Colorific has announced that Australian-based iMedia is the second PaperlinX company to take on its range of high quality alternative inks.  The deal was signed at the Visual Impact Image Expo at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre where both companies are currently exhibiting.

Founded in 1992 and acquired by PaperlinX in 2007, iMedia is a supplier of hardware, software, media, inks and consumables to the architectural, engineering and large format copier markets as well as the higher quality inkjet market for point of sale, display, signage and proofing.

The successful signing of iMedia as a distributor follows the announcement in June 2011 that PaperlinX’s Robert Horne Group had adopted the Colorific ProMax inks for Roland in the UK & Ireland.

Chris Lewis-Williams, Group iMedia Manager, at iMedia, comments, “Colorific’s range of alternative inks is a natural fit for iMedia.  Our customers are always looking for ways to reduce their costs and improve profits and switching to high quality alternative inks is a great way of doing so.”

Shaun Holdom, Business Manager for Colorific, adds, “It’s great to welcome iMedia on board as the Australian distributor for our inks.  We are able to offer a high quality alternative ink to suit every requirement – regardless of printer and application.  All our inks are fully tested and proven in the field and have a track record of reliable and trouble-free performance.  As a result, we are the fastest-growing alternative ink brand in the UK and we want to replicate this success across the globe.”

Holdom concludes, “Our business case is compelling.  Once customers have seamlessly switched to our inks, they are sticking with them because they profit from the significant savings that can be made – up to 50% in some cases – without compromising the quality of output.”

International expansion continues

In a bid to continue the expansion of its distribution channels with like-minded, professional businesses worldwide, Colorific has also announced that it is about to embark on an ambitious ‘world tour’ of major trade events over the coming months.  These include:

• International Graphics Art Show (IGAS) in Tokyo, Japan, 16th to 21st September 2011
• Viscom Spain, 6th to 8th October 2011
• Viscom Germany, 13th to 15th October 2011
• Viscom  Italy, 3rd to 5th November 2011
• Sign and Graphic Imaging Middle East, Dubai, 31st January to 2nd February 2012
• Sign & Digital UK, 27th to 29th March 2012

Potential partner companies interested in meeting with Colorific at these events should contact Shaun Holdom on shaun.holdom@colorificink.com

For more information about Colorific and its range of ink solutions, please visit www.colorificink.com

Lick N Stick Graphics switch to Colorific ink

Based in Thorpe, Surrey, and created by Paul Cobby and Richard Long in April 2009, Lick N Stick Graphics is a large format graphics production company.  The two company owners both have over 15 years experience in the large format graphics industry and using the latest digital technology, Lick N Stick provides practical graphics solutions for the event, exhibition, sport, retail, TV and films industries.

From its inception, there were four main employees.  Richard Long took the role of sales director and Paul Cobby became production director.  They were joined by Nathan Green as production manager and Justin Wallace as marketing manager.

According to Justin Wallace, “Starting any new business is hard enough at the best of times, yet in the middle of a recession, we have managed to create a successful digital graphics production company.  We have had a very positive first couple of years in business and have expanded rapidly.”

From the outset, Lick N Stick purchased an arsenal of printers upon which it could create quality output including:

• Roland VersaCamm print and cut 720mm-wide solvent printer capable of printing and cutting to shape laminated and unlaminated vinyl stickers
• HP5500ps on which all Lick N Stick’s indoor hi-res graphics and pop-ups are printed
• Mutoh ValueJet 1604 used for high-end outdoor graphics including banner, vinyl, mesh and canvas
• Vutek 3300 super-wide format printer to produce graphics up to 3m wide on banner, mesh, jettex, woven poly and vinyl

Having had a very successful first year in business, the company decided to expand its portfolio and invested in an Acuity HD 2504 so that it could print directly onto sheet material up to 8’ by 4’ using UV inks.  This saved Lick N Stick time on production and ultimately increased turnover.

