Masterpiece Graphix

Masterpiece Graphix has developed materials for many digital presses like the HP Indigo, and more recently the Kodak Nexpress, Xerox iGen, and Memjet RapidX. Now MGX is serving even more commercial presses like the OKI data engine on the Xante, Intec, or Isys, as well as the MGI Meteor with synthetic substrate options like BOPP, PVC, styrene, polyethylene, and more. Do you have one or more of these digital presses? We want to know!

The OKI print engine on the Xante, Intec, and Isys is based on dry toner digital technology; the same is true of the MGI Meteor. These presses utilize similar technology as the iGen and Nexpress. MGX has been treating and testing synthetic substrates specifically for the OKI Xante, Intec, and Isys print engine, in addition to the MGI Meteor press. Right now, MGX is testing synthetic substrates like PVC, PSA vinyl, polyester, static cling, styrene, wall graphic, BOPP and more for use on these digital press models.

As we ramp up our capabilities, we want to ask our customers to let us know if they have one of these machines, and what materials they would like to run on their press. Our digital material experts are committed to working together with your team to get you the best possible image quality out of your synthetic substrate jobs on your digital press model.

Be sure to get in touch with your MGX sales rep or email the sales team, and let us know what digital synthetic materials you need for your OKI Xante, Intec, or Isys engine, or your MGI Meteor press. Masterpiece Graphix is here to help you get the digital materials you want for all of your digital press needs.

Anywhere you look on retail shelves, flexible packaging, or flexpack, is emerging as an economical and practical option for prime packaging. According to the Flexible Packaging Association, the total size of the flexible packaging industry was $25.6 billion in 2008 (see article). With the trends that are emerging in digital packaging, there is no reason that the flexpack market will not increase along with digital press use in the coming years.

Flexible packaging presents an opportunity for narrow web digital press users who currently print pressure-sensitive tags and labels to expand their product offerings for additional revenue streams.  Its unique characteristics make it an ideal digital substrate.

There are many reasons why a brand manager would select flexpack for a digital press application:

• Short Runs: Printers can produce small quantities of flexible packages economically, making the design ideal for smaller brands or sample sizes. Short run packaging also allows for mass customization of products tailored to the specific needs of the consumer. Combined with the variable data technology of digital printing, customization can be taken a step further. Digital press users can create unique packaging graphics with different dynamic data such as serial numbers and barcodes for each item printed. With fast on-demand digital printing, printers can produce lower quantities on an as-needed basis, reducing inventory and warehouse space.

• Cost-effective & Greener Packaging: Packaging constructed with flexpack technology can reduce material costs as well as the size and weight of the finished package. Smaller, lighter packages take up less space, reducing warehouse space and transportation costs as a result. In addition, reduction in packaging materials can be economical, cutting material costs. In combination with digital’s profitable short-run advantages, flexible packaging presents itself as an economical choice in today’s market.

• Barrier Construction: Flexible packaging contains layers of materials that create a functional barrier, lending itself to many product applications. Barriers keep contents fresh in food packaging. Barriers are also useful in chemical packaging to keep potentially hazardous material within the package.

• Convenience: Flexpack is the ideal way to produce snack containers or smaller single-use portions. The economical advantages to flexible packaging make it an excellent choice for shorter-life products or convenience items. 

Masterpiece Graphix is the one-stop resource for digital flexible packaging materials and information, and can supply all of the substrates you need for your specific application. Digital-ready heat-sealable films, cosmetic web, co-ex, LDPE, BOPP, polyester, and snack web are just a few of the flexpack substrate options that MGX offers. MGX substrates are of the best possible quality, featuring superior printability, excellent ink adhesion and can be customized to your packaging requirements.

Customers continue to purchase MGX materials to produce flexible packaging for candies, bread bags, food items, potato chips, and hazardous materials. With our expertise, MGX can help you select and build a material specifically for your flexpack application. For more information on flexible packaging substrates from Masterpiece Graphix, please contact your MGX sales rep.

Have you recently installed a new HP Indigo WS6000, or are you considering the purchase? MGX wants to provide you with FREE certified material to run on your new machine! All you have to do is contact MGX and request our WS6000 Welcome Kit. We will send you a whopping 10,000 feet of FREE HP Indigo-Certified material for use on your new 6000, including:

• 2500’ Masterpiece Premium 100# Gloss Calibration Paper (R1341)
• 2500’ 60# Unsupported Setup Paper (R1267)
• 2500’ 2.6 mil White BOPP/Perm/40# (R0440)
• 2500’ 60# Semigloss/Perm/40# (R1332)
• 500’ Acpo Polypropylene Digital Overlaminate (410DIG)
• 2500’ 2 mil Clear BOPP/Perm/40# (if available) (R1126)

All the substrates in our welcome kit have been certified by HP to run on the WS6000. To request your free HP Indigo WS6000 Welcome Kit, please call 636-349-6401 x225 or email sales@mgxdigital.com.

