Screen USA Event Showcases Truepress Jet W3200UV

At Screen USA’s Media Day this past October, which took place just prior to SGIA Expo, the company showcased new hardware and initiated some discussions on where the industry as a whole is headed in the future.

Held at Screen’s Demonstration Center in Rolling Meadow, Illinois, the event brought together a few dozen representatives of the trade press and industry analysts, as well as executives and representatives from Screen USA, Inca Digital Printers, and Dainippon Screen in Japan.

Three new pieces of Screen hardware were at the epicenter of the event: the Truepress Jet W3200UV wide-format printer; the Truepress JetSX B2-format digital duplex machine; and the Truepress Jet L350UV for label, packaging, and specialty-print applications.

The Truepress Jet W3200UV wide-format printer received its global premiere at FESPA 2013 in the UK (see our September 2013 issue, “London Calling,” pg 34), but this was its first public demonstration in the US (the machine was scheduled for an official November release).

Developed in conjunction with Inca Digital Printers (a member of Screen group of companies), the W3200UV is aimed at the point-of-purchase, graphic display, and décor markets. It boasts a 62.9 x 125.9-inch-wide flatbed table, Screen’s Truepress inks, and a newly developed print carriage. The W3200’s micro-droplet printheads deliver a 14-picoliter drop size and a 600-dpi resolution (apparent resolution of 1000 dpi), with speeds up to 904 square feet/hour. In addition to standard process colors (CMYK), users can specify light cyan, light magenta, and opaque white inks as options. Maximum media thickness is 1.9 inches.

Other features include: lay pins to ensure accurate registration; a zoned vacuum bed to reduce masking; nozzle mapping; and more. Options include a Wasatch SoftRIP and an automated cleaning station to maintain the printhead.

The new Truepress JetSX is a digital duplex print-on-demand machine engineered for applications such as photobooks, posters, calendars, folders and book covers, personalized marketing materials, direct mail, customized gifts, promotional packaging, and more. Capable of handling a variety of media types (offset paper, inkjet paper and pre-scored/creased packaging board; coated and uncoated cut sheets, including gloss or matte standard stock) in sizes up to 20.8 x 29.1 inches, the 4-color JetSX features water-based pigment inks; multi-level grayscale printheads; variable-data printing; resolution up to 1440 x 1440 dpi; and the ability to print on media up to 15.7-mil thick. Top speed is 810 duplex sheets/hour.

Its Truepress Jet L350UV is a single-pass UV inkjet system aimed at those print providers producing labels, packaging, and specialty-print applications. Variable-data-capable, it can hit print speeds up to 164 feet/minute on a 13.7-inch web, and offers 600 x 600-dpi resolution. The machine utilizes Screen’s own high-definition UV inks (CMYK, with an optional opaque white) as well color-management technology based on the Screen Equios workflow. Users have the choice of configuring the Truepress Jet L350UV as a roll-to-roll press for near-line finishing, or connecting the press to inline lamination, die-cutting, foiling, coating, and embossing systems.

What industry trends should print providers be aware of? Ron Gilboa from consulting company InfoTrends pointed out a few during Media Day:
• The retail value of wide-format printing will grow nearly 7% between now and 2017. “There’s an ever-growing range of opportunities” for those shops utilizing wide-format machines, said Gilboa.
• As variable-printing continues to gain traction, print providers are becoming “virtual document warehouses” for their customers.
• Packaging –including color labels, folded cartons, and corrugated – is still being printed 99% analog, “but that will change soon, and then quickly to digital. The brand owners will drive this change; the food and beverage markets will be the first to make the move toward digital.”

On the day following the media event, Screen USA then opened its doors to customers.

SCREEN USA
www.screenusa.com