Pf nov dec 2014 e version

Vol. XVI • No. 96 • december 2014

rs. 20

One Day Seminar on “Proper Practice = Pressroom Profit” was held on 29th November 2014 at Anna University, Chennai with co-sponsorship by M/s. Kapoor Imaging, Chennai.

(Details published inside)

THE FORUM’s 34th Founding Day was celebrated on 10th December 2014 at Anna University, Chennai with a talk by Dr. S. S. Meenakshisundaram, I.A.S., followed by presentation of Awards to the first rank students of IPT & Anna University final year (Printing) students and also launch of our website www.theprintforum.com (Details published inside)

November - December 2014 / Vol. XVI, No. 96 / Print Forum 1

From President’s Desk

P [email protected]

Dear Members,

My wishes to you all for a very happy and prosperous New Year! Let us all join hands and take this Forum to greater heights and set new benchmarks in 2015.

Our 34th founding day celebration was a well attended event which was further enhanced by the captivating speech given by Dr.S.S.Meenakshisundaram, IAS. His first-hand accounts of the leadership styles of Indian Prime Ministers’ not only gave an overall perspective of each person’s governing style but also threw light on the human qualities of our larger than life leaders.

Another step forward was the launch of our Forum website www.theprintforum.com. The beta version is now available online and we are in the process of enhancing the site and making it more comprehensive and informative. I wish to thank my son Palaniappan and daughter Meenakshi for having developed our website free of cost.

I would like to express my gratitude to M/s Ekambaranathan Educational Trust for giving away cash prizes to rank holders during the celebration and my sincere thanks to M/s Multivista Global for sponsoring the event.

As planned earlier, we held our first paid seminar on the ways and methods of profit maximising in the printing industry. We had eminent publishers and printers revealing their trade secrets for the benefit of the audience and The Forum. My thanks to Kapoor Imaging for supporting the seminar. The good response for the seminar will be a catalyst in conducting more such events in the future.

This edition of the journal has interesting reads on the softer aspects of printing – cloud printing, latest fonts and easy to use software. It also touches upon a little bit of history with a review of a book about Gutenberg’s printing press, the developments and updates in the field of printing machinery and media, trends in the packaging industry besides tips to run a business well and to fine tune the lamination process.

Once again, looking forward to new ideas, suggestions and feedback from our members in the months to come.

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. XVI, No. 96 / November - December 2014

Print ForumRegd. with RNI Under No. 71818/99

November - December 2014Vol. XVI / No. 95The Official Journal ofThe Printing Technologists ForumChennai

In this issue . . .

Rs. 120 per annum (Six issues)

FORUM’s Founding Day Celebrations 3

FORUM’s One Day Seminar on Press Room Pratices 7

What is cloud & why it is important to Printers ? 11

Book on Gutengerg 14

K.P. Rao’s new font ‘Apara’ 15

Comexi Offset 16

Print services from man roland 17

Automating the short run hardcover 18

Trouble shooting in Lamination 19

How not to lose money in pre press this year 20

5 Free tools 21

Chemists create rewritable paper 23

IIP workshop 24

Handling difficult clients 25

ecard builder 26

First 3D printing College in China 26

Messy desk syndrome 27

Providing access to magazines with just a tap 28

Ray of hope to budding authors 29

Members Page 30

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,orthePresidentandhisTeamofTheForumwillberesponsibleforanydamageorlosstoanybody 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 theirwordswhosearticlespublishedinthesejournals,andtheirpublishers,weoweourdebtsandgratitudewhichisdifficulttoassessoracknowledge.Wealways acknowledge the sources of every article and materials published 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

Designer R.Venkatasubramanian M : 98402 60413

Our Supporters . . .

Heidelberg India Pvt. Ltd

New Year GreetingsPresident and his Team

wish the Members of THE FORUM, their Family Members, Colleagues in their organisations and their Friends

all the Best and a Prosperous New Year 2015 with Joyful, Healthy Life and Career.

With PrintPack India 2015, to be held from 11 to 15 February, 2015, at the India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, already generating a buzz among all stakeholders of the graphic arts industry, here is another news that you can use, especially if you are looking to hone your skills.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, NPES, the association for suppliers of printing, publishing and converting technologies, in association with Indian Printing, Packaging and Allied Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (IPAMA), the organiser of the show, and the International Color Consortium (ICC), will hold a day-long conference, titled, ‘NPES-ICC Color Management Conference 2015’.

Also in the offing is a day-long seminar on web printing, especially aimed at web printing manufacturers and web vendors, and of course, the newspaper industry, for which IPAMA has joined hands with Chennai-based Vibes Academy.

Colour managementTitled, ‘Manufacturing success with colour management,’ to be held on 12 February 2015, the second day of Printpack India, the conference is set to explore the ubiquitous issues of colour management.

To answer the participants’ queries, on hand would be the exper ts, including, William Li, co-chair, ICC and manager, Kodak Colour Technology, Steve Smiley, president, Smiley Colour & Associates Global Brand Solutions, Max Derhak, vice-chair, ICC and

senior software engineer, Onyx Graphics, Dr Phil Green, adjunct associate professor, Norwegian Colour and Visual Computing Laboratory, and Bob Hallam, president, Pixelologie Inc.

Web printingVibes Academy, a well-known printing technology institution based in Chennai, provides training and services to the various needs of the printing industry. Dedicated to the print fraternity, the academy, in the past, has organised several one-day seminars on colour management, reproduction quality, lean management and optimisation of resources and also on many other technical and management subjects.

The PrintPack seminar, to be held 13 February, 2015 at the Greater Noida Exhibition Centre Conference Hall from 10:30 am to 06:30 pm, will focus on web printing for printers, manufacturers and vendors, as a means of growing together. There will be four sessions and each session will be addressed by a distinguished speaker, well-known in the industry.

At the end, there will be a panel discussion, consisting of professionals from the commercial printers and bookmakers’ segment, the newspaper industry, the web printing segment and machinery manufacturers’ group and also the vendors’ segment. The topic of the panel discussion is “Make in India – Made in India.” n

Courtesy : www.printweek.in

Conference on colour management, web printing at PrintPack 2015


34th Founding Day Celebrations

The Founding Day, December 10, was suitably celebrated at the popular venue of T H E F O R U M, Hall of Guiness-68, Anna University.

The hall was again filled to capacity, this time the audience was treated to a history of six decades of officialdom at the PMO, India.

There could not have been a better person to narrate this than the veteran Dr. S. S. Meenakshisundaram, IAS, former Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of India.

The subject chosen, “The Leadership Styles of Indian Prime Ministers – from an Insider’s Angle” was deftly dealt with by the speaker fluently with anecdotes, humour and his reading of the different situations. The audience was captivated in a different world for about 75 minutes or so, the evening making them to forget the day-to-day ordeals of business, teaching and hearing subject lectures, the audience consisting of conglomeration of printing fraternity, academicians and students.

Addressing the ‘unknown’ area to the printing technologists, the speaker though deemed it an advantage to him was aware of the sensibility of the topic chosen. As an ‘insider’, as a Private Secretary to a Chief Minister, Joint Secretary to the first two Prime Ministers of India and later on again to another Prime Minister, Meenakshisundaram had a lot to say.

Holding a Ph. D. in Development Studies, he was asked to give his expertise in the area of Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Zilla Parishad. In and out of PMO, risen through the ranks, successive PMs utilized his services even when he was not Joint secretary to them.

THE FORUM’s With his knowledge of working in PMO, he listed the functions of a PM as: Formation of Cabinet, Defending his choice of Ministers, Foreign Relations Representative and Protocol Punctuality. As for Protocol Punctuality, a PM is expected to be punctual on the dot to receive the President of India during Presidential Address, Swearing in Ceremony and other presidential presence.

The first PM being a knowledgeable person in various fields, required only a Secretary to carry out instructions and decisions. He was his own decision maker.

The second PM, an automatic first choice by the party, being not an ‘all knowing one’ as his predecessor, created a Prime Minister Secretariat. With subsequent PMs, not all of them being an automatic choice by the party/parties, and also not conversant with bureaucracy being dependent on them, PM Secretariat was upgraded to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and resultant political manoeuvres.

In addition to an able administration in the PMO, with its help PMH (Prime Minister’s House) also became a ‘centre of power’. One who was an ace manoeuvrer of politics could succeed as PM being in office for a full term in

case of a minority government. The ‘coalition dharma’ set in.

Being in and out of PMO, as started earlier, Meenakshisundaram was always in touch with PMO directly and indirectly, a lot of anecdotes could be heard to make his presentation a lively one. He did not cross the “Lakshman rekha”. Narrating political controversies would have come naturally to a person of such experience and closeness to PMO/bureaucracy. Here the speaker revealed his calibre and sesnse of humour. So much of a complete narration, only one question was raised about the style of function of the present PM. The speaker replied that one can see the current governance in a positive manner so distinctly different from his predecessor that we can only hope for some better things to come to our advantage.

The second part of the function saw M/s M. Ekambaranathan Trust giving away cash prizes to rank holders of IPT and B.E. Ptg. (Anna University).

Mr. M. S. Ramakrishnan, Director, Nagraj & Co. Pvt. Ltd. gave away the cheques to the concerned students. His grandfather Prof. M. Ekambaranathan, an authority in Zoology, was always supportive of

Seen on the dias (L to R) :Mr. M. Venkatesan, Gen. Secretary, Mr. P. Chellappan, President, Dr. S. S. Meenakshisundaram, IAS, and Mr. Rm. Senthilnathan, Vice-President of THE FORUM


poor and weak students. The Trust formed in his memory is doing service to the Education field giving various assistance to the needy ones from all sectors

Staring from last year, The Forum’s Founding Day Celebration in a different format of Endowment 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. Nizamappas from the Committee gave a Vote of Thanks thanking the Trust, Speaker and the audience.

THE FORUM Committee also thanks M/s Multivista Global Ltd. for their generous sponsorship of the evening.

Earlier, President P. Chellappan w e l c o m e d t h e g a t h e r i n g a n d introduced the speaker. Vice President Dr. B. Kumar recalled the early days of The Forum which was founded on 10th December 1981.

T h e F o r u m w e b s i t e w w w .theprintforum.com was launched by the speaker, the President explaining the content and its working. n

Report by Mr. D. Ramalingam

Mr. K.B.S. Shanmugasundaram, Hony. Joint Secretary

Dr. B. KumarVicePresident

Mr. P. Chellappan, President

Mr. M. VenkatesanHony. Genl. Secretary

A view of gathering Dr. S. S. Meenakshisundaram, IASChief Guest & Speaker


Attentive Audience Mr. R. Jayaraman, Past President, honouring Mr. Meenakshisundaram

Launch of our website www.theprintforum.com

View of the gathering


Mr. M. S. RamakrishnanDirector, Nagraj & Co. Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. M. S. Ramakrishnan, giving away the Cash Award and Certficate to Ms. R. Aishwariya the 1st rank student of B.E. Printing (Anna University)

- (representative receives the award on her behalf)

Mr. M. S. Ramakrishnan, giving away the Cash Award and Certficate to the Ms. Akshaya Bhaskar 1st rank student of D.P.T. (Institute of Printing technology)

Mr. D. Ramalingam presenting appreciation memento to Mr. Ramakrishnan

Mr. Nizamappas, EC Member presenting vote of thanks.A view of gathering


The stress was on to follow Proper Practice resulting in Pressroom Profits. The slogan was Proper Practice = Pressroom Profit.

