From the Sector

• Flexographic printing press includes award-winning SteadyPrint anti-bounce technology

Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC), part of Barry-Wehmiller, has announced the sale of a second Fusion C printing press to Legacy Flexo Corp. in Green Bay. “We are excited to be purchasing a second Fusion C flexographic press,” said Dan Aberly, Operations and Sales, Legacy Flexo. “We’ve experienced a lot of success with our first Fusion C, which has allowed us to offer our customers more efficient runs. The fact that PCMC has been a true partner with us, providing exceptional quality and service, and is local to us were also deciding factors.”

The Fusion C has a smaller footprint with fewer parts, but incorporates many fast make-ready and waste-saving features, including the innovative SteadyPrint technology. Winner of the 2019 FTA Technical Innovation Award, SteadyPrint significantly reduces the effects of bounce when printing graphics with hard edges due to its bearing arrangement, which is coupled with an algorithm utilizing noise-canceling technology. With patents pending on all features, SteadyPrint is currently the only product on the market using this kind of technology to eliminate disturbances and provide real-time monitoring.

All the glamour of fur meets the technology of responsible ISKO™ denim, for a first-of-its-kind concept that provides fashionable and conscious alternatives to furs and other synthetic imitations.

Over the years, ISKO has set out on a journey of innovative firsts consistently providing what the market had been missing. ISKO Wild™, the latest achievement of this long-lasting enterprise and the first-in-the-world denim fur program, is set to impress the industry and revolutionize fashion.

Resulting from ISKO’s Responsible Innovation™ approach based on creativity, competence, and citizenship, ISKO Wild™ reflects the company’s commitment to making both the world and the industry better. This technology does not harm animals nor does it destroy their home. Unlike other imitation furs, it does not release micro plastics into the environment.

With the claim to inspire and delight the fashion world, stakes are high but the concept is a real hit for it represents the perfect combination of glamorous fashion and conscious responsibility.
Despite attempts of imitations ISKO Wild™ is a one-of-a-kind concept in the industry. Available in both Indigo and RFD, featuring cotton and cotton wool blends, this product stands out from a quality, look and performance standpoint.

Innovative cleaning cloth material and solvent formulas reduce environmental impact for offset printers
Baldwin Technology Company Inc. has announced innovations within its PREPAC® Advanced product line of original cleaning consumables. Designed for newspaper, commercial web and sheet-fed presses, the new technologies optimize production time by shortening the cleaning cycle and minimizing waste.

All Baldwin original PREPAC consumables offer pre-impregnated wet cloth rolls with high ink and lint absorption capacity, so printers can achieve cleaning results that are 100 percent accurate with every run. The next generation of PREPAC Advanced consumables features unique and regionalized solvent formulas, as well as a new sophisticated cloth material. Compared to other products on the market, Baldwin’s solutions decrease waste up to 50 percent and can cut cleaning cycles in half, enabling up to 100 extra production hours annually.

“Since its introduction in 1995, PREPAC has remained the top choice for pre-impregnated wet cloth rolls. If it’s not Baldwin, it’s not PREPAC,” explained Tomas Anderbjer, President, Precision Applications, at Baldwin. “With the new PREPAC Advanced consumables, Baldwin once again innovates blanket and impression cylinder cleaning for the print industry, providing technologies that optimize productivity and decrease the impact on the environment.”

Kornit’s Avalanche Poly Pro system “offers the best possible quality” for consumers demanding custom-decorated polyester and poly-blend apparel
January 8, 2020, Englewood, New Jersey – Kornit Digital (Nasdaq: KRNT), a worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, announced that GEAR for Sports, a division of Hanesbrands Inc., has installed a Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro system to supplement previously-implemented Kornit Digital direct-to-garment (DTG) print systems within the company’s Lenexa, Kansas production facility.

