Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 7 August 2008
Andy McCourt and James Cryer get the readers writing over last week's news.
Re: Fairfax print centre closure leaves Tasmanians stranded
Change is impacting on every industry. I'm sure there are other skills in short supply in Tasmania. The redundant workers will just have to learn new skills.
Steve Benson.
Screen / Digital Team Leader
ADMARK VISUAL IMAGING
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Re: Top 50 paper people, but where's our Tom? asks Andy McCourt
Not only have they missed out your guy - they have ignored Sappi which
produces no less than 25 per cent of the world's coated fine papers!
Every fourth sheet used every day worldwide comes from Sappi - which
should be global enough to have been included, given that it spans Africa,
Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific.
Mike Hilton
Graphic Repro & Print
South Africa
I wanted to congratulate Andy McCourt on his article about the RISI Power List.
I think his feedback is really interesting and I agree that we should have included Mr Park of PaperLinX. This is the first year we've done the Power List and we've had a lot of great input both before and after the list was published. We're going to make this into an annual listing so we can add Mr Park in next year!
Anyway, just wanted to thank you for publishing something about our Power List.
Rhiannon James-van Beuningen
Senior Vice President, Media Products
RISI
In the light of Rapid's recent developments with digital inkjet printing (we ran trials at 360 dpi yesterday at over 70 mpm) this article has just scraped the surface of the biggest potential upheaval in the printing industry. I would really hate to have a factory full of conventional equipment right this minute.
Have you noticed the huge number of conventional, both roll fed and sheet USED presses being offered from all over the world at give away prices? My computer in box has offers stacked up every morning of all types of printing equipment!
The first thing to say is the economy of the world is in a shaky period, and the printing industry as a whole is a great barometer of the world's economic health. Secondly, the printing industry is now being really hurt by desktop and "on line" publishing. Thirdly, I wonder if people are getting prepared already to embrace the coming Digital technologies and are trying to offload their conventional machinery whilst there is still some value left in them?
In my opinion the next thing to really take off is non-contact high definition ink jet. The process needs no pre treatment of stocks and no post treatment to seal the print as is the case with the worlds major name digital system. The advantages of being able to stream jobs seamlessly and be able to print variables at normal press speeds is truly amazing. The process can print on virtually any surface too. We have printed on all types of papers including grained papers, flocked vinyl, vinyl, polypropylene, PVC, etc. We have also printed on cosmetic containers both tubes and blow moulded bottles. We have even printed on glass!
To be honest, the process is now so well developed that it is a commercial reality and on the market right now. We have sold our first machine already to a Melbourne based specialty printer who will be amazed to find when it's delivered in September that it does two to three times the output we quoted only 3 months ago. We are in a period of massive and rapid (no pun intended) developments in this technology.
I first saw this non contact graphics quality single colour inkjet at a show in the late 80s and told the boffin who invented it that as soon as he could give me a 4 colour set I would like to buy it for our label presses. Now 20-something years later and lots of advances in computer speed and power we have it, and able to run at commercially viable speeds. We believe we will be able to print at well over 100 mpm in the very near future.
One of the down sides are that, at this moment, the inks are quite expensive however there is no waste during set up or wash up and the first "impression" off the press is saleable. There are also no nasty chemicals to worry about, no plates to buy, no downtime for wash ups and ink ups, or waste of paper.
Another down side is the capital cost of the technology, however it is still comparable to any similar high-end conventional plate using press. This will come down in time as volumes are increased like any other commodity.
Patrick, as you know I retired from the business a while ago, but I wish I was younger and could be involved in (and understand) this fantastic new technology. Young blokes like Nick seem to be able to understand it and make it do their bidding with ease. Sad thing is that printing will become so easy that anyone can do it so we lose the trade background people.
Us old blokes have seen the best of our industry I think. As my elderly step mum keeps saying to me "It's a changing world you know."
Bruce Mansell
Rapid Machinery Company
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Re: Internet print scam comes out of Africa
I get emails almost every day that are similar scams.
I can recognise the fraud emails easily - they always have bad wording, large quantities, USA sizes, usually one colour print, and usually just very basic information like "SAVE THE CHILDREN" or some religious sounding statement.
Here are a couple of recent good ones. This guy cannot even work out his own name!
I am Mr Paul Brown i will like to order some labels from you and I will need you print the following along with the sizes on it.
Name to Print: GOD TIME IS BEST.
1 3/8" x 4 1/4" sized labels. For 300,00 total labels in rolls of 2,500 in white gloss with one color print Please I want you to email me with the total price include tax and excluding shipping and also what types of credit card do you accept as payment? I will be waiting to read from you soon.
Regards.......
Mr Kelvin Smith
Yumi Rosenbaum
Australia Online Printing