Stefano Prando
Sales Director MS Printing Solutions
We offer solutions that are extremely flexible
Tradition is very important for Italy-based MS Printing Solutions, which is full of passion, experience and creativity. With its deep knowledge of the industry, the company is able to develop innovative products for the demanding and ever-changing market of digital textile printing. Its modern technologies allow MS to improve any aspect of textile printing, starting from performance up to the most important environmental issues. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, MS Printing Solutions’ Sales Director Stefano Prando discusses textile printing.
Textile printing has changed drastically compared to what it was at the beginning of the century. Your comment?
MS has been creating innovative digital printing machines since the 2000s, at the very beginning of the journey of the textile printing market towards the digital age, thus becoming a leader. From that moment on, digital printing has been growing more and more each year and nowadays it is the fastest growing sector in the textile market.
Digital printing has many advantages compared to the analogue one. First, from a sustainability point of view, it reduces the carbon footprint by around 40 per cent, the inks wastage by around 20 per cent, the water consumption by around 60 per cent, and the energy consumption by around 30 per cent. Secondly, digital printing is versatile, a crucial asset in a world where companies have to provide rapid order fulfilments, a fast, agile and easy process and an efficient supply chain. Moreover, digital printing matches today’s textile industry challenge, which is carrying out an innovative sustainable production chain, ensuring cost-effective printing output.
What differentiates you from other European counterparts?
We don’t like to talk about ‘differences’, we’d rather talk about ‘characteristics’. Our characteristics include being an all-round printing consultant that focuses on each phase of the process with the utmost attention—from assisting in the printing process traceability to granting reliability and a long lifetime for our printers.
A highly diversified portfolio which boasts nine paper printers, six textile printers, six dryers and five steamers. Each one with its own feature. Moreover, our R&D constantly works on our portfolio to reach the maximum level of efficiency, aiming to a well-balanced compromise with productivity and reduction of the time to market.
Reliability and the ability of our machines to last over time are two other characteristics that ensure the maximum possible sustainable ROI. Together with all of this, we offer solutions that are extremely flexible, therefore extremely versatile.
Which are your major markets for textile printing solutions?
All the global markets with a textile calling. This includes the fashion industry: garments, swimwear, sportswear, underwear and work clothes. Home textiles is another market, with blinds, carpets and curtains, just to name a few.
At what rate is the global textile printing industry growing? In which countries/regions is it growing the most?
The global textile printing industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of around 12 per cent from 2022 to 2030.
What are the some of the biggest trends that you foresee in textile printing?
There are some trends that will characterise textile printing. Sustainability is one for sure and flexibility is another. But also, performance and reliability. Our digital printing machines are extremely reliable and efficient, and this translates to a cost-effective printing output, an easy replication of precise designs, a decreased frequency in maintenance and in emergency interventions. A big trend is also to have a sustainable ROI (return on investment), which takes into consideration intangible internal costs, benefits and externalities such as environmental effects which were not considered earlier. The energy issue is also an important issue that involves Europe and the whole world too. In this case, digital printing helps a lot with its reduction of around 30 per cent in energy consumption.
What has been your latest innovation in textile printing?
If you are curious to discover our latest innovations, there are only a few months to wait because we will display them all at ITMA in Milan, in June 2023.
How do you incorporate sustainability into your operations and products?
We have sustainability at heart, and we do our best to innovate, since we believe innovation to be the starting point. In order to be more and more sustainable, we put a lot of effort into research and engineering from the very beginning of the design phase, so that there is a considerable energy saving. We also put a lot of effort into optimising the durability of our machines’ vital components by constantly updating and using high quality materials, thus minimising our machines’ breakdowns and maintenance costs. The opportunity to obtain the same long-lasting printing results on different machines is also a key element when it comes to the optimisation of our clients’ processes, and for us it means being able to be versatile.
How did MS Printing Solutions begin?
MS Printing Solutions’ story began in 1983, when the company was founded. It was in the late 90s that MS chose to only design digital printing machines. The outcome of this decision came in 2003, when the first digital printing machine was born and the journey to digitalisation began. Then, in 2011 the first LaRio Single Pass was installed, thus starting a further revolution inside the already existing digital one. In 2019 our MiniLario project began, and it represented another step towards innovation. MiniLario has been the first scanning machine with 64 printheads, being the fastest in the world and a printing machine ahead of its time.
How has the company evolved over the years?
Over the years, the company has continued to evolve, since we always are in search of innovation and improvement. If I had to describe this evolution in a few words, they would be “a boost to our global presence”. I’m thinking about the synergy with the companies of Dover Corporation, in particular the integration with Markem-Imaje which was fulfilled in 2021 and it is going to further strengthen our global presence.
Moreover, we have invested a lot in the R&D team that up to today has doubled the number of engineers dedicated to the designing and development of our machines and we always pay attention to a constant enhancement of our after-sales services by supporting the management and improving the efficiency over time of our machines.
We also work hard to constantly improve our digital processes by digitalising our services as printing consultants, thus keeping up to date with today’s ever-changing needs.
What are the top requirements of buyers when it comes to textile or fabric printing?
Buyers look for a great flexibility, which is the ability to manage both long and short print-runs. Repetitiveness of results is also a top requirement, because it enables our clients to go from a single-pass machine to a scanning machine without colour or printing quality problems.
Buyers also seek speed, which mustn’t compromise high quality performances. MS’ carriage, hanging on the printing bridge, allows greater stability and precision during printing if compared to standard solutions even when running at full speed without compromising quality, thus assuring productivity increase and a top-level reliability.
What is next in the pipeline at MS Printing Solutions? Do you plan to launch new products or expand your production capacity in the next few years?
At the moment, a major R&D effort is taking place, therefore the team has been doubled. A new arrangement in our technical assistance team has been completed, so that we can be even more efficient and effective. We moved to our new venue in Guanzate, which is an up-to-date equipped plant/facility. The synergy with Markem-Imaje, a company part of Dover Corporation, enables us to strengthen our local presence, since Markem-Imaje boasts 41 offices in 28 countries. Last but not least, we released our new JPK EVO… but our novelties do not end here. If you want to know more, come visit us at ITMA 2023 in Milan.
Published on: 30/11/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
