UPM reaches phase II of Sappi venture
Material manufacturers, UPM and Sappi, have reached the next stage of their Joint Venture which was first announced in December last year
Drytac has outlined how its self-adhesive vinyl was used to transform two Ricoh presses for the Print Evolution Live event which took place last month
Materials manufacturer, Drytac, has detailed how its Polar Grip self-adhesive vinyl was used to transform the look of two Ricoh print presses, ahead of the company’s recent Print Evolution Live event in November.
Ricoh’s Print Evolution Live open day took place at its UK Customer Experience Centre in Telford last month. Now in its third year, the event gathers various experts in the print industry for a range of presentations, including a number of Ricoh’s latest solutions being demonstrated live.
Ricoh Europe’s communications team elected to decorate several of its machines this year, both to help catch the eye of visitors and showcase what is possible with Ricoh printers.
Ricoh’s printer models each have an animal 'avatar', so each wrap was therefore designed to reflect this. The RICOH ProTM Z75 is known as the Dragon, with the RICOH ProTM VC80000 carrying the avatar of Harpy Eagle.
Ricoh selected Drytac Polar Grip as the material for both printer wraps. Polar Grip is a polymeric self-adhesive PVC film that can offer up to seven years’ indoor durability when paired with a matching laminate.
The high bond grey adhesive of the film is designed to allow users to apply graphics to a wide range of surfaces such as metal, plastic, wood, glass, and brick.
For added durability and safety, Ricoh paired Polar Grip with Interlam Emerytex Pro, a pressure-sensitive overlaminating film featuring a matte pebble texture and seven-year indoor and outdoor longevity.
Shane Barrett, pre-sales manager of Inkjet Solutions (EMEA) at Ricoh Europe, says: “We selected Polar Grip because the paint job on both the Ricoh Pro Z75 and Ricoh Pro VC80000 have a textured finish, so we wanted to be sure of a good adhesion of the vinyl.”
The designs were printed in-house by the Ricoh Europe team on a RICOH ProTM L5100e latex wide-format printer before being applied to the two machines. Both wraps were then installed ahead of the manufacturer’s Print Evolution Live 2025 event.
The finished wraps will remain on the demonstration printers for future visitors of the Customer Experience Centre to see.
Barratt adds: “The print quality on Polar Grip was perfect using a generic PVC profile on our Pro L5100e. It fed through the printer without any issues with perfect tiling and panel alignment for the installers.
“The initial reaction internally and from visiting clients was that it looks very impressive. Thanks to the support from Drytac, we were able to find the correct products for this impressive application.”
