Rob van den Braak
Laurel´s Verdigris blog is about the hold the European government has over the use of chemicals. The EU Directive REACH, Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, is planning on ending gravure printing because of the ban on CrO3, a carcinogen. Read about the response by the European Rotogravure Association and Laurel´s opinion on her blog on our articles page.
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An ongoing European initiative linked to the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) directive could spell the end of gravure printing in Europe. REACH requires that manufacturers and importers collect data on the characteristics of the chemicals they use, to be sure they can be safely handled. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), based in Helsinki, registers the information in a central database of chemical hazards that is available to the public.
ECHA is the heart of REACH and as part of ECHA’s community rolling action plan (CoRAP) asks companies to evaluate chemicals in terms of their impact on human health and the environment. One of the chemicals on the list is chromium trioxide (CrO3) used in gravure printing and other industries for electroplating. CrO3is also used in screen printing and photography, as well as the car and aviation industries. Once on the CoRAP list, a chemical’s industrial usage days may be numbered. In the case of CrO3, this could pose an existential threat to gravure printing.
The CoRAP list names nearly 300 chemicals being evaluated over a rolling three year period and it evolves in line with evaluations and input from European Union member states. Chemicals deemed safe can get dropped after the first year’s consideration, leaving space for new substances which may not be so safe. The CoRAP list is updated regularly and member states can ask the ECHA to prioritise chemicals they consider to be especially risky according to their national risk assessment guidelines.
Risks are obviously assessed according to the hazardousness of the chemical and the amounts used. Also considered are exposure data, ie the likelihood that the chemical will reach humans or the environment. The ECHA also looks at the aggregated tonnage of a substance, to assess its overall impact. This means that something really toxic but with very controlled exposure, will be less of a priority for banning than something less damaging that has a major exposure.
CrO3 is a very toxic compound. It’s highly corrosive and a known carcinogen, so it’s definitely a potential environmental and health hazard. But is it’s use in gravure printing so very dangerous? This has yet to be established but it is likely not, in that the use of CrO3 in gravure printing is very carefully controlled. This minimises, but does not necessarily remove, the risk that it will reach the environment or people.
The ECHA wants to hear from companies who manufacture, import or use it so that its risks can be identified and further evaluated. The good news is that the European Rotogravure Association is already on the case, working to ensure that CrO3 can continue to be used under properly controlled circumstances.
Laurel Brunner
This blog has been made possible by: Agfa Graphics (www.agfa.com), Digital Dots (http://digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EFI (www.efi.com), Fespa (www.fespa.com), Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com), Kodak (www.kodak.com/go/sustainability), Mondi (www.mondigroup.com/products), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Shimizu Printing (www.shzpp.co.jp), Splash PR (www.splashpr.co.uk), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).
Blokboek.com is the Dutch media partner of Verdrigris, a non-profit initiative which aims to realistically chart the real footprint of printing and which helps companies and organisations to lower that footprint. More information about Verdrigris can be found via this link.
FESPA has launched its call for entries for its 2016 Awards, marking the start of its search for pioneering and innovative projects in the print industry.
FESPA’s annual Awards programme celebrates the achievements of print service providers globally, aiming to find the brightest and best print projects, demonstrating real innovation and precision.
This year the global competition consists of 15 categories covering a variety of application themes including: in-store; fine art print; decals, outdoor and vehicle decoration; special effect print; garment and wearables; interior decoration; and industrial and functional printing. There’s also a brand new category for non-printed signage.
Each category can be entered using either a digital print process, screen print process or a combination of any print processes.
Entrants have until the 29th January 2016 to submit their work which will be judged by an independent panel of global industry experts.
Outside of the application-led categories, there are three separate awards: Young Star, Best in Show and People’s Choice.
The Young Star award is open to an employee or student in a print related discipline aged between 16 and 25. Best in Show is decided by the judges, across all the shortlisted entries, for the piece of work that offers the most outstanding example of print. The People’s Choice award is voted for online by the FESPA community. Voting will open on the 15th February 2016.
