Consumables
“Attention to the environmental issues is a given”, saysMitsunori Hayashi
Wednesday 15. June 2016 - Interview with Mitsunori Hayashi, General Manager Sales Department Graphics Division of the Toray Graphics factory in the Czech Republic
Mr. Hayashi, Toray is known for its plates for waterless offset printing, but this is still somewhat of a niche market. Does Toray plan to enter other areas of the offset printing plate business?
We do understand that waterless offset printing is a niche market, but within that niche there are a number of different segments, including newspapers and commercial print. Our intent in terms of the offset printing market is to maintain the leadership in our niches. We see plenty of opportunity for growth, especially in the commercial, coldset/heatset web and packaging markets. Our message is Add Value to Print!, and we believe thats exactly what waterless printing with Toray plates is all about. Were not interested in competing in the commodity segments dominated by conventional lithographic plates. We want to continue to provide the unique quality and value that we are known for. The vast majority of our customers improve their competitive position by raising the value of their printed products. Those are the market niches we serve.
How does your business break out by segment and region?
Our plate business is about equally split between newspaper production and commercial printing. That being said, the newspaper printing business comes out of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In general, most newspaper industry printing plants still only print newspapers, but because of the quality delivered by waterless offset printing, our EMEA customers are also producing semi-commercial printing to fill press downtime. They are printing their newspaper advertisement inserts and magazine type products in-house instead of contracting with commercial print vendors. Advertisers for luxury and fashion items benefit from the value waterless printing images convey, whereas at the other end of the scale, supermarkets catch customers attention with pictures of brilliant fruits or vegetables that look mouth- watering and fresh. These printers use the waterless advantages to expand their services and grow their businesses. We are enjoying significant growth on the commercial side as well, in segments where the conventional offset process is less stable and produces inconsistent or inferior quality. Waterless offset is a superior method for printing on non- absorbing substrates.
Until now, Toray has had a fairly limited portfolio of plates. Does your expansion also require a larger plate portfolio?
Absolutely. Since we opened our European manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic three years ago we have made amazing progress. Not only has our infrastructure investment improved logistics and service to the European and North American markets, but we have extended the Japanese excellence in plate manufacturing to Europe. Additionally, the plates produced in the new factory have been specifically developed to meet the needs of the European and North American markets. At drupa 2016, we will be unveiling a host of new plate solutions that will support our continued growth in these areas!
Can you share some detail with us?
Certainly. As I mentioned, we serve a number of different segments. To be more specific, this include newspapers, labels, security printing, direct print to CDs/DVDs, general commercial printing and metal decoration. For each of these segments, we will be introducing at least two new plate types. One is designed for durability for use in long runs; and the other is designed to deliver very high resolution, further improving the quality of waterless offset printing. The resolution capability is higher than what can be delivered by conventional offset and flexo printing. That means that we will be introducing an array of brand-new waterless plates! Our new plate offerings will help our commercial customers who move into growing niche markets as general commercial printing on paper stocks consolidates and stagnates.
What else are you working on?
We have many on-going projects, but we are especially excited about our drupa technology demonstration of a third plate type for security printing. This plate uses a brand-new technology developed specifically for security printing. The super-high resolution plate is completely different from every other waterless plate on the market. It will be able to produce dot sizes of 10 microns or less, meeting the increasing needs of security applications for printing the fine lines, characters and micro- features required for passports, government identity cards, negotiable documents and more. This super-high resolution waterless printing capability will not only deliver the highest possible quality but also help critical counterfeit prevention measures.
With waterless printing being, as you describe it, a bit of a niche market, are there communities around the globe that provide a discussion and information sharing platform for waterless offset printers or for those aspiring to switch?
Absolutely. There are three key waterless printing associations:
· The European Waterless Printing Association (EWPA);
· The International Waterless Printing Association (IWPA); and
· The Japanese Waterless Printing Association (JWPA).
Our stand at drupa (Hall 16, Stand D32) will be a meeting point for all three associations, so we expect to see many waterless offset printing operators visiting our stand. For those who are interested in gaining in-depth knowledge about waterless printing, there will be Toray staff and waterless user experts on hand to answer questions. The latest Waterless Journal will be on hand, which documents some of our great application case studies and customer experiences.
That raises the question: How complicated is it for a printing operation to switch to waterless?
Moving from conventional to waterless offset is easy for a commercial printer. In most cases he just has to invest in a dedicated Toray waterless plate processor. In newspaper applications investment in form of some modifications to the press is required. In every case quality improvements and waste savings are the rewards.
Waterless offset printing offers environmental advantages, including reduction in usage of water and noxious chemicals. Is this a selling point for your technology?
I would say that attention to the environmental issues is a given in todays world. Its like automobile airbags. Several years ago, they were an option, but now you can hardly buy a car without them, nor would you want to. If your operation is not environmentally sustainable, I dont believe you can be successful selling value, especially in the European market. Beyond the environmental basics, its interesting to note, when you walk into a conventional newspaper plant you see ink mist deposits everywhere. Plants using our waterless offset technology are much different; they are squeaky-clean. Waterless printers dont use drying powder or harmful chemistry on press and they have very low VOC emission levels. So the advantages go way beyond the easier operation of a waterless press.
What else can we look for from Toray in the future?
We want to do an even better job of leveraging our European manufacturing presence and logistics infrastructure by becoming a one-stop shop, not only for plates but also for chemistries and processors. We are looking at partnerships in EMEA and North America to accomplish that. Stay tuned.