Crown Van Gelder has re-branded its high-speed inkjet papers as the papermaker gears up for growth in colour inkjet printing.
The five papers in its family will now come under the ‘Crown Letsgo’ brand, and range from Letsgo Eco targeted at transactional printing and the multi-purpose Letsgo Universal, through to Letsgo Bright Silk aimed at publishers and retailers.
Grammages range from 70gsm to 170gsm. The Dutch papermaker has two paper machines at its Velsen site near Amsterdam, with the capacity to make 220,000 tonnes per annum. Its flexible setup means it can make smaller volumes with different types of coating.
Around 10% of its current output is inkjet papers, mainly used in transactional printing, and it also makes label base papers and laser papers.
Ad Sies, sales and business development manager for digital, said demand was growing as inkjet printing expands into new areas: “We introduced our new silk grade at Drupa last year and it has proved very popular. We subsequently introduced Letsgo Bright Silk because retailers wanted a brighter paper.
“There is a real need for this type of paper in colour inkjet printing – we expect to see growth in retail and publishing applications,” Sies said. The firm’s papers are approved to work with equipment from all the major suppliers of high-speed inkjet kit, including Canon, HP, Kodak, Ricoh, Screen and Xerox.
Through its Letsgo Develop initiative Crown Van Gelder aims to speed up the development of new papers. “Inkjet is hugely complex, technologically and it needs good paper,” Sies explained. “If you have a dialogue with the equipment manufacturer you can really shorten the time to market.”
The €160m business employs 285 staff. It deals directly with major customers and its papers are also sold via Paperlinx. Technical details about its inkjet paper range can be viewed on the Crown Van Gelder website.