After a long period of time, digital printing paper ushered in the spring. Although the current consumption of digital printing paper is not very large, and it is not yet time for papermakers to spend a lot of effort on such products, more and more manufacturers are flocking. Into this market, this is an indisputable fact. The following is an analysis of the paper produced by the manufacturer.

Monochrome webs are not surprising. Many papermakers are supplying raw materials for high-speed monochrome web printing equipment such as IBM, Oce, Xeikon, and Ricoh, which is a place with large paper consumption. Gai pointed out that only his company's Oce machine users in the United States will consume 20 billion feet of paper each year. Users of Océ DemandStream and PageStream offset presses are sensitive to paper. They need the quality of digital printing paper to be the same as offset printing, and the price cannot be too high. This is exactly what Brad Haast and his colleagues and papermakers The reason why companies develop more suitable papers together is because digital printing is fundamentally different from offset printing.

As a special demand, the financial and legal industry is also a relatively large aspect. The financial industry needs to save the cost of mailing related bills. Legal affairs workers need to check the information on the books at any time. All these requirements must not be too heavy. The number of sheets per foot (PPI) has become a very important parameter for lightweight paper manufacturing. In this year's election year, light and solid ballots have expanded another sales channel for it.

Interestingly, the new non-reinforced web transfer technology brings new opportunities to the market. In the past, paper produced by paper mills had to be processed into fixed webs by middlemen and sold to users through them. Nowadays, middlemen do not seem to have this advantage and have to worry about how to share a market share.

This situation is really an opportunity for Stora Enso. It previously provided paper for only some of Europe's Xeikon digital copying and printing press users, and did not have the opportunity to enter the high-speed monochrome digital printing market in the United States because "most of the markets are dominated by traditional intermediate processing suppliers." Now, after the company completes the merger with Consolidated Papers, it is very likely to enter this market with huge potential.

Colour Printing Materials The digital printing market based on Xeikon machines has been the main direction of Stora Enso. This year, its 4CC web is designed to supply raw materials for narrow 32/DCP machines, wide format 50/DCP and OEM machines. What is even more valuable is that its price has been reduced by 15%, and the sales of products have been further expanded through local sellers. In sheetfed printing, Stora Enso also plans to use 4CC Art as the main product of the Indigo press.

With the development of digital printing, printers have become more and more mature, and varieties have become more and more diverse. In particular, the demand for light-weight papers has shown a growing trend. The pharmaceutical and financial industries require 50 to 60 gsm (grams per square meter) of lightweight paper, and the sale of 28 pounds of paper has taken place alongside 95 pounds of cover paper. In addition, the demand for synthetic paper, pressure-sensitive paper, textured paper, and colored paper for creators needs new opportunities for paper suppliers.

Paper suppliers must work closely with manufacturers of printing equipment to fully understand the characteristics of the corresponding machines in order to provide better products. Stora Enso has been working with the Xeikon equipment manufacturer in Belgium for many years. Its production of 4 CC webs maintains the highest image print sharpness and excellent paper transport.

Similar institutions include the Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States. Its print application laboratory has 14 full-time staff and more than 20 students. It has been doing research on paper applications. Identifying digitally printed paper is part of their job. The Institute has been collaborating with Xeikon for two years. This year, it officially began working with Indigo. Informal cooperation with Ricoh has also been ongoing.

Electrostatic elimination of static electricity has always been a problem faced by digital printing. At present, RIT suggests that the best way to eliminate static electricity is only to print off the electricity and neutralize it.

Many papermakers have to come to the institute to process the paper used for Xeikon or Indigo. It is called "scripting" for XeiKon and "Sapphire" for Indigos.

"Scripting" is to adjust more than 40 indicators related to paper printing according to the common standards developed by Xeikon, Pira, and RIT (Institute) to meet the standards for machine use. The proofs are then sent to Xeikon for paper grades given by Xeikon and published on its list of qualified suppliers for direct use by the user.

“Sapphire” is a special coating technology that depends on the quality of the paper to determine if this special treatment is required to make the paper meet the needs of Indigo presses. Many good companies such as Champion, Modo, RF Digital, and Stora Enso can use the new paper directly without Sapphire processing. Indigo's new ElectroInk will also further expand the scope of this non-"Sapphire" paper.

RF Digital has collaborated with the RIT Institute from the very beginning. In addition to providing Xeikon “scripting” processed paper, he also provided Indigo with three series of papers: SilverBlade, Fairfield, and Cameron. None of them required “Sapphire”. "deal with.

As a toner-based output device, it is also a market for paper suppliers to consider. Heidelberg's Quickmaster DI machines belong to this category. Because the device uses waterless printing, the strength and cleanliness of the paper surface must reach a certain standard to use.

