Summer 2005                    return to newsletter contents page

FPPA Member News

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NEWS FROM BOBST GROUP USA, INC.

Bobst Group USA/Gerber Agreement

gBreak Separator

Bobst Group USA Inc. Enters Agreement with Gerber Innovations

Bobst Group USA Inc. announces it has recently entered into an agreement with Gerber Innovations (a division of Gerber Scientific) to distribute the Gerber Profile™ Die Tool Production System. The Profile is an extremely versatile and efficient flat bed routing system that allows users to take advantage of the productivity, convenience and profitability aspects of in-house tool generation. ‘Just-in-time’ and ‘on-demand’ tool generation allows users to create additional value for their customers through time, cost savings and scheduling flexibility that

allows converters to quickly react to customer demand.

“The Profile provides versatility and precision at a very economical price. That’s just one of the benefits,” says Alex Gigon, Director of Customer Service and Support Operations, Bobst Group USA Inc. “Its versatility makes it a perfect fit in so many operations. In addition to being a high precision router system for generating tooling, it has the capability to operate as a fully functional sample table, so a plant gets the benefits of dual capability while investing in only one foot print.”

A full shop in one machine, the Profile system gives the converter the capability to generate a complete die set with just one machine. Users can generate die boards, counter plates, creasing plates and male and female blanking and stripping tools and automatically chamfer both sides of the same board in perfect registration.

A complete tool can literally be cut, drilled, counter-bored and chamfered in one operation. The unique kerf design provides a far greater holding strength and extends the usable life of the board.

Speaking on the partnership Gigon says, “We are continually looking for superior products that will help our customers optimize their productivity and maximize their profitability. Therefore, we are very pleased to add the Profile system to our product offering. The addition not only broadens the general range of products

we offer our customers, but also allows us to offer a full system from tool making through production.”

 “The Bobst / Gerber partnership will be very beneficial for all parties involved,” states Mark Bibo, Global Sales Manager – Gerber Innovations. “The customers will have the convenience of being able to go to one source for a complete system and the latest technology. For Gerber, working closely with a market leader such as Bobst will provide greater visibility in the market. The opportunity to offer the Profile as part of a complete die-cutting solution will allow customers to better realize the benefits of having on-demand tooling as part of their operation.”

The patented process and tooling creates two mirror images which are then simply laminated together in perfect registration to form the cutting die. The patented conical shaped high-speed carbide tool forms a unique kerf with .090” parallel walls at the top and bottom of the slot. “This provides far greater holding strength than that offered by other current technologies and allows the die to be re-ruled numerous times, therefore extending the usable life of the board,” says Bibo.

Available in two models, the 408 (4’x 8’ table) and the 404 (4’x 4’ table), the Profile has the capacity to cut materials up to 4¼ inches thick and the capability to cut paper, wood, phenolic, plastic, aluminum and foam. The system comes complete with a CNC control system, a tool carousel with capacity for ten (10) tools, automatic tool changer and vacuum hold-down for maximizing efficiency.

For more information call John Dickison at 1-888-226-8800 ext. 5205.

BOBST gBreak – The Efficient Separator

Economical and reliable, the new gBreak separator is the ideal complementary piece of equipment for increasing production rates of SPO flat bed diecutters. The gBREAK supplements the BOBST range of modestly priced equipment for corrugated board conversion.

The gBreak can be used in conjunction with SPO 160-Vision, SPO 160-S and SPO 203-A matic diecutters from the current BOBST range as well as with classic models such as the SPO 1575, SPO 1600 and SPO 2000. This is achieved through hinged introduction, which allows access to the delivery of the SPO.

Its modular and compact design enables shops with minimal floor area to easily add the gBreak to their existing space. The gBreak offers a wide range of separation capabilities including: overlapping blanks, small blanks, and multi-up blanks. The gBreak efficiently increases production performance and assures consistent operation.

For further technical information, please contact Jose Oliveira: jose.oliveira@bobstgroup.com.  www.bobstgroup.com.

Clemson to Offer Flexographic Process Printing Symposium, Sept. 21-23, 2005

The Flexographic Process Printing symposium September 21-23, 2005 will be hosted by the Clemson University Department of Graphic Communications. The symposium is offered twice a year and provides a comprehensive overview of the requirements for implementing process color in a production environment. Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of press characterization, color measurement, and color reproduction. The discussions will be appropriate for all flexography market segments.

