Print Geeks

PRINT GEEKS

The WhatTheyThink Print Geeks section focuses on the inner-workings of the processes and technology used to create print in today’s ever-changing industry. Thought leadership and educational content focuses on print production workflow, color management and process control. Print Geeks is a place where ideas on technical and operational process concepts are presented, exchanged, and debated. ••••

Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Frontline.io

Mary Schilling talks with Itzhak Pichadze, CEO of Frontline.io, about how AI is being integrated into the printing industry. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Epson

Mary Schilling talks with Kan Igarashi, Director of IJS for Epson, about the company’s new innovative printhead. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Kelenn

Mary Schilling talks with Anais Bianchi, Industrial Project Manager for Kelenn Technology, about their system for producing printed electronics and all the various fluids with which it is compatible. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: NSE LED

Mary Schilling talks with Flavio Rocca from NSE LED about the company’s modular and easy to use LED panels for dynamic digital displays. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Ricoh Auto Color Adjuster

Mary Schilling talks with Mark C. Little, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing for Ricoh Graphic Communication, about the Ricoh Auto Color Adjuster, an advanced color matching solution. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: IN-LOG/GAMMERLER

Mary Schilling talks with Klaus Kalthoff, Senior Vice President Global for IN-LOG/GAMMERLER, about the company’s finishing systems for book, magazine, or newspaper printing. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Koster

Mary Schilling talks to Vlad Stoenescu, Sales Director for Koster, a manufacturer of counting machines that make counting money sexy. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Pratham Technologies

Mary Schilling talks with Datta Deshpande, CEO of Pratham Technologies, about the company’s unique folding solution for pharmaceutical packaging. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Barberan

Mary Schilling talks with Isaac Contreras, Technical Manager, Barberan about the company's solutions for inkjet printing on flooring. The Jetmaster series is able to print on wood, paper, PVC and a variety of plastics. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: KAVALAN

Mary Schilling continues her quest for cool and talks with Rob Karpenko, European Sales Director, KAVALAN about the company's environmentally friendly banner products. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Adphos

Mary Schilling talks with John Palazzolo, Director of Marketing and Sales for Adphos, about a new technology that can dry any ink on any substrate. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: wallPen

Mary Schilling and Isabel Nold, Media Designer & Magazine, wallPen, talk about the innovative wallPen. This tool prints directly on any medium at a 90-degree angle. The product's unique features include laser dots and bidirectional printing. The tool uses UV curing ink, offers a CMYK color system and can print on various surfaces, including curved walls. Watch Video

Cool Tools: Massivit

Mary Schilling meets Erez Zimerman, CEO of Massivit, at drupa 2024 to discuss their 3D printing offerings like the Massivit 3000 and the Massivit 10000-G, a fast production printer using gel and capable of creating thermoforming tools. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Konica Minolta

Mary Schilling talks with Class Bickeböller, Product Manager Graphic Arts, about the company's Myiro products tailored for the industrial sector. The product line addresses color measurement challenges, offers software solutions for color management, and uses hyperspectral camera technology. It can be customized to meet customer needs and analyze color differences. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: BW Converting

Mary Schilling talks with Jordan Koplien, Electrical Engineer at BW Converting, to introduce the Meridian Elite laser cleaner. The Meridian, an analog cleaning system, is used in flexo and inkjet processes to ensure print quality and color accuracy. It uses a patented rotary scanner for fast cleaning cycles, with cleaning speed depending on the roll's dimensions and cleaning type. The Meridian also features a built-in microscope for on-machine verification. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Mimaki

Mary Schilling chats with Marc Verbeem, Supervisor Product Management, Mimaki, about a greenfield concept for fabric printing, de-inking, and pollution reduction. This video showcases Mimaki's new Neo-Chromato process that transforms sublimation ink into gas for de-inking printed fabric. The technology, which can be applied with a dispenser, holds potential for larger machines and re-inking shirts. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Ricoh

Mary Schilling and Jason Remnant, Strategic Business Development Manager Industrial Print Solutions, Ricoh, introduce Ricoh's innovative approach to ink and printhead compatibility. They showcase the Ricoh Media Free Test System, a solution to optimize applications and reduce paper waste. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Taktiful

Mary Schilling makes her way to the Taktiful booth at drupa in her Cool Tools journey to talk with Kevin Abergel, President and Founder. Together, they highlight the need for software that enables designers to visualize embellishments. They also discuss the challenges in digital embellishment design and introduces Taktitful's software tools. He underscores the importance of understanding market pricing and aims to improve the digital embellishment industry. Taktiful plans to offer free licenses and training to universities to educate upcoming designers. Watch Video

Cool Tools: Koenig & Bauer Durst at drupa

Mary Schilling talks with Daniel Velema, Managing Director, Koenig & Bauer Durst, and Wolfgang Knotz, Managing Director, Durst Austria, about the significance of white ink on corrugated substrates, emphasizing its role in enhancing print quality and versatility. They discuss the benefits of digital water base white ink, including its food safety features and compatibility with printing speeds. The conversation also covers the expanded color options achieved with white ink, the SPC 130's print head technology, and the design possibilities offered by white ink. Watch Video

Cool Tools at drupa: Global Graphics Software

Mary Schilling talks with David Stevenson, Product Manager, Global Graphics Software, about their solution for data streaming issues in high-speed roll-to-roll inkjet devices at drupa 2024. The discussion revolves around the Smart DFE, an OEM offering for printer manufacturers, the role of AI in driving RIP at rated speed and the benefits of this approach, such as estimating processing time and speeding up operations. Watch Video

