The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted industry and commerce around the world, but not every sector has seen a downturn…and some have adapted to turn potential adversity into an opportunity.
Take the printing industry. Although traditional print items such as brochures, advertising posters, and promotional banners have declined, floor graphics, social distancing posters, and COVID-Secure publicity material have been very much in demand.
And with offices, retail stores, public spaces, and transport services gradually re-opening, demand for these products is likely to grow still further, with those printers offering fast turnaround times grabbing the lion’s share of the market.
This has created its own pressures, not just in terms of workplace organisation to ensure safe operating conditions for members of staff, but in keeping production flowing to satisfy promises made to customers.
When operating to capacity, print businesses need to avoid any unscheduled disruption to production, but they also owe a duty of care to their employees that go beyond social distancing.
Emissions associated with inks, lacquers, adhesives, and cleaning solvents can all have a negative impact on health, so it’s vital that any vapours and mists generated by operations are not inhaled by operatives and that chemicals do not come into contact with skin.
Donaldson BOFA has developed a wide range of fume extraction systems designed specifically for print applications that generate particulate and gaseous organic compounds within the wide and super-wide printing sector. The PrintPRO systems are designed to help businesses in the print and print finishing sector operate within regulated workplace exposure limits associated with a variety of ink types, including solvent, UV, and dye sublimation.
The PrintPRO technology is compact but incorporates a large gas filter to capture and filter a wide range of solvents generated within these environments, including MEK, ketones and ozone from UV applications.
The units are easily adapted to a huge range of environments, including wide format printing, inkjet coding printers (CIJ) (both solvent and UV), and numerous mailroom applications such as UV coating, hot melt glue binding, and mailroom polywrapping. Standard features include long life, low-cost replacement filters, high-airflow pressure rates, and advanced carbon filter technology.
Like most sectors, the print industry has had to adapt to COVID-19, but for these businesses, there are opportunities for those who can maintain productivity in a safer way in order to deliver the materials and messaging valued by the wider community in adapting to the new normal.
To find out more about Donaldson BOFA’s print industry solutions, go to www.donaldsonbofa.com/applications/printing-fume-extraction/
