Tech

At the Print®18 in Chicago, we got a chance to meet with International Sales Director Arwin Van Oostveen from DJM Inkjet Solutions who produces Inkjet solutions for Direct Marketing. Based on printheads developed by other major suppliers, they build solutions that tailor into the growing market of personalization. DJM Inkjet Solution already has customers in the US but this was the first time they exhibited and as far as we understand they were​ very happy with the feedback they got from the US market. But see the film, like, and share.

For the 8th time, OnPrintShop is exhibiting at Print/GraphExpo and COO Dharmesh Acharya is excited. Web-to-Print is still a hot subject though less represented at Print18 compared to previous years. This doesn't stop COO Dharmesh Acharya to be excited about both the market potential, the future, and of course, the Red Hot Award which was given to the company's newly re-launched Photobook Plugin. Dharmesh Acharya believes in the market and explains in this video that personalized and photo-based products have a bright future - and we believe him. Watch, listen​ and share.

In this INKISH film, we visit an amazing packaging printing company in the southern part of France - Autajon/Haubtmann. Autajon is huge global printing group with 36 sites in Europe, in the US, and in Asia - and the reason for our visit is due to their recent investment in the Highcon Beam. For those who don't know the Beam - it's an industrial grade Laser Die Cutting machine that can do creases, die-cuttings, half-cuts, and combinations of above at a speed of up to 5.000 sheets per hour. The actual speed depends on the complexity of the die-cut but pretty fast and in amazing quality. Plant Manager Xavier Boutevillain explains why they did this investment and also how they see the need for machines like the Beam in a changing market. Smaller print runs, faster setup time, more complex designs are just a few of the challenges Haubtmann is now ready to work with. What is of course, also interesting is to see the Beam in a working environment with huge Heidelberg machines, Bobst machines, Glueing machines, and more - and apparently fits so well into this mix of equipment. It was great to get the chance to meet the team from Haubtmann and I hope you enjoy the film. It was sponsored by Highcon - so thank you also to Highcon for this opportunity - and as usual - we did film the way we wanted it to be done - always on YOUR side. Watch, Like, Share - thank you!

Maybe you remember, but back at DRUPA 2016, Enfocus announced a really interesting initiative called X-treme Switchover. The X-treme Switchover is a project that elects a printing company to get a free implementation of a workflow based on Enfocus Switch and, the lucky printing company who got this is Sign-Age in Clearwater, FL, USA. After Sign-Age was picked last year INKISH was invited to follow the requirements phase, the implementation phase and the 'after go-live' phase to document the ups/downs of this process. Almost a year ago we published the first film where you see the requirements phase and where we speak to different people at the company about what to expect. A year later the implementation is still on-going, but as both President Linda Levitan and Vice President Michael Quigley explains, is not because of difficulties or obstacles, but more because the company simply have been too busy. At the same time, Clearwater was hard hit by a hurricane which both gave power problems as well as extra work replacing signs. In this film, we speak to various stakeholders and here a year after results are starting to show and the staff is really positive. From an INKISH perspective, we find it interesting to see for several reasons. One is the positive response from staff. Second is the continued high expectations from management - and last and more from our perspective, how modest the demands are and what a huge impact it already has on the company. When Sign-Age discover how much more Enfocus Switch can do I am certain that they will appreciate their solution even more. Take a look and enjoy!

In this film, we visit Albelli in Den Haag in The Netherlands. We are together with Scott More and Sagen De Jonge from Tilia Labs who are sponsoring this episode. Albelli is one the major photoproduct printer in Europe and we are visiting them because they are using Tilia Labs Phoenix to impose. Albelli chose to work with Tilia Labs since they invested in a new HP Indigo 50000 - the first in Europe - and wanted to impose their photobooks into multi-lanes in order to use the current binding equipment. With the efficiency of Phoenix, they are now able to utilize the Indigo-Work-Horse to the fullest and not only does that require handling of huge PDF files (up to 20gb) but also to handle imposition in reverse order, since the reels have to be handled afterward in existing binding equipment. So two stories could be told - but there is more to it. Albelli is automating as much as they can and one of the requirements was to have an imposition software that could be handled via an API. Using an API enable Albelli IT to integrate all the imposition processes directly into their workflow which gives Albelli huge advantages in their workflow. A fantastic story in a fantastic printing company, and with ​amazing software done by crazy nice people. Thank you for the opportunity to shoot this film and thank you for your support!

Oliver Luedtke is the European Marketing Director for Kornit Europe GmbH. At Fespa 2018 in Berlin, we got the chance to talk to him about the huge potential he sees in digitally printed textile. Kornit produces textile printers able to print on practically every textile without priming and with waterbased and organic inks. The potential is huge and Oliver Luedtke explains that the potential to use digital technology to the greater good for the world from an environmental perspective is now a possibility. Enjoy the film.

swissQprint is according to Infosource one of the leading large-format print vendors in Europe and when you look at the interest in their products this seems to be correct. In this interview recorded at FESPA 2018 in Berlin, Product Manager Maurus Zeller tell that swissQprint is both more expensive but also at the same time much better. Take a look at this film and let us know what you think. Whenever we go to international exhibitions the swissQprint machines deliver an unparalleled quality.