FESPA has long been a champion of printers and young designers and this Awards programme is an opportunity to showcase some of the world’s most exciting print creations.
All shortlisted entries will also be exhibited at the RAI Amsterdam, The Netherlands, during FESPA Digital 2016 from 8-11th March. The winners will be announced in front of an elite audience of global industry experts at FESPA’s Gala Night on Wednesday 9th March at the historic Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam.
“I am pleased to announce FESPA is again looking for ambitious printers to compete for the now annual FESPA Global Awards,” said Duncan MacOwan, Head of Events FESPA.
“This is the 33rd year we have run the competition and expect the calibre of entries to be just as great, if not greater, than in 2015. Print service providers are the life-blood of the print industry, and I look forward to meeting the finalists, and congratulating the winners, at FESPA’s Gala Dinner.”
“The FESPA Awards are a great way to showcase the success and creativity of print across digital, screen and textile disciplines. It is a platform to inspire our global print community and to motivate other printers to push the boundaries of print.”
“Winning a FESPA Award offers significant credibility to a print business providing the perfect platform to showcase their skill and expertise, which enables printers to instil confidence in their customers and support new business ventures.”
“Last year’s FESPA Best in Show winner, the Markthallen-Rotterdam from TS Visuals, was a prime example of this kind of innovation. The larger-than-life mural conveys the desired effect using Valspar’s coatings and a sublimation printing process on 4,000 perforated aluminum panels.¨
The FESPA Awards judges were similarly impressed by the creativity and technical excellence of the print. Josep Tobella comments: “TS Visuals’ project is a novelty of creative cooperation. The uniqueness of the application is a major drive for this technique fulfilling customer needs. It’s a true proof that design creation in solid partnership with technology can reproduce almost unlimited ideas.”
For more information, the full list of categories or to enter the FESPA Awards 2016, visit: www.fespa.com/awards
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Wereldberoemd kun je worden met je bijzondere print project als je je nu inschrijft voor de Fespa Awards 2016. Je kunt je inschrijven in 15 categorieën van fine art print tot industrieel print, de enige voorwaarde voor deelname is dat er gebruikt gemaakt wordt van digital printing of zeefdruk voor de productie van het project. Tot 29 januari heb je de tijd om je in te schrijven. Genomineerden krijgen een presentatie van hun project tijdens Fespa Digital in Amsterdam, de winnaars worden bekend gemaakt tijdens het Fespa Gala in de Beurs van Berlage op 9 maart. Meer info over de Fespa Award via deze link.
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Na 1,5 jaar zijn de organisaties achter het internationale GKPS project klaar om hun onderzoek met ons te delen. De Arteveld Hogeschool Gent, het GRAFOC en het ESF zullen op donderdag 10 december om 13.30 uur op Campus Mariakerke de resultaten, de tools en de best practices van het project presenteren. Het kick-off event met sprekers zoals Waldo Van de Velde, directeur generaal Febelgra, Peter van Hove van Teka Info Pilots en grafische ondernemers van bedrijven zoals Pattyn en Van der Poorten gaan graag in debat over hoe onze industrie de kennis in huis kan houden en optimaliseren.
GKPS (Graphic Knowledge Positioning System) is een internationaal onderzoeksproject – met medewerking van Artevelde Hogeschool Gent – GRAFOC en het ESF – opgestart in juli 2014.
