Inkjet & Digital Printing

KODAK NEXPRESS Dimensional Printing System Makes Italian Debut at Grafostampa

Tuesday 04. August 2009 - Grafostampa becomes the first printer in Italy to go 3D with Dimensional Printing

Rome-based Grafostampa evolves as market demand dictates, and has been successfully combining offset and digital printing for a number of years. In early 2009, Grafostampa installed a KODAK NEXPRESS S2500 Digital Production Color Press and equipped it with the Dimensional Printing option – some seven years after the company installed its first NEXPRESS Press.
Alessia Gentili, owner of Grafostampa, explains: “We were the second company in Italy to install a KODAK NEXPRESS Press. What became immediately clear was that we needed to use digital printing to supplement traditional printing, rather than replace it.”
The investment has proved a shrewd one. Grafostampa’s digital production is increasing all the time – so much so that the company has had to expand to its current space of approximately 1,000m2 square meters in the center of Rome.
Gentili is convinced that cutting-edge technology is imperative for printers wanting to compete successfully in a tough economic climate. In early 2009, Grafostampa installed a five-color KODAK NEXPRESS S2500 Digital Production Color Press with a KODAK NEXPRESS Glossing Unit and Dimensional Printing function, making it the first full installation in Italy equipped with this exclusive 3D digital printing function.
Gentili explains the reasons behind this second investment in digital technology: “The first NEXPRESS Press proved so successful that we decided to push on with digital and add some innovative options. The KODAK NEXPRESS S2500 Press has a KODAK NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solution, which enables us to add a fifth color or use raised printing with transparent ink – in addition to being able to print faster on larger media. We anticipate that the machine will help us launch a raft of new creative options – the new 3D Dimensional Printing option means we can offer our customers something completely different, helping us to add value to our services and set ourselves apart from our competitors.”

Keeping on top of a changing market with digital printing
Gentili notes that the types of jobs Grafostampa is taking on are changing significantly: “In the past, most of our customers were only interested in offset printing – today, they’re increasingly requesting digital printing for samplings, short runs, direct mail shots, and various types of personalized printing.”
Grafostampa is also heavily involved in the photography sector, and recently produced the photography books for a national photography book competition using its KODAK NEXPRESS Press. This year’s competition – traditionally sponsored by Kodak – focused on wedding photography, and in March the finalists displayed their photography books at Orvieto Fotografia, the international professional photographers’ convention. The technical capabilities of KODAK NEXPRESS Press were put to the test, and the exceptional chromatic yield of its digitally printed books won it the admiration of industry experts.
Grafostampa is no stranger to these types of activities, due to its long-standing agreements with various photo laboratories for digitally printing photo albums. This significant diversification in production is set to increase – and the KODAK NEXPRESS Press has a pivotal role to play in adding demonstrable value.

The KODAK NEXPRESS Press opens up new possibilities
The KODAK NEXPRESS S2500 Digital Production Color Press makes it possible to print in five colors at speeds of 2,500 A3 format sheets per hour, and can manage formats of up to 356×520 mm.
The NEXPRESS S2500 Press’ fifth imaging unit can activate the Dimensional Printing function and, using KODAK NEXPRESS Dimensional Clear Dry Ink, give text and images a physical, 3D effect. This raised, tactile effect can be applied to an entire page or just to certain areas, and its thickness can be preset to get exactly the desired effect – dramatically increasing the appeal of any product. The tactile effect is similar to thermography, but it doesn’t require ink or an image to adhere to the substrate.