A snapshot of the Canadian graphics industry

2005 will go down as “the year of flat” in the printing world. Look at the interest in flatbed printers at Graphics Canada this year — and at the sheer number of such devices from a wide range of exhibitors.

Of course, flatbed wasn’t the only trend obvious to the observer. Wide-format printers and digital presses also drew a lot of attention. Printers and other professionals in the graphics business are looking at proofing, display making and variable printing like never before. By comparison, offset lithography has lost a lot of its former luster. Still, the “traditional” press manufacturers drew crowds to see how their latest offerings could make the graphics business more profitable.

Following is a not-comprehensive summary of some of the major trends evident at Graphics Canada 2005.

Year of flat

Winner of biggest and flattest machine on the show floor had to be Canada’s own GandInnovations, with their Jeti inkjet printers. Visitors crowded to see huge posters coming off their three- and five-metre-wide roll-fed printers and the new Jeti 3150 UV flatbed 6-colour printer.

ColorSpan flatbed printers were, it seems, everywhere at the show. The UVX prints on materials up to ½-inch thick, allowing printing directly onto the display material – no more need to mount or laminate paper onto foamcore or MDF. Unisource, MacDermid and several other booths had the relatively compact ColorSpan devices running.

Fujifilm Canada’s booth was dominated by large flatbed equipment from Inca: the Spyder 320, only the second to be seen in Canada (the first has been installed in Vancouver). This is a “mid-range” flatbed printer, available in four or six colours, with a maximum imaging area of more than 10 feet by 5 (according to the specs, 3.2 x 1.6 metres). “It’s ideal for screen printers who need to produce very short runs profitably,” say company representatives-priced at around $425,000 US, it’s easier to justify than many others. It also has a smaller “footprint” than, say, the Jeti, but be careful: the printing head extends beyond both sides of the printing bed, so it’s a bit of a hazard to bystanders as it moves back and forth.

Mike Borysenko, printing distributor from Toronto, injected a little reality into the discussion of wide-format printing. “It’s very interesting, but I don’t have enough room for a large-format flatbed printer.”

Partners Graphic Support was showing the Durst Rho 600, 80-inch (600 cm) wide printer in Hall 3. “There’s a lot of interest from screen printers because it allows them to print very short runs profitably,” said partner David Latham. “There’s also a lot of interest from lithographic printers who are looking at getting into a new market.”

Ernest Green & Son showed the Toucan printer from Mutoh, which can print onto material up to ½ inch thick, and can be roll-fed or sheetfed.

Flatbed cutters drew a lot of attention, too. An almost continuous throng surrounded ND Graphics’ booth in Hall 2 to watch Kongsberg’s Multi-Cut computerized die-cutter slice out logos of their favourite hockey teams and cartoon characters (SpongeBob was particularly popular) on almost any material up to 1 inch thick — aluminum, wood, MDF and more. An important profitability feature is a camera in the cutting head, which “sees” registration marks and automatically adjusts cutting position and direction for skew, stretch or other distortion. “It’s great for the sign maker with a flatbed printer who wants to print directly onto the substrate,” says Ted Nesbit, ND Graphics’ Training Manager, who was demonstrating the machine.

Visitors want wide

Wide-format printers were also popular. As stated, GandInnovation’s Jeti 5000 was the biggest on the floor, but Agfa’s Grand Sherpa Universal wowed attendees by producing a two-sided, four-colour, eight-up imposition proof in less than five minutes. The smaller Sherpa 24 “has gotten a lot of interest from flexographic printers,” said Joe Cotrone of Ernest Green & Son, which also showed the Agfa printers.

Hewlett-Packard had several wide-format printers. Some were aimed at the CAD market but the 4000 PS was shown for the graphics shop, as a proofer or short-run output system.

Epson and Canon also showed off their wide-format printers, among a broad array of products. Canon’s imageRUNNER Pro 125VP is a long, long unit with a lot of production features for the print shop.

Presses: concentrating on productivity

Rather than groundbreaking technological advances, press manufacturers and vendors this year are focusing their message on making their products more efficient and profitable with more automation, faster makereadies and better integration into complete “systems.”

Taking the prize for the most stylish press in the show was easily the Genius 52UV from KBA. This waterless, UV-drying offset packaging press doesn’t look like any other press on the market. KBA has dispensed with the inking-tower-per-colour approach, and instead arranged six inking stations in a radial fashion around a single impression cylinder. The manufacturer claims the press can be brought up to colour in as few as 10 sheets. Because there’s no water, there’s no need to worry about ink-water balance or even setting inking keys.

Changing plates or cleaning the press is a matter of sliding the side doors apart. KBA says plates can be changed in five minutes.

Heidelberg Canada had another Graphics Canada 05 first: the Canadian premiere of the Speedmaster XL 105 41-inch sheetfed press, shown in a 6-colour configuration, plus coater. Heidelberg also showed some smaller presses: A 5-colour, 12-inch Speedmaster SM 52, a 4-colour, 14-inch Printmaster PM 74, and two Printmaster QM 46s.

The size of their exhibit allowed Heidelberg the luxury of showing complete printing solutions, from prepress to finishing. The Prinect technology, which links prepress, image control, colour calibration, imposition (using SignaStation), platesetting and workflow control, drove print jobs. Crowds gathered to see the Prosetter 102, Quicksetter 300E and, for the Speedmaster XL press, the new Suprasetter s105 CTP platesetters.

In the postpress section, the new Pile Turner, which flips a pallet of printed paper, was an eye-catcher, but so was the complete Stitchmaster ST 350 stitching line that was running “live” through much of the show. Polar cutters, Stahl folders, Rima stackers and other paper-handling machines rounded out the exhibit.

