Kategorie: Allgemein

Seico Epson’s financial results
Seico Epson has published their first quarter results for 2014. In the inkjet printer business, sales of high-capacity ink tank models and commercial printers expanded in line with expectations.
More at Epson

3D Systems buys Simbionix
3D Systems will acquire Simbionix, a global leader in 3D virtual reality surgical simulation and training, for 120 million $ in cash. This combination aims to expand 3DS Healthcare reach from the training to the operating room.
More at 3D Systems

US demand for pharmaceutical packaging
According to a new study by The Freedonia Group, demand for pharmaceutical packaging products in the United Stated will increase 4.9 % annually to 22.1 billion $ in 2018. Primary containers are to cover two-thirds of the total.
More at Packaging Europe

Landa-enabled Manroland Sheetfed press delayed
At drupa 2012, Manroland had signed an agreement with Landa with the aim of integrating his technology into a hybrid press. So far, the cost of Landa NanoInk is one of two factors currently preventing the implementation of this, according to chief executive Raphael Penuela.
More at PrintWeek

Sugar cane paperboard
Nature & More had developed a new sustainable packaging material made from plant waste collected after sugar cane is turned into commercial sugar. Now, the first retailers opt for the sugar cane packaging.
More at The Packer

Ryman Stationery offering 3D printing
Ryman Stationary is following amazon, Staples and Hope Depot in their attempt to make 3D printing available for the masses. The largest stationery store in the UK will soon sell 3D Systems Cube and Cube Pro 3D printers in stores and online.
More at 3D Printing Industry

HK printer buys debt from CBA
1010 Printing Group from Hong Kong has bought the $51m debt of Opus Group from the Commonwealth Bank for $20m. This move makes the company its effective owner and by far its biggest lender.
More at ProPrint

Roland DG Corporation changes board
Following a successful year, Roland DG Corporation carries out several changes and additions to its board of directors. Sales of the company’s wide-format inkjet printers, vinyl cutters, engravers, 3D rapid prototyping equipment, dental mills and impact printers had increased by 34.8 %.
More at Graphic Display World

Canon USA expanding
Canon USA has presented six new models in its imagePROGRAF lineup. According to the company, these devices offer faster printing speeds and lower operation costs as compared to their predecessors.
More at Canon

Kodak video interview
Brendan Perring from Print7 News, a video platform for the printing industry, speaks to Kodak’s David McGuiness about their process-free plates and other topics.
More at Print7 TV

German label paper market
Manufacturers of label paper supplying the German market reported strong deliveries in the first half of the year, according to EUWID. However, prices for paper did not change during the second and third quarter.
More at EUWID Paper

Heidelberg standby function for green printing
All presses from Heidelberg equipped with the Prinect Press Center now come with the new standby function. According to the company, this enables the press to be switched to an energy-saving mode that significantly reduces CO₂ emissions.
More at Heidelberg

Multiple material printing by NASA
Especially 3D printing in space sometimes requires parts composed of several different materials. Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed a new solution for this problem that allows a 3D printer to switch between different types of alloys.
More at Network World

Sustainable material seminar
Early bird discount for the seminar by the British Coating Federation on new green raw materials for paint, coatings and ink manufacturers expires today. The event takes place at Nottingham Belfry Hotel on 16^th September 2014.
More at BCF

James Cropper simplifies paper division
James Cropper combines its two paper divisions, Speciality Paper and Converting, into one business to simplify customer service. The new company will operate from the traditional manufacturing and administration base in Burneside, Cumbria.
More at Packaging Europe

Smart 3D printer
MIT researchers have developed an add-on for any standard 3D printer that manages to use laser scanner and a webcam to detect the placement and orientation of an item left on the print bed. It means you could for example resume printing a job that was interrupted or failed.
More at 3D Printing Industry

iSys receives certification
The Canadian Imaging Systems Group has received section 3 certification by PIRA for its EDGE 850 digital label printer. Thus it meets requirements to print GHS-compliant drum and chemical labels according to BS5609 standards.
More at the Labelling Blog

Extra strong printing material
Typical objects printed with resins are not very durable, especially when created for use as functional parts. To fill this void, TMadeSolid, Inc. now sells a new material called “Tough Resin” for objects that need to be able to handle wear and tear.
More at 3D Print

Delta Packaging expanding in Poland
Delta Packaging from Belfast opens a 10,000 m² factory near Katowice in Poland following the 40m £ investment plan in April which involved the expansion of the Belfast site. The factory will produce sustainable, folding cartonboard packaging products.
More at Packaging News

Adhesive recycling problems
Adhesives themselves are not recyclable, but the papers to which they are affixed, are. According to this article, customers are still hesitant to new greener adhesives.
More at L&NW

Fusion Paperboard closing mill
Fusion Paperboard from Connecticut will shut down its paper mill in Sprague, CT, in September. The mill produces 100 % recycled, food-grade paperboard.
More at Paper Age

So far, developments in the field of printed electronics have focused merely on expensive high-end gadgets like phones, cameras and wearable devices. But this technique can also be used to make packaging more exciting and functional. What makes a product stick out more than flashing LEDs and displays with additional information? A university project has now found a way to make this more affordable for the broad market.