Colourful Since the beginning of last year, the digital printing market has become more and more lively, and various digital printing machines and various papers have emerged one after another. The Mohawk Paper Mills Paper Mill has supplied the market with a range of Quickmaster DI machine papers from coated to non-coated digital printed paper, including various color copy/printers and Heidelberg. In a sense, the Mohawk paper mill can only be regarded as a small company, but it invested 90 million US dollars in the early stage of entering the digital market. Recently, an additional 15 million investments have been made to expand reproduction, improve production workshops, and add high-speed cutting machines capable of producing 100 reams per minute.

In 1998, the company invested in educating its customers. Enlightenment in digital printing was much more important than paper. Now that they have paid off, the company's performance has doubled, because "customers have a wealth of digital printing knowledge." At this year's Düsseldorf, Germany, Mohawk has also become a hot spot for this exhibition. After rigorous testing by NexPress, its Options Smooth Warm White 216gsm uncoated paper was designated by NexPress Corporation as the new 2100 Digital Production color digital press live demo paper.

Other companies include SAPPI and Zanders, and their products have also become NexPress presentation papers.

To say the new face of this market, it should be Mead Coated Papers company. Its latest product, the Meadware series, contains various specifications for both coated and uncoated digital paper and is suitable for models such as Xeikons, Indigos, and Quickmaster DI. Currently, it has five levels of Mark V, Signature, Mead, and Focus. This year, Prima, Mead Postcard Matte, and coated C1S will be added.

Mead Coated Papers' products will reach customers through direct sales and existing sales channels. If necessary, customers can also purchase through online ordering, both wholesale and retail. Mead is not only a rookie in the digital paper market, but also the first company to take the lead in e-commerce. Its bold move is very likely to become a legend in the digital printing market next year.

According to the market's reflection, the market is undergoing a change for some suppliers who have long fought in the digital printing paper market. The printing of books and flyers is increasingly being undertaken by digital printers. Georgia-Pacific Imaging Papers (GP) has added 80 lbs. and 60 lbs. of high-quality color and glossy covers to its MicroPrint line to accommodate this situation. Similarly, in order to adapt to the different needs of more and more differentiated commercial and graphic design companies, GP provided 94-gray-scale, 24-32-pound MicroPrint Laser 1000 printing press paper for image design companies; A more economical MicroPrint Color Copy.

For the office inkjet paper market, GP did not give up, it has always been concerned about this market. Because more and more desktop publishing ink-jet printing products are now available, the use of networked printers will also make it possible for future inkjet printers to replace laser printers. Inkjet printing and economical laser printing will be the main driving force for the development of color digital printing.

This year, the largest increase in digital printing paper is in the black and white monochrome printing market. GP's Quantum Digital Opaque is paper for book publishing and booklet publishing. The paper used for high-speed digital printing can also bring good results if used for offset printing, and it is another advantage of producing digital paper.

In addition, International Paper is also considered another player in this market. Its IP brand papers have the EIG logo, which is Electronic Image Guarantee certification. This year its Accent EIG will be renamed Accent Opaque Digital in order to put more emphasis on the concept of digital printing, paper size 8/5X11 inches, or other non-standard specifications.

Personalization of printing has made non-standard papers the product of International Pape. Its products now include 9X12 inch, 9X14 inch, 12X18 inch and many other specifications.

The growing market has no forest, no pulp, no paper machine, and Ricoh has become a supplier of digital printing paper. Under the banner of the Xerox Supplies Group, it supplies many Digital Color products for the digital printing market. There are more than 27 types at Drupa and seven products in North America: the Tri-fold Brochure, a single-side bright coating. Paper and crease-resistant folds; DuraPaper is a polyolefin plastic synthetic film paper, waterproof and tensile can be used for labels, display cards and other production; Xpressions 98 - 100 pound cover paper, is currently the most important on the market Non-coated paper can be used for the production of display boards, signs, calendars, and book covers. Others are Graphics Parchment, Fiberd and so on.

Ricoh’s North American distributors claim that Ricoh will provide a full set of image paper for the digital printing market. The name “Ricoh” should not be synonymous with copiers in people's minds. It should be a representative of the new concept of printing, not just printing. Provide machines, but also provide printing materials for the machines.

In Drupa, Ricoh’s executives said: “With our constant addition of new products to digital printing systems, digital printing is now almost the same as offset printing. Many offset printing products can be achieved with digital printing.” Indeed, this is not only true. It is the direction of Ricoh and is also the voice of all digital printing paper suppliers.

Digital Electrostatics Although offset printing and digital printing are essentially different, they all undergo electrical and chemical processes. Although offset printing does not achieve printing through charging and discharging processes, it also generates charge accumulation during the printing process, so electrostatic discharge is a very important issue in all printing.

Digital printing absorbs toner onto the material through charging and discharging processes.