CMYK

GraficaNews
August 2011

Expert’s View Terascreen to distribute

Published by Grafica Flextronica for FREE Private Circulation

Michel Caza recently announced

French company, Terascreen's
Grafica machines in Europe collaboration with Grafica to
distribute and service complete
range of screen printing machines
and allied products in European
market.
Turn to page 9
This distribution arrangement was
“I strongly believe, in screen jointly announced by Michel Caza
printing every step is a 'science'. (on behalf of Terascreen) in presence
So without learning this 'science' of Erwan Guiziou one of the partners
nothing can be printed of Terascreen and Bhargav Mistry,
qualitatively. By learning new MD, Grafica at a media briefing cum
techniques we can assimilate it in get together in Mumbai on 11th July
our daily practice”. 2011.
Narendra Paruchuri, Turn to page 4
Managing Director, Pragati Press - Hyderabad
Turn to page 9

Grafica at Grafica appoints RH Solutions as

FESPA Mexico supplier for North American market
Nano-series screen printing machines to be showcased at SGIA Expo 2011
After setting up base in UAE and
European market, Grafica
Flextronica, has recently appointed
Milford (USA) based RH Solutions
LLC as Supplier for North America
with immediate effect. RH Solutions
will distribute and service Grafica's
wide range of screen printing
machines, screen making set up and
UV curing machines in the US
market.
Turn to page 8 Turn to page 7

Mirror Image bags Grafica's

Nano-Print as special award in
PrintWeek India'11 contest
Turn to page 10
From Nano-Print to Cylinder Arihant Printers offers value
Press in just one year added packaging in Kolkata
With Grafica's Cylinder Press and inline UV Kolkata based
Arihant Printers is now focussing mainly on offering
premium quality print finishing services to offset printers
in Kolkata.
Turn to page 11

“Grafica broadened my vision

in advanced screen printing”
Hitesh Dobariya of Rajkot-based Dee Ech Art, has been
dreaming to buy a Cylinder Press and inline UV for the
last couple of years. He translated his dream into a
reality within one year after buying two Nano-Prints,
one after another.
Turn to page 11

Kohinoor Printing Press opts for 3D certificate presented to

Turn to page 21 Grafica’s Cylinder Press participants at DMI Workshop
Over 60 participants were simply awe-stuck when they
DMI WORKSHOP ON were presented a 3D certificate printed on acrylic on the
Advanced Screen Printing 3rd day of DMI's Workshop held on July 28-30, 2011.
22 / 23 / 24 Sept 2011
For registration Log on to: Turn to page 16
www.graficaindia.com

Enough is enough! After engaging five semi-automatic

screen-printing machines for many years, Kolkata based
Kohinoor Printing Press, a post press service provider,
had to finally opt for Grafica's fully automatic cylinder
www.graficaindia.com press with inline UV.
Turn to page 13
CMYK
August 2011
Bhargav’s Blog
DMI is becoming
indispensable
DMI has been imparting
knowledge constantly to printing
professionals since 2006. But
these days I am noticing an urge
for learning among the printing
community and this is a good
sign for our industry. Hundreds
of printing professionals who
have already gained tremendous
knowledge from my workshops
back home inspire their
colleagues and industry friends to
gain such advance knowledge
from DMI Workshops. So I think
DMI is becoming indispensable.
The rescheduled workshop was
held on 23, 24, 25 June 2011 with
the participation of 40+ printing
professionals mostly this time
from offset, screen printing.
Earlier in April also we had first
workshop of this financial year.
Then, on 28, 29, 30 July 2011 we
had yet another houseful
workshop with record number of
participants crossing 60. The
participants were awe stuck when
they were presented with 3D
certificate 100% screen printed
on acrylic, designed and printed
by Image Care Pvt Ltd.
Tailpiece:
I had been to Rajkot in Gujarat,
recently to attend a marriage of
my close relative. I took the
opportunity of visiting my
cylinder press customer, Dee Ech
Art, a company run by Hitesh
Dobariya. It is simply amazing
how a small sized screen printer
transformed big dream into a
reality. (Read his success
story on Page 11)
Bhargav’s blog
www.graficaindia.com/bhargav
PrintWeek India Awards 2011
update!
And the awards goes to:
Screen Printer of the Year – Eswara
Screen, Chennai
Special Award – Grafica's Nano-
Print - to an emerging screen printer
– Mirror Image, Ahmedabad.
My company had sponsored both the
awards. I thank all printers who had
submitted their entries with a spirit
of healthy competition. Last year,
Nikhil Ahuja of NBA Studio, Pune
had received Grafica's Nano-Print as
special award in PrintWeek India
2010 competition. And at Screen
Print India Award, Kalarts, Belgaum
had won the Nano-Print as special
award.
Grafica's strategic alliance with
Terascreen to market Nano
series in Europe and Russia
I am really delighted to announce my
company's collaboration with
Terascreen, France to market our
Nano range of screen printing
machines and equipment in Europe
and Russia. Michel Caza, who is
spearheading Terascreen venture,
was in Mumbai to make this
important announcement at a media
briefing cum get together hosted by
my company on 11th July 2011 in
Mumbai. Following media briefing
(by Michel, myself and his friend
page 2
Blog
Erwan), a get together was graced by
my valuable customers, industry
associates and friends, despite heavy
showers. Thank you friends! Later
Michel also visited Ace Printers.
SPAI-FESPA Cross Country
Table Top Exhibition
My Team is just back after
participating in SPAI-FESPA Cross-
Country Table Top exhibitions
((CCTTEs) at Ahmedabad, Morbi
and Rajkot in the state of Gujarat.
Earlier, my company had
participated in similar show at Surat,
Vapi and Baroda on 14th, 15th
and16th July, respectively. We had
also participated in CCTTE at
Aurangabad, Pune and Nashik in
April this year.
Sigma Institute of Printing
inaugurated by Narendra P,
Pragati Press, Hyderabad
Sigma Corporation, my company's
new representative in Hyderabad,
took one more initiative after
inspired by DMI. He has established
a printing institute – Sigma Institute
of Printing to impart practical
training in screen printing. I think
Mr. Dhiren Shah of Sigma is a
dynamic entrepreneur, because after
opening a demo centre for our Nano-
Print and Nano-UV, he realised the
need to set up a training institute so
that screen printers can learn the
basics of automation locally instead
of all the way coming to Grafica's
DMI. I think other dealers should
take a leaf out of Dhiren Shah's
experience.
Narendra P., MD of Pragati
Press praises DMI:
Narendra P., MD of Pragati Press,
after lighting the traditional lamp to
mark the inauguration of the Sigma
Institute, praised Dhiren Shah for his
initiative. He recollected his visit to
DMI and appreciated my DMI’s
contribution to the industry. He
made it a point to mention gratefully
GraficaNews
that two of his staff had attended
DMI's workshops. Thank you Mr.
Narendra.
Roaring success at Print Expo
Chennai
My company notched up a roaring
success in PrintExpo held from 10 to
12 June 2011 at the Chennai Trade
Centre claimed to be the biggest
printing show in south India.
This was our first time presence at a
South India exhibition and naturally
our stall was amongst the busiest
stalls.
My presentation at South India
Printers Meet
I had to reschedule my DMI
workshop (which was to held on 9,
10, 11 June) as I had received an
invitation from my well wisher and
friend Rajendrakumar Anayath.
Head, Print Media Academy,
Heidelberg India Pvt. Ltd, to make
presentation at South India
Pritners's Meet on the sidelines of
Print Expo. in Chennai.
Relax and enjoy watching
videos of Grafica's most finest
creation of this year
One of the finest creations made by
my company's engineering team,
“NANO-PRINT plus” is best and the
most sturdy screen printing
machines offered at very economical
cost. NANO-PRINT plus is such a
user friendly machine that even a
manual screen printer thinking to
switch over to automation will find it
very easy and simple to operate.
Now coming over to NANO-SCREEN
MAKER 5-in-1, I feel this concept in
screen making is a super duper hit
because it saves space and money
plus it gives complete freedom to a
screen printer as he can make high
quality screens in-house. We have
uploaded videos of both these
machines.
Watch these videos at
www.graficaindia.com
CMYK

August 2011 page 3

GraficaNews
Exhibitions
Grafica received overwhelming
response at the recently
concluded Print Expo 2011 –
Chennai. The success achieved in
this event was a major
breakthrough for the company.
That's because several deals were
struck during the exhibition
besides receiving hundreds of
enquiries from all over south
India.

Bhargav Mistry, MD, Grafica also

received “BEST PRODUCT
AWARD” at Print Expo 2011
Awards Nite.

Although it was Grafica's first

time presence at a South India Grafica creates an impact at
exhibition with Fully Automatic
Swing Cylinder Press, it's stand Print Expo 2011 Chennai
was amongst the busiest with
constant flow of curious visitors
from southern states. That's
because there were live demos of
Grafica's swing cylinder press
with inline UV, Nano-Print Plus
with UV, Nano-Print with UV,
Nano-Screen Maker 5-in-1 and
Nano-Sharpener.

Grafica's MD's presentation

at South India Printers Meet:

Bhargav Mistry had received an

invitation from Prof.
Rajendrakumar Anayath, Head,
Print Media Academy, Heidelberg
India Pvt.Ltd, to make
presentation at South India
Pritners's Meet on the sidelines of
Print Expo 2011 in Chennai.

Grafica Team is just back after

participating in SPAI-FESPA
Grafica participates in SPAI’s Cross Country
Cross-Country Table Top
exhibitions (CCTTEs) at
Table Top Exhibitions: Maharastra /Gujarat
Ahmedabad, Morbi and Rajkot in
the state of Gujarat. Earlier,
Grafica had participated in
similar show at Surat, Vapi and
Baroda on 14th, 15th and16th
July, respectively. The first road
show was held in three cities –
Aurangabad (28th April), Pune
(29th April) and Nashik (30th Aurangabad Pune Nashik
April).

Big exhibition or small road show

like this, Grafica's focus has been
to give benefit to visitors both in
terms of technology and
education. Hence at all these
CCTTEs Grafica pictorially
displayed its products and a large
collection of DMI's creative Vapi Baroda Surat
samples produced with a variety
of UV special effects.