The increase in production then created a bottleneck in finishing, so to combat this, Lick N Stick bought a Zund iCut which can cut any output to shape on materials upto 1750mm wide.

In January 2011, Lick N Stick also replaced its Vutek 3300 with a Vutek Press Vu400 for roll and sheet fed options upto 3m in width.

Lick N Stick has closely partnered with various companies to ensure it has a great back-up team at hand.  The Roland, HP and ValueJet printers all run Colorific ink. This alternative ink brand offers massive cost savings over OEM inks and helps to keep the company profitable.

SelecTech, a specialist supplier of ink, media and accessories to the professional large format sign and display print market, supplies all the substrates and other consumables that Lick N Stick needs.

Maidenhead-based Tech 8, which offers technical support, extended warranties and spare parts for most wide format printers, has colour-profiled the Colorific ink so the prints are the best quality they can be when printing onto the SelecTech substrates. Tech 8 also supplies any engineering backup and spare parts required.

Lick N Stick’s success can be demonstrated by the fact that for the third year running it has been awarded the signage contract for Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2011.  Lick N Stick has held the contract for the last two years, but this was the first year the contract had gone to tender – and the company retained the contract.

According to Justin Wallace, Marketing Manager at Lick N Stick, “For Hampton Court Flower Show, we design and create hundreds of individual graphic items in our Mac-based studio to precise brand guidelines supplied by the Royal Horticultural Society. We then produce all the signage required in-house onto the various different media using our wide- and super-wide format printers.  The signage will be installed on-site by our installation team over a three-week build period at Hampton Court Palace.”

He concludes, “We are very confident taking on such ambitious projects.  We are well-organised and are well supported by our suppliers.  Our business continues to grow at pace and we have doubled our headcount in less than 2 years

Colorific, a leading supplier of high quality alternative inks, today announced that Robert Horne Group has become a Preferred Partner for its Colorific Pro Max inks for Roland printers.  This is one of Robert Horne Group’s first ventures into selling alternative inks.  At present, the agreement encompasses the UK and Northern Ireland.

As part of the agreement, Tech8, the technical support and spares provider for the wide format printing industry, will support Roland machines converted across to the Colorific Pro Max inks.  This will ensure that customers benefit from unrivalled support when switching across to Colorific’s cost-effective and reliable alternative ink solution.

Julian Boulter, Category Manager at Robert Horne Group, comments, “We took on the Colorific Pro Max inks so we could provide our customers with fully-supported access to high quality, cost-effective alternative inks.  Print businesses are under ever-increasing pressure to reduce costs without impacting the quality of their output and switching across to alternative inks is one way of doing so.”

The Colorific Pro Max inks for Roland printers are fully-compatible with Roland OEM inks and therefore there is no need to flush the system prior to switchover.  The colours are matched to the OEM inks and inks are available in CMYK,Lc,Lm 440ml chipped cartridges.

Shaun Holdom, Colorific’s Business Manager, adds, “For Roland printer owners, there are clear benefits in switching across to our high quality alternative inks.  They are more cost-effective than OEM inks, yet there is no differentiation in the quality of output and no issues switching over.  In addition, all Colorific Pro Max ink is backed by its own ink stream warranty.  The vast majority of our customers report over 30% cost saving on alternative ink compared to OEM ink.”

With Tech8’s backing, customers are also reassured of great technical support – in the unlikely event it is required.  Justin Atkinson, Business Development Manager, at Tech8, concludes, “For Roland printers that are now out of OEM-warranties, we are offering continued, cost-effective, comprehensive cover.  Customers will benefit from a cost-effective warranty package which ultimately gives them peace of mind – regardless of the age of the machine.”

For customers wishing to check the print quality for themselves, free samples can be ordered online via:  www.colorificink.com/rhg.  A data sheet with additional product details is also downloadable from this address.

