Digital manufacturer Durst has restructured its segment for industrial textile printing.
The new segment manager, Dr. Stefan Kappaun, has responsibility for the strategic direction in home textiles, clothing and accessories. He will also act as the connecting link to the large format segment, which takes over soft signage and fabrics in the portfolio.
Dr Kappaun, a member of Durst Group’s executive team, heads the ink business for all segments as executive vice president Inks and Fluids. A technical chemist with a focus on polymer science and a trained business economist, he is an expert in materials science and the development and marketing of ink systems for digital inkjet printing.
Durst says this know-how is particularly important within industrial textile printing, because, in contrast to other industries, different materials, pre- and post-treatments as well as large scale process influences, represent a daily challenge in digital textile production. At the same time, digital textile printing is one of the largest growth markets for inkjet technologies. Advertising media, large format providers and traditional textile producers target this sector. While they have different textile experiences, all of them continue to loook for new applications and business opportunities.
With its Alpha Series, Durst offers industrial printing systems with water-based reactive, pigment and disperse inks as well as with the pixel-to-output strategy end-to-end software solutions for efficient and cost-transparent digital textile printing. Dr Kappaun says, “The digital textile printing market is fragmented and we see different speeds and developments worldwide.
“While new, non-industry service providers often already have digital know-how but less textile experience, the traditional manufacturers are masters of textile finishing, but not all analogue processing steps can be transferred directly to digital textile printing. Durst has a comprehensive ecosystem to serve the different requirements and to support customers in the digital transformation.
“Our printing systems are designed for industrial productivity, but also offer profitability from the very first meter. The prerequisite for this is mastery of the pre-treatment and post-treatment steps as well as the digital workflow, in which Durst focuses on the consulting and training services in the new Customer Experience Centre at the Durst headquarters in Brixen.”
He succeeds Martin Winkler in his expanded role as segment manager Textile Printing, who will take on the role of global sales manager Textile Printing. Experienced service technician Martin Oberparleitner will supplement the textile printing team as the new junior product manager Textile Printing. Durst is also implementing new sales and service structures in the core markets.