GEAR for Sports sells its products under some of the most powerful brands in sportswear, including Under Armour®, Champion®, Alternative Apparel, Hanes, and Gear for Sports®. This compelling portfolio of brands allows GEAR to provide a longstanding history of quality graphics and innovative apparel design, giving customers a single resource for all their sportswear needs. Installing Avalanche Poly Pro, which integrates Kornit’s proprietary NeoPoly print technology with the brand’s production strategy, will enable them to custom-print poly rich garments on demand.

GEAR for Sports has implemented three Kornit DTG print systems in the last two years. Having established a process for delivering imprinted cotton garments on demand, and further answering the voice of its customers, the brand decided to expand these capabilities to polyester and poly-blend pieces.

“We’ve been inviting key customers to our facility to demonstrate what the Poly Pro equipment can do, as we expand our digital printing capability throughout our facility,” said Cindy Olivarez, Director of Operations—Customs and Logistics with GEAR for Sports. “Digital printing is an ever-growing business and is key to our business initiatives. Having the ability to print polyester t-shirts one unit at a time will allow us to gain consumers who want poly rich garments, and Kornit’s Poly Pro system offers the best possible quality to allow GEAR for Sports to expand our direct-to-garment business.”

Sustainable packaging solutions are a hot topic all over the world. Sappi, market leader in innovative packaging barrier and sealable papers, is already producing such solutions and can point to numerous successful examples. Demand from customers and interested parties from a wide spectrum of industries continues to grow. The world’s leading paper and paperboard manufacturer therefore recently added two new grammages to its Sappi Seal range. In addition to the 67 g/m² version, the new 85 g/m² and 100 g/m² papers enable branded goods manufacturers to package an even more extensive variety of products with this functional paper – either as primary or secondary packaging.

The requirements for packaging papers are becoming increasingly demanding. They need to offer greater functionality, be environmentally friendly, recyclable and provide optimal protection for the packaged products. While many paper manufacturers are still talking about such multi-functional solutions, the innovation leader Sappi has already expanded its portfolio. The 85 g/m² and 100 g/m² grammages are now available in the Sappi Seal product family. Converters and manufacturers of food products, such as sugar, tea and confectionery, as well as non-food items, like children’s toys and DIY products, now have even more possibilities to use this functional paper and move from fossil-based materials to environmentally friendly packaging. The wide range of projects that Sappi has already completed for well-known customers, highlight its relevance for the market.

EuroShop, the World’s no.1 Retail Trade Fair, is a must-see fixture for the retail world. From 16 to 20 February it will bring together to the tune of 2,300 exhibitors from over 60 countries with 114,000 trade visitors expected from throughout the world in Düsseldorf. And it is not only an indispensable information platform, trend hotspot and network for retail professionals but it also intensely impacts many other areas and sectors, delivers innovative blue-prints and addresses urgent themes of relevance to the future such as digitalisation, robotics, sustainability or climate neutrality.

The Side Events at EuroShop 2020:
The USPs of EuroShop include not only the extensive ranges of its exhibitors from throughout the world but also the quality and cross-section of its unrivalled line-up of side events.

8 Stages – 600 Speakers – 500 Lectures
The centrepiece of EuroShop are a total of eight Stages. They are lecture and discussion forums with high-calibre speakers addressing the latest developments, innovative trends and best practices amidst the hustle and bustle of the trade fair and accessible for EuroShop visitors free of charge and without prior registration (simultaneously interpreted in German-English or in English only). Boasting a total of 600 speakers and well over 500 expert talks delivered over five trade fair days this accompanying programme offers each trade fair visitor invaluable and right-on-target value added. All Stages at a glance: Retail Technology Stage, Omnichannel Stage, Start-up Stage, Store Design Stage, Retail Designers Stage, Energy Management Stage, Retail Marketing Stage and Expo + Event Stage.

• Focus on Productivity and Efficiency

MS Printing Solutions at the next Heimtextil will focus on presenting textile printing solutions to boost cost-effective and high-quality productions, answering to Industry leaders in home and contract textile who need: productivity, quality and beneficial production process.

