TORONTO—It was decidedly the biggest story to come out of Drupa.

It’s nanography, a technology being introduced by Landa Digital. For the opening keynote at Print World in Toronto, Kristof Dekeukelaere, North American sales manager for Landa Digital, was on hand to speak to a Canadian audience about nanography for the first time.

Dekeukelaere said a projected $1 billion in orders were taken through letters of intent during Drupa for nanographic technology, with the first installs of the printers in development expected at the end of 2013.

Nanography uses digital inkjet technology, but sprays nano particles on to a special blanket (also developed by Landa) that drops particles in a precise location that are only 500 nanometres thick when dried. To put that in perspective, “a nano particle is to a soccer ball what a soccer ball is to the earth,” he said.

Dekeukelaere said nanography is more economic because it uses ink more efficiently, as it doesn’t absorb into the paper. He said it fills the “profitability gap” that exists between offset and digital, with offset being efficient at high runs and digital preferred for shorter runs.

The cost of the printers was not disclosed (the agreements so far are confidential), while the cost of nanoink is not yet set in stone (or paper, for that matter). However, Dekeukelaere said the company’s aim is to make nanographic printing the cheapest per page.

To download a white paper about nanography, visit landanano.com.



Print World continues until Nov. 19.