Benny’s Back! – drupa Snooper World Exclusive!
Andy McCourt kicks a stunner in his 2nd drupa Snooper column with news on Benny Landa. The Indigo founder will launch new nanographic digital printing technologies at drupa – exactly 100 days away from today.
Benny Landa – the recognised father of modern digital colour printing – will be one of drupa’s larger exhibitors and, at 1,400m2, the largest first-time exhibitor ever, when he unveils the fruits of years of secretive R&D at the huge Düsseldorf trade fair opening on May 3rd. Landa Corporation, encompassing Landa Labs Ltd, Landa Ventures Ltd and the Landa Fund, is entirely privately financed by Mr Landa. My prediction is that it will be the talk of the show so mark your dance card for Hall 9 where Landa Corp will no doubt be causing traffic management problems, as did Indigo at Ipex 1993.
So what have Mr Landa and his clever colleagues (reportedly 70+ PhD boffins plus former HP and Kodak staffers) in Israel come up with this time? Let’s start with the ‘official’ media statement, understandably brief for a company wishing to protect its secrets until the last minute:
Following the acquisition of Indigo by HP ten years ago, Indigo founder Benny Landa (pictured - courtesy of Calcalist magazine, Israel) established Landa (Corp), which has been developing next-generation digital printing technology. Called “Digital Nanographic Printing”, this unique printing process, which employs Landa's proprietary nano-pigment inks (Landa NanoInks), imparts exceptional qualities to the digitally printed output and will enable game changing press performance. Landa Digital Nanographic Printing Presses target mainstream commercial, packaging and publishing markets. Landa’s line up of digital printing presses will be unveiled at drupa 2012.
So it appears we will see a range of new digital presses employing new inks – but what is ‘nanographic printing?’ Is it printing pictures of your grandmother, or micro-images on pinheads? No, it refers to the way in which the ink or liquid toner is constructed.
What is nano?
The nanometre-scale measures in units of one billionth of a metre, whereas the micron or μ scale measures in units of one-millionth of a metre. To put this into perspective, the average human hair is around 24 microns thick. Toner particles used in many dry toner-based digital presses are between 3 and 12 microns across, depending on whether they are mechanically milled or chemically ‘grown’ such as with Xerox’s recent EA (emulsion aggregation) toners. Landa NanoInks, according to a source close to Landa, are ‘unique and proprietary technology.’ It seems Landa’s scientists have found a way of creating pigment particles between one and forty nm in size. The patents have only just been applied for through patent attorneys, IP Harrison of London.
The nanoscale is well known in colour management as being the unit of measurement of light-waves; the visible spectrum typically being between 390 and 750 nm wavelengths. Where particles are concerned, true nanotechnology is said to begin with the ability to create and control particles below 100nm in diameter. That’s about 0.1 μ (microns) – very small indeed and with the promise of controlling particles at the molecular and even atomic level. Nanotechnology is not just about making finer particles, but being able to control the attributes of those particles, which are smooth, round or ovoid, rather than jaggy and irregular like milled pigments.
Imagine one kilogram of basketballs next to one kilogram of ping-pong balls. The total surface area of approximately four hundred ping-pong balls will be far greater than less than two basketballs (official NBA weight is 624g). This over-simplified example is a clue to one of the benefits of nanopigments – you have more surface area work with and it can even be nano-coated to control diffraction and reflection. And, when carried in a fluid, you will use less ink.
Landa NanoInk makes use of these ultra-fine nanoscale pigments to create digital inks with the stated ‘exceptional qualities.’ What these qualities are will not be revealed until closer to drupa but if they follow typical benefits of nanoscale pigments, they may be:
• Much broader colour gamut
• Less ink used for the same visual effect
• Ability to incorporate electronic capabilities into the printed page - ‘conductive paper.’
• Very high security potential for brand packaging and banknote printing, since the ink itself can be ‘personalised.’
• Imparting of special effects normally requiring offline specialized finishing, e.g. fluorescing, metallising, MICR, raised printing etc.
• Keying into almost any substrate.
Ink needs presses and Landa Corp will be unveiling a complete line up of them on its drupa exhibit area. Not much is known about them at this stage except they will be digital and use Landa NanoInk. The implication, by no means certain, drawn from an Israeli business magazine Calcalist, is that the presses could be inkjet since applications are ‘from billboards to packaging.’ It’s a brave man who would launch totally new presses into today’s market environment, but courage mixed with determination, has never been absent from Landa’s adventures in the graphic arts.
