Printing Industries of America has picked 12 recipients for its 2018 InterTech Technology Award, one of the print industry’s most prestigious prizes.
The judges picked technology that they deem truly innovative, and expect to have a major impact on the industry. A mixture of software, and hardware made the cut, including the Fuji Xerox Iridesse; EFI’s Nozomi press and the Heidelberg Primefire.
The Fuji Xerox Iridesse impressed judges who pointed out that the press can lay down six colours in a single pass, including CMYK, gold, silver, or clear, with spot-on registration at 120 pages per minute. One said, “The fact that users can quickly swap ink positions makes its capability for producing stunning specialty effects even greater, super sharp images can be printed in Ultra HD resolution. It has innovative engineering and is able to do things that no other digital production press can do.”
Judges chose the The B1 Heidelberg Primefire 106 for its quality monitoring system, and use of the company’s existing press platform and prepress workflow, making it simpler to add into sheetfed pressrooms. It images seven colours at 12000dpi.
The judges desrcribed the EFI Nozomi C18000, one of the first presses designed to meet the requirements of corrugated production, as an innovative solution that will help converters capitalise on the demand for shorter-run, versioned, and variably imaged boxes.
Also in the awards, the HP Indigo Pack Ready Lamination technology had judges pointing to shorter run opportunities, as it creates a laminate film without the use of adhesives and the need for cure time, enabling immediate conversion to sealed pouches.
The judges chose XMPie Circle PersonalEffect Edition software, which has application for designing, deploying, and measuring personalised omnichannel marketing campaigns, automating digital and print.
Other software included printQ 3D Packaging Design, by CloudLab and the Rapida LiveApp, by press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer, which allows users to control and schedule maintenance of Rapida sheetfed offset presses via a mobile device. The app lets operators start, stop, and make press adjustments when away from the console. Judges pointed to the maintenance feature that makes it easy to document issues and communicate them to Koenig & Bauer.
Also honoured by the judges: the SpectroDens4 by Techkon; ScreenPro by Global Graphics Software, Anti-Fluting Plate Technology for Corrugated by MacDermid Graphics Solutions, and 4-Step Sleeking Process by Nobelus.
