Ceramiche Piemme, Italy, Colorobbia and Smalticeram showcased revolutionary ceramic tiles glazed and structured with DURST GAMMA DG
The company aquired a Rho P10 200 HS model to gain more productivity, maintaining the quality and flexibility levels for substrates use. The equipment was also exhibited at ExpoPrint Latin America, during which it was able to prove its performance
5. - 9. Feb. 2018Brixen, Italy
Europa-Parlamentarier Herbert Dorfmann besuchte gestern den Durst Messestand auf der Labelexpo
The most profitable digital factory in The Adria-Balkan region
Wins 2017 Top Products Award
CERSAIE 2019: CERAMICHE PIEMME, ITALY, COLOROBBIA AND SMALTICERAM SHOWCASED REVOLUTIONARY CERAMIC TILES GLAZED AND STRUCTURED WITH DURST GAMMA DG - FIRST TRUE DIGITAL SINGLE PASS GLAZE PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
The ceramic tiles produced with the revolutionary Durst RockJet™/Gamma DG technology have created a tremendous interest among ceramic tile manufactures, dealers, architects and consumers due to the clearly demonstrated advantages of this technology for the creation of tiles with unique designs, not achievable with the systems currently in use. Among the most appreciated advantages is the perfect synchronization of the structures with the graphics, without output limits, a feature that among other advantages makes these tiles look very natural.
Features and benefits of Durst RockJet™/Gamma DG technology
Bau eines vierstöckigen Bürogebäudes im Westen der bestehenden Modellbauhalle. Im Erdgeschoss sowie im 2. und 3. OG befinden sich Büroflächen für den Kundendienst und die Software Entwicklung, im 3.OG wird ein großer Seminarraum für Kundenschulungen und Hausmessen eingerichtet.
Dieses Projekt wird aus Mitteln des Europäischen Fonds für regionale Entwicklung kofinanziert.
Nähere Informationen zu IWB/EFRE finden sie auf www.efre.gv.at
Art. 1 comma 125 des Gesetzes Nr. 124 vom 04. August 2017 verlangt die Offenlegung der im jeweiligen Geschäftsjahr erhaltenen öffentlichen Beiträge.
Im Geschäftsjahr 2018 haben wir folgende Beiträge von der Provinz Bozen erhalten:
Bresanona (Italia), 15 de febrero de 2019. Durst, fabricante de tecnologías avanzadas de producción e impresión digital, anuncia que el Grupo Printeos ha adquirido una impresora por inyección de tinta en una pasada Durst Tau 330 RSC.
Este impresor europeo especializado en fabricación de etiquetas autoadhesivas apuesta por esta máquina para transformar la producción de Adhesivos del Segura, una empresa de Murcia (España) que adquirió hace tres años. Adhesivos del Segura, fundada en 1986, crece año tras año, en sintonía con la reciente expansión de la industria alimentaria murciana. La empresa, que cuenta con una plantilla de 154 personas, trabaja para grandes marcas de sectores como, además de la alimentación, la cosmética o el bienestar.
La impresión digital de etiquetas tendrá un papel fundamental en la estrategia a medio y largo plazo del Grupo Printeos, de ahí que la empresa apostara por Adhesivos del Segura para expandirse en España. Carlos Coll, director de la división de etiquetas del Grupo Printeos, cuenta que, tras la adquisición de la empresa, el primer paso consistía en iniciar el proceso de digitalización. Para ello, estudiaron quince opciones diferentes. “Enseguida nos dimos cuenta de que la tecnología de inyección de tinta era la más adecuada por su productividad y bajos costes operativos”, explica.
Escogieron la Durst Tau 330 RSC porque se adaptaba perfectamente a las necesidades de gran producción industrial de la empresa. Coll añade: “Nuestro primer objetivo era digitalizar al menos el 10 % de la capacidad de producción de Adhesivos del Segura el primer año. Para lograrlo, necesitábamos una máquina de imprimir que fuera muy productiva. Además, los mercados en los que trabajamos son muy exigentes, y hoy en día no todos los equipos de inyección de tinta son capaces de ofrecer esa calidad superior. La Tau RSC de Durst fue la única que cumplió estos dos requisitos de calidad y velocidad, por eso nos decidimos por ella”.
