Category: News

The smart visual solutions company – Dublin-based IQ Group recently added a Mimaki JV300-160 and CG-160FXII to its portfolio of printing hardware through authorised Mimaki reseller, Reprocentre, and the company is delighted with the investment.
The IQ Group is a vibrant company in every sense of the word. From the vivid and high quality print it produces, the positive energy and growth it’s experienced since it formed 5 years ago, and even through to the dynamic team and bright and quirky premises; it’s a colourful company. So it’s not surprising that, when they decided to expand their hardware portfolio, the Mimaki JV300-160 solvent printer was befitting of a place in the company’s print room.
“Quality is key to IQ,” explains one of the company’s Directors, Gary Upton. “The Mimaki JV300 provides great print quality and continuity of colour every time, regardless of changes in temperature, giving us the ability to colour match perfectly. We’re a reactive company; we offer a fast turnaround for our customers and the JV300 fits right in here giving us speed and flexibility. We’ve been really impressed.”
IQ, or Image Quest as it’s formally known, originally started out as a print management service and signage company, but quickly evolved to incorporate in-house print production to make them more cost effective, offer faster turnaround times and give their customers more security and confidentiality. “We offer the complete workflow in-house,” continues Upton. “We have a creative design studio, a highly-productive print department and a team of installation experts, so we can guarantee a premium service and products every time. We do a vast amount of contract work and we need to be consistent on every level, including superior print output, which is exactly what we get with the JV300.”
IQ made the investment in the Mimaki JV300 through authorised Mimaki reseller; Reprocentre as its Sales Director, Eoin Honan describes. “We’ve provided a variety of hardware and materials for IQ over the last few years, but when they came to us looking for something to increase their productivity without compromising on quality or colour gamut we recommended the Mimaki JV300 solvent printer. It is super-fast and the SS21 solvent inks mean beautiful bright blocks of colour aren’t an issue. We also supplied a Mimaki bulk-ink system (MBIS) with the JV300 which gives IQ higher production levels by running the printer overnight and unattended on long runs.”
Further information about IQ Group is available via its website www.iqgroup.ie. Further information about Reprocentre and its products and services can be found at  www.gpmi.ie. Full details of Mimaki’s product portfolio is available via its Irish and UK distributor, Hybrid Services Ltd at www.hybridservices.co.uk.

Flatbed and hybrid UV inkjet systems recognized for innovative technology

Agfa Graphics is bringing home the “Triple Crown” of Specialty Graphics by winning a total of three Product of the Year awards at SGIA Expo. The brand new Anapurna M2540i won in the UV Flatbed ($100-200k) category, the Jeti Mira took home the UV Flatbed ($200-500k) title and the Jeti Tauro won top honors in the UV Hybrid/Flatbed High Volume Production Class category.  The competition recognized the latest equipment and supplies currently on the market that are advancing the specialty imaging industry.

Deborah Hutcheson, Director of Marketing and Larry D’Amico, Vice-President Digital Imaging

“This recognition means a great deal to the entire global Agfa Graphics team,” said Deborah Hutcheson, Director of Marketing, Agfa Graphics, North America. “The competition validates the hard work and precision behind these inkjet systems. We strive to provide our customers with winning solutions that benefit their business.”

Built to produce extremely vivid printing, the Jeti Tauro, Jeti Mira and Anapurna M2540i offer high quality, high speed output.

• The Jeti Tauro is a UV hybrid system positioned for the higher end of the sign and display market with print speeds up to 2960 ft²/hour. This state-of-the-art system withstands extreme work loads (24/7 – multiple shifts) and  prints up to 2.5 meter-wide on rigid or roll media with six color plus white or primer options.
• The Jeti Mira is built for heavy industrial workloads. The “print and prepare” mode on the double bed model allows non-stop printing so PSPs can load the front while the back is printing for added productivity. The Mira has six color plus white with optional varnish and primer and is available in two bed sizes (8.8’ x 5.24’ or 8.8’ x 10.5’).

• The Anapurna M2540i is a six-color plus white, 100-inch UV-curable flatbed inkjet printer which prints at speeds up to 1000 ft² per hour. It is ideal for step-and-repeat work and for printing multiple jobs on different sized media.

A total of 141 entries in 38 product categories were submitted for this exclusive competition. Prints were judged on overall color appeal, tonality, image detail, objective color matching and grayscale color cast. Conducted during the 2015 SGIA Expo (Atlanta; November 4-6, 2015) this year’s event was one of the most challenging in recent history.

