Grand Format, Great Impact

Grand-format printing, which generally refers to images produced on a variety of flexible or rigid substrates in widths from five feet to about 16 feet using ink-jet or solvent-based processes, continues to be adopted by banner shops and entrepreneurial specialty firms, while piquing interest among commercial printing companies.

Increasingly, commercial printers seeking differentiation in unique production capabilities, a wider product offering for clients, and higher-margin work are exploring output on vinyl, canvas, and synthetic fabrics, plus such rigid substrates as metal, wood, and plastic.

Manufacturers and suppliers of the devices include familiar and unfamiliar names, like Durst, Gretag, Inca Digital, Mutoh, NUR Macroprinters, Scitex Vision, Superwide Connection, Vutek, and Zünd Systemtechnik. Also, since grand-format imagers can be created from CAD/CAM systems and industrial flatbed machining devices with the addition of imaging heads, additional companies offer systems.

In the past two months, a number of manufacturers and their U.S. dealers have shown their wares at Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2003 in Chicago and at the Screen Printing and Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) trade show in Atlanta.

With the increasing speed and functionality of the newest generation of grand-format printers, the worldwide market for grand-format media is expected to grow from 270 million square feet consumed in 2002 to as much as 435 million square feet by 2006, or approximately 13% per year, according to Digital Output magazine. At present, nearly 2,500 grand-format printing devices comprise the worldwide installed base; by 2006, the figure could reach 4,000 units installed, each capable of producing from 800 to 2,000 square feet per hour.

"Grand format is growing," says Scott Schinlever, vice president of marketing for Vutek, based in Meredith, N.H. "The softness in the economy has reduced the number of ads in magazines and newspapers but there's been an increase in outdoor billboards and large-format point-of-purchase displays. Advertisers find billboards economical for the exposure and POP displays appear right at eye-level on a shelf when consumers are making their buying decisions."

While most devices are purchased by screen printers, digital printers, and wide-format printers, some commercial enterprises see new niche possibilities.

"Quite a few of our existing customers include commercial offset printing in their range of services and we expect this number to grow over time," reports Dave Bartram, marketing manager for Scitex Vision, Marietta, Ga. "In general, commercial printers—many of whom are on the lookout for ways to differentiate themselves—are not familiar with this emerging class of heavy-duty ink-jet devices. But some of the same print buyers they're already calling on, and whose business they're competing fiercely to get, are spending big dollars and looking for good suppliers in the large-format area."

Bartram adds, "Wide and super-wide ink-jet devices represent pretty small capital investments compared to large-format offset presses, plus the digital systems offer a wide range of capabilities. With output size that's virtually unlimited and access to many unusual substrates, grand-format ink jet gives commercial printers a lot of bang for the buck."

"Graph Expo 2003 was an experiment for us," concedes Schinlever of Vutek, "but we did pick up interest from traditional printers. We had a lot of traffic and collected more leads than we expected. Printers are looking for a new niche but it's a natural progression, reducing their supplier flow and increasing their revenues."

Grand-format printing was once depicted as low-quality, low-speed production because it was aimed at the out-of-home market, such as billboards, that appeared far from the consumer's eye. Today, the trend in grand format is fast production turnaround, high image quality for close-up viewing, and close color matching with a wide variety of inks.

"Manufacturers offering industrial-grade models are providing more throughput per hour, extended versatility, and high-resolution six- and eight-color output," says Bartram. "Our new Turbojet, which we think is the fastest system of its type in the world, can print a six-color panel that's about five by 12 feet in size in less than one minute at 336 dpi. We also see more systems using UV ink, especially for printing on rigid substrates."

At the SGIA show in October, U.K.-based Inca Digital Printers, through its U.S. dealer, Sericol USA, Kansas City, Kan., showed its Columbia flatbed printer, a device that utilizes 16 piezo ink-jet heads and Sericol's patended UV-curable Uvijet inks to print up to 800 dpi on point-of-sale (POS) materials like expanded PVC, polystyrene, and corrugated and solid board. The panels can be as big as 63×126" and up to 11/2" thick.

According to Sericol, more than 30 of Inca's Eagle and Columbia units are installed in the U.S.; Sericol says it was to deliver the Columbia system from the SGIA show to Total Graphic Solutions, Atlanta.

Inca Digital, formed in mid-2000 with just seven staff members, now employs more than 100 people and bills upwards of $12 million in sales.

