Andy McCourt did the rounds at the show as Brian Stickland had personal business to attend to in Perth. Our thanks to Andy for standing in for me.
Visual Impact’s move from Darling Harbour to The Dome at Sydney Showgrounds does not seem to have done it any harm with the 3-day trade show wrapping up on Saturday. The relocation, due to the impending demolition and rebuilding of the Sydney Exhibition Centre, means plenty of parking, easy access for trucks to unload and a cosier feel inside the spherical Dome, which was used for Basketball, Badminton, Handball and Rhythmic Gymnsatics at the Sydney 2000 Olympic games.
The visual appeal of this year’s show was up to or beyond expectations with exhibitors putting great effort into working machinery producing vibrant graphics, engravings, LED signage and presentations. There were probably more vehicles being wrapped at Visual Impact 2013 than at any previous show, including a beautiful 1963 Jaguar E Type using Arlon materials on the Graphic Art Mart stand by Arlon’s Michael Paladini.
A new industry association is born
As vehicle wrapping proliferates, members of the industry have got together to form the Australian Professional Vehicle Wrappers Association. Driven by three Queenslanders, Shane Drew of Drew’s Sign It, Mark van Dam and Justin Dam from Wrap Starz, the inaugural meeting was attended by around 30 people from both the supply and production side of wrapping, from both sides of the Tasman, with
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| Shane Drew addresses the APVWA meeting |
the NZSDA’s Brian Fairchild being present and vocal at the meeting.
On why the need to form a new association specifically for the vehicle wrapping sector, Shane Drew says: “The wrap industry is developing into its own niche market with unique demographics both as a client installer base. Mark van Dam and I met and found that we and others shared similar frustrations, such as the ‘get rich quick’ element that has popped up and widely varying quality standards. It was Mark’s idea to form the APVWA and he lives and breathes for its success. Our main goals are to help raise and maintain standards, work with all members to learn new products, trend and ideas and to work with all parties in the industry to increase product knowledge, reduce failures and address application issues. We are also investigating holding member-only training courses working together with the major wrap material manufacturers.”
The APVWA’s constitution is currently being drafted, along with plans for an elected board and membership fees, which Shane Drew advises will be kept to a minimum, hopefully around the $200 per year mark.
Around the show
Out on the Visual Impact show floor it was quite apparent that vehicle, fleet and transport wrapping is becoming big business with several cars being wrapped and unwrapped and even a vintage Vespa scooter on the AVS stand – was this the Vespa from Fespa maybe?
Mimaki was exhibiting in its own right for the first time after the establishment of its own Australian sales operation following many years of distribution through Peter de Maagdt’s company DGS Mimaki. DGS (exhibiting without the ‘Mimaki’ suffix) will continue to sell Mimaki products non-exclusively and has extended its range to include Polyprint
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| DGS first sale of the ATPColor to Catalyst Graphics |
TexJet direct-to-garment printers, made in Greece and using DuPont Artistri textile inks. Also new at VI were the impressive HandTop UV printers from the Shenzen, China Company and the Italian-manufactured ATPColor DFP-1320 G4 3.3 metre textile printer – with the Visual Impact show model sporting a ‘Sold’ sign to Sydney’s Catalyst Graphics.
ATPColor is interesting in that it uses a Roland printer atop ATP’s own fabric handling and calendaring hardware. The Catalyst Graphics machine to be installed by DGS will presumably accelerate the company’s move from PVC for the exhibition, display and signage industry, to more eco-friendly polyester fabrics. At 3.3 metres wide and up to 75 m2 per hour using Ricoh Gen 4 printheads, it is sure to have an impact on the vinyl market in Sydney.
Equally interesting are the HandTop flatbed UV printers with DGS demonstrating three models at Visual Impact. Chinese-manufactured flatbed UVs have not had the best reputation in past years but Schenzen HandTop is a different story. The machines appear well-engineered with all-steel chassis and extruded aluminium tables and use either Ricoh or Spectra/Dimatix grayscale printheads; with other key components coming from German, Italian and Japanese suppliers. Affordability is the key to HandTop flatbed UVs, with price tags anything up to half that of bigger brands, depending on model.
DGS’s HandTop range starts at the HT1610UV small-size flatbed for production up to 1600 x 1000mm size at up to 18 M2 per hour in 4-pass mode. There are seven other models at 2500mm and 3200mm print widths, white and varnish ink options plus two hybrid
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| Ezy Taper are having huge success internationally with their machine and are regulars at the VI shows. |
roll/flatbeds. Productivity can be as high as 74 M2 per hour on the top-of range HT3116UV. Time will tell if HandTop flatbed and hybrid UV printers will dislodge the big-brand hegemony in that market, but they certainly looked up to the task.