President P. Chellappan gave the impetus mentioning there are two ways of making Profit by either increasing the Cost or by reducing the Cost. The latter option would be better as there is an extent to which the Cost can be increased. The day’s seminar would therefore concentrate on methods to reduce the cost in a press by following certain standard practices in the Pressroom. The speakers would unravel them through their experience of doing it. Many participants being machine operators, he spoke in Tamil and English . This bilingual was followed throughout the day by all the speakers to make their presentations meaningful.

SPECIAL NOTE – INTRODUCTION & PRODUCT PRESENTATIONThis was made by Sharan Kapoor, ED, Kapoor Imaging. He traced the history of Kapoor Imaging. They have been

FORUM’s ONE DAY SEMINAR

PROPER PRACTICE = PRESSROOM PROFIT

specializing in trading consumable and distributing useful products to printers. Journeyed through various products in Prepress, keeping that core business in position, Kapoors’ have moved into manufacturing consumable, the product being RBP chemicals in collaboration with a US firm.

Other areas are in distributing Topaz CtP, Fujifilm, Kinyo blanket, Ricoh Digital Machines and PressAid materials. The colour management tools are welcome by the printers as they enable them to produce quality being measured numerically.

They are also service providers. The services include installation of machines they sell, AMC of CtP equipment, Standardisation of plates like dot calibration, process calibration, workflow management. They do Pressroom Audit and incorporate custom blended fountain solution for the presses and introduce pressroom procedures.

BASICS ON PLATES & FOUNTAIN SOLUTIONS AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN OFFSETS. Giridharan, CEO, Kapoor Imaging ass isted Sharan by expla ining appropriately in Tamil and put their different services in proper perspective. Continuing, he explained in detail about platemaking and the content and usage of fountain solution. The plates used in offset printing (upto about 0.3 mm) and easy to mount on the plate cylinder. They are made of anodised aluminium. No more graining is required. Light sensitive precoated aluminium printing plates are norm now-a-days. The thin coating of aluminium oxide created by the special treatment of the aluminium base

material created a particularly stable water attracting surface with special retention properties. In processing a precoated offset printing plate the essential task lies in achieving surface differentiation using two basic steps, exposure and developing. The image transfer is produced via the different properties on the surface of such plates after they have been exposed and developed. Chemical changes occur as a result of the penetration of photo effective light causing the light sensitive coating to react differently depending on the type and structure. There are two types of photochemical reactions when developing the printing plate: hardening of the light sensitive layer by light (negative platemaking), decomposition of the light sensitive layer by light (positive platemaking). Today it is positive plate predominantly. Offset print machine operators are well aware of dampening process in offset. It is not just water but some chemicals are added to maintain the surface tension. The quality parameters are dependent on maintaining appropriate pH and conductivity factors. Many operators were using control strips for measuring pH values. But it dawned upon experts that the strips being a printed sheet, there was a likelihood of density and colour variation in the strips themselves while printing them. pH meters were came into being. Conductivity also were taught since last decade or so on standardizing

The one day seminar on Pressroom Practices was held at the Hall of Guines – 68, Anna University, on 29th November 2014.

Mr. Sharan Kapoor, Executive Director, Kapoor Imaging

Mr. S. Giri, Committee Member


the quality numerically globe wise. Two separate meters were used, one for pH and the other for conductivity. The Hanna Meter combines both the meters into one, the usage of which will be demonstrated later in the afternoon, Giri informed. All lead to containing the waste. Less wastage means more saving, in the process cost effective. pH has to be acidic in offset printing. pH between 5 and 5.5 would be ideal. Both the fountain solution and substrate are subject to pH values. Kapoor Imaging is well equipped to do a Pressroom Audit and recommend proper values in individual presses and ways to maintain them can be brought upon on a particular press, Giri informed . The values could

change even from a machine to other in the same pressroom.

PRESSROOM PRACTICES IN NEWSPAPERV. S. Narayanan, General Manager – Operations, Dinamalar gave a detailed presentation on Pressroom Practices on Webs in a newspaper organization. It was mostly visuals about different kinds of machines, configurations, mechanisms and how to go about on each. ‘Living’ the machines, Narayanan with his vast experience in the field, explained stage by stage the operations involved with practical case studies. Even the installation process of the machines was not left out. In every case, he explained the

proper practice to be followed. More than anything else, the operative and the supervisor should study the Instructions Manuals supplied with the machines. Once they are followed, lesser problems will be there for working.

The important point is to utilize the capabilities inherent in the machine system to the fuller extent. The proper practices are also mentioned in the manuals. The presentation was turned into a workshop with the machine operators present asking for so many clarifications and for each of them the speaker giving the solutions with practical examples. With such an involvement, Narayanan was given a thunderous applause on the conclusion of his presentation.

Mr. R. S. Bakshi, Past President, presenting Appreciation Memento to Mr. Giri Mr. V. S. Narayanan, General Manager - Operations (Dinamalar)

Mr. V.S. Narayanan seen presenting his lecture Mr. P. Chellappan, President, presenting Appreciation Memento to Mr. V.S. Narayanan


QUALITY IS FREEK. Vipinendran, Associate Professor. Printing, Anna University made the point that Quality can be free in the sense by controlling the cost. Simple methods are available to be followed by the workforce which requires no investment, that is why the statement, “Quality is Free”.

Most of them are of Japanese origin. Quality Circle is one such a group of employees , usually from one area of plant and company activity and usually small in number, which meets periodically for such practical purposes as: to pinpoint, examine, and analyse to solve problems often of quality but also of productivity, safety, work relations, cost, plant housekeeping and others; to enhance t h e c o m m u n i c a t i o n b e t w e e n employees and management.

A m o n g J a p a n e s e t e c h n i q u e s , the foremost principle is Time Consciousness, no time should be wasted. Especially in seminars, lectures, meetings, Punctuality is foremost. They all start right on dot to the minute of appointed time.

One amazing instance quoted by the speaker was classes being held in moving trains for preparation of courses like MBA to utilize the time available without wasting it. Muda technique was explained by the speaker through an interesting chart. He called it as GPS of an individual

like the one in conveyance mode. The activities like Learning, Teaching, Implementation, Growth, Peace of Life, Adaptation, Health, Habits, Eating measured in percentages about the efficiency would give an idea how to go about training an individual.

Another aspect was paying the employee according to footsteps covered by him in the work place. Essentially, an economy in time and usefulness of time available. Now one could understand the enormous progress made by Japan.

PRESSROOM PRACTICES IN SHEETFED PRESSDr. B. Kumar, Assistant Professor – Printing, Anna University made a presentation on Pressroom Practices in Sheetfed Press. It evolved around controlling the waste in many areas like Makeready, Running, consumable, substrate wastes. The aspects will be Speed Control, Start up data, Start up sequence, adherence to Standards, etc. A pressman can monitor his ink and water balance visually by looking at his blankets and plates. He can do it by listening to the sound of his rollers and blanket nip. These are good tricks of the trade but by far the best trick of all is to use his brain and give his attention to dampener dial, etc.

Major adjustments are made while the machine is idle. Management involvement is necessary. With employee-employer co-operation,

check list could be: Check waste bins and the reject rates, check machine down time, check length of makereadies, check maintenance cost, check no work time, check manning, check supervisor activities, check press speeds, check working conditions, check training progress. This is a broad outline to check and monitor appropriate pressroom practices.

The pressman has to be educated on certain aspects like cost of materials, wastage effects, etc. Certain tips on machine working was also given by the speaker.

HANNA METER DEMO was given by Sree Hari Reddy, Hanna and DEMO on JUG TEST was given by H. Sadiq Basha, Kapoor Imaging.

The operators were educated on both. Testing of pH and Conductivity on same equipment was a bonus. The Jug Test would enable adjusting the parameters in a scientific manner.

VOTE OF THANKS was given by Nizamappas. A very well ‘Thank You’ was paid to the Seminar Sponsors, M/s. Kapoor Imaging.

Special thanks to the Secretary and his team for proper co-ordination.

A well attended and useful Seminar was appreciated by the participants n

Report by Mr. D. Ramalingam

Mr. K. VipindendranAssociate Professor - Printing, Anna University

Mr. K. Vipindendran receiving Appreciation Memento from Mr. V. S. Narayanan


Mr. Sree Hari ReddyHanna Instruments

Mr. Sree Hari Reddy receiving appreciation memento from Dr. Kumar. Vice Preisdent

Mr. Sadiq Pasha performing Jug Test

View of Audience


What is the Cloud and Why it's important for printers?

You can’t open up a business publication these days without seeing an article about cloud computing,” or “the cloud.” To many, it may seem like hype designed to sell new equipment and software. Others may think it’s no different than SaaS (Software as a Service). Still others may think it is too far off in the future to worry about, that it is only for big companies, or that it is for “crazy” Internet startups. There are many advantages to the new cloud computing model, for companies large and small that can be reaped today. Cloud computing represents both a new technology approach and a new business model for acquiring and using technology—the combination is what delivers the benefits.

One of the most fascinating things about cloud computing is that you are probably already using it today, in many cases without even realizing it. It is nothing short of a revolution—the next generation of computing and the Internet. You don’t have to be an Internet entrepreneur or tech geek to take advantage of the benefits. Let’s take a look at what constitutes the cloud, and then examine some great ways a printing company can leverage the new paradigm.

What Is “The Cloud?”Cloud computing is named for the way the Internet is depicted in network diagrams. At the most basic level, it is a new approach to deployment and utilization of computing resources. The cloud lets you increase capacity or add capabilities as needed, without making capital investments in new hardware and software. Servers are “virtualized” and shared across many companies—and are only employed when needed. Instead of “building the church for Easter Sunday” (building large capacity and rarely utilizing it), you instead access the servers and computing power you need based on your demand—at slow times you consume fewer resources, and at peak times the system can automatically scale up to meet your requirements.

Cloud computing environments provide the computing power, storage, databases, messaging, and other necessary components to be used to run business applications. With cloud computing, your local computers no longer have to provide all the resources necessary to get a particular job done. Much of the heavy lifting of running applications and hosting and accessing data are done outside of your premises.

Cloud AdvantagesWith cloud computing, users can access their applications and data from anywhere at any time from almost any Internet-connected computer. Cloud computing lessens the need for expensive hardware, both for the end user and for the company providing the applications. You no longer have to buy additional or bigger servers to keep up with the demands of your business. And you won’t run out of storage or constantly need to buy new hard drives—the cloud platform handles those needs for you. Similarly, the

computer from which users access the resources in the cloud doesn’t have to be the most powerful workstation available—it can be a very simple, inexpensive device, including diskless thin client workstations, netbooks, tablets, or even smart phones. In addition to decreasing ongoing capital investments, you will also reduce the need for hardware maintenance and having to manage backing up your data. Leveraging the cloud will also eliminate energy requirements and associated costs due to having fewer (or no) servers on your premises, as well as for air conditioning required to keep those servers healthy.