[Photo shows (from left to right) Shaun Holdom, Business Development Manager, Colorific; Michael Crook, Product Manager, Robert Horne Group; Julian Boulter, Category Manager, Robert Horne Group]

Republished here with kind permission of LFR, their latest ‘Spotlight on…’ feature focuses on the state of the ink market.

Whilst the worldwide recession has undoubtedly taken its toll on hardware installations – and in particular the aqueous printing market – things are still looking bright for higher-end, UV-curable ink based installations.

In figures* recently released by Lyra Research, the digital imaging authority, there was an installed base of 520,000 aqueous wide-format printers in 2008 and this figure is estimated to shrink to less than 470,000 installations by 2013.  This is indicative of aqueous ink hardware ‘retirements’ outstripping new installations for the first time since the wide-format print market was established.

Higher end printer installations are faring better – especially those using UV-curable inks.  Lyra estimates that 4,000 UV-curable printers will be shipped worldwide in 2013.  This demonstrates a compound annual growth in this sector of 10% between 2008 and 2013.

Interestingly, eco-solvent installations are also slowing, caused in part no doubt by the recession, difficulty in securing finance, and of course impacted by emerging technologies such as latex inks from HP. It appears that many prospective wide format printer purchasers are currently sitting tight, watching and waiting for the next ‘standard’ to emerge from the current hype and hullabaloo.

Whilst eco-solvent installations slowed, but still grew, it is perhaps more noteworthy that OEM eco-solvent ink revenues have declined by some 3% year-on-year.  The proliferation of less-expensive third-party alternative inks is deemed to be the primary reason for this revenue fall.

In the consumer desktop printing market, the majority of users stick with OEM inks.  However, in the more savvy wide format market – where business owners look to their printers to generate a significant proportion of their profits – there has been a sizeable shift towards less-expensive alternative inks. Most printer owners now realise that many printer manufacturers don’t actually manufacture ink themselves – indeed Toyo (eco-solvent) and Sun Chemical (UV) are nowadays widely known to be the suppliers of ‘OEM’ inks to a number of the big brand printer manufacturers.

In what has been a tough market, where the recession has led to eroded margins and a tighter bottom line, wide format printer owners are generally more likely to adopt ‘credible’ alternative inks in order to realise significant savings and increased profits.

In the Lyra survey, which polled more than 500 wide format print users, approximately 12 percent of respondents had purchased third-party wide-format ink in the previous year, and another 17 percent considered purchasing aftermarket ink.  Print service providers and sign shops were the most likely to change.

“I don’t buy petrol for my car from Ford, I buy it from any one of a number of petroleum companies who I can trust to deliver a reliable product – with due care taken, why should I treat ink for my printer any differently?” was perhaps the most noteworthy response to one question about switching from OEM to alternative.

In other more colour-critical markets – most specifically photographic printing – there is still a greater resistance to alternative inks with 64% of respondents remaining concerned about the quality and consistency of alternative inks.

Across all markets, 11% of respondents expressed concern that use of third-party inks would void a hardware warranty.  This is testament to the fact that the ‘use our ink or suffer the consequences’ message pushed by some printer manufacturers still creates enough doubt in the mind of the user to keep them on the side of the premium-priced OEM inks.

Of course every printer manufacturer has a right to promote its inks as the optimal solution – not least because of the significant spend they have made on testing and perfecting said inks for optimal performance – but to suggest that no other ink manufacturer is capable of doing similar testing or is incapable of producing similar results is increasingly starting to grate on end-users.

Resellers and end-users have expressed concerns that they felt they were being “exploited” by some of the OEMs.  Strong words indeed.  Yet, perhaps indicative that a fundamental change in attitude may be required by one or two of the printer manufacturers?

In summary, at the higher end UV-curable market continues its onward march. In the roll-to-roll mainstream wide format ‘print for pay’ market, aqueous is on the wane and eco-solvent currently rules the roost.  However, there is still some resistance to buying capital print equipment at present as users wait for the next de facto standard to become clearer.  Ironically, it is a next generation aqueous-based latex ink from HP that is causing much of this capitulation.