Clemson’s symposia bring together top industry practitioners and educators to provide a structured curriculum that has provided insight and training to hundreds of professionals in the industry. The symposium content is carefully balanced to provide a high level of technical information in a format that is accessible to beginners as well as people with years of experience. Production personnel, prepress, sales and customer service staff for printers and industry suppliers have all benefited from this training.

In addition to the scheduled presentations and breakouts, participants have many opportunities to speak one-on-one with the presenters at meals and social hours that extend into the evening about their color reproduction issues. There is ample opportunity for questions and answers from a variety of consultants and industry suppliers. Attendees are welcome to bring print samples and find solutions to their production issues.

For a full schedule of speakers and topics for the Flexographic Process Printing symposium, visit the CUGC website at http://graphics.clemson.edu or contact Liam O’Hara at lohara@clemson.edu, 864-656-6897.
 

Kodak Completes Acquisition of Creo Inc.; Creo business now part of Graphic Communications Group; Creo President Judi Hess, Chief Technology Officer Dan Gelbart join Kodak

Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) recently announced it has completed its acquisition of Creo Inc., a premier supplier of prepress and workflow systems used by commercial printers around the world. Creo's extensive solutions portfolio is now part of the Graphic Solutions & Services (GS&S) operating unit within Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG).

An important milestone in Kodak's digitally oriented growth strategy, the acquisition of Creo uniquely positions Kodak to be the preferred partner for its customers, helping them improve efficiency, expand their offerings and grow their businesses.

In a transaction valued at approximately US$988 million, Kodak paid US$16.50 per share for all the outstanding shares of Creo, or approximately US$954 million. The value of the transaction also includes Creo's payment of approximately US$34 million for the cancellation of options prior to the close. For 2005, the acquisition is expected to be modestly dilutive to operational earnings. Kodak expects the acquisition to add approximately $.05 per share to operational earnings in 2006 and to add approximately $700 million in revenue.

Kodak used its bank lines to initially fund the acquisition, with a portion of this debt to be refinanced in the capital markets at a future date.

"The inclusion of Creo -- its solutions and its people -- into Kodak marks another significant milestone in our journey to become the global leader in graphic communications," said James Langley, President, Graphic Communications Group, and Senior Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. "The addition of a complementary portfolio of leading computer-to-plate equipment, workflow software, prepress, proofing, digital plates, scanning and image capture solutions, in addition to the highly talented Creo team, will make Kodak a stronger partner for our customers."

Creo and GCG Integration

With the acquisition complete, Creo's operations will be included in the GS&S portfolio. Judi Hess, formerly President, Creo, has joined Kodak and will lead the Workflow & Prepress strategic product group as General Manager and Vice President. Hess will remain based in Vancouver, B.C., which will serve as GCG's center for prepress and workflow applications. She reports to Jeff Jacobson, Chief Operating Officer, Graphic Communications Group, and President, Graphic Solutions & Services.

• Several other senior Creo managers will join Kodak now that the acquisition is complete, including:

• Dan Gelbart is joining Kodak as a Senior Research Fellow and special advisor to Jim Langley.

• Israel Sandler is Managing Director, Europe, Africa and Middle East Region (EAMER).

• Garron Helman is Managing Director, Greater Asia Region (GAR).

"Since the completion of the acquisition of Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) in April, we have made tremendous progress on integration," said Jacobson. "We've put a new organizational structure in place, named a strong leadership team, and increased collaboration in sales and service. The completion of the Creo acquisition will only accelerate our integration activities, and allow us to achieve synergies and to offer our customers more and better solutions to help them grow their businesses."

OEC Graphics, Inc. Acquires Screen Printing Business TEC Graphics, Inc.

OEC Graphics, Inc., an established prepress and display graphics provider has recently announced their acquisition of Tec Graphics, Inc., a Neenah, WI-based screen printing business.  This acquisition adds a new dimension of printing capability to OEC and enhances current display graphic offerings.  Tec Graphics’ employees and equipment have moved into OEC’s headquarters and are in full operation as OEC’s Display Group Division.

John Sweeterman, a previous owner of Tec Graphics, will remain with OEC as Sales Manager of the Display Group.  Sweeterman is excited at the potential for the division under the OEC umbrella.  He explains, “The combination of Tec Graphics ‘ established client base and experience coupled with OEC’s digital equipment and knowledge will prove to be a successful collaberation.”  Jeff Schloesser, OEC’s Corporate VP of Operations agrees, “OEC Graphics will benefit from the screen printing expertise Tec Graphics brings to the table while strengthening our display graphics division.”

