Inkjet Forum India announces joint venture collaboration with leading Mumbai based publisher Colour Publications.
Based in Mumbai, Inkjet Forum India has established a series of successful seminars, conferences and exhibitions in India on diverse subjects such as Digital Textile Printing, Industrial Inkjet Printing, Additive manufacturing and other applications. They also provide Be-spoke consulting and market research services to the various stakeholders of the inkjet industry. Inkjet Forum India announces joint venture collaboration with Colour Publications to form CNT (Catalysing New Technologies) Expositions and Services LLP.
“We are very pleased to announce this collaboration with Colour Publications Pvt. Ltd. to form CNT” adds Aditya Chandavarkar, Founder – Inkjet Forum India, “This collaboration will help us to leverage our market leading domain expertise and industry experience on a larger platform. It will also benefit us to draw into more than 6 decades of media and technical expertise at Colour Publications to reach out to the relevant mainstream industries in a comprehensive manner. This would in-turn also allow us to bring to the market more innovative conferences and technical seminars to develop and support the inkjet printing and additive manufacturing technology in India. We felt the need to infuse some new thoughts and minds into the same, and also take the inorganic growth path where needed to achieve our goals.” Under the new arrangement, Inkjet Forum India now stands acquired by CNT, and will conduct its activities under the auspices of CNT, guided by CNT’s vision and principles.
Dilip Raghavan, MD of Colour Publications Pvt. Ltd, adds “Aditya Chandavarkar brings with him about 8 years of experience in business analysis, printing expertise and his expertise of creating Inkjet Forum India, which is the only platform in India for inkjet printing technology. It also gives us an immediate footprint and a quick market access in this specific area of Inkjet Printing. It gives us 5 years of assimilated experience, industry contacts and domain knowledge. Our core identity and expertise at Colour Publications gives us the downstream industry penetration where we could help the industry and technology grow in a sustainable and healthy manner”
The new engagement begins without any further ado and is already on track. CNT will develop and organise two diverse events – Inside 3D Printing Mumbai (I3DP) 2016 and Inkjet India 2016 focussed on additive manufacturing and digital textile printing respectively.
Inkjet India 2016 – Digital Textile Conference is to be held in Mumbai on 7th December 2016, during the INDIA-ITME Event to allow delegates from across the country and also overseas to be a part of the same. This would be a one-day conference with theme displays and technology showcases from across the digital textile printing supply chain. We already have leading technology players signed up for the same.
I3DP Mumbai Expo and Conference moving into its second year after a successful launch last year will be held on 1st and 2nd December 2016 at the Nehru Centre. I3DP Mumbai will feature two days of conference sessions led by top industry experts, and two days of exhibitions presenting the latest 3D printers and services. Session topics will explore the ways to apply additive manufacturing to meet industrial and commercial needs in various industries including rapid prototyping, product development, medicine, automotive, technology, software, and more.
We remain optimistic that this combination of Inkjet Forum India and Colour Publications Pvt. Ltd. will help us move to the next level in terms of our service to the industry and genuinely do something to shore up these sectors and enhance the knowledge imparted to the industry therein. We seek the active involvement of the industry and also your feedback on areas where we could serve you better. We are firmly here to stay!
For further information, please contact:
| Aditya Chandavarkar
Founder & CEO Inkjet Forum India aditya@inkjetforumindia.com +91 9869441285 |
Dilip Raghavan
Managing Director Colour Publications Pvt. Ltd. raghavan.editor@gmail.com +91 9820469582 |
Digital Textile Printing Beyond Fashion and Home Textiles
The demand for Digital Textile Printing for apparel and home furnishings is rapidly growing owing to the numerous technology developments and increasing adoption of the technology. As accepted by various leading research reports, digital textile printing now contributes about 3% of the total printed textile output.
We at Inkjet Alliance feel that considerable growth for digital textile printing will come from conventional applications like apparel, fashion and home textiles. However, development of new applications and business models for this technology is essential and will equally contribute to the growth and development of this technology.
One area, which makes a compelling case for all stakeholders to explore, is digital textile printing for industrial applications. Two key applications from our point of view include digital printing of automotive textiles and deposition of functional fluids onto textiles using inkjet technology.