Carlos Espinosa, jefe del departamento de preimpresión y responsable del proyecto de digitalización, confirma que la instalación fue muy bien: “La fase de implantación de la máquina fue rápida y sencilla, y ya la usamos en dos turnos. Las transiciones de los colores y la manera de reproducir las luces y las sombras son fantásticas”. “La máquina también proporciona unos colores de gran viveza que a los clientes les encantan.”
Ahora producen todos los encargos inferiores a 2000 metros en la Durst Tau, pero cuando añadan la opción de bobinas gigantes, que permitirá usar rollos de 4000 metros, podrán aumentar considerablemente el volumen de los pedidos.
Coll concluye: “En el futuro, el mercado será cada vez más competitivo, y se prevé que el sector de las etiquetas siga creciendo entre el 4 % y el 6 %. En el Grupo Printeos tenemos objetivos ambiciosos y esperamos crecer de manera notable, pero sabemos que, para conseguirlo, tenemos que dar el máximo y cumplir todas las nuevas exigencias que tengan los clientes”.
“Las buenas perspectivas de crecimiento del Grupo Printeos coinciden con la visión optimista del sector que tenemos en Durst”, dice Helmuth Munter, Durst Segment Manager, Labels & Package Printing. “Estamos muy satisfechos de que, después de haber explorado a fondo el mercado, el Grupo Printeos haya elegido la Tau 330 RSC para impulsar su expansión. La impresión digital de etiquetas ahora está al alcance de un número cada vez mayor de convertidores e impresores.”
São Paulo -Those who visited the Durst Brasil stand at ExpoPrint Latin America 2018 (from March 20 to 24 at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo) were able to closely check the productivity and quality of Rho P10 200 HS, a model that brings together the industrial performance of the Durst brand with new levels of speed that allow companies in the visual communication segment to reach new levels of production, meeting a greater demand for high quality work and definition of images and strokes.
The great highlight was also the fact that the Rho P10 200 HS model shown at ExpoPrint already has a certain destination: Chromajet, a company that has been operating for more than 20 years in the segment of products for points of sale and visual communication headquartered in São Paulo. This is the third Durst equipment installed in the company, which recently moved to a new headquarters with 1500 m2.
According to Eduardo Gomes, owner of Chromajet, the new equipment arrives to add productivity. "We invested in a third machine, particularly in the Rho P10 200 HS, because we needed to increase our productivity while maintaining the quality and the technology standard," he explains. "Whoever visited ExpoPrint and Durst's stand was able to see the quality of the printing that Chromajet delivers to the market."
The first model to reach the company in 2012 was the Rho P10 160, an entry-level equipment that marked an important step of Chromajet towards the digitization of its production processes. In a short time, a new model was acquired: this time, a Rho P10 200.
Eduardo justifies the investments made at the time. "Initially, we invested in digital technology as a way to diversify our production park," he explained. "In a way, we were against the market trend; we did not complete the migration, but we opted for digital technology to gain productivity."
According to him, the choice for the Durst brand came about by very close sales and after-sales assistance. "We researched Durst's technology and knew it was an excellent piece of equipment. However, we had no digital experience before we made our first investment, and Durst's closeness to us in that process, helping us and providing support, was paramount. Having a team in Brazil and providing a local technical support structure is very important and was also decisive for choosing Durst as our partner", he said.
Today, with the consolidated partnership between Durst and Chromajet, Eduardo reaffirms his vision of the company's technology and business model.
"The main challenge for companies working in the Chromajet segment is maintaining image quality and being able to work consistently on different substrates, since each client requires a type of media. We found the solution for this performance in Durst technology," explains Eduardo. "Quality, speed and consistency are the major differentiators of the Durst solution. Since we bought the first machine, the sales and technical support caught my attention. The services and the assistance have always been very agile, and we were assisted in everything we need."
Aimed at visual communication applications, both for production on conventional flexible media and rigid media, the Rho P10 200 HS model offers significant speed optimization compared to previous family models, delivering about 40% higher performance with reduced ink consumption (by about 15%).
It can work with configurations for rigid or flexible media (roll), has a standard resolution of 1000 dpi, and a speed of 350 m2 / hour. The Rho P10 200 HS comes equipped with CMYK color standard, but with optional support to add light cyan, light magenta, orange, violet and white colors.
Learn more about the Chromajet success story with the brand on the Durst Brazil Youtube channel.
