Expo Print Latin America 2014 was held in the Transamerica Expo Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil for seven days, from Wednesday, July 16 to Tuesday, July 22, 2014.
Held once every four years, the show is the largest exhibition of printing equipment and materials in Latin America; the organizer reports that 48,866 visitors came to this year's show.
With its main theme of 'H-UV Solutions,' Komori exhibited a six-color, H-UV-equipped Lithrone S29 with coater with the aim of expanding sales of H-UV presses in the Latin American market. Currently, H-UV machines operating in Latin America include seven presses in Brazil and one in Uruguay, while one each has been ordered in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Chile.
The H-UV demonstrations comprised three types, showing not only printing on paper but also chemical embossing on metalized paper and added value printing on polypropylene. Demonstrations were run twice a day, totaling 13 demos over seven days (only one demo was run on the final day). In addition, because printing on metalized paper and polypropylene requires a changeover, two patterns of demonstration were performed – paper and metalized paper along with paper and polypropylene – with the pattern changing each day.
Demonstrations
Demonstration 1 (work and turn printing with instant drying)
On the front side of 500 sheets of 150 gram paper, four colors and varnish were laid down and dried instantly with register and color adjusted in advance. The paper from the delivery was piled again in the feeder and four colors with varnish were printed on the reverse side. After printing, job changeover was performed (removing, inker cleaning, blanket washing, platechanging by Full-APC and pre-inking).
This demonstration communicated the potential of immediately performing printing on the reverse side because with instant drying there is no waiting after printing on the front side of the paper. Densities and register were measured by PDC-SX in all demonstrations.
Demonstration 2 (added value printing using chemical embossing)
A single side of 500 sheets of 255 gram metalized paper was printed with register and color adjusted in advance using white, four colors, overprint varnish and coating. After printing, job changeover was performed, and 500 new sheets of metalized paper were printed. After printing, cutting of the sheets by a die cutter and die punching of the image were shown.
This demonstration communicated the potential of added value printing by chemical embossing.
Demonstration 3 (printing on polypropylene plastic with instant drying)
A single side of 400 sheets of polypropylene (0.2 mm thickness) was printed with register and color adjusted in advance using four colors and white. After printing, job changeover was performed, and 400 new sheets of polypropylene were printed. After printing, cutting of the sheets by a die cutter and die punching of the image were shown.
This demonstration communicated the capability for smooth H-UV printing on plastics.
The demonstrations were full each time, and the high interest in H-UV was clear from the expressions of surprise from the audience, and the desire to install presses with this technology could be felt.
For the Komori booth at this exhibition, the new distributor for Brazil took the leading role, and collaboration with the postpress equipment (die cutters and guillotines) handled by the distributor was effective. Many visitors came to the Komori booth.
The distributor held a reception on Thursday, July 17. Some 200 people from 80 companies, including both current and prospective Komori users, attended the party.
In the future, Komori will closely follow the markets not only in Brazil but also throughout Latin America, using exhibitions as opportunities.
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