Landa: nanography to go mainstream

Speaking at a live Q&A session this morning to printers around the world, innovative printing system developer Benny Landa said his nanographic technology will become mainstream and will produce multiple applications in every print field.

As bullish as ever, Landa said, “In the future nanography will touch all mainstream printing markets. From web-fed publishing and corrugated to labels, to metal printing and textiles, and more.”

Nanography was first launched at drupa 2012, its entry into the market has taken longer than anticipated, but the first machines, B1 sheetfed presses, have been going into printers for the past 18 months, with a dozen of the S10 straight and perfecting presses now installed.

Back at drupa 2012 Landa said nanography would deliver offset quality at offset speeds on offset stocks, but from a digital printer with no makeready, no plates, and variable data capability.

Since then, the arrival of high speed inkjet webs from the likes of HP, Ricoh, Screen, Canon, Fujifilm, Xeikon, and Kodak has also begun to challenge offset in the high-volume commercial market.

Landa's new CEO Arik Gordon said Covid had constrained progress at Landa, but he said there would be another four or five installs of the S10 before the end of the year.

Its digital flexibles press, the 1m-wide, 100m/min W10 web, was due to have its first install earlier this year, but the company is now looking at what it says is “pre-beta” testing at a customer by the end of the year.

Benny Landa said flexibles is one of the company’s most strategic markets, but also one of the most demanding, he said: “It requires not only superb quality, high speed and competitive economics, but you also need to be able to print onto a huge range of materials from very thin plastic films to metal foils, paper and carton. And of course digital white is a must.

“It has been a huge job developing all these capabilities in a single press,” he said.

The Q&A revealed that Landa Digital Printing is now transitioning from a technology company to a market-oriented business, with Gordon saying that, “very soon there will be hundreds of presses out there”.

Click on the video above for the full session.