Ahmedabad Morbi Rajkot

CMYK
August 2011
International
Michel Caza recently
announced French company,
Terascreen's collaboration
with Grafica to distribute
and service complete range
of screen printing machines
and allied products in
European market.
Terascreen is a newly
formed company with six
share holders, including
Michel Caza & his wife
Therese Caza.
This distribution
arrangement was jointly
announced by Michel Caza
(on behalf of Terascreen) in
presence of Erwan Guiziou
one of partner of Terascreen
and Bhargav Mistry, MD,
Grafica at a media briefing
cum get together in Mumbai
on 11th July 2011.
Michel and his friend Erwan
Guiziou, who runs his own
textile printing business in
France - were in India on a
3-day visit to Grafica (from
10th till 12th July) to fine
tune the strategy.
"The success of Nano series
in India is a compelling case
for exploring its use in the
European and other
markets. And we have been
working in this direction,
making the Nano series of
products compliant for sale
in Europe with CE marking."
said Bhargav Mistry, MD,
Grafica Flextronica.
“With the formation of
dealer networks in Middle
East, USA, Europe, Grafica
gears up to capture
unexplored global market.
The tie up with Terascreen is
a major breakthrough for
our company,” concludes
Bhargav.
TERASCREEN to distribute Grafica
machines in EUROPE
INTERVIEW with Michel Caza:
Down memory lane, please
share the story behind your
'Grafica connection':
I feel Bhargav widely and nicely
explained a few months ago (in
January 2011 issue of GraficaNews
and the story is also available at
www.graficaindia.com), how we met,
how he spent some times in France
in my home and company and how
this could help him to develop his
technical knowledge.
I will not tell the story again, just
remind that we became more than
simple relations, friends… A special
link such as the one between a pupil
and his Guru and mostly between a
Pita and a Beta!
I immediately could see the
industrial possibilities of Grafica,
tried to help him to improve his
products and machines, find
contacts around the world, eventual
partners and customers, etc simply
because, I believe in him, his
imagination, his technical
capabilities and capacities. And
when he started DMI – for me the
page 4
GraficaNews
Cont’d from page 1
What I appreciated also was that,
contrary to many manufacturers, all
over the world, not specially Indian,
he builds his machines for printers,
accepting my concept of “this is to
the printer to ask the manufacturer
to build what he – printer – really
needs and wants and not to accept
what the manufacturer decides that
it's good for him!”
It is true that, right from the
beginning, I tried to convince – and
to help him – to sell his products in
Europe, USA, etc.
May be, it was a little too soon and
Grafica had so much to do simply to
answer the demand of the Indian
printers that they could not follow
best screen-printing school in the
my wishes for a distribution abroad!
world - I pushed and promoted it as
much as possible and, with the help
There came the “Nano”… the giant
of FESPA made the first Workshop
idea to offer at a very reasonable and
there.
affordable price, modern and
sophisticated UV equipment to print
The rest of the story belongs to …
in small format to do every thing
Indian screen printing history!
from fabrication of the screen to the
During 2004 I announced the first
printing action.
FESPA India Exhibition for 2005,
and insisted – together with Kurt
It came just a the right moment:
Sperisen, to have SPAI (Screen
when the pressure of environmental
Printers' Association of India)
and health rules came to affect even
becoming the first “Associated
the very small companies and when I
Member” of FESPA.
started to develop my new concept of
the “Two Speeds” screen printing.
What prompted you to establish
alliance with Grafica to
What is 'Two Speeds screen
distribute their machines in
Printing' concept? Please
Europe?
elaborate on this:
This was the first step. The relations
You see, on one hand the huge
we had are mostly a personal matter.
companies working are at the
But let us say that I immediately
national and international scale,
caught the spirit of Bhargav and his
offering their customers a “full
obsession to build modern and
Service” and using screen, offset,
technically perfect press and other
digital, pad, flexo… and all finishing
equipment, helped him to take care
and often installation on site.
of what Indian consider too often as
“details” – sorry for that but I wrote
On the other hand hundreds,
that a few weeks ago – I mean what
thousands of what I call “Family
you do not see “immediately”.
business” or “Village Printers”
CMYK
August 2011
International
Michel Caza
working at the very local scale and
being far from having the capacity of
investment to face the new
environmental and technical
constraints for a “quality” work as
“Image makers”…
To sum up, whatever will be the
future of screen printing, it is clear
for me that we still will have these
two types of screen printing
businesses:
! Small screen-printing family
business
! Large companies, using multi-
technologies and bringing “full
services”.
This scheme will accentuate or
increase, in that sense that many
medium sized companies will have to
group themselves, or they will be
bought by larger companies: the
problem being to have a sufficient
financial surface to face the huge
investments engendered in the
future by the more complex and
sophisticated machinery, control
tools, R & D, as well as the
development of sales in a lot of new
areas and applications.
But in most countries in the world,
small or very small companies exist
and will still exist… But mostly very
locally,
! For graphic, textile and sign
applications of course, but also
for some « niches » in industrial
applications.
page 5
! For those small «Family
Business» or «Village
companies» as I name them, the
pressure of environmental rules,
the necessity of «Sustainability»
will be heavier and heavier… as
for the big ones!
In Europe too, we have a “Two speed
screen printing”. The big or medium
national companies are not
interested or equipped to print for
very local markets and we have
thousands of small companies doing
it.
As an expert in screen-printing,
having seen so many brands
across the world, what
motivated you towards brand
Grafica?
You have a part of the answer above!
It became simply “evident” for me,
because those very small companies
exist not only in India but all over
the world! And they also needs, even
in Europe, USA or South America
the “3 C” I use to speak about the
Nano Premier Leagues (NPL and
NPL plus): “Cleaver, Clean, Chip”.
And for Grafica, now the possibility
exists to build more and to export!
To expand not only in India, but also
in the whole world!
Therese and me, Erwan and
Stephanie - Erwan is the first who
decided to build a totally “green and
sustainable” small plant to apply my
water based UV technology to
garment printing - , Artem, my
Russian pupil and Guillaume, the
GraficaNews
organiser of CTCO NOVA Exhibition
in Lyon, France, all together we build
a new company TERASCREEN, to
sell in exclusivity in Europe the Nano
machines and of course the other
technical achievements of
Grafica…As simple as this and it
became official in Mumbai during
July 2011.
Tell us about Terascreen?
After Bhargav proposed me, we had
long discussions in the preceding
months, to build a company selling
their Nano series machines and
equipments to begin with.
I and my wife Therese were happy to
accept the idea and we finally formed
TERASCREEN for distributing
Grafica's Nano series machines in
Europe ('TERA' contains millions of
NANO). It now has a fully legal
existence and will start its operations
in the coming months.
We are a company with 6 share
holders: Erwan and Stephanie
Guiziou, Therese and Michel Caza,
Artem Nadisravili from Russia and
Guillaume who own 3 magazines in
France, Spain and Italy. They mostly
organise a French Exhibition
dedicated to Promotional Textile,
Promotional Objects – CTCO in
Lyon France – with next year the
addition of a space – NOVA –
dedicated to Sign and Graphic
printing under a very new concept in
Exhibition, an “open space”
dedicated to true and real
demonstration of equipments and
products at several level shown “at
work” by the manufacturers or their
agents.
That is where we shall launch –
beginning of next year - at the real
scale under the brand “Terascreen,
distributing in Europe Grafica's
Nano machinery and equipments”.
On the other hand, our Russian
partner and shareholder, Artem will
take care of Eastern and Central
European countries. Erwan, Therese
and I will take care of Western
Europe.
CMYK
August 2011
International
Recently you had visited
Grafica's factory. Your over
all view on Grafica's
manufacturing capabilities
and its training institute
DMI?
I already said that for me, DMI
represent the “nec plus ultra” (an
old Latin expression meaning
“the best of the bests”! in term of
Institute or School, or University.
Thanks Bhargav, but I noticed
that your students learned at
DMI more in one month than our
students learn in Europe in… two
years! So, no problem at all from
this point of view.
Grafica's Manufacturing
capacities? Three years ago, I
could have some doubts. But,
definitely not now anymore! I
don't know how many Nano
Premier Leagues we shall sell in
Europe or other friends in the
US, Mexico and Canada… But I
am sure that Grafica can supply
them in a quite correct delivery
time.
How do you yourself keep fit
to spearhead this new
venture involving huge task
of marketing Grafica's Nano
in Europe?
I love new adventures, new
challenges… To do something
both for my peers, big or small,
and to help screen printing to
expend again in the world! That
is exactly the kind of challenge I
love both for my partners and
me, as for helping Bhargav to
expand Grafica and build a
company at the world scale!
And don't say I am too old! The
age you have in front of the
movement of the earth around
the sun is one thing. But you real
age depends if you are young at
heart or not. I know all the
respect you Indians and the
Chinese's have for their
“ancestors”, ye-ye or dâdâ! Very
sorry if I don't feel that old! No.
“I term Nano concept as 'KISS' -
Keep It Simple and Stupid'”
Erwan Guiziou
Each of us has a precise role to play
in the task. Erwan – the “Key man”
of Terascreen - and Artem sell and
deliver, Therese take care of
organization and of a good part of
management, Guillaume exhibits in
its different events, I will take care of
marketing, using my relations and
my friends of FESPA Federation and
printers and pupils in the European
market.
We shall use a good part of the
'marketing techniques' of Grafica in
India; it is a good model, but our big
idea is to have in each country a
“Pilot company.”
Screen printing scenario in
Europe:
Here, we are still in the graphic field.
This tendency exists too, but at a
much lesser degree, in Europe and
USA. In Europe, for example, the
offset printers prefer to subcontract
their additions of “special effects” to
professional screen printers. This is
often not only from a practical point
of view (another technology for
them), but also because of some (big
sometimes) differences in the “Work
Conventions”.
On the contrary, in France, if we
speak of the industrial applications
(electronic, automotive, CDs and
DVDs, solar cells, glass – flat and
bottles, and so on) as screen printing
is a part of the process of fabrication,
there are screen printing
page 6
departments “in-plant” and some are
huge, as it can be for example in
India or China in the textile industry.
So, what is your marketing
strategy?
We use a first chosen “Pilot
company” to buy the Nano-Premier
League (NPLs) at a very fair price at
the condition they permit other
companies in their own country to
look at the operations; a kind of
“Permanent Living Workshop”
where even their competitors can
come.
Initially we intend to target to small
and medium companies, but there
could be possibility of introducing
these machines to big ones for
“Niche” or special applications (e.g.
heat transfers applications or special
effects on small runs offset or
digitally printed which be done
mostly with Nano-Print Plus – 22” x
28”).
In which segment Grafica's
Nano series machine will fit or
will have market?
Any small structure, screen-printing
actually quite often manually and
drying the solvent inks used on racks
is a potential customer at this feeble
level of investment.
The size of Nano Print plus (55 x 71
cm – 22”x 28”) semi-automatic
seems to me more suitable for the
European market. Even some
GraficaNews
medium size companies can be
interested for “niche” applications.
The fact the Nano-Plus has a “lift of
the screen while printing” is a big
“Plus” for this market. Similarly,
Nano-Screen Maker 5 in 1, it can be
used too at that size made the whole
of the Nano League extremely
adapted to the printers we target.
Nano print plus can be used for sign
on any type of plastic material,
graphic small posters and fine art,
transparent or opaque decals, special
effects printing behind screen, offset
or digital, packaging also with
special effects, POP items for in-
door, automotive parts, telephone
cover, wood decoration for toys or
others, fascias, CDs, DVDs, credit or
commercial cards, car dashes, labels,
transfers, leather, glass, RFID, even
solar cells, etc.
Many users who are at the present
moment are obliged to subcontract
the fabrication and stencilling of the
screens will be able to stretch, coat,
expose their screen “home” with the
“Five in One” marvellous system.
Will there be any competition
for this kind of machines in
your area of operations?
Of course, in a certain manner there
are press from diverse countries that
could be competitor, but… Not at
those prices! That is the reason why
we prefer to work without agents in
each country, not to increase too
much the price and to keep the idea
of Bhargav intact: to supply valuable
and cheap equipments for the small
family business.
Nothing similar to the Nano-Screen
Maker 5-in-1 currently exists in the
market. You must buy every part
piece per piece the stretching system,
the coating, the exposure unit with
vacuum and electronic control of
exposure, the drying cabinet, the
control lighting table… And that will
cost you a lot more! – Quite a lot
more!
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK
August 2011
International
About RH Solutions:
RH Solutions, based in Milford
(OH), USA, established in 2008 is
specialized as an authorized
import supplier for Grafica
Flextronica's 'Innovative and
Award Winning' Screen Printing
Machines and Allied Equipment,
Siasprint's world leading
multicolor screen-printing
machines and UV Special Effect
Products that will enable printing
companies to increase profits
with an array of value added
finishing, be it screened, offset,
flexography or digital prints.
RH Solutions is spearheaded by
Ron Hayden, who has over 30
years of application experience
and product knowledge in various
commercial and industrial
graphic printing sectors. RH
Solutions specializes in budget-
conscious, high quality screen
printing machinery solutions for
membranes, overlays, product
labeling, circuitry, PV/solar, IMD,
dial/gauges, transfers/decals,
medical, nano-particles, R & D,
electronics, high-performance
industrial applications and all
other graphic applications.
Grafica appoints RH Solutions as
supplier for North American market
Following its alliance with Grafica,
RH Solutions LLC, USA is actively
setting up major distribution
channels throughout North America
with established installations, after-
sales support, parts and engineering,
sales mainly derived by regional
distributors.
Announcing this development,
Grafica's managing director Bhargav
Mistry said: “Screen printing as a
versatile process has huge demand in
industrial printing, textiles, graphics
and packaging. Screen printers in the
Americas can explore the power and
secrets of screen printing for value
addition, the way we have
successfully explored in India.
Hence, I see a great potential for
Grafica's products in the Americas.”
He continued: “The marketing,
distribution and service network set
up by Grafica through RH Solutions
is well timed as the SGIA 2011 Expo
is round the corner.”
RH Solutions will show case
Grafica's Nano-series screen printing
machines and allied equipment
packaged as Nano Premier League
(NPL) at SGIA Expo 2011.
Recently, in association with its local
sub-distributor Graficolor, RH
Solutions had exhibited Grafica's
NPL at FESPA Mexico held in
Mexico City on 18-20 August 2011.
As per the feedback received from
RH Solutions, the Mexican market
was very aroused by Grafica's NPL.
The comments from the Mexican
screen printing community
reviewing Grafica's machines for the
first time ever, was encouraging:
“We need Grafica's complete in-
page 7
house screen printing solution in
Mexico!” That's because Grafica's
Nano-range machines will perfectly
fit the demands of Mexico market
because of the 'high quality, low cost'
concept.
RH Solutions had also displayed
Grafica's Nano-series screen printing
machine and equipment at the 2011
SGIA Printed Electronics &
Membrane Switch Symposium. This
was Grafica's second presence in the
US market. Grafica had
demonstrated its NPL series at
FESPA Americas in Orlando, USA in
February 2011.
NPL is a complete screen printing
package introduced by Grafica for
the first time in the world which
comprises Nano-Print, a 15” x 20”
semi automatic screen printing
machine, Nano-UV curing machine,
Nano-Screen Maker 5-in-1 (which
comprises fabric stretching
apparatus, screen coating unit,
screen exposing unit with metal-
halide lamp, screen dryer, screen
touch up table) Nano-Sharpener.
Commenting on RH Solutions'
alliance with Grafica, company's
director Ron Hayden said: “We
happened to see live demo NPL and
process colour screen printing above
100 LPI using Nano-Print at FESPA
AMERICAS. After a close evaluation
I came to the conclusion that Grafica
is a manufacturer of high quality
semi to fully automatic screen
printing machines and ancillary
equipment. We realised that there
lies a good market for Grafica's
machines in the Americas.”
He continued: “We studied inside
GraficaNews
Cont’d from page 1
and out and found that Grafica
machines are engineered with a
heavy duty chassis/base together
with high quality components for
reliability, high performance
repeatability and long life yet,
economically prominent. Especially I
also saw a great potential for their
brand new innovation – Nano-Print
plus, an ergonomically designed
semi automatic screen printing
machine which was voted 'Best
Product of the Year' during Screen
Print India Expo 2010, an
international exhibition held in
Mumbai in December 2010.”
According to Ron, customers in US
market are looking for quality,
competitive price and excellent
service support. “Industrial-quality
built machines and equipment are
very important as well as the support
behind it and that's why RH
Solutions has formed a strategic
alliance with Grafica which is very
well known for its excellent products,
responsive technical support and
after sales service,” he added.
“RH Solutions implements the same
philosophy as Grafica, providing
qualified before and after sales
support. Additionally, RH Solutions
is dedicated and determined to
satisfy the needs of the American
market with superior quality from
Grafica. The partnership with our
customer is our priority. As a result,
we are firmly convinced that any
customer needs or ideas are worthy
of serious consideration and
analysis, while evaluating all
possibilities and benefits offered
through our partnership with
Grafica,” Ron concluded.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK

August 2011 page 8

International
RH Solutions to show case Grafica’s
Nano-series at SGIA Expo 2011
The marketing, distribution and
service network set up by Grafica
through RH Solutions is well timed
as the SGIA 2011 Expo is round the
corner.
RH Solutions will show case
Grafica's Nano-series screen printing
machines and allied equipment
packaged as Nano Premier League
(NPL) at SGIA Expo 2011 (Booth No.
2901), scheduled to be held during
October 19-21, 2011 at New Orleans,
USA. They will also make booth
presentation and pictorial display of
Grafica's various other products.
At SGIA 2011, RH Solutions will hold
live demo of NPL, display an array of
creative print finishing samples of
thick film deposit, abrasive, wrinkle,
glitter, deep high gloss, textures, fine
GraficaNews
line holograph, micro embossing and
many more UV special effect
applications. These samples are
100% screen printed during regular
workshops at DMI, Grafica's inhouse
training institute situated on the
outskirt of Mumbai. RH Solutions
will also distribute a 100% screen
printed catalogue, demonstrating the
possibilities of UV Special Effects
and creative screen printing.

Grafica's Nano Premier League takes Cont’d from page 1

visitors by surprise at FESPA Mexico 2011

The Made in India, Grafica Nano screen printing process.

Premier League and DMI's Creative
Finishing samples with UV Special
Effects took hundreds of visitors by
surprise at Fespa Mexico'11 held on
18, 19, 20 August 2011.
RH Solutions, Grafica's newly
appointed Supplier for North
America and their local sub-
distributor Distribuidora Graficolor
enjoyed the lively welcome and
warm embrace from curious visitors
as it was for the first time such a
appealing technology was displayed
in Mexican market.
Graficolor's Educational Instructor
Jorge Rivas, UV Specialist Marco
Antonio Gonzalez and RH Solutions
Director Ron Hayden kept the
seeking visitors fully engaged with
convincing explanations on Grafica's
low cost high quality screen printing
package NPL and the nuances of
producing value added products by
Back from Mexico, Ron reported:
“Many visitors regionally and abroad
who's eyes lit up when seeing
Grafica's NPL and DMI's Special
Effects creative print samples
eloquently displayed. The visitors
were fascinated with the
extraordinary power of screen
printing special effects and print
finishing.”
need Grafica's high quality, low cost
He continued: “While this sheer screen printing machinery concept
positive excitement was not limited and the power of Special Effect for
to screen printers but also the digital, creative enhancements in Mexico.”
offset and flexography industry
rapidly learned how they too, can FESPA Mexico 2011 delivered a
benefit from creative finishing strong return in the form of many
enlivened with special effects for serious inquiries for Grafica Screen
value added-addition.” Printing machines and Special Effect
Products supplied by RH Solutions
And the comments made by Jorge in North America.
Rivas who's many loyal customers
and students swarmed the stand
constantly, were significant: “We Full story on www.graficaindia.com

