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Midnight at the Oasis

A trip to the Mideast reveals an elemental truth.

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I was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, at midnight, enroute to Paris and then Tel Aviv, for Hewlett-Packard’s pre-Drupa press event. The flight had been peaceful, and I’d slept some, but, suddenly, a vigorous wind slammed the Boeing 767’s starboard side. The aircraft first shuddered, and then its rear section veered left, causing the flying leviathan to crab for several seconds. Fierce turbulence followed, and the jet engines’ whine subsided as our airspeed noticeably slowed.

Unexpected turbulence stresses an aircraft’s wing assembly (it temporarily amplifies the gross vehicle weight), so pilots often slow down, to reduce the active forces.

Nonetheless, my uneasy mind envisioned the dark ocean waters, seven miles below.

Take a breath and relax, I thought: this bird is built to take a bruising, and the driver knows his stuff. Besides, it receives timely maintenance by disciplined mechanics; the structure is strong, and the electric systems are flawless.

Thus assured, I extracted a magazine from the seat pocket and touched the overhead lamp switch, the white one with the light bulb icon.

It didn’t work.

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Recently, Hewlett-Packard (HP) transported numerous business and technology journalists, including me, to Tel Aviv, Israel, for a pre-Drupa press tour. This couldn’t have been an easy task — shuttling approximately 100, finicky (and questioning) business and technology journalists to a Middle Eastern country, to spend three days touring its modern manufacturing plants. In my view, HP and its PR agency pulled it off flawlessly. Lodging the group at Tel Aviv’s beachfront Hilton certainly didn’t hurt.

The event included business meetings in Tel Aviv, tours of the HP Scitex facility in Caesarea, the HP Indigo facility at Rehovot, and the HP Indigo production and ink manufacturing plant at Kriyat Gat. HP also provided a first-class, evening tour of Jerusalem’s old city.

I enjoy the Middle East and its history. I was assigned there in the military and have returned several times since.

HP created this event to inspire industry journalists to look closely at its operations. It also used the event to announce new products and product changes, and to re-announce its resolve as a strong competitor in the digital, web-press and large-format printing arenas. The plant tours demonstrated its steadfastness. The company has built its digital-print business and has now become a dominant player in the field – its International Sign Expo 2008 (Orlando) display booth may have been the tradeshow’s largest and most crowded.

You may have read of HP’s digital-print acquisitions, but seeing them bundled declares the company’s greater vision. The first, extraordinary (digital) event occurred on on August 11, 2005, when HP announced its agreement to acquire the assets of Scitex Vision Ltd. (Netanya, Israel), for $230 million from Scitex Corp. Ltd. (Herzlia, Israel). Scitex Vision was a recognized market leader in wide- and super-wide-format printers for signage and industrial applications. The company’s preceding-year revenues exceeded $140 million. HP said the acquisition complemented its existing product portfolio of large-format printers and HP digital presses, and provided it with Scitex Vision’s proprietary printheads technology.

Roughly two years later, on September 25, 2007, HP signed an agreement to acquire MacDermid ColorSpan Inc. (Eden Praire, MN) from MacDermid Printing Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of MacDermid Inc. MacDermid ColorSpan is a supplier of UV-curable inkjet printers for display graphics. The companies inked the deal on February 1, 2008, and HP subsequently announced its integration of MacDermid ColorSpan’s line into HP’s Graphic Arts, Imaging and Printing Group.

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On December 10, 2007, HP announced its purchase of NUR Macropinters (Lod, Israel) for $118.4 million. Nur was a leading supplier of large-format, inkjet printers. HP said the Nur acquisition rounded off its line (although not its developments).

The company has also announced its waterbased, HP Latex Printing technology, a digital-ink system that uses pigmented, latex ink, which is dispersed via thermal-inkjet printheads. The inks contain “aqueous-dispersed polymers” (latex) that provide print durability comparable to solvent inks. When dry, the latex ink is odorless and scratch-, smudge- and water-resistant; HP says the ink produces low VOCs, contains no hazardous air pollutants and doesn’t require special handling. A machine-mounted, post-heat system evaporates the water. The ink adheres to uncoated, “compatible,” media, including vinyl.

