG)In 1971, Michael Hart began a community project to make plain text versions of books available freely. (Hart was an American author and inventor of the first electronic book.) PG is a volunteer effort to digitise and archive cultural works, to encourage the creation and distribution of ebooks.

As of last month, Project Gutenberg has over 50,000 i tems in i ts collection.n

Courtesy : thehindu.com

UK launches first new daily newspaper in three decades

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday helped launch the country’s first new national daily newspaper in 30 years, which vowed to show that print news could prosper in the Internet age.

The New Day, created by publishing giant Trinity Mirror, hit the newsstands on Monday, carrying a front-page story of a report into children who cared for their parents and a column by Cameron calling on Britain to remain in the European Union.

Despite plummeting sales of print newspapers, which led The Independent to announce last week that it was moving online, the new paper insisted that its unique format would help it survive.

“We would of course be completely daft if what we were launching was just another newspaper. But it’s not,” said a message from its editorial team.


Quark Software Inc. unveiled QuarkXPress 2016, the next major version of Quark’s awardwinning design and layout tool for print and digital publishing. Coming in the second quarter of this year, QuarkXPress 2016 is built on outstanding performance and stability introduced with QuarkXPress 2015.

To learn more about QuarkXPress 2016 and limitedtime prelaunch offers visit www.quark.com/2016.

New wish list features deliveredDesigners around the world asked for even more features to take QuarkXPress to the next level and QuarkXPress 2016 delivers. Feature highlights include:

• Convert PDF, Illustrator and EPS Files to Native QuarkXPress Objects

• Paste as Native Objects from Illustrator and Microsoft Office

• Create and Export HTML5 Publications

• MultiGradient Color Blends

• Support for OpenType Stylistic Sets

• Color Picker (Eyedropper tool)

• Touchpad Support for Pinch and

Zoom (Mac only)

• Search and Replace Nonbreaking Spaces and Characters

• Additional Dynamic Guides for Textbox Columns

• Fit Textbox to Text

• Streamlined and Efficient UI Now also on Windows

• Option to Make Measurement Palette 50% Larger

• Option to Line Wrap Content Variables

• Support for ICCv4 Profiles

• And More

Convert PDF, Illustrator and EPS Files to Native QuarkXPress ObjectsQuarkXPress is the first layout application to import PDF, Illustrator and EPS files and convert them to native˚ objects, so designers can say goodbye to time consuming projects like rebuilding logos and reconstructing PDF and EPS files. The new conversion functionality includes ful ly editable Bezier versions of vector graphics, real text and automatically extracted colors and fonts.

Copy and Paste Objects from Illustrator, PowerPoint and Others to QuarkXPressThis new features allows designers to simply copy items from other applications such as PowerPoint, Illustrator or even InDesign and paste them into a QuarkXPress layout as Native QuarkXPress Objects˚, allowing for easy completion and reuse.

Create and Export HTML5 PublicationsBuilding on the populari ty of reflowable and fixed layout eBooks and stunning interactive apps from App Studio, QuarkXPress 2016 adds another digital output format. HTML5 Publications can be created from scratch or from existing print layouts without any additional software and no additional digital publishing costs.‡ Once created, HTML5 Publications can be previewed locally and uploaded to a user’s own website. HTML5 Publications displays pixelperfect layouts on all modern desktop, tablet, and mobile browsers, providing an easy and effective online experience.

A highlight is how typographic features are exported natively in HTML5. There is no longer the need to set “Convert to Graphic” for text that contains runarounds, justified and hyphenated text, vertically justified text, text indents, text color opacity, text aligned with baselines, custom kerning and tracking, tabs and tab stops, etc. The new digital layout space offers near WYSIWYG fixed layouts and typographic control for digital publishing.

And more, with HTML5 Publications it’s possible to go beyond static print layouts to add interactive enrichments such as scrollable areas, slide shows, and animations. It is quite possibly the easiest way to share magazines, newspapers, comics, reports, ads and more.