Ink-wise, it is increasingly apparent that end-user demand is for lower and some might say more realistic ink pricing, and it perhaps time for the manufacturers to accept that their wide format users cannot be retained simply by following the consumer desktop printer business model.  Should they persist in doing so, it seems clear that the alternative ink market will continue to grow at the OEMs’ expense.

* All statistics within this article were taken from Lyra Research’s ‘Worldwide Forecast for the Wide-Format solvent market, 2006-2013.’

Perfect colour prints requires a few ingredients: Suitable printing hardware obviously, good media, and of course a quality ink (from Colorific naturally!!), but for optimal colour you also need colour profiles that tie those elements together – for great colour profiles, we never hesitate in recommending Barbieri – their latest product, the fully portable and WiFi-enabled Spectropad, looks very interesting…

BARBIERI is proud to announce the world’s first portable spectrophotometer for professional digital printing. This professional measurement device is built to measure a variety of different media used in professional digital printing including large and wide format printing. Thanks to its independence from a computer it can also be used directly on the printer. The integrated touch display facilitates interaction with the device and gives immediate feedback about the measurement results. It is the ideal tool for all digital print professionals for use away from the desk.

Spectropad is the new portable measurement device for all professionals within digital printing including large and wide format printing. Thanks to its large measurement aperture it is able to accurately measure a wide range of different, reflective media. Banner, cardboard, textiles, canvas, PVC, Fine Art Paper, vinyl and Paper are just a few of them.

This new wireless, battery powered spectrophotometer can be operated without a computer and therefore directly at the printer, even without cutting the media. Jobs can be stored in the device and measurement results (if requested) sent through WiFi to the computer.

The Spectropad is the first measurement device with Barbieri “qb-technology” inside. This new technology is based on D50 illumination and contains the next generation of highest precision spectral core. The D50 illumination used is based on LED technology by Just Normlicht. It fully matches the new measurement condition M1 introduced with the ISO standard 13655-2009. Thanks to the Barbieri “qb-technology” most precision measurement results will be reached.

The touch display makes the operation and job selection a breeze – no matter whether measuring a control bar, a linearization or profiling chart or just a simple spot color. The measurement results will immediately be displayed or sent to the computer for further processing.

With this portable measurement device BARBIERI targets all professionals in digital printing, color management consultants as well as technicians for printer installation. It finally allows using the well-known BARBIERI measurement quality away from the desk or at the customer site.

The new BARBIERI Spectropad will be formally launched and demonstrated at FESPA Digital 2011 in Hamburg (May 24 – 27, 2011), in Hall A1, Booth C30.

Further information can also be found on the Barbieri website.

The full range of BARBIERI colour management and profiling tools are distributed in the UK by IGSUK Ltd, and is available from resellers including Tech8.

Hove-based TJ’s Visual Solutions has made significant savings by switching from OEM inks to Colorific’s range of inks.  Supported by Granthams, a business with over 100 years experience in the graphics industry, the transition to Colorific inks was seamless.  With ink cost savings of 50%, TJ’s Visual Solutions now wishes it had swapped over ages ago and would thoroughly recommend Colorific inks to other sign shops and printers.

TJ’s Visual Solutions (TJ’s), founded in 1992, is a dynamic company that creates bespoke visual branding solutions across a wide variety of media.  It has in-depth experience in all forms of signage, graphics and printing and is a specialist in vehicle livery – ranging from one off projects to entire fleets.

By the end of 2010, TJ’s became disillusioned with the inks supplied by OEMs for its 64” rebadged Mutoh ValueJet – upon which much of its output is printed.  The costs of OEM inks were continually rising and TJ’s was no longer able to rely on the next day delivery service from their supplier – despite putting the order in well before the cut-off time.