Digital Printing of Textile for Automotive Applications
Automobile textiles are essentially non-apparel textiles widely used in vehicles. The term automobile textile in a broad sense means all type of textile components e.g. fibers, filaments, yarns and the fabric used in automobiles which includes both visible and hidden applications. Nearly two thirds of the automobile textiles are for interior trim which include seat cover, carpets, roof liners and door liners. The rest is utilized to reinforce tyres, hoses, safety belts and air bags.
From a value addition point of view using digital textile printing,among various uses of automobile textile, the target applications would be:
– Car upholstery-seat cover fabrics
– Car upholstery card body covers
– Automobile interior carpets
– Seat belt webbings
– Headliners.
It is projected that nearly 45 square meters of textile material is utilized in a car for the above areas. According to the International Organization of Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), approximately 90 million cars were manufactured in 2015. Even if we estimate the target market as 10% of the total cars manufactured the total potential printable fabric would be 405 million square meters, which is a very good opportunity.
Deposition of Functional Fluids on Textiles
The deposition of functional fluids on textiles also known as “textile finishing” is a process, which uses auxiliary chemicals to change the functionality of a textile substrate rather than providing it with a coloured design as is the case with conventional digital textile printing using dye based inks. These finishing techniques improve the properties of and/or add properties to the textile. There a wide range of functional components deposited or coated onto textile not limited to antibiotics, moisture absorbents, water repellents, antistatic agents, ultraviolet rays absorbents, infrared rays absorbents, optical whitening agents, swelling agents, magnetic material, flame retardants and perfumes with different physical properties which makes it impossible to have a universal deposition technology.
Conventionally many deposition and coating techniques including rotogravure, screen-printing, foularding and roller coatings are being used each with their pros and cons. Research suggests that deposition of functional fluids by inkjet printing acts as a precise, reliable and cost-effective technique of deposition with lower wastage and lower use of resources including water and electricity as compared to other deposition or coatings techniques.
Advantages of using inkjet printing technology for functional deposition include:
– Uniform layers of the functional fluid can be applied to the textile inkjet
printing allows precision of dosage and print-head nozzle control
– Relatively high concentrations of the functional fluids can be applied with
furthermore making interim drying and post-processes almost unnecessary
in many cases.
– The success of Single Pass Inkjet technology in conventional digital textile
printing can be translated to creating systems which enable high processing
speeds and very precise forming of patterns.
– A further advantage of digital droplet deposition, is that it provides the
possibility of on-demand delivery. Smaller series of different textile articles
can be processed on a single upgrading device without complicated
change-over operations which can have an adverse environmental and
productivity impact.
To explore and investigate the opportunities for digital textile printing mentioned in this article and many more beyond apparel and conventional home textiles, Inkjet Alliance in partnership FM Brooks is organizing a conference titled, Industrial Digital Textile Printing – Beyond Apparel and Home Textile at InPrint 2016 in Milan on 16th November. The seminar will focus on pushing the envelope in terms of the potential of digital textile printing in industrial applications. Topics of discussion will include:
– Development of Digital Textile Printing for Automotive Textiles
– Deposition of functional fluids on Textiles
– Digital Finishing of textiles
– Innovate Interior Decoration concepts using Digital Textile Printing
– Digital Textile Printing – Business potential beyond Fashion
If you have an interesting case study, a technical paper or are just happy to take part in a discussion and you are happy to share and discuss your work in the field of Digital Textile Printing for novel applications, then please contact Aditya Chandavarkar at achandavarkar@inkjetalliance.com with a title and a brief outline description of your proposed talk.
Ink Jet Alliance launches new annual Inkjet Conference Programme in Shanghai under “IJA Summit Asia” brand – plus an Industrial Digital Textile Printing Conference at InPrint 2016, Milano.
“It is the goal of IJA to undertake primary research and create events and networking opportunities which, over time, will significantly aid the development and growth of ink jet printing into new industrial applications, both within Asia and worldwide,” advises Stewart Partridge. “Our landmark event for the ink jet industry this year will be launched under the umbrella IJA Inkjet Summit Asia 2016, held in Shanghai from 24-27 October 2016. The dates have been carefully selected to allow seminar attendees to also visit major tradeshows such as ITMA Asia / CITME, ICE Asia and the All In Print China exhibitions, where many new innovations from the inkjet industry will be unveiled.”
