Sign & Graphics | Bi Monthly Publication of Signage Industry in India

RICOH acquires AnaJet

RICOH announces that they have reached the agreement to buy US-based AnaJet, a major player in the directto- garment (DTG) printing industry. This acquisition is the latest strategic investment by RICOH, which they say is to strengthen its industrial inkjet business while enabling its customers to move forward new ideas and drive imaginative thinking. Founded in 2006, AnaJet has been one of the first companies in the world to mass produce DTG printers. Today, the company is a global market leader in the DTG industry. And majority of AnaJet products available today leverage RICOH’s market-leading inkjet printheads.

In addition, the AnaJet portfolio will help RICOH further enhance its position in the industrial inkjet market, a market where the imaging company maintains global leadership in inkjet printhead development. With AnaJet’s solutions combined with the broad RICOH portfolio, customers will now have the ability to more effectively deliver a broader solution set to their end users. With the addition of AnaJet, RICOH’s collective customers will benefit from a larger support team, added innovation and access to a services-led portfolio of solutions to ultimately help them grow their business.

Danish textile firm expands UV portfolio
with Jeti Mira from AGFA Graphics

After having bought two Anapurna UV-inkjet printers in 2014, Danish textile printing company Bestseller invested in AGFA Graphics’ Jeti Mira to increase printing production capacity. The new UV printer enables them to diversify their offering and to in-source print jobs. Late 2014, Bestseller acquired an Anapurna M2500i and Anapurna M3200i RTR from AGFA Graphics as it was expanding its operations to a two-shift production. “This investment has given us the possibility to do larger graphic jobs, to optimise our time-to-market and to achieve greater flexibility,” says Henrik Dencker, manager, Bestseller Printhouse. He adds that they no longer outsource anything, for example, to Poland, after the adoption of Jeti Mira.

Henrik further mentions, “With our latest investment in Jeti Mira – which was installed in December 2015 – we have achieved a further significant capacity growth. The printer enables us to in-source numerous board printing jobs. And on top of that, we can produce more for our external B2B customers.” Nevertheless, Jeti Mira enables Bestseller to offer a complete solution, whether it is printing foils, posters or plates, they can solve it. Moreover, Bestseller likes to be able to do specialties, such as printing with ‘white ink’ or varnish, which the printer helps them accomplish. Henrik also emphasises the saving of up to 40 percent on ink, thanks to the high-pigmented Anuvia ink on the Jeti Mira, which outpours outstanding quality with thin ink layer technology.

SGI Dubai 2016 once again breaks all previous records

SGI Dubai 2016, which concluded on a high note at Dubai World Trade Centre recently, is the oldest trade show in the MENA region and beyond. The show witnessed variety of machines, printers and software solutions for all sorts of work related to signage, retail, digital printing and finishing. Not only that the expo brought to a network of 400 exhibitors but also more than 13,000 visitors from all over the world thronged the threeday expo organised in January this year.

Major attractions at the expo turned out to be the different graphics art applications that exhibitors showcased. Yet a hot topic at the expo was digital textile printing that not only caters to soft signage but now also puts in the interior designs - be it personalised and individualised solutions or short run.

At the expo it was evident that PSPs cared a lot about the environment. Latex, UV, aqueous and UV-LED printers and recyclable, environmentally friendly consumables that were presented at the show received much attention due to their ‘green’ features and lower impact on environment. Next to the pure technology, the warm, welcoming and friendly atmosphere at the SGI Dubai 2016 enabled all market participants to network, discuss and learn from each other, thus establishing higher standards for the whole printing industry.

A winning combination of EFI Fiery
and KODAK PRINERGY Workflow 7

Having bee scored a number of successful installations at leading printing firms worldwide, the integration of EFI Fiery digital front end (DFE) technology with popular KODAK PRINERGY Workflow 5 and 6 solutions has helped users take advantage of bestin- class digital production automation.

Now PRINERGY Workflow 7 users will also be able to take advantage of this opportunity, and PRINERGY Workflow 5 and 6 users will be able to upgrade, keeping the same workflow automation in place. This unique integration, which offers bi-directional JDF communication, helps printing companies seamlessly blend their digital printing operations into a PRINERGY Workflow prepress and production environment. Moreover, EFI’s newest Fiery DFE platform, Fiery FS200 Pro, gives printing companies the ability to move even more work to digital. With the Fiery/PRINERGY Workflow integration, users can access the latest Fiery DFE capabilities, including HyperRIP, a key Fiery job acceleration technology.