RH Solutions Exhibits Grafica’s Nano-Print

at SGIA Printed Electronics & Membrane
Switch Symposium 2011
RH
Solutions
LLC, a
Supplier
for North America, kick started the
entry of Grafica's Nano range of
screen printing machines by
participating at the 2011 SGIA
Printed Electronics & Membrane
Switch Symposium held in San Jose,
California on 14, 15, 16 June 2011.
“We captured attendees' attention
from our large High Definition Flat
Screen running continuous live video
footage of Grafica's high quality
Nano-Print, Nano-Print plus and
Nano-Screen Maker 5-in-1,” said
Ron Hayden, Director of RH
Solutions, USA.
CMYK
August 2011
Dealer Network
“When I saw some
wonderful creative samples
at DMI, I realized the
potential screen printing
process”
This is what Mr. Narendra
Paruchuri, Managing Director of
Pragati Press, said while
inaugurating the Sigma Institute
of Printing in Hyderabad. Here's
excerpt from his speech:
“The old mindset 'screen printing
business can easily be started
with an investment as low as Rs.
500 to print visiting cards,
letterheads, etc, has to
change/has changed now. That's
because the technological
development in screen printing
has moved much ahead of this
thinking.
“Believe me they had excellent
training experience. Screen
printing is part of our business for
over 15 years now. But when we
sent our staff to DMI, it really
made big difference; we are
seeing some good results after
implementing some of those
techniques.
“With regard to 'embellishment'
part, screen printing has huge
application on packaging. Believe
me I do not think Pragati could
have garnered so many awards
without using this versatile screen
printing process to print either an
ordinary UV, Textured UV or
Emboss UV and other effects. We
sincerely believe that we
embraced screen printing at right
moment and exploited it
extensively.
“Whether name, fame or
profitability –we achieved all
these partly by using advance
screen printing technology. Today
we cannot really think of any good
job without the imprint of screen
printing which blends well with
other printing processes. As I said
the credit for many of our awards
also goes to screen printing
process.”
Sigma Corporation opens training institute
and Grafica's Nano-Print demo centre in
Hyderabad Cont’d from page 1
Taking inspiration from DMI,
Hyderabad based Sigma Corporation
has recently opened a full-fledged
training institute - Sigma Institute of
Printing - to offer practical-oriented
training in screen-printing and heat
transfers.
This is for the time in India a
printing material dealer has taken a
bold initiative to set up demo centre
and a training institute – all under
one umbrella.
The institute was inaugurated
by Mr. Narendra Paruchuri,
Managing Director of Pragati
Press in the presence of
dignitaries from the screen
printing industry on 3rd July
2011.
Hanish Mehta, GM-Sales &
Marketing, Grafica graced the
occasion and conveyed good
wishes for the success of Sigma
Institute and demo centre.
Sigma has also commenced
marketing of Grafica's range of
screen printing machines and allied
products in the state of Andhra
Pradesh. They have also set up a
demo centre for Grafica's Nano-Print
and Nano-UV within the institute
itself. The demo centre will have
dual role – to hold practical
page 9
training during workshops and
to show live demo to
prospective customers.
The institute is situated on 2nd floor
of Sigma's new 7000 sq. ft. facility at
Balanagar in Hyderabad. It houses
all the facilities required for training
that include pre press, screen
making set up, printing, sample
gallery.
Established in 1997 at Chikkadpally
in Hyderabad, Sigma Corporation is
engaged in wholesale and retail trade
of Screen/Offset and Transfer
printing materials, catering to
Andhra region with over 150 sub-
dealers' network throughout the
state. With 35+ staff strength, Sigma
is headed by Dhiren Shah, an
entrepreneur moved from Mumbai
few decades ago. He is assisted by his
children.
What inspired you to set up the
Institute and demo centre?
Over the years I found that in the
absence of machine dealership there
was something missing in our
'basket'. So to fill the void, we
decided to represent Grafica for
Hyderabad and Andhra market. But
we felt there is still something very
important aspect missing – training
and a demo centre.
So we thought it appropriate to start
a screen printing institute-cum-
demo centre so that customers in
Andhra Pradesh and south India can
get basic training in automation
based on the input from DMI.
GraficaNews
Your association with Grafica:
Sigma will now deal with the best in
Screen Printing Machinery, the
brand Grafica! This is a win-win
situation. While we would strive to
secure more business for Grafica, it
will also benefit us because Sigma
will be ideal point for customers for
sourcing machines, materials and
even obtain training.
I know Grafica since late Shri
Dhirubhai Mistry. Now under the
dynamic leadership of his son,
Bhargav, Grafica aims to bring
automation revolution in screen
printing industry. They do not just
supply 'best' machines but give
tremendous support; all their
machineries are very user friendly.
They have a strong goodwill in the
market.
Why Nano demo centre?
Our customers will be greatly
benefited on two counts: First, they
need not all the way go to Grafica's
factory at Vasai near Mumbai to see
machine demo. Secondly, customers
can be trained locally in basics of
automation. This way language
problem of customers, not knowing
Hindi and English, in remote places
will also be solved. Also, if we want
to promote screen printing, showing
a demo would be most appropriate
so that printers can understand the
fundamentals and benefits of
automation; mere distribution of
brochure will not create much
impact. We can also show them
DMI's samples so that they get more
confidence.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK
August 2011
Awards
Cont’d from page 1
Mirror Image bags Grafica's Nano-Print as
special award in PrintWeek India'11 contest
Mirror Image, printing division of
Ahmedabad-based Image Care Pvt
Ltd was adjudged as the emerging
screen printer of the year in
PrintWeek India Award 2011
competition, under the Screen
Printer of the Year' category.
Grafica's Managing Director Bhargav
Mistry presented Nano-Print as
special award to Mirror Image at
PrintWeek India Awards Nite in
Mumbai on 25th August 2011. As
Mirror Image's directors could not
attend the ceremony, their
representative in Mumbai received
the award.
Similarly, the PrintWeek India
Award 2011, Screen Printer of the
Year title was bagged by Eswara
Screens, Chennai. As sponsors,
Bhargav also presented PrintWeek
India 'Screen Printer of the Year'
About Image Care
Many printers may tend to think that
screen-printing is somewhat limiting
in its scope – especially commercial
graphics. But, ever since venturing
into screen printing in a big way,
Ahmedabad-based Image Care Pvt.
Ltd. has proved that it's the other
way round.
Image Care Pvt. Ltd. is a company
which deals with ideas and talk
about ideas. Started a decade ago as
an Integrated Marketing
Communication (IMC) Company, it
quickly carved a niche for itself in the
advertising and designing market.
The Directors of the company,
Ashish Desai who is a qualified
printing technologist, and his
younger brother, Anuj Desai,
decided to have their own screen
printing set up with Grafica's 30” x
40” Camshell with UV and complete
Ashish Desai
pre-press set up. This move helped
the company to convert intangible
opportunities into tangible ones, and
gradually the in-house screen
printing set-up became the
company's new strength.
page 10
Award 2011 to Eswara Kumar of
Eswara Screens.
“My entire Team Grafica
congratulates Mirror Image led by
Ashish and Anuj Desai and Eswara
Screen on their magnificent
achievement,” said Bharghav.
This is for the third time Grafica
presenting its Nano-Print as award
to promote and inspire more and
more screen printers switch over to
automation and shed the outdated
manual screen printing methods. In
the past Grafica had given away
Nano-Print as special mention award
to NBA Studio, Pune; Kalarts,
Belgaum who won first prize at
Screen Print India Awards 2010
under wedding card category.
“I firmly believe sponsoring the
'Screen Printer of the Year Award'
instituted by PrintWeek India, and
Image Care produces direct mailers,
company brochures, menu cards,
carry bags, garment tags, POP
material (4 color printing on Sun-
pack and sun-board), customized
dispensers, calendars, wedding
cards, key pad fascias, automotive
decals etc. Perhaps they are the first
one in Gujarat to offer 4 color quality
screen printing on sun-pack and
sun-board.
To take it to even greater heights,
they try to experiment with new
ideas like the 3D effects on acrylic.
Grafica's Nano-Print came as a
deserved award for Mirror Image
who had sent in their entries which
comprised 100% screen printed
samples: 3D printing on acrylic
combining process colour screen
printing and UV special effects (most
prominent entry which displayed
their creative thinking); diary with
hard bond cover which again
combined the design elements and
UV special effects, transparent
packaging using PVC material and a
table calendar with excellent print
finishing.
The 3D printing on acrylic
GraficaNews
special award – Grafica's Nano-Print
- given away to an emerging screen
printer, is a corporate initiative of
Grafica. Sponsoring an award like
this, time and again, really gives me
immense satisfaction,” Bhargav
commented.
“I really appreciate and thank
PrintWeek India for including
'Screen Printing' category in their
annual awards competition to make
sure that this versatile printing
process is not left out of
recognition,” he added.
The CEOs of the award winning
print firms in the 18 Quality
Categories and six Performance
Awards were present to receive their
titles. Team Grafica congratulates all
the award winners in their respective
categories.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
combining CMYK and UV special
effects perhaps printed for the first
time in India, using the techniques
of screen printing process. This
demonstrates how a creative
thinking entrepreneur thinks
differently to explore the unexplored
possibilities of screen printing
technology which led to novel idea –
the 3D on acrylic, 100% screen
printed.
Anuj Desai
“In the recent PrintWeek India 2011
competition we were adjudged as
'emerging screen printer of the year'
and received Grafica's Nano-Print as
special award for this achievement.
We thank Grafica for their
encouragement and support,”
comments Anuj Desai, Director,
Mirror Image, printing division of
Image Care Pvt Ltd, Ahmedabad
 CMYK
August 2011
Customers
Dee Ech Art, housed on a 3000
sq.ft area, is a fast emerging
printing house in Saurashtra
region of Gujarat, undertakes foil
printing, lamination, print
finishing, varnishing, blister
coating, value addition with
variety of UV special effects on all
types of offset printed jobs
including packaging. Their
customer base is spread across
the entire Saurastra region.
covering cities such as Rajkot,
Jetpur, Morbi, Kutch, Bhuj,
Porbander, etc.
Your experience with
Grafica:
Their response-ability is fantastic.
Grafica's technical team is always
supportive. DMI's faculty was
here to guide us through trial
runs and commence commercial
production. I had attended DMI's
workshop few years ago and the
knowledge gained is relevant and
immensely beneficial.
From Nano-Print to Cylinder Press
in just one year
Hitesh Dobariya of Rajkot-based Dee
Ech Art, has been dreaming to buy a
Cylinder Press and inline UV for the
last couple of years. He translated his
dream it into a reality within one
year after buying two Nano-Prints,
one after another.
After investing in two Nano-
Prints, why did you opt for
Grafica's Cylinder Press?
That's because we are doubly
satisfied customer of Grafica. When I
bought first Nano-Print from them I
had already set my ambition to buy a
Cylinder Press. However, I felt that
to make this dream a reality I must
have strong support from a reliable
supplier. No doubt, their machine is
already of world class. However, as
we are located in remote place of
Saurashtra and catering to many
printers in the region, for us reliable
Arihant Printers offers value added
packaging in Kolkata
With Grafica's Cylinder Press and
inline UV working in full 'Swing',
Kolkata based Arihant Printers are
now focussing more on offering
premium quality print finishing
services to offset printers in Kolkata.
Established in 2005, Arihant
Printers is a sister concern of
Diamond Varnish, a company
started in 1975 by Dilip Kumar Jain.
Arihant is spearheaded by his son
Sunny Jain and he is assisted by his
brother Sandeep. Arihant has four
units spread over 15000 sq. ft,
housing pre press, a design team, 4
colour offset, complete post press set
up, foil printing and lamination.
Their print portfolio include:
Packaging such as clothing boxes,
sweet boxes; mass wedding card
sheets; diaries and calendars, gift
boxes and all types of specialised
commercial jobs.
Why did you opt for Grafica’s
cylinder press?
I have every reason to believe that hi-
speed cylinder press and inline UV is
truly an economical investment. So,
we acquired cylinder press to
increase our production capacity and
to explore all our creative
capabilities. I would say, 'What is not
page 11
GraficaNews
Cont’d from page 1
Dinesh Dobariya / Hitesh Dobariya
service support was very crucial. Prints and learning UV techniques at
That's because our business fully DMI Workshop, we started
depends on job work and our introducing new innovative ideas
customers highly rely on our timely and we received good response from
delivery. I thank Grafica team who the market. So, instead of acquiring
never let us to fail for any reason. couple of semi automatic machines
That's is why we felt fully assured we directly jumped cylinder press
and confidently bought Grafica's buy to full fill my dream into reality.
Cylinder Press. Now, with Grafica's Cylinder Press
we are able to achieve higher
What is your strategy behind production with less effort and
deploying a fully automatic keeping in mind our future growth to
screen printing machine? tap value addition market in this
Sine our production requirement has region aggressively.
increased after deploying two Nano-
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
Cont’d from page 1
possible in a semi auto machine is
possible in cylinder press.'
We did see many other brands with
lesser price but choose Grafica.
That's because we did not want to
make compromise on quality and
repent later. Also, when so many
printers speak about their cylinder
! Well-built machine - We almost
press and DMI through Grafica
run the machine in two shifts.
News, our trust and confidence level
! Consistent print quality
in brand Grafica built up further.
! Side lay sensors
! No complicated mechanism. I
What did you like the most in
and my operator did not take
Grafica's cylinder press
much time to understand its
particularly?
operations/functions
! Registration system
! High speed Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK

August 2011 page 12

GraficaNews
Technical
Benefits using UV technology
in Screen Printing By Bhargav Mistry,
Managing Director, Grafica

