Komori Corporation has announced that it has reached an agreement with Shinwa Factory to conduct field testing of the 40-inch sheetfed nanographic printing system, Impremia NS40. Shinwa Factory is a manufacturing company with annual sales revenue of 3.2 billion yen that provides across-the-board services from designing of creative packaging, displays and sales promotion material to high volumes of printing, processing and delivery. It is recognized for superior planning, design, sales and production strength. Shinwa Factory exceeds customer expectations by offering a quality-controlled, integrated one-stop shop and a diverse product range.

The Impremia NS40, which was a technical exhibit at drupa 2016, is slated for a sales launch at drupa 2020. The 40-inch Sheetfed Nanographic Printing System uses Nanography technology licensed from Landa. The press was developed incorporating the know-how and technologies that Komori has cultivated over a long period of time through its offset printing business.

The press has a printing speed of 6,500 sheets per hour (sph), a true resolution of 1,200 dots per inch (dpi), can handle four to seven colors, with UV, LED or aqueous based in-line coating and Komori’s well-known quality. The press can handle paper sizes up to 750 x 1050 mm, a sheet thickness of 0.06 mm to 0.8 mm, and can print on a wide range of offset paper without any special pre-processing.

Landa started beta testing the similarly specified 40-inch S10 digital press more than two years ago. With half a dozen installations in Israel, Europe, and North America, it recently sold an S10 to a Latin American packaging printer as well. The 35-ton S10 is built using a chassis and paper movement from Komori.

Representative director of Shinwa Factory, Yasunari Yamazaki, said, “I am extremely grateful that Komori chose us to conduct the field testing for the Impremia NS40. We had two specific requests and when Komori assured us that the press would meet these requirements, we decided to embrace the new Impremia NS40. One of our requests was the support for small lot production of packages. About 40% of jobs of the total volume of packages that we manufacture are 2,000 sheets or less, and there is a limit to one day’s production (in terms of setup and efficiency). We can expect that the production volume of the Impremia NS40, with a print speed of 6,500 sph and an extremely short changeover time, will far exceed our current offset printing capabilities.

“The other request was to reduce manual steps and fail costs during the production of signs and displays, which is our main business. Although proofing is currently used as standard, the colors often do not line up, which wastes a lot of time. With the Impremia NS40, there is almost no blurring of the proof and mass production colors, so we can confidently provide printed items that meet our customers’ expectations without manual checking.

“Even when there is a longer-run production, we will perform color matching of digital and offset color tones as much as possible and aim for a situation in which hands-on print checking is not necessary,” said Yamazaki. “There are many other advantages such as the press is easy to operate, thin paper also can be printed in-house and there are no variations in color even with additional surface treatments after printing.”

Yamazaki continued, “Moving forward with the Impremia NS40, we expect that new business opportunities will be created. While not out in the field selling, designers and planners, too, are looking forward to sharing its capabilities with customers. With its limitless possibilities, we are excited to get the Impremia NS40 up and running so we can start providing new solutions to our customers.”

President, representative director and CEO of Komori, Satoshi Mochida said, “I would like to thank representative director Yasunari Yamazaki for partnering with Komori. Shinwa Factory is an integrated manufacturer that performs every step in the creation process from the design to production and delivery of creative and high-quality packaging, displays and sales promotion material. It has built a one-stop system, ideal for the intensive field testing of the Impremia NS40. The Impremia NS40 is a digital printing press is powered by Landa Nanography in conjunction with Komori offset technology. Not only does this 40-inch Sheetfed Nanographic Printing System achieve a level of quality and high productivity that was previously unheard of, it brings to life gloss and luster on applications, which is the feature of nano ink, as well as the texture that the printing paper possesses. The press can also print minutely detailed expressions accurately.

“We are convinced that the Impremia NS40 will greatly contribute to expanding Shinwa Factory’s current business and be used as a great opportunity to develop new businesses that add new value,” continued Mochida. “The partnership with Shinwa Factory symbolizes the last milestone before sales and mass production. By integrating Shinwa’s know-how and proprietary technology into the extensive field test, we are able to maximize the quality output and efficiency of the Impremia NS40. Moreover, Komori plans to launch the general availability of Impremia NS40 at drupa 2020.”