This new IJA Summit comprises a two-day conference on Industrial Inkjet Printing, a single day Digital Textile Forum, a one-day event Digital Printing for Packaging & Labelling, plus an inkjet technical training course. The event programme also includes a half-day industrial print briefing focusing on key market trends, under the title InPrint Asia Industrial Print Seminar, organised by FM Brooks as an introduction to their future plans in China and Asia. All seminars and training courses will be presented in English or Chinese, with simultaneous translation into the other language. Co-founder of InPrint Frazer Chesterman confirms the collaboration “We are really pleased to be able to work with Stewart and Aditya from IJA on this project and we feel confident that our combined knowledge will help to deliver a superb combined event for China”.
IJA co-director Aditya Chandavarkar reports “This Summit is just one of several IJA events scheduled. We are also organising an Industrial Digital Textile Printing Conference alongside InPrint 2016 in Milano, and presenting ourselves at several conferences and events worldwide throughout the year, including TPF in Shanghai later this month”.
Ink Jet Alliance (IJA) provides consultancy services, market research, M&A services including acquisition strategy, due diligence, integration support – and organises seminars and events – focused on the fast growing range of industrial applications for digital printing. The company brings on board a wealth of experience and comprehensive understanding of the emerging industrial applications of inkjet. The founding directors are Stewart Partridge (originally the MD of digital printing consultancy – Web Consulting from 1993 – 2005) and Aditya Chandavarkar (Founder of Inkjet Forum India), supported by consulting partner Peter Barton in UK.
IJA also plans, alongside key strategic partners, to launch a range of services to help Chinese and Indian companies successfully target, analyse and acquire foreign businesses to expand their global market reach, and similarly help Western and Japanese companies to make acquisitions or establish successful joint ventures within China and India. More details will be provided with the launch of its web new site at end-April.
J-Teck3’s showcases diverse J-Cube range at FESPA Digital
This year’s FESPA Digital saw visitors to the J-Teck3 stand, hail the company’s most diverse premium ink range, J-Cube, the product of choice from its wide portfolio of sublimation ink for transfer printing.
Offering an extensive gamut of vivid colours including striking fluorescents and varying shades of black, J-Cube equips textile companies with superior colour combinations and the capabilities to produce premium fabric products. Manufactured using J-Teck3’s unique Cluster Technology, the water-based piezo inks enable supreme printability, fast-drying and high quality image definition when used with high-speed digital printers equipped with Kyocera, Ricoh, Konica Minolta and Panasonic print heads. Available for either transfer or direct-to-fabric printing, the inks’ versatility span a vast array of polyester applications including fashion and home decorations.
The company’s impressive stand also secured interest in J-Next, the company’s bestselling product line, fully-compatible with Epson print heads. Designed as the next generation inks for digital sublimation and direct printing on polyester and synthetic fabrics, the line provides vibrant, high-quality colours. This range includes the J-Next Subly Extra providing high-performance, eye-catching colour for coated and uncoated papers as well as the J-Next Print which incorporates disperse dye for printing directly onto polyester for high fashion and display graphics.
According to Rosaria Pozzoni, Business Operations Manager at J-Teck3, with a surge of business worldwide, including from American and Asian companies, FESPA Digital proved to be another successful show for the company.
She explains: “As a key player in the digital textile market, FESPA Digital has always provided a worldwide platform for us to exhibit our product portfolio. With the show growing year on year, we are seeing exponential growth of companies adopting our premium inks and we are excited to see what FESPA Brasil and FESPA Eurasia holds.”
J-Teck3 will continue to develop innovative and sustainable products for sublimation and direct-to-fabric printing.
Ink Jet Alliance follows successful Shanghai Seminar with Two New Industry Studies
Ink Jet Alliance (IJA) – is a new venture that provides consultancy services, market research, M&A services – and organises seminars and events – focused on the fast growing range of industrial applications for digital printing. The company brings on board a wealth of experience and comprehensive understanding of the emerging industrial applications of inkjet. The founding directors are Stewart Partridge (originally the MD of digital printing consultancy – Web Consulting from 1993 – 2005) and Aditya Chandavarkar (Founder of Inkjet Forum India). The company has established offices in Shanghai – China, Mumbai – India, Suffolk UK and will establish a base in USA later in 2016..
