Xennia's Tim Phillips describes the markets for digital product and surface decoration, including laminates and furnishing, ceramic tiles, wall coverings and glass. He then describes the challenges and opportunies for digital printing of these products. This talk was presented at the Decorative Surfaces Conference, Munich, Germany in April 2011.

1. DIGITAL DECORATION OF
PRODUCTS AND SURFACES
Dr Tim Phillips
Xennia Technology Ltd
Presented at the Decorative Surfaces Conference
Munich, Germany, April 2011

2. TALK OUTLINE
1. Introduction to Xennia
2. Product and surface decoration
3. Technology issues
4. Application examples

3. Section 1
INTRODUCTION TO XENNIA

4. Xennia helps customers lower
operating costs, increase productivity
and simplify mass customised production
by revolutionising manufacturing processes

5. Background
Xennia is the world‟s leading industrial inkjet solutions provider
14 year history, over 300 customer development programmes
World class reputation underpinned by a strong IP portfolio
Unique expertise in inkjet chemistry with strong engineering capability
Headquartered in UK, sales offices in US and China
Awarded Queen‟s Award for Enterprise in 2010
Offering reliable inkjet process solutions:
Inkjet modules and inks for OEM partners with market access
Printing systems and inks for end users through our distributors

6. From inkjet ideas ... to production reality
Feasibility studies Process development System design Production solutions

7. Xennia develops & supplies digital solutions based on
inkjet modules, systems and inks for industrial
applications

8. Section 2
PRODUCT & SURFACE DECORATION

9. Product decoration
Huge demand for digital production decoration of products
Key drivers are:
Reduced costs
Print on demand means no need for large inventories
Increased productivity
Printing system spends the whole time printing
Faster response to customer demands
New designs can be introduced rapidly
Products can be personalised/customised on the fly

10. Key industrial applications I
Textiles
Ceramic tiles
Digital decoration of textiles:
Reel-to-reel textile production Digital decoration of:
Clothing Ceramic wall tiles
Flags, banners, awnings Ceramic floor tiles
Soft furnishings

11. Key industrial applications II
Architectural
glass Flooring & furniture
laminates
Digital glass printing applications:
Architectural features Digital decoration of:
Frosted effects Flooring laminates
Appliance glass Furniture laminates
(Automotive) Direct product printing
Edge banding

12. Key industrial applications III
Product
decoration
Wall coverings
Digital decoration of:
Digital decoration of:
Consumer wallpaper
Automotive glass/headlamps/fairings/parts
Commercial wallpaper
Safety/automotive helmets
Commercial vinyl coverings
Security wristbands/identity cards
Optical fibres, wires and connectors
Consumer appliances/products
etc.

13. KEY APPLICATIONS
Application Market Size Market Requirement Opportunity
Textiles Printed textiles $165Bn Cost effective RTR printing High productivity RTR with
(Reel to reel – RTR) with fast design aqueous dye inks
introduction
Ceramics 8Bn m2 tiles printed Wall/floor tile printing with High throughput fixed array +
(Tiles) annually digital capability ceramic inks
Yearly equipment sales Digital ceramic decal XY + ceramic inks (sampling)
>$800m printing
Wall/floor/furniture Decorative laminate Fast high quality digital wall High throughput fixed array +
coverings market $21.2 Bn covering printing solvent/aqueous inks
globally High productivity digital XY + UV inks
laminate/decor printing
Rigid furnishings
Glass Printed glass $1.3Bn High productivity High throughput fixed array +
(Architectural) production printing high temp inks
(Appliance) Fast turnaround batch XY + PVB inks/UV inks
printing
Ability to print non-flat

14. Textiles market
RTR digital textile market 2010
Hardware $137m (6% growth)
Ink $454m (15% growth)
Printed output value $1.3Bn (13% growth)
DTG digital textile market 2010
Hardware $184m (23% growth „opportunity for ~10,000 high end units‟)
Ink $145m (32% growth)
Printed output $2.45Bn (35% growth)
Systems from
Mimaki, Roland, Mutoh (low end)
Robustelli, Reggiani, Konica Minolta, Osiris (high end)
Inks from Huntsman, Dupont, Xennia, Dystar, BASF, Kiian, Sensient etc
Source: IT Strategies Spring 2009

15. Textile market drivers
Drivers towards digital printing
Reduced time to introduce new designs (few hours versus several days)
Lower energy consumption
Lower water and materials consumption
Reduced cost to introduce new designs (no requirement to make screens)
Competitive for shorter runs
Example: lower cost below1,200m for 8 colour screen versus typical digital
Current typical digital cost €3-5/m2
Average run length decreasing
Now below 2,000m, was 3,500m in 1994
Promise of even lower digital costs, lower at all run lengths
Huge potential for digital textile printing
Source: Gherzi 2008