Recently it has come to our attention that there are a few rumors making the rounds about Masterpiece Graphix. As a digital treatment center, we take great pride in our reputation and want to dispel any misconceptions about our business. Below are the actual facts about Masterpiece Graphix, so don’t believe any misinformation to the contrary!

MGX Offers More Than Just HP Indigo Roll Materials: Masterpiece Graphix has been coating HP Indigo roll materials for over a decade. However, MGX is also now offering sheet materials for HP Indigo presses. We keep many stocked sheet material solutions in-house, ready to order and run on your HP Indigo sheet press. In addition, MGX also offers material solutions for the EFI Jetrion industrial label roll press, as well as compatible substrates for dry toner sheet presses like the Xerox iGen and Kodak NexPress. We are continuously adding new digital press technologies to our list of coating capabilities, so if a customer brings a desired material/digital press combination to us, we can help formulate a coating solution.

MGX is More Than Just a “Custom House”: Masterpiece offers turnkey, ready-to-run material solutions for all available HP Indigo press models. Since we’ve successfully coated over 800 different facestock/adhesive combinations for the HP Indigo, we are confident that we can offer HP Indigo-compatible substrates that will run flawlessly the first time. In addition, MGX offers RIT-certified material solutions for many press models like the WS6000. Certification means that the material has been thoroughly tested by the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Printing Applications Laboratory to run trouble-free on a particular HP Indigo model.

MGX Offers Toll Coating, And More: Masterpiece Graphix can ship you digitally-coated, ready-to-print stock from nearly every industry supplier. Of course, you can always ship your desired material to us for coating, but it’s not necessary. Substrates can be ordered directly from us and quickly shipped to you once the material has been coated. Many materials arrive at your location six business days after your order.

MGX Carries Material Mainstays As Well As Exotic Substrates: In fact, MGX carries ALL the industry mainstays like semigloss and BOPP, as well as the tricky, hard to coat substrates. Masterpiece Graphix is essentially a one-stop-shop for Indigo-compatible materials, offering everything from papers to plastics, pressure-sensitives to polycarbonate. No matter the material you desire, MGX has the material you need, at competitive prices. More on this below…

MGX Offers Competitive Pricing on Industry Mainstays: MGX can offer excellent pricing on all the digital material you need, including industry staples like papers and films. You can rely on MGX to provide competitive pricing on all of your needed materials, not just the exotic, hard-to-find stocks. Please don’t hesitate to contact MGX for pricing on any material; we will get it to you quickly, and can answer any questions you have on a particular material. Ordering materials from MGX cuts your bottom line in other ways: running MGX substrates provide increased pip and blanket life on your machine, which in turn lowers your downtime and maintenance costs. Our materials also offer the longest shelf life in the industry.

MGX Provides Customized Stocking Solutions For Your Company: MGX can create a custom stocking option to fit your business model. Substrates can be ordered from us directly, or materials can be drop-shipped to us for coating. If you plan to regularly order the same material, MGX can help you develop a custom stocking solution, ensuring that you always have digital-ready material in-house, the way you want them.

MGX has partnered with EFI Jetrion to coat materials for use on the Jetrion 4000 and 4830 industrial inkjet roll presses as an EFI-certified Jetrion treatment center. Masterpiece Graphix currently offers an EFI-certified material for the Jetrion: 54# Semigloss/Perm/40# (R1338). As part of the EFI and MGX partnership, every new Jetrion press purchase now ships with a free roll of this material.

In addition to the EFI-certified material, MGX has also formulated two Jetrion-compatible substrates: 2.3 mil white BOPP and 57# Semigloss/Perm/40#. Many white BOPP materials that MGX typically coats for the HP Indigo can also be formulated to be compatible with the EFI Jetrion.

The 4380 is the latest edition to the EFI Jetrion UV inkjet series of presses, designed to produce high-quality, narrow-web digital labels. The 4380 touts a wider web width and faster linear speeds and over twice the throughput than its predecessor, the Jetrion 4000. The 4830 can print up to 8.3 inches wide on a 9 inch roll, allowing 2-up 4-inch labels. The wider print zone enables label converters to efficiently take on more print jobs. The 4380 is unique in allowing press operators to profitably produce both long and short-run label jobs. The press also features white ink capability, and can print directly on pre-printed rolls or pre-diecut labels.