They had started to consider alternatives when they received a timely call from Sean Taylor, Consumables Specialist at Granthams.  Steve Irwin, Print Manager, at TJ’s comments, “We got chatting about various materials Grathams could supply us with, but became really interested when Sean said he could cut our ink costs by 50%.  We had heard all the horror stories regarding third party inks, but Sean assured us that there would be no problems with the changeover to Colorific.”

Granthams, established over 100 years ago, is a leading dealer in sign and display products.  It is one of Colorific’s resale partners.  Colorific offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of high quality mix and match, bio, eco- and full-solvent and UV inks, specifically developed for current wide format digital printers.  Colorific’s philosophy is simple:  for any given printer and application, it sources – from a channel of respected international ink manufacturers – ink solutions that are fully tested and proven in the field, with a track record of reliable and trouble-free performance.  Sold through its reliable network of resellers, including Granthams, Colorific-branded inks deliver uncompromised quality combined with outstanding customer service – all at an affordable price.

Granthams recommended that TJ’s switched to Colorific Pro VJ ink – a product specifically developed for the ValueJet line.  As Steve Irwin explains, “The Colorific Pro VJ inks were literally ‘plug and play’.  They intermixed with the OEM inks and didn’t require any flushing or special measures to get them working – the changeover was painless.”

The ink changeover was TJ’s Visual Solutions first experience of working with Granthams.  Steve comments, “They haven’t disappointed us.  We really value dealing with a company which has knowledgeable people at the other end of the phone.  They want to build a long-term working relationship with us rather than just focus on the quick sale.”

Steve Irwin summarises, “We would definitely recommend the transition to Colorific ink to other organisations.  We always thought that the OEM inks we purchased were expensive, and although we were initially hesitant to make the transition, we’re really glad we have.  The cost savings are great and we can rely on next day delivery.  There are probably plenty of similar sized sign shops and printers who are nervous to make the switch from OEM inks to alternate brands, but there’s now really no need to keep paying the over-the-top prices.  We’d read all the horror stories of changeovers gone wrong – days or weeks of downtime, costs of replacement printheads etc – but our transition to Colorific ink has been without a single hitch.  We now believe we are paying a bargain price for a high quality ink and wish we had swapped over ages ago.”

Because of the rapid increase in interest for high quality, sensibly priced inks, this year’s Sign & Digital UK sees Colorific taking a prominent position at the exhibition. With its broad range of after-market products, all of which are easy to use and promise colour fidelity and the highest quality, its existing series for popular solvent-based machines is being complemented by a new family of superwide-format formulations plus UV-curable alternatives.

Every ink throughout the Colorific series has been tested fully on every compatible printer model, so that there are no compromises or risk of poor performance when users make the transition to the company’s growing range of formulations. Working closely with leading and respected manufacturers, all products meet the highest standards and have been thoroughly field tested on different materials to ensure they meet full reliability, colour and quality criteria.

Colorific’s best known families of inks include products for Roland, Mimaki and Mutoh solvent-based printers, with many featuring mix and match capabilities so that transition from OEM formulations can be carried out on the fly. This means that users can simply carry out a like-for-like exchange without having to flush out or convert their machines.

Alternative ink formulations from Colorific include this popular Mix & Match Pro Series, plus a comprehensive series of eco-solvent products which have been designed to be totally safe for use in unventilated environments. These are complemented by Colorific’s Bio inks which are more than 90 percent biodegradable and compatible with most solvent-based printers with Epson’s popular DX3 and DX4 print-heads, thus covering many machines in use today.

With growing numbers of printer users now relying on Colorific inks for their eco-solvent and solvent-based wide-format machines, the company is responding to increased demand with additional product lines. These will cover superwide-format systems which are still in regular use, plus a new series of UV-curable inks for flat-bed and hybrid units.