Doel:
1. de kennis binnen grafische bedrijven in kaart brengen via een on-line scan
2. het uitwerken van een reeks ’tools’ om die kennis waarde te geven
3. het begeleiden van grafische bedrijven om hun kennis in-house te houden en te optimaliseren
De resultaten, tools en Best Practices stellen wij voor tijdens het kick-off event van het GKPS onderzoeksproject op donderdag 10 december 2015 om 13.30 u, Artevelde Hogeschool, Mediacampus Mariakerke, Industrieweg 232, 9030 Gent-Mariakerke – Belgie
Sprekers zijn oa:
Waldo Van de Velde: Directeur generaal Febelgra
Peter van Hove: Teka Info Pilots
Zaakvoerders van drukkerijen: Pattyn, Van der Poorten, … (zijn nog in onderhandeling met andere partijen)
Debat met medewerkers grafische bedrijven, Grafoc en iMinds
Wat tonen we?
– de waarde van kennisoverdracht, in een grafisch bedrijf, organisatie of omgeving
– hoe kennisoverdracht stapsgewijs en met succes implementeren in elke afdeling van een bedrijf
– ervaren hoe andere grafische ‘Professionals’ kennisoverdracht toepasten en hoe dit hun bedrijf veranderde en verrijkte
– werken en uittesten van de tools, materialen en documentatie die dit GKPS project uitwerkte en ontwikkelde
Verder stappen:
Bedoeling is de tools, materialen en documentatie via een website en mailing ter beschikking te stellen aan de grafisch bedrijven in BE en NL. Kosteloos, vrijblijvend.
Bedrijven kunnen zich dus zelf screenen, scannen en een plan van aanpak uitwerken. Op hun eigen ritme, timing en methodiek.
Meer info: Contacteer Tim Vanden Hende – tim.vandenhende@arteveldehs.be – tel: + 32 9 234 84 03
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Printer manufacturer Mimaki has developed two fluorescent inks for their textile inkjet printers. Mimaki’s new neon fluorescent inks, available in Yellow and Pink, are ideal for fashion, sportswear, swimwear and shoes and are specially developed for use in the low-volume, high-quality sublimation paper transfer market.
Whether cycling, running, badminton or football, every team needs to have its own shirt, usually with a name, number and the sponsor’s logo clearly visible. Producing these relatively small, customised lots cost-effectively requires sublimation technologies, and printing the entire garment rather than applying graphics information afterwards is more profitable. With traditional print, the desired neon colours are hard to achieve and small lot production is generally not cost-effective.
The TS300-1800P was launched at Fespa and is specifically designed for digital low-cost production of high-value applications. The powerful combination of this machine with the new inks opens up a new range of possibilities for textile printers, designers and garment manufacturers: “Fluorescent colours are in increasingly high demand in the fashion and sportswear markets,” says Mike Horsten, General Manager Marketing EMEA at Mimaki Europe. “With these new neon inks, designers and garment manufacturers will be able to extend the potential of digital printing solutions to the production of high quality running clothes and other applications that are personalised or have unique designs and need to stand out for safety or fashion purposes. For the very first time these new inks will allow production of such bespoke, quality products on a much larger scale.”
In her Verdrigris Blog Lauren Brunner talks about increasing productivity by opening a window. Read her blog on our articles page about the age old wisdom which has now been confirmed by research. Especially when working in a high VOC or CO2 environment.
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There are many ways printers and publishers can improve staff productivity, some more expensive than others. But if you’ve already exhausted the possibilities of dress down Fridays and booze-it-up Wednesdays, try opening the windows and see if it makes a difference to how well people do their jobs.
According to a study in the US, managing the office ventilation can have a positive effect on staff productivity. This recently published work from Syracuse University in New York state, finds that if you work in an unpolluted environment with proper ventilation, your cognitive abilities improve. The study monitored 24 people under three different environmental conditions and at the end of each day measured their responses to nine tests. Researchers exposed people to different environments: one with an artificially high amounts of CO2 , a conventional office environment with fairly high concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), a green one with low VOCs and one with low VOCs plus enhanced ventilation, dubbed Green+.
It seems that indoor air quality has a profound affect on cognitive function, so improving it could boost peoples’ performance. Such ills as Sick Building Syndrome, which are due to high VOCs, CO2, chemicals and the like in the air, can be mitigated by opening windows from time to time. This may sound silly but it is easy to appreciate how stale atmospheres can develop, especially in buildings that have been rigorously insulated against the weather.
