Print & Cut takes off
Large-Format Printing: Christinger Partner is expanding its industrial flatbed printing operations and standardizing production.
Large-format printing Christinger Partner expands industrial flatbed printing and standardizes production Success is a proven recipe for growth. Last but not least, successful business management makes it possible to make new investments in order to perhaps be even more successful overall. Christinger Partner (Christinger) in Schlieren is also pursuing this approach - with success. The company recently announced the expansion of its activities in digital flatbed printing and new capacities at its headquarters in Schlieren. Christinger entered the field of digital flatbed printing a good two years ago and has successfully combined this with downstream die cutting. Since then, the company has called this complementary service "Print & Cut".
Spoiled by the effect of this concept, the large format specialist has now tripled its capacity. This leap was made possible by investing in a high-performance printing system called the Virtu RS 25 from Swiss manufacturer Spühl (see below). The large-format printer replaces the Zünd printer installed at Christinger two years ago, which is now being used at another company in the group.
Expanded possibilities for new marketsThe company sees the new Print & Cut solution not only as an application limited to pure printing and shape cutting. Using CAD support, individual parts can also be cut on the Zünd cutter, which can then be assembled into three-dimensional objects, for example. There are obviously no limits to the imagination here. For example, the company produced a lectern for the event and handed over an airplane kit made on site for crafting. Both were printed with the new flatbed printer, cut to shape and designed for assembly.
"We have to be faster," explained Karlheinz Kaiser, co-owner and CEO of the company, "as well as more creative and flexible in order to be able to hold our own against competitors, including those from abroad." Although the new printing system is a flatbed printer, it can also be used to print on roll materials, making it suitable for a variety of applications.
Toni Fricker, also co-owner and Key Account Manager at Christinger, sees the flexibility of direct printing as a further advantage of the Print & Cut solution: "We can print on different materials, don't have to apply foils and can also make a name for ourselves in contour cutting with our overall solution." Spühl's printing system can even (pre-)print white, which is particularly advantageous for transparent materials such as glass or Plexiglas. Fricker sees the printing of lightweight panels as a further advantage, making the Print & Cut concept ideal for a wide range of applications. Thanks to a new cutting blade that enables a 45-degree cut, these materials can be cut in such a way that the edges of the three-dimensional objects are cleanly finished and the white carrier material is not visible.
"Our customers are increasingly demanding 'green materials' that can be easily disposed of after use," Fricker said. He cited the recent poster campaign by telecommunications provider Orange as an example. At various locations, two adjacent poster sites were each upgraded with weatherproof elements produced using the Print & Cut process.
New with ISO certificate Christinger was the first digital print shop in Switzerland to be certified to ISO 12647-2 in mid-October this year. This standard takes into account the fact that data preparation for print jobs is subject to special requirements. These requirements are described in the "ProcessStandard Offset Printing" or "MediaStandard Printing". The certification at Christinger was supervised and carried out by Ugra, which sees itself as a "Swiss competence center for media and printing technology". Erwin Widmer, who has managed Ugra since it became independent at the beginning of 2005, and his team carried out the necessary audits with sales staff, office staff and prepress employees, which all had to be passed in order to receive the certificate.
After the prepress company Burki & Scherer and the print shops Unigena and Egger, Christinger Partner is the fourth company and also the first digital print shop in Switzerland to be certified to ISO 12647-2. Clients today often do not know what (print) quality they can expect from the data they receive. Standards such as ISO-12647-2 provide clarity here, Christinger was told.
The company has also been certified for PDF/X data transfer since the beginning of the year. The PDFX-ready label indicates to customers that PDF documents are processed in accordance with the PDF/X-3 rules. Ugra is also the testing authority and issuer of the PDFX-ready certificates.
Certified layout is still missing: For this creative part, Erwin Widmer was told, there are no norms or standards yet...
Christinger Partner AG The company, which operates in the field of signage and advertising technology, employs 70 people at its headquarters in Schlieren. The company, which was taken over by Toni Fricker and Karlheinz Kaiser as part of a management buyout from Emil Christinger, generates sales of around CHF 17 million with 11 digital printing systems. Spühl AGSprings for mattresses and upholstered furniture
are the main area of activity of Spühl, which is based in Wittenbach SG and has become the world market leader in this field. The company, which employs around 250 people, is now part of the US group Leggett&Platt. But there is another beating heart: the SME is particularly innovative when it comes to manufacturing machines and passes on its expertise. In order to print mattress materials, the company looked around for printing systems and quickly developed one itself. However, as this market could not be developed with this system, Spühl now focuses on other industries and offers its digital flatbed printing systems. Today, Spühl sells the Virtu RS25 and Virtu RS35 flatbed printers, which differ in terms of print width: 2.5 m for the Virtu RS25 and 3.5 m for the RS35.
www.spuehl.ch
ISO 12647-2The standard defined by the ISO
ISO 12647-2 takes into account the fact that data preparation for print jobs is subject to special requirements and describes these in the standard also known as process standard offset printing or media standard printing. The aim of process standard offset printing is the industrial and standardized production of printed matter. ISO 12647-2 is an international standard that is becoming increasingly important. It requires the use of control devices (wedges) from proof to print and the associated use of appropriate measuring devices (spectrophotometers). The application of color management including the use of standard profiles and the calibration of imagesetters are just as much a part of this as the consideration of dot gain of the printing presses.