Epson presented some stunning dye sublimation examples produced on its 44” SureColor SC-F6000 and sublimated onto textiles provided by Charles Parsons. Pre-sales Engineer Elizabeth Cerbelli championed Epson’s SureColor dye sub way; the company’s first foray into dye sub, with superb clothing, furnishing and soft signage work that shows how ‘plain vanilla’ signage printers can expand their businesses. Lurking
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| The Epson SureColor SC-F6000 |
near Epson’s 64” SureColor S-50600 high speed production solvent printer, was a little gem being demonstrated by Jim Walsh. Called the SC-T-5000, the ‘5000’ can also mean the low price – around $5,000 for a poster/CAD/GIS printer that can churn out up to 60 M2 per hour at surprisingly good quality. 28 seconds for an A1 poster is very fast and with 914mm (36”) print width, the T-5000 can go all the way up to A0 size.
Over at Canon, the former Océ boys were delighted to present for the first time in Australia the new Arizona 660GT UV with six independent ink channels and ultra-sharp printing that can resolve 6-pt type, even in reverse. Speeds are 25% faster, now up to 60 M2 per hour in express mode and table size for the GT is 2500 x 1250mm with the larger XT model at 3050 x 2500mm. The Arizona team of Dale Hawkins, Steve Badger and Damien Schaller were on hand with some timely NRL die-cut graphics featuring Sydney’s Rabbitohs and Melbourne’s Storm. Out-numbered 2 to 1, its little wonder the Bunnies won the real game held next door to VI at ANZ Stadium on the second evening of the show!
HP and Spandex exhibited jointly at VI, with working demonstrations of the HP Scitex FB500 flatbed and several Latex models, with a
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| Print&Cut together with Conect Enterprises launch the new Siser Heat Transfer products |
strong focus on digital wall coverings. Spandex Marketing Manager Nathan Barclay teamed up with HP’s Sign & Display Application Specialist Jeremy Brew and their teams, to bring a very comprehensive and visually striking display to VI visitors. Spandex added its Keencut cutters and Summa cutting plotters to the stand, which was equally branded and staffed by HP and Spandex.
50 Roland Pro4 XF640s and counting
Platinum sponsor of VI Roland held their customary pole position in front of the entry on a large stand that was echoed by the numerous Roland machines to be found on dealer stands throughout the show. The super-fast (up to 102M2 per hr) PRO4 XF640 again took centre stage with the remarkable success of this printer and printer-cutter family celebrated with over 50 installations since its launch less than six months ago. Local CEO Mark Margetts and Sales Director John Wall were clearly delighted at the progress of the XF640, which shows no sign of slowing.
The other Japanese wide format manufacturer with direct representation in Australia – Mutoh – showed for the first time the hybrid ValuJet VJ-1617H multipurpose 2-on-1 printer, presented by local staff resplendent in Hapi coasts. Able to run flexible or rigid media up to 15mm thick, the VJ-1617 uses hot-air dried inks rather than UV curing. For these multi-purpose inks, Mutoh claims improved adhesion, better flexibility without cracking and greater economy thanks to larger 950ml ink packs. The inks are 50% plant-derived from corn and eco-friendly. The configuration is CMYK plus White – Mutoh’s first white ink machine - and the 1617H handles media up to 1625mm wide. There is an optional inbuilt spectrophotometer available, the VM-10.
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| Jagdeep Singh and Barry Grant of Neopost with the Jetrix KX-5 flatbed |
Neopost Australia is gradually phasing out the GBC name according to National manager for Sign & Display, Barry Grant who was proud to introduce the new Korean-made Jetrix KX-5 flatbed UV to VI visitors. The spec of the Jetrix is impressive with white ink and varnish options, a 2500mm media width, 6 picolitre droplet size and production up to 30 M2 per hour. Launched globally only in June at FESPA London, the KX-5 arrived just days before Visual Impact opened and was a popular drawcard on the Neopost stand. A unique aspect is the inks that are jetted through the Konica Minolta 1440dpi printheads. With patented self-priming chemistry, there is no need for primer coating on hard to print surfaces such as glass, acrylic and metals. Price is very competitive according to Grant and Account Manager Jagdeep Singh. Like DGS’s Handtop, Jetrix appears to be targeting the dominance of Canon Arizona, Fujifilm Acuity and Agfa Anapurna in the 2500mm flatbed UV sector.
The appearance of low-cost Asian-made flatbed UV printers does not seem to have fazed SwissQPrint, distributed here by Positive Camtec. A former SwissQPrint executive, Adriano Gut has even moved his family to Australia to become Sales and Marketing Manager at Positive Camtec. “We are now well into double figures of installations of Nyala, Impala and Oryx models, “ he said, “and for Australia’s population size this is way above expectations.” The SwissQPrint Nyala at VI was producing the renowned superb quality that the company has earned by setting the bar high for speed, versatility, features and reliability. However, the new piece of equipment on the Positive Camtec stand was a US-made Kern HSE laser engraver/cutter. Available in 5 models with beds sized from 1320mm x 635mm up to 2032mm x 3048mm, Kern HSE engravers work very fast at up to 3800mm per second, pulling 5Gs of acceleration. Engraved signs on a variety of materials including wood, acrylic, ceramics and metal; artworks, decals, novelties and laser-cut metal parts are all produced cleanly and speedily. The honeycomb vacuum table extracts debris and fumes downwards while there is also vacuum extraction from above the substrates.
