UV flatbed printers are not a low-cost option, with prices ranging up to well past half a million dollars, so what does a printer need to make them pay? What markets should they be looking at? What proposition should they be going to those markets with?

Commercial printers have started to see the light and are moving forward with UV technology, according to Agfa’s Michael Culver, inkjet sales manager, Oceania. “As the runs become smaller, and the need to diversify becomes greater, this sector will continue to see growth. As our offering grows, we anticipate further advancements into the fields of packaging and decorative glass. Future markets are always developing but it is dependent upon the capabilities of printing solutions. It is still our intention to become a main player in the sign and display market.”

Agfa has a wide range of Anapurna and Jeti UV devices that fit into a variety of markets and budgets. “We are able to offer both hybrid and true flatbed solutions, that can produce photorealistic quality at speeds of in excess of 200sq m per hour. With multiple-head configurations, clients can produce four or six colour images and are able to offer speciality finishes like white and varnish. Our extensive range of platform bed sizes makes Agfa the leading choice when making an investment,” says Culver.

Agfa noticed the need to be able to offer a complete printing solution under one banner, so it recently launched the new Acorta cutting table. “Branded in red and white, this solution marries perfectly with our Anapurna and Jeti printing devices. The platform is capable of converting a wide spectrum of substrates like foam PVC, acrylic, composite, coreflute, card and rollfed materials. Finishing tends to be the bottleneck in most businesses, and so with speeds up to 102m per minute, this device will certainly help that issue.”

Culver notes Agfa’s recent launch of new rip software Asanti. “The heart of this solution comes from our global award winning Apogee software that amalgamates prepress with production. Coupled with Agfa’s new Storefront solution, true workflow capabilities are achievable.”

He says: “We are coming to a point in this market where the devices being offered achieve similar results. Price is still an important purchasing decision, but it’s important now who you buy the platform from. Are they a reputable manufacturer, are they going to offer your business a high level of service, being able to upgrade dated technology and offer a future technology path?”

HP Scitex FB500/550 flatbeds have proven popular in Australia and were demonstrated alongside the Summa Cutter series by supplier Neopost at last year’s Visual Impact show in Sydney.

The 550 has proved a demon with rigid applications, backed by enhancements such as white ink, double-sided prints, matte/gloss, and textured effects. An efficient workflow enables loading, printing and collecting of media simultaneously, and HP points out that its UV-curable inks do not require special ventilation. Summa’s new flatbed cutter is in reality a fully featured finisher for flatbed prints, and is targeted at short-run packaging, POS and standard, production-run contour printing.

Canon Australia’s senior marketing manager Dale Hawkins identifies a number of emerging markets for UV flatbeds, including short-run POS/ packaging – “typically done offset but now more cost effective through the Océ Arizona UV” — interior signage, exhibition and shop fit-out display, and print applications utilising white ink and vanish. The players he pinpoints are traditional printers looking to take new ideas to existing customers and new ideas to new markets – interior design printers specialising in shop fit-outs or exhibition display, and businesses that offer printing on timber, glass, aluminium, and floor graphics media.

Hawkins sees the Océ Arizona series as the ideal printer for a diverse range of rigid and flexible media applications. “These UV curable solutions allow you to produce flawless photo quality prints through the Océ Vario Dot print head technology. With a completely renewed range of models to choose from, the Océ Arizona series offer fantastic opportunities to boost your display graphics revenue.” The true flatbed architecture supports rigid media or objects up to 50.8mm thick, edge-to-edge (full bleed) printing.”

Meanwhile, the roll-to-roll media option has the capability of printing 2.2m wide to a diverse range of stock, optimising time between printing direct to rigid media while also offering incredible application latitude, he adds.

But it is more than just the hardware, emphasises Hawkins. Canon has software to seamlessly automate digital workflow on the Océ Arizona UV flatbed, as well as having the option of running it alongside the Océ ProCut – the full solution. “Océ ProCut digital cutting tables offer software with a fully integrated workflow and a step-by-step approach from prepress to finishing, regardless of the job, printer or rip. Onyx Print Management software is a full featured, scalable PDF workflow solution based on the Adobe PDF print engine and optimised for superior performance for all sizes of print providers.”

The latest release Onyx 11 software combines the graphics technology platform with innovative tools and enhancements that simplify colour printing workflow, improvise output predictability and increase shop profitability. ProCut prepress software runs seamlessly in conjunction with Onyx, making workflow between the Arizona and the ProCut an unprecedented solution.

SwissQprint’s Nyala 2 UV flatbed printer proved a hit at Visual Impact when vendor Positive Camtec demonstrated it. With a 3.2 × 2m printing table, Nyala 2, which has a rated speed of 206sq m/hour, is suited to high-volume, high-end environments in both advertising signage and industrial applications.