I interviewed HP’s Dr. Ross Allen and Dr. Nils Miller on the latex ink and will cover it in a future column.

In Tel Aviv, I also talked with Yariv Avisar, VP and general manager of HP’s large-format printing division industrial solutions (HP-Scitex). He emphasized that HP is now positioned as a source for aqueous, solvent, and UV-curable printers that provide wide-format platforms for producing durable, outdoor and indoor signs, banners, point-of-purchase (POP) displays and posters.

He didn’t say HP had become a formidable rival to other large- and grand-format, digital-print machine manufacturers … but he could have.

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Sophie’s View
U.K.-based writer, photographer, editor and consultant Sophie Matthews-Paul is an acknowledged authority on digital printing, worldwide. This dispatch, sent from FESPA (Geneva, Switzerland), followed her attendance at HP’s pre-Drupa press event (Tel Aviv, Israel). You may contact her at sophie@rockstro.net.

In the early, somewhat unknown, days of wide-format inkjet, a mere sprinkling of companies wanted a slice of the manufacturing market. These companies were divided by two separate, aqueous-printhead technologies, thermal and piezo, and this small sector offered alternatives to screenprinting and electrostatic output. Also, at that time, the world watched Encad and Hewlett-Packard, each with its respective thermal-head technology, vie against Epson’s piezo printhead, which was then championed by Roland, Mutoh and Mimaki.

Inevitably, new manufacturers decided to join the field, either in an OEM capacity or with their own equipment. Solvent-based printers soon entered the market, complemented by various eco-solvent counterparts and a rush of new machines flourished, some with flatbed options and UV-curable ink technology. By this time, printhead technology had advanced considerably, as had the machine’s internal workings; thus, wide-format inkjet printing settled down with options that matched end users’ wishes.

Manufacturers continued to grow, too, both in company size and in market offerings. However, R&D costs were high, while market-ready printer profit margins were modest. Adventurous technology companies became reliant on astute venture capitalists and other finance lines. Still, to design and produce a quality product precludes shortcuts.

Print-machine types mushroomed, starting with basic roll-fed units (many based on others’ existing frameworks) to high-end options designed for industrial-strength throughput. By the end of 2004, traditional print manufacturers were challenged by Chinese and Korean firms, and tradeshows revealed an industry awash with options.

By 2005, we began to see company takeovers: Fuji Photo Film purchased Sericol, which had distribution arrangements with Inca Digital; Inca’s subsequent sale to Dainippon Screen (a surprise that could’ve confused the product channel, but didn’t); EFI’s purchase of VUTEk; and, later, HP’s acquisition of Scitex Vision.

Since then, we’ve seen HP buy ColorSpan and EFI invest in Raster Printers – both acquisitions are at the low end of UV-curable technology. After that, HP acquired NUR, and the independent manufacturers count shrunk again. Nonetheless, enough autonomous companies remain at the high end, to provide stiff competition in the industrial-production area.

The dichotomy that presently exists between the largest and the smallest manufacturer’s capability isn’t a bad thing. Durst printers aren’t worth any less because it hasn’t been subjected to a take-over, and the company might, today, appear as a minor player. And, although HP’s acquisition of NUR, Scitex Vision and ColorSpan give it the widest, inkjet-technology product portfolio, it hasn’t lost individuality in its varying market sectors.

Presently, a sensible count of wide-format, digital-inkjet manufacturers exists, and many people say we don’t need newcomers.

Some printmakers worry that a lesser quantity of wide-format suppliers may result in fewer product choices – as well as an opportunity for manufacturers to increase ink and maintenance contract prices. However, greater consolidation should stabilize many industry cost and logistics issues. In fact, first-time print-machine buyers’ decisions should now become easier – the choice is to opt for a major, multi-national organization’s products or to choose a smaller, good-pedigree, independent manufacturer.

In summary, fewer manufacturers doesn’t suggest reduced options or higher prices. Oppositely, the trend should help fine tune R&D and pricing structures, and this will benefit signmakers and print companies worldwide

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