Świat DRUKU (The World of Printing): 2012, the drupa year, is coming to an end. Was it a successful year for Landa?

Ila Bialystok: The year was a huge success for Landa. We imagined that the company would make a big impact at drupa, but were overwhelmed at how customers responded to our message, technology and strategy of partnering with industry leaders. We took over $1 billion in orders for our new Nanographic Printing presses. Now we are busy getting ready to deliver and focusing strongly on product development, improving print quality and system reliability, as well as building our manufacturing infrastructure. There is a lot to be done, but we are on track to make our first press shipments by the end of 2013.

ŚD: At drupa Landa said that print would not last forever but his actions show that “in print he trusts”. With nano presses - are you going to fill in the “huge gap” between offset and digital or “reshape the printing industry” in terms of e.g. new business model?

IB: Our Nanography does precisely that: it is the solution that fills that critical profitability gap between offset and digital printing. It allows print providers to print those run lengths ranging between approximately 1000 and 10000 prints that have to date not been possible to produce cost-effectively and profitably using any existing technology.

With offset, no matter how short the run is, you still have all of the printing plates and all the makeready. And this means that for long runs, offset can be very very cost effective, very profitable. But as the run lengths get shorter and shorter, spreading this initial investment over a smaller number of pages means that the products are not cost effective. Although digital printing can be profitable for run lengths as short as one, as the run lengths get longer and longer, it too becomes unprofitable.

Nanography, in combining the versatility of digital with the qualities and speed of offset in a single press, offers digital printing for mainstream. This means that Landa Nanographic Printing technology offers commercial printers the possibility of overcoming the challenges of increasing demand for shorter run lengths and declining profitability.

By supplying Nanographic Printing presses direct to the market and licensing our technology to other vendors, we hope that we can accelerate the adoption of Nanography and help printers bridge the profitability gap caused by increased demand for short- to medium run lengths.

ŚD: What makes the Nanographic Printing presses a revolutionary invention?

IB: The Landa Nanographic Printing presses are unique in that they utilise an innovative printing system and printing process that employ Landa NanoInk, a proprietary water-based ink with nano-pigment particles. Landa NanoInk is based on nanotechnology – the science of ultra-small particles. Particles so small, that they are measured in nanometers – a billionth of a metre. Many materials when reduced in size to nano-particles, acquire extraordinary properties; this is the reason nanotechnology has created such a big interest worldwide. Landa NanoInk pigments absorb much more light than other pigments, and thus print images with brilliant colours. In addition, our presses print ultra-sharp dots of extremely high uniformity, high gloss fidelity and a broad CMYK gamut.

Additionally, whereas inkjet printing heads jet the image directly onto the substrate, Nanography ejects the Landa NanoInk dispersions onto a unique heated blanket, and then transfers the image from the blanket to the substrate in the form of an ultra-thin film. Many of the advantages of the Landa Nanographic Printing process are achieved by eliminating the absorption of the liquid ink carrier by the substrate. The ink drop ejection onto the blanket is also precisely timed to obtain very high accuracy between print separations and achieve high colour plane registration.

ŚD: At drupa Landa announced that the Nanographic Printing presses would be ready next year. Will they be “complete” solutions coping with the entire printing process, with prepress and postpress as well? If yes, can you unveil the companies (preferred suppliers) with which you will cooperate on these fields?

IB: We are collaborating with market-leading vendors to integrate with existing and new Digital Front Ends, workflow systems and finishing solutions and will update you in the near future.

ŚD: Can you remind Świat DRUKU’s (The World of Printing) readers which companies are Landa partners as far as nano presses are concerned? Can you reveal the amount of letters of intent signed this year? How important they are for you and for what reasons?

IB: We have announced strategic partnerships with Komori, manroland sheetfed and Heidelberg, and are continuing our collaboration with these companies on the development of Nanographic Printing presses.

Collaboration with our customers is of prime importance to Landa. Hundreds of customers signed LOIs at drupa, and many of them are now sharing their requirements and challenges in the market. This approach will ensure we are building a press that optimally fulfills their needs.

ŚD: Benny Lada is famous for inventing revolutionary technologies. Does he have anything new on his? Does this innovation refer to print or to a completely new area?

IB: After HP acquired Indigo in 2002, Benny Landa established Landa Labs to engage in nanotechnology research. One of the projects addresses alternative energy – to capture environmental heat from the air around us and convert it to useful electricity. Like solar cells, but heat instead of light. We have been working on the project now for ten years and it will be another four or five until commercialisation. Landa Labs also develops nano-materials for applications ranging from pigments and drug delivery to hair colourants and composite materials.