In 2012, Benny Landa and Landa Digital Printing introduced the company’s new Nanographic Printing® presses at drupa 2012. It took longer to reach the market than many anticipated, but the company shipped its first presses in 2018 and is now growing rapidly, with more than 50 presses running worldwide today.

The Nanographic Printing presses run in B1 format, the standard print production format used in offset for commercial and package printing. The Nanographic presses use Landa’s water-based NanoInk, which utilize nano-sized pigments that have unique light absorption properties. The Nanographic process prints on a blanket instead of directly on the paper and transfers the dry ink (image) from the blanket to the paper.

Landa has two NanoInk manufacturing plants in operation, in Israel and The Netherlands, and a third planned to open in late 2024 in the Midwest region of the US.

“Landa places strategic importance in our North American customer base,” said Gil Oron, Landa’s CEO, in announcing the plans for the new ink plant. “We are growing in the region rapidly and the new plant will help match the demand we are seeing. The plant will supply our customers with NanoInk, the key to producing Landa’s stunning images with digital flexibility and the quickest turnaround times.”

Amir Shalev, market development director for Landa Digital Printing, noted that North America is a growth area for the company, which makes adding an ink facility important.

“North America is the fastest growth area for Landa, and print volumes are rising substantially,” Shalev said. “By investing in manufacturing and shipping NanoInk from within the US, first and foremost we will be able to keep a superior service level to our growing installed base. Logistics improve and with it both ours and our customers’ sustainability measures. We also get cost improvements which benefit all parties and achieve load balancing for NanoInk on a global scale. The plant will be located in the Midwest.”

The new plant is expected to begin operations in late 2024.

Shalev added that on the technical side, there are always advancements being made to the NanoInk.

“One of the most exciting characteristics of NanoInk is its dynamic variability,” Shalev said. “If we create the right conditions, we can make it do some amazing tricks. So, the answer is yes, advancements are always being made.

“Our challenge moving forward is to retain all the great qualities of NanoInk while one, scaling production to keep up with massive demand, and two, leveraging scale to reduce costs. There could always be advancements in the range of substrates and ink properties, and we will keep the market updated accordingly,” he added.
Shalev said that Landa Digital Printing is continuing to see growth on many fronts.

“We’re getting great traction across multiple markets and end-uses,” Shalev observed. “Landa’s presses are proving to be a must-have for folding carton production at pharma-focused converters, as well as for CPG packaging on a global scale from the US, through Europe and into China.

“On the commercial side, Landa presses have significantly captured both offset and digital pages through multiple press installation at on-line printers, GCPs, MSPs, and customers focused on direct mail,” Shalev added. “We have growth in both global-sized enterprises as well as small local producers.”

Shalev noted that the Nanographic presses reproduce 96% of spot colors, require zero make ready and can print on any off-the-shelf paper stock.

“The rate at which we are receiving inquiries, engaging with prospects, and seeing prospects move to purchase is also increasing,” Shalev added. “Today there are more than 50 Landa Nanographic Printing presses installed worldwide.”

Shalev reported that Landa Digital is seeing repeat orders from printers and getting good feedback from its customers.

“The feedback has been tremendous,” said Shalev. “Our customers’ customers – that is, brand owners – love the quality and the consistency. And in the meantime, we’ve got press operators who, after just a month or two after they’re trained and running jobs confidently, start testing new applications. We’ve got commercial printers running folding cartons and a packaging printer doing great work, for the first time, in POP/retail.

“The press’ versatility is making it possible for these providers to expand their service portfolios; and now brand-owner customers who love the results on the Landa are starting to move more work to these providers,” he continued. “The brands can not only maintain better control and consistency across campaign components; they also realize greater time, material, and transportation savings by working with fewer providers. And, of course, our own customers are happy to expand these relationships.”