Durst (Brixen, Italy), a manufacturer of advanced digital printing and production technologies, has restructured its segment for industrial textile printing. The new Segment Manager Textile Printing, Dr. Stefan Kappaun, now has responsibilities for the OEM’s strategic direction in home textiles, clothing and accessories. Kappaun will also be the connecting link to Durst’s Large Format Segment, which takes over soft signage and fabrics in its evolving product portfolio. He succeeds Martin Winkler, who will take on the role of Global Sales Manager Textile Printing. The Textile Printing Team will also be supplemented by experienced service technician Martin Oberparleitner, who will be the new Junior Product Manager Textile Printing. New sales and service structures are also currently being implemented in Durst’s core markets.
Kappaun is a member of Durst Group’s Executive Team and heads the ink business for all segments as Executive Vice President of Inks & Fluids. A technical chemist with a focus on polymer science and a trained business economist, he’s an expert in materials science and the development and marketing of ink systems for digital inkjet printing. This expertise, said the company, is particularly important within industrial textile printing. This is because, in contrast to other industries, different materials, pre-treatments and post-treatments and large-scale process influences, represent a daily challenge in digital textile production. At the same time, digital textile printing is one of the largest growth markets for inkjet technologies. It’s also a sector being targeted by advertising media and large-format providers, in addition to traditional textile producers. All have different textile experiences, but are always looking for new applications and business opportunities, said the OEM.
With the Alpha Series, Durst offers industrial printing systems with water-based reactive, pigments and disperse inks, as well as with the pixel-to-output strategy end-to-end software solutions for efficient and cost-transparent digital textile printing. “The digital textile printing market is fragmented in itself, and we see different speeds and developments worldwide,” said Kappaun. “While new, non-industry service providers often already have digital know-how but less textile experience, the traditional manufacturers are masters of textile finishing, but not all analogue processing steps can be transferred directly to digital textile printing. Durst has a comprehensive ecosystem to serve the different requirements and to support customers in the digital transformation. Our printing systems are designed for industrial productivity, but also offer profitability from the very first metre. The prerequisite for this is mastery of the pre-treatment and post-treatment steps, as well as the digital workflow in which Durst focuses on the consulting and training services in its new Customer Experience Center at Durst headquarters in Brixen,” Kappaun added.
Durst restructures its textile printing segment and names Kappaun to lead it