Interestingly, one of our customers, knows about UV? UV lamp which releases radiation of
dealing in industrial printing ! How much substrate supplier about 240-400 nm. UV lamp (bulb
Indian screen printing
revealed that he has recovered his knows about UV? and reflector) is fitted in separate
industry is now waking up to
investment on table top UV system ! Can all these people are capable modules to facilitate easy handling
the reality of UV-age. More
within one month. In another case, of guiding me or giving me and replacement whenever needed.
and more screen printers are now
amazingly one of my dealers has training properly UV lamps in a curing unit must be
adopting UV and dumping the
stopped his 3-4 decade old business ! Yes ink wise you will find UV is replaced after a certain number of
foul smelling solvent which many
of dealing in solvent inks and screen priced on higher side. But how do hours use. Some lamps do last up to
feel a curse to the screen printing.
printing consumables and focussed I workout my costing to ensure 3,000 hours, but replacement and
That's because it not only
on promoting and marketing UV that I do not charge more than running costs are a consideration.
requires lot of space for drying
inks in a big way along with our what I used to charge earlier for a
but also environmentally hazard
Nano-Print and Nano-UV curing job using solvent inks. Mesh and machine: Is there any
and wastage is rampant. The
machine. That's because even as a difficulty hitch in using UV ink on all
biggest nightmare for screen
supplier he felt UV is the future. If at all the cost works out more how types of screen printing machines?
printers is ink choking in screen
during small intervals and even do I convince my customers.
With UV, benefits unbound: There is no problem, but printing
during printing which restricts
! Sharp and finer print details Other than normal UV inks, is there with UV ink requires finer and even
screen printers to deliver finer
! Environment-friendly than any potential for various UV special ink deposition. Therefore it is
details. But now with UV Inks the
hazardous solvent effects and how much I know about advisable to use finer mesh say 165
problem of ink choking up in
! Clean work environment print finishing and value addition, or 180 mesh and you have to buy a
screens is never a issue.
! Economic print solution what is the market for this special UV curing machine as per print
! No ink drying on screen, no segment. area/curing area required.
In some areas such as decals and
choke up hence saves lot of time
industrial printing UV has not
! Faster job turn around Do I need to employ skilled Substrate: With the availability of
made successful inroads and still
! Waste reduction manpower or the existing UV inks and UV curing machine,
they have to use only solvent inks.
However, screen printers, manpower be trained in UV? screen printing even on most difficult
Faster job turn around: Curing substrates, viz, PVC, metal,
wherever applicable, should
of UV ink happens almost instantly Remember half knowledge is polyethylene, foil, polystyrene, PP,
consider UV because of its
as compared to solvent inks which dangerous and if you practice based ABS, PVC, besides paper is now
immense benefits. Screen
requires lot of time to dry. on half knowledge given by half- possible.
printers should also note that
Space saving: Since drying (curing) knowledgeable suppliers you will
other processes such as offset and
takes place instantly lot of space burn your hands in UV business. UV screen printing: Devices
digital are also roaring with UV.
otherwise required for putting up required. There are many devices to
And I feel UV will soon become
drying racks can be saved and use it And do not just see the current monitor UV output which are passed
the norm for all printing.
for other productive purpose. And market but plan yourself and under the UV source to measure
UV curing system as such requires prepare a project report with a long temperature and UV output.
Based on my continued
less space to position it along with term vision for an economically A light sensitive tape is used to gauge
experiments and R&D at DMI
printing machine. viable business proposition. the level of absorbed UV when
institute and feedback from
customers, I can vouch for UV passed under a UV source. This tape
Fine print quality: Vibrant print Technically speaking: Since changes color as per the intensity of
technology. The future of UV is
quality in process color screen application of UV in screen printing lamp and speed of the conveyor,
bright that's because it offers
printing. is growing, I strongly recommend which is then checked as per
screen printers with great
production advantages over that screen printers should make calibration chart.
UV – an economical and every effort to acquire as much as
solvent.
profitable printing solution: knowledge in UV inks, printing, UV Word of caution:
I always highlight in my workshops curing and all related areas. UV, UV, UV do not simply jump on
Screen printing, though a most
that screen printer should never it. Take cautious step instead of
versatile printing process,
compare the face value of UV ink In UV inks, the liquid coating burning your hands later. First study
requires different types of drying
with solvent ink which is cheaper (printing) gets cured to a solid state the market. Analyze the return on
system, viz, UV curing, IR drying,
than UV price wise. But look at the after being exposed to UV light. This investment. Study the supply
Hot air drying and most
output per kg? In solvent, printers chemical change is known as sources, talk to them and understand
commonly screen printers use
end up wasting lot of ink, substrate ultraviolet (UV) polymerization. UV better. You should thoroughly
whole floor of their printing unit
because very nature of solvent ink, understand the whole UV
to dry the printed stuffs on racks.
whereas with UV every drop of ink is Usually, UV ink consists of: technology, how it works, its
Now-a-days, most advanced
usable or can be put it back on the ! Oligomers technicalities, UV lamp, UV inks, UV
wicket dryers are available as an
tin after printing is over. It is my ! Monomers curing system, and more importantly
online racking-cum-drying
research that UV ink gives more ! Photoinitators its application in relation to different
system.
impressions than solvent ink. When substrates and safety aspects. And
we take into consideration the Besides there are other components our DMI workshop orients screen
With UV technology (UV inks and
benefits and mileage of UV ink, it is such as pigments, stabilizers, flow printers on some of these aspects.
UV curing system), screen
definitely cheaper than solvent controls, flatting agents. But it is better to have regular
printers can now expect to
overall. interaction with printing
achieve great deal of efficiency in
their work and higher UV lamps: UV curing takes place machine/UV curing machine, UV
Food for thought! based on UV radiation activating and inks manufacturer/suppliers,
productivity and why not
! Where do I get training? UV sensitive chemicals. UV ink substrate suppliers, etc to keep
profitability!
! How much my machine supplier contains liquid prepolymers, photo yourself updated on regular basis.
(both printing machine and UV initiators and pigments. As the ink is And knowledge seeking will
curing system manufacturer or exposed to UV radiation it gets definitely ensure you are on right
dealer) know about UV? polymerized instantly into hardness. track and deriving maximum
! How much UV ink supplier UV radiation is facilitated through a benefits from UV.
CMYK
August 2011
Customers
Kohinoor Printing Press is jointly
managed by three Jain brothers:
Sachin, Nitin and Jitin. The
company was started off with a
humble beginning by their father
Pradip Kumar Jain in 1985, with
just 250 sq.ft area. They are a
full-fledged one stop post-press
service provider in Kolkata with
all inhouse facilities -- 4
lamination machines, 2 roller-
coaters with UV, 5 semi
automatic/ UV curing machines,
3 punching machines, two 2
foiling machines.
Nilesh Enterprise is a complete
screen printing solution provider
to graphics and textile printing in
Eastern region. They also
manufacture graphics and textile
inks. Besides a network of more
than 80 dealers in Eastern India,
Nilesh Enterprise also exports
materials to Nepal, Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka. His brothers
Subhas, Sanjay and Rajesh also
joined the business.
Future plan:
We plan to open demo centre for
Nano-Print. In fact with technical
support from DMI, we wish to
open printing institute at our
farmhouse, about 7 km from
Kolkata airport.
page 13
GraficaNews
Cont’d from page 1
Kohinoor Printing Press opts for Grafica’s
Cylinder Press
With this high end screen printing
technology, Kohinoor Printing Press
render delightful experience to
offset/packaging printers in Kolkata
by offering them aesthetically
appealing value addition service
with speed and consistent quality.
Why did you invest in a fully
automatic press? and technical support. We found plus point of Grafica is that they are
That's because we were confronted none other than Grafica as the best in constant touch with us; DMI's
with labour shortage and production option. faculty was here to guide us during
constraints in our semi-automatic trial runs and helped us to stream
printing unit which had five semi In what way cylinder press has line our production. The uniqueness
automatic screen printing machines. benefited you? of Grafica is that through the Grafica
Adding couple of more semi auto We believe that cylinder press and News they also give us publicity and
machines to jack up production, as with inline UV is a great combination this way our presence is made felt in
part of our expansion, would have to convert our great ideas into the printing industry.
required additional manpower. superb quality products. Let me
Hence we felt that a fully automatic assert that operational efficiency of What is your future plan?
line with UV is the best economical our printing unit has drastically We will soon shift our unit spread
proposition. improved in all respects, including over 4000 sq.ft, to another location
wastage reduction. with15000 sq ft space which will
Why did you prefer brand house our entire printing facilities.
Grafica? What's so special about We also plan to acquire a 5 colour
We wanted to buy the machine from Grafica's service? offset.
a reliable manufacturer who has Many manufacturers forget once
excellent track record in offering their machine is installed at
prompt after sales service, training customers' place. But the biggest Full story on www.graficaindia.com
“We are in a advantageous position being
Representative of Grafica in Kolkata”
Sushil Golchha, founder of Nilesh
Enterprise, has enthusiastically
decided to represent Grafica to
market their Nano range of semi-
automatic screen printing machines
and allied equipment in Kolkata.
Interview with Sushil Golchha:
Why did you decide to
represent Grafica?
Grafica is now one of the well known
brands in screen printing machinery.
an excellent machine in 15” x 20” attend DMI's workshop. My brother
We see new opportunities and we
range. Rajesh had also attended DMI's
are now in a better position to offer
quality materials along with quality workshops. DMI's knowledge is a
Your experience with Grafica? stepping stone for success for many
machines to our customers..
Grafica is highly professional in their printers.
approach towards customers. Before
We decided to promote their
buying machine they guide their What is so special about
machines aggressively after the
customers properly; and after Grafica's service?
launch of Nano-Print and other
installing the machine, they extend The biggest plus point of Grafica is
Nano-series machines, keeping in
full technical support. This is their that not only their engineers
mind our eagerness to establish long
USP. efficiently install the machine and
term association with them,
although they offer limited margin. explain how to operate it but also
We are thankful to Grafica because capable of carrying out trials and
with their support we could commence commercial production.
That's because Nano series is a most
participate in four exhibitions in
promising concept. These are not
Kolkata. While their machine is of superior
only excellent quality saleable
products but also have reasonable quality, their service is par excellence
Your views on DMI: which gives us peaceful sleep. If
price tag. Nano-Print is an
I had visited their DMI on several service is bad, we will have a
innovative creation of Grafica, it
occasions and I have never seen such sleepless night!
functions smoothly; it has simple yet
institute in India. I personally
attractive look, easy to operate. It is
motivate prospective customers to Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK
August 2011
Technical
Bruce Ridge,
Director of
Technical Services,
Nazdar Consulting
Bruce Ridge is Director of
Technical Services at Nazdar
Consulting Services. He has
worked in product management,
product training and sales. Ridge
began and facilitated the
Masterprint Color Training
Program, which has been
presented to more than 2,500
printers in North America. He
now manages the Nazdar Ink
Division’s Technical Service
Department where the focus is to
provide worldwide technical
support for the Nazdar inks made
for screen, inkjet and narrow web
flexography printing. He is a
frequent speaker at industry
events and is a member of the
Academy of Screen Printing
Technology. bridge@nazdar.com
From color to LAB
LAB color diagram
Color Picker Screen Capture
Color Theory
The new and changing
software products are the
driving force behind color
control in the printing
processes.
page 14
GraficaNews
The 21st Century
Color Matcher
A subtle shift in our industry has
occurred without most of us realizing
it. The shift is the change in how a
printing company manages color in
their facility. This job was
traditionally centered in the ink
room, then slowly moved into
the prepress department, and
now it is making its way to the
IT department — and is creating
a new industry position I like to
refer to as the “21st century
If you’re in the business of selling color images, you want to take
color matcher.”
advantage of everything you can to make those images the best
This change is very evident at most they can be with the tools you have available. This is why today’s
graphic screen printing and all inkjet graphic imaging company needs a digital color manager.
printing facilities. It all started when
the trend in graphic images moved
The Color Matchers previously matched inks that were
toward more process color printing.
For many generations, the color in a left on the shelf from prior jobs.
There is a diminishing need out
printing facility was controlled by the Many of these color formulation
there for black and white or simple
color matcher. This person was the systems, along with training, were
two-color graphic images.
heart beat of a printing company. provided to printers by their ink
They were craftsmen and their craft suppliers.
This is a trend that has prevailed in
was usually learned by osmosis.
all the commercial printing
There was no formal education During this same time, digital image
processes. This trend alone has
program for this position; it was a creation became the primary method
moved the art and technology of
“learn by doing” program that of generating art work for printing.
color control into the prepress
usually took up to 10 years to get This facilitates the growth of full-
department, where software allows
really good at doing. These color color printing, which eventually
prepress experts to manipulate and
matchers usually served as the color leads to the reduction of spot color
control the color images we print
judge and printing and color matching. This
electronically. In this printing
scenario, we want the ink on press to change affected all of the printing
jury. They could stop the press and processes and the prepress
be a constant. The goal for the ideal
production to adjust or change the functions, so the different printing
press is a press that is loaded with an
color of the inks. They were the one- processes start to look very similar.
ink that prints the same way every
man QC Department, an Color is now being controlled in the
time. It is not desirable for someone
ink and chemical expert — and in art and prepress department.
to be tinkering with the ink once it
many cases — the ink estimator and
goes to press to manipulate the color
purchasing agent for a company. Process color becomes the dominant
of the image. Most screen printers
now see the value of this method, color reproduction method for
What these traditional color graphic screen printing and is the
whereas all inkjet printers think this
matchers would rely on was their dominate-method of color
way since changing the ink in the
ability to match any color by eye. reproduction for wide-format inkjet
machine is a time-consuming
They would sometimes use a scale to printing.
process.
document a formula or to measure
out additives to a special ink mix. Ink There also are trends in the
This is where the progress is ending
inventory was managed by memory commercial printing world that are
and there is no evidence that printers
or written on three-inch by five-inch driving change in all of the print
are prepared to move to what I
index cards and stored in a card file processes. These trends have been
believe will be the next level of color
replicating a wacky Pantone version documented by SGIA and PIA/GATF
control. That is the level where color
of the Dewey for more than 10 years and are part
is controlled by the IT department,
or more ideally, to persons with of the reason that digital printing is
prepress, color theory and IT skills. Decimal System. the only growing printing process
It is the new and changing software Some of these color matchers moved because they all favor some of the
products that are the driving force into the world of instrumentation inherent characteristics of digital
behind color control in the printing and a higher-level color control using printing. These printing trends
processes. formulation software. These few include:
innovative color matchers learned to ! An increased use of process color
Questions for your company to incorporate spectrophotometers to ! Requirement for faster
consider: measure colors and feed that data turnaround
! Are you ready to adapt to this into software that would generate ! An increased requirement for
fulfillment services
next step? color formulas. These formulation
! Multiplatform printing
! Do you have the talent on staff to software programs were expensive
companies
do this work? and took time to learn; however,
! Digital printing intrusion in most
! Are you really willing to dedicate once set up they would generate
markets
the time to get your people accurate ink formulas and
trained? determine exact quantities of ink to
! Do you know where to go to find mix for a specific job. Even more These same forecasts list
someone to fill these positions in impressive is that they could help the “digitalography” as the up and
your company? color matcher work off inventories of coming printing process. This is a
 CMYK
August 2011
Technical
Traditional
color
matcher
Ink
formulation
system
Ink
formulation
system
Digital
color
manager
Color can be controlled and
predicted better than ever
before; however, controlling
it has become more
complicated than we are
willing to acknowledge.
Benefits from Developing or
Hiring a Digital Color
Manager
There are many benefits a
company can gain from
developing or renting a DCM,
including:
! A person assigned and given
necessary time to improve
color, will improve color.
! There are proven products
available on the market that
save ink, time and to reduce
waste if managed by someone.
! New products and processes
will keep a company
competitive.
! Providing new solutions and
processes attracts new
customers.
! Smart innovative people like to
work with smart innovative
people.
broad term that encompasses many
different digital printing processes.
They also predict that inkjet will
eventually become the dominant
digital printing processes. This is
good news for wideformat inkjet
printers as well as suppliers to this
segment of digitalography.
Digital color is color that is created,
manipulated, and sent through a
digital workflow of software and then
finally printed by any of the
commercial printing processes. This
can be screen, offset lithography or
inkjet. This is specific color that has
been translated into numbers
(L*a*b*) manipulated with software,
then translated back to color. This
‘new’ type of color matching requires
a completely different understanding
of color — its color by the numbers.
Understanding the math is as
important as being able to see subtle
differences in two red patches.
Today’s color matcher needs to
understand how these numbers are
captured with an instrument, how
software compares these numbers,
and how the software manipulates
the numbers in order to translate
those numbers back into a color.
This is the work of the 21st century
color matcher
The 21st century color matcher
(CCM) does not mix ink, are not a
chemical expert and most
importantly, they do all they can to
keep the press running. Instead of
stopping the press to correct today’s
color, the 21st CCM would collect
data from today’s press run to make
improvements for tomorrow’s press
runs. Their responsibilities are
greater because the overall influence
on the company is greater. In order
to meet today’s shorter deadlines on
more complex color jobs, the stakes
are much higher to deliver the right
color in as few prints as possible. The
21st CCM could also be called the
digital color manager. This is a full-
time job for larger companies,
although few companies realize it.
The prepress manager on a part-time
basis currently attempts the work;
and therefore, the work either never
gets done or is done only half way.
The most common scenario is for a
company to own profiling software
and hardware while running their
day-to-day printing using one profile
or configuration. This happens
because no one is given the time to
create individual media
configurations.
If you’re in the business of selling
color images, you want to take
advantage of everything you can to
make those images the best they can
be with the tools you have available.
This is why today’s graphic imaging
page 15
company needs a digital color
manager (DCM). If you are a smaller
company and cannot afford a full-
time DCM, then you need to rent
one. Just in the same way you would
rent payroll services, tax and
accounting services, and IT services.
Why is digital color management
such a critical position? Color can be
controlled and predicted better than
ever before; however, controlling it
has become more complicated than
we are willing to acknowledge.
Software is updated every year,
computers become more powerful,
and new products enter the market
every month that can improve
workflow and efficiency. Who in your
company is taking the time and has
the expertise to evaluate which of
these products are best for your
company? If your resident color
expert is constantly focused on
production, they are not managing
your color — they are trying to get
work out the door.
This position of the DCM is critical to
your company and there are several
sets of skills this person should have.
First are personal characteristics.
The ideal candidate would possess
many of the following qualities:
! Ability to communicate effectively
! Ability to provide training to all
levels of knowledge
! Ability to focus on specific
problems
! Ability to network to find
solutions
! Ability to recognize new ideas
! Ability to multitask and
completetasks in an organized
and systematic fashion
! Ability to know how to document
procedures
The technical requirements for the
digital color manger are:
! Understands the principles of
additive RGB and subtractive
color CMYK
! Knows L*a*b* color space,
spectrophotometry and
densitometery
! Knows how to use rendering
intent, color targets and ISO
specifications
! Is trained in G7® color control
methodology
! Can work with the limitations of
the inks and substrates they have
! Has a fundamental
understanding of all of the print
processes
The IT requirements of the digital
color manger are:
! Has a broad knowledge of
prepress, business and workflow
software programs
! Is a master of the media
configuration process and editing
GraficaNews
! Knows the curve process for non
digital printing
! Can establish workflow
procedures
In general, many of these skills are
not learned through the osmoses
process.
These skills are learned through
structured training and educational
programs. Structured training has
not been the primary method of
learning for the experts in the screen
printing and wide-format inkjet
industry. Our industry has relied on
getting skilled employees by either
hiring someone from another
company or by providing on-the-job
training so they can learn during
production. This may have worked
with the traditional color matching
person over a five-year period, but it
is not effective when trying to
develop a DCM with up-to-date
expertise.
This position now requires our
industry to do something they have
not done in the past — hire people
who have attended colleges and
technical schools with graphic arts
programs. Very few of these
programs will teach students the
specifics they need to know about
wide-format and screen prepress and
color control. They will deliver a
person that has a foundation in
prepress art, design, and workflow
software as well as knowledge of
color theory. This will usually be
focused around offset lithography
printing; however, the prepress
aspects apply to our processes. From
that point, you would be responsible
for providing information about
wide-format imaging and and
ensuring they stay upto-date on the
process through Webcasts, seminars,
trade shows and networking
opportunities. This is an investment
and it would be smart to protect your
investment with a contract.
In summary, there has been a major
change in the way color is controlled
in a printing facility. This change has
been driven by the printing trends
that are a result of what is now
possible because of developments in
digital printing and in digital
prepress color control. This has
moved color control out of the
printing shop and into the prepress
and IT areas, and all of this requires
a new type of person to fill the
position of the digital color manager.
This requires a new mentality on the
part of production-focused
management in order to stay
competitive in the delivery of cost-
effective color images and digital
color management. This will be
critical to the success of a printing
business that is focused on delivering
full-color images to their clients.
CMYK

August 2011 page 16

GraficaNews
DMI Update
Feedback:
DMI is increasingly becoming indispensable
After attending DMI's 3 days
workshop I want to affirm:
'Never think screen printing is 28-29-30 July 2011 Workshop
small and labour intensive job;
my vision has now broadened and
now I am more interested in
screen printing especially with
UV special effects. I will stop
using the white / nylon fabric, fix
yellow light in screen making
unit, use aluminium frames
instead of wooden, also plan to
have A.C in my printing unit. This
is the impact DMI workshop.
Rajoo Vaghela, Director
V. ART, Rajkot

I have been to many

workshops/seminars but this one
has been an eye opener. In just 3
days we were able to grasp the
core knowledge of advanced
screen printing. Speaker Bhargav
Mistry is a very good orator, gem
of a person, technically very
sound in screen printing, very
enthusiastic, determined, focused
and master in screen printing. I
urge my fellow printing
professionals to attend DMI's 3-
day workshop to fully understand
and comprehend the true
meaning of the 'workshop' and
experience the difference.
Sayed Abdul Rahiman,
Asst. Plant Manager
Silverpoint Press Pvt.Ltd, Navi
Mumbai

“DMI taught me how to convert creativity

into a profitable screen printing business”

21-22-23 April 2011 Workshop

 CMYK

August 2011 page 17

GraficaNews
DMI Update
3D certificate on 3D certificate Screen printed on acrylic
acrylic:
The Certificate with spot 3D was presented to participants at DMI Workshop
presented to participants at DMI
After attending 3-day free workshop the 3rd day of DMI's Workshop
Workshop on July 28-30, 2011. It
at DMI with excellent hospitality, the which was held on July 28-30, 2011.
was completely screen printed
participants could not have expected Perhaps this is for the first time that
with UV inks on clear acrylic.
to receive a '3D Certificate of certificates were presented to
Training' printed on paper substrate. participants in a training
The think tanks at Image Care
Over 60 participants were simply programme, completely screen
choose to print on acrylic as they
awe-stuck when they were presented printed on acrylic with 3D effect.
wanted to make it unique in all
a 3D certificate printed on acrylic on
respects since many other
printing processes cannot print
directly on acrylic as effectively as
screen printing process. The DMI
workshop Certificate was not only
designed to give 3D effect but also
to give basic variable detail,
which did not need 3D effect. So
we have decided to make border
in 3D. With spot colors border
and other details were printed
and finally lens effect is given
with UV varnish only to the
border area to get 3D effect.
White background was given to
get clear readability.

You can have different 3D effects

using different designs as per
your requirements. Even you can
have more than one effect in
single job. Since job was
'certificate' it was produced with
spot color but we can produce 3D
effect with process color screen
printing as well.

Usually 3D or lenticular prints

are produced using other
technology. This usually has its
effects on complete print area.
What if someone wants that effect
on selected area only?

In a nutshell it is about creating

fusion of your designing elements
with screen printing skills, using
quality technology and materials.
With innovation and right
technology in place, the screen
printing world is can be your
creative playground. Why not
explore it!

