Bordeaux’s range of mild solvent inks
Ink specialist Bordeaux exhibited at Fespa 2015 with not one, but two stands: one in Fespa Digital and, for the first time, a stand in Fespa Fabric. While showing its new ink range, the company was also sharing a new concept with the market. Michal Lodej reports.
To those who were there it was no surprise to hear that Fespa 2015 drew its largest total audience, with 23,137 individuals making their way to the Koelnmesse over 18 – 22 May. The halls were buzzing with visitors looking at products from the wide format manufacturers such as Mimaki, Roland, Mutoh, HP, Epson and Fujifilm; and whichever device a printer chose, Bordeaux had an ink to match.
Guy Evron, director of marketing, told Digital Printer: ‘This is a major change in the market: our mix and match package helps to align our ink colours to that of the OEMs. Instead of having just one eco solvent ink for all devices, we have one for each type of machine; that’s a lot of different inks. This is a complete change in the way of thinking about ink manufacturing.’
As well as those manufacturers listed above the company offers a dedicated ink range for Seiko, Jeti, EFI Vutek, Agfa, Océ and Dilli devices. At the show, the company introduced its new UV curable ink for the Fujifilm Acuity and Océ Arizona series printers, which it said offers OEM-matched adhesion and long lasting durability for signs and displays.
Mr Evron continued: ‘We often refer to the printer thinking only about the print head, but there is much more than that to the printing process. We wanted to offer a printer-specific solution, so we had to have a rethink and take into consideration all the different parts of the print process to make sure we had an ink which truly matched that of the OEMs. When we do this, we don’t just give our customers the ink and a container, we provide a package for a complete ink solution.’
(L-R) UV curable ink of Oce Arizona printer and Fuji Acuity printers
Final countdown
The whole aim of providing inks that match those of the OEMs is to draw printers away from buying inks from the manufacturers and benefit from lower ink costs. However, for many printers this would mean losing out on any warranty package supplied with the purchase of the printer.
Once that warranty has run out however, printers may ask themselves, ‘what have I got to lose?’, and make the switch to Bordeaux.
‘The ‘Countdown to Bordeaux’ is a campaign we are running at the moment. If a printer wants to make the switch to our inks, they can tell us the date their warranty runs out and we can be there that very day to make the conversion,’ added Mr Evron.
Ink conversions can seriously impact a print schedule, with some conversions taking days to complete. However, the company maintains that it can convert a printer in a number of hours.
The promise of being at a printer the day its warranty runs out means the company has a lot of ground to cover, and so to provide this level of service it acts through a network of resellers.
‘We can’t provide a decent service across a whole continent by ourselves, we need someone to be on the ground and be at the customer site in a matter of hours, not just for the conversions but for any support issue,’ said Mr Evron.
The company has introduced a new division, VelvetJet, for the fabric printing market. ‘As part of our continuous commitment to offer a wide range of solutions to the digital printing industry, we established a new division called VelvetJet. The division combines 15 years of experience in ink development with experts from the textile industry, in order to meet the textile industry needs for digital printing on textiles. At the textile dedicated Fespa Fabric, we have new inks for textiles, creating a wide range of possibilities for the fashion, apparel, decorative and industrial textile applications.’
