By Melissa Donovan
For manufacturers looking to add digital printing capabilities to their businesses, it’s helpful to reach out to consultants and vendors involved in the inkjet space. Leveraging their collective knowledge avoids the challenges associated with researching on one’s own. The right collaboration between manufacturer and vendor ultimately yields a bespoke solution, unique to the job at hand.
Reach Out
Some manufacturers have minimal knowledge of digital printing technology and the intricacies that surrounds implementing it into an existing production workflow. Reaching out for help is a great first step in the process. Inkjet consultants and vendors are one of the best points of contact in this scenario.
John Corrall, managing director, Industrial Inkjet Ltd., sees his companies and others like them as inkjet manufacturers with a “consultative approach.” He stresses how vital it is to talk to someone knowledgeable prior to integration of digital technologies.
“Inkjet is still a relatively new technology and there aren’t many companies who would have the skills in house to judge whether an offered solution is suitable for the customer’s specific application. So it is important to talk to someone with experience who can give a straight answer,” recommends Corrall.
Peter Baldwin, director of marketing, Engineered Printing Solutions (EPS), agrees. “It is not just beneficial, it is absolutely essential. Workflows are completely different and the skill sets required from machine operators are completely different.”
Designing a printer is complex. There are many moving parts. One of these is printhead selection, which includes considerations such as media type, ink type, chemical compatibility, resolution, cost, performance, and physical size. Tracey Brown, director of strategy and marketing, Meteor Inkjet Ltd., suggests giving thought to the availability and required performance of the specialist electronics needed to drive the printhead and components. “Printhead drive electronics—sometimes known as the datapath—translate high-quality graphics files into the signals used by the printheads to fire drops when and where they are needed.”
Most printhead manufacturers according to Brown don’t offer drive electronics or if they do, they are designed for prototype development and aren’t scalable to production. So, as a manufacturer, it is up to you to design the printhead drive electronics—unless you decide to work with a company like Meteor.
Be Prepared
After the decision is made to move forward with working with an inkjet consultant or vendor, it’s important to prepare.
Baldwin says for those unfamiliar with inkjet, there is a learning curve in working in CMYK versus spot colors. “Inkjetted images do not look the same as pad printed images. The color gamut of CMYK is smaller than that made possible with spot colors, but the addition of orange, green, and violet can increase the gamut greatly,” he shares.
EPS designs, builds, and sells industrial inkjet printers as well as pad printing machines. “As such, we have the breadth of experience designing printing machines so that we are not wed to one technology over the other, we just want to sell you the machine that will save you money or increase your product offering. We have worked with manufacturers in every sector, so we have the experience to integrate a custom product marking into your existing production line,” he continues.
At Industrial Inkjet, its customers have typically already searched and found nothing suitable for their operation in the realm of turnkey products and look to bespoke options. After initial consultation, next steps typically include print samples, print trials, and detailed return on investment calculations.
With close to 400 installs worldwide in areas ranging from passports to plastic parts, tax stamps to swing tags, and labels to floorboards, Industrial Inkjet offers experience. “A key point is that we understand inkjet reliability. We know how to make a system that works reliably every day with minimal maintenance and no hassle for the operator. We also understand integration into the customer’s existing production line. We are one of the few companies that specialize in that and the inkjet systems we make are optimized for that,” explains Carroll.
Meteor offers electronics, software, tools, and services for industrial inkjet. It holds close relationships with leading printhead manufacturers, which provides the company with early access to information about new printheads. “One of the main benefits of these close relationships is that Meteor can leverage advanced knowledge of new printheads in the pipeline to develop electronics and expedite time to market. Meteor has acquired a deep understanding of the fundamental science and engineering that underpins digital printing while accruing a vast amount of expertise in the real-world development of printhead drive electronics,” shares Brown.
Some challenges Meteor is specifically equipped to handle include correcting mechanical inaccuracies, masking printing to match product shape and orientation, printhead non-linearity, zero-gap printing, compensating for missing nozzles, and tuning waveforms for specific fluids.
Beginning to End
Perhaps the biggest thing to know prior to execution—just how long the whole process will take. Manufacturers need to be prepared to commit time, money, and resources into this endeavor. From initial meeting to actual creation and installation of the final inkjet solution varies greatly.
Carroll believes it has a lot to do with the company’s experience level. If the company already has inkjet equipment they might decide on a new project in a matter of weeks. If a company has no experience and has to go through several modifications to get it just right, the process could take 12 months or—a record for Industrial Inkjet—three years.
Based on Baldwin’s experience, for a fully customized solution, 18 months from initial contact to machine delivery is not uncommon.
Get Started
If you are a manufacturer considering implementing inkjet technology into your existing production line, it’s a safe bet that an inkjet consultant or vendor capable of creating bespoke solutions has the knowledge to help you get up and running successfully. The timeline from initial concept to actual fruition may be long, but collaborating with this type of vendor partner that acts as an extension of your business with an understanding of your goals is a worthwhile endeavor for the long term.
Jun2019, Industrial Print Magazine