Feedback:
I happened to see DMI's striking
screen printed samples at
Grafica's stall in Dubai exhibition. “The knowledge gained during DMI’s 3-day
Since then I was curious to know workshop is beyond my imagination”
more about value addition, and
my wish is now fulfilled.
Shalini Pinto,
Graphic Care LLC, UAE

The color management lesson

was quite refreshing.
Surya Lamba,
Cosmic Advertisers, Jharkhand

23-24-25 June 2011 Workshop

CMYK
August 2011
Perspective
By Bharghav Mistry,
Managing Director,
Grafica & DMI
You are a god sent man to take
screen printing process and
industry ahead. Keep it up, god
bless you.
Kamlakar Wadekar
Ace printer, Mumbai
After spending very small time in
screen printing industry; I found
this process to be very interesting
and felt then a great need for
quality training. I think you have
taken a major stance in the area.
Please keep up with more articles
and information. I wish you all
the success.
Abhiram Sathe
Amazing SWOT analysis and this
will really help our screen
printing community. We should
always share our thoughts so that
our community grow day by day
Rohit Bansal
Asian Print Media, Delhi
page 18
GraficaNews
Strengths Weakness Opportunities
And Threats (SWOT) in Screen Printing
With advancement taking place
at all levels, screen printing has
evolved as indispensable and a
'versatile' printing process.
I would like to pen down some of my
recent thoughts about screen
printing in the form of a quick SWOT
(Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats) analysis
of Indian screen printing industry
scenario.
STRENGTHS:
Automation and UV technology
– One of our valued customers who
had 15 manual tables has now as
many as 7 semi automatic screen
printing machines. There are many
printing unit instead of outsourcing. institute DMI. I am receiving
screen printers whose business has
There are many digital printers who tremendous response from the
doubled or tripled over the years ever
have set up screen printing units to industry. What was started as
since they switched over to
meet the market demand for 'total workshops with 8-10 participants
automation along with UV. So, semi
print solution'. Screen Printing is the today our workshops are always
automatic and fully automatic screen
perfect complement to offset and it houseful with long queue of wait
printing machines are now making
works in tandem to help generate listed knowledge seekers.
inroads into Indian screen printing
more business.
industry in a big way.
I had produced and screened a video
WEAKNESSES: film 'Screen on Screen' in 15 cities
In the last decade, from a
few years ago. Following this
predominantly manual printing
Education – lack of knowledge! success, we followed it up with yet
process there has been a big shift
I would say knowledge is the key to another round of all India
from manual operations to semi-
success to any business. What's the campaigns (ten) whereby we took
automatic and now fully automatic
use if screen printers have fully our entire Nano Premier League
printing machines. Going by my own
automatic screen printing line package to show the screen printing
company's sales performance, there
without having a proper knowledge? process live to printers.
has been steep increase in the
number of screen printing machines
In screen printing industry there is I fully agree with Mr Narendra P of
(and UV curing machines) sold in the
not only lack of 'knowledge' but also Pragati Press, Hyderabad who
last couple of years than it was five to
lack of 'knowers of knowledge'. recently said that the old mindset
ten years ago. Also, a noteworthy
Inspite of this drawback, over the 'screen printing business can easily
transformation is that there has been
years, bravo, our screen printers be started with an investment as low
quantum leap in the number of
have made drastic improvements as Rs. 500-1000 to print visiting
visitors to our pavilions at various
due to their sheer hard work and cards, letterheads, etc, has to change
printing industry exhibitions than it
inclination to learn from self help, by now. That's because technological
was 5-10 years ago.
reading technical articles, attending development in screen printing has
exhibitions, seminars etc. moved much ahead of this thinking.
That's because screen printing not
I think the technical education think I strongly also agree with his view
only involves low investment which
tanks in India should really make an point that in screen printing every
is a big advantage for those wanting
immediate analysis of the printing step is a 'science'. So without
to join the screen printing business,
education offered in various learning this 'science' nothing can be
but also there has been widespread
institutes which is MINUS printed qualitatively. By learning
applications of this versatile process
“advanced screen printing”, they new techniques we can assimilate it
and greater awareness about the
touch upon only some basics and in our daily practice.
immense benefits of and need for
outdated elements of screen
automation.
printing… very sad especially when OPPORTUNITIES:
the Indian screen printing is
“Quality” improvement: Quality
adopting automation in a big way Applications, unlimited: Screen-
in screen printing seems to have
and the need for trained screen printing is a fantastic technology
come a long way. Today, with
printing professionals is shooting that is used by many industries with
automatic precision machines, it is
up. In the recent past, there has been so many old, new and not yet
possible to get a result that years ago
a growing trend of offset printers discovered applications – both flat
would have been a dream. Let the
embracing screen printing, whereas (plastics, cloth, metal, thin to thick
world believe that the screen printing
the printing institutes emphasizes papers, sunpack/sunboard, rubber,
process today is faster, better and
more on offset and other printing leather, wood, glass, footwears,
cleaner.
technology. PCBs, ceramics, etc) and non-flat
substrates, by using appropriate
New trend – combination of
On my part, I am determined to take machinery and inks. Further, this
processes: There has been a growing
screen printing education to a process is also widely used in
trend of offset printers/packaging
greater height through my own packaging, labels, Smart-cards – the
companies setting up inhouse screen
CMYK

August 2011 page 19

GraficaNews
Perspective
list of screen printing application is
endless.

Growing trend – Value addition

through various UV Special effect
inks/varnishes: What was started as
Spot UV – matt and gloss – today
with the availability of various UV
special effects, screen printers have
now great chance to excite
consumers. The range and variety of
effect is extensive and it provides the
marketer, print buyer and designer
with a number of exciting
possibilities.

printing has a promising future. He c) Use of Out-dated methods:

Use of non-paper Substrates:
sees a great future provided the Wooden frames, nylon white
Continuous advancements and
screen printers in India remove all fabric instead of polyester yellow
developments in polymer technology,
bottlenecks the major being “clean- fabric, lack of standardisation in
expertise and cost-effective
room environment in the screen screen making although it is well
manufacturing, plastic substrates are
making and printing setup.” That's known fact that screen is the
replacing traditional materials in
because he saw hard working and heart of printing.
many fields (environmental
sincere efforts by Indian screen d) Using solvent although UV
conditions apply!). These include :
printers to achieve quality through available for many applications.
PVC, Polypropylene, HIPS,
high level of automation. Mike was
Lenticular Films, Polycarbonate etc.
also quite optimistic about Indian Perhaps due to these reasons there is
Polypropylene Sheets are extensively
screen printers. He says that Indian a growing trend in India that more
used for blister packaging, cardboard
screen printers can face the and more OEMs are now setting up
boxes etc. Polypropylene finds
challenges ahead with their own screen printing units. For
application in Disposable Containers,
determination, enthusiasm, passion example: Tiles and Ceramic industry,
Embossing, Gift Box Making out of
and courage. electronic industry, leather industry,
clear sheets, Freight Packaging, etc.
garment industry, packaging and
PVC Sheets and Polypropylene
Participation in Awards offset industry and many more. In
Sheets are the best suited for screen
competitions – great these areas they used to earlier
printing. Polypropylene is also
opportunity to printers: outsource their requirement.
preferred by screen printers because
I have been witnessing a growing
of its low density and very
number of entries and award Conclusion:
economical cost. Similarly, PVC is
winners in two major international Screen printing is now quicker,
also widely used by screen printers.
competitions – SGIA/ FESPA cheaper, produces better quality
sponsored besides national images and offers a number of
Great shift – Indian screen
competitions such as Screen Print special applications. But advanced
printers: I still recall what Michel
India Award and SPAI-FESPA India screen printing with high level of
Caza, an international screen
and PrintWeek India competitions. automation is not everybody's cup of
printing expert said at the FESPA
That's not only good but a healthy tea. Having advanced machines in
Munich 2010 Workshop titled “The
sign, because ultimately it increases place is not sufficient to run a
Future of Screen Printing Goes
appetite for quality improvement on profitable screen printing business.
Through Innovation — A comparison
various counts – Complexity, Image There is no profit from the press of a
between Western and Asian
definition, precision and sharpness; button like an ATM card. There is no
Countries.” He was of the view that
Colour appearance, Application of short cut. Because not only does the
“Graphics and signage are only 20%
use, Creativity, etc. Still majority of set-up process take considerably
of screen applications where as 35%
the printers still hesitate to longer than other techniques, but
lies in textile printing and about 45%
participate in these competitions due being able to truly master printing
in industrial applications.” This
to many reasons. high quality images using the screen
clearly sums up the potentials and
printing process also takes much
future of screen printing process.
THREATS: longer, because there are a number
a) Manual screen printing. If our of variables involved.
Screen printers should now
screen printers are catering to
take the call: During the
industrial printing they should Today, there exist different systems
presentation at FESPA Munich show,
immediately dump manual designed to help the screen printers
which was focused on the “how
screen printing tables as there to achieve better result. But it
European countries are moving
are strict quality and delivery revolves around the simple concept
towards screen and how in Indian
requirements in industrial or standardisation of the entire
screen printing is moving with the
segment. I have numerous screen printing process. The
latest trend,” Michel had also
screen printers who have comment made by Prof. Dr. Rajendra
mentioned that because of industrial
switched over to automation due Kumar Anayath, Print Media
production getting shifted to Asian
to all the side effects of manual Academy, Chennai – a Heidelberg
countries, screen printing is also
screen printing – it is tedious, Initiative during his visit to our stall
getting more and more attention in
laborious, time consuming, at Print Pack 2011 New Delhi, is
this (Asian) region and that is the
wastage-ridden. I was told by significant: “Bhargav, screen printing
advantage for screen printers who
many international experts that today is not what it was 6-7 years
are into industrial screen printing
India lags behind several ago. With the kind of experiments
such as PCB, membrane switches.
decades in screen printing but it that you are making at your DMI, it
is not too late. appears to me that it has emerged as
Moreover, even Mike Young's
b) Use of poor quality raw a printing process to be reckoned
presentation on “Emerging
materials. with.”
Technologies” proves that screen
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK
August 2011
Perspective
Michel Caza,
Howard Parmele Award Winner
Ex-Chairmain ASPT,
Past President, FESPA Board
SWOT Feedback
I am happy that the screenprint
industry has now reaching the
heights that we in the UK enjoyed
some years ago . Unfortunately
the screenprint industry is in
decline now due to digital and
litho , with many screenprint
companies no longer in business
and the only companies with a
small amount of growth are
specialist industrial markets.
We have seen most screenprint
companies go from single colour
machines to large format multi
colour machines and all do very
well but unfortunately the bubble
has burst and almost all medium
to large companies have replaced
all machines with expensive
digital machines and litho
machines, leaving most suppliers
who have grown up in screenprint
struggling to servive.
So I say take the good times while
you can ,because unfortunately
the digital and litho age will catch
you up.
Paul Smith, UK
It is really heart warming to see
the replies. I definitely feel that
screen printing has gone from 0
to 10 in India. This can be
attributed to availability of
machines and UV inks and
varnishes. Still lot of work needs
to be done in future and i am very
excited about it
Mustafa Kapadia,
COLORS, Mumbai
It is a really best explanation
from Mr. Caza. It's very true that
Digital can never overtake the
Screen printing industry.
Grafica's NANO is the starter of
the Automation in Indian Screen
Printing against Manual screen
printing. So buy it, feel it and
enjoy it…and progress.
Bipin Shinde
Saarth Graphics, Sangli
Strengths Weakness Opportunities
And Threats (SWOT) in Screen Printing
What Michel Caza says:
I am not surprised of Paul Smith’s
pessimistic analysis, absolutely
current and classic in Europe and
USA from the so-called specialists
who totally ignore what exactly is
now screen printing! He simply sees
noon at his door only which means
that he must be more involved in the
graphic field and that he doesn’t
know on one hand that graphic
screen printing is only 20% of the
applications of this technology – 35%
is in the huge business of textile
printing and 45% lies in the purely
industrial applications – and on the
other hand that it exists, this is also
true in the UK, a « two speeds »
screen (and digital) printing !
What does this exactly mean?
One, let us be clear, in the huge and
perpetually growing field of screen
printing technology applications
(screen printing has never been an «
industry », but a technology used by
many industries), if we consider
textile printing for example, when
you speak of DOG (direct on garment
in digital), the very big companies'
managers in the world simply laugh
when you ask them if they intend to
replace screen by digital ! Too slow,
too expensive, only for a special
customized market in small
quantities where you have to build a
new way of selling and marketing
through the web for example… But
nothing valuable to print the huge
orders in the world of T Shirt and
sportswears.
Industry ? This means that screen
printing is used in glass (bottles and
flat) and ceramic printing, in metal
work, in automotive, in packaging, in
electronic applications giant markets
for PCB rigid or supple, membrane
switches, the so promising RFIDs,
the solar cells – thick or thin coats,
the IMD, the medical applications,
the food and drugs market, and so
on! So far and still for a long time the
digital printing technology cannot
take care of those applications,
page 20
except for some small quantities
dedicated to very restricted niche
markets…. This is not the frame to
enter in technical details, but I could
write a lot about how to manage with
both these problems and the digital
technology !
Even if we take the graphic and sign
applications, AD and so on, there are
a lot of special effects – Grafica and
DMI promote those applications –
which are absolutely impossible to
obtain in offset and digital printing :
the improvement of printed images
in the POP goes through screen
printing. In the packaging field as
well the customer absolutely doesn't
care of what is the technology used :
he simply wants something to
improve or promote his sales… So
far and for a long time screen-
printing is the only possible answer
to obtain exciting special effects!
We live – Indians included as well as
the people from the other “BRIC”
countries – in a world where we
have, on one hand the “very big
players” – here you are right my dear
Paul – the companies able to offer at
the national and international scale a
“full service” to their customers.
There a few in each
European countries
and in the US… Full
service : they use
offset, digital, screen
printing, even flexo
and pad printing
technologies,
according to the
quantities, substrates,
needed by the
customer. This
includes all types of
finishing, mounting,
packaging, dispatching and local
delivery in many countries…. I know
what I am speaking about as my own
company did that job – POP
manufacturers – until I sold it 7
years ago… And we were using
screen as well as offset or digital
GraficaNews
according to what was really
needed… We chose, not the
customer!
Sorry for this maybe too long answer,
but I cannot accept the negative
opinion of people who only have a
very restricted and narrow sight of a
technology… What seems to happen
to graphic screen printing is
beginning to happen to digital
printing in Europe and USA, simply
because on one hand the market is
saturated and not extendable, and
then because many users begin to
consider that digital is far from being
the dreamed panacea both in terms
of costs, productivity and quality!
On the other hand, of course in
India, China, Thailand, Vietnam,
Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, and also
in Europe there are hundreds
thousand of screen printers, small or
very small, the “village printers” or
“family business” that Grafica helps
to leave the old (and dirty technology
in term of environmental protection
and sustainability, etc.).
“The screen printing manual process
with solvent inks” is changing to
become an automated printing using
the UV technology, even for the very
small company with a feeble power
of investment ! Thanks Bhargav !
The Nano technology of Grafica is, as
I use to say, representing the 3 C :
“Cleaver, Clean and Cheap” ! And a
blessing for the small image makers
as well from Asia as from any other
country in the world!
And I intend to promote and develop
it in Europe… Because I believe there
are a lot of possibilities in our “two
speeds technology”, despite the
laudators or praisers of “digital only”
instead of screen printing!
We are not near to forget about
screen printing!
Michel Caza
CMYK

August 2011 page 21

GraficaNews
Customers
This is also yet another case of
several repeat orders being “Grafica broadened my vision in
received by Grafica in the last
several years. This clearly
indicates the success of Grafica's
advanced screen printing” Cont’d from page 1

customers and their level Who says commercial screen

satisfaction both in terms of
quality and performance of the
machines and Team Grafica's
commitment to after sales
service/technical support.
printing has no future. Here is a
success story of a commercial screen
printer who first shifted from
manual screen printing to entry level
automation. The initial success in
automation stimulated him to invest
in a high end screen printing
machine.

We are talking about Mandar Dixit,

proprietor of Nashik based Mayur
Graphics. Recently he took his
company to the next level by
investing in Grafica's 20” x 30”
Camshell, UV curing machine and
complete screen making set up which
are now housed in his new 1500 sq.ft
printing unit. He is also now assisted
by his other half Mrs. Rajashree
Dixit who was a school teacher until
2010.
Why did he invest in a
Camshell?
“I invested in Grafica's Camshell
particularly to offer innovative
packaging products such as paper
carry bags, designer garment boxes,
jewellery and wine shops; luxury
sweet boxes, etc,” asserts Mandar.
“Make ready' is easy and faster in
this machine, the pneumatic system
gives equal squeegee pressure, it is
easy to operate function-wise and we
are able to explore it fully as per our
requirement.”
Why did he choose brand
Grafica again?
Interestingly, at one point of time
when he was planning to buy a
machine, he was discouraged by his
friends in the industry saying that
automation (screen printing
machine) was not a successful
concept.
“I have used/have been using
Grafica's mini camshell extensively
for over 5 years. I am a fully satisfied
customer of Grafica and I have been
receiving full technical support from
DMI in all respects. Hence I did not
even indulge in soliciting quotations
from other suppliers to do cost
comparison.”
Full story on www.graficaindia.com

