Rob van den Braak
The winner of the international design challenge for Biscuiterie Jules Destrooper is Dutch designer Femke Veltkamp. Her winning design for a new biscuit tin will be taken into production this year and become available worldwide. Femke Veltkamp is a professional illustrator and lives in Utrecht. She combines drawings with digital design which gives the biscuit tin a cheerful and cosy character. “Jules Destrooper´s kitchen was the centre of my design. That is where all the biscuits originate from, with the scales, the waffle irons, the flour and spices. You can almost smell the biscuits.” says the proud winner.
More than 200 entries from 15 different countries were sent in after Jules Destrooper announced their challenge to design a new biscuit tin.
The Dutch and Belgian jury, together with the public, judged the entries. From the 10 finalists Femke´s design was by far the most popular.
Director and greatgrandson Peter Destrooper commented: “The design is very creative and clever. Destroopers´ characteristics and traditions are clear and the design is clean and fresh.”
Screen has successfully completed the installation of Europe’s first Truepress Jet520HD at Dutch-based direct mail company Nic. Oud. The machine was delivered in early December and despite being one of the first customer installations in the world, the machine has already been handed over for live production.
Maurice Gelissen, Managing Director of Nic. Oud said: “Even during the training period we needed to print several million documents so we were already confident that the machine could deliver on its promise. Not only are we seeing great print quality but the Truepress has changed the level and speed of service that we are able to offer our clients.”
Nic. Oud’s goal when it started its inkjet research was to find a solution that would allow the company to produce results that matched the quality levels associated with the ‘graphic arts industry’. From the start, project leader Christel van de Wal was keen to set the company apart from the standard level of inkjet. “As soon as we saw the first results from the Truepress Jet520HD, we knew that this was what we had been waiting for. Until then, we had never been convinced that our customers would accept inkjet and while it was tempting to make the investment earlier when all of our competitors were installing machines, we are very pleased we waited until now to make our decision.”
Screen will be demonstrating the Truepress Jet520HD at the Hunkeler Innovationdays (Messe Lucerne, 23rd to 26th February). innovationdays.hunkeler.ch
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Carlsberg is in the process of developing a biodegradable beer bottle named Green Fiber Bottle. The material used will be sustainable wood or paper pulp. Another advantage will be that the bottles are much lighter than the traditional glass bottle or aluminium can. If all goes according to plan the beer will remain colder for longer. The bottles will not be see through, will be difficult to break and have a clear fibre structure. Development for the new bottles is estimated to take three years and is done in cooperation with ecoXpac.
The Danish brewer assures us that the new packaging will not influence the taste of the beer.
The bottles are 100% biodegradable and can be recycled like paper. The manufacturer uses an inner coating and the bottles are made out of one piece.
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Production Inkjet systems will change the graphics industry forever. Over the coming five to ten years inkjet systems will be faster and cheaper than offset or laser printers. This in combination with the simple operation of such systems and the possibility to produce finished products will threaten current business models, minimise employment in the traditional printing industry and without a doubt cause bankruptcies. This is not just a pessimistic scenario, this is reality!
Look at new production inkjet systems brought to market by Screen, Canon/Oce, HP and other manufacturers. Beta testing of these systems has been successful and the first orders are in. Quad/Graphic, an American printing giant, ordered no less than 20 HP Web Presses. These highspeed inkjet systems will be able to increase Quad´s digital output by more than 150 per cent. A growth most likely at the expense of offset.
Learnt form previous mistakes
The manufacturers of these systems have learnt from previous mistakes at the introduction of new products. Mistakes such as trying to sell a ´good enough´ quality and hiding the variable costs such as maintenance and supplies which left users with a hard to manage cost price. The print quality of these new systems will be as high, if not higher, as the traditional prints and the cost price of an inkjet print will be able to compete with other systems. Add to that the fact that investment and operating costs are lower than with offset and it´s a no-brainer.