MultiColor GradientsWith the new MultiColor Gradients designers have full flexibility when

QuarkXPress 2016


designing color blends. Users are able to create as many color stops as they wish using sliders or numeric settings, and can opt for the full radial setting or set the aspect ratio. Unlike other layout software, users can even set different opacity levels for each color stop.

Support for OpenType Stylistic SetsWith modern digital fonts, users can now group related alternative characters into OpenType Stylistic Sets, which may be switched on together. Stylistic Sets give users the ability to quickly apply these sets with one click. For example, Vollkorn, a free body typeface by Friedrich Althausen, provides two stylistic sets that users can easily switch between. One is a more standard “oldstyle” set for body text and another “plainer” stylistic set is better suited for headlines while preserving the look of the whole body text.

XTensions Interface ConsistencyAs the plugin interface is the same between QuarkXPress 2016 and QuarkXPress 2015, XTensions, plugins to QuarkXPress, will work in the new version uninterrupted (provided the XTension does not conflict with any of the new functionality). This is a benefit to users who have already invested in XTensions for QuarkXPress 2015.

Learn more about what’s new in QuarkXPress 2016, read about the offer details, and make purchases here: www.quark.com/2016.

About QuarkXPressQuarkXPress is leading graphic design and page layout software for creative professionals around the world who depend on quality, performance and stability. QuarkXPress 2015 is the current version of QuarkXPress that features fast 64bit architecture, industryverified PDF/X4 output, fixed layout interactive (applike) eBook production, the top most userrequested features, and much more. Unlike many design suites, QuarkXPress is sold as a perpetual license, which means users make a single purchase and aren’t locked into an ongoing subscription. Learn more about QuarkXPress here: http://www.quark.com/2015.

Ricoh announced the launch of a portfolio of software products, including Ricoh TotalFlow® Prep 4.0, TotalFlow® Print Manager 4.0, TotalFlow® Production Manager 4.0 and TotalFlow® Path 4.0, to deliver enhanced productivity for production printing operations. Part of the TotalFlow software suite, these solutions have been designed to streamline job workflow, minimise errors and maximise productivity. This enhanced range of solutions is available from November 2015 in EMEA.

TotalFlow Prep 4.0, with a redesigned user interface, offers fast, efficient document preparation with intuitive access to capabilities such as imposition, tabs and finishing.

Ideal for small to mid-sized print service providers, i t enables operators to create documents, edit and impose via a simplified, easy-to-use graphical interface. TotalFlow Prep can operate independently or integrate seamlessly with other TotalFlow production management solutions such as Print Manager and Production Manager.

TotalFlow Print Manager 4.0 and TotalFlow Production Manager 4.0 provide powerful, centralised management for digital production p r i n t ope ra t i ons . They can automatically schedule and route jobs based on printer capabilities, media type and current workload. Using dynamic media catalogue discovery and device synchronisation, media changes are minimised to help drive productivity and cut overall costs and errors, as well as reducing downtime since jobs get to print faster and spend less time in the job queue.

Production Manager 4.0 adds

advanced capabilities such as transforms from Postscript or PCL to PDF, printer pooling and an embedded pre-flight function provided by Enfocus Pitstop®.

TotalFlow Path 4.0, built on an open workflow platform, is an easy-to-use, affordable workflow automation software that streamlines the cut sheet production print workflow. It intelligently connects software p r o g r a m m e s a n d b u s i n e s s applications l ike web to print and Management Information Systems (MIS), enabling them to communicate with each other during the production process. Using rules-based automation, and a drag and drop interface, clients create and customise linear workflows to meet specific job requirements. TotalFlow Path reduces common errors and speeds up turnaround times by minimising human touch points.

Version 4.0 brings new extensions for EFI Digital Storefront, Ultimate Impostrip, for advanced imposition, and support for the latest continuous feed and cut sheet devices.

