Nanographic Printing: Tweaking Toward Perfection

Meeting Benny Landa for the first time may be as fascinating as learning about the latest technology he's promoting. That the father of digital printing is a genius nonpareil is unquestionable. As for the charges he is an unrepentant self-promoter and a showman...in truth, he brings more substance and less flash to the table.

Landa displayed the latter two character traits on this warm early September evening on the eve of PRINT 13 as he passed around samples of his Nanographic printing technology to a host of editors, analysts and other industry pundits between the appetizers and the main course at ZED451 in Chicago. Indeed, Landa marveled with curiosity at the samples being floated, analyzing and appreciating them much like an ornithologist would rave over spotting a rare, scissor-tailed Flycatcher, or a philatelist would beam over finding an inverted Jenny on cover stamp.

This is Landa's most curious quality. His soft voice is filled with wonderment and discovery, as if he is somehow detached from the Nanographic printing technology and just so happened to stumble upon it in his back yard. The man certainly needs to work on his self-absorption and gloating, but for now, with his game-changing press only at 85 percent quality in relation to offset printing, the touchdown dance lessons can wait. He's gunning for 100 percent.

Team Landa boasts more than 200 engineers working on the Landa S10FC and S10C Nanographic printing presses, the long-awaited "game changers" that now have beta test shipping dates—fourth quarter of 2014 for the S10FC (folding carton, shown left) version and the first half of 2015 for the commercial (S10C) model. Judging by the samples that were distributed in Chicago during PRINT 13, the press has made substantial leaps and bounds in production quality since its drupa 2012 debut.

Landa notes that significant changes were made in several areas, including the image processing software, the ink ejectors, the resolution (bumped to 1,200 dpi) and the gray levels used. Following drupa, Team Landa went on a tour to get feedback from printers, and found there were a number of modifications needed, including putting the command console/cockpit at the output end of the machine.

The Landa Operator Cockpit provides the operator with touchscreen press controls, job management tools, video feeds from all key press functions, production-related vital signs and a lighted inspection table. A number of other suggestions were implemented, including the addition of an in-line coating unit that allows for flood and selective coating.

"The customers were so delighted with the machine at drupa that when our guys started coming back and telling me, 'oops, the touchscreen that everyone loved is not in the right place and it creates a time and motion problem for the operators,' I didn't believe them," recalls Landa, who heard no such grousing in Germany. "But, it's different talking to printers at a trade show, where they're all caught up in the euphoria, as opposed to meeting them on the shop floor."

One of the lesser heralded features is the ability to use AM/line screens or FM (stochastic) screening. The latter can be problematic when it comes to making changes and corrections, and Landa notes that printers are more comfortable with the AM screening.

Will Handle Wide Range of Substrates

Perhaps it was the 1,200 dpi resolution that drew the most oohs and aahs at ZED451; then again, perhaps it was the new ink ejector architecture. The samples literally contained printing on paper towels and toilet paper—giving new meaning to the pressroom operators grumbling about "crap stock." Landa wanted to illustrate the versatility of the press when it comes to substrates.

Is there a substance Nanographic printing can't handle? "I suppose Teflon would be trouble for us," he says, breaking into a smile. Even geniuses allow themselves a joke from time to time.

The automatic paper handling system supports paper and plastic substrates and accelerates the changeover to new substrates while maximizing uptime, without stopping to replace the paper stack. Auxiliary delivery trays will enable operators to automatically collect proofs without interrupting the normal production process.

The beauty of the Nanographic printing process, the magic of it, Landa observes, is its ability to adhere to any substrate because the ink never actually touches the substrate. The Landa ink becomes an extremely thin, plastic film that then gets laminated onto the paper fibers. The paper's fibers—whether they're smooth and non-absorbent or rough and absorbent—are inconsequential.

"The latitude of the printing process is extremely broad," he says. "We have a robust process that can pretty much print onto anything, and that should give everyone a feeling of great comfort. There's nothing sensitive or critical about the conditions for printing, for transfer. You don't have to coat or treat any substrates."

From a dollars and cents standpoint, whereas digital excels in very short runs (under 1,000) and offset is most profitable in very long runs (10,000-plus), Landa feels Nanography will bridge the profitability gap. The cost per page is cheaper, he contends, simply because there is less material being laid down on the sheet.

"Over time, you will find digital printing penetrating deeper and deeper into mainstream printing," Landa notes. "Ultimately, there won't be room for mechanical printing, because of the overwhelming benefits of being able to do it digitally. The economics aren't there yet to do run lengths of hundreds of thousands, or even tens of thousands (digitally), but it will be. Especially in packaging. This is an industry that is not going to go away."

The high level of demand explains why the folding carton version of the press is being released first. Secondly, being a packaging press, it only prints on one side of the sheet, whereas a model designed for commercial printing demands two-sided perfecting. Thus, Landa notes, it was more logical to come out with the simpler version first.

Landa's potentially game-changing technology harkens back to the Indigo's debut splash 20 years ago, but with critical differences. Back in 1993, digital was a product without a market, or at least a product without market awareness. It didn't stop technology enthusiasts from flocking to Landa's Indigo, but it did stop them from making a profit. This time around, Landa asserts, there's money to be made, and quickly. Just ask the 400 printers who reportedly have already signed letters of intent, many with down payments.

"There's a fascination with the technology, the touchscreen and NanoInk, but that's not why people are blown away," Landa observes. "They're blown away because they are in desperate need of this kind of product, because they can make money with it. That's the big difference between then and now." PI