If you have a lot of remote users, or your customers deliver jobs to you via the Internet, you won’t need to scale your on-premises Internet connection to handle all those users accessing your applications hosted inside your own facility. You will only have to worry about the traffic from your users (and/or customers) going to the cloud provider, who has a virtually unlimited amount of bandwidth available.

Unlimited ScalabilityCloud computing powers many popular websites on the Internet today. We’ll discuss some examples later. There are two big reasons why it has become immensely popular. First, the aforementioned ability to create an IT infrastructure without capital investment appeals greatly to Web developers. It is now possible to start a Web-based business without raising money—in many ways, it can be said that the cloud computing business model has enabled and accelerated the explosion over the last couple of years of very useful, fun, and exciting Web 2.0 applications.

And, as we previously br ief ly mentioned, cloud computing provides scalability advantages. For example, if a website suddenly becomes popular because it is mentioned by bloggers, or a celebrity or other public figure endorses it and tweets a glowing comment about it, that application would immediately experience an increased workload.


Under such circumstances, your own Web server might crash. With the cloud platform, it would instead automatically be provisioned with additional resources (bandwidth, computing power, memory, storage) to allow the business to keep up with the unexpected demand.

In early 2008, Dr Pepper pledged to give a free soda to everyone in America if the long-delayed Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy came out that year. When the album finally appeared in November of that year, the company announced that people could claim their coupon on DrPepper. com. On Sunday, November 23, very shortly after the announcement, the company’s website crashed. How do you plan for capacity when you make a free offer to 300 million people? As a result of the outage, they extended the offer deadline and added a phone number to massage unhappy fans. At the end of the day, the outage resulted in a lot of publicity for Dr Pepper, albeit somewhat negative (along with a lot of hand-wringing and additional expense to support the onslaught of Web traffic). Had the company deployed DrPepper.com on a cloud platform, they likely would have avoided the negative aspects and been able to focus on the positive publicity from the campaign.

Cloud Billing Is Like a UtilityWe talked about the fact that when you deploy in the cloud you don’t have to buy servers or pay fixed costs for bandwidth. This, in and of itself, is a great advantage—why pay for more capacity than you actually need? The other great advantage to the cloud computing business model is that it generally bills like a utility. Pay as you go and only pay for what you actually use. In contrast, most SaaS (Software as a Service) applications, for example Salesforce.com, bill as a subscription. Usually they charge “per seat” or by “named user,” which means you pay a monthly or quarterly subscription for each user. You pay the same no matter how much of the resources each user (or your customer) consumes. You pay the same amount even if

a user never logs in. Another great advantage is that you can generally terminate cloud computing contracts at any time. If you decide you want to use another platform, or it’s time to retire a particular application you are running in the cloud, you can simply turn it off and stop paying.

Cloud PlatformsIf your company has an IT department and you maintain your business applications on servers that are located on your own premises (whether in a “data center” or a “server room”), it would be highly advisable to start considering cloud computing now. The applications in a printing operation that are appropriate and could easily be moved to the cloud today include corporate websites, corporate email, CRM, print MIS systems, and Web-to-print. In the future, even shop floor and print production workflow systems could be deployed in the cloud. We will talk more about business applications shortly, but first let’s look at the services available and who is providing them.

There are several major cloud computing platform services from which to choose. Each offers a variety of options. The business of the cloud is growing rapidly, so there are new companies and new service options emerging on an almost daily basis. In addition to those mentioned below, there are many other vendor choices, some lesser known. Quite a few smaller companies known primarily for Web hosting, such as Rackspace, are getting into the business. Several other companies offer services such as “cloud storage” or “cloud backup.” Here’s a brief description of some of the most popular general purpose platform choices available today:

Microsoft is again a late entrant into a big computing paradigm shift, and their offerings have yet to receive the buzz of some other companies in the space. However, as is often the case with their technologies, when they finally show up, they are very robust. Their Azure Services Platform (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/products) is a set of cloud computing

services that provides computing, storage, hosting, and management capabi l it ies. One of the major advantages of Microsoft’s approach is that it allows resources in the cloud to work in concert with resources that are operated on your own premises. Windows Azure is described as a “cloud operating system” that serves as the development, service hosting, and service environment for the Windows Azure platform. The services are hosted in many global Microsoft datacenters.

Since one of the most popular cloud computing applications is the hosting of Web applications, Windows Azure offerings include Microsoft’s popular IIS (Internet Information Server), as well as storage services and a CDN (Content Distribution Network). This has become a popular adjunct service for placing copies of data closer to users so fewer long Internet trips are necessary for users further away from the actual hosted home of the application—improving response times. Another important cloud offering from Microsoft is SQL Azure, which provides many of the advantages of the company’s extremely popular SQL Server environment along with the highly available, scalable benefits of cloud computing and cloud storage.

Amazon Web Services (AWS, http://aws.amazon.com) is one of the first commercially available cloud computing platforms and inarguably the most popular today. By the time Amazon launched AWS, they had spent more than a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars building and managing the large-scale, reliable, and efficient IT infrastructure that allowed them to become one of the world’s largest online retail platforms. AWS lets others capitalize on Amazon’s experience and investment for their own applications. Amazon’s services include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which provides scalable computing resources, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), used to store and retrieve “any amount of data, at any time,” from the Web; and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), providing


an easy way to set up, operate, and scale SQL databases. Amazon Simple DB, as the name implies, is a simpler database built specifically to support Web applications and their own CDN called Amazon CloudFront.

Google App Engine (http://code.google.com/appengine) is newer, and as of this writing a less robust service offering than the Amazon and Microsoft cloud services. Google lets you build and run Web applications on Google’s obviously global and very robust infrastructure. Google is much further advanced with their excellent corporate email and apps, which we will discuss later. Google also offers Google Online Storage, providing the availability of massive cloud-based storage at affordable prices, both for end users and developers. We can expect much more from Google in this area in the future and that they will become a ubiquitous leader in the cloud revolution.

S a l e s f o r c e . c o m ( h t t p : / / w w w .salesforce.com) is well known for their CRM system, which has really become the gold standard for such applications. In the last few years, they’ve also focused their global infrastructure into a cloud platform, which they call Force.com, upon which business applications can be built and deployed. Many third parties have adopted the platform and have added functionality to it, including some Web-to-print vendors. In contrast to Microsoft and Amazon, Salesforce is a bit more restrictive but at the same time somewhat “easier,” because you can leverage all of the Salesforce applications and third-party tools that already exist to build your own applications. Salesforce tends to be the “priciest” of the choices I’ve mentioned, but they do add a lot of value. They are a couple of rungs up

the “stack” in terms of functionality provided versus the others, i.e., it’s an application development environment more than a basic infrastructure offering. Unlike other platform providers, though, Salesforce.com has a somewhat more complex licensing model that is more akin to a subscription.

Cloud ApplicationsA big part of the magic of the cloud is the many applications that are exclusively offered as cloud applications available today. They serve as examples of what can be done and provide awesome business value. Any printing company must depend heavily on information technology to be successful. If you were to start a printing company today, the last thing you would do is go out and buy a bunch of servers. Instead, allocate capital to staffing and only the equipment necessary to actually manufacture print. The capital investments I would make would be exclusively focused on adding value for the customer. This idea is a basic tenet of Lean manufacturing—so it’s a good thing to do, even forgetting about the cloud for a second. Then, consider this: having people running around installing and maintaining software on computers adds no value. So you would not want to do that. Instead, use cloud resources for the new company’s website, CRM, email, office applications, Web-to-print, and print MIS. In fact, this is something that we are doing at Mimeo.com, and will continue to do more of in the future. Cloud applications let us focus on our core competencies: acquiring and serving customers and producing and distributing high-quality print products.

At Mimeo, we use Google’s Gmail, and we use Google Apps for collaboration. In our environment, Gmail replaced an expensive and administration intensive set of Microsoft Exchange servers providing email for our 500-plus employees—a transition that took a few months but had a very quick time to ROI. We are saving tens of thousands annually, and we have great new tools to boot. Google Apps don’t entirely replace Microsoft Office for all of our users yet (notably, the spreadsheet is weak and doesn’t connect to our data warehouse), but they complement it very well. Microsoft now has some pretty exciting cloud-based versions of the Office applications, too (http://www.officelive.com), but they weren’t available when

we decided we needed to make the jump. We use Salesforce.com for sales automation and customer care, and we are constantly adding functionality and enhancing the applications it provides. We have some applications that are deployed on AWS, and are now always looking to the cloud when we build something new.

HP Records Growth in Cloud ComputingErnest Sales, the recently appointed M a n a g i n g D i r e c t o r a n d V i c e President of HP MEMA (Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa) region revealed that the company is seeing increased opportunities in cloud computing business. In a press statement, he stated, “We are the number one open standard company that meets the objectives of covering the layers to meet cloud computing. Our one-stop shop service will enable organisations to streamline operations while delivering improved service. Businesses need to adopt cloud computing and take advantage of both its efficiency and agility, while achieving levels of operational efficiency that were previously unthinkable.”

The company today offers solutions in cloud computing that help data security, information optimisation and IT investment. Ernest Sales talking about the advantages of cloud computing said, “Cloud is changing the face of IT today. It provides greater flexibility for organisations and helps them to meet the changing needs with limited resources. Most companies offer one piece of the component and if that fails the cloud will not work, or if that company breaks the tie-up with other companies then that service will break. HP on the other hand offers all the components in cloud, making it a complete provider. I think that most of the firms will move into cloud by 2015.”

HP Cloud storage can be used for storing web content, for back-up and archival purposes and also for storing very large amount of data. n

Courtesy : http://meprinter.com


Endpaper: Pressing newshas discovered a marvellous new technique of making letters that he calls ‘Imprimere’ or ‘impressum’. Fust hands Peter a parchment and asks him to run his hands over it. “He felt a kind of stippling, a roughness in the hide”, and when he lays eyes on what lies on the parchment he is shocked to see a text in “ strange, sharp symmetry, unnervingly even, ending in chilling harmony.” Fust asks him to “feel how it sinks. The way the ink lies not on top, but in a hollow in the skin?” When Peter finds out what it is exactly that Gutenberg has been up to he is appalled. To understand his response, we have to remind ourselves that until then books were copied out by hand by skilled calligraphers like Peter, and a machine-made or technological process called ‘printing’ to make books was unthinkable for theological and aesthetic reasons.

Fust believes in the project enough to invest in it and have his ward learn and master the secrets of the trade. At first Peter shrinks from the process that his new master, Gutenberg, and his team at the foundry initiate him into. Without feeling any more fondness or appreciation for the various steps of designing a type, cutting it, casting it, typesetting it, dampening paper, pulling proofs and printing it, Peter is able to bring his gifts to make printing finer. As a scribe in love with letterforms he can design better type and compose a page more handsomely than his master. When Schoeffer and Gutenberg print a page of the Bible together and the apprentice sees and feels for himself how unexpectedly beautiful the printed page is, how astonishingly more brilliant than the manuscript book, he becomes a convert.