In order to bring electronics on packaging, they must be produced the way color inks are applied on a package with high printing speed and in ambient conditions. However currently, printed electronics based products are far too expensive for its wide spread application in packaging. The reason behind this is that the integrated production is missing.

At the moment, robotic assembly of different electronic components such as battery, display and circuits are done on one substrate which is manufactured by different producers. Therefore establishment of a new automatic assembly line requires huge initial investment. Few manufacturers are willing to take this since it presents such a new and experimental technology.

The institute of Print and Media technology of the Technical University of Chemnitz (pmTUC) tried to solve this problem and took an initiative to develop cost-effective electronics for smart packaging. Under the guidance of Prof. Arved Hübler, the institute had already produced various innovative products in the past. For example, they reported the first printed solar cell on paper substrate in 2011. In the same year the institute printed loudspeaker on paper.

Now a new project at pmTUC funded by EXIST, a support program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, has started. This initiative aims to commercialize printed electronics for smart packaging application. To do so, the scientists prints different components directly on one substrate by using only standard printing machines.

So far, the project has brought a spin-off named Saralon. The word itself is a combination of the old language Sanskrit and means “simple” while the phrase “on” comes from electronic combining the approach and the intercultural structure of the project.

The team has already developed different ideas for actual application. These products are currently being presented to companies and are expected to be launched soon. One of them for example includes a printed battery, printed finger touch sensor and a printed display on a package. Whenever an end user touches it, a display will be activated. This can show a text message, a picture or corporate logo.

The electronics can easily be incorporated to any existing package, with an already existing production technique. As the complete compounds are made from environment friendly materials, the disposal of the package is not a big issue. As an additional feature, the special packaging can be used as an anti-counterfeiting device, which is impossible to copy. According to Saralon, the price of the product will be little higher than holograms. The battery is supposed to last for six months.

Another product sample is a bottle label with integrated battery, circuit, LED and a humidity sensor. Once touched lightly with a finger, the sweat activates the sensor, which then sends an electrical signal through the printed circuit to the LED.

A third one works the same way. Only this time, LEDs on the outside and inside are activated and supported by a reflecting foil on the inside. That way the glass packaging on the inside appears to be glowing. All components apart form the LED are very flexible and thin and can therefore be printed on any surfaces.

Another manufacturer adopts 3D
Many tooling and machining companies are beginning to understand that 3D printing is less than a danger of eliminating their businesses entirely than a necessary part of the prototyping process. Now, tooling and manufacturing company James Tool as well has started offering 3D printing services in order to stay relevant within its industry sector.
More at 3D Printing Industry

Amazon as well joins 3D
Amazon will launch an online store for 3D printed items that allows consumers to customize and personalize items like jewelry. They company will work with companies that make 3D printed items such as Mixee Labs and Sculpteo.
More at Phys.org

Ink cost estimation
When calculating the ink price for high-speed or high-speed sheetfed inkjet presses a basic analysis simply won’t do. This article takes a look at the incredibly complex area when comparing rival systems and the bigger picture beyond the ink price.
More at Printweek

German folding boxes
According to the German folding box association “Fachverband Faltschachtel-Industrie”, the German industry in this sector is the leading one in Europe. They report production numbers to be stable at a high level. This information is taken from a German article.
More at Verpacken Aktuell

NZ packaging empire selling
After having built the world’s largest packaging empire, Graeme Hart is considering asset sales worth US7.9 billion $ to reduce debts and test the waters for selling his remaining businesses.
More at Sidney Morning Herald

Golden Pixel Award
There is two months left to enter the Austrian Golden Pixel Award 2014 for innovative printing projects. The award ceremony will be held in Vienna on 10^th November.
More at Druckdeal

Inkjet evaluation
In the past, most print companies relied mainly on offset technology. Now print pattern is shifting towards high speed inkjet systems that produce high volumes in transaction, direct mail and books. This blog post considers the reasons for the current shift in printing.
More at The Digital Nirvana

Healthcare packaging acquisition
Nelipak Corporation has bought the Debond Corporation (Flexpak). The new company will operate under the name of Nelipak Healthcare Packaging.
More at Medical Plastics News

