Durst opens direct Oceania business
Digital print solutions developer Durst has opened a new direct subsidiary to serve Australia, New Zealand, and the Oceania region with its wide format, labels, packaging and textile inkjet systems.
Durst Oceania welcomed the trade to its new base in Tullamarine, where managing director Matt Ashman and Durst CEO Christof Gamper hosted printers and suppliers, and officially opened the business.
Launching the business at the event, Ashman said, “We are delighted to open Durst Oceania. Our customers are doing great work, and we wanted to give you all the highest possible levels of support. Our success is directly related to your success, so we want to contribute to your success as much as we can. Thanks to Durst for their investment and commitment to print and in this part of the world. We're here, and we are here to stay.”
Gamper, who had flown in for the event, said, “We see a lot of potential for digital printing in this region, in wide format, labels, packaging and textiles. Durst has a commitment to excellence and innovation, and that chimes with print businesses in Australia and New Zealand, who we know have the same commitment. We also find that Durst as a family-owned business resonates with local printers – they know we have the same values. We look forward to serving the market and working with printers here.”
Durst develops digital inkjet printing solutions for wide format printing, label printing, and textile printing; at drupa, it will have the results of its joint venture with offset giant KBA for digital carton printing. It also develops its own software – it has some 70 staff, ten per cent of its total employees, working on software development.
It was previously supplied in ANZ by local agent PES. The new Durst Oceania is the latest in 22 direct subsidiaries that Durst operates around the world.
It has seen increasing success in recent years, where it pitches itself as the little big company – it competes against the biggest names in the industry – although it is not so little, with 750 staff. It invests around 12 per cent of its growing revenues directly in R+D. The 80-year-old business is family-owned and based in Brixen in northern Italy, near the border with Austria and Switzerland.
Installations in Australia this year have seen wide format print systems go into well known companies such as Mezographics and Vivad, while its label press went into Label Image in WA. Durst won a Print21 Hot Pick at PrintEx for its flagship large-format printer, the P5 250 HS.
Durst has just moved to a new print platform, the P5, which includes hardware and software, plus a white label web-to-print textile solution that print businesses can use.
The P5 includes a trio of new wide format printers: the flagship 250HS, and the hybrid 350 and 250. Also new is the Durst workflow software which includes Durst Smartshop ecommerce for B2B and B2C engagement. It includes an online editor, and is described by the company as an immersive customer experience.
Matt Ashman said, “The P5 is designed to increase speed, productivity and versatility. It is a whole new ecosystem.”
The P5 series is based around a smaller ink droplet size, and comes with new LED curing for low energy costs. The flagship P5 250 HS pumps out up to 600sqm an hour at 1200dpi. The P5 210 is the entry level machine with a capability of around 120sqm an hour. The P5 350 is a 3.5m printer which is both roll to roll and flatbed.
Ashman said, “One of the key benefits of the new P5 series is the ink purging, which is just once a week. The printers are aimed at high volume businesses and those with aspirations.”
Durst is also launching a new textile printer, the Alpha, which comes with no need for a calender system. Ashman said, “It will print 600sqm an hour of high quality pigmented ink. Textile printing is ready for take off in Australia, and the Alpha is a great means for entrepreneurial printers to exploit that market.”
Durst is also launching its first new label platform for seven years with the scalable Tau 420 RSCi, with local sales manager Paul Sanelli saying it “changes the rules” of label print production.
The new press comes with field upgradable web widths and four or eight colours, upgradable. It prints at 1200x1200dpi, using Fuji Samba heads, at 100 metres a minute print speed.
The three web width options are 330mm, 420mm and 510mm; the colours are CMYK plus orange, violet, green, and white. Sanelli says, "Durst has future-proofed the investment for label printers, and created a press that offers those label printers multiple new opportunities. It will print from 20 micron film up to 500 micron board, on a range of web widths. The application range is huge."
The Tau 420 RCSi can also be used as an inline digital engine on a hybrid press; at Labelexpo it was shown with an Omet flexo printer. Sanelli said, “High volume printers will benefit from the new platform, with 100 metres a minute in high quality on a range of media giving them real production power.”
At Labelexpo under its We Keep You Printing slogan, Durst also featured dedicated Web2Production workflow software; its own prepress Workflow Label software; and its current Tau 330 RSC and RSC-E presses, as well as a new low-migration UV ink, which is Eupia and Swiss Ordinance compliant for food and pharma applications.