Alix Christie, a letterpress printer herself, takes us through every intricate step of how Gutenberg and his team engineered movable type and solved each problem of the early printing process in creating their famous Bible. We think that early printed books —

what the book trade calls incunabula, books printed from 1450 to 1500 — must by default be primitive, crude, incomplete but the very opposite is true: the finest printers agree that those early printed books are the most beautiful ever printed. They had to be because they were competing against very sophisticated looking manuscripts: illuminated manuscripts with rubricated letters and floriated capitals. Anyone printing a book in that period had to do it from scratch: build a wooden hand press, design, punch, cut and cast their own type, make their own ink, use dampened handmade paper, hand-set the type and ink it, compose and illustrate each page, and print one page at a time. That is how a book should be printed, and this is how traditionally fine press and letterpress printers have been making fine books.

There is a witty, marvellous and unexpected scene towards the end of the book (not a spoiler I hope, since we all know that Gutenberg succeeded in completing the Bible and selling it) where the master-printer and his apprentice are hawking the Bible (and other loose quires from pages of the Bible) at the Frankfurt book fair as something cheap to buy! “Twelve Hundred pages” he sang out, “on Turin rag, or finest vellum. The Book of Books, as fine as you will see, and for a fraction of the cost to have it copied.” And indeed it was so: because every other stall was offering the more expensive form of lettering — manuscripts. What Gutenberg and Schoeffer were hawking that day was also something of a wonder. People swarmed their stall to gape at this miracle. “What manner of writing, then, is this?” people asked. “Which instrument punched this hide?”

Forty-eight copies of the Gutenberg Bible are said to exist today, complete or in part of an estimated 180 copies made (135 on paper and 48 on vellum). Today the auction price for a complete paper copy of the Gutenberg Bible would be $10-12 million, and perhaps double that for one printed on vellum. A single leaf recently sold for $74,000. In an Afterword, Christie tells us that her hero Schoeffer went on to

Alix Christie’s finely researched novel talks about how Gutenberg and his team engineered the early printing process.

The question ‘what did Gutenberg invent?’ is not as easy or simple to answer as we once thought. Most of us know now what he invented was the process of movable type, not the printing press. But this, too, continues to be questioned: some printing and typographic scholars think Gutenberg devised an early form of movable type using wood blocks and not metal type; while others think what he created was just printing one line of type using a block of metal types and not individual letters of metal type. What most scholars agree on is that Gutenberg only pioneered a crude form of printing from movable type and that it was his apprentice — later associate — the scribe Peter Schoeffer who improved it to the method we recognise and use in letterpress printing.

In Alix Christie’s rousing and beautiful novel, Gutenberg’s Apprentice (Harper, September, 2014), the scribe Peter Schoeffer is the young protagonist. Peter’s uncle Johann Fust recalls him from Paris to be an apprentice to an inventor in Mainz called Johannes Gensfleisch also known as Gutenberg. He


Software expert K.P. Rao launches new all-in-one font ‘Apara’

Software expert K.P. Rao launched a new font called ‘Apara’, through which all Indian languages can be phonetically represented using the modified Roman script comparable.

Mr. Rao is known for his contribution towards the development of Kannada keyboard and a software to use the language on computer.

Addressing presspersons after launching the font here on Wednesday, Mr. Rao said the use of the revised Roman Script must have begun at the very time when the art of printing was discovered.

This is clear when one observed the dictionaries and treatises on grammar printed by the German Christian missionaries. F. Kittel, Manner, Winslow, Williams, Gundert used a kind of modified Roman script. The script had many positive points though it was not without deficiencies.

It is possible to write any Indian language in revised Roman script. But it has no symbols to represent all the sounds used by many other languages of the world like Parisian or Arabic. To overcome this problem, Mr. Rao has designed an extension of a modified Roman script, almost comparable to the International Phonetic Script, which he calls ‘Apara’, which literally means ‘unlimited’.

Unlimited potentialThis is a treasure of fonts in modified Roman scripts using the Unicode system. “It has been named ‘Apara’ to signify that the possibilities of its application and its potential is unlimited,” he said.

The uniqueness of this font is that it can incorporate within itself not only the sounds of the traditional languages of India but also the sounds of languages like Persian or Arabic, which have come into vogue in more recent times.

Converting to readThe secret lies in the possibility of reading a text originally written in any known language by converting it into a familiar script with the help of the computer. This can be used according to the needs of the individual user. It was also possible to use this font on the internet.

Many special sounds of regional languages such as Tulu, Konkani, Chitpavani, Tamil and Malayalam can be represented in this font. The keyboard layout broadly resembles the K.P. Rao Layout which makes it easy to enter aspirate characters and diphthongs.

When new dictionaries in regional languages such as Tulu, Kodava and Beary, are being contemplated, there is a need for such a system of transliteration common to all these languages and K.P. Rao’s new font ‘Apara’ goes a long way in meeting this need.

This font may be used to write even languages such as Are Bhashe (a dialect spoken by Gowda community), Kunda Kannada (a dialect of Kannada spoken in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district) or Haviganannada (a dialect of Kannada spoken by the Havyaka community).

“It is a dream come true. It is a new font with unlimited possibilities. I hope there will be positive response to it and it will become a standard font for writing languages across the world,” Mr. Rao said.

“Those interested in having this font can email me at: [email protected]. I will send it to them and also tell them how to use it,” Mr. Rao said. n

Courtesy : www.thehindu.com

become the world’s first major printer, producing 300 hundred volumes under the firm of Fust & Schoeffer, including the 1457 Mainz Pslater, widely considered the most beautiful book ever printed. He invented the business of publishing and founded the event know today as the Frankfurt Book Fair, and died in 1503 at the ripe age of nearly 80.

Alix Christie’s description of the work at the foundry is poetically evoked: “If copying a manuscript was prayer, then this was shouting out the Psalms from every rooftop… It was perfect. Absolutely perfect: more exquisite than the dream of any scribe. The block was sharp, perfectly squared: the punctuation floated softly in the margin, brushing like the lashes of a bashful bride… The Word is as a fruit, he thought; the vineyard of the text is thickly twined.”

It’s surprising that Hollywood is yet to make a movie on Gutenberg and his press, and I hope Alix Christie’s richly imagined, finely researched and intricately plotted novel is the one that gets picked to be that long-wished-for movie. n

Courtesy : www.thehindu.com

Tetra Pak launches plant-based, fully renewable carton

The global food processing and packaging company said the new

Tetra Rex carton will be the first in the market to have bio-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films and bio-b a s e d h i g h - d e n s i t y polyethylene (HDPE) caps, both derived from sugar cane, in addition

to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paperboard, making the whole product fully renewable for the first time.

Christina Chester, product director carton gable top, Tetra Pak, told Packaging News the Tetra Rex carton was suitable for almost any chilled fresh liquid drink or food. n

Courtesy : www.packagingnews.co.uk


Comexi OFFSET CI8 for European Markets

The Comexi Group, a leading company specialist in machinery solutions for the flexible packaging conversion industry, has recently reached new agreements to install its Comexi OFFSET CI8 printing press. Specifically, two main European companies from Austria and East Europe have trusted the Comexi’s offset technology to boost their machinery fleet so that respond stringent customers’ demands.

All these converters seek maximum quality, sustainability and increase productivity in their products. Consequently, the Comexi OFFSET CI8 becomes the suitable solution to strengthen their positioning as environmentally responsible printers while maintaining high standards of quality.

This is enabled by joining the advantages of both offset variable lengths and flexo central impression drum printing in one single press for flexible packaging and labels.

Market demands as opportunity for market leaders It is not new that flexible packaging has been facing the rising costs of materials and price pressures while run lengths have been decreasing. Within this scenario, operating costs and specifically changeover times and waste are key factors to take into account when deciding the best printing solution.

Brand owners are increasingly demanding to add value to their packs; highest quality, fast delivery and competitive prices are perhaps never ending requests. Those demands are challenging the capabilities of the converters with traditional technologies. It is an opportunity for those converters to introduce an innovative technology that easily solves those requirements and simplifies operational processes.

For the current flexible package printer excitement, Comexi Group is promoting to the market a central impression offset variable repeat printing technology, which looks set to transform flexible package printing into a more sustainable future. Worldwide announced by Comexi Group in 2012, the Comexi OFFSET CI8 press is the market leader for sustainable short and medium runs. Comexi Group Industries, S.A.U.

The benefits of combining fast job changeover with EB curing technology

Comexi Group has developed a press that replaces solvent inks by using EB curing technology, which allows the use of solventless and instantaneous cured inks without photoiniciators, fully compatible for its use in food packaging. Its fast job changeover, high printing quality and pre-press low cost also characterize the Comexi OFFSET CI8.

All these benefits are combined with a much cleaner printing process in comparison with flexo or rotogravure technologies.

The offset technology provides maximum flexibility in the production process, allowing very short time-to-market, due to the fast in-house pre-press that allows preparing a new job while the press is still carrying out a previous one.

The printing cylinders are easy to exchange manually (automatic cylinder exchange is available as an optional) and all job parameters can be digitally stored and recalled. The pre-setting of mechanical adjustments like ink keys, form-rollers and printing cylinders are automatic.

Another point to be highlighted is the considerable savings for the companies due to the fast and keen in-house plate making.

Offset technology is characterized by the use of lithographic plates, with much less costs compared with photopolymers or engraved cylinders used in traditional flexo and rotogravure technologies. The cost reduction at this part of the process allows changing the design and language, adding new logos or making promotional campaigns without additional printing costs. It also allows reducing minimum print runs and printing film in stock.

The Comexi OFFSET CI8 press use servo drive technology, allowing fast production, reduced press downtime and start-up waste.

The machine prints in up to 7-colors, plus white or lacquer, with a web width of 900 mm or 1100 mm, at a maximum speed of 300m/min. . n

Courtesy : www.packagingeurope.com


printservices by manroland web systems – fully printready in 18 daysUNISET relocated and reconfigured at Malayala Manorama in record time

Updates and retrofits are key instruments for ensuring the future viability of large and small newspaper publishers in today’s economic climate. manroland web systems has set a new record and once again convincingly demonstrated its service expertise as the world’s leading manufacturer of web offset presses. In just 18 days, its specialists reconfigured two UNISET printing towers at Malayala Manorama in Thiruvananthapuram, India.

T h e g r e a t e r a r e a o f Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), the capital of Kerala State at the Southern tip of India, has about 1.7 million inhabitants. The city’s importance is not limited to its role as an administrative and educational center with a number of universities. It is also home to a rising software industry and the seat of Kerala State Government. The daily newspaper malayala manorama runs a printshop

here, which turns out about 235,000 copies of the 24-page morning newspaper on a daily basis – with 16 color and 8 black and white pages.