Most people know that Greece has been in a crisis but I am quite sure that most people are not even aware of how big this crisis was and even how much it influenced all aspects of the Greek society. In this episode, we visit a unique packaging printer, family-owned printing company Stathatos and hear the story about how they took the chance and invested their way out of the crisis. Their solution was LED-UV delivered by AMS Spectral UV - this story is quite interesting. Enjoy!

A portrait of Litka Dalgaard Jespersen and her company Dakabo. She's a Danish bookbinder with a special niche. Litka has won several international prices for her outstanding work in the graphical and printing industry. Watch the interview and the magnificient vintage machines that's operating at the facilities in Roskilde, close to Copenhagen, Denmark. Also a lot of the products is made by hand.

Glunz & Jensen is one of the worlds leading developers of CTP equipment for offset and flexoprint. Glunz & Jensen headquarter is just 25 minutes away from INKISH.TV - so what would be more natural than to pay them a visit. We did and what an amazing company. With more than 50.000 installations world wide and a global user base, Glunz & Jensen have proven their business model over the past 40 years.

Patrick George from PrintSites explains in this INKISH.TV film about PrintSites - one of the rather large e-commerce exhibitors at GraphExpo 2016. PrintSites have taken SaaS solutions a step further and also help their customers with first-line customer support. This is truly great and new in our opinion. As usual, please watch, Like and Share.

This episode was recorded a long time ago - not because we didn't find it interesting, but since we wanted to be able to explain ebeam technology as good as we could. In the video Business Development Manager, Elsa Callini, and VP Global Sales, Karl Swanson explains the technology and the potential of the new closed loop ebeam retrofitting solution the company offers.

Luc Augustinus is head of Business Development for Peleman Industries in Belgium and if that doesn't ring a bell for you, it may be because they are way more known for their Unibind products. At Argos Inspiration Days in Brussels, we got the chance to talk to Luc Augustinus about their latest invention - the Vpaper Tower. The Vpaper Tower is a machine that adds a double crease to a paper making it possible to use in Lay-flat bound products, like photo-books, textbooks and well - pretty much every application you can think of. Take a look at the video and see for yourself what Vpaper is all about.!

Filip Roose got roots in the printing. industry and together with his brother and father they started developing Slimbox some time ago - and now Slimbox is available - and in our humble opinion worth the wait. Take a look at Slimbox and listen to CEO Filip Roose - recorded at Argos Inspiration Days in Brussels.

Mark Hinder is head of Market Development for Konica Minolta and for those who follow him on LinkedIn and other channels you find a professional with a great passion for the inkjet machine he represents. Konica Minolta introduced their AccurioJet KM-1 at DRUPA, and since then numerous installations have been installed globally. At the recent Print Next 18 event in Stockholm, we got the chance to talk with Mark Hinder about KM-1, Dot Freeze Technology, Market and more - watch and enjoy these 10 minutes of knowledge and pure passion!

At the recent SPICY Talks in Amsterdam Don Schminkey from Channel-Fusion was one of the participants. We got the chance to talk to him, and as a relatively new client with CHILI Publish he explains how great the software has been for Channel-Fusion and their customers.

Roland DG has always been considered a work-horse and in the upper segment of their segment and at Argos Inspiration Days we got the chance to talk to Business Development Manager Jeroen Kooij from Roland DG Benelux. In this short film, you can the amazing products and what opportunities i.e. the VersaUV offer printing companies and their customers.

The Danish online media printogmedier.dk did a test/review of various digital foiling solutions. The film is a short review of the event in Danish - an article in English will follow up on this shortly on LinkedIn.

Most printers are looking for ways to increase their productivity and with software from US-based OpenSoft, the chances have become greater. DaVinci is a software where customers can preview their designs with varnishes and foils. Really cool. OpenSoft is also the developers of Scissorhands - a unique software to increase productivity on your guillotine. At Argos Inspiration Days in Brussels, we got a chance to talk to Eric Ninane who is the Sales Manager of OpenSoft in Europe. Enjoy!

Recently the Federation of Printers in Denmark, Grakom, and Medit Consult - a highly acclaimed consulting company in the graphics industry hosted a one day conference about 'Automation and Workflow.' One of the speakers was Freddy Pieters from Enfocus. We got the chance to catch up with him during one of the breaks and spoke about the un-released potential for many printers. Workflow is one of the major topics in the global printing industry so always good to hear an opinion from one of the market leaders. Enjoy!

Tilia Labs is one of our favorite companies in the printing industry for many reasons. One is, of course, the amazing products they do - and as you already may know - their products are all about imposition, nesting, and planning. Their flagship Phoenix is a truly versatile product that not only has a great user interface but maybe more important also feature a REST API. Many printers may not know what this is but very short; this is the interface (for programmers) that enables your MIS, ERP, Web-to-Print, what-ever software to connect and utilize the strength of the Tilia Labs Phoenix software. The second reason why we really like this company is that of Sagen de Jonge and Scott More. The two owners are simply nice hanging out with. Their drive, motivation, and personality are just great and when you listen to the two owners, friends and brothers in arms they talk about coding, technology, market, and teaser often each other with comments that to regular​ people is just, well - secret codes? We got to know Sagen and Scott when we did the film at The Bernard Group, and we really would like you to know them too.

Highcon is one of the many Israeli companies in the printing industry that keeps re-inventing not only the print industry but the very change in how we see the market. In this film, we talk to Executive Vice President Eitan Varon and Product Manager Limor Elias about the market in general and of course laser-die-cutting and Highcon in particular. Enjoy.