RRD Strengthens Marketing Services with Strategic Acquisition of Digital & Print Marketing Businesses from Vericast

Sun Chemical is expanding its edible ink range with the launch of its FSR ink, which was developed to meet the specific needs of the food industry and verified for printing directly onto food including baked goods. Created to offer outstanding color and sharpness, while also complying with the highest levels of quality and safety regulations, Sun Chemical’s FSR ink range is based on synthetic colorants suitable for use for direct food printing using mid-viscosity range piezo printheads, such as the Ricoh GH2220 digital printhead. This completes a series of digital edible inks, complementing the existing low and high viscosity FSE and FSS lines, to enable food decoration with a full range of digital printhead technologies. The FSR range of inks has been developed using carefully selected synthetic food dyes that conform to FDA and EU legislation and is suitable for food printing when used in the right conditions for food production. The technology is also suitable for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical markets such as printing on pills and capsules. Sun Chemical is collaborating with printer manufacturers specifically targeting the food and pharmaceutical industries, highlighting the need to provide the market a fully capable and innovative food printing technology.

How can today’s commercial printers bridge the physical and digital worlds through innovative solutions in printing technology, workflow software and personalization? The answers will be on display at the Xerox booth at PRINT 17. “Xerox is focused on innovations that give our customers the tools they need to grow their business and succeed in the competitive graphic communications market,” said Andrew Copley, president, Graphic Communications Solutions, Xerox. “With the speed and enhanced inline finishing capabilities of the new Versant® 3100, businesses can lower costs and turn around jobs faster; with our latest ink innovations, they can save substantially by printing directly from inkjet to offset coated stocks; and with brilliant highlights of white, dry ink they can deliver exceptional marketing materials. What attendees see at PRINT 17 from Xerox sets us apart from the competition.”

It is no secret that the U.S. printing business had been battered for years as the popularity of digital formats significantly reduced demand for magazines, catalogs, and other printed materials. While sales of books held up better than those of their print counterparts, many of the largest printers worked across multiple product lines. And as a result, some of the industry giants (R.R. Donnelley, Quad Graphics) underwent wholesale makeovers, while smaller companies either closed or merged to cope with the plunge in demand. At a spring webinar presented by PW and Westchester Publishing Services, Jim Fetherston, president and CEO at the printer Worzalla noted that when the pandemic hit and book sales unexpectedly surged, North American printing capacity was at “historic low levels,” which led to demand exceeding capacity for the first time in years.