Two eight-couple towers for more color and printing capacityThe production system revolves around a UNISET 60 configuration from Manugraph, which has now been expanded by two additional eight-couple towers. This expansion caters to the growing demand for information in the region, as well as reader preferences for more color pages in the paper. With up to 16 four-color and eight B&W page newspaper, print volumes can now be expanded.

Software update and e-retrofitI n a d d i t i o n t o e r e c t i n g a n d commissioning the printing towers, comprehensive electrical retrofits and software updates as well as the

installation of a color control console and a new operator control were among the planned measures. The two printing towers were integrated in the control system and operating software of the current system. Updates were also carried out on the folder software and control.

Convincing performanceAfter commissioning, a thorough inspection was performed on the add on towers and the entire system, with print tests that extended over three days. All tasks were completed in just 18 days from mid-August to early September 2014.

“We are very happy about the impeccable service we received from manroland web systems,” s t a t e s M o h a n N a i r , H e a d o f Production at Malayala Manorama, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) plant, “the services were well-organized, fast, and of a very high quality, which all goes to show that we made the right decision in choosing manroland web systems.”

Future-ready“With the reconfiguration and software retrofit and update, carried out jointly by manroland web systems and manroland India, Malayala Manorama in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) will now be able to cater to all requirements in terms of color, print runs, and print quality in the foreseeable future. This gives the company the basis for continued growth in Kerala,” comments Pankaj Bhasin from manroland India.

10 million readers per dayWith a daily circulation of over 2.2 million print copies and about 10 million readers every day, malayala manorama, appearing in Malayalam, is one of the five largest daily newspapers in India, ranking eleventh in the world. The newspaper is produced at eleven printing locations in Kerala, 5 locations in India (outside Kerala) and 3 locations in the Gulf region. n

Courtesy : www.manroland-web.com

The eight-page UNISET from manroland web systems has been sold more than 350 times around the globe. At Malayala Manorama in Trivandrum, manroland India recently updated a UNISET 60

licensed for construction by Manugraph


Automating the Short-Run Hardcover

Hard-cover case making and binding is a craft that goes back centuries. And still today, there are shops that create beautiful leather-bound, gold-embossed volumes designed to last forever. The skills needed to produce these works of art for your library cannot be mastered in months. Instead, it takes years to become a master bookbinder.

Books were originally “luxury” items, affordable only by the very well-off. Perfect binding was patented in 1887, and hard-cover books gradually became mass-market items. In the following decades, heavy machinery was developed that could turn out about 60 complete hardcovers a minute. Because of the cost of setting up production, publishers had to commit to minimum orders that were fairly sizeable.

Enter the e-book. There’s no doubt that a sizeable chunk of hard-cover production disappeared after the intro of high-quality e-readers. While hard-cover books are not going away anytime soon, much of today’s output is based on the very short-run “on-demand” model based on inventory control and by the demands

of the self-publishing segment. Today’s production depends on small quantities with quick turnaround and ship times.

So, instead of investing in multi-million dollar machinery, today’s book printers and binders have created small modular work cells which can change case, cover, and book block sizes in minutes. But there aren’t a whole lot of master bookbinders floating around in the marketplace right now, so another challenge is getting workers to produce high-quality hardcovers without having the benefit of a long training course or apprenticeship.

Enter GP2 Technologies. Founded by hard-cover machinery pros, GP2 developed a best-selling line of hard-cover casemakers. Based on input from its customers, GP2 decided to go the next step, and add significant automation, and create the Cover-1 system. Cover-1 is the perfect solution for short-run “on-demand” casemaking. The system reads a barcode printed either on a job ticket, or on the cover material. This drives the system’s board cutter which cuts the front, spine, and back

The Cover-1 system, from GP2 Technologies, is a short-run, on-demand casemaking solution.

boards automatically from a single piece. This removes measurement error from the board cutting process. Simultaneously, the barcode data sets up the SC-2 Autocase Case Maker. The SC-2 employs servo technology, so case size changes are automated, quick, and accurate.

The use of a barcode input allows an operator to be quickly trained on the system and produce high-quality cases in a wide variety of sizes. It also eliminates the need to pre-cut and stock cover board in many different sizes. All-in-all, the Cover-1 system provides an almost perfect solution for today’s “on-demand” hard-cover production environment. . n

Courtesy : www.piworld.com

Asian Granito offers 8-colour printing technology on tiles

Tile maker Asian Granito India Ltd (AGL) announced to offer eight-colour printing technology on tiles for premium class customers, for the first time in the country.

By acquiring this technology, the company has made India one of the few markets in the world to make this offer, a company release said.

Asian Granito is targeting a turnover of Rs. 1,500 crore over the next three years. The company will soon introduce its first exclusive collection of digital wall and floor tiles printed in eight-colour technology, said Bhupendra Vyas, Chief Operating Officer.

He said Asian Granito will target the metros, mini-metros, and big cities like Pune and initially launch this collection in 300x600 mm and 300x900 sizes. AGL currently has a distribution network of over 3,000 dealers and sub-dealers.These tiles will be available at more than 60 exclusive showrooms under ‘AGL tiles world exclusives’ in India. . n

Courtesy : thehindubusinessline.com


Many of the inconsistencies that arise with in-line and off-line coating/laminating can be resolved, or even avoided, if appropriate systems are in place for trialing new materials and resolving issues associated with quality.

Take, for example, the following coating challenge. In an out-of-line application a heat seal coating is applied to foil for the purpose of providing adhesion to polyester. The heat seal coating is applied to one side of the foil using a standard coating unit. The coated foil then travels through an oven and the dried coated foil is wound up onto rolls.

So far so good. The roll is then stored until the converter is called upon to engage in further processing. The roll is unwound and combined with the polyester foil by passing two substrates through a heated nip to effect the bond. Again the material is rewound with the foil/heat seal coating/ polyester ready for shipment to the customer.

A number of factors can influence the effectiveness of the process in this example. To begin with, any coating or primer must be dried completely. Retention of any of the coating vehicle could make the material tacky. This means that when the roll is wound up on itself this material will adhere to the backside making subsequent unwinding for further processing impossible.

Another problem arises when the coating material or primer is not fully compatible with the substrate. If any ingredients such as plasticizers or low molecular weight materials migrate from the substrate to the coating during storage, the coating may once again become tacky. This blocking effect will once again make unwinding a stressful process. The migration of an ingredient in a coating onto the surface of the substrate can also be problematic when rolls are stored. This will contaminate to some degree the backside of the material, in

Troubleshooting Laminationmany instances rendering the product unacceptable.

Solvent ChallangesLaminating also throws up its own challenges. For example, in situations where solvents from the adhesive are being absorbed into the laminate inks, coatings or substrate, the solution generally is to change the adhesive system. Changing the substrate may be the way to go, although usually this is not an option as the type of application dictates what type of substrate has to be processed. Experimenting and changing to a less aggressive solvent or water-based adhesive is the preferred easy option.Should this option not be possible for whatever reason, problems may be resolved by increasing the dryer speed. This is an option that is perhaps the least favorable, as many substrates are heat sensitive. It is important to note that if solvents are involved and these have been absorbed into the substrate from an adhesive they will take some time to dissipate.Coating operatives may come across a problem of a hazy appearance becoming apparent when a two-ply bonded laminate comes off of the machine. This may be perplexing, especially if the same substrate and adhesive is being used . . as in prev1ous run. The clue to the problem lies in the hazy appearance. If an adequate amount of adhesive is not applied to the primary substrate, high and low spots will allow air bubbles to develop in the laminate, causing the haze. Generally, if the adhesive coating weight is increased, the haziness will disappear.

Process of EliminationOften it is necessary to work through possible causes of a problem in a process of elimination. Take the following example: as laminated paper/PET sheets cure, the edges of the sheets begin to curl -a situation

that seems to get worse as the laminate ages. The cause of the problem is probably too much curing agent in the adhesive, or maybe the viscosity of the adhesive is too high? It could be that the laminator tension is too high. Most likely the source of the problem is tension related. When the tension is too high, even a material such as PET can stretch. Following its travel through the nip, the film will naturally relax and shrink. Most adhesives also shrink as they cure, and with both the material and the adhesive shrinking, sheets will curl. A tension guideline listing can be obtained from the web handling manufacturer or compiled in-house for various machines and jobs. Product monitoring and quality control devices can also be useful.

A combination of forethought and good housekeeping practice can also help reduce problems. Take, for instance, a laminating job that is undertaken fairly regularly and which generally goes smoothly. All of a sudden, the problem of low initial bonds starts to occur.

Could it be a badly adjusted doctor blade or a tension imbalance, or something as simple as a dirty gravure cylinder? If the adhesive has dried and cured in the gravure cylinder, the amount of adhesive transferred to the substrate will drop. Even though the amount of adhesive used seems adequate, the coating weight is reduced and results in the low initial bonds. This is where good housekeeping comes in. To overcome this problem, cylinders and laminator should be cleaned following each run, while coating weights should be routinely evaluated. n


Digital Original: How Not to Lose Money in Prepress Next Year

It is November, let us say, so it is too late to do anything about the holiday slump that many printers report in December. If you want to avoid low sales in December 2015, you have to start filling up your production pipeline in August and September.

But December doesn’t have to be a complete loss. The end of the year is a good time to get back to the basics while you have free time, especially in dealing with prepress, design, and customer-created files. If you are still losing money in the prepress department, December is the time to start making changes for the new year.

Step 1. Review your pricesWhen was the last time you reviewed and raised your prices for design, typesetting, and prepress? Hourly rates, especially for design work, continue to rise as customers look for creative work to make their message stand out. You should have both a rate for typesetting and a higher rate for design. The creativity your designer brings to the table is worth it. How do you compare to the market price? To the prices charged by graphic designers? Are you competitive or are you leaving money on the table?

Step 2. Review if you have actually been charging for the work.Too many printers pay lip service to their design and typesetting charges. They will say that they charge a certain hourly rate or price, but you can’t find it on the invoice. Owners should review their invoices to see if the charges from prepress are accurate. Customer changes and alterations create additional labor costs that should be recovered. Does your prepress person have access to your pricing system so he or she can add additional costs as they occur? Your production manager should be reviewing the prices to make sure

the prices reflect the time and value of the job.

Step 3. Review your digital standards for customer-created files.Customer-created files still account for much of the loss in revenue for a prepress department. Prepress staff continue to correct and rebuild customer files so they will print correctly without either charging for the extra time or telling the customers about the changes. Too many times, the money lost by the prepress department is more than what a printer is making on the run and bindery portion of the job. Most problems are caused by customers not following file creation standards. Do you have a published list of how you want a customer to properly prepare a file?

Step 4. Review your sales staff knowledge.The first line of communications with the customers is through the sales and customer service staff. If they don’t understand the prepress pricing or the digital standards, then you can’t expect your customers to know. Digital services are always changing, and December could be a good time to test and refresh staff knowledge.

Step 5. Identify problem customers and start training them.Most customers don’t want to submit problems files and even fewer want to incur additional charges when they were trying to save money. The slow time in December would be a good opportunity for your staff to visit with customers and explain the right way to submit files for print. Either one-on-one or in groups, customers will appreciate the time you take to make their jobs easier. Educating your customers will strengthen the bonds

with the customer and set you apart from the competition.