The first of these additional market sectors covers the superwide-format arena where users of solvent-based systems such as the NUR Fresco, VUTEk UltraVu 3 and 5 m and Scitex Grandjet and XL-Jet still require reliable ink formulations at a sensible cost. With many older machines no longer covered by original manufacturers, extra benefits of changing to Colorific inks mean that change-over, service and maintenance can also be covered by associate specialist company, Tech8.

Similarly, users of flat-bed and hybrid UV-curable machines are finding ink prices are intolerably high and that, particularly with mature machines, lower cost options are becoming essential in order for businesses to maintain their margins. Again, upgrading to Colorific products removes the worries associated when moving away from original ink suppliers as Tech8 service and support is fully available.

At Sign & Digital UK Colorific will feature all of these ink products, sharing its stand with Tech8 which offers a fully independent support and service cover option for most printers in the field today. There will also be full information on the Colorific comprehensive product warranty and maintenance packages.

For further information on Sign and Digital UK 2011, or to register for tickets, visit the Sign and Digital UK 2011 website

The digital wide format market has now grown up – it’s moved from a baby, through the terrible twos, started school, been a wild adolescent teenager and is now embarking on a professional career.

All of the users in our market pretty much know what they want these days, and it’s up to suppliers to offer the right service. Customers are looking for solutions and want to buy from companies who know the market, and can provide backup, customer service, support and advice.

When looking to deal with a supplies company, they should be able to offer a lot more other than a keen price – customers should ask if they can help to improve their business with support and advice. You are a professional and should be working with like minded individuals who can add real value to the products they offer.

We all need to develop relationships with our customers and suppliers alike, to help improve the products we produce, and service all of our customers with the products they need, not with what we want to sell.

Next time you speak to your supplier, don’t be afraid to ask a few questions, and see if they can provide you with some help to do your job better, and not just save a couple of quid on a cartridge.

Shaun

Owners of established printing machines wanting to swap to after-market inks can now make the move to Colorific’s high quality family of solvent-based products without having the worry of making the change-over.

In conjunction with Tech8, all customers opting for the ink supplier’s low-cost yet superior alternatives to original formulations can now have the transition taken care of by specially trained engineers, with the knowledge that full installation and ongoing support will be provided.

Colorific’s growing ink families offer cost-effective compatibility with Roland, Seiko I Infotech, Mimaki, Mutoh and HP Designjet 9000 wide-format machines. Many existing printer models can be changed to Colorific on the fly, and this max and match ability means that no flushing out or special treatment is needed before switching brands.

“Colorific’s quality, reliability and price quash the negative rumours that constantly abound about alternative ink options, but we appreciate that some companies are still nervous about making the transition,” explains Shaun Holdom, business manager for Colorific at IGS UK. “This is why we’re offering the services of a team of experienced technical engineers who can make the change-over, giving printer users a built-in comfort factor.

“In today’s continuing tough economy no-one wants to experience down-time when moving to a third-party ink supplier, and our products are guaranteed and warranted accordingly,” Holdom continues. “Changing to Colorific also means that many older printing machines don’t need to be retired simply because their original inks are no longer available. We can add years of life expectancy and productivity onto this equipment.”

In order for inks to comply with Colorific’s strict quality criteria, all products are tested for reliability, compatibility, colour gamut and accuracy across different machines and materials.

Users of these products can also benefit from the Colourgreen initiative which is designed to simplify the legal implications of working with solvent-based chemistries by offering a free recycling service.

Welcome to my new Colorific Ink blog,…..

Here you will find regular information on all of the Colorific Ink products, I will keep all of our users and resellers up to date with all of the future Colorific ink developments and the new products that are coming through. In addition as I visit customers and trade shows I will keep all of our followers informed with what’s going on in the world of Digital Ink!

Also if there are any questions that you would like answered, then here is the perfect place to ask, and if I don’t know the answer then I will find someone in the industry who does.

Thanks for now – Shaun Holdom