This morning Screen held their drupa 2008 press conference. After touching on the fact that Screen is the "number one supplier of CtP in the world." the company spent a majority of their conference highlighting new print on-demand systems which the company calls "an exciting new era" for them.

Updated and New Equipment and Workflows

The company announced updates to its Truepress Jet520. These include: increased speeds of 1680 A4 pages per minute (1200 48pp tabloids per hour); reduced ink consumption; and a new entry level machine at 32 meters per minute. The Truepress Jet520 continues to use Epson's Piezo Drop On Demand inkjet print heads.

The Truepress JetSX is a new system from Screen. The JetSX is the "first full color sheetfed inkjet press." Screen is targeting commercial printers that require the flexibility of a cut sheet press to meet mixed stock application requirements.The company is not disclosing the inkjet print head technology used in the JetSX.

A technology demonstration from the show is a 600 dpi UV print head assembly that is capable of imaging 55 meters per minute on a wide range of substrates including PET.

2 Workflows Divided

Screen is bringing a new workflow system to market to drive its digital printing systems. The workflow called equiosnet is a separate workflow from the companies successful Trueflownet workflow system. One surprise for me and many in the audience was Screen's decision to have two separate workflows: Trueflownet for offset and the new equiosnet for digital printing. The surprise this strategy bucks the trend others companies are taking to offer an integrated offset and digital. According to Tim Taylor, Marketing Manager, Screen Europe, Screen sees the two workflows eventually merging, but they will remain separate for the foreseeable future.