Future Links April 13th
Today our news roundup from the printing industry covers a novel use for electronic paper, Uniprint’s new solutions for secure remote printing, a prediction for the growth of 3D printing in the health care market, Tecnau’s new finishing solutions at drupa 2016, algae and the future of packaging, Apple selling Ultimaker 3D printers in Europe and UPM Raflatac’s study of the environmental impact of wine packaging.
Uniprint.net launches appliances for fast, secure remote printing
Uniprint.net, a leader in printing virtualization technology, announced the release of 3 print appliances – UniPrint Infinity vPad Pro, vPad Touch and vPad CE. The multi-purpose, printer-vendor independent appliances are designed to enable on-demand high-speed printing with security and low maintenance, according to Uniprint.
More at Business Wire
Healthcare 3D printing market to grow above 1 billion USD by 2020
Almost every day, a new invention or scientific breakthrough in medical 3D printing makes headlines. The market is undoubtedly growing and a new report from Grand View Research details how much progress is expected and where the main growth will occur. According to the report, the market will be worth 1.13 billion USD by 2020. Laser beam melting, used for making orthopaedic implants, is forecast to be the fastest growing segment with a compound aggregated growth rate exceeding 16 percent from 2014 to 2020.
More at Rapid Ready
Tecnau will showcase new finishing solutions for books at drupa 2016
Building on its deep foundation in providing solutions to transactional and direct-mail customers, Tecnau will continue its increasing focus on the books and graphic arts marketplaces during the upcoming drupa 2016. Tecnau’s drupa exhibition mirrors its new product design investments in the books and commercial print marketplaces, as the company shows multiple equipment lines targeted toward customers in these segments including the Libra One and its new Stacker s25.
More at Printing Impressions
Algae could be the future of packaging
Last week, we brought you an article about a water bottle made of algae-based agar. Now, ‘agar plasticity’, a project that explores using marine algae in packaging, won the grand prize at the annual Lexus Design Award competition. A Japanese designer collective known as AMAM topped a field of over 1,200 entries from 73 countries by creating an earth-friendly alternative to plastic that uses agar, a jelly-like substance derived from algae.
More at Quartz
Apple sells Ultimaker 3D printer in selected stores in Europe
Apple is making further forays into the 3D space. According to media reports, Ultimaker’s 3D printers are available in 12 European Apple online stores. Ultimaker 2+ can be bought in APPLE stores in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy and in Hungary. A quick check showed that the Ultimaker 2+ is indeed available in the Apple online store in Switzerland for 2189 CHF, along with the Ultimaker PLA filament.
More at 3D Printing Center
UPM Raflatac to study the environmental impact of wine packaging
When it comes to the environmental impact of packaging, opinions abound but hart facts are difficult to come by. That’s why UPM Raflatac has cooperated with leading Italian wine producer Cielo e Terra on a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to study the environmental impacts of wine bottles. The comprehensive study took into account the full life cycle of the wine bottle and related packaging elements.
More at Packaging Europe