Step 6. Raise your prices.If you really want to increase your efforts to making the prepress department profitable, raise your prices to take effect January 1. Everyone is used to seeing prices go up the first of the year, so it is a good time for you to make any needed adjustments.

Prepress departments continue to be overlooked. The prepress staff works hard and, in many shops, touches almost every job that comes through production. Staff members have specialized skills and would be sorely missed if they had to be replaced. In addition, most printers have a big investment in computers and software in the department and now have ongoing software subscription fees to cover each month. Add in the fact that almost all the new services (variable data, wide format, website development, and much more) are now part of the prepress workload, it becomes even more critical that the prepress department provide its fair share to the bottom-line profits.

If there was ever a time to fix the pricing problems, it would be now, as the workflow begins to lighten as December approaches. n

Courtesy : myprintresource.com

Inkjet Innovations Are Coming!You asked. And we l istened. A revolution in inkjet is about to change your world. The Niagara technology cut-sheet inkjet device not only offers an attractive price, it runs at half the operating cost of conventional digital presses. The game-changing Oce ImageStream 3500 web press offers not only the speed and quality you expect, but will print on virtually any paper, including offset, coated and uncoated papers. The inkjet revolution is coming. There’s nothing to stop you now.

Visit pps.csa.canon.com to learn more.


5 free tools to unleash your creativity

PhotoPlus starter editionInstead of paying a hefty price for photoediting software, you could install PhotoPlus Starter and get pro features at zero cost.

Like other advanced image editing tools, it lets you work with “layers”. You can use its built in filters and effects, adjust brightness and contrast, tweak hue and saturation, straighten and crop pictures, remove red eye and blemishes, and more.

You can save your process as a custom pre set and quickly apply it to other images as well.

PhotoPlus includes a “how to”, which is a neat documentation of the software’s capabilities.

Beginners can use the s imple instructions or click “Do this for me” to allow the software to carry out the step automatically.

However, there are a few tools and effects like line, shape, warp and HDR that are available only after an upgrade. That said, its Help file has workarounds that help beginners get by without an upgrade.

www.serif.comfreephotoeditingsoftware

Buying a new computer for most us means scrimping and saving.And that’s only just the beginning. Purchasing licensed software more often than not breaks the bank. But if you look hard enough, you might just hit the jackpot. Graphics company Serif has a whole software suite that lets you edit photos, stitch panoramas, create vector graphics, design brochures, print layouts and visiting cards, and even personal web pages...

PanaromaPlus starter editionPanoramaPlus is meant for the landscape photographs you’ve wanted to stitch together, but haven’t figured out how to.

Well, with this software, simply select the images you want to piece together and let it do all the hard work. Finally, save the newly created panorama, which can have a maximum resolution of 3000x3000px, as a JPEG file. Saving in other formats requires a paid upgrade.

Note: You will need an image editor like PhotoPlus to straighten and crop the panoramiclandscapes to remove the empty spaces created by the stitching process.

www.serif.comfreepanoramicphotostitchingsoftware

DrawPlus Starter EditionDrawPlus Starter is a superb illustration software that caters to budding artists who are keen on learning about and working with vector graphics. You can begin by using the Startup Wizard that’s packed with tutorial texts and videos. After which, you can explore DrawPlus’ exhaustive vector tools to create logos, technical drawings, and even art.

The software can be calibrated to be used with any pressuresensitive drawing tablet, allowing you to use

its brush tool and effects to create professionalquality graphics. You can insert images from your PC to trace over, and you can even drag and drop shapes and cliparts from the software gallery directly into your design.

In this free version, some features like the Connector tool, the Freeform Paint tool, Instant 3D, the Blend tool, Publish as PDF, Preview in Browser, and Export for CADCAM are disabled. What you get, however, is still enough to create detailed illustrations. You can save your files in the proprietary DrawPlus Drawing format (.dpp), or export your work to formats such as GIF, JPG, PNG, TARGA, TIFF, Win Bitmap and SVG

www.serif.comfreegraphicdesignsoftware

PagePlus Starter EditionPagePlus lets you create professional looking brochures, flyers, letterheads, business cards, resumes and more.

You get greater control over the elements in a page than you would

in a Word document, making it ideal for students, designers, as well as the office executive.

The learning curve is not steep because of its numerous templates for various page sizes, including CD labels and envelopes. Moreover, PagePlus Starter is accompanied with detailed documentation and walkthroughs that make pagemaking simple.

We recommend watching the “starting from scratch” video before moving on to the Tutorials section. The software also includes an exhaustive list of “assets” like clipart, badges, backgrounds, logos, themes, stock photographs and symbols that can be selected and dragged on to the page whenever required. While you are doing all this, PagePlus will continue to


help you along the way with tips and tricks. All projects are saved as a PP Publication file and exporting to a PDF file requires a paid upgrade. However, you can work around this by printing your work to an XPS Document (.xps), which is a PDFlike open document format.

www.serif.comdesktoppublishingsoftware

WebPlus Starter EditionThis free offering is ideal for folk who want to create a small personal website, or even an online presence for a small business. The best part: you don’t even need to know how to program for the web.

When you open WebPlus Starter, you are greeted with the Startup Assistant. From here, advanced users can build a new website from scratch, while beginners can view the latest learning tutorials that provide stepbystep instructions, and start work with professionallydesigned templates. To

complete the whole circle, you can even set up web hosting from the Assistant, which you will need to get your website online and with minimum hassles. The free Starter Edition gives you four desktop and an equal number of mobile website templates.

After choosing any of these, you are prompted to select the number of pages you want, and a colour theme. You can add images from your PC, drag and drop graphics to your web page layout and even insert YouTube videos and Google Maps. Some of the features in the free WebPlus Starter are disabled, but what you get is still enough to setup a basic site on the internet.

http:www.serif.comwebdesignsoftware n

Courtesy : timesofindia.com

After 20 years, Re.1 paper notes to make a comebackOne rupee may not buy you much today, yet the Government is keen to start printing Rs. 1 notes after a gap of almost two decades.

The Government has notified ‘Printing of One Rupee Currency Notes Rules, 2015’, which will come into effect from January 1, 2015. Due to higher cost and for freeing capacity to print higher denomination notes, printing Re. 1 note was discontinued in November 1994, followed by Rs.2 in February 1995, and Rs. 5 in November 1995. Since then, only coins have been issued for these denominations. However, old notes are still in circulation and remain legal tender. As before, the new one rupee note will have the signature of the Finance Secretary. Apart from the one rupee note, all other paper currency (Rs.2, Rs.5, Rs.10, Rs.20, Rs.50, Rs.100, Rs.500 and Rs.1,000) have the signature of the RBI Governor, as these are issued by the Reserve Bank of India, whereas Rs. 1 is issued by the Government of India.

The new Re. 1 note will be different in terms of colour, too. It will be predominantly pink and green. Earlier, the Re. 1 currency note had a predominantly indigo colour. Also, the new note will have ‘Bharat Sarkar’ on its masthead, with ‘Government of India’ printed below that. All other currencies have ‘Bhartiya Reserve Bank’ and ‘Reserve Bank of India’ printed on them. While the notification does not give any reason for resuming the printing of Re.1 notes, it is believed that reports of coin shortage and the rising incidence of melting coins might have prompted the move. The notification does not mention how many notes will be printed and issued.

In the last year of its printing, 44 million pieces of Re.1 notes were issued. Despite the RBI’s appeal to change these notes for coins, these are still in circulation. However, there is no current estimate of such notes in circulation.

According to the last official number in RBI’s Annual Report for the year ended June 2002, a total of 3,076 million pieces of Re. 1 notes (value Rs.308 crore) were in circulation at the end of March 2002. n

Courtesy : thehindubusinessline.com

Microsoft Just Solved the Biggest Headache in Business

Office Lens scans and saves contact information

Microsoft has an updated app that can scan and save business cards to your phone, letting you sweep your unruly stacks of business cards into the trash.

The new “business card” feature was released in an updated version of the Office Lens app for Windows Phone. Snap a photo of any business card, and the app will automatically crop the image down to the relevant text, format it for legibility and save it to OneNote, a Microsoft document management app.

Users can then search the text by keyword or automatically upload contacts to their phone — though you’ll still have to trash the paper business cards manually. n

Courtesy : time.com


Chemists create rewritable paperResearchers have created an alternative to paper by using heat sensitive dyes in cellulose embedded in plastic. The new paper could reduce the environmental impact of paper

First developed in China in about the year AD 150, paper has many uses, the most common being for writing and printing upon. Indeed, the development and spread of civilisation owes much to paper's use as writing material. According to some surveys, 90 per cent of all information in businesses today is retained on paper, even though the bulk of this printed paper is discarded after just one-time use.

Such waste of paper (and ink cartridges) - not to mention the a c c o m p a ny i ng e nv i r o nm e nt a l problems such as deforestation and chemical pollution to air, water and land - could be curtailed if the paper were "rewritable," that is, capable of being written on and erased multiple times.

Chemists at the University of California, Riverside have now fabricated in the lab just such novel rewritable paper, one that is based on the colour switching property of commercial chemicals called redox dyes. The dye forms the imaging layer of the paper.

Printing is achieved by using ultraviolet light to photobleach the dye, except the portions that constitute the text on the paper. The new rewritable paper can be erased and written on more than 20 times with no significant loss in contrast or resolution.

"This rewritable paper does not require additional inks for printing, making it both economically and environmentally viable," said Yadong Yin, whose lab led the research. "It represents an attractive alternative to regular paper in meeting the increasing global needs for sustainability and environmental conservation."

The rewritable paper is essentially rewritable media in the form of glass or plastic film to which letters and patterns can be repeatedly printed, retained for days, and then erased by simple heating. The study appears nature Communications.

How it works The paper comes in three primary colors: blue, red and green, produced by using the commercial redox dyes

methylene blue, neutral red and acid green, respectively. Included in the dye are titania nanocrystals (these serve as catalysts) and the thickening agent hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC). The combination of the dye, catalysts and HEC lends high reversibility and repeatability to the film.

During the writing phase, ultraviolet light reduces the dye to its colorless state. During the erasing phase, re-oxidation of the reduced dye recovers the original color; that is, the imaging material recovers its original color by reacting with ambient oxygen. Heating at 115C can speed up the reaction so that the erasing process is often completed in less than 10 minutes.

"The printed letters remain legible with high resolution at ambient conditions for more than three days - long enough for practical applications such as reading newspapers," Yin said. "Better still, our rewritable paper is simple to make, has low production cost, low toxicity and low energy consumption."

His lab is currently working on a paper version of the rewritable paper.

"Even for this kind of paper, heating to 115C poses no problem," Yin said. "In conventional laser printers, paper is already heated to 200C in order to get toner particles to bond to the paper."

His lab also is working on increasing the cycling number (the number of times the rewritable paper can be printed and erased), with a target of 100, to reduce overall cost.