Screen Printing finds new application

Established in 2010, Anabond
Sainergy Fuel Cell India is a joint
venture between Anabond and
Sainergy Tech, Inc, a USA.
Anabond, an Indian company
headed by Dr. Vijay Kumar,
manufactures and markets
engineering adhesives and
sealants.
On the other hand, Sainergy
Tech, a technology company
engaged in the development
catalyst for PEMFC, DMFC and
water electrolyzer, is headed by
Srinivas Bollepalli, (a PhD batch-
mate of Dr. G.Velayutham) as
President & CTO.
in fuel cell battery
A year ago, when Dr. G. Velayutham,
a PhD in Chemistry, joined Chennai
based Anabond Sainergy Fuel Cell
India Pvt Ltd, as Chief Scientific
Officer, he was still carrying fresh
memories of Grafica's prompt service
support and excellent performance
of their Camshell which was running
in his previous organisation.
When he was fine tuning various
capital investment decisions for his
present company, which also
included a screen printing machine,
surely Dr Velayutham had only
Grafica in his mind and decided to go
for only Grafica's 20” x 30” and green energy solution fast uniform loading of carbon deposit,
Camshell. picking up. “Out of our total over a given unit area, is very
production, 90% is exported to USA critical in our process,” explains
Sainergy Tech has commercialized and other countries and balance10% Dr. G. Velayutham. “Grafica's
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel is supplied to Indian market.” Camshell is well suited for our
Cell (PEMFC) components, electro production; we are able to achieve
catalysts, gas diffusion layers, gas Anabond Sainergy Fuel Cell has consistent print quality because of its
diffusion electrodes, catalyst coated deployed Grafica's heavy duty semi squeegee pressure equalizing system
membranes, membrane electrode automatic screen printing machine and flood bar mechanism.
assemblies, bipolar plates and fuel merely to coat black conductive
cell stacks (battery). With carbon carbon inks on special carbon paper “For over six months we have been
technology in place, they are now and carbon cloth to make electrodes running the machine extensively
able to deliver cost effective PEMFC which is the 'heart' of fuel cells. “We without any trouble and that proves
components. “Screen printing finds usually follow 'print-dry-print-dry' its ruggedness and performance. Of
application in some of these areas as method, dried in a 200 degree oven course, it requires minimum
a production process,” says Dr. G. to achieve the desired thickness of maintenance and supervision,” he
Velayutham. “Fuel cell technology about 100 to 150 micron, using concludes with satisfaction.
with hydrogen as fuel is a renewable different mesh. Ensuring the
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK
August 2011
Technical
Mike Ruff,
Chief Technology Officer,
Nazdar Consulting Services
Mike Ruff is currently the Chief
Technology Officer of Nazdar
Consulting Services, Mike has
over 40 years experience in the
graphic production industry and
is a member of the Academy of
Screen Print Technology, a
certified G7 Color Calibration
Expert as well as a certified G7
Process Control and
Conformance Expert. Mike has
studied color control theory
through GretagMacBeth, X-Rite
and RIT Color Management
Flexographic Training and is an
accomplished technical writer
with numerous articles in trade
publications including the SGIA
Journal, Screen & Display
Graphics, Specialty Printing
Magazine and Screen Printing
magazine. Mike won the
IDEAlliance Leadership award for
2010 and was voted the “2007
and 2008 Swormstedt Award
Winner” for the best technical
article in the specialty imaging
industry. His works continues to
enhance screen, flexography and
digital printing.
Send comments or questions to:
mruff@nazdar.com:
Example of the Limitations of Human Vision
Figure 1: Chromatic Infusion
Spot Color Tolerancing
One of the more productive skills a screen printer can
learn is spot color tolerancing using an instrument. What
I see most of the time is “visual” tolerancing. Many
printers actually believe they can do better visually than
they can with a color spectrophotometer. They are wrong.
Two years ago, we did a study of spot color tolerancing at a
print company that required very tight color control
because they manufactured and printed vinyl fabrics used
for upholstery. The company employed a production
artist that had extremely good color vision. But the
management of the company called us in to evaluate the
approval and rejection procedures. This procedure is
called color “tolerancing”. You first establish
predetermined degrees of deviation and variation from an
intended color target. Deviation is “difference from the
reference color target”. Variation is “color differences
during the print run”. The company needed to make a
decision on their color tolerancing guidelines. The
challenge for the management of the company was that
they had a reject rate of over 65%. They were not making
any money. Therefore the critical success factor for the
consulting project was to determine if the visual rejections
were correct and test color tolerancing by instrumentation
to assess if color instrumentation was more accurate and
consistent on the same samples. We were then asked to
report our findings to management. The experiment we
developed featured 5 different color patterns. Two were
saturated darker colors, one was a midtone and two were
highlight or lighter colors. We had the production artist
approve the acceptable samples we used for a reference
color. We measured and established our target values.
We printed the same patterns every day for 4 days. We
then measured the new patterns each day and the
production art manager visually accepted or rejected the
print results. Our testing revealed that the production
artist was very inconsistent. He would reject samples in
the morning and then approve the same samples in the
afternoon. His rejection rate was very close to the 65%
number reported by the management. The color
measurement instrument was consistent. We established
a dE of 2 for lighter colors and 3 for the midtone and
darker colors and we could measure the same targets
morning or afternoon and the results were the same. We
also measured the same targets one day and then
measured them the next day and the results were the
same. The reject rate we estimated based on the
established allowable deviation and variation was only
around 20%. This proved that the production art manager
was rejecting acceptable prints and costing the company
thousands of dollars each week. Now all tolerancing is
done by instruments.
The reason color tolerancing
with instruments is so
important to screen printers
that print spot colors is it
changes subjective opinion
into objective facts. Human
vision can change morning to
night, in different lighting
conditions and even with
caffeine or with no caffeine.
An instrument is very
consistent. A human's visual
perception is also affected by
surrounding colors.
(Figure 1: Chromatic Infusion)
The two images shown in this example appear to have two
very different orange stripes. They are actually exactly the
same color. An instrument would report that the color is
the same. A human would reject one of both of them just
page 22
GraficaNews
because of colors that surround the orange. This can cost
you time and money as you reprint jobs that are perfectly
acceptable.
When a printer learns to communicate color in numeric
terms, an art and craft business becomes a manufacturing
process. This is where hyper productivity and profitability
begins. As our industry struggles to survive, we must
move away from an art form and become graphic
manufacturers. What I hope to communicate in this
article is the basis of color tolerancing by instrumentation,
how color decisions can be made through the use of
instruments, how to get comfortable with the numbers
and how to effectively apply numeric color tolerancing in
your screen printing department.
Tolerancing Terminology
There are multiple names for almost all color management
elements. This can become confusing. ISO committees
are actually addressing this issue now to eliminate some of
this confusion. In order to understand tolerancing there
are four terms you need to be sure you understand.
1. Delta E: (Normally stated as dE) An easy way to
remember this is think of the “d” as deviation, most
color manuals call this distance from an intended
color but I think deviation is easier to understand.
The E is the amount of deviation from your intended
target.
2. Reference: This is your target numbers. The target
numbers can be entered into a spectrophotometer by
measuring the reference target or manually entered
into a spectrophotometer.
3. L*a*b*: The third term that is important to
understand is L*a*b*. This is the numeric
coordinates CIELAB color space. CIELAB color space
is device independent. It is the same in North
America, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and
every other place in the world. If a color is specified
in L*a*b* any person in the world that matches the
values and measures them with a high quality
calibrated instrument will be visually acceptable to a
reference they have never seen. The only color
difference could be the limitations of the measuring
device.
4. Tolerance: This is the “acceptable” difference stated
numerically from the reference color to the color you
are measuring. What is acceptable to one customer
may not be acceptable to another. This is a number
that needs to be negotiated based on the reality of
actual production limitations.
5. Chroma or Saturation: This is a little different than
just darkness and lightness. A color can maintain the
same L* value (darkness and lightness) yet be
different in Chroma or Saturation. Chroma or
Saturation is how deep or saturated the color is. For
example: Deep red compared to a medium red. It's
the same color… just more saturated.
6. Hue: The hue of a color is the family of color it
belongs to. For example: Red is a hue, Green is a
hue. Yellow is a Hue and Blue is a hue. All the colors
in between can shift toward a different hue. A color
that moves in hue is actually changing to a different
hue.
Understanding tolerancing formulas
The most common and simplest color tolerancing formula
is a formula developed when the L*a*b* colorspace was
created in 1976. This made it possible to create delta-E
1976 (dE76). dE76 is a spherical distance in all directions
that a color might locate in an attempt to match a
reference color the distance calculation put the color in
our mind as a number. The higher the number, the less
CMYK

August 2011 page 23

GraficaNews
Technical
accurate the color match. Some
people refer to dE76 as plain
delta-E. It is also known as
DEa*b*, CIE L*a*b* tolerancing,
dE-Lab and dEab in ISO
Standards. You also see the Greek
Letter for delta used rather than
“d”. ÄE76 or ÄE76. The formula is
pretty simple.

(See Figure 2, ÄE76 formula)

For comparing one value to

another, it still may be the
best formula to use just
because of its simplicity. So
for an ink manufacturer or a
substrate manufacturer it
Figure 2: Delta E 1976 Formula works well. But there is one
major problem with dE76.
Human vision is not linear. In other words we accept a
deviation or variation in chroma or saturation of a color to
a greater degree than we accept Hue shift.
Visual Assessment vs. Instrument Human vision is very good at seeing hue
shift. For example if a green shifts toward
yellow, we see it very quickly. We might not
even notice a Chroma shift of the same
amount. (Figure 3: dE and visual
agreement)
Figure 5: CMC Formula
Tolerancing Formulas that address
Figure 3: dE and Visual Agreement Human vision.
Improvements have been made to this formula. A
All though ÄE76 provided a huge benefit to
technical committee of CIE published an equation in 1995
the industry, we still have problems with setting tolerance
called CIE94. The equation is an elliptical tolerancing
numbers because of the human visual acceptance factor of
formula like CMC but CIE94 was developed for the paint
chroma verses hue shift differences. We can have a ÄEof 3
and coatings industry. CIE94 is a common formula
and like one result and not like another. In other words,
included as an optional selection on color instruments like
we don't agree with ÄE76 about 25% of the time. That's
the Xrite 500 series of hand held spectrophotometers.
one in every four measurements.
(Figure 6: CIE94 Formula)

By changing to an elliptical tolerance we improved CMC Tolerancing

In 1984 the Colour
agreement human to instrument because we Formula
Measurement
accept chroma dierence more than hue dierence. The DE94 created ellipse tolerances similar to CMC and
Committee of the
the Ellipses are wider in colors that are hard to see hue
Society of Dyes and
shifts in. For example Greens. (Figure 5: Farnsworth
Colourists of Great
Munsell 100 Hue Color test) Figure 5 is a Farnsworth
Britain developed
Munsell 100 Hue test Color test that I completed. You can
CMC for the textiles
see that I have very good color vision no matter what my
industry. This was a
wife says. (She says I can match my socks. I really can… I
huge success
just don't care.) Notice I have trouble with greens. This is
because the
not uncommon. The newer formula addressed this.
tolerancing shape of
an ellipse simulated
human vision much Results of Mike Ruff Color Vision Test
closer. (See Figure
4: Elliptical
Figure 4: Elliptical Tolerancing Tolerancing)

This helped
tremendously
because now a
tolerance of ÄE*3
would pass if the
deviation was in
Chroma but fail if
the color is shifting
hue. This is
simulating how a
human would
Figure 5: CMC Formula visually reject or
accept a color.

Even better formulas

Even though CMC was very good and is still the preferred
tolerancing formula for many graphic producers today.
Figure 7: Farnsworth Color Vision Test
CMYK
August 2011
Technical
dE2000
The most accurate to human agreement formula today is
dE2000. dE2000 is the first major revision of the dE94
equation. Unlike dE94, which assumes that L* correctly
reflects the perceived differences in lightness, dE2000
varies the weighting of L* depending on where in the
lightness range the color falls. dE2000 is still under
consideration and does not seem to be widely supported in
graphics arts applications. This will soon change because
ISO will soon be replacing dE1976 with dE2000 for all
new graphic arts print color standards and all revised
graphic arts color standards in the next few years. This is a
very complicated formula that addresses some of the other
differences that DE1976, CMC and CIE94 did not. It has
been verified to agree and line up with our vision in
correct lighting much better. There are five corrections in
dE2000 from dE94.
1. A hue rotation Term (RT), to deal with the
problematic blue region. (hue angles in the
neighborhood of 275 degrees)
2. Compensation for neutral colors. (the primed values
in the L*C*h* regions.
3. Compensation for lightness. (SL)
4. Compensation for chroma. (SC)
5. Compensation for hue. (Sh)
dE2000 is 95% Agreeable with Human Vision
(See Figure 8:
dE2000)
Three Important
Ingredients of an
Affective
Instrument Based
Color Tolerancing
Program
1. Knowing what
your equipment
can maintain in dE.
2. Understanding
that a dE number
is not the same in
lighter and darker
colors.
3. Understanding
what a dE numeric
difference actually
looks like.
Knowing what your
equipment can
maintain in dE
I got a call from a
panicked client early
Figure Figure 8: dE2000 this year. She said
their largest account
was going to require them to screen print a spot color on
an eight foot long sheet of PVC material and maintain a dE
of 2. They needed help on how to do it. My first response
was it probably can be done but not maintained in
production. Therefore the first thing we need to do is
determine what the equipment can consistently hold day
to day as well as sheet to sheet during a production run.
You cannot agree to produce for a client a dE lower than
your press can hold. If you do, you will force your printers
into two really bad choices, to fail or lie. Both choices are
bad for your company. Therefore, before you agree to
hold a tolerance number someone has asked you to hold,
test the press with the color they requested. Many clients
push us into proofing tolerances and not production
tolerances. There is a huge difference. Check out ISO
12647-2 the Standards for Offset Litho. You will see that
proof tolerances are much lower than print tolerances.
Clients hear a number and they think we can just “dial it
in”. In the movie Dirty Harry, Client Eastwood told the
guy, “A man has to know his limitations.” (Then he shot
the guy.) Oh well, it was quick.
page 24
GraficaNews
Understanding that a dE number is not the same
in lighter and darker colors
Human vision will accept a greater color difference in a
darker color. Grays, pastels and basically all lighter colors
are much easier to see a color shift. The mistake I see
many people make is they have a spot color matching
tolerance of “one number”. For example it might be a dE
of 5. The problem with this is that a dE of 5 will only be a
slight color difference in a saturated color but it will be a
major visual problem in a light gray or pastel. dE2000
automatically tightens the tolerance in lighter colors but a
visual sample should be produced to make a decision on
what your tolerance should be.
Understanding what a dE numeric difference
actually looks like
Figure 9 is a visual sample created with Nazdar's CATZper
software. (See Figure 9: The Tolerancing Snowflake)
Figure 9: The Tolerancing Snowake
This tolerancing tool, called a snowflake, had an exact
match in the center of the snowflake. Then each of the
adjacent colors move gradually away in color accuracy 1 or
2 dE on each square. The a* axis is green on the left and
red on the right. The b* axis is yellow on the top and blue
on the bottom. The darker and lighter colors are not
changing hue. The a*and b* are exactly the same on all
the colors of the L*. The color is just getting darker and
lighter by the addition of black. The a* axis only changes
on the a* numbers. The b* is the same on all the colors.
The b* axis does the same. While it may look simple,
CATZper is a very sophisticated color tolerancing tool. If
a screen printer produces one of these snowflakes for an
intended reference target he will then have a good visual
reference that will lead to understanding what the number
should be based on the saturation of a color. The screen
printer can also produce these snowflakes and educate a
customer that is asking for unrealistic tolerancing. For
example a customer may be asking for a dE of 1 in a
saturated color when there isn't a visible difference at 3.
Chasing a 1 is just a waste of time if you can not see the
difference. You solve this by determining what is visible at
the beginning.
Conclusion:
I hope this article has given you some critical knowledge
and has inspired you to do some testing with your
equipment and color measurement instruments using
dE76, CMC, dE94 or dE2000. You will find that when you
really understand what a number means, you will be able
to make good decisions regarding color tolerancing. Good
decisions will produce accurate color quicker and with
higher profitability.
CMYK

August 2011 page 25

GraficaNews
Customers
Cam-Shell delivers high quality industrial
labels
Vikas Narang, MD, Saraswati
Printers is one of a leading print
solution providers in Delhi with all
in-house facilities for Designing,
Vikas Narang, MD Processing & Printing strongly felt
Saraswati Printers, New Delhi the absence of modern screen
printing setup to offer complete
solution to print buyers. With
Grafica's Camshell now Saraswati
Printers delivers high quality jobs to
white goods industry.

Earlier the company used to screen

Saraswati Printers produces
polycarbonate, PVC, polyester
labels, aluminum plates for
MNCs and leading white goods
industry. They also produce value
added stuffs such as calendars,
brochures, toppers, bubblers,
POP/POS, stickers and labels.
print manually to produce high
quality polycarbonate labels and
stickers but due to stringent quality
requirements they realized that
automation was the only solution.
So to produce high quality prints the
company quickly revamped its
screen printing unit by installing
Semi-Automatic 20” x 30” Cam-
Shell with pneumatic fabric
stretching equipment, fully
automatic emulsion coating
machine, screen exposer & screen
dryer.
Giving reasons for choosing brand
Grafica, Dharmendra Verma,
Manager (Development) at Saraswati
Printers says: “I know Grafica for
many years and I had seen their
machines working in good condition
in my previous company. Grafica has
a good market reputation hence
there was no second thought.”
“Grafica's Cam-Shell is truly a
production horse and we run this
machine in two shifts trouble free,
concludes Dharmendra.
Saraswati Printers was founded in
1984 by Vikas Narang, a Printing
Technologist. It is a sister enterprise
of Ajanta Prakashan, 40+ years old
publishing house set up by Vikas's
father Somnath Narang. They have
overseas offices in Spain and China.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com

New Model Impex screen prints braille

Arvind Agarwal, MD
New Model Impex PL, New Delhi
New Delhi based New Model
Impex Pvt Ltd, spread over
18,000 sq.ft, houses 2 color to 5
color Heidelberg printing
machines used to earlier
on pharma packaging materials, book printing and
“As the requirement of value
addition increased tremendously we
thought it prudent to set up an in-
house screen printing unit to
maintain control over delivery
schedules and quality. In-house
screen printing process is now
becoming a necessity for offset
printers to offer better solution” says
Arvind Agarwal, MD.
New Model Impex uses Grafica's
screen printing machine for Braille
printing on pharma packaging, value
addition on calendars, book covers,
strip gumming or full gumming to
make stickers and posters, etc.
The company undertake all types of
commercial jobs for big corporate
houses and MNCs such as Annual
Reports, brochures, leaflets,
calendars, diaries, various publicity
packaging. “15% of our turnover is
generated from packaging” he adds.
“Grafica's screen printing machines
are high quality & rugged for
continuous use. Grafica not only
makes good machines but are also
committed to educate the printers
which is really wonderful” he
concludes.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com