One user, O'Donnell Corporation, Orlando, Fla., installed a 63×96" Eagle 44 system in 2002, then opted to add an Eagle H to produce close-up POS work and backlit materials, plus some special items. President Tim O'Donnell describes one image treatment that gives a "wind-blown" effect to the ink, he says, "to such a quality that even Photoshop cannot duplicate it."

The company, which serves fast-food giants like McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC, as well as fashion firms, has also produced unique customized images on ceramic tiles for a hotel, and printed onto glass and light fixtures.

Last spring, MacDermid Color-Span Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn., a supplier of wide- and grand-format imaging systems, introduced a piezo-electric, solvent-ink printer called the DisplayMaker 110s that can print an image up to 110" across the maximum media width of 113", which, with tiling, accommodates the full height of semi-trailers for fleet graphics applications.

The device, which uses 72 industrial-quality print heads with 9,216 total jets, can image at rates of 350, 700, or 1,000 square feet per hour in eight-, four-, or two-pass modes.

Two months ago, Mutoh America, Inc., Tempe, Ariz., unveiled its Toucan Hybrid, a two-in-one industrial printing system that can function either as a flatbed device to ink-jet print on rigid substrates up to 31/2" thick, or converted to a roll-to-roll imager capable of printing flexible goods.

The Toucan Hybrid, which Mutoh plans to start shipping in January, can produce six-color, 64"-wide, outdoor-durable images on a variety of low-cost uncoated rigid or flexible materials.

NUR America, Inc., based in Moonachie, N.J., launched three grand-format printers at the SGIA show. The flatbed NUR Tempo ink-jet system can produce four- and eight-color printing at a resolution of 360 dpi, on both rigid and rollfed materials. Maximum size of rigid material: 61/2 feet wide and 101/2 feet long.

The NUR Fresco HiQ 3200, an eight-color digital press using piezo continuous drop-on-demand ink-jet technology, offers a print speed of up to 1,100 square feet per hour and output width of up to 101/2 feet.

Finally, the NUR Ultima HiQ 5000, an eight-color photo-realistic printer, features true white-skip and easy changeover between four- and eight-color printing. Two models are available, the 101/2-foot-wide Ultima HiQ 3200 and the 16-foot-wide Ultima HiQ 5000; both produce an apparent print resolution of up to 600 dpi and output speed of up to 810 square feet per hour.

"At the show, we got a very positive response for the Tempo, NUR's first flatbed printer," says Geva Barash, vice president of sales and marketing for NUR. "I'd say we were the buzz of the show."

In June, Impact Imaging, Salt Lake City, Utah, installed the nation's first Tempo and became one of three U.S. field-test sites.

A billboard specialist equipped with a NUR Blueboard device, the firm also produces wall murals, scaffold wraps, truckside advertisements, banners, backlit signage, and other indoor and outdoor items. The shop, staffed by more than 80 employees, handles all prepress, proofing, and finishing operations in house.

"We're always expanding and refining our services, so we began to explore the availability of flatbed ink-jet printers equipped with UV-curable inks, to raise the quality of printing on wide fabrics and other substrates," says Kim Griesemer, president and chief executive of Impact Imaging. "We needed a device with high resolution, more than four colors, a large bed size, robust construction, and the ability to print on roll-to-roll media or rigid substrates, which would bypass the need for mounting and finishing the work."

Impact Imaging found the Tempo system the most print-ready printer it had ever installed; the company is very pleased with its installation, performance, ink usage, and print quality, says Griesemer. Thus far, she adds, it has produced promotional signage, pump toppers, exterior signs, and flags on both fabrics and rigid media.

At the SGIA show, Scitex Vision unveiled its Turbojet roll-to-sheet press and its eight-color XLjet+ system. Turbojet, which prints either on a roll or on a sheet cut to a size up to 65×145", is available as a four- or six-color version. At 448 dpi, in one hour it can produce up to 35 saleable sheets, or 2,153 square feet of output; at 336 dpi, the hourly output is up to 70 saleable sheets, or 4,305 square feet.

Likely Turbojet buyers: screen printers, digital shops, and offset printers, plus ad agencies, service bureaus, and billboard owners.

In Woburn, Mass., a company called Uni-graphic has served its ad agency clientele over the years by transforming its offerings, from traditional prepress services, to sheetfed printing on Komori equipment, to direct-to-plate and digital printing on an HP Indigo 3000 six-color digital press.

Finally it undertook grand-format printing about three and a half years ago, at an operation called Uni-at-Large, operated by Mark Rowell at a separate facility.

