Discussion

By Thomas Schildgen on Apr 04, 2016

Frank,

I could not have said it better, aside from the technological advancements and the efforts to make nanography environmentally sustainable from the git-go, you put Benny Landa in the company of inventors such as Bell and Edison. You so aptly highlighted his revolutionary contributions to the printing industry, as having redefined image transfer for the second time. We in the education side of this industry need to identify his accomplishments with Johannes Gutenberg, Alois Senefelder, and Karl Kli?. This is a true wake-up call for those that are still holding the heavy iron in the industry.

Thomas Schildgen
Arizona State University

By HENRY HUNT on Apr 04, 2016

Having been fortunate enough to be employed by an employer who supports that we keep up on technology, and attend DRUPAs and Graph Expos alike, and still salivating since 2012 to see this technology unleashed, we an in-plant for a large IGO are looking forward to queuing for entrance tickets and the next “game changer” from a true visionary of the industry we all know and love.

By Andrew Tribute on Apr 04, 2016

This is an interesting discussion as to where Benny sits in the line up of key innovators. Benny Landa has been one of the great innovators and marketeers of this industry. I was first associated with him in 1992 before Indigo was announced. It has been fascinating seeing how he has been a driving force in the industry for more than twenty years, first with Indigo and now with Landa. One must also not forget that he was a major influence on printing with his first patents in the liquid toner business that were licensed by a number of companies.

There are however many other great innovators that we must also consider in any greats line up. Before Benny's technologies could be of use we had first to become a digital industry and two other great innovators changed the industry between the 1950s and 70s. These were Dr Ing Rudolf Hell and John Crosfield. They brought images and colour into the digital world. Later another great israeli, Efi Arazi pushed digital color into more areas that helped start the digital press market. Don't forget however how Gary Starkweather introduced the high speed digital printer while at Xerox Parc, and then brought colour management into the mainstream with Apple.

As well as being a great innovator, Benny has also been the great showman, and no doubt this situation will be further advanced at the forthcoming drupa. I first attended drupa in 1977 and have been to every drupa since then. It is shame that this year I will not be at drupa and will miss seeing the release of the Nanographic presses. It has been a great achievement for Benny and his team to take the concepts of 2012 and turn them into what may be the great game changer for the industry. It will be fascinating to see Landa and Heidelberg both introducing B1 digital presses using the same Fujifilm inkjet technology, but different approaches to laying the ink onto the substrate. This should really show if Nanographic printing is a good as it has been made out to be.