The MTEX Blue with disperse inks for dye-sublimation was launched earlier this year and, like all MTEX digital textile printers, has heat fixation in-built, so print and heat fixing (sublimation) is completed in one smooth process, eliminating the need for a separate calendar. As an all-in-one solution, the MTEX Blue with disperse inks and in-line fixation will print and finish at a speed of 55sqm/hour and will retail in the Ireland at €62,000 plus VAT.

With the growing demand in the market for digital textile printing, the MTEX Blue offers superb quality at great speeds with punchy, vibrant colours and in-line fixation.

The MTEX Blue is a direct-to-textile polyester fabric printer with four CMYK heads with variable drop and adjustable head height to accommodate different thicknesses and types of fabrics and prints up to 1080dpi. The machine is perfect for printing applications for flag, front-lit and back-lit display, events and exhibitions and all soft signage applications as well as materials for interior soft furnishings and fire-retardant polyester fabrics.

The Blue offers a true fabric printing solution with no compromise to the integrity of the material after continuous use. With disperse dyes the inks are essentially ‘bonded’ into the fibres through the heat fixation (sublimation) process and so you can wash the fabrics, fold, handle and re-wash if needed, with absolutely no degradation of the image.

Bruising, marking, creasing and cracking are eliminated completely due to the image becoming part of the fabric compared to sitting on top of it, as with most other sign and display printers.

Stewart Bell, MD of MTEX Technologies UK says, “We’re very happy that the Mimaki reseller channel are now able to offer the MTEX Blue to their customers via Hybrid, this can only mean that printers have better and more flexible solutions to offer their target markets, than ever before.”

New from Mimaki is the UJF-7151plus flatbed inkjet printer with a maximum printable area of 710 x 510mm. Being marketed as an industrial, small-format printing solution for the screen printing industry, this “direct-to-object” LED UV printer is said to deliver fine lines, edges and small text and enable double-layer printing and colour printing on a white base layer.

MFD1 dithering technology, which processes image data along with retaining original image quality, and improved quality control MAPS4 is said to reduce banding and uneven colour printing.

The unit’s printheads incorporate a continuous ink circulation system and a nozzle check unit automatically detects and cleans any clogged nozzles.

Mike Horsten, general manager marketing EMEA at Mimaki Europe, said: “There has been growing demand for digital, on-demand, and plateless inkjet printing because of its ability to quickly provide high-mix and low-volume printing. The UJF-7151plus enables high-precision ink dot placement and beautiful printing through Mimaki’s proprietary technology and at top-level productivity. The market is growing – we’re keeping our finger on the pulse to deliver the solutions it needs.”

Available from November

By skilfully blending traditional craft techniques with state-of-the-art technology, Digi-Foil has developed the perfect way of enhancing the productivity and profitability of your Mimaki UJF-3042HG or UJF-6042 Series UV printer.

Available exclusively from Reprocentre in Ireland, Digi-Foil delivers an exciting and vibrant range of new Digital Foils that produce stunning quality finishes onto virtually any substrate. Our innovative Digi-Foil system offers amazing foil effects that are identical to traditional foiling, without the often excessive costs and time constraints associated with more traditional methods.

Our new Digital Foil can be used to produce stunning results on an incredible variety of products including:-

• Presentation boxes
• Packaging (short run and proofing/mockups)
• Promotional items
• Gifts
• Trophies
• Leather Goods
• Folders
• Control Panels
• Phone Cases
• Tablet PC’s
• Labels/badges
• Greeting cards
• Awards
• Automotive products
• Security products (ID cards etc)

Our extensive range of Digi-Foils include the following effects and finishes:-

• Silver
• Gold
• Coloured metallics
• Woodgrains
• Holographic
• Watermarks
• Security marking
• Opaque
• Patterned and many, many more

With the ability to produce various finishes such as stippled, gloss or matt and the option to over varnish on the Digi-Foil areas or the whole printed area, the potential applications are endless.

Digi-Foil opens up a whole new range of profitable and productive business opportunities for you and your customers.

Esko will demonstrate its i-cut Production Console for the first time in Europe at Fespa

The i-Cut Production Console, which drives all functionality on Esko Kongsberg tables, will be on display alongside the firm’s i-Cut Suite, a collection of pre-press and pre-production software designed to eliminate errors, save time and reduce waste.

