Digital Printing-Wide Format - Roll to Roll

Make sure your heaters are on only when you need them.

The University of Washington has not even started marketing its new HP Designjet Z6100 wide-format printer and already it’s grabbing the attention of customers. The 42˝ printer was placed in the copy center at the undergraduate library, where it is visible to passing students. “They go there for other things and they notice the posters,” says Patrick McNelly, operations manager. Students have been ordering a lot of posters for class projects and presentations, he says, with demand peaking around midterms and finals. “We’re now starting to see some repeat customers, and we’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on the quality,”

In-plants that offer wide-format printing have found it to be an excellent value-added service—and more than half of them now offer this service, according to our latest survey. Once customers get a taste, they keep coming back for more. Many in-plants add ink-jet printers for proofing, only to discover a pent-up demand for posters, banners and the like.

VALHALLA, NY—March 20, 2008—Fujifilm U.S.A., Inc. today announced that the Wide Format Ink-jet business unit of Fujifilm Hunt Chemicals U.S.A., Inc. will become part of Fujifilm U.S.A.’s Imaging Division as of April 1, 2008. Moving forward, retailers and professional labs will benefit from the convenience of a single point of order for all imaging hardware and supplies, including wide format ink-jet products. “Many of our customers are currently expanding their Frontier solutions to generate revenue from a wide range of products beyond traditional 4”x 6” prints,” said John Placko, senior product manager, Wide Format Inkjet Products, Imaging Division, Fujifilm U.S.A. “Today’s announcement

WIDE-FORMAT digital imaging is one of today’s hottest markets. If you’re sending business outside of your facility because you don’t have the capabilities to fulfill orders, you could be ready to add a wide-format device. Wide-format digital imaging is taking printers to a whole new level in their product offerings. The technology allows companies to print on more surfaces than ever before and provide greater customization options. “It’s rewriting what the printing industry can do in terms of full color and variable data,” says Michael Robertson, president and CEO of the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA). “Wide-format digital imaging has really shifted

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Dec. 10, 2007— HP today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NUR Macroprinters Ltd. (NURMF.PK), a manufacturer of industrial wide-format digital inkjet printers. Based in Lod, Israel, NUR is a leading supplier of UV-curable and solvent inkjet printers for display graphics, serving commercial printing companies, sign printers, screen printers, billboard and media companies, photo labs and digital print service providers. The acquisition expands HP’s Graphic Arts portfolio of digital presses and wide-format printers and furthers HP’s Print 2.0 strategy to digitize analog prints by extending the company’s overall digital content creation and publishing platform. With the acquisition, HP will

In early May, EMC Insurance Companies’ in-plant added a Canon iPF8000 with an Onyx RIP to its poster printing operation, making this the first wide-format printer utilized by the staff of nine. The company’s in-plant prints posters for several departments, including human resources, corporate communications, risk improvements and branch offices. “This was a huge step forward,” says Margaret Kling, graphic and production supervisor. “In the past, Graphic Services would design, print and piece together everyday-type posters. Top-of-the-line posters would be sent to an outside vendor by the requesting department.” But now, EMC’s in-plant is able to produce a variety of projects in-house with the iPF8000, including

GRAPH EXPO returned to Chicago last month, bringing printers together from all over the globe. Despite its earlier than usual start the weekend after Labor Day, the four-day graphic arts trade show packed a decent crowd. Granted, opening day attendance thinned noticeably around NFL kickoff time (it was the season opener, after all), but by day two McCormick Place was jammed solid. An impressive 640 exhibitors (including 120+ new ones) spread out across 460,984 net square feet of exhibit space. In-plants interested in wide-format printing or in mailing/fulfillment could go to special sections of the show floor where such equipment was clustered.

HP has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MacDermid ColorSpan Inc., a manufacturer of wide-format digital ink-jet printers. As a result, the company says it plans to provide lower-cost platforms and UV technologies to print service providers that are expanding into outdoor applications and more industrial workloads. Based in Minnetonka, Minn., MacDermid ColorSpan is a supplier of UV-curable ink-jet printers for display graphics. Its current president, Robert J. Wenzel, will lead the new product line at HP. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Upon completion of the acquisition, MacDermid ColorSpan will be integrated into the Imaging and Printing Group of HP. The deal also is

CHICAGO—More aggressive promotion to in-plants was part of the plan the sponsors of Graph Expo implemented to build traffic at the 2007 show. It’s still not known if that part of the effort paid off, but the Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC) is projecting that overall attendance was up. While cautioning that official attendance figures are still pending, GASC Vice President Chris Price believes attendance was up slightly over last year. In 2006, the show company switched to reporting verified attendees, rather than all registrations. An impressive 640 exhibitors, including 120+ new ones, filled the sold-out exhibit hall. Along with the offset and digital printing equipment