“These software solutions will help operations work better, faster and smarter,” states Graham Moore, Business Development Director, Ricoh Europe. “With print operations required to produce increasing numbers of fast turnaround jobs, in a range of run lengths and using varying print technologies, ensuring that the workflow remains uninterrupted and error-free is essential to profitability. These solutions seamlessly manage day-to-day issues automatically, efficiently and with as few human touch points as possible.”

With Ricoh TotalFlow Prep, TotalFlow Print Manager, TotalFlow Production

RICOH’s new Software Launch


Have 'furn' with a digital touchNew trends that are ruling soft furnishings are digital printing and laser cutting

It's an age of innovation and buyers nowadays are ready to add a touch of class to their homes and experiment with styles. New trends that are ruling soft furnishings are digital printing, laser cutting and other new techniques.

Digital Fabric Printing: Digital fabric printing is by far one of the most exciting developments in the textile industry. Not only does it open up endless opportunities for customisation, small run printing, prototyping and experimentation, but it also puts textile printing within the budget of your average illustrator. From small runs to big productions, all can be printed with ease while maintaining the demanding parameters of textiles.

Technology: This technology uses large format digital inkjet printers. Practically it is the same technique used by desk top inkjet printers to print paper.

Advantages:• The digital printing technology,

photographic and tonal graphics with multiple shades as well as colours can be printed on textiles.

• Unl ike tradi t ional pr int ing techniques (like rotary and screen printing), there is no limitation on number of colours as with this printing technique

any number of colours can be printed.

• T h e r e i s n o limitation on repeat size as in case of tradit ional printing methods.

• I t o f fe rs fas ter process ing speed where everything that is required in the print

can be prepared on computer digitally.

• It allows users to print as little as possible. Therefore there is no minimum order quantity as such.

• High precision pr int ing is possible, which is usually a drawback with other forms of printing.

• Overall cost of producing a sample is cheaper in comparison to other forms of printing.

Laser Cutting: Laser cutting has become a very popular form of production as part of the manufacturing process. This very accurate and successful method of cutting a variety of fabrics allows fine cut details to be achieved creating exquisite and stunning results. Unusual textiles and fabrics, which can be laser cut range from latex, rubber, leather, (hide and faux) to highly decorative synthetic fabrics. We also can cut cotton, silk, linen and polyester.

Advantages:• Test samples and repeatability

• Laser beam sea ls edge, eliminating fraying.

• Synthetic laser cut fabric marks with minimal burn marks.

• Rolls can also be accommodated. n

Courtesy : deccanchronicle.com

Manager and TotalFlow Path, service providers can:

• Accurately take files from multiple sources, or in multiple formats, and create a print-ready PDF files.

• Preview files for accuracy as adjustments are made.

• Choose media, finishing options, printers and more.

• Use a preset for frequently used tasks so they’re performed automatically, and consistently, every time.

• Perform simple PDF edits, including logo replacement, text insertion, sizing and rotation at any time while the preview function ensures changes look exactly how they should, before printing.

• Manage print jobs such as scheduling, error recovery, printer status check

• Build of an automated workflow through a highly intuitive drag and drop user interface

• Enable file format conversion from PCL/PostScript to PDF, printer pooling and optional colour management and preflight integration

• Integrate disparate applications into an end-to-end workflow to address workflow automation.

A client collaboration programme was crucial in developing this robust array of benefits.

Moore exp la ins , “Ex tens ive customer input was instrumental in the creation of these solutions, which is why we are so confident that they will address many of today’s production challenges. We built what our customers told us they needed. Through effective collaboration, we have been able to design an outstanding product suite. Among the customer-requested developments were an improved user interface, more intuitive operations and ease of use – all of which we have delivered in these solutions.” n

Courtesy : whattheythinkcom


Thinking about printed electronics? It is all about functionalityPlenty of articles and predictions in recent years are telling us that the age of intelligent packaging and printed electronics (PE) is just around the corner. I will not say what is coming, but I will relate what I have learned working with multiple universities, material and equipment suppliers and my own experimentation to see what is possible. This article is coming from the perspective of a generalist with a machinery maintenance and manufacturing background that has been working with the printing industry for over 25 years.