For MAN Roland Canada, Graphics Canada 2005 was the first time they had a press running “live” in its booth, explained Canadian General Manager Paul Tasker. However, it wasn’t a MAN Roland press; instead, it was a four-colour Ryobi 520 with a coater. MAN Roland Canada has been distributing Ryobi printing equipment since the spring of 2005, and Tasker was very pleased with the reception both companies found at the show. Also on the booth were Moll finishing equipment and, to tie it all into a smooth workflow, the PECOM computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) system. “We have exceeded their expectations in terms of sales, especially with our success with the Moll folder/gluer.”

K-North, Canada’s Komori representative, was another exhibitor with a “first”: the first Spica 29P sheetfed press, shown in a 4-colour configuration with automated perfecting change-over, plate changers and data transfer.

Presstek, now owners of ABDick, had two main points to make at the show. First, of course, was their pioneering direct imaging computer-to-press systems, shown on Kodak and ABDick equipment; the other idea they stressed were the benefits of printing without hazardous chemistry, processing or water — no disposables, no harmful fumes, and higher profits.

Digital presses

Digital presses are taking a larger slice of the printing pie, and they drew consistent interest throughout the show. Xerox showed its iGen3 with roll feeding and inline coater and finishing equipment — including a booklet maker.

Xerox also has a number of “partnerships” with companies that develop variable printing and workflow management software, such as ExStream, Creo Darwin, XMPie and Elixir. These are essential elements in the growth of technologies like the iGen, Hewlett-Packard’s Indigo and Xeikon in producing four-colour, personalized direct mail and financial statements and bills, too.

Speaking of HP’s Indigo, the new Indigo 500 shown at Graphics Canada was the first model completely built under the HP brand. Costing around $400,000 US, it has found a niche in the Canadian market with about eight installations recently.

Punch Graphix showed the Xeikon digital press along with basysPrint computer-to-platesetters in an impressive-looking booth.

Kodak’s NexPress 2100 variable imaging electronic press also had a strong presence, holding down a sizable chunk of Kodak’s booth. Afga’s Dotrix high-speed, four-colour printing system is another example, which could have used greater prominence among Agfa’s many products.

But full-colour variable imaging presses weren’t the only type at Graphics Canada. The new Nipson VaryPress 200 was another Graphics Canada 05 debut, showing at Ernest Green & Son’s booth. This is a single-colour variable printing systems for addressing, labeling, direct mail and financial printing applications. It can take roll-fed paper, and can tie into press and roll-fed finishing, folding, perforating, cutting workflows. Kodak’s Versamark inkjet printer reportedly got a lot of interest from computer service bureaus, but also seemed a little lost in Kodak’s booth.

Prepress: “productivity” is the word

There are fewer companies who are strictly prepress anymore, and at Graphics Canada, they also focused on improving the printer’s profitability.

Quark showed the latest version of XPress 7. While it adds some ease-of-use features, the demonstrations stressed workflow automation.

Agfa has a number of workflow tools. Most notable are ApogeeX, for single workstations and users, and Delano for printers and agencies. They also showed their new Arcadia Web portal that helps clients to manage digital assets, simplifies collaboration and tracks progress off jobs through a Web browser.

Adobe drew crowds to seminars on managing production with its workflow tools and on using its CreativeSuite, which includes InDesign document layout, Photoshop, Illustrator, and other tools. Again, its focus was efficient production of printed and electronic documents.

And don’t overlook the smaller companies who also offer workflow tools: MetaCommunications’ VirtualTicket; Onyx Graphics Workflow and RIP; Speedflow by OneVision; Nexus from Artwork Systems; and the big systems — PECOM from MAN Roland, Prinect from Heidelberg, and Prinergy from Kodak.

Management tools

A number of smaller booths proved that computerized management of the printing room is not just for the big guys anymore.

Print-Quotes is an estimating program that runs inside a Web browser—so you can estimate printing from anywhere with an Internet connection. It includes price lists, prepress, finishing, dockets, file uploads and on-line proofing, inventory control and time tracking — but, sadly, isn’t yet JDF compliant. Still, for the smaller print shop, it’s probably worth consideration.

Instaprint from Airesys is a full management information system (MIS) for printers that includes order processing, purchasing management, staff management, financial planning and a full accounting system, all integrated into an “enterprise management” system.

And Avanti, long a fixture at Graphics Canada, had a constant crowd at their booth. “Printers are worried about the very thing we’re talking about: how to connect the ‘islands of automation,’” said Stephen McWilliam, Executive Vice-President. Avanti’s system not only collects production data from all the machines on the shop floor, the software also analyses it and gives managers comprehensive reports on what’s making money for them. And, it’s JDF-compliant. “JDF is now delivering on its promised productivity gain,” said McWilliams.

The show in Canada

Even a casual stroll around Graphics Canada makes it obvious that this is the most important trade show in the Canadian graphic arts industry—and the attendees will tell you, too.

“It’s been a good show,” said Steve Foley of Metroland Printing. He and others from his company came to look at punches, plate benders and a computer-to-plate system to expand their CTP capabilities in all their plants.

“It’s absolutely an important show,” said Ian Young of Radiant Laser Cut, a die-cutting firm in Markham, ON. “All my customers are here.” Young came for the “Great Debates: the power of new-age presses,” hosted by the Canadian Paperboard Packaging Association. “And I saw a lot more die-cutting suppliers that I didn’t expect to see here. I was struck by the amount of new technology on the market — a lot of suppliers are crossing into new areas.”

A significant show, Canada’s most important graphic arts trade show, and a successful show for exhibitors, management and—most important—the visitors. It didn’t feature the earth-shattering new announcements of some past trade shows, but it was the most important gathering of the Canadian industry in two years.

And that’s the point.