The recent Inkjet Summit drew dozens of printers to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to discuss how to make inkjet technology work for them. In a new video, three in-plant managers who were there, talk about what they learned during the groundbreaking event.
Muller Martini’s innovations in machine scalability and workflow adaptability resonated with participants at the first-ever Inkjet Summit held last month at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. “Best Sponsor Presentation” went to Andy Fetherman, director of digital solutions at Muller Martini.
The potential for digital packaging is great, and while there are many obstacles, these can all be overcome. Commercial printers would also like to get into packaging, but commercial shops have some additional challenges. Commercial printers generally do not have the finishing equipment: folding, scoring, diecutting. Perhaps more significant, brand owners generally look to box makers for boxes, not commercial printers.
At the inaugural Inkjet Summit in April, Charlie Pesko, founder of InfoTrends, stressed that production inkjet technology was poised to transfigure the printing business. "I sincerely believe that inkjet is the next big game changer in the printing industry," he said.
Anderson/LA, a Consolidated Graphics company based in Los Angeles, which provides leading national restaurants, retailers and Hollywood movie studios with offset print, digital print and fulfillment services, is one of the first companies in North America to operate three VUTEk GS5000r printers. The announcement was made at emerge 2013, Consolidated Graphics' annual customer solutions conference taking place April 30 through May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
For the fifth consecutive year, Ricoh’s InfoPrint 5000 production print platform has been named the high-speed inkjet market share leader in the United States, according to IDC’s "U.S. Production Printer and MFP 2012 Vendor Shares." Within the "IDC MarketScape: Worldwide High-Speed Inkjet Web Press 2013 Vendor Analysis," Ricoh was also named a worldwide Leader.
The Inkjet Summit, held April 9-11, 2013, at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, was a major success for both sponsors and attendees. The Inkjet Summit covered three major segments (Book Printing, Direct Mail/Marketing and Transaction/Transpromotional Print) and will expand in 2014.
The key message at the recent Inkjet Summit, seemed to be that inkjet technology is fully developed and ready to use, so start planning for it. "This market's moving faster than even I anticipated it would," remarked conference chair Charlie Corr, during the landmark event's wrap-up session.
A large demand for superwide printing led AMP Printing in Dublin, CA, to purchase a new EFI VUTEk HS100 Pro UV inkjet press at the ISA International Sign Expo in Las Vegas. The HS100 printer’s speed will be especially beneficial on some of the work AMP produces for national retailers—targeted signage requiring quick and accurate output.
The World Bank’s Printing & Multimedia Services operation has become one of the first in-plants to install a production inkjet press. Last month, the 42-employee in-plant fired up an HP T230 Color Inkjet Web Press in its Landover, Md., facility, 11 miles away from downtown Washington, D.C. With duplex printing speeds of 400 feet per minute, the inkjet press is a quantum leap over the speeds of the in-plant’s two Kodak NexPress 3000s and Océ ColorStream 10000. In fact, the first job run on the T230—800 copies of a 92-page book—would normally have taken up to eight hours to print.
