Four years ago at drupa 2012 Benny Landa electrified an otherwise workaday drupa with a dazzling presentation on something he called nano technology, which he said would deliver offset quality at offset speed – but with the digital benefits of no plates, no makeready, no waste, and the ability to print variable data.
The Landa stand at drupa 2012 had half a dozen different versions of nano presses on the floor, which looked great with their iPod type presentation, but none were functioning, although that is no great shakes as among other things drupa is a platform for technology feedback.
The digital nano press implements microscopic ink drops in a water based solution that enables printing on standard coated and uncoated stocks, travelling through a Komori chassis and paper transport system.
Such was the brilliance of Landa’s spiel that some 400 printers from around the world – including Trent Nankervis at CMYKhub – handed over $10,000 each, simply for a place in the queue to buy a nano press when they became available, and went home dreaming of a bright new future, while Landa tipped a handy $4m into his business.
Now though it is four years on and drupa 2016 is about to open its doors, and for Landa the moment of truth is fast arriving, and will arrive on May 31 when the show begins. Four years is a long time for people to wait, and with no indication that any Landa nano presses are available, or even in beta testing just yet, that wait may well be extended and may extend beyond the patience of the 400 printers.
[Related: Inkjet launches at drupa]
It may be of course that Landa will blow the show apart and launch a ready-to-buy nano press on that first day. Keeping this a secret until the show itself would be consistent with his track record, nobody knew Indigo was going to appear back at Ipex 93, nor indeed nano at drupa in 2012. Landa’s critics may well be confounded on May 31.
However it may also be that no working ready to buy nano press is available. This would be a serious blow to Landa’s credibility after so much hype.
Especially as old iron warhorse Heidelberg will be launching its new digital inkjet B1 sheetfed folding carton press the Primefire 106 as a ready-to-buy printer, and as there will be a host of B2 inkjet printers in the floor, including the new co-developed Konica Minolta Komori system.
B1 sheetfed folding carton was going to be Landa’s first press, so to have his thunder stolen by Heidelberg of all people must be galling, although for Heidelberg it is a triumphant return to the forefront of print.
Landa has invested a humungous amount of money in nano press technology, although everything is relative, it is unlikely the $800m that Landa pocketed from HP for his Indigo business will run out any time soon. He did sell off a minority stake in the business for the not insignificant sum of €100m to specialty chemicals group Altana two years ago.
If Landa’s nano press comes to pass it could become a dominant print technology with its proposed offset quality and speed, although sources close to Landa tell ProPrint the touted 13,000sph running speed has been quietly dropped to 6,000sph, even so it is still more than double the speed of any other inkjet sheetfed press.
But it seems to be a big if. Ever the showman Landa will have a big presentation in May, with double the floorspace of the previous drupa. The nano press range seems to have slimmed down to three – a B1 sheetfed S10, a duplex B1 sheetfed S10P, and a webfed W10.
The Landa website has a new video of the S10 shot in the style of a Guy Richie London gangster movie. Landa’s confidence in the nano presses remains undimmed. Whether there will be anything concrete behind the presentation is right now the biggest question in the worldwide printing community.
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