Attendees will see a JP4 EVO 3200 printer at work, with Bellagio reactive ink made by JK Group. This is one of MS' solutions which streamlines printing processes, reduces production times and maintenance costs, improving efficiency by:

• making the best use of production buildings, minimizing the space occupied by printers: JP4 EVO is compact and functional.
• taking full advantage of manufacturing-process, reducing downtime therefore improving productivity-performances: JP4 EVO can be fed by external roll unwinder ensuring timing optimization.
• using inks with a custom-made waveform, lowering the most common defects due to the interaction between ink and printheads, improving your productivity and competitiveness

The show will be the occasion for the Technical and Sales Teams to illustrate all details which characterize Minilario.  The printing machine, launched at the last ITMA, is the ideal choice for those searching for: flexibility, quality, speed, energy efficiency and sustainability, all in one.

The 64 print heads installed on the innovative printing carriage allow Minilario to reach the shocking but real printing speed of 18m/min, fitting the Home and contract textile demand of productivity and quality, applying a cost-effective production process.

The show will offer the opportunity to remark MS's sustainability commitment, started with #transparentaswater project based on the 100/90/10 paradigm aimed to engage the whole Textile Printing Industry in a big change. The commitment continued with MS’s adhesion to the “Sustainable Technologies” project launched by ACIMIT which selects textile machinery and systems manufacturers whose production specifications ensure a low environmental impact, combining sustainability and innovation. MS' printing machines may boast “Green Label” as “Suppliers of Sustainable Technologies” (come and visit us to go deeply inside our sustainability commitment).

A successful autumn season for Sappi at a collection of trade fairs, with exceptional interest shown in innovative packaging papers

Sappi Europe has presented its solutions for sustainable, future-oriented packaging at three trade fairs in the past few weeks. The globally operating paper specialist’s extensive product range has been serving as a benchmark in the industry for years and now includes the functional barrier papers from the Sappi Guard family, the sealable packaging paper Sappi Seal and the folding boxboard Atelier. The showcasing of innovations in sustainable packaging papers will continue at interpack in Düsseldorf in May 2020.

“Environmentally friendly packaging” was the first leading theme of FachPack, which, according to Messe Nürnberg, really had its finger on the pulse. This theme also was given top priority by visitors that were attracted to the Sappi stand, by its wide range of innovative and sustainable application solutions.

Huge demand for specific projects
Almost fifty per cent more branded goods manufacturers, converters, established customers and interested parties visited the FachPack stand in Nuremberg compared to the previous year – with specific projects in mind. For those planning to replace composite packaging with a paper-based solution with integrated functionality, Sappi presented its Sappi Guard barrierpapers and highlighted some related best practice references. This included the packaging solution for a new nut-fruit bar, recently introduced to the market, from a well-known brand manufacturer. The Sappi Guard range includes Sappi Guard M and Sappi Guard MS with a mineral oil barrier (MOB) and a grease barrier of Kit 11 or Kit 7. All Guard papers guarantee very high product safety and can be completely recycled. The integrated heat sealability was the focus of the development of Sappi Seal. René Köhler, Head of Business Development Packaging and Speciality Papers at Sappi, says: “Reducing the consumption of fossil resources in packaging is a major concern for Sappi. On this account, we developed Sappi Seal, a functional paper with integrated heat sealing functionality which is integrated in the form of a dispersion coating on the reverse side of the paper and can replace papers with a PE coating.” Sappi presented a wide range of successfully completed projects in order to demonstrate the specific application of this paper to the trade fair visitors.

Since 2018 the CHT Group has broken new ground in communication with BeSoEFFECTIVE. Complex chemical interrelations are translated into simple and hardly technical words in combination with stylistically clear pictures.