For more information, please contact Jeff Schloesser, OEC Graphics, Inc. At 920-235-7770 or jeff.schloesser@oecgraphics.com.

Thinking Out of the Box: A Fresh Approach to Harnessing Digital Technology for the POP Display Market

POP displays have become one of the most powerful tools available to advertising and marketing agencies for consumer goods. Since more than 70% of buying decisions are taken at the point of purchase, the rewards for successful POP displays are enormous. Remarkably, it’s not just low-priced goods that are sold using POP displays, which is why demand for them continues to grow at 25% per year, requiring breakthrough production technologies.

The Challenges of Effectively Producing POP Displays

With customers confronted with a barrage of signs, printed packaging, advertising, billboards and other exhortations to buy, what is it that makes POP displays so effective, and how can that knowledge be used to maintain the momentum?

Printing POP Displays should address the many obvious answers: size, shape, colour, orientation of the product displayed, and the simple fact that POP displays are often life-size and literally in your face. As such, compromising on text and image quality and vibrancy, as well as finishing is unacceptable.  Behind the obvious, there are, of course, many more subtle, and carefully controlled processes going on.

Part of the appeal of temporary POP displays is their novelty. Optimum size, shape, colour, content and distribution require careful planning to preserve this advantage. In order to have a POP display that addresses the product supplier’s need in the most efficient way, it should be focused, unique and tailored to the customer profile. As such, the most effective campaigns may comprise displays numbering from only a few dozen up to several thousand units.

Such POP displays are also timely. Part of their appeal is that they are ephemeral and designed for a relatively short life. Campaigns can then be short, sharp and focused for maximum impact. However, to achieve a cost-effective supply chain – especially when unit numbers are low – production and distribution have to be carefully coordinated.

The solution should be economical both to the advertiser and to the POP display producer. The number of POP displays needed to be calculated and costed to determine optimal distribution and pre-use storage costs. Media and ink must be suited to the intended purpose. Durability, strength, colour reproduction and matching, and price are all factors here. For indoor applications, corrugated board is often used, and for food environments, water-based pigmented inks will have an advantage. The size of the display can vary from a small dispenser to an over-sized cereal box, ten feet tall.

The name of the game is flexibility in being able to address the marketing managers’ message and the agencies’ concepts in a POP space.

Innovative technologies leveraging new business models

Just as the POP display has revolutionised promotional marketing, so digital technology has delivered the versatility and speed required to serve the new applications for corrugated and other POP Display printed materials.

The Scitex Vision CORjet Premium is a six colour press, being the only inkjet that provides high quality print using water-based pigmented inks, that have been certified for use on food packaging. The CORjet Premium incorporates a print controller and RIP, a fully automated loader, the press and drying unit, and automated un-loader. Capable of imaging as many as 29 160cm x 320cm (63” x 126”) sheets up to 10mm thick per hour at resolutions up to 600dpi, the CORjet Premium opens new market opportunities for corrugated production, including the POP display market. In addition to corrugated board, the CORjet Premium can also print on other substrates such as foam board, styrene or fluted polypropylene.

At the heart of the Scitex Vision CORjet Premium is the unique Aprion inkjet technology that uses specially designed heads, arranged in an array to ensure fast, even coverage on a wide variety of substrates. Using patented drop-on-demand piezo-electric technology, each head has 512 nozzles firing 30,000 perfectly formed drops per second.

POP and Packaging Production in Pennsylvania

VT Graphics, of Yeadon, Pennsylvania (just outside Philadelphia), exemplifies the new thinking that digital technology has brought to the sometimes staid world of corrugated converting.

Founded in 1966 as a plate making trade shop for corrugated converters, VT Graphics seized the digital opportunity in 2004 with the purchase of a Scitex Vision CORjet press, a Kongsberg DCM digital die-cutter and a 60” GBC laminator. The capabilities of this combination were recognized and led to the formation of Digital Impact, a new VT Graphics operation to produce POP displays for the promotional packaging market.

According to Bob Mormile, President of VT Graphics, the goal is to focus on production runs of 150 – 500 saleable units.