Nandha UV offers value addition in Sivakasi

Greatly inspired by DMI's 3-day
workshop, Sivakasi based Nandha
UV-Printing has recently
revamped its screen printing unit
by adding Grafica's semi
automatic screen printing
machine Two-Post Pillar and
Nano-Screen Maker 5-in-1.
With automation in place,
Nandha-UV, spearheaded by R.G.
Guru, now undertakes spot UV
and various print-finishing on job
work basis. They also produce
value added garment boxes and
sweet boxes, paper bags, custom
made wedding cards, invitations
Why did you choose brand
Grafica?
“We had received excellent feedback
from the market including from raw
material supplier, about brand
Grafica and their service. That
reference was a stepping stone to
reach out to the world of Grafica.
“It was easy for us to make smooth
transition from manual to
automation because of its easy
operational features. Our screen
making knowledge was limited but
after attending DMI's Workshop we
understood the importance of screen understood that screen printing is a is managing with us very well
making. We are now able to achieve powerful process and even plays whenever any service support is
finer print quality with perfect complementary role to offset for needed. They are encouraging us to
registration after investing in value addition. DMI has really do quality jobs. We walked into their
automation,” explains George. showed us the way to a creative Grafica as 'customer' and came out
world of screen printing. Even if we as friends,” concludes George
“During the workshop, we have language problem Grafica team Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK
August 2011
Nano Print plus
“The size of Nano Print plus (55 x
71 cm – 22”x 28”) semi-automatic
seems to me more suitable for the
European market. Even some
medium size companies can be
interested for “niche” applications.
The fact the Nano-Plus has a “lift
of the screen while printing” is a
big “Plus” for this market.” -
Michel Caza
“The style of machine has three
very important elements:
screen staying horizontal,
squeegee/floodbar printing
sideways and a wider view of the
print table/substrate between
each stroke (as the parallel lift
moves the print head backwards a
little). It has additional features,
such as a peel-off mechanism to
improve monotone and process
printing.” - Mike Young
An ISO 9001:2000 company,
Card Tec (India) was
incorporated in May 1997. Their
product basket includes: Pre paid
cards, Smart cards (contactless &
contact based), RTO Driving
License Card, Hotel Room Key
Cards, Access Control Cards,
High security cards (Hologram
etc.), Bank ATM cards, ID Cards,
Membership & Promotional
cards. It also supplies Smart Card
terminals, Lanyards, Card
holders. Besides, they also
undertake major smart card
projects on turnkey basis.
Nilesh Joshi, proprietor of Nashik
based Rangvishwa Enterprises
and his wife Rupali have every
reason to smile with joy. That's
because he feels lucky and proud
owner of Grafica's brand new
Nano-Print plus.
Rangvishwa Enterprises
manufactures various types of self
adhesive labels, stickers, overlays
and decals.
page 26
GraficaNews
Grafica's Nano-Print 'plus' Your Plus Point! Why?
NANO-PRINT plus is an Grafica's Nano-Print plus:
ergonomically designed low cost high ! Max print area: 22” x 28” (559
quality semi automatic screen mm x 711 mm)
printing machine with an unusual ! No Compressor required
look. It is user-comfy. It was ! Single Phase
unveiled on 8th December 2010 at
the Screen Print India 2010 Features:
Exhibition in Mumbai. 1.Adjustable screen frame holder
2. Variable printing stroke length
Based on my success of launching 3. Single/Double stroke selection
NANO-PRINT a year ago and 4. Digital Stroke Counter
customers' feedback, Grafica's design 5. Parallel screen frame movement
team had closely evaluated the (Convenient for spot UV varnish
market needs and NANO-PRINT Grafica's Nanoo-Print plus gives and low viscosity inks to avoid ink
plus was the offshoot of their printers a little more options to spillage all over the screen)
innovative thinking and R&D. This consider due to fewer restrictions on 6. Peel off mechanism (To achieve
easy to operate machine will drive the design platform. It has all the fine reproduction of halftone dots
away most of the work hazards functions required otherwise one and avoid smudging, bleeding and
involved in manual screen printing should be looking beyond an entry- smearing). Watch video at
operations. level designed printing machine. www.graficaindia.com
Card Tec prefers Nano-Print plus for Smart Card
Application
Bengaluru based Card Tec (India)
Pvt. Ltd. has recently bought Nano-
Print plus as a part of their
expansion plan, of course after
extensively using Grafica's semi
automatic screen printing machine
for over 10 years.
One to one with Manoj K. Agarwal,
Director of Card Tec.
Your views on Grafica: over ten years without trouble, we
We are now completely a satisfied firmly believed that their new
customer of Grafica, after rigorously invention (Nano-Print plus) must
using their semi automatic screen also be superior than old system if
printing machine, jet air dryers, not equal. Over and above, I
screen making equipments for over a happened to read Mike Young's
decade. We believe in building article on Nano-Print plus
relationship through quality as much highlighting its advantageous
as Grafica too believes in the same features. When an international
principle. expert inspects and terms 'Nano-
Print plus' as a revolutionary
And your views on Nano Print invention of Grafica, I was fully
plus: convinced.
Since the earlier machine worked for
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
From commercial to industrial printing on
Nano-Print plus
“In industrial screen printing there
are various types of jobs, sizes and
technical requirements for which
multiple print option, squeegee
stroke adjustment, screen-frame size
adjustment and zero backlash
vacuum bed movement for micro
registration are very much essential
and NANO-PRINT plus has all these
features,” says Nilesh Joshi who
started his business in commercial
screen printing. “What I like the
most about NANO-PRINT plus is its This is very helpful feature when plus is perfect in all aspects of my
PARALLEL LIFT of screen frame printing with high quality expensive requirements,” he concludes.
which prevents ink spillage all over. inks. So I find Grafica's Nano-Print
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK

August 2011 page 27

NPL Customers
The company has scaled a new
height in the manufacture of wide
range of signage, rulers and labels
for industrial application, printed
on different substrates.
These include: Security and
Safety signage decals produced as
per ISO, CE, ANSI formats;
Rulers/scales with 0.5 mm
graduation with accuracy for
industrial application, under the
brand AGS flexiScale; Industrial
labels and stickers: Tamper
evident seals, Tamper proof seals,
and Membrane switches.
GraficaNews
“After deploying NPL our business has increased
many-fold” says Kaushik Mistry
“Since the deployment of Grafica's
Nano Premier League (NPL), more
than comfort level, our business has
increased,” reveals Kaushik Mistry
proprietor of Ahmedabad based
Aster Graphic Systems (AGS).
The company's signage products are
supplied to machine tools industry,
machinery and electrical panel
manufacturer, oil and gas, chemical
industry, steel and power, ports.

His take on NPL:

“I wanted inhouse facility for
operational freedom. That's what
NPL offers. The vacuum system in
Nano-Print gives better control in
terms of accuracy in printing of
multicolour jobs. This reduces
rejection.”
His views Grafica:
“Grafica has made rapid
improvement in the quality of their
machine besides constantly adding
new features. They have been
introducing new models, latest being
most user friendly Nano-Print and
NPL package which was quite
affordable and quite fitting my
production requirements. So, I fell in
love with Nano,” says Kaushik. “The
interesting aspect of Grafica is that
they are customer oriented; their
R&D team is adaptable to customers'
special needs. This is something
unique.”
DMI workshop experience:
“Before DMI I was under the
impression that I know lot about
screen printing. But on 3rd day of
DMI workshop, I confessed on the
stage, in front of 40+ printing
professionals that whatever I have
learnt at DMI was new additional
knowledge and had I learnt such
advanced Screen Printing techniques
5 years ago, I might be at much
higher level.”
Future plans:
“Soon I will be going for a Nano-
Print plus and probably a high end
machine at later stage. This reflects
how much I am satisfied with NPL.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com

ISO & UL approved Rekha Graphiics trusts NPL

The ISO 9001-2008 certified
company, Ahmednagar based Rekha
Graphics, has advantageously
deployed Grafica's Nano-Premier
League (NPL) to raise the quality
level of their printed products to
international standards.

The UL Approved Label Supplier

(PGAA), Rekha Graphiics prints all
types of roll form and sheet form
stickers and labels.
Like many other progressive thinking
screen printers Vinnayakk Myanaa,
proprietor of the company had a have achieved substantial
burning desire to revamp his improvement in productivity and
printing unit which had 3 manual quality even in multi color jobs.”
tables earlier. “Now with NPL, we Full story on www.graficaindia.com

NPL brings freedom to Vijaya Printers, Hyderabad

K. Raghavendra Raju, proprietor of
Hyderabad based Vijaya Printers was
caught in the illusion that screen-
printing is losing its shine until he
attended DMI's workshop and
bought Grafica's Nano-Premier
League (NPL).

