Bullish On UV Value Proposition

Print UV 2008, held last month in Las Vegas, was the first peer-oriented conference designed to help printers explore new ways to implement and profit from UV printing.

Available in the offset market since the 1960s and steadily making inroads in the digital market, UV (ultraviolet) printing has been riding a wave of popularity recently, as more printers discover the high-value-added potential of the process—for example, high-gloss and super-matte coatings, reticulating varnishes, soft-touch, raised-UV, color-shift, scratch-off and scented coatings, whites and metallics, and inline die- and kiss-cutting.

For commercial sheetfed and web offset printers willing to make the investment and, more importantly, commit to the learning curve, UV printing can be a catalyst to innovation and growth. Presentations by UV printers and suppliers looked at trends, as well as what others are doing to expand the UV value proposition.

“UV printing is all about the evolution of effect,” Hans Ulland, co-founder and sales VP for Air Motion Systems, founding sponsor of Print UV 2008, said in his opening remarks. “The Internet provides sight and sound, but UV printed media can provide touch, scent, dimension and illusion.”

The two-day event began with presentations by John Giusto, sr. VP manufacturing of Curtis Packaging, Sandy Hook, CT, and UV master printer Greg Ross, a manager at Fort Dearborn Company, Elk Grove Village, IL, near Chicago.

“Doing UV full time is different from doing it as a supplement, and it's challenging every single day,” Giusto said. He cited the need for expensive hardware and materials, arduous start-ups and a steep learning curve as reasons UV-minded printers should look before leaping into the market: The results are worth it,” he noted.

That can include higher margins, “provided you come up with something unique,” Giusto added. “You need to do due diligence and learn how to be more efficient with what you have.” Curtis Packaging has logged significant research and development time over the years to develop proprietary special effects like foil alternative CurtChrome, micro-embossing alternative CurtCrystal, and film lamination alternative CurtCoat. (See GAM 11/06.)

Fort Dearborn's Ross described UV printing as “a long-term plan to stay in business. You can do something 'Joe 6-color' can't do.”

That said, observed Chris Travis, technology director for KBA North America, printers often fail with UV when their expectations are too high. “You have to build in time for R&D—don't do a complicated special effect for the first time on a live job.”

UV's trump card may be green: zero HAP/VOC emissions; decreased usage of consumables, spray powder and ink; and high recycled value. More efficient technology and higher energy costs make it a logical alternative to conventional print, Giusto said. “The subject of environmental benefits was very pertinent, especially to the California market,” commented Frank Fruciano, regional sales executive at Mitsubishi, one of the event's co-sponsors.

SUSTAINABILITY: RadTech UV/EB Technology Conf./Expo, May 4-7, Chicago, radtech2008.com