Beyond 2, 2005 - Innventia.com

its interests. A report will be producedbefore June. It is awaited with anticipationby the paper industry, photo labs andcompanies that have a niche in the fieldof photo printouts.Hybrid printingAnother project concerns the combinationof conventional flexography withinkjet. There is an increase in flexibilityand the opportunities of tailor-makingthe product to the needs of the customerwhen utilising fill-in printing with inkjetat the end of the production line.Marianne Klaman means that STFI-Packforsk is in a good position these dayswith this project and that there is a lot tobring to this area. The big developers areworking with this and, so far, it is a smallbut significant niche, especially of interestwhen it comes to the field of packaging.Packaging material is often adaptedfor a certain printing technique, givingcompletely different results with anothertechnique. There is still a great deal ofdelicate problems to find solutions to.Xerography on PE coated surfacesIn the third example, some research hasbeen carried out on ream wrapping (thesomewhat stiffer paper around a sheaf ofcopying paper) with xerography, whichleads to the possibility of personalisedprinting.Marianne Klaman certainly wants totake things further in this area. Theinteresting thing about this is combiningtechnology with materials. This will probablyinterest the packaging market whenit comes to PE coated board and other PEcoated materials.•CONTACT: marianne.klaman@stfi.seSTFI-Packforsks forskningsetableringi Örnsköldsvik omfattar fleraintressanta projekt, exempelvis High qualityPrinting med inkjet, hybridtryck samtxerografi på polyetenbelagda ytor. Medinkjet teknik är det möjligt att printa utfärgbilder med den bästa kvalitet på vanligabläckstråleskrivare. Utskrifterna i projektetsom har drivits i samarbete med M-real,har haft ett mycket stort färgomfång, ävenfärgåtergivning i de flesta fall, och minstlika bra kvalitet eller till och med bättreän konventionellt framkallade foton. Attkombinera konventionell flexografi medinkjet är en smal men mycket betydandenisch som är intressant framför allt förförpackningsområdet. Med tilltryck i inkjetsent i fyllningslinjen ökar flexibiliteten ochmöjligheten att kundanpassa produkten.I det tredje exemplet, xerografi på polyetenbelagdaytor, har viss forskning gjorts pårisomslag, vilket ger möjlighet till personifieradetryck. Det intressanta är att kombinerateknik och material.In touch withdigital printingDigital printing technology is one recent contribution to theSTFI-Packforsk business. It is a technology that is gaining strongground offering a lot of advantages and new businessopportunities.“One way for paper mills and the packagingindustry to discover new businessopportunities is to develop products suitablefor digital printing. This naturallyrequires knowledge about this printingtechnique,” says Malin Wedin who is theregional contact person in Örnsköldsvik.Some years ago, a regional CompetenceCentre for digital printing technology,DPCOM, was founded. It comprisesthe Digital Printing Center (DPC), theMid Sweden University in Sundsvall andSTFI-Packforsk. M-real, SCA and theprinting industry in the region, amongothers, are behind the investment. Its aimis to strengthen the competitiveness ofthe industry through research and developmentand by making evaluations of thetechnology and the market.“This is a good example of how academies,institutes and companies fromvarious fields can work together to attainfurther heights,” says Clas Engström,Operations Manager at DPC.When DPCOM was founded, themotto was, “We will not be in competitionbut invest in a joint CompetenceCentre instead.” A new printing laboratoryhas been built, with climate controlequipment that makes it possible to regulatethe temperature and relative humiditywhen printing is in progress. For paper,environment is very significant since thequality and condition of a paper has aneffect on the printing.“STFI-Packforsk now finds itself in astrong position, with paper, packagingand printing on its programme,” addsMalin Wedin.In its simplest form, digital printinghas been around since the 1980s. Manypeople must surely remember receivingthose initial direct-addressed letterscontaining advertising matter. The technologyof today is developinga great deal and it will provideenormous opportunities forhigh qualitative colour printingwith static or variable texts andpictures.This technology means thateach printing can be varied,since it goes directly from acomputer to the printing press.With conventional printingmethods, there is a middle stepusing printing plates, and so larger editionsare needed for the printing to beprofitable.New opportunitiesRapid developments are taking place anda lot is happening in the fields of printingand packaging. The motive forces aremany, e.g. the increased speed of information,smaller editions, more specificinformation, diversified editions and lesstied-up capital as a result of a reductionin stock. For companies, this meansthat they can offer business models andservices that are impossible with conventionalprinting.This, however, places demands on thepapers, the inks, the processing and otherthings. The STFI-Packforsk Örnsköldsvikstaff, consisting of four doctoral candidates,one postdoc and Malin Wedin,work closely with the companies standingbehind the Competence Centre. Withtheir colleagues in Stockholm, a greatdeal of know-how and knowledge aboutproperties, qualities and the evaluationof printing, papers and packages is beingdeveloped.Hybrid printing“Customer adapted information on packages”is the title of a project that recently4 | Beyond #2/2005 Current awareness from STFI-Packforsk