‘The new equipment makes high-quality, short-runs cost-effective,’ says Bob Mormile. ‘This is an area where there is a lot of interest and potential.

‘Longer runs are possible,’ he explains, but 1500 units is about as short a run that can be printed conventionally at acceptable costs.’

Digital Impact’s business by VT Graphics is focused on corrugated board, mostly D and E flute, though it will handle other substrates on request.

‘As a maker of flexographic plates, we were looking for ways to expand our business without getting into competition with our customers, the corrugated converters,’ Bob says. ‘The Scitex Vision CORjet has enabled us to do that. Short-run printing isn’t something that flexographic printers want to do, and sample-making and trial versions are traditionally time-consuming and very expensive.

‘Our strategy has been to provide a service to our existing customers that they can sell on to their customers,’ Bob says. ‘Samples and trial versions are cheaper when printed digitally, and once a design is agreed, we have a good shot at getting the plate making business for the long runs.’

The business is not just about samples and trials; it’s about developing that 500 – 1500 unit market and creating more opportunities for the end-user. Using the Scitex Vision CORjet’s variable data printing capability, POP displays can be tailored for specific retailers, stores and neighborhoods. Unique copies can be run seamlessly one after the other, or as part of longer run of identical units.

In addition to selling to packaging converters, Digital Impact is building its direct sales business, too.

‘It’s an exciting venture,’ comments Bob. ‘We have something new to sell, and so do our customers. Offering the fast-turnarounds that the Scitex Vision CORjet can deliver, combined with the digital die-cutting and laminating facilities, means that we’re a one-stop shop that customers can buy into direct, or through the converters.

‘We offer a full service,’ Bob Mormile states. ‘A customer can ask for 500 displays, packed 5 to a carton with tear-tapes, and shipped to 50 locations, and we can do it all.’

VT Graphics also offers the assurance of a company that’s been in business for fifty years, and has an experienced team that includes 14 artists who use their expertise in colour technology to ensure the best results, whether in digital or conventional production.

Companies around the world like VT Graphics and its Digital Impact operation are ‘thinking digitally’ and discovering the profitable possibilities of large format inkjet printing on rigid substrates. Whether opening new markets, or offering new services to old ones, corrugated printing and converting will never be the same.

For more information, please contact Carlyn Samuel at +44 1737 2152000 or visit the web site at www.scitexvision.com.

United Engravers Wins Safety Award, Unveils Digital Technology Path

United Engravers is proud to announce the successful installation and startup of their new Digital plate making system, the Cyrel Digital Imager.  The CDI and its corresponding software received its first test in the early spring – United Engravers was asked to manipulate high-quality carton artwork into 6-color modified process printing on high-holdout microflute board.  In the end, the customer was pleased with the accuracy and richness of color in the brand-sensitive logo, and United was pleased with the smooth transition of Digital technologies into their workflow against an aggressive lead time. United Engravers has translated this and other early accomplishments into their daily production for use in both high- and low-end applications.  United Engravers looks forward to continued advancements as Digital procedures become more prevalent in our industry.

Additionally, this spring United Engravers was honored to receive the Platinum Safety Award from their insurance provider, Ohio Casualty Group.  The award, issued February 7, 2005, congratulates United Engravers on a year-long outstanding safety record for Business Auto, Employee Benefits, Commercial Multi-Peril, Commercial Excess Liability, and Workers Compensation Claims.  United Engravers’ employees enjoyed a catered company luncheon on April 13, 2005 to celebrate.  During the ceremony the award was officially presented to Vice-President Peter C. Cappas by Jim Jones, the Safety Consultant for Ohio Casualty Group.   

For more information, please contact Jeanne N. Price, United Engravers Inc. at (847) 301-5238, or jnprice@unitedengravers.com.

DF Printing First in China to Adopt Chemistry-Free CtP. High-End Shop Says Quality and Trends Were Deciding Factors.

Agfa just announced that BDF Printing Company, located in Wenhou, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China, will be the first in the nation to adopt the :Azura chemistry-free system. The medium-sized, high-end printer chose chemistry-free CtP because of the inherent increase in quality derived from chemistry-free processing. And because Managing Director Mr. Sun Jian Shun believes chemistry-free is the obvious trend in technology.

For more information, please visit www.agfapress.com or please contact Jeff Lewis, Media Relations Manager for Graphic Systems, North America at 201-440-2500 x4192 or email jeff.lewis@agfa.com.