LFP - Large-Format-Printing

Expression Numerik profits from environmental focus and HP Latex Ink Technology

Wednesday 01. August 2012 - For Franck Minnaert, managing director of the French large-format printing business, Expression Numerik, being environmentally conscious is about much more than simply trying to appear as such. It's about undertaking tangible and meaningful measures that actually help reduce the impact on the environment.

“We’re a business, and like any business, our ability to survive depends upon us making money, but we won’t do this if it compromises on the environment,” says Minnaert, who founded Expression Numerik 13 years ago with two colleagues.
Located in Tulle, in the Limousin region of central France, the company delivers services built entirely on the supply of digitally printed large format applications, which it achieves exclusively via HP Latex technology. Having already operated three HP Designjet Printers over the course of several years, the company invested in its first HP Latex Printer three years ago, this was followed by a six-color HP Scitex LX600 Industrial Printer in 2010.
Since the installation of the HP Scitex LX600 Industrial Printer, productivity has gradually increased, to the extent that the 2.6m (104in) wide / 39m2 per hour solution now prints around 8,000m2 of output each month.
“Given that we’re producing 100 percent HP Latex printed material, and in such quantities, we have to be able to have complete faith in our print hardware,” says Minnaert. “This level of monthly output is the best proof of the LX600’s in-built reliability and, as expected, is something only matched by the quality of the printed graphics, which are always vivid and vibrant.”
A former HP apprentice, Minnaert admits a certain loyalty to a brand with whose values and feature-rich technology he is very familiar.
“Having had the opportunity to live and breathe HP large-format printing solutions, I knew that our company was buying into a high-quality, established heritage and this is embodied in solutions like the HP Scitex LX600 Industrial Printer,” he says.
For a company whose respect for the environment is so pivotal to its very ethos, the credentials of the HP Scitex LX600 make happy reading for Minnaert, in particular its water-based HP Latex Inks that produce odorless1) prints for indoor applications where odor is a concern.
“It’s fair to say that we frequently win business as a direct result of the attributes of the latex inks,” he says. “I believe in being honest with customers, so I ask them if they want their printed graphic arts project to smell and give them a headache, or not. Naturally they don’t, so our latex offering always proves a deal clincher.”
Of the many jobs undertaken by Expression Numerik – both for direct as well as agency clients – a recent requirement for French photographer, Franck Vogel, perhaps typifies the type of work Minnaert and his team relish.
Vogel, renowned for capturing images that illustrate the harmonious relationships between nature and man, sought the means to reproduce stunning pictures of India’s Bishnois people. These graphics would then be displayed as a large-format poster campaign within the Paris metro station, RER Luxembourg.
“The Bishnois are generally regarded as being among the world’s first conservationists and, since as early as the 15th Century, have considered the preservation of animal and vegetable life as a religion,” explains Minnaert.
“Naturally, having spent so much time with his subjects and sharing many of the same values, Franck Vogel was keen to ensure that production of the large-format campaign would be done via print technology that would not betray this mutual philosophy of putting the environment first,” he adds.
Having worked previously with Expression Numerik, Vogel was aware of the company’s capabilities using HP Latex Ink, as well as its respect for the environment. This ultimately led to Expression Numerik producing the print campaign for Vogel and his own client, Parisian public transport operator, the RATP2) Group.
For 10 years, the RER Luxembourg metro station has been central to the RATP’s efforts to illustrate its support for the development of durable and urban ecology. One way in which it demonstrates this is to use spectacular imagery along the station’s platforms
to profile those committed groups or individuals that devote themselves to causes that improve environmental sustainability.
Using its HP Scitex LX600 Industrial Printer, Minnaert’s team produced about 580m2 of vibrant large-format graphics, comprising of six separate 6m x 16m pieces. These were printed onto self-adhesive vinyl substrate which is 100 percent chlorine and phthalate free, as well as being fire-retardant – a key requirement for the RATP.
The individual elements were printed by Expression Numerik in less than one and a half days, and together, made up complete images for six massive eye-catching posters measuring 6m x 16m. Importantly, thanks to the quick-drying HP Latex Inks, installation was carried out without unnecessary delay.
After being protected with an anti-graffiti laminate, the posters were installed at the RER Luxembourg metro station at the end of 2011, where they instantly turned heads of many of the estimated 280,000 people that pass through the station each day. This makes for an incredibly large audience and essentially means that the images will have been viewed by more than 10 million people by the end of the six-month campaign.
“We were delighted with the finished results, above all because the vivid and intense colors of the original photographs were so faithfully reproduced,” says Minnaert. “This was pivotal to the project, and the fact that we employed print technology designed for the environment, would have meant nothing if it didn’t deliver the high print quality needed.”
For Minnaert, this aspect of HP Latex Ink technology is fundamental, and something that makes the offering so special.
“Regardless of where consideration for the environment sits among customers’ priorities, getting their job produced quickly and at fantastic quality levels is something they expect as a given,” Minnaert concludes. “The HP Scitex LX600 enables us to achieve this, while delivering strong credentials that satisfy
our own environmental philosophy and that of an increasing number of our customers. You could say that this makes for a win-win situation.”