Peoples’ cognitive performance was measured every day and not surprisingly the Green+ environment produced the most impressive improvements. What’s most interesting about the Syracuse study is the extremity of the results. For instance, the Crisis responses of people in the Green+ environment were 131% better than those of the control group. Those in the Green + group also had 288% better strategic thinking. In the Green environment with low VOCs, group responses were 97% and 183% better respectively. The effect of an environment with high concentrations of CO2 was also malign, with reduced cognitive function in seven of the nine areas the researchers tested.
Opening office windows and letting in some fresh air is a good thing for peoples’ productivity. A few drafts whistling around your offices will be beneficial to business performance. So breath deep that outside air, even if it means putting up with whining from those who prefer working subpar in an unhealthy hothouse.
Laurel Brunner
This blog has been made possible by: Agfa Graphics (www.agfa.com), Digital Dots (http://digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EFI (www.efi.com), Fespa (www.fespa.com), Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com), Kodak (www.kodak.com/go/sustainability), Mondi (www.mondigroup.com/products), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Shimizu Printing (www.shzpp.co.jp), Splash PR (www.splashpr.co.uk), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).
Blokboek.com is the Dutch media partner of Verdrigris, a non-profit initiative which aims to realistically chart the real footprint of printing and which helps companies and organisations to lower that footprint. More information about Verdrigris can be found via this link.
In haar Verdigris Blog geeft Laurel Brunner een gezonde tip om je productiviteit te verhogen, zet eens een raam open of zorg op een andere manier voor frisse lucht op je werkplek. Lees in haar blog op onze artikelenpagina dat deze oude wijsheid nu ook wetenschappelijk onderbouwd is. Vooral als je werkt in een omgeving met veel VOC’s of hoge concentratie CO2.
Lees verder....There are many ways printers and publishers can improve staff productivity, some more expensive than others. But if you’ve already exhausted the possibilities of dress down Fridays and booze-it-up Wednesdays, try opening the windows and see if it makes a difference to how well people do their jobs.
According to a study in the US, managing the office ventilation can have a positive effect on staff productivity. This recently published work from Syracuse University in New York state, finds that if you work in an unpolluted environment with proper ventilation, your cognitive abilities improve. The study monitored 24 people under three different environmental conditions and at the end of each day measured their responses to nine tests. Researchers exposed people to different environments: one with an artificially high amounts of CO2 , a conventional office environment with fairly high concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), a green one with low VOCs and one with low VOCs plus enhanced ventilation, dubbed Green+.
It seems that indoor air quality has a profound affect on cognitive function, so improving it could boost peoples’ performance. Such ills as Sick Building Syndrome, which are due to high VOCs, CO2, chemicals and the like in the air, can be mitigated by opening windows from time to time. This may sound silly but it is easy to appreciate how stale atmospheres can develop, especially in buildings that have been rigorously insulated against the weather.
Peoples’ cognitive performance was measured every day and not surprisingly the Green+ environment produced the most impressive improvements. What’s most interesting about the Syracuse study is the extremity of the results. For instance, the Crisis responses of people in the Green+ environment were 131% better than those of the control group. Those in the Green + group also had 288% better strategic thinking. In the Green environment with low VOCs, group responses were 97% and 183% better respectively. The effect of an environment with high concentrations of CO2 was also malign, with reduced cognitive function in seven of the nine areas the researchers tested.
Opening office windows and letting in some fresh air is a good thing for peoples’ productivity. A few drafts whistling around your offices will be beneficial to business performance. So breath deep that outside air, even if it means putting up with whining from those who prefer working subpar in an unhealthy hothouse.
