A Polish printer, the Print Group, has become the first to install Screen’s Truepress Jet520HD with the new SC ink, which allows the use of standard coated and uncoated papers, rather than the existing MD inks that require inkjet papers.
Print Group specializes in digital books and has installed the new press at its Booksfactory site in Szczecin. The company says that it will improve turnaround times for full colour high-definition book printing, as well as allowing the business to take on larger volumes as customer demand grows. Walter Wanat, International Sales Director for the Print Group. Says that the future of book production lies in digital inkjet printing, explaining: “Printed book sales are growing healthily, and as our customers grow, Print Group must also grow. As part of a whole new book factory facility to help meet that rising demand, we added the Screen Truepress Jet520HD to increase our capacity for larger numbers and volumes of colour print runs.”
Print Group previously used a mono Truepress Jet 520 EX for black and white production. So Wanat says that it was natural to look to Screen for the new machine. He adds that readers expect improved quality noting: “This press delivers quality close to offset and high production efficiency, meaning a more competitive service for our customers across Europe.”
In this regard, the SC ink should be a major step forward as it allows printers to use uncoated offset stocks, without any form of pre-treatment, in place of the more expensive inkjet-treated substrates. This also saves on logistics because there’s less need to duplicate similar substrates for different print processes. Essentially, the ink is a water-based ink but Screen has added a number of additives to the formulation to help bind the pigments to the substrate. However, this ink does appear to limit the press to 50mpm for now.
The Truepress Jet 520HD has been jointly developed with Ricoh, which sells it as the VC60000. This press was announced back in September 2014. The SC ink was shown off at the Hunkeler Innovation Days event in February this year, where there was considerable interest though no one on the Screen stand seemed to know much about this ink. However, it does appear that the SC ink is only available through Screen and not through Ricoh.
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