Intelligent software is as important a component of your digital press as any hardware

Copyright © Global Graphics Software Limited 2016

Software for digital presses

Martin Bailey, CTO October 2016


Global Graphics SoftwareSoftware platforms for printing and digital documents

Global networkof partners: HP, Kodak, Delphax, Agfa, Staples, Canon, Fuji Xerox

Primary markets for:PRINT PLATFORMS Commercial printing, newspapers, wide format graphics, labels, industrial inkjet, officeDIGITAL DOCUMENT PLATFORMS

Consumer and enterprise document applications

PublicCompany

Euronext(GLOG)

Main R & D in Cambridge, UK Offices in Tokyo & near Boston

HarlequinRoots go back to

1986 inCambridge


H Harlequin technology

BILLIONs of pages rendered every day with Harlequin

#1 fastestsoftware

Drives >70% of world’s newspaper presses

80% shareof world-widephotobook market


Our customersWe develop the software that provides the power to drive all of these and more:

Copyright © Global Graphics Software Limited 2016 5

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 20190

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sions Brochures

Catalogs

Direct Mail and Inserts

Books and Manuals

Magazines and Newspapers

Other Color (including Transaction)

Higher Quality Applications Printed on Coated Stocks Will Be a Key Driver in High-speed Production Color Inkjet Growth(10M+ Color Duty Cycle Segment, U.S. & W.E.)

Source: U.S. & W.E. Digital Production Printing Application Forecasts: 2014-2019, InfoTrends

• Overall page growth = 21.0%• Higher quality application growth = 28.7%• Other color growth = 9.1%

Medium or high quality requirements

Direct Mail and Inserts

Books & Manuals

Magazines & Newspapers

High quality requirementsBrochures & Catalogs

Lower quality requirements

Other Color (Including Transaction


Inkjet growth is going to happen• There are enough opportunities to make this

an attractive market• Both for print companies and for vendors

• So let’s look at the barriers• What do print companies need to

delight their customers?• What do vendors need to

delight the print companies?• What’s preventing delivery?


Dear Vendor; is this you?• You’ve designed your press• Selected heads, inks, fluid pumps, filters, degassers, media, media

transport, driers, unwinders and rewinders … etc• Everything works• You put a BMP file in a specific

directory and get good output• Time to start selling!• Oh, hang on a sec• Will customers be happy to

drive it like that?


Sounds like a joke …• But it’s not• There are lots of companies who have pretty much done that

• A press sells on:• Print formats (size, roll vs sheet etc)• Supported media• Print/color quality

• … and how well it fits into the rest of the printing and finishing/converting workflow• Which includes software connectivity


Message #1• Every bit of your press system is vital• No ink? • No press

• No paper transport? • No press

• No software for your Digital Front End?• No press

• No press?• No revenue!


Quality matters!Brand managers and buyers are driving change by pushing the boundaries. They need high-quality at high-speed

Inkjet press manufacturers are frustrated with output quality. They are reaching the limits of what can be achieved with mechanical improvements

The faster the press runs, the harder it is to control drop placement precisely

Coated and impermeable media suffer more from ink/surface artifacts


Quality matters!Brand managers and buyers are driving change by pushing the boundaries. They need high-quality at high-speed

Inkjet press manufacturers are frustrated with output quality. They are reaching the limits of what can be achieved with mechanical improvements

The vendors know they need to significantly improve output quality and operate at high speeds to keep pages fed to the press

It’s often not financially viable to fix these press problems in hardware

But they can frequently be compensated for in software


Fixing hardware with software• Sometimes the right software can solve a problem

elsewhere• In hardware, inks, etc

• It may be fixable at source• But sometimes that’s not viable financially or in

time-to-market• Compensating for many things, such as• Over-inking• Mottling & streaking• Head-to-head (or nozzle to nozzle) variation


Limiting ink is vital in inkjet• Using too much ink can• Make drying/curing harder/slower/more expensive• Require the press to run more slowly• Increase ink mixing on the substrate surface

• Reducing the readability of barcodes and small text

• Lead to cockling or paper stretch• Reduce media tensile strength in web presses

• But printing companies want to make their own ICC color profiles for new media• So ink limiting and media profiling must be kept separate


High-speed inkjet drop placement• Ink drops should

ideally form a regular grid on the media They usually don’t You can see

straight lines along the media (up and down), but uneven

lines across the media


Causes common quality issuesIrregular drop positioning leads to drops ‘randomly’ coalescing on the media:

These microscopic effects cause visible artefacts, often described as mottling or streaking:

Synthetic image with exaggerated artefacts in order to be visible on a projector, or reproduced on another print process


Single pass inkjet non-uniformity• Head to head variation in

manufacture and head wear can lead to banding along the print

• This can be compensated for in software in the DFE


Message #2• Think about hardware and software in parallel• Each one affects the other, and software may be able to resolve a

‘hardware’ problem faster and at lower cost than adjusting the hardware itself


In our experience …• We’ve worked with many digital press vendors• Most under-estimate the effort/time needed for their

first inkjet press• Both the physical press and the software

• We recommend you address both in parallel• For minimum time to market• To enable best cooperation between the two

• And remember, if it’s going to take you a few years to get to market …

Information is not knowledge. The only

source of knowledge is experience.


Message #3• The market is constantly evolving• Design for the future; It may be years until you hit ROI

• You will need to respond to changing customer demands• Your DFE/software must be part of that

• Your customers may tell you they only want to print runs of 5000 copies right now • They’ll probably want variable data and

every-page-different when your press ships• What does that mean for your data rates?

Copyright © Global Graphics Software Limited 2016 20

The big message

Intelligent softwareis as critical a component as the print head, media, ink,

fluid control, paper movement, electronics, etc


QUESTIONSSpeak to us here at The IJC or contact me to find out more

[email protected]

We welcome enquiries from journalists writing about DFEs, inkjet printing, variable data printing & PDF/VT, screening, colour management:

[email protected]

For more information: www.globalgraphics.com