The Best Solutions ”BeSo“ were specifically tailored to the communication with the target group of textile brands and retailers and do therefore not only appeal classic B2B clients but are also visible and comprehensible for end consumers of textile goods. The agency RTS Rieger Team from Leinfelden-Echterdingen that had already supported the new brand identity of the CHT Group in 2017 assisted CHT again in developing and creating the BeSoEFFECTIVE concept. One year after its publication, the communication concept has now achieved great success. BeSoEffective was honoured with the GWA Effie Award 2019 in bronze in Frankfurt am Main on 14th November.

Since 1981 the Effie has been awarded for efficiency in marketing communication by the Gesamtverband Kommunikationsagenturen GWA (general association of communication agencies). It’s not exclusively the convincing look or content of campaigns that is honoured by the jury of experts with the GWA Effie Award but it’s rather the proven success and efficiency of such ideas and campaigns. By using the BeSoEFFECTIVE communication the CHT Group has so far increased the brands’ & retailers’ demand for innovative effects by about 30 %.

with CHT products are put in a nutshell by BeSoEFFECTIVE. The brand promise BeSo (”Best Solution“) is supplemented by an effect name deriving from the corresponding functionality – BeSoCOOL, BeSoFRESH or BeSoSMOOTH. Thus, each effect of the portfolio is given a uniform yet individual branding and a clear structure. The functionality of each effect is supplemented by pronounced and symbolic pictures which visually stress the benefits.

Eric Knehr, Head of Brand & Retail Service of the CHT Group states: “To us its of utmost importance to speak our target group’s language. Therefore, our BeSoEFFECTIVE campaign focuses on a clear communication with unique pictures and a uniform effect branding. Our customers’ positive reactions and this award prove, that our strong concept optimally supports our daily work as well as market and customer demands. However, it also puts the excellent performance of our innovative and sustainable effects into the right light."

• Acquisition drives market growth
• Additional sales channel for BASF customers and partners
• Access to new materials and technologies for customers of BASF and Sculpteo

To continue to expand its position as a leading service provider in the additive manufacturing sector, BASF New Business GmbH has formally agreed to acquire the online 3D printing service provider Sculpteo. The agreement was signed on November 14, 2019 and is expected to become effective in the next few weeks pending regulatory approval by the relevant authorities. The acquisition of the French 3D printing specialist based in Paris and San Francisco will enable BASF 3D Printing Solutions GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF New Business GmbH, to market and establish new industrial 3D printing materials more quickly. Sculpteo’s management team fully supports the acquisition and will remain in place to provide customers and partners with this expanded service spectrum.

For around a decade already, Sculpteo has operated an online platform with integrated production for the manufacturing of prototypes, individual objects, and serial production components with a range of different additive manufacturing technologies. Customers in various industrial sectors around the world use the Sculpteo service to produce new components rapidly and reliably.

BASF will develop the existing Sculpteo 3D printing platform further into a global network. For customers and partners, BASF 3D Printing Solutions will thus be able to offer an additional channel for marketing their services and expanding their own customer bases.

"Through the acquisition of Sculpteo, we can provide customers and partners with even faster access to our innovative 3D printing solutions. In addition, our customers will benefit from an extended range of services”, explains Dr. Dietmar Bender, Managing Director BASF 3D Printing Solutions. “Together with Sculpteo, we are pursuing our goal of establishing additive manufacturing as a proven technology for industrial mass production", says Bender.

Combining the strengths of both companies will provide Sculpteo's existing customers with access to a more extensive portfolio of 3D printing materials. "We are excited to join the BASF team and thus benefit from BASF’s outstanding R&D to provide our customers with innovative solutions”, says Clément Moreau, CEO and Co-Founder of Sculpteo. Moreau will stay with Sculpteo as CEO.

Beyond this, the Sculpteo Design Studio and BASF’s technical experts will collaborate to be able to support customers in their 3D printing projects from the early planning phase right through to the final printed part. This will enable BASF to offer its customers end-to-end industrial 3D printing solutions.