Label
Another highlight of Durst at ExpoPrint was the Tau 330E, an entry-level equipment for the industrial printing of stickers and labels.
It incorporates pigmented ink technology and offers high productivity at a very competitive cost for the stickers and labels production. The presented configuration allows the user to work with up to five colors (CMYK + white) and speed up to 48 linear meters / minute and up to 1260 x 720 dpi resolution. Other models of the Tau 330 can be configured in up to 8 colors (CMYK + OVG + W) and up to 78 linear meters per minute, as well as being able to integrate the printer with the OMET Flex X6 finishing solution, allowing the user to obtain a production flow and finish totally customizable to each particularity of the clients demand.
According to Ricardo Pi, General Director of Durst Brazil, the event brought to the company great opportunities and business as well as ratification of the Durst brand as a provider of robust solutions capable of meeting the most challenging demands of graphics, customers and brand owners.
"In a market where quality has become indisputable, the need is then to differentiate through the balance between productivity, quality and reliability," explains Ricardo Pi. "At ExpoPrint, Durst presented two solutions for segments that are very important for our commercial strategy: visual and label communication. I believe that those who visited our stand certainly checked the quality and performance of our equipment."
Christoph Gamper, CEO at Durst
Durst is a name that has become synonymous with digital printing excellence and successful evolution. Ahead of Durst’s participation in Pure Digital 2018, we talked to Christoph Gamper, CEO of the company. We discussed innovation, leadership, and evolution. I have noticed a change in the company from afar, so it was interesting to get the inside track on how things have changed under his leadership and how this has translated into performance.
Christoph, I recall us meeting around 8 years ago when I was about to leave FESPA. A lot has changed for both of us since then, now you are running Durst as CEO, how have you changed things within the company?
Durst has been in business for 80 years and has evolved and changed. We began in high-end imaging reproduction, basically a technology company for professional photography. Then around 20 years ago we went digital with the Lambda and then 15 years ago we went into inkjet.
When I entered the company we were producing large format machines and the company had an absolute focus on image reproduction. Personally, whilst image reproduction, of course, is important, I didn’t think we were focused enough on the processes. Of course, technology is important but as a company, and to an extent an industry we always talk technology – with business coming in second. My mission is to change this and to bring a renewed business focus into Durst.
So how have things gone since the start? Changing a culture is a challenging thing to do, what results have you achieved?
We are not a public company, we are still a family company and therefore we don’t report about results at every given opportunity. This may mean that from the outside we may seem a little bit of a closed company. However, our focus is to work very closely with our customers. We spend a long time with our customers and talk business with them and that is what we are trying to do to help them to develop their business. This is our style.
So we don’t tend to broadcast results because we don’t need to. But we do love profit, and we have double-digit growth which is profitable growth, not just revenue. The essence of Durst is not what we are shouting out to the press, it is about doing a great job for our customers.
And I am pleased to say that we have done very well over the past few years. We have doubled the size of the company and added 8 subsidiaries, developed a lot of new technology and a breadth of new talent has joined us. There are more things to come and more things to test which we will communicate in the future, but we are in a great position to grow again.
How have you achieved this growth?
Positive change comes with committed leadership I believe. And when you have such capability available within an organisation, in the right place with the right focus you can achieve a tremendous amount. We now have a culture where we always ask ourselves, what can we do differently and what can we do better? This growing culture is producing some great results.
What do you think Durst people would say about your leadership?
All of them would say I come with a different approach of course! I have challenged the way that Durst has done things in the past. As a result, we have changed the company and we now constantly want to challenge what we do every day. So far we have doubled our size which is great, but we still have a lot to do, and a lot to achieve.
Recently, I noticed that the launch of the P5 – this approach seemed different for how Durst launches products into the market?
The launch of the P5 is a good recent example of how we now develop our products. But please remember that I am not playing alone. All my best people were involved in this launch. My communication director whom I worked with in the past for 15 years has joined Durst for this launch. And the development and launch of the P5 is the first time we approach our development in a new way. This time we don’t just focus on the technology. We started first with the customers, moved onto the software, then onto the printer last. We challenged our innovation process and didn’t start with the machine first, we started with the customer first, and as a result the response from our customers has been phenomenal.