Just to clarify, printed electronics is not new and has been around for decades; over 40 years ago I was taught how to chemically etch a circuit board. Membrane switches, used in common appliances such as microwave oven panels, are commonly printed on modern printing presses. Today, of the print processes, screen printing is used the most. Graphic printing processes are being viewed as tools to move electronics into flexible, wearable and lower cost applications. The majority of conferences I have attended are all discussing, exploring and wanting to move products into a roll to roll application (R2R) for various reasons, including cost reduction, market expansion and new product development.

To start off, it is important to understand the differences and similarities between graphics and functional printing using the flexographic process. Flexography has developed into a printing process that uses the precision placement and size of dots of different colors of ink to convince the human brain it is looking at a graphic printing that conveys an image that resembles reality. Graphic printing is literally in the eye of the beholder. In a few seconds a package’s graphics must catch the eye and win over a potential

customer to buy the product. Once the purpose of the print job changes to a functional nature, the printed product has to respond and react not just to a consumer but also the laws of electrical physics.

In a simplified view of electrical functional printing, the printed image has to provide a conductive pathway where the electrical current can flow uninterrupted and with the functional properties needed. In many cases the functional properties will terminate at a voltage source (i.e. battery) and provide high amperage or it may be a dielectric insulation or some combination with multiple layers. In short, we are printing wires that need to allow the uninterrupted flow of electrical current or insulation to make a device function. The important point to understand is current – the flow of electrons – can only happen if the printed trace line is continuous with no pinholes or breaks, since electrons do not jump.

When printing a conductor, the trace line width and thickness of a particular deposited conductive material (silver, carbon, graphene, conductive polymer etc) will determine the amount of current that can flow. All conductive inks are not the same. The base material itself determines the overall effectiveness and the ink film thickness needed to achieve minimum resistance. Very simply, silver ink is more conductive than a carbon-based inks (graphite,

graphene etc), therefore more carbon ink needs to be deposited to provide the comparable electron flow or conductivity as metal-based inks.

Translated into flexo terms, the BCM’s of the anilox roll required for silver ink (2 to 5bcm) is much less than the BCM’s need for carbon based ink (10 to 30bcm). The exact volume is be application dependent.

Printing with flexoIn printing conductors with flexo, instead of a graphic artist being concerned with eye appeal, the circuit designer is concerned with functionality and will calculate the required current load or needed properties for the device. That calculation will determine the criteria for what size printed trace line (cross sectional area) is needed.

To complicate production planning, material costs are also considered in determining how to print. With silver at the higher end of ink costs, even though the amount carbon ink needed may be two or three times more, carbon ink may be the preferred choice and require using different anilox rolls than initially specified.

Think of extension cords. They come in different wire gage sizes and number of strands; the combination determines how much current can flow without damaging (melting) the cord. If the wire size is not sufficient for the required current flow, heat will be created. As many have learned the hard way, an extension cord sized to light a lamp is not the proper conductor for an air compressor, even if both rated for the same voltage. The

5 mil PET 4 layers for EL. Silver, Dielectric, Phosphor and Transparent conductor Toaster oven: Left 250F 10 minutes. Right 285F 10 minutes


good thing about R2R printed electronics is that circuits or devices typically are designed for low DC voltages and current (except in Electroluminescent (EL), where an AC electric field is required).

From the printer perspective all materials used must fit together and function in the daily environment required for the device. Inks and substrates must be compatible. Even the moisture content of a paper substrate needs to be considered because it could affect the performance of a printed device. Also with many inks, elevated drying temperatures may be needed to sinter (sintering can be thought of as a curing method for the ink) the metal particles of the ink into a continuous trace line. These elevated temperatures can damage conventional PET substrates and other plastics. I have curled and wrapped paper and ruffled PET trying to sinter the ink.

