Textiles and ceramic tile printing are the major growth areas for ink jet at the moment, according to speakers at last week’s IMI Europe 19^th European Ink Jet Conference. 

Ink jet textile printing
Dr Alan Hudd of Xennia quoted several sources claiming digital textiles will grow to €1B by 2014, with 52,000 installed base.  Jos Notermans, Business Unit Manager Digital Textiles at Stork Prints believes this will represent around 14% of textile printing.  Akiyoshi Ohno, President of Konica Minolta Inkjet Technologies suggested that the added value by printing in the textile industry is around €40B, with only 1% by value digitised at present.  Mr Ohno spoke in detail about the technology inside the recently announced Nassenger Pro 1000 that has a throughput of over 600 m² per hour and uses 81 newly developed 1024 nozzle aqueous ink printheads with 3 times the drop frequency of previous heads.  He also had a strong message for rival ink suppliers: “Do not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs – let the machine builder and ink jet head vendor survive!”

Ceramic tile printing
Howard Baldwin, VP Sales of Fujifilm Dimatix estimates that there are 10,000 ceramic tile decorating lines worldwide that could benefit from ink jet systems and that 50% will convert by 2015.  Currently there are 600 ink jet print lines installed, with sales in 2012 likely to be 500 more systems at a price of €250,000 - €1M.  Key benefits of ink jet are greater capability, faster response times and less scrappage.  Design changeover time with analogue rotary screen printing is around a day, with run times then around 2-3 weeks to recoup set-up costs.  By comparison, with ink jet every tile can be different.

Memjet
We heard about a couple of disruptive technologies too.  Thomas Roetker, Vice President Engineering at Memjet Labels, gave us an update on the MEMS technology now emerging into products for desk-top (such as media supplier Lomond who will distribute the Evojet product in Europe), wide format and labelling applications, and dubbed the “ultimate printing technology”.  Hinting perhaps at what is to come, Roetker gave an example of how the packaging print industry supply chain is evolving.  He forecasted a diminished role for packaging convertors, replaced by in-house digital printing within manufacturing plants printing packaging on demand.

Waterless ink jet
The other potentially disruptive technology covered during the conference was waterless ink jet from Xerox.  Dr Jeffrey Folkins, Xerox Research Fellow went into some detail describing the ink and system technology inside the CiPress 500.  This launched a debate about whether water-based inks are a good or bad thing, complicated by the very topical issue of deinking.  The answer for the Xerox technology is that it is fully deinkable.

Life cycle analysis of book printing
Stephen Goddard, Environmental Leadership Program Manager, HP Graphic Solutions Business presented results of a life cycle assessment study that they had sponsored.  Around 30% of books in the US are returned to publishers unsold.  Various scenarios were presented, where either the whole run was digitally printed, or the initial printing offset followed by top-up short runs using digital.  In each case the use of ink jet reduced the carbon footprint by between 14-34%.

Recycling and deinking
An area still open for debate is the deinking of ink jet prints, essential as part of the recycling process.  Axel Fischer, Head of Public Relations at INGEDE, the international association for the deinking industry, described the deinking process used by the paper industry.  He claimed that just 2% of current water-based ink jet prints in a recovered paper load was enough to prevent the whole load recyclable for new graphics paper.  By comparison Xerox’s solid inks are readily deinkable.

Other speakers described the latest ink and coatings technologies, curing and drying systems, card, can and sensor printing, RIPs for high-speed printing and the evolution of ink jet for commercial print markets.

Statistics
21 speakers presented at the 19^th Annual European Ink Jet Conference, held 9-11 November, 2011.  Over 110 attended the conference, held in the beautiful surroundings of the Sheraton Lisboa Hotel, Lisbon, Portugal.  Satisfaction rating for the event was 83%, with 93% saying they would recommend IMI Europe’s Ink Jet Conference to colleagues and contacts.

