See Part 1

In the first part of this article we described SGIA’s evolution as a printing technology show, and why it is now important to include finishing solutions, in order to sell more digital presses of all kinds, for graphic images. This year, the printer manufacturers certainly behaved as if they now understood this need.

Durst Phototechnik AG captured a great deal of attention. Their flatbed printer was handily moving and printing and stacking 4 X 8 foot foam core boards being printed with what would become color display graphics. They were then moving the stacks to a digital finishing solution, i-cut, supplied by Mikkelsen Graphic Engineering, and cut into 3 pieces used to make a standing point of purchase like product.

Just down the aisle from Durst was HP, showing their smallest Indigo digital color press (not wide format ink jet), the s2000, printing graphics and short run packaging. In their demonstration they were taking business cards from the attendees, entering them into a viable database and then instantly printing on polycarbonate with the image of an overlay of a speedometer that had each persons name printed on individual graphic objects. They then moved the printed polycarbonate sheets of speedometers to another MGE i-cut system where they were immediately digitally cut. At the end of the presentation each attendee was handed a cut polycarbonate piece to look like a speedometer, printed as well with their name.