ArtiosCAD and Studio, Esko’s structural design software for 3D design of displays and other structures, will also be on show at Fespa along with the company’s Automation Engine, which manages pre-press workflow automation.

A range of the manufacturer’s smallest and largest Kongsberg tables, including the Kongsberg C and Kongsberg V, will also be demonstrated on the firm’s stand.

The Kongsberg C is a super-wide digital finisher, which incorporates the carbon-compositie traverse beam, which is unique to Esko, to guarantee the highest quality, precision and productivity, according to the company.

The Kongsberg V is suitable for sign and display users looking for accurate and high-quality cutting.

“It goes without saying that the Kongsberg tables are taking the centre stage on Esko’s Fespa stand. In addition to the tables, we will be showing powerful yet flexible software solutions that support all aspects of sign, display and wide-format production,” said Esko vice-president EMEA Armand Gougay.

“At Fespa 2015, we will enlighten visitors about the importance of end-to-end production, since even the most subtle workflow change can have a significant impact on the entire operation.

“We not only address current market requirements but we also deliver solutions that will be a valuable asset for years to come.

“We focus on developing solutions that minimise the need for customers to invest in different digital finishing devices for different applications, making their investments easier to justify and positioning them to enter new markets as opportunities present themselves.”

Esko will be located on stand R50 in Hall 6 at Fespa 2015, which will take place from 18-22 May in Cologne, Germany.

During a press conference at the International Sign Association’s (ISA) Sign Expo in Las Vegas, Agfa Graphics announced the world premiere of new inkjet systems, workflow and inks. The new products announced included:

The impressive 2.5 m (98 inch) Jeti Tauro: a high-end hybrid UV inkjet press with 32 heads for 6 colors, and optional white or primer, designed for high productivity printing on both rigid and flexible material
Jeti Mira: a most versatile 6 color and white UV inkjet flatbed printer with optional varnish or primer. The Jeti Mira system features a moving-gantry architecture with split-vacuum table for productivity, impressive colors, and print quality
New automation and more feature integration in the wide- format workflow Asanti 2.0
New UV inks designed for specific inkjet print applications requiring flexibiltiy (RTR) or the most challenging of outdoor conditions
Agfa Graphics leveraged the International Sign Expo trade show (Las Vegas, USA, April 9-11) to introduce its new assortment of UV inkjet solutions for the high-end wide-format printing market. The new Jeti Tauro and Jeti Mira took center stage. Both printers for the higher-end segment of the sign & display market are geared to high-productivity and high-quality output. The hybrid Jeti Tauro system offers optional semi or full media load / unload automation. Jeti Tauro prints up to 2,5 meter-wide rolls or rigid material completely operated from the Asanti workflow software.

The Jeti Mira is a true flatbed printer, ruggedly built and available in two table versions: 2.7m x 1.6m and 2.7m x 3.2m sizes (8′ 9″ x 5’2″/10’5″. The moving-gantry architecture is specifically designed to offer optimal flexibility and high-quality output on a variety of different media. To reduce vacuum masking, the split vacuum table features six vacuum zones with automatic and independent control of the front and back zones. The ‘Print and Prepare’ mode, allows non-stop printing so printers can load one side of the table while the other is printing.

Jeti Tauro: a high-end hybrid UV inkjet press with 32 heads for 6 colors, designed for high productivity printing on both rigid and flexible material

“We promised a series of new state-of-the-art products in the course of 2015 and we are happy to deliver,” said Dominiek Arnout, Vice President Inkjet, Agfa Graphics. “We truly believe the market will embrace these two new systems that make ultimate use of our dedicated ink technology and our tailored sign & display workflow. Our Matched Component Approach guarantees that every component yields the best possible result.”

Today, Agfa Graphics’ UV-curable inks deliver large-gamut high-quality prints with the lowest ink consumption per square meter in the industry, thanks to the ‘thin ink layer technology’ in both the Jeti Tauro and the Jeti Mira. The new inks for Jeti and Anapurna systems target flexible applications, special substrates and outdoor signage printed on polypropylene or styrene based media types and provide image longevity.

