Guandong builds connections
Guandong Italia used its booth as a networking hub for printers and resellers to rebuild connections, rather than focus on its range of wide-format substrates. Guandong team principal Daniele Faoro said the stand rethink “stems from our desire to be even closer to dealers and customers”. While the focus was people, the business also had catalogues, examples of its MMXX2 collection and its themed ‘Pocket’ samples on display.

JWEI shows latest cutting system
Chinese digital cutter manufacturer JWEI exhibited a new cutter equipped with a loader and stacker. The CB03 flatbed digital cutter was running on the firm’s stand with a loader and stacker that can be approached with a forklift from the side of the device. Cutting speed is up to 1m/sec and it has a range of tools for soft materials up to 2cm thick and can also handle routing, but at a slower speed. The format is 2.5x1.8m. Also new is a 2.5m extension table for the fabric cutting version with camera system. This allows an operator to pick out cut parts of a job while the machine is still cutting.

Ritrama expands RI range
Ritrama (3.2-C32) highlighted its RI-Mark range and the brand-new RI-Mark Platinum series. The RI-Mark plotter-cut family of monomeric and polymeric films are available in gloss, matt, translucent or transparent finishes for light boxes and shop windows. The Platinum series is a UV-stabilised, high-gloss premium polymeric vinyl available in 72 colours boasting a 10-year outdoor lifetime.

PlastGrommet’s banner focus
PlastGrommet showcased ‘The Banner Finishing Factory’, which it said eliminated users’ workflow bottlenecks with finishing automation. Rolls from the printer are unloaded by the operator with the Compact e-Lifter Pro media lifter, which enables the operator to lift up to 5m-wide rolls, weighing up to 300kg, by pressing up/down controls. PlastGrommet’s ‘All In One’ system, which offers welding, eyeleting and slitting in the same machine, then finishes the long sides of the banner roll.
Short sides can be moved to ‘The Finishing Station’ for welding and eyeleting by the operator, and finally the ‘Roll Rewinder’ helps users with the rolling process to prepare banners for shipping.

Dataline stresses MultiPress USPs
Dataline Solutions focused on integration, automation and optimised workflows at the show.
The firm demonstrated how its MultiPress MIS/ERP software can benefit wide-format specialists, with features including accurate and precise production time costs “that go far beyond square metre rates”. Head of marketing Jef Stoffels said the Belgian firm had gained “a pretty decent number of good leads”. He added: "We’ve made some good contacts and met some very international people from further away than we expected. There’s a lot of interest in our type of software product.”

Caldera launches new RIP update
Caldera released the latest update of its RIP program, CalderaRIP Version 15.1. Users can update their RIP to access a range of new features designed to increase performance, output quality, and productivity. Highlights of the update include an improved nesting algorithm, CalderaJobs’ compatibility with Windows, and four exclusive features for CalderaCare subscribers, including the possibility to submit multi-page PDF files with different cut contours directly to CalderaRIP. The company is also releasing version 1.14 of CalderaDock, “the toolbox to manage the license and installation of all Caldera solutions”.

Felix Schoeller shows latest film
Felix Schoeller Group launched a new environmentally friendly transfer film. The company said the product “combined efficiency in production with central sustainability aspects and is a first step on the way to a new transfer film portfolio”. Jointly developed with Bleher Folientechnik, the optimised product structure of the bi-axially oriented PET film is free of formaldehyde and chromium and certified according to the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, so it can also be used for sensitive textiles such as children’s clothing. The special coating enables both hot and cold peel applications and is optimised against antistatic.

DCS targets tactile niche
Direct Color Systems (DCS) brought its new 1.5m UV-53DTS flatbed Braille and textured specialist printer to Berlin. The printer rounds out DCS’ collection, which runs from the small-format 1800 to the 1.2x2.4m UV-84DTS. Rui Carvalho, DCS EMEA director of sales, said that by tweaking UV printer technology, DCS had managed to break into the lucrative Braille signage market. “With the same technology, we do a lot more,” he said, citing improvements in software, ink volume control, and hardware. The value added is so high, he said, that one square metre of Braille-sign print gives the return of 200sqm of normal ‘flat’ signage print.