Laurel Brunner
Dit blog wordt mogelijk gemaakt dankzij de bijdrage van: Agfa Graphics (www.agfa.com), Digital Dots (http://digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EFI (www.efi.com), Fespa (www.fespa.com), Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com), Kodak (www.kodak.com/go/sustainability), Mondi (www.mondigroup.com/products), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Shimizu Printing (www.shzpp.co.jp), Splash PR (www.splashpr.co.uk), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).
BlokBoek.com is de Nederlandse media-partner van Verdigris, een non-profit initiatief dat de werkelijke voetprint van druk- en printwerk die drukwerk achterlaat eerlijk in kaart wil brengen en dat bedrijven en organisatie steunt om die voetprint te verlagen.
Meer informatie over Verdigris vindt je via deze link.
FESPA is delighted to announce FESPA Asia will take place in February 2017 at the BITEC exhibition centre, Bangkok, Thailand.
FESPA’s Divisional Director, Roz McGuinness comments, “Our annual exhibition in China is now well established, so it is time for FESPA to return to the pan-Asia region with FESPA Asia, and our natural choice for host country was Thailand. Our objective – to build demand for print by reinvesting in the print community – is matched by the enthusiasm of our regional associations, with whom we will be working closely. We will deliver educational programmes to support the advancement of print in the region, along with an exhibition which brings the leading global and regional suppliers of screen and digital print as well as signage to Thailand. Our aim is to leave a lasting legacy across Asia through various initiatives in the years to come.”
The return of FESPA Asia has been welcomed by local association TSGA (Thai Screen Printing and Graphic Imaging Association):
“FESPA is the largest speciality and creative printing federation with 37 member associations, and has the philosophy of reinvesting in the global print community for sustainable growth across the board.
The ASEAN countries are joined together to form an economic zone called AEC, with a population of 700 million. AEC is the highest economic growth region in the new world, and as Thailand is located in the centre of this region, it is the perfect location for the return of this international exhibition.
On behalf of TSGA, it is our pleasure to welcome FESPA Asia back to Thailand. We believe the event will bring greater opportunities, more success and sustainable growth for the print and signage community in Thailand and the rest of the AEC region.” Phongdej Sajarattanachote, President, TSGA-Thai Screen Printing and Graphic Imaging Association
“CSGIA and ASGA are delighted to welcome FESPA Asia 2017 back to Thailand. FESPA has demonstrated a real commitment to print professionals in the Asia-Pacific region, not only through their support of the National Associations in the region including CSGIA, but also the development of the exhibition in China. The return to Thailand in 2017 will bring the community here real value to help take their businesses forward.” Jennifer Shen, President, CSGIA & ASGA – China Screen Printing & Graphic Imaging Association & Asia-Pacific Screen Printing & Graphic Imaging Association
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Klanten en kennis wint EFI met de overname van Shuttlesworth, één van de grootste Management Informatie Systeem ontwikkelaars voor de grafische industrie. Vooral in Engelssprekende landen is Shuttlesworth een belangrijke speler met een jaaromzet van meer dan 5 miljoen euro. Het bedrijf heeft MIS oplossingen voor Print, Digital, Sign en Packaging Industries. Voor Shuttlesworth en zijn gebruikers betekent de overname door EFI niet alleen meer zekerheid maar vooral ook een uitbreiding van de mogelijkheden dankzij het al zeer complete portfolio van EFI als het gaat om MIS, web2print en datamanagement. Meer informatie over de overname vind je via deze link.
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VIGC BOPE 2025: Redefining print. Success in a digital world. Met o.a. Peter Luit als gesprekleider binnen het panelgesprek ‘Platformeconomie, kansen voor grafimedia bedrijven?’
Kandidaten gezocht
De trainingen voor 2022 staan gereed. Kijk voor het volledige online aanbod van bestaande- en nieuwe trainingen op de website.
BLOKBOEK.COM EN PRINTMEDIANIEUWS: HET OPTIMALE DOELGROEP BEREIK