IJA launched its activities in China by organising a one-day seminar event on Wed 9th March 2016, the opening day of the Shanghai APPP Expo, at the new National Exhibition and Conference Centre in Hongqiao, Shanghai. Talks were given by leading Chinese and International speakers from the industry including Atexco, EFI Reggiani, Hongsam Inks, Human Digital and Ink Jet Alliance. Simultaneous translation into English / Chinese meant that all delegates were fully able understand all presentations, which were well received by all.
According to Aditya Chandavarkar, a Director of IJA, “With the development of enabling inkjet technologies and the emergence of reliable industrial high-speed textile inkjet presses, adoption of digital printing in the textile industry is now growing steadily. We realise that for new entrants into this technology in China and worldwide, there are challenges in understanding what types of systems and technology to invest in, and what moving to digital printing means to your business model. This new event was s step towards answering those questions.”
Stewart Partridge, MD of IJA, adds: “It is our goal to undertake research and create events and networking opportunities which, over time, will significantly aid the development and growth of ink jet printing into new industrial applications, within Asia and worldwide. Our landmark event this year for the ink jet industry will be held in Shanghai in October, and we will announce the structure and focus in the next two weeks. In addition, we have commenced research on two new and detailed industry studies – Digital Textile Printing, and the Global Market for Industrial Ink Jet Inks – which we are undertaking this year. These reports will include detailed analysis and forecasts for Asian markets such as China and India at a level not yet seen within this industry, creating a more balanced view of the global market – and further reports will follow.”
IJA also plans, alongside key strategic partners, to launch a range of services to help Chinese and Indian companies successfully target, analyse and acquire foreign businesses to expand their global market reach, and similarly help Western and Japanese companies to make acquisitions and establish successful joint ventures within China and India. More details will be provided with the launch of its web new site in April.
For further information, please contact:
| China/Global
Stewart Partridge Managing Director Ink Jet Alliance Shanghai CHINA spartridge@inkjetalliance.com +86 150 2666 7004 |
India/Global
Aditya Chandavarkar Director Ink Jet Alliance Mumbai INDIA achandavarkar@inkjetalliance.com +91 9869441285 |
UK/Europe
Peter Barton Consulting Partner Ink Jet Alliance Suffolk U.K. pbarton@inkjetalliance.com +44 1787 211281 |
Collaboration between MTEX and Inèdit Software in Fespa Amsterdam
The agreement between the printer manufacturer MTEX and the textile software developer company Inèdit Software will be made official in Fespa. The Blue K printer will be running and controlled by neoStampa RIP, of Inèdit Software, in the MTEX stand.
During the exhibition, in Hall 1 F20, visitors will be able to see the printer at full capacity, printing with pigments on a cotton media. Assistants will also be able to ask for demos of the RIP neoStampa, which is leader in color management for textile digital printing.
The long experience and specialization in the textile market of Inèdit, together with the multiple options of neoStampa and the good results rendered, have been key for MTEX to choose this RIP for its model Blue K. The collaboration In Fespa Amsterdam between the two companies will become a reality with this joint action.
Mimaki acquires La Meccanica
Mimaki has said that it has concluded the basic agreement on purchasing stocks of the Italian company La Meccanica, which specializes in producing digital textile printers.
According to Mimaki, the deal dates back to July of this year when one of its Italian sales agents introduced the two companies. This led to several months of discussions as to how the two could collaborate which has culminated in Mimaki buying all the stocks that have been issued by La Meccanica.
The deal will give Mimaki a significant European base for the digital textile market. La Meccanica is based in Bergamo, the heart of the Italian and European garment industries. The company was founded in 1977 and has been supplying and servicing digital textile printing equipment as well as machines for inspecting textiles and for packing.
Mimaki commented: “We are aiming to acquire the manufacturing knowhow of digital print devices and brand power to give a boost to our existing products, and improve our competitiveness in the textile inkjet printer industry in Europe and the world.”
Naturally, neither side has disclosed the sum paid by Mimaki, though it’s worth noting that La Meccanica has €517,000 in capital and sales of €6,000,000 for the year 2014. The company was wholly owned by its president, Paoline Gastoldi and his family. The formal agreement is due to be completed in March 2016. Mimaki has said that it won’t have any impact on its business results.
Shanghai APPP Expo 2016 to feature Two New Seminars addressing Industrial Digital Printing Segments
The Shanghai APPP Expo – the largest exhibition in Asia featuring digital printing – is expanding its seminar programme to include two new one-day seminar events, focused on industrial applications of inkjet printing.