Conference proceedings
Conference proceedings, consisting of copies of all of the presentations, will be available shortly from IMI Europe and orders can be placed via their web site at http://www.imieurope.com.

Photos
A gallery of photos of speakers and the audience are available to download at http://www.imieurope.com/imimages/i_lisbon11/index.html

About IMI
The Information Management Institute runs the largest and most comprehensive conference and seminar programme in the digital printing industry. Each year over 2,000 industry technical and management personnel from over 600 companies attend around 20 events covering all forms of digital printing.

Contacts
Mike Willis, Managing Director, IMI Europe. Telephone: +44 1223 235900
Email: mike@imieurope.com
Web: www.imieurope.com

IMI Europe (Cambridge, UK) and AWA (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) announce that they will co-locate two key ink jet conferences in Lisbon, Portugal in November 2011.  “By bringing together these two events, delegates can gain the best information covering all of the emerging ink jet applications and markets,” says Mike Willis, Managing Director of IMI Europe.

IMI Europe’s 19^th Annual European Ink Jet Conference
November 9-11, 2011
Sheraton Lisboa Hotel, Lisbon, Portugal

As in previous years, the IMI Europe Annual Ink Jet Conference will offer the most up to date information in the industry.  Now in its 19th year, this autumn’s event will feature industry leaders from emerging ink jet markets such as commercial printing, textiles, and product decoration, as well as new component technologies such as print heads, inks and curing systems.

“It is becoming clear that ink jet technology will have a major impact on existing print markets over the next decade” says Mike Willis, Managing Director of IMI Europe.  “Our objective is to identify the emerging technologies and markets, find the best speakers and run the best value events in the industry”.  As well as 20 presentations over 2 days, any delegate is welcome to give a 5 minute talk during the unique Suppliers Forum, and can make use of complimentary display space.

AWA Ink Jet Label & Packaging Print Seminar
November 8-9, 2011
Sheraton Lisboa Hotel, Lisbon, Portugal
Supported by Platinum Sponsor UPM-Kymmene

A new event by AWA, building on their expert knowledge of the important label and packaging industry.  The versatility and flexibility of ink jet printing is creating significant developments, trends, and new applications in the global label and packaging markets.  During this market-oriented, comprehensive seminar (starting on the afternoon of the 8^th and the morning of the 9^th), industry experts will share their knowledge, insights and innovations related to ink jet printing for the label and packaging industry.  Join them to discover how the ink jet print platform can benefit your business in labels and packaging sector.

IMI Ink Jet Academy – Theory of Ink Jet Technology course
November 7-8, 2011
Sheraton Lisboa Hotel, Lisbon, Portugal

A 1 1/2 day comprehensive course describing the latest advances in ink jet and ink technologies, led by Mike Willis of Pivotal Resources & Dr. Alan Hudd of Xennia Technology.  In ten years over 2,000 have attended this broad and up to date introduction to a fast growing technology.

For more information, programme updates and registration visit the IMI website  http://www.imieurope.co

Mike Willis, Managing Director, IMI Europe
mike@imieurope.com,  http://www.imieurope.com

About AWA
AWA Alexander Watson Associates is a global business-to-business market research, publishing, and advisory services company with a unique focus on the specialty packaging, coating, and converting industries.  AWA Conferences & Events was established to expand AWA’s platform of expert services for the specialty packaging, coating, and converting industry and regularly organizes events in these markets, which are particularly valued for the industry networking opportunities they provide, as well as for their in-depth content.

Arie Looije, Senior Conference Coordinator, AWA Conferences & Events
a.looije@awa-bv.com,  www.awa-bv.com

High resolution images (250-400KB JPEGs) can be downloaded by clicking on the previews.

High resolution images (250-400KB JPEGs) can be downloaded by clicking on the previews.

High resolution images (250-400KB JPEGs) can be downloaded by clicking on the previews.

High resolution images (250-400KB JPEGs) can be downloaded by clicking on the previews.

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