This sounds very collaborative, please explain more about this approach
What we are trying to achieve is to clearly see what the customer needs first. We spend time getting together and discussing the need and problems with the customer. And we discovered that clearly, image quality is not the only thing. We asked ourselves questions of priority, such as do we really need to improve quality by a tiny percentage? By asking this question we found new problems that we have solved with this machine.
For example, can we differentiate a large format printing machine? The graphics market is a competitive and now mature market for digital printing. We were able to spend time in finding where our critical mass is and with this, we present a different platform. P5 is an example of how we want to go beyond just the print and the printer onto new technologies and ideas that enhance existing methods and enable new possibilities using clever technology that creates new potential.
Durst is participating in Pure Digital, instead of FESPA, what is the thinking behind this decision?
We know our customer community within the large format graphics market very well. At any major graphics show we mainly (90%) see people we already know. I am a believer that we need to meet people outside of our immediate customer base to understand what our ‘customers-customers’ want. The creative people are now the people we need to know and understand. We need to see the pain at the top to understand what kind of pain we can remove to add more value and improve our products. Once you can see the pain in the process – once you see the pain the designer is in – then you can think you can design processes that will streamline and improve their production. You can’t start at the end of the process and hope your technology will work – this way is like working blind. We still will be at major tradeshows as well – but more and more we tend to speak to our customers directly – on our own turf.
A couple of famous ‘corporate print brands’ also liked the vision for Pure Digital - but when it came to making a decision they were risk averse and decided not to participate. This wasn’t the case for you, why?
To be honest, I make decisions from my gut. I want to see it. I want to see how people react – I know we do a lot of really interesting and innovative stuff so I am confident about trying new things. If we get one great new idea or one great new contact, for me it will give me something new that I just don’t get from always going to the same old shows, by doing the same old things.
I believe in trying new things. If you do the same old things then nothing changes and you stop growing.
So you mention creative professionals being important to Durst, please give me an example.
For example, we are building a new HQ, and we have really good architects. But even they don’t know the possibilities that digital print can give them on different surfaces. We have shown them what is possible and it is nice to see the reaction from them. But these people just don’t go too technical shows where machinery is on display. Why would they? If we showcase this at Drupa, a designer will not attend as it is not for them. Drupa is a show for printers, not designers.
Of course, up to a couple of years ago, Durst was only about output and this is still an important thing. However, in the future input is also very interesting and in order for us to define the space, I need to connect with the creative side which is why Pure Digital is of interest to us.
From an industrial perspective Durst has inkjet-based technology in industrial markets - does this remain a key part of the business?
Of course yes. One of our big industrial markets is ceramics and we consider this a very important market for us. We have 22 operations globally and will be bringing out a new technology at the Tecnargilla trade-fair in Rimini. This new technology offers high-end ceramic production.
The new system gives you a 3D structure on top of the tile – this is an area where we really love and enables amazing creative possibilities and quality finishes.
Also, at the last Drupa, we launched our single pass corrugated machine and this is proving very popular and it is fully industrial and making great progress. We also have our label machines which are now number 1 and 2 in the industry so we are happy with that.
What about textiles, this seems a very sought after and hyped market, what is your view of how inkjet is working in this sector?
We have products in the textile market, and we lead the high-end soft signage market with our Rhotex printing systems – and we are successful with the Alpha product line - but I have to say that in my opinion digital inkjet for “real” textile e.g. apparel is overhyped by the expectation of some investors and consultants. A lot of mills and printers are using digital as they have used analogue since years and years – it`s all about price, but not really about the possibilities the technology could offer. Sure, there are exceptions – as in all industries, but I think a lot of people are dreaming up and industry that doesn`t take on the value of a digital production.
We see a big future for digital for interior décor, do you see an opportunity for this sector that is not textile?
Yes, we do see a great opportunity for interior décor but not so much apparel and clothing. We see opportunities in flooring, with high-end laminate, LVT and interior décor. Why? Well, for example, 15 years ago, every McDonald’s menu was printed with a lambda and now this is digital signage and the rest of the store is made with inkjet print including the walls and the surfaces. The world is going this way in retail, hospitality and leisure. So I think digital print has a growing role to play here.
So you will be developing more imaging technology for this kind of market?