EFI launched its new Jetrion 4830 UV inkjet system during Labelexpo Europe 2009 and subsequently won the LabelExpo Europe Label Industry Award for New Innovation for the 4380. The 4380 recently won the 2010 European Digital Press (EDP) Association Award for the “Best Industrial (Specialty) Printing Solution” category.

As a digital material provider, Masterpiece Graphix can optimize materials for HP Indigo, EFI Jetrion or other digital press applications. MGX can help digital press users develop new substrates for use on their digital liquid toner, dry toner, and inkjet presses. If you would like to develop a new digital-ready material for your specific digital press application, please contact MGX for more information.

Longtime MGX customer Lightning Labels is featured in the February 2010 issue of packagePrinting, as a HP Indigo user and digital printer. An all-digital label printer based in Denver, Colorado, Lightning Labels has found success in producing short-run, high-quality label jobs using HP Indigo technology.

Lightning Labels has been a faithful customer of Masterpiece Graphix for some time, utilizing MGX’s coating technology to optimize their digital substrates.  Peter Renton, company founder and director of business development, had this to say about Lightning Label’s relationship with MGX:

“As with the great majority of substrates printed on HP Indigo presses, the substrates need to be top-coated before printing. ‘We outsource our top-coating to Masterpiece Graphix (www.mgxdigital.com) in St. Louis,’ reports Renton. ‘They order uncoated material from the material vendors, coat it themselves, and then ship to us. It is a system that has worked well for many years.’”

Fenton, MO February 18, 2010– Masterpiece Graphix (MGX) now offers both a matte and gloss substrate coating for the EFI Jetrion UV inkjet label press, giving Jetrion users more

substrate options to choose from. MGX has tested these coatings on paper and film materials, with successful results in both cases. EFI Jetrion users can have their preferred substrate digitally optimized with either coating option.

The MGX glossy substrate coating complements the glossy characteristics of the Jetrion’s ink, for a complete, high-gloss label finish. The matte substrate coating is useful for highlighting the Jetrion’s glossy ink, making the printed ink stand out on the matte material.

MGX partnered with EFI Jetrion to coat materials for the Jetrion 4000 and 4830 industrial inkjet roll presses, coating substrates for the Jetrion as an EFI certified treatment center. In addition, MGX has the capability to coat substrates for other UV inkjet press technologies.

Currently Masterpiece Graphix offers an EFI-certified material for the Jetrion: 54# Semigloss/Rubber-Based/40# (R1338). As part of the EFI and MGX partnership, every new Jetrion press purchase ships with a free roll of this material.

In addition to the EFI-certified material, MGX has also offers two Jetrion-compatible substrates: 2.3 mil white BOPP and 57# Semigloss/Perm/40#.

Occasionally an application calls for a need to set a product apart from the competition…maybe it’s a limited-run exclusive, a holiday-themed item, or a top-of-the line product. One way to identify a unique item is to give it a unique, eye-catching label. If a premium product calls for a label that will grab the maximum attention on store shelves, look no further than Masterpiece Graphix’s exotic substrates. MGX offers a full line of “labels that sparkle”: including iridescent, foil, metalized paper and holographic materials. No matter your desired product appearance, specific material requirements or budget, Masterpiece Graphix can provide an exotic substrate to suit your needs.

Holographic Iridescent Metalized Paper/ Perm/40# SCK (R1187): This substrate is one of our most commonly ordered exotic materials. Featuring a two-dimensional holographic diffraction pattern and an FDA 175.105-compliant adhesive, MGX’s Holographic Iridescent Metalized Paper/Perm/40# SCK is eye-catching and is more economically-priced compared to other exotic materials.

Silver Metalized Paper/All-Temp Perm/40# SCK (R0149): This premium finished metalized paper material features a bright silver high-sheen face with an acrylic topcoat and excellent printability. Since the adhesive is FDA 175.105-compliant and performs well in all temperatures, the substrate is ideal for cold beverages that require refrigeration.

2 mil Metalized BOPP TC/ Perm/1.2mil PET (R1179): This material features a bright silver, mirror-like facestock, with a superior wet-out adhesive that is perfect for squeezable container applications. The adhesive is also FDA 21 CFR 175.105-compliant, approved for indirect contact with food.  This material is suitable for food packaging as well as cosmetic and toiletry labeling.

Laminated Foil/Perm/40#SCK: Masterpiece Graphix offers several foil materials. Options include a silver or gold face with a dull (matte) or bright (mirror-like) finishes. Laminated foil offers durability and excellent color reproduction, for labels that really “pop”. Some press operators opt to flood-coat their silver foil, to produce colored tinted metallics and color matched foils. The permanent adhesive used on MGX laminated foil stock is durable and versatile, suitable for virtually all prime label applications. The adhesive is also safe for incidental food contact.

