UV PRINTING

The infinite possibility

It is getting spread that the techniques using in the sign industry are also used into the other industries as the same or similar techniques are overlapped in the different areas. Especially, UV printing has no boundaries on materials, so it is used much wider than other techniques for interior, consumer products, office supplies and so on.
Also UV printing meets the government's Low Carbon Green Growth drive, being suitably fitted to current consumers' consumption trends which is mass varieties.

UV Printing,

pioneering the interior market

Expending to other businesses is discussed widely in the sign industry to overcome the recession. Wall paper printing and interior market are also loved in that aspect. For sign shops, they can use their own skills and machines to their potentially new markets.
UV Printing is eco-friendly and can be used with various materials than other applications. One of reasons that shops hesitate to buy is because it is relatively expensive than other machines. But it is truly worthy enough to make more values with its definite utilization as it can be adopted to many areas.
Dongyul Bae, an executive in Inkchem Ltd., said, "It is time to add values with high quality products. One of our customers have purchased our UV printer for their office supplies to produce value."
UV printing is mostly applied at interior market. Gerkwang UVC, a designed ceiling substrate manufacturer, prints designs on the ceiling substrates to make a higher value.
Sunghee Choi at Gerkwang UVC said, "We wanted to use the UV printer when we saw its excellence at the Construction EXPO 2006. UV printer isn't particular about materials. We applied a design on ceiling substrate to meet the consumption trends which tend to be toward for differentiation and the state-of-the-art."
Gerkwang UVC's design ceiling substrate is comprised of a printed design on thermosetting decorative sheets by UV ink and UV coating to prevent from decoloration and scratches. UV coating is durable for moisture and salt, suitable for places subject to much moisture such as bathroom, swimming pool, toilet and so on. Also, its price is relatively higher than normal ceiling substrates and it is used to luxury places like hotel, bathroom in an apartment and lobby ceiling. Moreover, logo or mark can be printed on the substrate to promote a certain brand. This substrate is loved widely for customers who want high class and unique design.

Applying to unique area

Besides interior market, UV printing is recently applied to information technology and home appliances' case. RPM Technology, having a patent of color embossing, uses HP Scitex FB6100 UV printer and makes a higher value with color embossing technology on information technology, appliances, furniture, and architectural interior/exterior.
Juyoung Shin, CEO of RPM Technology, said, "Also our products fulfill customers' touch whereas other products make customers' visual only. HP UV printer is printed by the vertical injection and it can print on the bended surface evenly. UV printer remain hazardous substances with eco ink. It meets the customers' purpose to persue eco-friendly trend."
UV printer made the printing process shortened and the productivity higher. Shin said, "We could produce only one product with silk printing and now we can produce thousands of it with UV printing. 8-color direct printing replaced the handcrafted work. UV printer can print 100 PC cases of netbook for 30 min. It is also available for large/small quantity at the same time with various designs."
The color embossing products are very practical to many area as it is well applied.

High profit except sign industry

Jinheung, sign manufacturer, uses InkTec's Jetrix UV printer not only for interior but also for traffic sign. Dongyeol Bae, chief executive of Inkchem Tech, said, "We are printing around 38,500 pcs of traffic signs. We have to finish to install these signs over the country by the end of 2011. Sign shops are very interested in traffic sign as it is part of sign industry. Previously traffic signs, printed sheets were attached on the surface and it arose a durability issue. And it is changed to UV printing."
Besides traffic signs, Jinheung also applies UV printer to sticker wall-paper used at preschool, refrigerator door and so on. Sejae Kim, department manager of Jinheung, said, "We thought to buy UV printer 2-3 years ago. UV machines' technology were not enough at that time, but now, many upgrades are applied to current machines. We are very happy with that. With UV printer, we can meet customers' satisfaction desiring simple but complicated products. UV printer is necessary when the design contains more than 10 colors."
Seeing the possibilities of UV printer to many areas, we can expect that its usage will be spread over more than those. One said that "You don't have to use UV printer only for sign market. UV printer can use many materials so it can be applied to other industries. Also, it can be replaced for silk printing and it is eco-friendly with excellent durability."