EFI offers its Vutek range, and the company’s marketing specialist in Australia, Jillian Michaels, says EFI’s portfolio comprises hybrid flatbed/roll UV and UV-LED inkjet printers, ranging from a 1.65m entry-level device to a high-speed, 3.2m UV inkjet press capable of running 100 boards an hour.

“The flexibility and capabilities hybrids offer have become a compelling offering, so much so that we hear of much more demand from customers for hybrid devices than we do for dedicated flatbeds,” she says.

Michaels sees point-of-purchase as an important market that continues to grow. “We are meeting that demand with print technologies like our UltraDrop 7 picolitre imaging platform that can give businesses more of a competitive edge in high-end retail graphics.

“Packaging is another growth area. Flatbed already has a presence for some package proofing and prototype applications, but faster, larger presses available now, like the Vutek HS100 Pro, can bring corrugated board and folding carton work more into the digital production space for brands that want to develop new opportunities with versioned, targeted promotions for packaged goods.”

While UV continues to grow as a popular technology to use, UV-LED is an even faster-growing offering. LED inkjet inks cure at a much lower temperature than UV, which means it can print on substrates that normally might warp or melt under high heat. Michaels says: “The other benefit with LED is that the curing lamps use much less energy. Last year, Fogra did a study that found EFI Vutek LED printers use as much as 82 per cent less energy than UV printers and that obviously translates into a significant savings for printing companies.”

Michaels believes efficiency is especially important in high-volume applications where users need to print as much work as possible, especially when they are replacing analog screen or offset work with digital inkjet production. “For our highest-volume product, the Vutek HS100 Pro press, we have created a complete set of automated material handling systems for automated or semi-automated loading and unloading.”

With regards to automation and efficiency, “Our latest Fiery proServer for wide- and grand-format printers can rip files seven times faster than the previous model proServer. And it improves throughput while reducing waste with new tiling and nesting tools.”

Screen Australia’s two entrants in the UV flatbed space are the Truepress Jet W3200UV (in three variants — 85 m2/ hr; 150m2/hr and with a roll-to-roll option – and the Truepress Jet 2500UV which is a hybrid flatbed/roll printer). Screen Australia’s managing director Peter Scott points out that the W3200UV has no shortage of efficiency features – these include automated printhead cleaning and nozzle-mapping that keeps the device printing even when a nozzle is blocked by assigning its task to adjacent nozzles.

“For ultimate efficiency at the front end, we partner with Caldera and the GrandRip+ which is really a workflow for flatbed UV with many advanced automation and reporting features. If a customer buys a standard W3200UV at 85sq m/hr, they can upgrade onsite to 150sq m/hr with minimal disruption. The new 3.2m wide rollfed option further boosts efficiency, making the W3200UV one of the fastest high-definition roll printers in its class, as well as the fastest flatbed UV able to deliver near-photographic quality.”

Scott argues that of all the emerging markets for flatbed UV, packaging would be the most promising. “Short-run folding cartons and corrugated can be printed flatted out and then die-cut on a good cutter such as Elitron, Zund or Kongsberg. The potential is huge. We are also seeing customers produce work other than POP, signage and displays on request from customers. This includes printed glass, wall decoration, short-run labels (again die-cut after printing) and even drink coasters.”

What types of job work best in UV flatbed format? “Anything large or where a large sheet is used for ganged-up jobs in short runs,” replies Scott. “Also difficult substrates that have traditionally been screen printed, such as PETG, Acrylic, PE and other plastics. Naturally the core market remains POP, signs and displays, but we have even seen doors and flooring printed on flatbed UV devices. It’s the most versatile process in the graphic arts today.” But Scott is adamant that printers need to first put in the prep. “Anyone looking at flatbed UV should first ask ‘what are my markets?’ Will existing customers send work to the machine or will you need to actively market outside of your normal service offering?

“The build of the machine is also vital for long-term efficient operation – does it use belts or servo linear motors? Is it cast from quality steel? Are the printheads long-lasting? Are the inks able to adhere to any substrate? What is the uptime estimate of the printer? Next, look at local service – does the supplier have a good reputation for service? Price should be the last thing to consider.”

UV flatbed: What’s on offer

• Agfa: Anapurna and Jeti printing lines
• Canon: Océ Arizona and Océ ProCut
• EFI: Vutek range
• HP: FB550 printers and Summa cutters
• Pozitive: SwissQprint
• Roland DG: VersaUV LEJ-640FT UV-LED
• Screen: Truepress Jet W3200UV range
• Spicers: Mimaki UV and Elitron Kombo cutter

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