What Profiting with UV and UV-LED Printing

UV inkjet equipment continues to evolve to meet market demand and the ability to print on an ever wider range of substrates.

Today’s UV-LED printers, such as WER A1 UV printer WER-ET6090UV model, have made it simpler and less costly to incorporate popular gloss, matte, and embossing techniques and create personalized customized products.

UV printing continues to be an expanding market in all levels of industrial printing, as well as in signs and graphics. And there’s good reason for that expansion, experts say.

“The overwhelming value of UV printing, particularly in a flatbed format, is tremendous when compared to the overhead and material cost of cutting vinyl and weeding away the waste or transferring an aqueous print to an overlaminate, then applying the item to a board [and] trimming it out,” says Josh Hope, senior manager, business development and research with Mimaki USA, in Suwanee, Ga. “Additionally, the space required to operate a UV printer is a fraction [of] the space requirement for the manual prep and finishing of boards.”

Asked to characterize UV printing today, Randy Paar, manager of marketing, display graphics, large-format solutions with Canon Solutions America in Melville, N.Y. opined it is still a healthy, viable technology for the market. “UV-curable flatbed printing technology’s become pretty much an accepted standard in the wide-format graphics market today,” he says.

“Ten years ago, not so much. But now almost any established wide-format graphics shop already has some make of flatbed printer. That said, we’re experiencing a more mature market now, where fewer customers are getting their first flatbed but instead customers are looking to replace their existing ones with something better or to add [another] for additional capacity. This increases competition that ultimately drives down equipment prices while increasing quality [and] productivity. And [it] also drives the introduction of new features.”

Printing with advanced UV devices like those within Roland DGA’s VersaVu series has grown significantly in the past few years, says Jay Roberts, product manager, UV printers with Roland DGA in Irvine, Calif. Growing consumer demand for personalized and customized products – in combination with the unique capabilities, ease of use and cost effectiveness of today’s state-of-the-art UV inkjet printers – helps explain this substantial increase.

At present, there are essentially three main categories when it comes to UV printing, Roberts says. “[They are] mass production, involving digital printing for large runs of items varying in size; quick turnaround printing, for the ‘I gotta have it yesterday’ customer; and customization and personalization,” he remarks.

Emerging trends

One substantial benefit of UV printing is that it allows the user to customize and personalize almost any type of substrate or three-dimensional object with vibrant, detailed graphics, Roberts says. The ability to transform standard or blank products by adding unique printed designs and head-turning dimensional effects enables the creation of products with a significantly higher perceived value than typical mass-produced offerings.

“Innovative UV flatbeds, such as our LEF series models and the LEJ-640FT, are allowing our customers to produce a vast array of customized and personalized gifts and products easily and cost effectively, dramatically increasing sales for our customers,” he says.

“The impact of these printers is evident in both the POP market and boutique printing, as customers continue to promote personalized and customized objects as well as the ease and immediacy of creating such items with these devices. This customization/personalization trend is affecting all types of markets and buyers. Having the ability to customize everything from picture frames, shoes and cell phone covers to water bottles, hats, cases and luggage has opened a new world of opportunities. It all stems from the buyer’s natural desire to create objects that reflect his or her own individual look and style. This is what’s driving growth in UV printing, as well as increasing sales of the amazing devices that make it all possible.”

According to Paar, trends impacting UV printing in 2017 and beyond include demand for higher quality and productivity, automation and new specialty inks. He believes market segments will drive continued UV flatbed printing. “[In] the roll-to-roll market, the replacement of existing solvent and latex printing technologies with the new UVgel ink technology will make for an interesting future,” he observes. “UVgel eliminates need to ‘cure as you go,’ resulting in far greater productivity compared to existing UV or other ink technologies.”

Customers are also asking for odorless inks that can be used for nearly every application, says Nathan Collins, digital solutions specialist with Agfa in Elmwood Park, N.J. “They want their ink to last long periods, whether outdoors or on challenging substrates,” he says. “Customers who have purchased belt-driven devices have found that true flatbed technology, like our Jeti Titan and Jeti Mira, have much better success with wavy and heat-sensitive materials such as Colorplast and corrugated paper material. Specialty printers have used our Anapurna flatbed because it successfully prints on small pieces of glass or metal.”
With an eye on product costs, PSPs have tried to use thinner materials with the expectation of printability and durability equivalent to thicker materials, Collins says. It is essential that manufacturers keep up with those demands, he believes.

For his part, Hope says Mimaki USA is seeing a strong adoption of UV-LED thermo- forming applications for both prototyping and production.

“Mimaki is also now using UV-LED curing for our new full-color 3D printer that we previewed this spring, and expect to release to the market later in 2017,” he says.

Also touting the growing ability of UV and UV-LED printing to carve significant inroads into the packaging and related industrial production markets is Ken Hanulec, vice president of marketing, EFI Inkjet, for Meredith, N.H.-based EFI. The company’s most notable advancement on this front is its introduction of the new EFI Nozomi press. This ultra-high-speed, single-pass LED inkjet press is designed for corrugated packaging. UV-LED provides a decided advantage in corrugated board due to its being a “cool cure,’ low-heat technology that eliminates warping and other issues heat creates on corrugated, Hanulec reports.