16. Textile market requirement
Market requirement for RTR textiles
Printing system
High productivity (>300 m2/hr)
High reliability (>98% up time)
Cost effective
High quality (600+dpi, greyscale, 6+ colours)
Inks
Excellent colour performance (competitive with analogue)
Excellent fastness performance (competitive with analogue)
Ink costs that give printed cost < analogue for required run length

17. Ceramic tile market
Worldwide ceramic tile output > 9,500M sq m (2010)
Production focussed in Asia and EU (2009 numbers)
Asia 65.1% (+7.1% from 2008)
EU 12.6% (-24.8%)
Central/South America 10.5% (-0.8%)
Other Europe (incl. Turkey) 4.6% (-10.4%)
Equipment sales in 2008 > $800M
Difficult economic conditions in 2008
Good recovery now
Inkjet growth accelerating
Source: Ceramic World Review 2010

18. Ceramics market drivers
Shorter product lifecycles and print runs
Natural randomisation
Desire for greater product differentiation
Bevelled edges
Textured surfaces
Customisation and personalisation
Wider range of tile types
Different firing regimes for different materials
Thinner tiles use less material (inkjet is non contact)
Cost reduction – reduced inventory
Higher yield
Better quality

19. Ceramics market need
Market requirement for ceramic tile printing
Printing system
High productivity (>900 m2/hr)
High reliability (>98% up time)
Cost effective
High quality (300+dpi, greyscale,)
Good colour performance (4+ colours)
Inks
Excellent colour performance when fired
Good reliability in system
Lower operating costs

20. Decorative laminate market
US decorative laminate sales $6.4Bn in 2009
Forecast to rise 3.3% p.a. to 14 Bn ft2, $8.9 Bn in 2013
Global market > $21.2 Bn in 2009, Europe ~ 28.5%
Asia Pacific sales projected to exceed US sales by 2012
US demand breakdown (2008)
29% low basis weight papers
13% decorative foils
22% saturated papers
16% vinyl films
18% high pressure laminates
2% edge banding
Source: Pira Industrial Inkjet 2009, Freedonia Group

21. Decoration market drivers
Currently dominated by screen and flexo
Drivers towards inkjet
Move beyond commodity designs
Experimental fashions
Customised surfaces – logos & murals
Customisation and short runs
Market requirements
Flatbed digital printing of rigid furnishings up to 1.5 x 1.0 m
UV ink
Continuous printing of flexible laminate films/decor paper (width?)
Solvent/aqueous ink
Source: Pira Industrial Inkjet 2009

22. Wall covering market
Overall wall coverings market forecast to reach $26 Bn by 2015
Boosted by recovering world market and expansion in residential construction
UK: wall covering expenditure £315m, compared with £440m on ceramic
tiles (2009)
Down 6.5% on previous year
Source: Durability and Design, 2011

23. Wall covering market drivers
Currently dominated by flexo and gravure
Drivers towards inkjet
Faster introduction of new designs
Experimental fashions
Customised printing – murals etc
Shorter run lengths
Market requirements
Continuous printing of paper & vinyl wall coverings
Solvent/aqueous ink
Source: Freedonia

24. Glass decoration market
Worldwide fabricated glass market $66Bn in 2010
Standard flat glass plus value-added - laminated, insulating etc
Growth 5%
Applications
Construction (65%)
Automotive (25%)
Speciality (furniture, mirror) (10%)
Printed glass market $1.3Bn
Mainly architectural and appliance (plus automotive)
Mainly screen at present
Source: Pilkington Glass Report 2009

25. Glass decoration drivers
Drive to value-added products
Environmental, safety including earthquake, hurricane
Dominated by screen printing at present
Market requirements

26. Section 3
TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES

27. Solution requirements
Industrial inkjet solutions must have the following:
Excellent image quality
Good durability of the printed image
Required productivity
Production reliability
User friendly and powerful software

28. Inkjet printing software
Image processing
Geometrical transforms
RIP
Colour management
Printhead-specific data
System integration
Managing system components
Receiving external commands
Variable image printing
Generating each image
Tracking and verification

29. Image quality
Goal is:
To create images with best possible look
To deposit materials with minimum error
The quality circle relates:
Customer perception (image quality)
e.g. sharpness, colourfulness, contrast
Physical image parameters (print quality)
e.g. optical density, line acuity, dot placement
Technology (ink, printheads, printer, etc)

30. Image durability
Durability of the printed image is vital
Durability must be sufficient for the application
Effects on durability from
Substrate (material, surface properties, dirt etc)
Ink (binders/monomers/oligomers)
Process (pre/post-treatment)
Adhesion of ink to required substrate
Cross-hatch tape/Scratch/Scuff/abrasion resistance
Film hardness
Solvent/water/specific chemical resistance
Fastness
Water/wash/humidity, Rub/crock, Light/UV, Dark/ozone

31. System productivity
Printhead/ink drop ejection frequency
Print resolution
Number of printheads/nozzles
Fixed array/scanning array configuration
Motion system
Post-treatment (drying/curing) system