Three months ago, the firm's 88 employees moved into a new 55,000-square-foot facility housing both Uni-graphic and Uni-at-Large operations, including about 10,000 square feet devoted to finishing capabilities. Uni-at-Large operates a 72"-wide GrandJet 5 printing device from Scitex Vision.

Says Rowell, executive vice president of Uni-graphics, "Now we can provide our traditional printing clients with their billboards, trade show graphics, and other grand-format work. In the last few years, when our printing sales were flat, our grand-format division was very busy."

Rowell attended the SGIA show for a closer look at Scitex Vision's new XL5 printer. "We're in the market for another device," says Rowell. "The XL5 would give us higher resolution, faster speeds, and a bigger format."

Superwide Connection, formed just two years ago in San Antonio, Tex., demonstrated at Graph Expo 2003 what it calls a true solvent-based imaging system, the Jeti 3.3 (designed by James Gandy, founder of Gandi Innovations, Toronto).

The device, which utilizes six ink colors plus a solvent dispenser, is valued at about $275,000 and has an imaging width of 101/2 feet; a second unit images a 16-foot width. Managers say that, in such systems, ink and substrate costs amount to about seven cents and 20 cents per square foot, respectively.

Superwide Connection reports it sold the system on display to Endless Edge, Nashville, Tenn.

At Graph Expo 2003, Vutek introduced its 60"-wide UltraVu 150, an affordable, "industrial-strength" printer available in four- and six-color models, capable of outputting 430 square feet per hour at true 360-dpi resolution on uncoated materials.

Vutek also offers UltraVu printers in five models: four-, six-, and eight-color 2360; eight-color 2600; four-, six-, and eight-color 3360; four-color 5300; and eight-color 5330.

"Our 'industrial-strength' devices, which differentiate us from usual wide-format printers, are designed to be run 16 to 18 hours a day by our customers," says Vutek's Scott Schinlever. "Our customers tell us that quality sells, so we've pioneered the development of high-quality grand-format systems. For example, we were the first to offer an eight-color 600-dpi device."

Schinlever adds, "Quality requirements on billboards are increasing, and large POP banners in high-end department stores are meant to be seen up close. Still, I think that the future of grand-format printing will be in variable data and one-to-one marketing. I believe our customers eventually will be printing a lot more regional grand-format images, cases where just one to five pieces will carry a regional message."

IPG Imaging Professionals, established in 1980 in Irvine, Calif. as a traditional photo lab, has since become a leading provider of what its managers call "full-spectrum visual merchandising services." IPG moved into the digital world soon after its founding, eventually offering wide-format production of posters and banners, then, three years ago, grand-format printing.

Today, IPG operates one of the nation's largest digitally integrated custom imaging facilities, producing grand-format images for nationwide customers needing trade show banners, vehicle and building wraps, and printing on fabric. In February, IPG installed a PressVu rigid substrate printer from Vutek.

"This eight-color device provides brilliant, dynamic graphics that can be printed directly on a wide variety of substrates," ex-plains Rick Farrell, president of IPG Digital Imaging. "The fast flexible-to-rigid changeover allows us to handle short-run jobs faster and more efficiently, resulting in better value and cost savings for our customers, as well as the highest-quality graphics capabilities."

The PressVu system can image rigid PVC, Lexan, polycarbonate, card stock, foam board, most flexible signage materials, and textiles. UV-curable inks maximize photo print quality and detail while minimizing variation in output appearance.

"Prior to printing directly on rigid substrates, this was a two-step process requiring mounting, which added cost and time to the project," says Farrell. He says the PressVu system handles sheets or continuous-feed substrates up to 72" wide, printing at a true 600-dpi resolution at 800 square feet per hour.

Farrell adds, "PressVu's speed and quality output make it perfect for almost any application, including POP displays, retail signage, banners, posters, exhibition graphics, backlit displays, display graphics, vehicle graphics, wall murals, and long-term outdoor graphics. We've seen a rebirth of application artistry."

Shown in the Wide Format Pavilion at Graph Expo 2003 was a Variotron flatbed ink-jet imaging system (the device can be adapted to pen drawing, routing, and milling), developed by a Swiss company, Zünd Systemtechnik.

The Zünd imager, which can print on rigid substrates such as plywood, Sintra, foam board, aluminum, glass, acrylic, corrugated plastic, polycarbonate, and fabric, was shown by two dealers, American Custom Computers, Inc., Edina, Minn., and Global Imaging, Inc., Louisville, Colo.