" O ne w a y i s t o d e v e l op ne w photocatalyst nanoparticles that become highly reductive when irradiated by ultraviolet light, "Yin said. "We are exploring, too, the possibility of multicolour printing. The design principle can be extended to various commercial redox dyes to produce rewritable paper capable of showing coloured prints. All these efforts will help increase the practical applications of the tech." n

Courtesy : time.com

Scientists have fabricated rewritable paper based on the color switching property of commercial chemicals called redox dyes


Labelexpo Conference discusses Big Data Impact at IIP workshop

In a key Labelexpo South China conference session, Yajuan Liu, inkjet sales director at Beijing Founder Electronics, advised label converters to tap into the new opportunities presented by an era of internet retailing and Big Data.

The signs of change are everywhere in China, said Liu, impacting brick and mortar retail stores, traditional hardware companies like Kodak, changing banking models and the way mobile phone companies derive their revenue.

In the recent record November sales in China, 42 percent of purchases were made from mobile phones – a further record.

‘Printers must not panic – they need to take the initiative,’ said Liu. ‘You have to think from the e-commerce perspective. We should welcome the internet economy not as an enemy but as a friend.’

The Big Data era is coming and there are two highlights, said Liu. ‘Firstly, your business model will change and your source of profits. In the past, you first sell something, and then earn something. That model will change, so you earn profits from services even before something is printed. Secondly, every item will have related information online.’ Big Data allows manufacturers to predict

customers’ buying preferences and push relevant product information to them dynamically – a different paradigm to ‘static’ TV commercials.

Brands might share Big Data resources and integrate consumer rewards into their packaging. Another growing force is the Internet of Things, which bridges the physical and virtual worlds. It focuses on mobile devices including phones and other sensors gathering information from the surrounding environment.

‘Packaging is an important entry point to the Internet of Things,’ said Liu. ‘QR codes are already everywhere and we can give them increasing functionality.’

Label converters will need to become expert in handling the Big Data they will increasingly receive from their customers, and applying this to packaging. This will impact all stages of manufactured goods from the manufacturing process through to delivery to the end customer and beyond that through the life of a product. All this data can be controlled in real time.

These developments will increase the importance and functionality of labels, said Liu. ‘Labels are like the faces of products in the real world.’

In 2011,Beijing Founder launched its own VDP software, integrated into its inkjet presses. Applications have included hiding variable data in relevant graphics. This operates even if a nozzle is blocked, said Liu, as the algorithms ‘smooth’ over the white lines. The program is now 64 bit capable to handle the volume requirements of Big Data in real time.

Encrypted QR codes are another digital application, helping manufacturers monitor their own products through the supply chain. The role of converters is to offer technical support in implementing these new strategies using digital printing and real-time handling of variable data.

‘The message I want to send out is the Big Data era is coming. A lot of people say online economics is just a mirage – but it’s an extension of the real world and solid just like the earth. Big Data is like a nerve system, ever developing, and everyone can contribute to it.’ n

Courtesy : www. labelsandlabelling.com

Print Miracle Expo 2014Print Miracle-2014, the three-day exhibition of pre-press, printing, print finishing, packaging and conver ting products and services was organised by Kerala Masters Printers Association (KMPA) at CIAL Trade and Exhibition Centre in Nedumbassery. It was a print technology magic at work at Print Miracle Expo 2014 with over 100 direct exhibitors and around 125 companies represented on floor space of 30,000 sq ft.

The show had all the biggest names from the printing industry not only from India but worldwide. HP was showcasing their Indigo Digital Press for the first time in South India at the Print Miracle Expo 2014. Further, Xerox launched two new machines for the first time in India at this show.The show presented printers with the unique opportunity of witnessing state-of-art printing technology in their own background. It was a must visit show for printers and anybody connected with printing.Print Miracle Conference was also be a part of the show where the printers and converters in Kerala were presented with a platform to know from experts from across the world to know how to make printing business more efficient, dynamic and profitable. nCourtesy : www. newindianexpress.com


Difficult clientsDealing with difficult clients is part of life, get on the front foot for best results

Every printer has had to deal with difficult clients. They are the ones who push back on ideas, the ones who don’t follow your social mores, who don’t understand you, and, in some cases, who don’t particularly like you.

Then there are those who just badger the company when they feel they don’t get exactly what they want.

First, it has to be said that there are ways of turning it into an opportunity.

The most important thing to do is to adjust your mindset. Forget any feelings you might have that it’s not the company’s fault and the client has made a mistake. What’s important here is acknowledging that the client is upset and it’s up to you to solve the problem. Resist the temptation to solve everything straightaway and listen to the client carefully. Let your client tell you his story. Repeat their concerns so you’re sure that you’re addressing their issues, and that they see it (for example, ‘So what you’re saying is you are upset the order didn’t arrive on time. Is that right?’). Be empathetic and apologise and present a solution. And follow up.

On the other hand, it’s okay sometimes to say no if the client is being unreasonable. Look after your staff

Difficult clients: Some clients are more trouble than they are worth.

first if the client is giving them a hard time. After all, the way you treat your employees is ultimately going to be one of the biggest drivers of how your staff will treat customers. What’ important here is that you retain your best people. In the long run they will help you make bigger profits than the one difficult client who may drive them away.

If the situation is beyond repair, you can fire a client. You just have to be sure that your reasoning is sound. As difficult as it might be to let go of business, if a client is costing you money, sometimes it’s best to cut ties and have them find a better fit. That requires taking a look at the complexity of the work, profitability, and whether the client was referred to you or whether the client refers other people to you. Also, consider whether there are additional opportunities for business in future. Look at the timeliness of payment and the client’s satisfaction with you. It is also a good idea to analyse where you spend most of your time and effort. You are likely to learn that you spend the most time on the least important clients. That is because more important clients already trust you and are therefore easier to please.

The reality is, most small businesses, can afford to release 10-15 per cent of their client base every two years, thereby releasing the business from unenjoyable work and freeing up time to look for class A clients. Or you can put up your prices and the clients may disappear by themselves. If it was just the price keeping them, the relationship would always be strained. In any case, a loss of 10-15 per cent of clients every two years can be healthy. n

Courtesy : www. proprint.com.au

Xeikon targets record digital print speed with Cheetah

The digital colour press targets the label market and Xeikon claimed that the press is 60% faster than any other model in its current press portfolio.

The five-colour machine can print at speeds of 30m per minute and can handle substrates of up to 330mm wide with a print resolution of 1,200×3,600dpi. Media weights range from 40gsm to 350gsm.

Patrick Van Baelen, vice president for worldwide marketing at Xeikon, said: “This increase in speed represents a huge leap forward in digital press technology. The Xeikon Cheetah narrows the gap between digital printing and traditional flexo/offset methods for producing labels. In addition, the increase in speed also results in a lower total production cost.”

The digital press will be commercially available during 2015. Xeikon added that the dry toners meet FDA regulations for food contact and the ability to print opaque white toner in one pass.

“It’s diff icult to overstate the importance of this advancement,” said Van Baelen. “The Xeikon Cheetah is a significant breakthrough for high capacity production. It’s a tremendously exciting time for Xeikon, as well as for the digital label printing market.” n

Courtesy : www. myprintresource.com

Digital press manufacturer Xeikon has claimed a “huge leap forward” in technology with the launch of the Xeikon Cheetah


The World’s First 3D Printing College Opens in China

eCardBuilder Web to Print technology

An online designer Storefront with web-to-print friendly functions for wide format and general commercial printing comes with a 30 million gallery of highest resolution images, suitable for larger prints. The design engine comes with intuitive technology, letting customers do all of the work of designing, typesetting, estimating, proofing and ecommerce. Proudly installed in thousands of print and sign shops, eCardBuilder is an award

winning technology and website platform that automates all aspects of print.

Amazing Pr int Tech lets your customers:

• Typeset on screen

• Upload and manipulate images

• Link to 3rd party image libraries

• Use dynamic QR code generator

• Price out the final product• Start from template or upload

own artworkAmazing Print Tech lets you:

• Connect to your own merchant account

• Connect to popular MIS systems• Connect to popular CMS systems• Connect to eCardBuilder shopping

cart or another popular 3rd party shopping cart

• Connect to popular shipping and delivery services

• Set up currencies, taxes and delivery methods

• Set up coupons, vouchers and discounts

• Set private or public templates• Set up single or multiple websites

as well as kiosks for self-ordering.

Since 1997, Amazing Print Tech helped thousands of print shop and sign shops with both SaaS and Enterprise based technology platforms. Amazing Print Tech’s strength are in online personalization, VDP, Retail and Corporate Storefronts. n

Courtesy : www. myprintresouce.com

The Baiyun-Winbo 3D Pr int ing Technology College has officially opened its doors in the Baiyun district of the city of Guangzhou and began accepting its first students. While I don’t consider the school a proper college,what with having a faculty consisting of a single teacher and a single engineer and having its classrooms located inside of a different college, but it is a first for China.The school is a collaboration between Guangzhou Baiyun Technician College of Business and Technology and one of China’s largest 3D printer manufacturers,Winbo Industries, who donated twenty new 3D printers for the first set of students. Students and faculty will have access to five different high tech 3D printing-related

facilities. There will be a fully stocked design center, a 3D printing center, a training space, study rooms, and a 3D printed product display center.“3D printing technology has become the most popular emerging industry,” a school spokesman explained to the Chinese media. “Although China has been slower to pick up 3D printing technology than foreign countries, we have a bigger space here for the long-term development. At the same time, we believe it is important to cultivate

and support our future 3D printing professionals from a young age. This way, our students can experience the forefront of science and technology, experience the charm of science and technology and train their practical skills for exploring culture exploration and innovation.”The college facilities are currently being housed within the Guangzhou Baiyun Technician College and according to Winbo Industries has been under development since March of 2014. While new students will have access to just twelve different models of 3D printers, that number will grow as Winbo provides newer machines as they become available and students start designing and building their own. The hope is that the school will develop the country’s new 3D printing standards and an industry certification system. nCourtesy : www. 3dprintingindustry.com


the-messy-desk-syndrome

I took this photo on a recent on-site visit. It’s the cubicle of the company’s top salesperson. He assured me that it only looks disorganized, and that in fact, he knows where everything is. So I bet him that he couldn’t find a hard-copy document I’d sent him two or three weeks earlier. Lunch was on him that day!

At the end of the day, I sat with the owner of the company in his own office, which was also fairly messy. On his wall, he has a poster which states that “A Clean Desk Is The Sign Of A Dirty Mind.” I pointed at his desk, and at the poster, and said “I’m not sure you’re setting a really good example for your employees, especially Carl (the top salesperson).”

“I don’t care about neatness,” he said, “I care about results, and Carl brings in a lot of business.”

The question, of course, is whether he could be bringing in even more business if he was better organized.

You can probably guess what I think!