“After attending this workshop I

realized that screen printing was not
dying but it is making a new
beginning especially with the advent
of automation and UV special
effects,” he recalls. I wanted to make
a new beginning in screen printing,
using new print finishing ideas, right
method of screen making, etc. which
I learnt thoroughly at DMI. I bought
NPL to do innovative jobs and value
addition on wedding cards, paper
bags, corporate brochures and print
finishing on offset printed jobs,” says
Raju.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
CMYK
August 2011
Technical
Why Manual Screen Printing Is Tougher
Than You Think? Part II
By Mike Young, Imagetek Consulting International, North Haven, Conn., USA
In the second and final part of his
article series, I will review the
significant influence and sheer
beauty of the floodcoater (also called
Mike young
floodbar and scrapper blade) when
Imagetek Consulting
comparing semi/fully-automatic
International
printing machines to manual
printing for taking full control of
British-born Mike Young has
print quality and overall production
been a specialist in high-
performance.
definition graphic and industrial
screen printing for more than 35
In Part 1 of this article (Grafica News
years. He is a SGIA Fellows, a
- April 2011), I had examined the
member of the Academy of Screen
quantifying needs to make screen
Printing Technology, recipient of
printing a mechanical repeatable
the prestigious Swormstedt
process, in order to replicate each
Award for technical writing. He is
print commercially acceptable or a
also a frequent contributing
fabricated part if industrial,
writer to trade publications, SGIA
electronic or medical application
Golden Imaging Award print
meets or exceeds specifications.
judge, legal expert witness and a
Missing entirely from the manual
popular speaker at industry
printing-equation is the all-
events. Mike is the creator of the
important floodcoating function
internationally known
under strict and proper uniform
Troubleshooting Chart and
control¯the underpinning reason
published several technical books
why repeatable print results are all
on advance screen printing
but impossible to achieve when
techniques, including The
manually printed.
Register Guide about achieving
print excellence. He is a frequent
Part 1 also mentioned the dangerous
traveler to India conducting many
vulnerability of the squeegee since it
seminars and has consulted a
can have some 50 distinct very
number of high-profile screen
influential prominent
printing companies. Mike is a
variables¯mostly a tool that
consultant with Imagetek
operators have very little control
Consulting International, which
over. However, if the squeegee was
trains, troubleshoots and
left just do its basic job, that is
enhances screen printing
transferring the ink through the
operations worldwide.
screen, one can then rely on the
www.imagetekconsulting.com.
floodcoater to meter, or gauge, how
He can be reached at
much ink the squeegee eventually
mike@imagetekconsulting.com
transfers¯thereby improving final
print quality and repeatable results
because the floodcoater's variables
can be controlled in a much better
manner than the squeegee's.
The beauty of the floodcoater
The floodcoater has one
extraordinary advantage over its
squeegee cousin. Any adjustments
made to it to improve print finish
will never affect registration because
flooding takes place only between
print strokes. Regardless of whether
print image or registration is an
Contrary to belief, the
issue, it is interesting to note that a
floodcoater's job is not to push
floodcoater's length ought to be that
ink back to the beginning to
of the squeegee to produce a 'pair'.
commence the next print
Together with a smooth unblemished
stroke!
edge, it has at least 19 additional
varying components during the
flooding cycle? equipment type
permitting. In no particular order of
importance they are:
! Quality grade/hardness: as
squeegee material or plastic-like
edge strips covering metal
page 28
GraficaNews
floodbars are used alternatively to job is not to push ink back to the
metal floodcoaters with some beginning to commence the next
equipment and setups while print stroke! There are some
stainless steel holds up better industrial screenprinting machines,
than aluminium
especially those for high-tech
2 x edge profiles: rounded or
! applications such as small format
sharp, fully in contact with the
printed circuits and photovoltaics
mesh (Fig. 1) (for solar panels), that print without
Face profile shape: various shapes
! the function of flooding. Its
to increase 'ink roll' although
principal purpose for high-level
rarely used printing performance is to prime the
Straightness: linearly straight
! screen with ink. In this instance, the
along its entire length without
squeegee becomes subservient to the
deviations in height
floodcoater. When the squeegee has
Camber: creating a slight convex
! finished its print stroke the screen is
curve to some degree along the
'dry', that is to say no ink is left
entire edge (not to be confused
laying on top although a certain
with the above)
amount will still be inside the screen
2 x angles of attack: 0º and 15-
! itself (fabric openings), but not
45º from the vertical (Fig. 1)
enough to print the next piece
Mechanically on-press set angle:
! properly. Once flooded, the whole
conflicts with those above
screen is primed or recharged with
2 x lengths: as a pair with the
! an even layer of ink and how much is
squeegee or longer (the latter
left behind depends on other factors
results in a different deposit layer
as stated below.
amongst other issues)
2 x pressures: overall floodcoater
! The ensuing squeegee will always try
bridge assembly itself and
to push through what remains on top
individual cylinder pressure of the screen, seemingly without any
variation (not to be confused with
form of control. The squeegee is,
the following)
after all, a piece of rubber-based
Balanced: floodcoater
! blade with some 50 distinct variables
mechanically levelled to screen
all-interacting between themselves.
surface once it is down in the
Consequently, the squeegee simply
flood position, regardless of
tries its best to transfer whatever is
pressure force
left on top of the screen. So, if for
3 x speeds (depending on setup
! instance there are some small nicks
and equipment type): accelerating
in the floodcoater's edge, it will
/ starting, maintained speed and
correspondingly leave behind streaks
decelerating / stopping within the
of thin lines on the screen which is
range of the image area
not difficult to see with overhead
2 x skewed angles: floodcoater
! reflecting light. When the squeegee
skewed (known as 'snowplough') prints, these lines will
a few degrees in the direction of correspondingly transferred to the
flooding in either axis substrate, thereby possibly resulting
! Print / flood or flood / print mode in a reject. Some operators even
as well as variable dwell time complain that their squeegee
elapsed between each print stroke sharpener is no good because it still
is not included here since they leaves streaks behind in the print,
have been credited to the nonetheless, it is quite common to
squeegee stroke. remove the floodcoater only to find
nicks along its edge lines up perfectly
If adjusting these physical and to those in the finished print.
working components instead of
adjusting the squeegee's to modify The flood stroke
the end print result, then the
operator is in a greater position to It is important to realise that the
control print appearance much flood stroke actually takes place
better than at any time previously. while the screen is suspended in
Even if these adjustments are
mid-air as opposed to when it is up
deployed as an addition to the against the hard print table during
squeegee, controlling deposit the print stroke. The flooding
thickness, uniformity and image sequence therefore takes place in a
definition becomes much easier to less than advantageous setting and
consistently achieve and manage. one that is very difficult to manage
without some creative forethought.
The role of the floodcoater If characteristics of finished print
can be customised and tweaked
Contrary to belief, the floodcoater's without adjustments made to the
CMYK
August 2011
Technical
.... the floodcoater could be
viewed as being a more
powerful tool than the squeegee
blade itself to provide quality
coating deposit consistently and
greater image performance with
less hassle.
page 29
GraficaNews
squeegee? then it is more beneficial deposit thickness is affected and not greatest pressure points against the
to do so. If by adjusting one or two registration as the case might be if fabric are at the ends of the squeegee
floodcoater's variables or changing the squeegee were adjusted instead. blade. This implies that the weakest
edge profile, to control the precise part must be in the middle where
amount of ink layer left on the screen Custom use of the floodcoater will there is no real integrity. To make
all the way down to leaving none, also improve image definition and matters worse, fabric can actually
must be a good thing to go that uniformity throughout the print 'sag' a little according to screen
route. area, without affecting registration tension, although the effect is
or transferability of the squeegee exaggerated in the illustration.
This means it is possible to generate once set. Therefore, the floodcoater
a heavier could be viewed as being a more Whilst this phenomenon is not easily
deposit for powerful tool than the squeegee seen with an eye, the consequence is
weak colours blade itself to provide quality coating enough to demonstrate that there is
or thicker deposit consistently and greater a lack of pressure in the middle.
coatings (Fig. image performance with less hassle. However, this may not be of any
1a), normal concern because during the print
deposit for Manual printing vs. semi- stroke, the screen is linearly in
standard jobs, automatics contact equally throughout the
colours and squeegee's length when down in the
images (Fig. When jobs are manually printed on a print position (Fig. 2b). If follows
1b) and hand printing table, most which are that when using the proper length
perhaps thin to clamshell in design (that is the squeegee blade, printers have better
none for fine screen hinged at the rear) while a few control in obtaining a more uniform
lines, detail models adopts the parallel lift deposit layer, as shown in Fig. 2c,
and principle with or without a one-arm because the sagging effect no longer
monotones/4 squeegee attachment. After the print exists (except with extremely weak
colour process stroke, the screen is raised a little tensioned screens). Conversely
(Fig. 1c). This from the substrate and the operator when using a floodcoater that is also
gives press manipulates the squeegee over the too long for the job (Fig. 2d), the
operators a pile of ink and then drags it back to sagging effect is very real this time
powerful tool the other side of the print area in and extremely detrimental to print
without some haphazard fashion. As the quality because ink is pushed back
ensuing floodcoater's principal role should be only after the screen has separated
registration to prime the screen uniformly over from the substrate while in midair.
concerns or the whole screen the squeegee would
other simply transfer the same uneven Due to this, a greater amount of ink
drawbacks, haphazardly deposit layer of ink for is left behind in the centre of the
which playing sure. Likewise, a mechanical screen than at the outer edges, while
around with floodcoater would ensure the flooded the correct length squeegee can only
the squeegee layer would be smooth and duplicate the exact same
could consistently uniform throughout. outcome? by consequently
otherwise transferring more in the middle (Fig.
yield. It could As stated, the flooding action 2e). This is not an ideal way to
be said that the determines how much ink the achieve uniformity, particularly with
squeegee ought squeegee can potentially print, any ultra-thin / low solid inks.
to be used only therefore, unsystematically dragging
for printing the the ink back with a squeegee in an Many printers are quite familiar with
'image' uncontrollable and irregular manner, heavier deposits in the centre (or less
(transferring all while the screen is airborne, at the outer edges) because as it is
the ink) whilst cannot be good for uniform ink easily seen with overhead lights
the floodcoater deposition despite any form of reflecting on a flooded screen.
determines control with squeegee pressure. However, regardless of how careful
'functionality' an operator manually prints with the
(precisely how Dynamics involved with squeegee, the end print results will
much will be uniformity always be irregular with more ink
transferred). coating transferred in the middle if
This In today's marketplace, to obtain a the floodcoater is too long. With the
distinction uniform deposit evenly over the proper length floodcoater, the
ought to be whole area with a blemish-free ink sagging effect can be eliminated or
appreciated deposit is a huge significantly reduced (screen tension
particularly when elevating the undertaking? somewhat more permitting) to provide a more
process to a higher level in print difficult than most people realise. acceptable print result.
performance. When printing onto clear substrates
In principle, it is realistic to
for example, their surfaces are
When using this form of control assume with manual printing
typically so unattractive for the ink it
during the flood cycle, it becomes does not want to freely release itself that every time the print size is
possible to lay down a heavier from the screen, so many printing increased, the dynamics of
deposit, or the reverse, when the faults have nowhere to hide from the printing, or the degree of
mechanics of the screen fabric, viewer. In order to achieve some difficulty, more than doubles just
image or ink are not favourable for kind of ink coating uniformity and to maintain the existing level of
the job. However, if the fabric is too consistency, consider the dynamics print integrity¯never mind other
coarse for the job, printing a finer of deposition. enhancements sought. While
layer of colour (shown in Fig. 1c) is this is also true with semi-
easier to achieve, particularly when Despite the squeegee being too long automatic printing equipment,
seeking fine image detail. Only ink for the job as shown in Figure 2a, the many of the technical hitches
CMYK
August 2011
Technical
.... it is realistic to assume with
manual printing that every time
the print size is increased, the
dynamics of printing, or the
degree of difficulty, more than
doubles just to maintain the
existing level of print
integrity? never mind other
enhancements sought.”
Dirk Oelschlager,
Technical Sales Manager
Ulano International
Germany
and complications would have
already been absorbed, especially
with a mechanically-controlled
floodcoater, as well as
consistencies related to
repeatable quality and
performance.
Bottom-line; it is impossible to
eliminate the 'sagging-effect' in the
middle of the screen by manually
flooding with a soft squeegee while
the screen is suspended. At least
with a mechanical metal floodcoater,
one has a much better chance of
achieving the objective of getting a
nice smooth uniform print
throughout the image area.
One last word regarding deposit
uniformity, the floodcoater's edge
Why quality in stencil making is so important?
By Dirk Oelschläger
There are plenty of important
criteria's to consider in order to do a
successful screen print, but the most
important point is the fact, that a
print can never be better than the
original artwork. This explains easily
why one should pay much attention
on stencil making to keep potential
for mistakes as low as possible. Even
the smallest mistake in this first link
of the process chain will lead to a
loss in quality, resolution or edge
definition which the customer of the
final print would most likely not
accept.
And beside the quality aspect, a
perfect made stencil last much
longer and saves money. Imagine if
the stencil would break down before
the job has been completed. To make
a new stencil is time consuming and
the press would have to stop in the
meantime. To avoid such a worst-
case-scenario, I would like to share
some of my suggestions how to
create a long lasting stencil in perfect
quality.
The first step is always the correct
mesh selection. As finer the mesh
threads, as higher the maximum
resolution which can be achieved.
Screen printers often talk about the
mesh count for a specific print job
but forget the differences of the
thread thickness. E.g. a 120-34 mesh
could be not suitable for finest
halftones as the thread might block
the open areas while a 120-31 fabric
would solve the problem.
A good stencil maker should also be
aware, that yellow mesh provides
significant better edge definition vs.
white mesh. The reason for this
phenomenon is the fact, that white
mesh reflex light during the
exposure process and leads to
page 30
must be perfectly machined flat
along its entire length (Fig. 3)
otherwise tightly controlled
deposition, when needed, will be all
but impossible to achieve.
Conclusion
In a practical sense with equipment
automation, a little tweaking with
the floodcoater is often all that is
required rather than continuously
adjusting the squeegee and
potentially risking having other
problems. Depending on how it is
used, the floodcoater can be just as
important as the squeegee.
Controlling how much ink remains
flooded on the screen, prior to every
print stroke, has a tremendous
undercutting of those areas which
shouldn't be exposed. Yellow mesh
prevents from reflection and
promotes sharper lines without a
“saw-tooth” effect.
Before the emulsion can be coated
on a screen, the mesh should be
always degreased to avoid coating
defects. Multipurpose fabric
treatments like Ulano Magic Mesh
Prep combining the properties of
screen degreaser, wetting agent and
antistatic treatment and improving
the adhesion of emulsion or capillary
films. As a result, the screen will last
significant longer.
If the screen is ready to be coated,
one should consider all factors which
influences the coating thickness
(EOM = emulsion over mesh). Keep
in mind, the thickness of the stencil
is responsible for the ink deposit and
therefore very important to be
controlled. What would happen if
the four stencils which are required
for a CMYK print job would variety
in thickness? The colour of the print
would not match with the original
artwork. Manual emulsion coating
can be very tricky as there are
various coating parameters as speed,
pressure, angle, shape of the coating
trough etc. which must be
controlled. By using an automatic
coating machine, all parameters are
fixed but the operator often forget to
look after a constant filling level of
emulsion in the coating trough
which have the greatest influence at
all to the EOM. A nice and elegant
way to make our life easier is
certainly the use of capillary films
where the coating thickness is
controlled by the manufacturer of
the film.
If the stencil has been properly
GraficaNews
advantage in favour of the operator.
Print personnel should never be
afraid to learn its influence, develop
its attributes as a powerful tool and
use it to its full potential.
Unfortunately, there are so many
uncontrollable irregularities and
idiosyncrasies involved with manual
printing, as oppose to printing with
ease with a semi-automatic¯largely
due to a fully controllable flood
action. Regardless of how much one
tries to mechanise manual printing,
it is still very much an artistic
discipline despite the fact that
consistency is necessary for
profitable jobs regardless of print
specialisation or marketplace.
dried, it's ready to be exposed. In my
career as a technician who travels
worldwide I have often observed that
screen makers tend to underexpose
stencils. The answer is simple,
because it makes their life easier as
developing goes faster and
resolution of the finest details is
always good, but they shift the
problems of underexposed stencils
to the printers. Why it's important to
pay so much attention on the
exposure process? An underexposed
stencil will not have sufficient
mechanical and chemical (solvents)
resistance and might break down
during the print run. A step wedge
exposure calculator is a very simple
but helpful tool to check the
optimum exposure time. Ask your
Ulano representative to provide you
with such a basic utensil. And
coming back to yellow mesh, it also
provides wider exposure latitude vs.
white mesh and minimizes the risk
of underexposure.
Stencil making looks very easy and
simple but if one goes closer to each
processing step it turns out to be
more complex. In my point of few,
stencil making is the heart of screen
printing and plays a very important
roll to achieve a good print quality.
So next time if you make some
screens, pay even more attention to
deliver perfect stencil quality to
satisfy your customer – the printer.
CMYK
August 2011
Nano Customers
Kaushalya Art relies
on Nano-Print for
bicycle stickers
Kaushalya Art Press
manufacturer of bicycle has
invested in Grafica's Nano-Print
few months ago, after
experiencing a bumpy ride on the
path of manual screen printing –
unacceptable quality, lower
production and labour shortage.
They had 4 manual tables but
production and quality limitation
compelled them to switch over to
automation surely with Grafica's
Nano-Print.
“In manual operation, we were
not able to achieve fine quality
and sharpness as specified by our
customers. Now with Nano Print
not only quality has improved
drastically but also our
production capability has
increased,” says Dinesh Mahajan,
proprietor of Kaushalya Art Press
Shivay Screen
prefers Nano-Print
for bicycle stickers
Quality conscious entrepreneur,
Rakesh Mahajan of Shivay Screen
Printers, Ludhiana, whose
printing unit housed 3 manual
screen printing tables, switched
over to automation with Grafica's
Nano-Print to produce precision
quality bicycle stickers and
decals.
“Nano-Print is a perfect machine
for bicycle sticker printing, the
machine with elegant design has
high quality parts in it. My staffs
are really enjoying the comfort of
automation,” says Rakesh.
Full story on www.graficaindia.com
page 31
Rakesh Press utilizes Nano-Print for special application
“Having in-house screen printing set
up is not a luxury but rather a
necessity to become self-reliant, it
adds up to our capabilities and
infrastructure,” asserts Mr. Rakesh
Bagai, Chairman of Rakesh Press,
the Golden Jubilee celebrating
Printing House in New Delhi. He
was astonished to see the capabilities
of screen printing process, especially
the application of various UV special
effects and varnishes. “I have known
Grafica for many years as a reputed
manufacturer of quality screen
printing machines. Their attractive
Padmini Process prints metal labels on Nano-Print
Realizing the great advantages of
automation and disadvantages
manual screen printing, Coimbatore
based Padmini Process wasted no
time and bought Grafica's Nano-
Print which now enables them to
meet the strict quality and delivery
requirements of their customers.
Padmini Process is engaged in the
manufacture of various type metal
labels such as aluminum, SS and
brass nameplates caters to valves
and motor industry. They also export
these labels to Gulf countries.
Nano-Print is a perfect match for wedding cards
Shekhar Mahale of Nashik based
Saraswati Printing Press has every
reason to smile. That's because he
has an 'easy' production
'companion' called Grafica's Nano-
Print and Nano-UV which he
engages to produce wedding cards
and paper bags without any
hardships which was the case when
he had manual tables.
Saraswati Printing Press was
established in 1969 by his father
Madhukar Mahale. Their sister
concern Mahale Agencies, set up by
Shekhar Mahale in 1997 (BE in
Civil), has a show room in Nashik
city.
Anand Agencies uses Nano-Print to print 30 lakh rulers
Chennai based Anand Agencies &
Mfg Co. (P) Ltd, has scored big order
to manufacture and supply 30 lakh
plastic rulers to a diversified
conglomerate. This mega order is
being executed exclusively using two
Grafica's Nano-Prints and Nano-UV.
After evaluating their capability in
manufacturing of stationery articles,
Anand Agencies was selected as
vendor by the conglomerate for
contract manufacturing of rulers in
two lengths, viz, 15 cm and 30 cm -
both slim and broad sizes. “The fine
quality rulers printed on Nano-Print
GraficaNews
stall at an exhibition in New Delhi
arrested my attention and I was quite
impressed to see the live demo of
Nano-Print,” he adds.
Established in 1950, Rakesh Press
has grown into a leading Print-
Solutions Company, which offers all
Printing solutions under one roof.
Besides winning many national and
international awards over the years,
Rakesh Press claims to be the first
printing house in NCR region/North
India to win the most coveted Sappi
Award in 2006.
He gives thumbs up to Nano-Print by
saying, “On the very next day of
installation we could start our
production. The mechanism is so
simple to understand that even our
helper could easily operate this
machine without difficulty. After
start using Nano-Print we hardly face
any rejections.”
DMI workshop was a turning point
for him. “As manual screen printers,
we never used to pay attention to
quality. But in three days at DMI,
Bhargav Mistry taught us the quality
parameters and standardization in
screen printing. I realized that
Grafica is genuinely concerned about
improving quality standards of
screen printing industry,” he says.
“Grafica surely invented Nano-Print
especially to inspire manual screen
printers like us to go for automation.
When they have such a vision for the
industry, it was but a wise decision
on my part to buy a machine from
Grafica.”
was submitted to the customer and
at first instance we got their
approval. This propelled us to buy
another Nano-Print,” reveals Anand.
Anand Agencies, headed by Ashwin
Kumar Jain, Managing Director,
deals in office and school stationery
products with their own brand -
'Graphix' for over 15 years. He is
assisted by his dynamic sons
Yuvaraj, Pankaj, Anand. Their other
product range include: Paper cutters,
Board dusters, Pen stands, Pin
cushions.
 CMYK

August 2011 page 32

GraficaNews
Nano Interview
House wife - printing professional prefers Nano-Print
Your views on Nano-Print?
While taking a trial at Grafica, I
found this machine easy to use. It is
user friendly machine never seen
before.

Let me tell you, being a woman I

have understood the harsh reality of
Printers who hesitate to go for
pulling the squeegee everyday so
automation and 'fond' of tedious
much so that it caused lot of health
manual screen printing should
problems for me. I used to get severe
now take a leaf out of the
pain in my shoulders. Also
experiences of this housewife
technically speaking rejection and
turned, social worker cum
wastage was very common in manual
printing professional.
screen printing so automation was
the only solution. If this could
Meet Sunita Jamdade of Ankita
happen to me than as a human I by introducing Nano-Print in India ambition is to build a successful
Screen, located at Wai, a small
should take care of my people. That's at an affordable price. Because of screen printing unit and dream to go
town some 60 km from Satara
why I thought to go for automation. Nano-Print I dared to go for for complete NPL package.
city in Maharashtra who is a
For the past 8 years I struggled hard automation, but my confidence
proud owner of Grafica's Nano-
but sorry to say, I could not grow in doubled after I attended DMI's My message to all manual
Print. With Grafica's Nano-Print,
my business because of manual Workshop. screen printers: If I could think of
she undertakes all types of types
screen printing. Thanks to DMI's investing in a Nano-Print why can't
of screen printing jobs easily; that
Workshop which gave me new Your DMI workshop you... Also, I urge women to take up
include wedding card, stationery,
direction and special thanks to experience: screen printing as a self employment
stickers and labels, paper bags.
Bhargav sir for giving me correct I could easily grasp fantastic and take full advantage from DMI
Apart from printing business she
guidance to improve my quality. knowledge from DMI Workshop Workshop.
helps her husband in his farming
I sincerely thank Grafica for taking much needed to grow in my
activities. Full story on www.graficaindia.com
care for small screen printers like me business. With Nano-Print, my

Ramesh Patel renames his firm after Nano-Print

Ramesh Patel, a Ludhiana based
printer specialized in bicycle sticker
manufacturer, has renamed his 7
year old firm R.S. Stickers to 'Nano
Halftone Company' to proudly
express his love for Grafica's Nano-
Print.

“I never visited Grafica's factory.

However after watching Grafica's
Nano-Print video on their website, I
was excited and immediately booked
without indulging in any kind of
market research. Once the machine ownership of this unique machine,” Grafica's Nano-Print and dumped 5
reached my factory, I could not says the jubilant entrepreneur. manual screen printing tables in a
control my joy and decided to bid to deliver high quality bicycle
rename my company to 'Nano “I realized the great benefits of stickers. Let me admit that with
Halftone Company' as gesture of my automation. That's why I bought Nano-Print I am progressing.”

Bonika Graphics produces import substitute tags

“I could not believe when I heard
that my entry 'garment tags,' printed
on Grafica's Nano-Print, received
first prize in the Screen Print India
Awards 2010 competition.” This is
what Pukhraj Jain of Kolkata based
Grafica Flextronica Bonika Graphics has to say when
asked about the performance of
3 "SAURABH - A" Grafica's Nano-Print.
Ground Floor, Sahaji Raje Marg,
Vile Parle (E), Mumbai 400057, As a trader earlier Bonika used to
Maharashtra, India. import tags and supply to garment
Tel: +91 22 26838815/6 companies in India. “Ever since we producing about 40,000-50,000 tags brand value. “We have successfully
Email: sales@graficaindia.com deployed Nano-Print, a UV curing per day on Nano-Print with fine tried almost all effects available in
machine and exposing unit, tide has prints.” India such as crystal UV, abrasive,
changed for the better. We have now coral, bubble, structure, etc on
Published by Mr. Bhargav Mistry
for Grafica Flextronica reduced import of tags by 50%. Bonika produces tags with multiple substrates such as paper, velvet,
Editor Shripad Bhat
That's because we are now capable of UV special effects which help cloth, paper board upto 500 gsm.”
Designed by Idea Concept & Communication garment companies to enhance their
Printed at King of Kings Printers Pvt. Ltd.

Publishers note:
The views expressed in Grafica News are not necessarily of those of the publishers. The technical and commercial write up featured in Grafica News are educative in nature and come recommended as tips by their respective authors. There is no binding on the reader to practice
them and under any eventuality the publisher nor the author will be liable to compensate for any loss, damage or injury arising out of incidents involving their practice and application. For any feedback and comment please write editor@graficaindia.com.