Cool Tools: PitSid at drupa

Mary Schilling and Thomas Kaulitz, Managing Director, PitSid about their solution for automating registration control. They discuss new assistance management solution that combines automation and robotics. The system, which includes measurement tools and robots, is used for printing sample sheets, analyzing print quality, and checking registration. Watch Video

Commentary & Analysis

New (Free) Color Library

Chromaspot is a new universal color library available to the industry to communicate color references. Read More

An Expert Looks Back at Offset’s Progress from Art to Craft to Science

Once, the only consistent thing about offset lithography was its inconsistency. Harvey Levenson explains how testing, testing, and more testing stabilized the process and optimized its results. Read More

Testing AI Image Generation for Personalized Packaging

We’ve written about AI image creation before, but this technology is always improving. Particularly for business use. Even traditional stock sites like iStock are offering their own options for AI-generated art. Read More

How Offset Ink Rises to the Challenge of High-Output Print Production

Technical advancements in offset lithographic ink typically don’t attract much notice. But they’re real, and they are as essential to quality as everything else that goes into offset litho presswork. Read More

How to Make a Non-Standard Ink Set Conform to Standard: The Difference Between 2D Curves and 3D Profiles

It is critical to compensate for the differences in your particular papers and inks compared to the color standard you’re trying to match. Print Geek Dan Gillespie of Alder Color Solutions outlines how effectively using color science/software is the most accurate and efficient way to reach the tightest conformance achievable. Read More

The Best Color Management Training Options

Alder Color Solutions’ Dan Gillespie details the resources available for print businesses to become more knowledgeable about color and color management. Read More

Color, Your Brand, and Display Graphics: How Your Clients Perceive You Through Color

In today’s world of digital and mixed analog technologies, it can be difficult to get consistent color from different platforms. Marty Davis, President of Alder Color Solutions, explains the importance of ensuring color consistency across small- and wide-format graphics. Read More

What You See Is What You Get. Or Not.

We’ve all been told not to rely on the color we see on our monitors because it’s not accurate. Most of the time that’s true, because most people don’t have capable devices or those devices configured properly. Dan Gillespie, Director of Technical Services at Alder Color Solutions, compares two monitors and explains how the accuracy of a display is a function of color gamut. Read More

Expanding Your Gamut By Limiting Your Ink

Does limiting your ink sound counterproductive to creating an expanded color gamut? Over-inking is a common problem seen in the printing world, and especially when it comes to printing on fabrics. Alder Color Solutions’ G7 expert and color IT specialist Bill Owen explains how this misconception can wreak havoc for printers looking to optimize their gamut. Read More

Why Color Is a Management Issue

In this article, sponsored by Alder Color Solutions, Marty Davis, President of Alder Color Solutions, explains how and why color management affects profitability and why upper management should be concerned and involved. Read More

The Print Geeks: Color Control 101

Highlights of a recent Print Geeks webinar in which resident geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek of ColorCasters were joined by contributor Dan Gillespie of Alder Color Solutions to discuss five common areas where color management fails in the world of inkjet printing. Read More

Where Design Color and Textile Printing Interconnect, the Workflow Must Be Digital

As digital workflow increasingly makes its way into the textiles & apparel supply chain, how do you simplify the complex process that carries a creative piece of artwork through print production? That’s the question that Debbie McKeegan, textiles expert and WhatTheyThink contributor, addresses in this article. Read More

The Two Approaches to Prepress that Could Have an Impact on Your Bottom Line

The time it takes to prepare a job for digital print depends on many variables: the type of application, job complexity, number of pages, quality standards, and of course, the type of systems you have in place to automate and enable all of these. This article, sponsored by HP and written by HP Indigo's “Workflow Chef” Gershon Alon, looks at prepress and what it means for your bottom line. Read More

Association Insights—Getting to Know the Ghent Workgroup

The Ghent Workgroup (GWG) is an international organization made up of graphic arts experts, users, hardware and software vendors as well as educational members building best practices for print and packaging workflows. David Zwang highlights the accomplishments the organization has achieved over the past 20 years, expanding beyond its initial goals. Read More

Show Me the Money: Making Print Secure

Printing is a valuable and versatile platform that provides methods of communication, identification, even interaction. However, what happens when you need your printing secure or validated? David Zwang looks at today’s options. Read More

Can Measuring OEE Improve Your Productivity?

It seems like everyone is talking about “OEE” these days. This article, sponsored by HP and written by HP Indigo's "Workflow Chef" Gershon Alon, explains how OEE is a standard way to measure the “overall equipment effectiveness” of a manufacturing process—in this case, the printing process. Read More

Automation for the Win!

Automation is the next step in a successful future. It enables print service providers to tackle a growing number of print orders with the greatest efficiency and accuracy. Beyond having financial and practical benefits, it can be yet another differentiator that helps organizations stand apart from their competitors. This article discusses the most common benefits of automation and offers insights into how to overcome the challenges associated with implementing it. Read More

APTech Brings Research, Standards and Education to 2021

Association for PRINT Technologies (APTech) President Thayer Long details APTech’s latest developments, and discusses the programs, events, and other services the association has planned for 2021. Read More

Prepress Automation Made Easy

If you have taken the first steps to automating your workflow, you will have seen significant benefits from software you had likely already invested in. In this article, sponsored by EFI and the second in a series, explores how to take your workflow automation to the next level by examining your prepress operation to uncover bottlenecks that require extra labor and slow the production process. Read More

Taking Color Management to the Next Dimension

Color Management is the critical part of any reproduction process, especially as it relates to brand identity. We have good tools today, but as print applications expand beyond conventional media—for example, to packaging and industrial applications—we are starting to outgrow them. Read More