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| Ricky Richards are a favourite at all VI shows |
Australian Visual Solutions was celebrating its second Roland dealer partner of the year status, having shipped over $3 million of Roland equipment. The busy stand also featured new Fletcher Terry cutters, the essential YelloTool roll handling products and yet more vehicle wrapping with the US-made Concept and 3M materials.
Stalwart consumbles supplier Ricky Richards was again at VI with Matt Evans and his team. Their self-adhesive supplier Grafityp of Belgium, has moved into vehicle wrapping with the GrafiWrap range of 50 micron gloss blockout film featuring an ‘air escape’ PE liner to facilitate bubble-free application. Printable with Solvent, UV and Latex inkjet; this AE38P Cast Film is rated 10 years outdoors durability, unprinted, and has two matching overlaminates in gloss and matt. Also prominently featured were Ricky Richards’ range of printable textiles from A.Berger of Germany, further evidence of textiles and soft signage eroding PVCs market share for environmental and printability reasons, even for backlight boxes which textile with HP Latex inks are well suited to.
Heat transfer specialists Velflex were at VI in force with their range of tee-shirt, garment and sports clothing transfer materials and presses. Stretch fabrics have always been a problem for heat transfer graphics but no longer with Velflex’s new Stretch film. Suited to Cotton, Polyester plus blends, Nylon and 30% Lycra, Velflex Stretch is available in White, Silver and Glow in the Dark and is so thin and soft, it feels like part of the garment material.
Heat transfer was also big on the Print n Cut stand with the worldwide launch of new Siser technology, which they prefer to call Thermo-Transfer. The new Siser materials and precision TS heat transfer press prevent ink migration, are stretchable and the digitally-controlled heat presses ensure correct temperatures and time for thermo transfer onto garments and other fabrics.
Sydney also got its first look at Hexis vehicle, wall and furniture wrapping films distributed by Stickitome. The French-based Hexis organization is noted for its own Formula 1 racing team – now driving McLarens; wrapped of course in Hexis materials. The entrepreneurial firm has even taken a leaf out of Red Bull’s book and markets its own energy drink! Nothing seems to stand in the way of Hexis ambition and the Hexis Academy for certificate-course vehicle wrapping has already kicked off in Australia.
Chinese -made printers were out in force, notably the Twinjet SJ-3216 Pro and SJ-1605 Eco-Solvent machines from Blueonline, released for the first time at VI Sydney. Sales and Marketing Manager Malcolm Cumming says: “For customers looking to save money, these 3.2, and 1.6 metre wide printers represent outstanding value and use Epson Micropiezo printheads. Our quality Inkwin Eco-Solvent refillable ink cartridges are also around half the price of others and are compatible not just for Twinjet but also for Roland, Mimaki and Mutoh. You can even re-fill on the fly from 1 or 5 litre top-up bottles.” Twinjet also offers a textile printer to order ex-factory.
Another new Chinese-made wide format printer debuting at VI was the Absolute UV A18.5. As the name implies, it is a 1.8 metre wide UV printer but combines roll feed with flatbed capability via a roller-bearing table. This enables a wide variety of rigid media up to 50mm thick to be printed and UV cured with zero VOC emissions. Director Phonse Van den Acker says his company also imports the low viscisity UV inks that are compatible with the machine’s Epson DX printheads. The A18.5’s list price of $44,500 shows just how far the costs of UV cured hybrid printing have come down. Service and reliability have been taken care of according to Van den Acker, with local parts supply and scheduled service calls included in the purchase price.
Key take-aways from Visual Impact Sydney
Two stand-out themes came out of VI. One; vehicle and other paint-replacement/colour change wrapping is like a spinning galaxy about to give birth to its own solar systems. Demand in the wrap industry is such that it needs its own trade association and more entrants on the supply side can only lead to better deals and training for applicators as the ‘big four’ of 3M, Avery Dennison, Arlon and Hexis seek to defend their territories.
Second, we are seeing credible Chinese and Korean-manufactured flatbed UV and Eco-Solvent machines and inks that reduce cost of entry. This may mean more start-ups and increased price competition. The choices have widened.
Perhaps the main and third key take-away from VI Sydney is that the industry looks fantastic, is incredibly creative and a triumph of SME culture where a couple of guys or girls can get together and start a sign, display, POS or customized garment business and fulfill the great Australian dream of independence and financial reward.
Visual Impact Suppliers Association
www.visa.org.au