Jürgen Franck
Spoiled by the effect of this concept, the large format specialist has now tripled its capacity. This leap was made possible by investing in a high-performance printing system called the Virtu RS 25 from Swiss manufacturer Spühl (see below). The large-format printer replaces the Zünd printer installed at Christinger two years ago, which is now being used at another company in the group.
Expanded possibilities for new marketsThe company sees the new Print & Cut solution not only as an application limited to pure printing and shape cutting. Using CAD support, individual parts can also be cut on the Zünd cutter, which can then be assembled into three-dimensional objects, for example. There are obviously no limits to the imagination here. For example, the company produced a lectern for the event and handed over an airplane kit made on site for crafting. Both were printed with the new flatbed printer, cut to shape and designed for assembly.
"We have to be faster," explained Karlheinz Kaiser, co-owner and CEO of the company, "as well as more creative and flexible in order to be able to hold our own against competitors, including those from abroad." Although the new printing system is a flatbed printer, it can also be used to print on roll materials, making it suitable for a variety of applications.
Toni Fricker, also co-owner and Key Account Manager at Christinger, sees the flexibility of direct printing as a further advantage of the Print & Cut solution: "We can print on different materials, don't have to apply foils and can also make a name for ourselves in contour cutting with our overall solution." Spühl's printing system can even (pre-)print white, which is particularly advantageous for transparent materials such as glass or Plexiglas. Fricker sees the printing of lightweight panels as a further advantage, making the Print & Cut concept ideal for a wide range of applications. Thanks to a new cutting blade that enables a 45-degree cut, these materials can be cut in such a way that the edges of the three-dimensional objects are cleanly finished and the white carrier material is not visible.
"Our customers are increasingly demanding 'green materials' that can be easily disposed of after use," Fricker said. He cited the recent poster campaign by telecommunications provider Orange as an example. At various locations, two adjacent poster sites were each upgraded with weatherproof elements produced using the Print & Cut process.
New with ISO certificate Christinger was the first digital print shop in Switzerland to be certified to ISO 12647-2 in mid-October this year. This standard takes into account the fact that data preparation for print jobs is subject to special requirements. These requirements are described in the "ProcessStandard Offset Printing" or "MediaStandard Printing". The certification at Christinger was supervised and carried out by Ugra, which sees itself as a "Swiss competence center for media and printing technology". Erwin Widmer, who has managed Ugra since it became independent at the beginning of 2005, and his team carried out the necessary audits with sales staff, office staff and prepress employees, which all had to be passed in order to receive the certificate.
After the prepress company Burki & Scherer and the print shops Unigena and Egger, Christinger Partner is the fourth company and also the first digital print shop in Switzerland to be certified to ISO 12647-2. Clients today often do not know what (print) quality they can expect from the data they receive. Standards such as ISO-12647-2 provide clarity here, Christinger was told.
The company has also been certified for PDF/X data transfer since the beginning of the year. The PDFX-ready label indicates to customers that PDF documents are processed in accordance with the PDF/X-3 rules. Ugra is also the testing authority and issuer of the PDFX-ready certificates.
Certified layout is still missing: For this creative part, Erwin Widmer was told, there are no norms or standards yet...
Christinger Partner AG The company, which operates in the field of signage and advertising technology, employs 70 people at its headquarters in Schlieren. The company, which was taken over by Toni Fricker and Karlheinz Kaiser as part of a management buyout from Emil Christinger, generates sales of around CHF 17 million with 11 digital printing systems. Spühl AGSprings for mattresses and upholstered furniture
are the main area of activity of Spühl, which is based in Wittenbach SG and has become the world market leader in this field. The company, which employs around 250 people, is now part of the US group Leggett&Platt. But there is another beating heart: the SME is particularly innovative when it comes to manufacturing machines and passes on its expertise. In order to print mattress materials, the company looked around for printing systems and quickly developed one itself. However, as this market could not be developed with this system, Spühl now focuses on other industries and offers its digital flatbed printing systems. Today, Spühl sells the Virtu RS25 and Virtu RS35 flatbed printers, which differ in terms of print width: 2.5 m for the Virtu RS25 and 3.5 m for the RS35.
www.spuehl.ch
ISO 12647-2The standard defined by the ISO
ISO 12647-2 takes into account the fact that data preparation for print jobs is subject to special requirements and describes these in the standard also known as process standard offset printing or media standard printing. The aim of process standard offset printing is the industrial and standardized production of printed matter. ISO 12647-2 is an international standard that is becoming increasingly important. It requires the use of control devices (wedges) from proof to print and the associated use of appropriate measuring devices (spectrophotometers). The application of color management including the use of standard profiles and the calibration of imagesetters are just as much a part of this as the consideration of dot gain of the printing presses.
Jürgen Franck