Organised by IJA – a new joint venture between Inkjet Forum India and Qudos Digital – the seminars will focus on the emerging opportunities for Digital Textile Printing, and for use of Digital Printing for Packaging, Labelling and Narrow Web Applications. Registration is free for all visitors to the Expo.
“The original purpose of Shanghai APPP Expo was to establish a leading exhibition in China for equipment and consumables for advertising, promotion, press and publicity. In fact, the event has now emerged as one of the most important tradeshows for the digital printing industry worldwide,” reports event manager Luke Xi. “We now increasingly see the use of digital printing in non-graphic and non-advertising applications, and these new segments offer great opportunities for business growth among our visitors and exhibitors. Hence we now devote extensive exhibition space to these emerging applications, as in shown by our Digital Textile Printing Show, and the Convertex Show, which run alongside APPP Expo at the same venue. We are delighted that now we also have seminars addressing the needs of these new industry segments, which increases the value of our events to visitors and exhibitors alike.”
Shanghai APPP Expo 2016 runs from Wed 9th March to Sat 12th March at the NECC Hongqiao, Shanghai. The accompanying IJA Summit – Digital Textile Printing will run on Wed 9th March, and focuses on the opportunities and market growth enabled by new high-speed and high performance digital textile systems and consumables, for applications such as soft signage, dress fabrics, garment printing and home furnishings. Presentations will be given in Chinese and English by knowledgeable speakers from China and from leading international companies and consultancies.
Fri 11th March will feature the IJA Summit – Digital Printing for Packaging & Labelling, the first seminar within China devoted to the emergence at last of high-speed single pass inkjet printing as a serious tool for the packaging and labelling industries, and also offering new business opportunities for sign and graphics printers. Both IJA events will provide simultaneous translation into Chinese and/or English, so that all Chinese visitors and most foreign visitors will be able to comprehend all presentations and discussions.
Graphic printers and sign shops are also well catered for, since on Thu 10th March Infotrends will again run its successful seminar on Wide Format Graphics, which was a popular event at the 2015 APPP Expo.
IJA is currently developing its seminar programmes and recruiting sponsors and speakers for the two events. The full programme will be announced and publicised early in 2016. “We are delighted to be partnering with Shanghai Modern International Exhibitions, and to provide APPP Expo visitors with high quality seminars to enable them to develop their businesses and make informed decisions about future investments in hardware and printing systems” says Stewart Partridge, managing director of IJA. “We believe the new seminar events, together with the broader range of printing systems and solutions on show at APPP Expo, will attract a wider audience of visitors who have needs outside of the graphics printing industry.”
For more details contact:
Aditya Chandavarkar Founder Inkjet Forum India Mumbai, INDIA
aditya@inkjetforumindia.com +919869441285
It’s Not A Color, It’s An Aesthetic
Switzerland-based Sensient Imaging Technologies S.A. is a supplier of ink-jet inks for digital textile, industrial digital and sublimation printing. The company is a business unit of Sensient Technologies Corp. — a Milwaukee, Wis.-based manufacturer and marketer of colors, flavors and fragrances. Sensient Imaging has a laboratory in Morges, Switzerland, dedicated to developing new digital inks.
Dr. Christophe Bulliard, marketing director, Sensient, said that 2.5-percent of fabric printing today is digital and half of that total is sublimation. Sensient reports it has worked with the early risk takers, the true pioneers of digital fabric printing. Bulliard observed that, “The only way it works is to either start with digital printing or create a separate department because traditional Textilians resist this technology.”
Textilians? Sounds like a mythical Swiss valley populated by Textilians, their suppliers the Yarnistas, the early warning attributes of the Trimitrons, the constant movement of Logistiserves, all feeding the Factorissimos with everyone responding to the only question the Garmentos ever asked, “What does it cost?” Does Bulliard mean textile mills are resisting this change? Why? One theory is because they know this is taking their power and transferring it to the apparel factory. More on that later.
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Miroglio Group uses Sensient Imaging Technologies’ ink-jet technology to print 100-percent cotton fabric at a speed of 1 yard per second.