We are a solutions provider for imaging. Not just an imaging print technology business. Yes, it does include inkjet around digitalisation for industrial and high end, but now and in the future, this could be input or output. Durst does not need or want 90% of the mainstream market. We want the best and the top of the top. So our focus is here, our competence is here and we think that is a good place to be.
Interview On Puredigitalshow.com
Europa-Parlamentarier Herbert Dorfmann besuchte gestern den Durst Messestand auf der Labelexpo 2017 in Brüssel. Durst präsentiert dort u.a. mit dem neuen Tau 330 RSC eines der weltweit schnellsten Digital-Drucksysteme für Etiketten und Spezialverpackung. Hightech made in Brixen!
Im Bild Herbert Dorfmann, Durst CEO Christoph Gamper und das Durst Label Printing Team unter der Leitung von Helmuth Munter.
Nearly two decades of development and a clear vision of how to run a professional business have made DPC (Digital Printing Centar LTD., Belgrade, Serbia) a market leader in wide format digital print. Economic indicators for the last period place DPC at the first place on the list not only in Serbia, but also the whole Adria-Balkan region (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). These results are even more impressive when we know that this economic result has been achieved by constant investments in modern manufacturing facilities and most advanced technologies and business solutions for industrial wide format digital printing.After complete relocation of production three industrial Durst printers have been installed within a short period of time. Those are UV inkjet printers Durst UV Rho 312R (web-feed) and two Durst UV P10 200 hybrid printers (flatbed & roll-to-roll) installed by a regional representative, Grafik.net (Grafik.net Ltd., Zagreb, Croatia).This kind of investment into Durst equipment has not gone unnoticed because we are talking about a technological leader whose printers are unrivalled in the segment of wide format digital printing. While talking to the owner of DPC, Mr Slobodan Boban Petrović, we managed to get more information on reasons for such an investment, what his view of this line of work and market was and what kind of attitude and energy were necessary in order to achieve a top business result.
Digital Printing Centar (DPC)was established in the year 2000. From the very beginning we have strived to become the regional centre for digital printing. In order to achieve that, we needed a completely fresh approach to business from the one which was current on the market at that time. We have set a new standard regarding customer service and created a print service which genuinely offers a complete service and solutions for all our clients’ needs according to the principle “from wish to realization”. Hard work, commitment, great effort and a lot of invested energy have resulted in change in the way our clients think and view print services market.Years which followed were the years of intense travelling, visiting different fairs and participating in numerous meetings in search of knowledge and innovation; and the result was investment in the right space and equipment. We continue to develop our company with good, positive and creative values which are built on relationships with our clients and suppliers. We invest in employee education and by continuous introduction of new technologies and products we help to shape the market and grow with it.Today we are ahead of the market. We want to be, and we are, one step ahead with technologies, knowledge and effort we invest into every job no matter how big or small it is. All of this has led us from the process of printing to a complete digitalisation of finishing process of the final product, forming new production processes, acquiring the motor fleet, application team, logistics etc. Slogans which have followed us throughout the years explain in just a few words what our relationship to work, challenges and market is.“Hen’s teeth.” – “Get real - demand the impossible.”* – “imPRESS!“ - “One step ahead.”Source: www.dpc.rs
At the moment we have around 120 employees among all the departments. This number includes sales, logistics, print and finishing. Digital print is print on-demand and you often have to be a magical worker. Because of that, we have to be flexible when it comes to the number of employees and when necessary we hire additional work force.Most business results are achieved on the local Serbian market. Future plans include introduction into the foreign markets, but it is too early to specify the details.
Two years ago we invested in the first Durst P10-200 flatbed system. Because of the quality of print we were able to satisfy all the bidding needs and contract a larger volume of prints for clients such as Frikom on a regional level. Considering the volume of print it was logical to acquire another machine so we could facilitate the work, have the possibility to do smaller circulations while one machine was working and secure a back-up. Second machine enabled us to accept more work with the possibility to print larger volumes.Durst Rho 312R web-feed printer was installed at the beginning of the year, and the period of commissioning the machine was short – there was almost no adjustment period. In less than three months we made more than 30 000 square meters, which is 50% more than we had expected. When it comes to press speed, the time which was necessary for printing is half as long, for some jobs even three times less than the initial length. This increase in capacity has enabled us to do a very intensive election campaign in Serbia, which had, in less than three weeks, two complete changes of visual. We did this demanding job without problems and within the deadline thanks to Durst machine and we justified our slogan: “Get real - demand the impossible.”*We had planned to invest in Durst machines earlier but because of the complete relocation of production facilities and high investments that was not possible. With support of our suppliers we managed to get a favourable loan and achieve this technological advancement. Manufacturing time was shortened and the market instantly acknowledged that there was a centre which replied to all inquiries regarding the deadlines. The result is such that by increase in volume we instantly received more work. When taking an order from an agency the answer to every question regarding inquiries and deadlines was: “Yes, we can!“DPC focuses on a complete service and fulfilment within the shortest time possible with the top quality which resulted in not having competition on regional market of wide format printing. In order to achieve that, you also need press equipment without competition such as Durst.