32. System reliability
Ink/printhead/nozzle interaction
Printhead connections/wires/electronics
Ink system/pipework
Maintenance system
Software
UV systems
Verification system
Motion system/substrate handling

33. Major developments
Key driver
Ink chemistry
Key developments
UV/pigment inks
Greyscale printheads
Recirculating ink technology
Inkjet modules
Fixed array systems
Diagonal printing systems

34. Inkjet solution design
Balance between:
Quality
Productivity
Cost
Reliability
Ink/printhead/substrate interaction has to be understood
Inkjet process has to be robust and meet requirements
Inkjet process has to complement existing manufacturing process
Process has to be industrially robust

35. Integration – the key challenge
Wetting, drying, curing Fluid control
Ink chemistry
Substrate
Printheads
Motion system
Encoder/product detect Drive electronics, software

36. Process cost
Capital cost
Development cost/number of systems
System supply cost
Running cost
Ink cost
Ink usage
Productivity/availability
Consumables
Maintenance/spares
Utilities

37. Cost comparison with analogue
Cost factors to be taken into account
Analogue versus digital print run costs
Fixed costs £14.00
£12.00
System cost/depreciation/finance/spares £10.00
Analogue run cost (£/m2)
Print run cost (£/m2)
Digital run cost (£/m2)
£8.00
Energy costs/operator costs £6.00
Inventory storage (zero for digital) £4.00
£2.00
Running costs £0.00
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Print run length (m2)
System productivity/utilisation
Analogue versus digital print run costs
Run length
£14.00
£12.00
Setup time/setup cost £10.00
Analogue run cost (£/m2)
Print run cost (£/m2)
Digital run cost (£/m2)
Print yield
£8.00
£6.00
Ink coverage/cost/wastage £4.00
£2.00
Consumables £0.00
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Print run length (m2)

38. Section 4
APPLICATION EXAMPLES

39. Glass decoration
Fixed array production system for high volume
Flatbed scanning system for small batches
Print onto:
Glass during manufacture
PVB film prior to lamination
Glass after manufacture
All need specific inks
Firing ink
PVB compatible ink
UV inks

40. Furnishing laminate decoration
Requirement for high throughput printing
Flexible laminates – papers and films
Also direct printing onto wood, MDF etc
Laminates
Solvent or aqueous inks
Compatibility with existing lamination process vital
Direct printing
UV (or solvent) inks
Edge banding
UV inks
Requirement for colour matching/metamerism

41. Typical laminate printing system
Fixed array high productivity system
Scalable width
Compatible with variety of processes
UV
Solvent
Pigmented inks
Compatible with any flexible substrate

42. System in action

43. Ceramic tile printing
560 or 720mm print width
Fixed array single pass printing
29m/min throughput
4 colours (expandable to 6)
Double throughput/double density version
Requires specialised inks

44. Wide format printing
Textiles, graphics, wall coverings etc
Printing configurations have pros and cons
Single pass fixed array wide area swath continuous web printing
High productivity
High complexity and cost
High risk (missing nozzle shows up) Single pass
Maintenance difficult without stopping
No error tolerance
Scanning XY systems
Multiple passes
Low productivity
Low complexity and cost
Low risk (nozzle redundancy)
Maintenance easy
Error tolerant

45. New concept
Reciprocating diagonal continuous single pass printing
1.6-3.0m
Two print bars printing complementary patterns
WO 2009/056641

46. Diagonal printing
High productivity
All nozzles are used efficiently
Continuous substrate motion
Quality
Greyscale high resolution printing
Disguise missing nozzles & head variability through software algorithms
Redundancy in software, not spare nozzles
No banding
Maintenance without stopping line
Same proven technology as XY systems
High reliability printheads
Flexibility to vary time spent on maintenance

47. System in action

48. Textile printing inks
Reactive dye inks
Suitable for cotton and cotton/polyester blends
High optical density even in single pass applications
High stability and fixation
Acid dye
For high quality silk printing
Disperse dye
For durable printing onto polyester
Pigment inks
UV cure inks
Including white for printing onto dark coloured textiles
Broad textile application - no post treatment required
Heat set inks
Advanced chemistry means competitive costs

49. Digital finishing
Major benefits of “digital finishing” provided by inkjet
Benefits
Multi functionality
Single sided application possible
Two sides can have different functions
Patterning
Functionality applied efficiently to textile surface only
Highly consistent coat weight
Environmental and energy savings
Applications
Slow release technology, Digital dyeing, Hydrophobic coatings
UV blocking, Fire retardant, Antimicrobial

50. Typical flatbed printer
Up to 6 colours (2x white)
Print area up to 4m x 2.6m
Throughput up to 100m2/hr
Optional vacuum table to secure product(s)
Optional turntable for easy load/unload
Recirculating ink systems
Integrated print software

51. System in action

52. Summary
Digital printing of decorative surfaces a very promising application
Key market drivers for personalisation and shorter runs
Technology challenges need to be understood and addressed
Important to develop specific solutions for particular applications