Everything In Its PlaceThe secret to organization is simply to put everything in its place. If that place

really is on the top of your desk — or on top of your chair! — then that’s where whatever we’re talking about should be. But if it’s not, it should be somewhere else. That might be a file folder, in a file cabinet, in a file room. It might be a digital folder, on a computer desktop, or somewhere deeper inside the file structure. It might be in the trash! I’m not saying that your desktop, physical or digital, must be perfectly neat and organized at all times, but here’s what I want you to ask yourself: Is there any upside to the kind of mess you see in this picture?

Also ask yourself this: What would Carl likely find if he took the time to look through every piece of paper in his workspace? I think he’d find that most of the documents are no longer current to his workflow. I think he’d also find some lost opportunity!

Lost OpportunityThis is really the critical issue. I’ve been saying for a long time that selling is mostly about follow-up. And please understand, I’m not just talking about persistence. I’m talking about follow-up that’s appropriate to the situation at hand. I have seen far

too many printing salespeople miss out on opportunities because they were blindly persistent when they should have employed something more creative in terms of followup, but that’s a topic for another day. For today, it’s pretty simple. If you miss an opportunity because you didn’t follow up on time because it was hidden under the clutter in your workspace, that’s an indefensible loss.

I actually forced Carl to dig though his clutter as part of the follow-up to my on-site visit. He found five quotes that he’d never followed up. He also found 23 leads that he’d never followed up on. He even found a job jacket for an order that had never been put into production. He swears that he’s seen the light, and that he’s going to get himself and keep himself better organized. I’m confident that if he does that, he will bring in even more business and make more money.

Contact Management SoftwareAs I’ve written before, I use a software product called ACT to keep myself organized, and I think every salesperson should be using this kind of tool. Other products in the CM/CRM category include Outlook, SalesNet, and salesforce.com. In ACT, I’ve set up a database record for everyone I do business with or hope to do business with, and in that record, I can store everything from names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses to the notes I take during every call or contact. I can send e-mails from ACT and store them in thedatabase record. I can attach quotes, artwork, or any other digital file. I can also schedule my follow-up activity after each contact. In other words, ACT gives me a place to put everything in its place. Better organized probably equals better sales results. Do you agree?

Dave fellman is the president of David fellman & Associates, Cary, nC, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact him by phone at 919-363-4068 or bye-mail at [email protected]. Visit his website at www.davefellman.com n

Courtesy : www. myprintresouce.com


Providing access to magazines with just a tapMagzter Inc. is one of the fastest growing digital stores with over 21 million readers and over 4,500 magazines

In 2009, Girish Ramdas and Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan (left), who were based in Chennai at the time, decided to develop a software which will make it easy to access and read magazines on a

tablet or smart phone—with just a tap.

Globally, sales of magazines have plummeted and readership has waned over the last couple of years, but New York based software developers Girish Ramdas and Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan have turned the bleak situation to their advantage by using technology.

In 2009, Ramdas and Radhakrishnan, who were based in Chennai at the time, decided to develop a software which will make it easy to access and read magazines on a tablet or smart phone—with just a tap. Two years later, Magzter, a digital store was born in Chennai offering 35 magazines.

Currently Magzter Inc. is one of the largest and fastest growing cross platform digital stores with over 21 million readers, over 4,500 magazines and thousands of books and comic titles from over 1,500 publishers.

In 2002, Ramdas used to run a Chennai based software company, DotCom Infoway (DCI) for which Radhakrishnan’s company NTS used to provide services. Three years

later, they merged their companies and Radhakrishnan became its chief technology officer. The new company was called DCI.

In 2008, while attending an Apple Inc. event on application platforms in Bengaluru, the duo decided to take a serious look at the opportunities offered by application platforms. They set up a new division of the merged company called DCI Mobile Studios. Their innovations included apps for buying music put out by Sony and for accessing Indian Premier League cricket matches. DCI Mobile studios was recognized for its content based apps and was the market leader in mobile app creation in India, said Radhakrishnan.

A year later, DCI, which had a digital southern Indian movie magazine app called “Galatta Cinema”, launched an application to make the magazine accessible by nonresidents Indians on their smartphones. “Suddenly, it fell in place—why not create an application for tablets and smart phones to read

all types of magazines and comics?” said Ramdas.

The idea came to the cofounders while they were jogging one morning. They immediately started working on the application with the DCI team in 2010. Two versions of Magzter had to be junked before the third and final version was launched in June 2011. The app is called OREY Click Publishing System. The term OREY, which means ‘one’ in Tamil, stands for Oneclick Realtime Everywhere.

Digital publishing platforms and newsstands are inexpensive to set up, with few overheads and no printing or delivery costs. This is hugely beneficial to small publishers and new authors threatened by the arrival of digital content, said Ramdas.

Magzter also provides the ideal platform for publishers who do not have the capital for a conventional printing setup, but want to publish their content digitally, as well as for publishers of exclusive digital books, he added.

Instant access to diverse content—magazines and books—is Magzter’s main attraction. It has placed itself in a position where it can be easily reached any time and from anywhere. The Magzter digital newsstand can be downloaded for free as a mobile app for iOS, Android and Windows 8 and on the Internet for computers.

In 2012, Magzter became the number one free app in Apple’s app store for iPad in Asia.

However, the journey has not been without its challenges—convincing publishers from across the world to come on board was the biggest, said Ramdas. “We persevered by offering them a model where there is no upfront cost whatsoever to the publisher when he uploads his content on Magzter,” added Radhakrishnan. They only need to pay on sales and subscriptions.

Magzter’s zero upfront fee policy and revenue share model encouraged publishers to opt for the digital route. n

Courtesy : livemint.com


A ray of hope for budding authors

After a frustrating search for a publisher, a debutant writer and three of his friends decided that the same kind of rejection should not meet other aspiring writers. They decided to launch their own publishing house, V Prensa, and launched its first book, In Pain, written by Anirudh Bhattacharya, one of the group members.

“There were a lot of obstacles when we approached publishers. They saw the manuscripts and kept delaying the process,” says Anirudh.

Sri Seshu, another member of the group, adds, “We looked for publishers for one year.

The cost of the whole process was reaching in lakhs as the publishers wanted some surety if the book flopped. Some even told us that they can’t take risks of publishing books of debut writers.”

Adding to the cost factor were “the fees of literary agents, which would be around Rs 50,000, and copyrights would cost Rs 8,000. Even with an agent, the chances were 50-50,” says Anirudh.

So Seshu and Anirudh teamed with Saifuddin Malik, a B.Tech graduate from Gitam University in Vizag and Sharath Chandra, still studying in the same university, to start a publishing

house that would solely focus on encouraging budding authors, without worrying about the costs and profits.

“Some youngsters real ly have revolutionary ideas and stories that need to be told. And all this is getting lost without going on print,” says Anirudh, who in his first book has focused on the trauma of break ups.

“I took a year and two months off from my usual life. I moved into a separate place to live alone in order to understand how it really feels to be lonely and depressed,” he informs.

As to the editing, Sharath, who is good with the language, and is the editor of his college magazine, came for help.

Besides printing, the group also plans to market the books with launches as well as with the help of social media. While they are focusing on book stores in Hyderabad and Vijayawada in the first phase, the online vendors who they have on board include eBay and Amazon.

With their savings and contributions from friends having fuelling their first release, they are now hoping that the sales of In Pain will raise some more money for future books and authors. n

Courtesy : thedeccanchronicle.com

Anirudh Bhattacharya (in red) with Sri Seshu and Saifuddin Malik.

World's first herbal Quran showcased in Dubai

Dubai: The world’s first handcrafted herbal Holy Quran, made from about 200 medicinal plants, has been unveiled here. The Quran has been made by the Islamic arts and calligraphy company, Heddem Arts and has been crafted over 23 years from 1957 to 1979 by Turkish Unani Doctor Hamdi Taher. The Quran is made of high potency herbal mixtures prepared as per Unani medical system.

“Herbal sheets of the Holy Quran have many therapeutic properties when the reader moves his fingers on the letters or in and around the pages, the herbal mixture seeps through the pores in the fingers, providing health benefits,” Heddem Arts said in a statement.

The herbal-cream-written Quran includes 606 pages and weighs about 7.5 kilogramme. “Patiently handcrafted over the years, every word and design in the Holy Quran is made without using any printing technology, tools or machinery because of which it is truly one of a kind,” Abdul Azeaz Bin Hassan, Islamic religious adviser at Heddem Arts, said.

“We contacted 1,714 museums in 80 countries to verify that no one else has crafted such a unique Holy Quran or any other book, it is truly one of a kind,” he said. Heddem Arts is a company and place that speaks of extra-ordinary rare kind of Holy Qurans, Islamic Arts, Calligraphs, and expertise. n

Courtesy : thedeccanchronicle.com


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Salary packagingPackaging benefits into the salary can make your company an employer of choice.Salary packaging makes business sense. It is a good way for printers to attract talent because they increase the take home pay of their employees – at no extra cost.How does it work? It is essentially a tool, approved by the Australian Taxation Office, to restructure pay so that the employee can pay for approved items using a portion of their salary that has not been taxed. This allows them to reduce their taxable income and puts more money in their back pocket. For the print business owner, it is a great way to reward and recognise employees’ hard work, without increasing wages.Salary packaging is an employee perk, so offering this option can make the business substantially more attractive to potential employees. And there is a good business reason to bring it in: salary packaging can give the print business owner a leg up in recruitment and makes it more likely for that printer to be recognised as an employer of choice. It will also save money on staff turnover not to mention recruitment. More employees will want to be associated with a company that offers this salary perk.While there is no restriction on what can be packaged, it generally falls into three categories.First, we have the fringe benefits like cars, health insurance, loans, school fees and child care fees. Then there are exempt benefits like electronic d e v i c e s , c o m p u t e r s o f t w a r e , briefcases and clothing.The final one is superannuation. Super is actually the best way to package a salary because of the benefits for employees. Consider this: a portion of the salary is sacrificed into superannuation. That allows employees to reduce their

assessable income for tax purposes, as a greater proportion of their salary is contributed into super before their income tax is calculated.Let us say, for example, the employee earned $100,000 (including the super guarantee) and made a $21,000 salary sacrifice. They would go from paying $9870 income tax on the sacrificed amount (at 47 per cent, ignoring the Medicare levy) to paying just $3150 including a 15 per cent super contribution tax, while ignoring the small surcharge. So they get $6720 for free, it would previously have gone to the taxman, although they cannot access it until they retire.Salary packages can also include cars; the most common method is through a novated lease agreement. Novated leases are essentially where the print business owner funds the vehicle payments and running costs from the employee’s pretax salary.Childcare is another good area for salary packaging. The need for childcare and the sheer cost has exploded, with so many single parents plus the rising cost of living forcing both parents to seek work. Parents would want a childcare centre near their place of work. That becomes crit ical when they think about accepting a position. So a salary package with child care will make it easier for them to come over to you.There is a fringe benefits tax exemption for child care facilities provided on an employer’s business premises for the benefit of employees.

In a tight recruitment market, where companies are struggling to find the talent, the salary package could be a handy tool for print business owners. It makes it easier to recruit and retain staff and ultimately cuts recruitment and training costs. n

Courtesy : www. proprint.com.au

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