We cooperated with more distributers in the past, but none of them had the advantage and the vision of long-term cooperation which would correspond to our wishes for setting high-standards in all business segments. When Grafik.net company appeared we gained a relevant regional partner, a serious company which can give us support in areas they are specialized in. At the same time Durst made a huge technological breakthrough with its revolutionary machine P10, and later 312R. We were ready to go to a new level and things just came together. For the last three years we have been exploring new possibilities with Grafik.net and we are getting information regarding the market, which are extremely important. Thanks to their representative, Mr Dean Tolp, the whole segment of our business connected to Durst is completely covered. We have excellent technical support which gives the whole story a winning combination.DPC was established primarily on our willingness to thrive and invest in knowledge. In cooperation with suppliers with which we have great relationship a “good vibe” was established. We consider them our well of knowledge, and we are a good place to try out new technologies and their possibilities.
Digital print has infiltrated all the pores of society; everyone needs it and uses it. DPC has achieved success because we were different. We have channelled our energy into being your partner as well as supplier. When you run your business at such a level, you cover a wide spectrum of society. As a sportsman would say sport has given them everything I can say the same for print.
The Durst Rho 3M™ Premium UV Ink Series has received the 2017 Top Products award from Wide-Format & Signage magazine. The award is presented to “breakthrough products” that over the past year generated the most excitement in the wide- and grand-format printing industry that delivers the most value to today’s printing businesses.
The co-branded Rho 3M™ Premium UV Ink Series was chosen as the top Ink by a vote of the magazine’s readership, which is comprised of members and observers of the commercial printing industry.
“We are delighted that the Durst Rho Roll 3M™ Premium ink has been voted one of Wide-Format & Signage 2017 Top Products by the community of professional print providers,” says Larry D’Amico, Director of Sales, Durst Image Technology U.S. “Being able to provide printers with the ability to produce 3M™ MCS™ warranted graphics on the Rho 512R and Rho 312R platforms is significant, as these devices are ideal for the type of applications that require the MCS™ warranty.”
“Choosing 3M™-branded inks with a premium equipment partner like Durst, assures users of Rho 512R and Rho 312R printers that all of their graphic components have been designed to work together, with the backing of 3M”, Said Adam Larson, Global Portfolio Manager for 3M.
By employing these premium UV inks, Durst users will be able to offer 3M™ MCS™ Warranty Certified graphics upon completion of the certification process. The combination of Durst world-renowned innovation and durability with the added backing of a 3M™ MCS™ warranty will elevate roll-to-roll productivity and reliability to a new level, the companies said.
For information on Durst North America or any of Durst’s products and services, contact Christopher Guyett, Sales & Marketing Coordinator: phone (585) 486-0340 ext. 5270, e-mail cguyett@durstus.com. Or visit Durst U.S. online at: www.durstus.com
As Durst celebrates its 80th year Lesley Simpson asked CEO Christoph Gamper about the company’s future direction and its commitment to large-format inkjet.
“It’s time to extend beyond print.” So says Durst CEO Christoph Gamper, speaking with Image Reports not long after the company announced it had established a joint venture with American photographer Steven Sebring called the Durst Sebring Revolution (DSR) to develop camera systems for the creation of 4D visual content – a system displayed to the public for the first time at Photokina last month (September).
“The DSR system is a disruptive technology, not only in terms of photography but in the way that content is created and distributed today,” Gamper said at the time of the announcement this summer. He added: “It offers visual content in the highest quality within a few minutes for various applications and platforms. This will enable entirely new concepts and experiences, especially in the retail sector.”
