This year's SGIA Product of the Year competition was held at the 2014 Expo in Las Vegas, October 22-24. The contest showcased the best printers, technologies and consumables from the specialty imaging community. "Whether they were a seasoned company or an industry newcomer, each and every entry came to win," said Ray Weiss, SGIA’s digital imaging specialist.
Spiral James Burn has secured the rights to HP’s Creative Photo Solutions including Pinchbooks and Silver Lining Mounting Frames, and will begin manufacturing and distributing these products to retailers and channel partners worldwide."The technology developed by HP will enable retailers and channel partners to offer Creative Photo Solutions at a reasonable price, either behind the counter or on the shelf," said Matt Roth, vice president of Spiral James Burn.
Adhesives are widely used in finishing, this includes perfect binding, folding, mailing, and folding carton applications. And coatings and various chemical solutions are used in the digital print process to both enhance image quality and make the paper more "finishing-friendly." Both chemistry and environmental control have a lot to do with systems performance.
Digital printing has thrown a curve at both coating and film systems manufacturers due to the surface properties of many toner printed pieces. These make it difficult for many films and coatings to properly adhere to the substrate.
At the end of the day, coatings (of all types) and laminating are a huge part of print finishing, and the applications are addressed by an equally wide variety of machinery manufacturers and consumable suppliers.
With the advent of digital printing, a whole new set of challenges have been thrown at the bindery. Much of the problem solving has been taken on by the adhesive manufacturers. Chemistry will give us easier and more-effective book binding options.
