Benny Landa says, nanography will challenge offset

Benny Landa aims to take on offset by making his nanography digital printing technology as ubiquitous as xerography.

One of the biggest draws at Drupa was the nano printing method developed by Landa Corporation. It was officially unveiled to visitors as Drupa opened its doors.

Landa, who founded Indigo and began the digital printing revolution in 1993, said: "Our objective is to bring digital to mainstream, to the area where offset currently dominates. I expect this technology to become the next industry standard."

As well as licensing Nanography – deals with Komori and Manroland Sheetfed were announced in the days running up to the opening of the show – Landa showcased a family of six nanographic presses – three sheetfed and three web presses - that enable print providers to produce short-to-medium run lengths at a good cost-per-page.

The presses look different from existing machines, either conventional or digital, and are very compact. Each has a giant touch screen running along the front, from which the operator controls the device and can see what is happening inside via cameras.

"The reason for the touch screen is simple, we are targeting these products at the mainstream," Landa explained. "A press operator is used to going from one section to the other on a press, working with his hands. We’re giving him the same option with a totally intuitive interface to the machine. "It’s like an iPhone – let them play with it for a few minutes and they’ve got it."

In theory all are eight-colour, can perfect, and print at 600dpi or 1,200dpi. The eight colours could be CMYK plus four special colours, or CCMMYYKK for double the speed or double the resolution. Top speed is 13,000sph on the B1 sheetfed model, B2 is 12,000sph and B3 11,000sph.

The web presses, which are targeted at commercial, narrow web and flexible packaging, have a maximum speed of 200m/min.

The Nanography process involves ejecting tiny droplets of NanoInk, which contains nano-level pigment particles, on to a heated blanket belt. The complete image incorporating all colours is then dried on the blanket before being transferred to the paper via pressure, in one hit.

The purity of the nano pigments and high resolutions possible using the process means it can also produce a wider colour gamut than standard CMYK, encompassing around 17% more Pantone colours than offset, said Landa.

A company spokesman informed us that Benny Landa will be hosting the company's five daily theatre presentations in its 300-seat auditorium at the heart of Landa’s 1,400 square metre stand, the largest ever for a first time exhibitor at Drupa. The theatre presentation, entitled "Nano. Bigger Than You Think.", will provide the audience with an inside tour of Nanography - the technology, the products and the opportunity - as well as insights into the future of our industry.

This article was published on 3 May 2012 and received 354  views