So how big a focus is this development for Durst, and is there potential for PSPs - especially those operating in the retail space - to benefit from the technology? “In a year I can tell you more, but I don’t want to give too much away to the competition yet,” says Gamper, explaining that Durst has an “incubator that looks at start-up projects - like DSR - and helps get product to market.”
He explains: “Durst has already reinvented itself four times, and we will continue to reinvent. We want to grow but remain a private company, and although we have a nice portfolio of products we want to extend it with whatever we think will make an impact in the market. With DSR what we are doing is creating another visual experience. It’s way too early to connect the dots yet, but yes, I think that will bring new opportunities for our existing users [PSPs] too.”
Durst’s existing large-format inkjet users - those owning Rho and Rhotex (soft signage) machines - account for 35 - 40% of the company’s turnover, which last year stood at 250m Euro. Gamper says it will be “a bit more in 2016”. At the minute a quarter of turnover comes from the ceramic market, around 20% from textile, and the rest from labels print systems. Packaging is still too new to be in the figures since the technology was only introduced at Drupa 2016.
Of Durst’s 700 employees, about a third are in engineering and R&D at the company’s Brixen and Lienz sites. Gamper says 11 - 13% of annual turnover goes into R&D. From that pot large-format, ceramic, textile and packaging each take near equal shares, though as Gamper points out, “while we work in business units in R&D a lot of the work overlaps.”
He expands: “Seven years ago we entered the ceramics and started paying real attention to the industrial print market because it’s natural to leverage the technology we’ve been developing for the large-format inkjet market into new, growing ones. We’re doing that with textile too, which is why we’re looking at the likes of the Technijet deal (see News). An on-demand pre-treatment for textiles can be useful for other things too - so we’ll learn lessons and apply it elsewhere.
“It’s too early to talk about specific applications for large-format - competitors are always looking at what we’re doing! But I can say that there are likely to be ramifications there. For instance, a large-format PSPS starting to do some interiors textile print and wanting to do customised bed linen couldn’t do it five years ago because real material [cotton] textile print systems were so complex. A customer in one of our field tests can now produce on-demand customised bed linen because we have the whole system - the textile pre-treatment, the printer and the inks. By next Fespa [2017] we’ll be able to show a lot more.”
Gamper believes the requirement and demands of the textile market will also push the environment up the agenda once again. “I know environmental issues have been a bit out of focus but it’s coming back into sharp relief,” he says as he sits at his desk looking over the Alps and admitting that, for him personally, the environment is an important issue.
Of course Durst made something of a splash when it introduced its Water Technology, now incorporated in all the Rhotex machines, plus the Rho WT 250 and CPD corrugated printer. Including the Rhotex printers Durst has sold 200 Water Technology enabled machines, but only five otherwise “as they’re still in field tests.”
Gamper says: “We won’t drop UV ink, but Water Technology opens new applications in areas where environmental concerns are important. I think that further down the line it will become a ‘must have’, but when that will be depends on how the markets develop. If environmental regulations demand it, it will happen more quickly - after all, it’s a question of how much it makes sense for a PSP to invest in the technology.”
At Durst there’s plenty of continued R&D surrounding Water Technology. As Gamper points out: “There are still a lot of problems that can be solved in the area of inks for large-format systems. We’re in field tests now for instance to optimise the adhesion process so that it works with more media etc.”
But there are other key focus areas too when it comes to large-format R&D.
“Large-format inkjet is coming out of baby shoes when it comes to Industry 4.0 and the focus now is on creating efficiencies.
“We don’t need another speed bump because the machines in the market are generally considered fast enough. And print quality is established. Plus, a lot of capacity has been installed over the last couple of years, and people don’t know what is coming around the corner, so what we are seeing is a focus on anything that creates business efficiencies,” outlines Gamper.
“PSPs want machines to run for longer with less need for attendance and the whole workflow issue is now really up there, so there’s a shift towards software and workflow rather than machinery development.
“Also, in large-format in the last few years a lot of players have concentrated into bigger groups and there’s a need to look beyond the actual system to things like networking. We are at a point where large-format is becoming a mature market and so the R&D focus is now on inks yes, but also very much on surrounding systems.
“At Durst, we will certainly look at new growth markets, but in large-format we will also continue to be innovative because there’s still a lot to be done.”
Christoph Gamper, CEO at Durst Phototechnik AG
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