Giant 3D printer
Yesterday, we reported the launch of a new program that allows printing objects larger than the actual printer. But that might not even be necessary with this one: Japanese company GenKei presented a 4-meter tall printer designed for printing architectural elements, full scale furniture, products, and life size figures.
More at 3Ders

TriMas expanding
TriMas Corporation has acquired Lion Holdings for 27m $. The acquisition is supposed to broaden the company’s Asian market coverage.
More at The Wall Street Transcript

3D printing for pipelines
Oil and gas safety is extremely important as pipelines can fail due to defects such as cracks or dents. Now, Industrial Inspection Systems from Canada is using 3D printing to provide automated non-destructive testing and examination solutions.
More at Afinia

Printed cameras
The National Science Foundation of China has awarded Dr. Felice Torrisi, a scientist in Graphene Technology, with a research fellowship. The aim of the project is to look at how graphene and two-dimensional materials could enable a technology for printing cheap flexible cameras.
More at Printed Electronics

Concerns about plain packaging
According to recently disclosed government documents, confectionary giant Mars had written to the Department of Health to express concerns about plain packaging. The company was afraid it would be introduced to other sectors including food and drink suppliers.
More at Packaging News

German patent infringement
Canon is filing a patent infringement complaint in Germany with the District Court of Düsseldorf. They sue Thomas Zenkel, owner of the domain “tintenalarm.de,” for infringement of the German portion of Canon’s European patent 2 087 407.
More at Canon

New sublimation ink
Xennia Technology has introduced a range of sublimation inks for polyester fabric inkjet printing using both coated and uncoated transfer papers. The product can be used with Kyocera and Epson printhead based systems.
More at Image Reports

Print larger objects than printer
In the past, many extremely large 3D printers have been introduced to market. The Indian company CCTech has taken a different approach and launched a CAD plugin that works by dividing the designs of large objects into smaller connectable pieces.
More at 3D Print

Amcor joins recycling program
Rigid plastic packaging manufacturer Amcor has joined The Recycling Partnership, a collaborative, industry funded initiative to support recycling in the United Stated. Other members so far are for example Alcoa Foundation, American Chemistry Council, American Forest & Paper Association and Sonoco Products.
More at Packaging Gateway

Henkel works with Comexi
Henkel India has chosen the Comexi Group, a specialist in machinery solutions for the flexible packaging industry, as a partner. Together, they want to start the first professional training academy and demo center for flexible packaging in India, Middle East and Africa.
More at Packaging Europe

Colorizing during a 3D Print
So far, few companies managed the process of 3D printing numerous colors on one object. German scientist now published a new patent for a process which will enable a printer to coat a polymer filament with color or a material, just prior to it being extruded from the printer.
More at 3D Print

Interactive labels
Berkshire Labels has introduced a new range of labels using the Linkz interactive print platform. The product will enable customers to access additional online content.
More at PrintWeek

Offset online seminar
Printing Impression is hosting the free webinar “Myth Busters: Comparing ‘Offset 2.0′ vs. Digital Presses for Short-Run, Static Jobs” sponsored by Heidelberg. You can take part next Tuesday, 29^th July at 2 p.m. ET.
Register

Canon second quarter
Canon has released their results for the second quarter 2014. They reported for example steady growth in demand for office multifunction devices and laser printers.
More at Canon

Xerox’ results
Xerox as well has announced their second-quarter 2014 earnings.  Total revenue of 5.3 billion $ was down 2 or 3 % in constant currency.
More at Xerox

Heidelberg’s plans
During their annual general meeting for the 2013/2014 financial year, Heidelberg discussed the company’s strategy and the balance sheet figures for the past financial year. The company outlined its short-term plans, including the aim to achieve an EBITDA margin of 8 % for the 2015/16 financial year.
More at PackPrint World

German packaging
The German Association of Plastic Packaging (IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen) reports positive results for 2013. For example, production output rose by around 2.4 % to 4.3m tonnes.
More at Plastics Packaging

New European packaging director
James Hosford is the new European director of sales at Global packaging and processing solutions specialist tna. He will be responsible for the commercial operations in Europe, Russia & CIS, Israel and North Africa.
More at Packaging Europe

Mark Andy expanding
As part of their expansion plans in Europe, Mark Andy has appointed two new sales agents in Germany. Labels & Labeling spoke with the company about this appointment and their visions for the future.
More at Labels & Labeling

Bioprinting research
Bio 3D printing company Organovo and Johnson & Johnson have signed an agreement to advance research in bioprinting. Together, they want to evaluate the use of 3D printed tissue in a drug discovery setting
More at 3Ders