The new Asanti 2.0 wide format workflow software controls the entire process from prepress to production to finishing. Along the way, it simplifies, optimizes and automates. As a true production hub, the unique bi-directional communication with the new Jeti Tauro and connection towards Acorta streamlines production even further. Asanti v2.0 also features new options for printing white on transparent substrates. Asanti’s comprehensive integration of file handling, color management and preflighting also reduce the risk of mistakes and make the complete system more productive. Asanti is complemented by Asanti StoreFront, Agfa Graphics’ web-to-print solution that manages online stores and processes print orders automatically.

An unprecedented three year warranty is currently available for a limited time on Mimaki’s JFX200 and JFX500 grand format flatbed and UJV500 roll-to-roll LED UV printers.

Already shipping as standard with a comprehensive industry-leading warranty, the 2.1m x 3.1m Mimaki JFX500-2131 and hugely popular 8′ x 4′ JFX200-2513 along with the volume production UJV500-160 roll-to-roll printers are now offered with a 3 year warranty when purchased before the end of May 2015.

Stuart Cole – national sales manager, industrial products for Mimaki’s exclusive UK and Irish distributor, Hybrid Services, outlines the offer. “Providing a three year warranty emphasises the huge levels of confidence we have in these three extraordinary printers and we’d like to see companies who purchase before the end of May benefit during the peak investment time of the year.”

With market leading, cold cure LED UV print technology, ultra-low running costs and exceptional print quality, the JFX range offers a pair of cutting edge flatbed solutions for print companies looking at breaking into, or upgrading their rigid substrate print capabilities.

“The success of the JFX200 has been incredible,” confirms Cole. “We’ve had unprecedented uptake since its launch in 2014 and are really keen to ensure that as many print businesses as possible are able to benefit from its impressive capabilities.”

The range topping JFX500 has also seen a strong level of installs with its speed and high quality being prime factors in its success and the UJV500 offers a unique combination of high production speed and dedicated roll fed delivery. “Between the three machines, we’re able to answer almost any requirement from the graphics market,” says Cole. “Add in our unique roll-feed package offer that we feature with the two flatbeds and we’ve got a solution that’s extremely compelling.”

Hybrid is to show models from its JFX range at Sign & Digital UK along with the multi-award winning small format range of UJF desktop flatbed LED UV machines and a number of new sign and graphics product launches. Further information on the three year warranty offer can be found at www.hybridservices.co.uk

Mimaki has announced the launch of the CFL-605RT Compact Flatbed Cutting Plotter which offers both creasing and cutting capabilities and enables the creation and delivery of high quality, cost-effective output. The new CFL-605RT is designed with Mimaki’s well-established technology to support immediate finishing of packaging and prototypes with multiple functions.

“There is growing demand for on-demand production of prototypes and small lots, both for products and their packaging,” explains Mike Horsten, General Manager Marketing EMEA at Mimaki Europe. “This includes fast, efficient prototyping and production of samples as well as small lots of products and packaging that may be modified to reflect different seasonal and regional requirements. There are promotional and special event opportunities, too. In particular, we believe markets such as cosmetics and luxury items will benefit from the ability to produce highly responsive eye-catching packaging with short lead times. Our solutions are specifically designed to meet that need, and we are excited to witness the impact we believe they will have on the market as brand owners and converters alike learn about their many benefits.”

New to the Market
The newest addition to Mimaki’s family of cutting plotters, the CFL-605RT is a multifunction flatbed cutter that accommodates material sizes up to oversized A2 and features a variety of functions including creasing and eccentric, tangential and reciprocating cutting. Used in combination with the UJF-6042, the new compact flatbed cutting plotter can achieve on-demand production of the original goods by providing the whole production process, including printing onto goods and packages, and cutting of cushioning materials.

• The eccentric cutter has a maximum cutting thickness of 1mm with an optimal downforce setting between 30 and 1,000g.
• The tangential cutter features a maximum cutting thickness of 2mm with high downforce pressure, including materials such as reflective vinyl and rubber sheets.
• The reciprocating cutter has a maximum 10mm cutting thickness for materials such as foam or cardboard and uses a vertical reciprocating motion.
• The creasing roller creases materials for a perfect package. Downforce pressures are adjustable from 500 to 1,000g.

Horsten adds, “We are also developing a complete end-to-end solution that will not only reduce the time required for prototyping and small lot production, but will also significantly reduce costs and enable a faster time to market. In many cases, these functions can be performed in-house, eliminating outsourcing and further reducing cycle time. These latest portfolio additions are an outstanding example of our mantra of ‘Let’s Create… Together!’ coming to life.”