These highlighted products are just a few of the exotic substrates Masterpiece Graphix can provide for use on your HP Indigo press. MGX has many exotic roll materials available. Can’t find what you are looking for there? No problem. MGX can digitally optimize the specific material you want with our custom substrate options. For additional information on all of MGX’s exotic material options, please contact your MGX sales rep.

With the release of the HP Indigo WS6000 industrial digital press, Masterpiece Graphix is hard at work perfecting substrate offerings for use on this revolutionary machine. The 6000 is the latest HP industrial press system, designed to serve users in the labeling, packaging, pouch/bagging, shrink sleeves and folding carton industries. For the next few months, MGX will profile MGX materials suitable for the HP Indigo 6000, and an applicable industry end-use as a series in our monthly newsletter, The MGX NewsRoll. This month, we are featuring three Masterpiece Graphix films HP Indigo-certified by HP for use on the HP Indigo WS6000: 2.6 mil White BOPP/Perm/40# liner, 2.0 mil Clear BOPP/Perm/40# liner, and 2.5 mil Clear MDO/Perm/PET30.

The HP Indigo WS6000 has many features specifically suited for industrial roll press applications, including prime label manufacturing. The Indigo WS6000 has been referred to as a “high-end super-industrial label press,” able to print at a blistering-fast pace: about 98 feet per minute in four-color mode, and an estimated 980,000 linear feet per month. The 6000 consistently outperforms its predecessor, the Indigo 4500, able to output at speeds nearly twice as fast. The Indigo 6000 also features an increased narrow web width, larger ink containers, and a longer repeat than previous models. The press efficiently utilizes each repeat frame, minimizing material waste. In addition, the 6000 possesses variable data capability, applicable for individual barcodes as well as custom label sweepstakes promotions.

Masterpiece Graphix currently offers three prime label substrates certified for use on the HP Indigo 6000: 2.6 mil White BOPP/Perm/40# liner (#R0440), 2.0 mil Clear BOPP/Perm/40# liner (#R1126), and 2.5 mil Clear MDO/Perm/PET30 (#R1156). All three substrates passed the HP Indigo certification tests with the highest possible ratings.

Both MGX HP Indigo 6000-certified BOPP materials feature superior wetout characteristics, short-term removability and perform well on squeezable containers. Both substrates also meet the requirements for indirect food contact of FDA 21 CFR 175.105.

MGX 2.5 mil Clear MDO/Perm/PET30 features good wetout characteristics and ultimate container clarity, for a crystal-clear, no-label look. This product is specifically designed for cosmetics, home and personal care prime label manufacturing, as the material conforms and adheres well to HDPE and PET containers.

For more information on MGX’s HP Indigo-certified and custom prime label substrate solutions available for your HP Indigo press, please contact your MGX sales rep.

Fenton, MO December 9, 2009 – Hewlett-Packard has certified two Masterpiece Graphix materials for the HP Indigo WS6000 industrial roll press: Masterpiece Premium 18 pt C1S Board Stock (R1275) and Masterpiece Premium 100# Calibration Paper (R1341). Both materials passed the HP Indigo certification test with high performance ratings.

Masterpiece Premium 18 pt C1S Board Stock is a bright white, heavyweight coated cover, featuring a glossy coated side. The substrate offers superb color reproduction and superior strength and stiffness, perfect for die cutting, folding, and other finishing operations. Masterpiece Premium 18 pt. Gloss Board Stock is an ideal choice for folding carton production, and is also suitable for hang tags, product tags, and jewelry/perfume boxes.

Masterpiece Premium 100# Gloss Calibration Paper is a foolproof setup paper, essential for troubleshooting color and registration calibration on the HP Indigo WS6000. Glossy 100# calibration paper is recommended by HP to perform correct calibration using the 6000’s densitometer. Masterpiece Premium 100# Gloss Calibration Paper is an excellent choice for flawless HP Indigo WS6000 setup and calibration.

Samples of both materials are available by contacting Masterpiece Graphix at (636) 349-6401 x218, or info@mgxdigital.com.

Masterpiece Graphix now offers seven HP Indigo-certified materials for the WS6000, including:

• 60# Semigloss/Perm/40# (R1332)
• 2.6 mil White BOPP/Perm/40# (R0440)
  
• 2.0 mil Clear BOPP/Perm/40# (R1126)
• 2.5 mil Clear MDO/Perm/PET30 (R1156), and
• 60# Unsupported Uncoated Setup Paper (R1267)

All of MGX’s HP Indigo-Certified materials can be viewed here.