Landa beyond printing
There are other applications for Nano-scale technologies and Landa Corporation is embracing these with a vision well beyond the graphic arts. Indeed, the discovery of NanoInk was a by-product of other research. One of these is thermal energy cells to generate cheap electricity. It will be several years before a commercial product is available but it will employ nanoscale technology in a ‘gas sandwich’ where the ‘bread slices’ are coated with differentiated nano-materials. Benny Landa’s venture capital arm, Landa Ventures, already has an interest in XjetSolar – a company producing inkjet-printing equipment to make solar panels. Interestingly, the President of XjetSolar is Hanan Gothait who invented the Scitex TurboJet printer and Objet 3D inkjet prototyper. GenCell is another Landa-backed firm involved in fuel-cell research.
Landa Ventures has also invested in HighCon Systems – the digital die cutting and creasing inventor launching its Euclid solution at drupa (Hall 4/B28), and HumanEyes the 3D lenticular market leader. Landa sums up its VC arm thus: “We invest in and are involved with the companies, contributing additional technology and added value.”
One example of this that can only be described as hair-raisingly brilliant is ColoRight. This company, founded by hair salon expert Michael Mercier and backed by Landa, uses spectro-photometry to measure a person’s hair colour, presumably ‘profile’ it and then mix the exact shade of hair colour (or cosmetic) that the client desires. This method appears to be straight out of the CIE L*a*b* and ICC colour management world. The attached publicity photo even shows what appears to be an ‘EyeOne’ type spectrophotometer measuring hair shade!
The fourth estate of Benny Landa’s new corporation is the Landa Fund. This philanthropic sector is ‘dedicated to closing socio-economic gaps in society, enabling youth of ‘privileged minds but under-privileged means’ to achieve higher education.’ Focused on escalating Israel’s brain-power, the Landa Fund has helped thousands of young citizens – of both Jewish and Arab descent – to gain university degrees. Landa’s passion for Israeli-developed, owned and exported high technology is renowned.
Notwithstanding this broad portfolio of interests, Landa is keen to stress that its Digital Printing Division is ‘of the highest importance and in the long term, a funding source for re-investment.’ This is exemplified by the construction of a 200-seat amphitheatre on his drupa stand – shades of Ipex ’93! Again, according to Calcalist, Mr Landa has pumped an average of USD$40 million of his private wealth per year into his nanographic project.
Benny Landa was axiomatic in changing the printing and publishing business forever, starting around two decades ago. Can he and his team do it again, only bigger? You’ll have to be at drupa 2012 to find out. Hall 9/A74 – book your seats early!
Drupa is the world’s largest trade fair dedicated to the printing and allied graphic media industries. Held every 4 years, it opens on May 3rd at the Messe Düsseldorf, Germany and closes on May 16th. The Printing Industries Association of Australia, in conjunction with Eastern Suburbs Travel, is organizing tours including a pre-drupa ANZAC-themed tour of Gallipoli and beyond. For details please contact Marty, Vicki or Sonia on 02 9388 0666 or estcolovelly@optusnet.com.au
Andy McCourt kicks a stunner in his 2nd drupa Snooper column with news on Benny Landa. The Indigo founder will launch new nanographic digital printing technologies at drupa – exactly 100 days away from today.
Following the acquisition of Indigo by HP ten years ago, Indigo founder Benny Landa (pictured - courtesy of Calcalist magazine, Israel) established Landa (Corp), which has been developing next-generation digital printing technology. Called “Digital Nanographic Printing”, this unique printing process, which employs Landa's proprietary nano-pigment inks (Landa NanoInks), imparts exceptional qualities to the digitally printed output and will enable game changing press performance. Landa Digital Nanographic Printing Presses target mainstream commercial, packaging and publishing markets. Landa’s line up of digital printing presses will be unveiled at drupa 2012.
There are other applications for Nano-scale technologies and Landa Corporation is embracing these with a vision well beyond the graphic arts. Indeed, the discovery of NanoInk was a by-product of other research. One of these is thermal energy cells to generate cheap electricity. It will be several years before a commercial product is available but it will employ nanoscale technology in a ‘gas sandwich’ where the ‘bread slices’ are coated with differentiated nano-materials. Benny Landa’s venture capital arm, Landa Ventures, already has an interest in XjetSolar – a company producing inkjet-printing equipment to make solar panels. Interestingly, the President of XjetSolar is Hanan Gothait who invented the Scitex TurboJet printer and Objet 3D inkjet prototyper. GenCell is another Landa-backed firm involved in fuel-cell research.
One example of this that can only be described as hair-raisingly brilliant is ColoRight. This company, founded by hair salon expert Michael Mercier and backed by Landa, uses spectro-photometry to measure a person’s hair colour, presumably ‘profile’ it and then mix the exact shade of hair colour (or cosmetic) that the client desires. This method appears to be straight out of the CIE L*a*b* and ICC colour management world. The attached publicity photo even shows what appears to be an ‘EyeOne’ type spectrophotometer measuring hair shade!