“We will continue to see LED move into new markets, including wall coverings,” he adds. “We had some great examples of this at the International Sign Expo this year, where we printed durable wall covering applications on our new VUTEk roll-to-roll LED printers with textured canvas film from Avery Dennison. The prints were then coated using EFI’s Armor UVF UV-curable coating.”

UV-LED vs. traditional

Speaking of UV-LED curing, much has been written about growing efficiency of the technology in every area from affordability to versatility. But with apologies to Mark Twain, reports of traditional mercury UV printing’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.

“There’s still a place for both,” Paar says. “LED curing, just like the LED lighting you can put in your home, is continually becoming more and more cost effective.

“However, the UV-LED ink formulations are the challenge. Mercury vapor provides a greater range of curing energy, providing a greater latitude in ink formulations.”

For those buying high quantities of printed banners and signs, traditional mercury vapor UV printing is still advantageous, Roberts asserts. The speed and through-put of these machines is ideal for larger runs and mass production. Mercury arc lamps are the workhorses of the curing industry. But they consume large amounts of energy, are hamstrung by very short lamp life and cannot accommodate as wide a substrate variety as UV-LED printers. In addition, because many countries now ban use of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium, printer suppliers have good reason to invest in LED-curing technology, he says. “UV-curable and UV-LED inks are dramatically different in both chemical makeup and functionality,” Roberts reports. “UV-curable inks tend to be more aggressive, bonding to a slightly greater surface area. However, these inks are cured differently than UV-LED inks, and thus have a bonding agent that also creates differences. UV-curable inks need a far more powerful light source to cure. Inherently, that light source is also hotter – 200 degrees – and therefore more expensive to run.

“Substrates printed on with UV-curable inks also tend to bubble, buckle, yellow and wave. [But] adhesion can be better on substrates not affected by the lamps.”

UV-LED inks are cured with far less energy and by a light source cool and green, Roberts adds. “While there are no negative effects on materials, these inks can have a less aggressive bond to substrates without the use of a chemical bonding agent. That said, UV-LED inks are slightly more expensive than traditional UV-cured inks. Again, it’s the balance between the quality of ink curing to substrate and the costs that should be considered.”

There exist specialty applications, such as thermoforming, where UV carries the potential to redefine markets, Hanulec says. “Thermoforming printing technology, which at present is UV only, is rewriting the rules on some signage applications like pan faces for outdoor signage, as well as signage for vending machines, beverage dispenser and casino gaming machines,” he notes.

“It allows for three-dimensional formed signs that attract much more attention. In the gaming space, for example, thermoformed signs produced with EFI VUTEk UV printers create dynamic visual appeal and are used on some of the world’s most popular gaming titles. And beyond signage, it is a technology that is used for industrial parts decoration on everything from cartop carriers and music instrument cases to ATV, automotive and marine body parts.”

Overall, UV-LED technology is doing just fine in the marketplace, Hope believes.

“Lower cost of operation and maintenance along with a longer bulb life and no warm-up or shutdown times are very compelling,” he observes. “Combine that with the lower heat, which minimizes media deformation, and it just makes sense to move to UV-LED technology.”

You profit from UV

Of course, the most important subject when it comes to UV printing is how PSPs can make more money, retain more existing customers and capture additional new ones. Roberts and his colleagues at Roland DGA believe the key to increasing profits and attracting more customers is promoting and providing customization and personalization.

Today’s UV-LED printers, such as Roland’s VersaVu models, have made it simpler and less costly to incorporate popular gloss, matte, and embossing techniques and create personalized customized products.

“This creates new opportunities to employ these techniques and produce unique POP signage and high-end marketing products,” he says.
Hope also cites UV-LED technology’s greater affordability as a means of helping PSPs grow more profitable. “The lower cost of UV-LED technology gives customers access to a very affordable and profitable printing platform,” he says. “The versatility of UV-LED flatbed printers is fantastic for end users who want to be able to address multiple markets effectively.”

Paar believes PSPs should not focus on commodity graphics like banners, posters and the like. That’s a race to the bottom, he asserts.

“UV-curable printing is very versatile from an application perspective,” he says. “You can print on so many different things that can still demand higher margins and attract new customers,” he observes. “New substrates are also being introduced all the time. Simply printing onto new substrates can help you stand out.”

One thing’s for certain. UV inkjet equipment continues to evolve to meet market demand for faster production levels and ability to print on an ever wider range of substrates. PSPs will continue looking to do more and more for their demanding customer base.

On their wish lists are enhanced print quality and improved output speeds to meet peak capacity needs, while at the same time reducing total cost of ownership, Collins says.

“In addition, UV equipment, like the systems developed by Agfa Graphics, offer models that can be upgraded as PSPs business needs change. Our inkjet systems can be configured with various levels of automation, digital varnish or primer, white ink and/or roll-to-roll options to provide new revenue opportunities.”