Not just for printing giants
The trend will influence not only the top of the market where speed and high volume of continuous inkjet systems are essential. A new generation sheet fed inkjet printers will find their way to countries where the printing market is smaller. These sheet fed inkjet printers with their low investment costs will enable graphics entrepreneurs to timely change course. Which will be necessary. Digital systems are highly automated, have various print media options inline, the low cost of water based ink and a wide variety of finishing options which offer short production times will be fatal for offset and laser printers. You understand that it is vital to keep an eye on these developments. Starting with projects such as HP´s PageWide and Canon´s Niagara. And don´t forget the interesting developments at Screen with their TrueJet and Landa with its Nanographic.
It would surprise us if toner bastions such as Xerox and Ricoh do not come with interesting ink jet developments, since that technology is the easiest and fastest to get ink onto print media and to change the graphics industry forever.
Production Inkjet systemen zullen de grafische industrie voorgoed veranderen. In de komende vijf tot tien jaar zullen inkjet systemen afdrukken sneller en goedkoper maken dan offset of laserprinters. Dat in combinatie met de simpele bediening van deze systemen en de mogelijkheid om compleet afgewerkte grafische producten te produceren zal bestaande ondernemingsmodellen ondergraven, de werkgelegenheid in traditionele beroepen minimaliseren en vast en zeker bedrijfssluitingen veroorzaken. Dat is geen pessimistisch scenario, dat is realiteit!
Kijk naar de nieuwe production inkjet systemen van Screen, Canon/Oce, HP en andere fabrikanten. De beta testen van die systemen zijn veelbelovend afgelopen en de eerste orders zijn al binnen. Zo bestelde Quad/Graphic, de Amerikaanse drukkerijgigant, maar liefst 20 HP Web Presses. Deze highspeed inkjet systemen zullen binnen 5 jaar de digitale output capaciteit van Quad met meer dan 150% laten groeien. Een groei die zeker ten koste zal gaan van offsetopdrachten.
Geleerd van fouten in het verleden
De fabrikanten van deze systemen hebben geleerd van fouten die in het verleden gemaakt zijn met de introductie van nieuw afdruktechnieken. Fouten zoals het proberen een ‘goed genoeg’ afdrukkwaliteit te verkopen en het verbergen van variabele kosten in onderhoud en supplies die gebruikers kostprijstechnisch in de problemen brachten. De afdrukkwaliteit van de nieuwe systemen zal gelijk, zo niet hoger, zijn aan traditionele afdruksystemen, en de kostprijs van een inkjetafdruk kan concurreren met andere afdruktechnieken. Tel daarbij op de in vergelijking met offset lage investering en operating kosten en het rekensommetje is snel gemaakt.
Niet alleen voor drukwerkgiganten
Niet alleen aan de bovenkant van de markt, waar snelle van de rol werkende inkjet systemen gigantische hoeveelheden drukwerk aankunnen, zal deze trend onstuitbaar zijn. Een nieuwe generatie vellen inkjet printers zal zijn weg vinden in landen waar de drukwerkmarkt kleiner is. Die vellen productieprinters zullen grafische ondernemers kansen geven om met een relatief lage investering hun bakens op tijd te verzetten. En dat zal nodig zijn want door hoge automatiseringsgraad die digitaal werken biedt, het inline beschikbaar hebben van meerdere printmedia, de lage kosten van op water gebaseerde inkten plus een breed scala aan online afwerkingsmogelijkheden waarmee productietijden bekort worden zijn de dagen van offset en laserprinters geteld. Je snapt waarom het zaak is deze ontwikkeling nauwlettend te volgen. Te beginnen met projecten zoals HP PageWide en Canon’s Niagara. En niet te vergeten de interessante ontwikkelingen van Screen met zijn TrueJet en Landa met zijn Nanographic.
En het zou ons verbazen als toner bastions zoals Xerox en Ricoh niet met verrassingen zullen komen op het gebied van inkjet, want die techniek lijkt de beste, snelste en goedkoopste manier te zijn om inkt op printmedia te krijgen en de grafische industrie voorgoed te veranderen.
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Last week Trish Witkowski showed a very clever ´fold of the week´ on her site Foldfactory. It was a direct mail campaign which by using a clever folding technique, shows an interactive graphic which is sure to get the readers´ attention. Do you want to know how, look at the video on our video page.
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?’
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