Written by Colin Gillman | 02 February 2012

Mutoh moves to join HP and Mimaki as supporters of EcoPrint 2012 as the event gathers momentum and garners even greater industry support.

The confirmation of Mutoh as founding exhibitor at EcoPrint is another example of a leading print manufacturer, with a commitment to sustainability who is willing to invest in a new event that will provide a focus on sustainability.

Arthur Vanhoutte (left), President of Mutoh explains why Mutoh has signed as a founding exhibitor: “We think that the print company is under pressure to change and become sustainable but there are still plenty of products that pretend to be green when they are really not so green. We have, for a long time, been committed to sustainability and creating solutions that add commercial and environmental value for our customers and EcoPrint 2012 provides us with the focus and platform, in which to tell our sustainable story.”

Mutoh has also released a downloadable whitepaper titled 'How Green is Green?' highlighting the complexities of implementing sustainability and explaining the perils of 'greenwashing'. Click the image on the right to open the PDF.

“It is clear from our experience this year that the strong level of interest in our textile printing systems and half of our new enquiries were for our dye sublimation, soft signage and direct-to-textile machinery,” he says. “We believe this is due to both the creative potential this offers our customers but also the considerable environmental credentials our technology has. We think EcoPrint 2012 will contribute the discussion about issues affecting the effective adoption of sustainability in a print business and perhaps help print companies avoid investing in the wrong areas.”

EcoPrint 2012 will be dealing with a number of issues that the print industry is confronting in regard to sustainability and will, over the coming months, be developing the content of the event in partnership with the EcoPrint Development Group.

www.mutoh.be
www.ecoprintshow.com

Written by Stephen Goddard | 31 January 2012

Stephen Goddard, Environmental Leadership Programme Manager for HP’s Graphic Solutions Business gives us the inside track on how print service providers can gain a competitive edge with the new HP Ecosolutions Training for HP Latex Printing.

Here’s a fact – as a print service provider, printing with the environment in mind can be good for your business; it can save you money, and even make you money.

And here’s one of the key reasons why: be it through personal conviction, or to align with corporate sustainability goals, your customers are increasingly looking to source printed graphics with a better environmental profile, and from suppliers that can produce it using a more sustainable approach.

Of course, if you’re an HP Latex printer owner, you likely already know many of the environmental benefits of HP Latex Printing Technologies, including the ability to help create a better working environment and to produce odourless prints. However, you may not yet be fully familiar with the array of recyclable HP printing materials, recycling programmes and certifications around the printing solutions.

To ensure users get the most from the environmental profile of their HP Latex printing solution, and to help customers build broader knowledge about sustainability in sign and display printing, HP has introduced its Ecosolutions Training Programme, which is free to owners of HP Latex printers. This user-friendly and convenient downloadable training has been designed to help you and your customers lay the foundations for a long-term commitment to sustainability, hone your competitive edge and create new opportunities for growth.

The programme – introduced in November 2011 - can be undertaken at a convenient time and at your own pace. The course enables you to learn about the key factors that influence printing more sustainably, and how to communicate your sustainable printing efforts. The nine-part syllabus takes about two hours to complete and is offered in ten languages through the HP Capture programme. If you are not registered for HP Capture, you can do so here. Once you are registered, you can download the training to your PC or Mac.

Users who complete the training receive a framed certificate and an icon that can be used as a powerful marketing tool for with the ever-increasing number of clients looking for wide-format graphics solutions with a reduced environmental impact.

So, in a nutshell, that’s HP’s Ecosolutions Training Programme. If you’re already operating an HP Latex printer, then this has maybe given you an insight into how to sharpen your offering to your customers, because when you become an HP EcoSolutions-Trained Printing Company, you open the door to a wealth of opportunities. In other words, not so much ‘here endeth the lesson’, but hopefully more ‘here starteth the lesson’.

Stephen Goddard
stephen.goddard@hp.com

Ecosolutions Training for HP Latex Printing

Written by Colin Gillman | 30 January 2012

ESMA, the European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association has confirmed its support for EcoPrint 2012. 

Peter Buttiens, CEO, ESMA (left) says: “Our members are some of the largest manufacturers of technology for the speciality print sector and as such have been focused on the issue of sustainability for some time. It is something the industry needs to address urgently to secure a profitable future.”

ESMA is set to hold its 2012 environmental conference at EcoPrint in Berlin, where it will provide all delegates with access to practical and technical guidance to help them make a positive move towards becoming a more sustainable print business.

In addition to EcoPrint, ESMA and EcoPrint organiser FM Brooks plan to collaborate on other concepts which will be announced in the coming months.
www.esma.com
www.ecoprintshow.com

Written by Colin Gillman | 23 January 2012

Anybody seeking proof of the convergence between litho/digital and wide format in the printing industry need look no further than BAPC member Greenhouse Graphics who recently got into wide format with Roland.

Greenhouse, as its name might suggest, is widely recognised as a leading centre for sustainable graphic communications in the UK and has won many environmental awards for sustainable practices. Furthermore, Greenhouse was the first UK commercial print centre to install PV Solar panels in 2005, and has since developed its own sustainable printing system - ecoprintsystem4 - which is used throughout its commercial printing production facility.

Based in Basingstoke, North Hampshire, the firm is described by managing director Ian Crossley (pictured) as a communications specialist in graphic design, commercial printing, web design/development services, digital marketing, and recently signage and display systems having recently acquired a sign making company. “We no longer think of ourselves as a commercial litho printer,” he says.

Greenhouse is also one of only a handful print centres in the UK that is EMAS (Eco-Management & Audit Scheme) accredited. EMAS aims to recognise and reward those organisations that go beyond minimum legal compliance and continuously improve their environmental performance. Therefore it goes without saying that introducing a Roland VS-640 eco-solvent wide format printer into the company’s ecoprintsystem4 framework would require serious consideration.

Mr Crossley and his team knew that in printing, energy was the biggest deciding factor and, as a sustainable printer and an environmentally conscious company, any wide format printer coming into the company’s ecoprintsystem4 workflow would have to deliver good energy performance in order to meet his company’s exacting energy performance criteria.

“We looked at three different types of wide format printers - including a latex printer – and we had to make some important decisions in choosing what would be the most energy efficient wide format printer for us,” he says. “Ultimately we knew that the machine would have to deliver good energy performance for it to be considered for purchase, and in that case the Roland came up trumps. Even though it is an eco-solvent machine, we felt that the energy issue was more important than the VOC issue.”

Greenhouse Graphics’ EMAS accreditation sits alongside its ISO14001 accreditation and membership of an FSC group scheme.

www.greenhousegraphics.co.uk
www.rolanddg.co.uk