Ink Jet
Inks and dyes have been around for a long time. Ink-jet inks were developed for digital applications, most notably table-top printers. Next, much wider printers were developed to print long banners one at time. These same printers then were adapted to print sublimation inks on paper largely because of research and development investments by Sensient. While all the components involved in digital printing are complex and require skilled staffs, the development of inks literally requires the work of Ph.D.s.
One of them, the color chemist Dr. Olivier Morel, said: “Color is not an ink, it’s a chemical. I tell my engineers and chemists that they are really scientists and they are not creating liquids, they are creating an aesthetic.” Morel is leading a strategy to expand ink jet to all textiles and all fibers by investing in the development of reactive inks for cotton and cellulosic fibers, acid inks for nylon and animal fibers such as silk or wool, and pigments for any natural fiber blends.
Sublimation inks commonly were printed onto paper for subsequent heat transfer to man-made textiles. Initially, this was for very short, small runs used for team jerseys for bicycle teams for example, such as the bright skintight jerseys worn by Tour de France riders. But then three things happened in concert — paper got thinner and better, printers got wider and faster, and inks went thru Nobel Prize levels of invention and response.
Miroglio
Italy-based Miroglio Group has invested millions of euros in a partnership with Sensient for digital printing. This partnership involves both companies solving problems that the industry at large still doesn’t know exist. The partnership allows the developments of the technology of tomorrow. Miroglio’s CEO Andrea Ferraro said sustainability and innovation drove Miroglio’s large investment in digital printing.
Miroglio’s digital printing technology is certainly cutting-edge. A tour of its facility reveals sublimation ink-jet inks sprayed directly onto man-made fabric that was then routed through a heater so sublimation transfer of color could occur — without paper. Regular ink-jet inks are used in a process whereby ink is printed directly onto cotton fabric moving at 60 yards per minute while rolling 3 millimeters below 95,000 ink-jet nozzles firing dots at the speed of a bullet onto the fabric without using paper. Miroglio also performs sublimation ink-jet paper printing at 120 yards per minute, which is an amazingly fast 2 yards per second.
How does the cost figure into an order for 10,000 yards of a magnificently detailed work-of-art printed fabric, turned out of the mill three days after order? Greater speeds, amazing efficiency, lower water consumption, less ink waste, less chemical preparation, fewer samples, elimination of set up, elimination of storage of conventional ink drums and the ability to print at the speed of the consumer redefines cost.
Power Shift
Value can be defined as solving the perceived problems of a specific segment in an innovative way. So, the key is problem solving and the catalyst is innovation. Innovation caused a power shift in the apparel supply chain at El Salvador-based Textiles Opico S.A. de C.V. (TexOps).
Firstly, some time ago, TexOps committed to Lean Manufacturing, which changed how the company worked. It became more efficient, flexible, responsive and faster. This shift allowed TexOps to take power away from regional cut, make and trim (CMT) factories that only sold labor.
Secondly, was TexOps’ investment in 2-D and 3-D technologies in partnership with its customers. This investment changed the way design and product development was executed. It became faster, more self-sufficient, and allowed the company to developed expertise in its niche, specifically yoga pants. This expertise took power from the brands.
Finally, the company’s expansion of sublimation printing with its own printers and Sensient inks changed the way fabric was produced. The change allowed unlimited garment and textile creativity, shortened the supply chain, reduced cycle times and created independence, which took power from the fabric mill.
The factory took power from cheap CMT factories, then the brands and retailers, and finally the mills. And, because of its proximity to market, it was closer and therefore faster. And because it is a leader in sustainability and innovation, it also is safe. TexOps became the supply chain’s problem solver. What does this means to the brands?
Business Models
One day, a merchandising manager visited TexOps. On his tour he saw a pair of yoga pants with brightly printed panels. He ordered thousands of pairs of pants on the spot, received them in record time, put them on the sales floor and sold them without markdown. What kind of textile industry business model does this rapid sourcing most emulate?
Costco places one big order and does not replenish. What one retailer would designate as 20 stock-keeping units (SKUs) to Costco is just one — a palette with a tall stack of different colors and sizes of a garment with one SKU. Was this order just one big SKU?
Chico’s model is to purchase 5,000 units of a sample garment created by a factory. Chico’s put a price on it and sends it to stores with no plans to replenish it. This garment is the factory’s design through and through. Is this something the factory could do more of and expand?
