Aiming to answer his critics head on Benny Landa opened drupa with a flurry of announcements that he says demonstrate the transition of the company and its Nanography technology from a proof-of-concept, unveiled at drupa 2012, to what it says is a robust line of presses that will address all major print segments. One new press, two strategic partnerships, including the sale of 20 nano presses, and three beta test sites, gave the drupa visitors a taste of the momentum the company has maintained in the face of some scepticism generated by the slower than expected progress of nano technology.
Benny Landa, chairman and chief executive of Landa Corporation
The new press, the Landa W10P, a metre-wide (41“) perfecting press, has two printing engines. Designed for the publishing, catalogue and direct mail segments, it prints at 200mpm on a variety of coated and uncoated papers, light boards and metallic substrates. The company has entered into strategic partnerships with Quad/Graphics, the largest publication printer in the US, and with Cimpress, the global leader in mass customisation and web-to-print, better known in Australia as Vistaprint. Cimpress has told Landa it wants 20 nano presses, and there is a high probablility that one will be placed in Melbourne. Qtuad/Graphics wants Landa presses to be its digital platform. Landa will deploy its presses at beta sites in Europe and the USA during 2017, naming its key beta site customers. These include the USA’s biggest POS printer Imagine, German folding carton outfit ColorDruck, and well known commericla printer Elanders. Benny Landa says, “For more than 20 years, digital printing has excelled as a solution for niche markets. Today’s announcements are one big step for Landa – and a giant step for the digital printing industry. With the size and calibre of these customers who will be deploying our Nanographic Printing presses, and the volumes of digital print that they will produce across the globe, we can say that digital printing is becoming mainstream.†The Landa press conference in the theatre in the booth – which is the third largest at the show – took the unusual step of not actually having a press to demonstrate, it mainly focused on the rationale for nano and the credibility of Landa. Its nano technology is being used for a host of applications not just printing, although it is in printing that Landa expects to make the biggest impact. However, a quartet of presses, on the stand, ran regular demonstrations.
