For the first time Northprint will highlight the potential of wide-format digital print via a special applications showcase. Here’s what to expect.
As wide-format expands its remit its attraction to would-be players is becoming more obvious, and with so many niche products and sectors that should not so much create a problem for those already involved in the market as serve to help educate a wider audience about the potential. To this end, Image Reports is working with Northprint to deliver a Wide-Format Applications Showcase this May.
Trevor Crawford, director of the IIR Print Group which runs Northprint, says: “The current climate is providing a massive opportunity for printers to explore new business ideas with a world of options awaiting them in the wide-format sector. Exhibitors in this area will concentrate on presenting recently finished product examples and providing visitors with creative suggestions on how to maximise the investment in this technology.”
For those of you that know Roland DG it’s hardly surprising that, having its own Academy and Creative Centre which was designed to educate the market about the output potential of large-format inkjet print, it has become integral to the development of this showcase.
Roland’s broad range of output options will be displayed, all produced using its printers and ink choices. The wide-format systems include options with white and metallic ink, plus the ability to use flexible UV-curable formulations to produce tactile and unusual results with the addition of clear varnish. Integrated print-and-cut capabilities also mean that intricate and nested jobs can be output for a host of end uses, ranging from industrial through prototyping to innovative and unusual results.
At Northprint, the diverse portfolio of applications which can be generated using Roland solutions include packaging samples, health and safety signs, labels and decals. But more adventurous and unusual output includes window graphics and roller blinds, retail displays and sublimated products such as plaques and drink canisters. These examples will be joined by metallic samples output onto a variety of end materials, plus a host of niche options with decorative prints onto stone, wood, plaster and, even, marble.
“What we’re showing in the applications’ area at Northprint will truly showcase the versatility Roland can bring to print companies, with examples of how easy it is to output to unusual substrates as well as to everyday materials,” explains Marc Jenkin, Roland DG (UK)’s Academy and Creative Centre manager. “Seeing really is believing and showing the commercial sector the benefits which can be gained from new ideas will fortify the demand for new technology and ways in which they can easily generate new revenue streams.”
Mimaki distributor Hybrid Services will be showing two of its core products at Northprint 2011. It intends to show a 1.3m wide model from the Mimaki CJV30 series of integrated printer/cutters. The Wide Format Application Showcase will feature value-added die cut labels, metallic ink samples and white images – with impressive view-through capabilities. Of course, volume revenue from the CJV30 can be driven with more everyday applications such as banner stands and posters and the photo quality output will be part of the display too.
In addition, the Mimaki UJF-3042 will showcase direct to product printing, with UV ink including Mimaki’s white and clear to create a vibrant photographic print to any number of objects up to 50mm thick and A3 in size.
Hybrid’s national sales manager, John de la Roche, comments: “The Image Reports Wide Format Applications Showcase provides Mimaki with a great opportunity to demonstrate the far reaching commercial capabilities of just these two machines. For the commercial printer, these Mimaki products provide an excellent snapshot of the potential revenue that can be generated with a remarkably modest investment.”
Vivid Laminating, PSP and EFI are amongst other companies also working on the new Wide-Format Applications Showcase.