SCREEN Graphic Solutions Co., Ltd. (SCREEN GA), a subsidiary of SCREEN Holdings (Kyoto, Japan), is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of system components for the prepress and printing industries.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
SCREEN GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS: We supply the best names in the printing industry with industrial grade high-speed printing equipment that helps them stay competitive, agile and sustainable.
SCREEN’s large range of equipment includes the Truepress Jet family of large format inkjet printers, UV inkjet label presses, sheet-fed and web-fed inkjet presses, the Equios workflow system, RIPs, and plate setters.
E.E: What’s the news for 2021 about new products?
SCREEN GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS: 2021 proves to be a year of new and exciting releases, with two different series and a total of five new CtP models launched so far. CtP(Computer to Plate) is our main product range and our already established PlateRite series has sold more than 20,000 units until now.
However, in recent years, the printing industry has been increasingly calling for the introduction of CtP systems that, in addition to high productivity and quality, offer improved usability enabling the reduction of operating costs, as well as more eco-friendly designs that decrease environmental impact. In answer to these needs, SCREEN GA has developed the PlateRite 4600N series and the PlateRite Ultima 40000N series.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
SCREEN GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS: We have three main business areas. One is High-speed web inkjet press which is commonly used for transactional and direct mail printing and we have TrurpressJet520 series in the market.
Also, Label inkjet press is another business and TruepressJet L350UV series are our main products.
CtP is our main product range and we have PlateRite series, which is the market leader for its niche and has over 20,000 sold all over the world.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
SCREEN GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS: Because of the wide spectrum of print applications, each printing industry comes with its own market for technology and materials. SCREEN is a competitive presence in markets such as commercial printing, transactional printing, label printing, prepress plate printing, secure and private information printing and many more. Each market has different characteristics, but generally, SCREEN GA always seeks to bring innovation to each of these markets. We believe there is always room for better quality, faster turn-over times, and more sustainable production. This is also why we are preparing to bring our expertise to a new market for SCREEN– flexible packaging printing.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
SCREEN GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS: It is safe to say that Industry 4.0 is having a disruptive impact on the printing market trends. Automation for accommodating shorter lead-time and run length are common trends in each printing market. On top of that, interconnectivity and real-time data have become recurrent requests from our clients. SCREEN offers customized automated production based on each customer’s needs and we rely heavily on a case-by-case approach to ensure that our equipment is perfectly in tune with the entire assembly of each client.
Another trend that I see growing rapidly is the accessibility when it comes to printer operation and maintenance. In order to keep offset printing production, printing companies need some skilful operators and it takes a long time to train such experts. This drastically drives up the cost of the machines and prospective clients are pleased to hear that SCREEN technology can be truly digital, and the training for operating it is reduced to less than half compared to traditional offset machines.
We also find big demand for short-run printing in packaging area. Due to diversified and quickly diversifying consumer needs, the packaging industry is rapidly changing. Brand owners are already demanding shorter delivery times with a higher degree of diversification and increasing levels of message personalization, while retaining high print quality. At the same time, sustainability has become a common key word in the packaging field and printing companies need to evolve their business model. SCREEN has already launched digital inkjet products in the packing market such as the TruepressJet L350UV series for label printing and announced the PAC830F for flexible packaging printing. No matter the industry, SCREEN supports all the printing companies trying to transform their business with its digital inkjet technology.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
SCREEN GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS: TruepressJet520HD is the first inkjet printer to enable companies to print applications such as books and commercial printing jobs on a wide variety of papers at a competitive cost. Such applications require precision in terms of color management and image quality and used to be difficult areas for inkjet printers, mainly because the water-based ink required by inkjet technology has poor adherence to most widely used papers.
However, TruepressJet520HD achieves high quality printing and high productivity, all the while printing images on offset coated stock, a performance which until now could only be reached with offset technology. The combination of Japanese precision and our proprietary SC water-based ink enabled SCREEN to make this break-through and make inkjet technology the perfect solution for the versatile, agile printing company.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2021?
SCREEN GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS: Printing market has been, of course, affected by the Covid crisis and its effect will last well into the next year. On the other hand, the market is recovering gradually, as printing companies consider transforming their business and production for “New Normal” after Covid. 2021 is the starting point of that change and we support such companies by critically assessing our current lines and continuously improving our printing solutions.