Not all functional printing entails conductive inks. For example, biomedical applications can be achieved with printing too. For example, sensors may be printed that absorb sweat so a chemical reaction may take place to detect a predictable physical outcome.

These sensors can be used for monitoring a health factor. In summary, the mindset needed to print PE or other functional devices needs to grasp all aspects of the printed job, not merely its appearance. The materials used will need to have functional properties. The functional properties will need to be tested using a multifunction electrical meter or test fixture and not a spectrodensitometer.

To fully cure the ink and not damage the substrate sintering methods will have to be investigated that are not on the average flexo press. PE is not simply putting conductive ink in a print station. There is a lot to consider. From the contacts I have met over the years in exploring PE, I landed on an electronic geek website, Sparkfun, which has a Bare

Conductive ‘Touch Board’ to ‘turn touch into sound’. So a project was started to use the ‘Touch Board’ to create a hybrid device that used a flexo printed component combined with conventional microcontroller development platform. Hybrid devices are a realistic approach using conventional electronics that cannot be Flexo printed as the brains of the device. Flexo print can be used to build the traces as well as print the capacitive sensing ‘touch pad’. The ‘Touch Board’ can accept 12 inputs, so a conductive keyboard was laid out mathematically to match the locations of the inputs on the board and match the repeat of the plate cylinder of the Harper QD Flat Bed flexo print. Then a fixture had to be designed to couple the ‘Touch Board’ to the printed sensor touch pad.

The ‘Touch Board’ has 12 sound outputs that are MP3 formatted so different sounds can be loaded such that when the printed sensor is touched the preloaded sound is produced. One other neat feature of the board is the sensitivity of the capacitive sensor can be changed to make the board be a proximity sensor (1”) instead of merely a touch sensor. The following picture shows all the components.

The QD Flatbed Flexo Printer was used to print conductive carbon inks for testing of trace line conductivity for touch sensor patterns. Testing different plate images and anilox engravings (120/15 XLT, 75/29 XOS and a 200/14.0 XOS) is easily done to find the best combination to work with a Touch Board combined w/ a print mounting fixture to demonstrate direct contact and proximity contact in a hybrid device

w/ MP3 added sounds and a printed sensor pad.

In the picture on the top you can see an amber LED light illuminates (top of photo) when a key is touched and on the bottom picture the proximity of a hand activates the board. We madea video that shows the printing of the project and the project in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8bgXCTBdIo. If I had to guess, only around 1 to 2 percent of flexo printers are doing a form of functional printing today, but those numbers will keep expanding as flexible and wearable device applications gain popularity. Perhaps you will be one of the leaders in functional printing. n

Courtesy : labelsyearbook2016

Printed electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electrical devices on various substrates. Printing typically uses common printing equipment suitable for defining patterns on material, such as screen printing, flexography, gravure, offset lithography, and inkjet. By electronic industry standards, these are low cost processes. Electrically functional electronic or optical inks are deposited on the substrate, creating active or passive devices, such as thin film transistors; capacitors; coils; resistors. Printed electronics is expected to facilitate widespread, very low-cost, low-performance electronics for applications such as flexible displays, smart labels, decorative and animated posters, and active clothing that do not require high performance.


Published by B. G. Kukillaya on behalf of The Printing Technologists Forum from No. 2 Venu Reddy Street, Guindy Chennai 600 032 & Designed by R.Venkatasubramanian at Industrial Prints, 23 Second Cross Street, Trustpuram, Chennai 600 024 Edited by P. Chellappan

Xante has been a pioneer of the digital print industry forover 25 years. Their product line and software solutions work together to deliver top quality results that drive production and profit. The ILUMINA Heavyweight Champion Digital Production Press offers users an affordable way to go digital and capitalize on heavy stock printing services. Print on card stocks as high as 500gsm (24pt) and sheet sizes from 3” x 5” (76mm x 127mm) up to 13” x 52” (330mm x 1321mm).