Zara turns orders quickly and daily. Quality was not how the garment was made, it was the fun of shopping where there was constant product churn. A designer gets an idea for a garment and three weeks later it is hanging on the rack. Could these speeds be what U.S. retailers need?
HSN preaches that it’s not the brand, it’s the stand. The company tells stories. It describes the products on television with embellished value and discussion of the application. Is the infinite possibilities with fabric printing what the United States needs to feed the omnichannel?
American Speed
Digital is now. Everything in the cloud got there for one reason only — it was digitized. Everything we see including who is phoning us, descriptions of restaurants, maps of cities, photos of people, images of designs and full-length movies come to us for one reason — they are digital. The time has come when rain must fall back down from the cloud, the dots that head to the cloud from the textile industry now are raining down as dots onto paper and fabric, aimed at the pixel level, taking days, weeks, months out of the cycle.
If the highly regarded Dr. Morel is to be believed, in five years; ink jet will grow from 2 percent to at least 15 to 30 percent; and in 10 years, Sensient predicts that ink-jet printing will take over as the leading technology for printing fabric.
What Miroglio is doing with its own fashion brands sold throughout Europe is not fast fashion, it’s fashion streaming, the literal flow of ideas and design, patterns and production, styles and services through the tightly integrated processes. Being closer to the U.S. market already, knowing the U.S. supply chain gets better every day, and observing technology that make the industry much faster puts together two words that perhaps no one never dreamed would the U.S. industries competitive advantage.
Source: http://www.textileworld.com/Issues/2015/Nov_Dec/Dyeing_Printing_and_Finishing/Its_Not_A_Color_Its_An_Aesthetic
Covestro : and TTP: developing revolutionary coating technology — Breakthrough in digital printing of coatings and adhesives more
As manufacturers strive to update their businesses for Industry 4.0 and meet customer demands for mass customisation of products, they face the complex task of converting large scale, often manual, production processes into automated digital systems. Today Covestro, a leading player in industrial coatings and adhesives raw materials, and TTP, a technology company with expertise in digital printing, announce a development milestone in digital coating and adhesive technology that has the potential to enable this transition – the successful digital printing of polyurethane adhesives.
The partnership of TTP’s new and revolutionary technology for the rapid digital application of coatings and adhesives, with Covestro’s tailored polyurethane raw materials has demonstrated a new opportunity for digital printing in next generation manufacturing. ‘We recently successfully tested adhesives formulated with Covestro raw materials,’ says Dr. Andrew Baker-Campbell, Project Leader at TTP, ‘demonstrating a capability to print materials far more challenging than typical inks for inkjet printing.’
To exploit the development, Covestro has established its own laboratory for digital printing. ‘This variant of inkjet printing could become an entirely new production method within the context of Industry 4.0,’ says Dr. Jörg Tillack, who heads 2D printing development at Covestro’s Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties Business Unit. ‘The positive test result takes us an important step forward.’
Market opportunity
The EUR 5 billion industrial inkjet industry (1) now has the opportunity to penetrate the industrial coatings and adhesives market valued at over EUR 100 billion (2) .
To understand the opportunity for digital technology, Covestro carried out a survey of over a 100 respondents in the coatings and adhesives industry. The majority of the respondents to Covestro’s survey – 93 percent – believe that digital printing will create additional value for their business, and 50 percent of machinery providers surveyed have customers asking for digital printing solutions today.
From its long-term experience, Covestro well understands the practical challenges facing any industrial coating or adhesive technology. The demands far exceed decoration: Durability and resistance to a number of environmental factors as well as adhesion and bond strength are all added challenges to overcome. This often results in fluids with properties incompatible with industrial inkjet, such as high viscosity, or large particulates.
That is why the vast majority of coatings and adhesives are still using low-tech application technologies such as spraying or even brushing. Covestro and the British technology development consultancy The Technology Partnership (TTP) are collaborating on material systems and digital printing technologies to address these challenges and unlock this opportunity.
Partnership approach
To encourage wide adoption of the technology, Covestro and TTP are now seeking partners throughout the value chain. Covestro and TTP would like to hear from interested end-users with a desire to develop concepts for next-generation products and processes. Furthermore, they are looking for manufacturers of print heads, printers and automation systems who wish to invest in delivering this technology to market. Enquiries from developers of coatings, adhesives and inks who want to add value to their products are also welcome.
Inkjet Forum Blog 