JUNE 06

Adobe debuts Acrobat 9

US software development firm Adobe Systems has introduced version 9 of its leading Acrobat product series. ??The new edition will ship in July. Acrobat version 9 natively understands Flash technology as well as a breadth of other media formats that it collects in the PDF portfolio. ??In other developments, Adobe is starting web service Acrobat.com today. The innovations in the control and modification of PDF documents should interest print media firms. There is an overprint preview, a conversion engine to change colour spaces, along with colour mapping in Pantone colours with the help of the in-built Pantone library. ??

Read more about Acrobat 9 in the next issue of the drupa report daily.

JUNE 03

Asian boom will shake US print dominance (Drupa daily report)

The US print market will retain a large slice of the global print market over the next three years but will continue to lose share to Asia, it was revealed at drupa. According to a report from US equipment trade organisation NPES, in association with Pira, the overall global printing market is likely to grow from $610bn this year to $721bn by 2011. The US currently has a 32.5 per cent share, followed by western Europe with 30.1 per cent and Asia on 27.6 per cent. However, Asia is predicted to take a 30 per cent share by 2011, with the US coming a close second with 29 per cent. On a country-by-country basis, though, the US will retain the number one spot, followed by Japan, China, Germany and the UK. "US growth in that period is at 8.3 per cent, which is still a healthy amount," said Ralph Nappi, president of NPES. "But at present, margins are so thin that printers have to go out and find other ways of making money." He added that US print firms will expand further into value added areas such as database management alongside further investments in digital equipment. By 2020, database management services from printers are expected to rise by 20 per cent. "The margin that printers will realise because of this will be very good," added Nappi. Meanwhile, Bob Tapella, chief executive of the US Government Printing Office (GPO), said the biggest printer and print buyer in the country is investing more in sustainable printing. "It is good business," he said. "It also means confronting a great deal of issues that have been ignored in the past. I have appointed an exectutive whose sole job is to look afer sustainable environmental stewardship."

For more information and other related topics, please visit Drupa’s Official Website

New York – The International Furnishings and Design Association New York Chapter will host a Rugs and Flooring Trend Report looking at the design and market forecast for 2009 and 2010. Two panelists will present at the session, which will examine area rugs, carpeting, wood, tile, luxury vinyl and other floor treatments. Lissa Wyman, editor-in-chief of rugnews.com will explore current fashion trends and project styles and colors for the future. Joe Amato, vp of residential styling at Mannington Mills, will discuss how color and design are being applied to hard flooring. The session will be held Wednesday, June 18 at the Odegard showroom, 12th floor in the New York Design Center, 200 Lexington Ave. The one-hour program will start at 6:45 p.m.; cocktails and networking begin at 6 p.m. Fees are $30 for members; $45 for guests; $15 for student members, and $25 for students. From each ticket, $5 will go to Rugmark Foundation, a global nonprofit organization working to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in Nepal, India and Pakistan.

It is what makes the printing process colourful, and now it can also be ink’s responsibility to make printing a lot greener. Siegwerk chief executive Herbert Forker said what so many have been saying: “Sustainability will become more and more important for us all in the future.” Forker explained Siegwerk’s definition of sustainable productiton of printing ink: “It is an integral part of any printed product. There is a careful selection of raw materials used in the formulation of inks. We maximise the use of renewable and recycled source materials wherever possible.” Rudi Lenz, president and chief executive of Sun Chemical, explained Sun’s strategy: “We have adopted the use of materials based on renewable resources, such as soy oil for news ink. We are increasing our use of renewable resource materials through our pioneering vegetable oil-based sheetfed inks. Some of our packaging inks for corrugated are made with natural starch. We are help-ing our customers to conserve energy with heat set inks.” To reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), we have pioneered the development of water-based flexo inks.”

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In time for the first day of drupa MAN Roland has been renamed and changed its brand identity. In the future, the company will be known as ‘manroland ’. The name change was necessary due to the sale of the business around two years ago. Back then the MAN CEO, Håkan Samuelsson, who had only founded MAN Roland in 1979, separated it from the parent concern and sold a majority stake to Allianz subsidiary ACP (Allianz Capital Partners). A change of name planned for soon afterwards was agreed upon as part of the sale. Chairman Gerd Finkbeiner said: “As the world’s number one in web offset and number two in sheetfed, manroland is a driving force in the print industry. This strength is reflected in our new corporate appearance which signifies our separation from the MAN Group and shows we are an independent company with a high level of competence in providing systems and services.”

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Ocean Optics is bringing a new family of highly sensitive back-thinned 2D FFT-CCD spectrometers onto the market under the name of Maya 2000. Thanks to a quantum yield of more than 90Prozent, the two models Maya 2000 und Maya 2000-Pro are designed especially for UV-sensitive applications with weak light signals. The performance of the two devices is similar for most parameters. However, the manufacturer has stated that that the Maya 2000 has a somewhat faster reading time, while the Maya 2000-Pro possesses a better dynamic range and signal-noise ratio.

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As well as camera-based quality control systems for sheetfed print, Switzerland-based FAG Graphic Systems is now also offering densitometric inline colour measurement. The new FAG Spectra Scan is based on the measuring technology of the usual handheld densitometer available. The light source, colour and pol-filter as well as the sensor are all integrated into the compact measuring head. The device is mounted on a traverse over the sheet conveyor and is said to be easy to position. As required, several measuring heads can be used. FAG, which says it is "almost synonymous with ?proofing", also has products for ink fount control and blanket washing, as well as software lines.

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While the big draw at Heidelberg's drupa stand is its mammoth XL range, the company has been busy working on a new market in inkjet overprint for packaging. Karl-Heinz Walthern heads up Heidelberg's special applications division and is responsible for finding a place in packaging for the company's Linoprint product – one of the few presses not on show at the stand. "Eight years ago at drupa 2000, we had an application in inkjet for the sheetfed market," he said, "but the printhead technology was not available in commercial volume. "Around two years ago, we decided to centre all the different inkjet expertise around the company at our Keele plant. We looked at sheetfed but decided it was too fast, so focused on packaging, where the demand for high quality is increasing." The Linoprint runs at one metre per second with resolutions up to 720dpi. It can be configured for either inline overprint or as a separate system with a feeder device, the print unit and a camera for quality control. Users can have the Linoprint configured with a number of commercially available printheads, but the rest of the system has been developed entirely at Heidelberg. Walthern said the high resolu-tion was necessary for applications such as 2D barcodes on pharmaceutical products and personalisation, with a view to expanding into cards and CDs. "These kinds of products are asking for digital printing," he said. "But we want to print overprint. We're not interested in marking or coating." Walthern said the initial markets Heidelberg is looking at are grow-ing rapidly. (Matt Whipp)

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Xerox, along with Stora Enso, one of the world's leading producers of packaging boards and papers, has created the industry's first integrated, inline cut-sheet digital packaging solution. For example, the solution can print a box with variable security codes or with personalized instructions based on a patient's medical needs. This type of digital packaging solution is ideal for the pharmaceutical market. On demand, personalized printing can produce small batches of products with specialized, relevant consumer information for clinical trials, professional samples and other items. The solution enables printing in multiple languages and quickly switches from one job to the next, providing the flexibility needed in today's rapidly changing marketplace.

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