Open the doors for new media options, including extremely thick card stocks, textured stocks, paper

bags, presentation folders, product packaging, oversized banners, POP displays and much more. The ILUMINA Heavyweight Champion Digital Print System with PlateMaker 7 Inside includes a new software update featuring a process-free, chemical-free, polyester CTP system which allows users to print on versatile Myriad 2 polyester plates, the best conventional polyester plates on the market. PlateMaker 7 is specifically designed for small commercial printers and print shops in need

of a low cost, high quality, chemical-free CTP system. This process is conveniently and wholly contained within the ILUMINA Heavyweight Champion Digital Print System. Your options are endless with this complete heavy stock digital print system.

PlateMaker 7 is an optional feature included in latest version of Xante’s iQueue Digital Color Workflow Series. This award-winning print production software offers a wide

TechNova @ Pamex 2015

At Pamex 2015, TechNova's clear focus was to promote the Power of Choice among Indian printers, by highlighting its wide range of green and innovative consumables, systems, software solutions for the Offset, Digital & Flexo printing segments. Part icularly, Team TechNova highlighted the latest Green CtP plates :

• Azura TU Chem-free Thermal plate

• VioGreen Plus Chem-free Violet plate and

• Azura TE Process-free Thermal plate

The chem-free plates Azura TU and VioGreen Plus eliminate the need for water and developer, and can allow inspection and correction post gumming. Azura TE not only eliminates water and developer, but also does not require gum, and can

array of prepress tools that are suited for everyday needs as well as special project requests The new iQueue XI features several exciting capabilities such as a Multipart forms feature, a Color Picker Tool, and a Lasso Tool.

Of course, iQueue still retains all of the remarkable features of the previous versions which include job cost estimating, full imposition/tiling, universal print driver, independent C M Y K d e n s i t y a d j u s t m e n t , PANTONE® color library, variable data with Intelligent Mail barcodes, QR code generator, barcode generator, patented Right-On Spot Color Matching and much more.

Xante solutions pave the way for more orders, media options and services that can take your business to the next level. For more information on Xante’s digital solutions and workflow software please visit www.xante.com where you can download a free 90 day trial of the iQueue workflow. Call 251.473.6502 to schedule a web demo for a guided tour of Xante digital print systems. n

Courtesy : printingnews

be taken direct-on-press. With these three CtP plates, TechNova is the only company to offer the full choice of chem-free &process-free Thermal and chem-free Violet plates to the environmentally conscious printers

Customers also experienced live demos of the next-gen platesetters and cleanout unit that can help printers save power and reduce costs, at the stall.

Digital Printing and Post-press Solutions from Konica Minolta and Duplo at the TechNova stall clearly indicated their theme of Digital AND Offset as against Digital v/s Offset. The team explained how offset printers can complement their existing offset abilities with digital capabilities. TechNova’s message was quite clear : You don’t need to look beyond TechNova for your digital solution requirements.

Visitors to the TechNova stall at Pamex were also given demos on

Agfa's Apogee workflow, a fully JDF compliant workflow that acts as a bridge to allow printers to seamlessly stitch the offset and digital environments to produce dependable colors. Visitors were also exposed to Arziro Design, Agfa's powerful yet easy to use security design plug-in for general security printing and personalization.

Full Portfolio of ConsumablesCustomers looking for high-end chemistry for offset presses as well as flexo, got an opportunity to see TechNova's wide range of consumables, including the Green Chemistry, which includes full range of highly successful IPA reducing/eliminating Founts; Aromatic-free, Fogra approved Press Washes; Recyclable Press Washes; Aqueous-based Over Print Varnishes, etc. n

Courtesy : technovaworld.com

Pf jan feb 2016 issue

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