PRESS RELEASE: Sun Chemical Innovation Inspires Solutions for Digital Printing and Sustainability at Graph Expo 2007

-- Graphic Arts Online, 11/5/2007 2:32:00 PM

CHICAGO, USA − Sept. 9, 2007 − Sun Chemical is showing new solutions for digital printing and products that help printers address sustainability at Graph Expo 2007. Visitors to booth 2819, the Graph Expo home of the world’s largest manufacturer of inks and pigments, will see that Sun Chemical is ready to meet the changing needs of customers in commercial printing, publications, packaging and screen printing. 

The Sun Chemical product portfolio of inks, coatings, chemistries and equipment at Graph Expo include new pressroom chemistry that meets more stringent emissions requirements in Southern California, sheetfed inks and UV printing solutions that reduce waste, and a new UV inkjet printer for narrow web and label applications.  In keeping with its emphasis on sustainable solutions, Sun Chemical’s Graph Expo presence has been transformed into “Club Oasis,” a customer-friendly environment designed to renew and restore visitors’ energy and business outlook, and reinforce the theme of sustainability. 

“Sustainability has moved high in the minds of our customers, and the issue is at the heart of Sun Chemical’s daily work. At this show I am pleased that we are launching several more products that help our customers conserve energy, reduce waste and lower emissions,” said Greg Lawson, Group President, Sun Chemical.  “Sustainability for Sun Chemical also begins in product development and manufacturing, where we maximize the use of renewable and recyclable materials. Our goal is to reduce our impact – and the impact of our customers – on the environment – while also doing our best to meet their productivity needs.” 

Rycoline Pressroom Chemistry Complies with New Southern California Emissions Regulations

The new Rycoline® portfolio of green products pressroom supplies and specialty chemicals are designed to reduce VOCs in the commercial printing process. At Graph Expo, Sun Chemical will introduce Evergreen Press Wash™, specifically designed to address the emissions requirements of the January 1, 2008 South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) initiative in Southern California.   

Created to meet the highest standards for print quality and on-press performance while providing the lowest impact on the environment, Rycoline’s Green Diamond™ Universal Fountain Solutions eliminate the need for a 100 percent VOC alcohol replacement in the printing process, reducing VOCs by about three tons annually in an average sheetfed pressroom.  

Rycoline blanket and roller wash products come in reusable containers, eliminating the need to dispose of dozens of metal drums used by competitive products, and their effective cleaning properties reduce VOCs by as much as six tons annually in a typical printing operation.  In addition, Rycoline Diamond Coat™ aqueous coatings, available in 275-gallon reusable totes, eliminate the disposal of nearly 200 fiber drums each year. 

Synergy Simplifies UV Printing and Reduces Start Up Waste

Sun Chemical’s Synergy™ products represent the first offering to combine new UV ink, coating, press conditioner, wash and fountain solution chemistries formulated to simplify UV printing.  Synergy is the only “system solution” designed for UV printing applications, with specially formulated products that speed make-ready, simplify ink and water balance settings and reduce start-up waste.  

Synergy inks work with sheetfed, web, high gloss and plastic applications. With a new resin chemistry that is 100% UV based, these inks can also run on hybrid presses using UV approved hybrid rollers.  Synergy offers a number of advantages, including excellent lithographic performance at high speeds. The high gloss series does not require UV coating, while the plastic series offers unmatched adhesion on a wide variety of plastics for display and card applications. 

Sun Chemical’s Graph Expo presence also features solutions for new digital printing technologies that can help improve efficiency and reduce costs: 

UV Inkjet Printer for Narrow-Web Labels Prints Short Runs Fast

Graph Expo visitors will be able to learn about SolarJet™, Sun Chemical’s latest generation UV inkjet printer, to be launched at LabelExpo in Brussels in October.  Designed specifically to benefit the growing short-run, narrow-web labels market, SolarJet offers an innovative solution for printers and converters to produce shorter print runs quickly, cost effectively and without sacrificing quality. 

Manufactured in association with Imaging Technology International (iTi) of Colorado, SolarJet offers printers an economically viable solution for print runs of 10,000 labels or fewer, freeing up their flexo presses for the higher-volume jobs.  It also has the added benefit of being able to print variable data, such as text and barcodes, which is particularly beneficial in Europe, where versioning is common for multiple languages. 

New Cost Saving Bulk Feed Ink System for Continuous Inkjet Printing

Streamline™ S-Tech, Sun Chemical’s new digital bulk ink feed system for large format Mimaki JV3 solvent ink printers, is an easy-to-use, cost-saving system for continuous printing applications. Mimaki JV3 printers are used by approximately 8,000 commercial printing operations in Europe. 

S-Tech is an ancillary system that gives Mimaki JV3 users the freedom to adopt Sun Chemical's range of Streamline solvent digital inks, realizing the cost savings of using a value-for-money bulk ink product.  The system can be fitted and installed by a press operator with no modifications to either the hardware or software in the press. S-Tech uses a sensor to ensure a constant level of ink delivery, carefully controlling the ink reservoir levels to give consistent ink pressure on the print heads.