Artron pursues ultimate innovation in every area — from papers and inks to printing and binding technologies, and has gained renown for its quality — quality that has been achieved by investing in the best equipment and technology. This inventive approach has resulted in a host of patents, which in turn have driven the company's steady growth.

Awards galore

Line of Benny Awards — just a few of the more than 1,000 printing awards captured by Artron

So far, Artron has established three operation bases in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, six art service centers in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Wuhan, as well as two offices in Nanning and Hong Kong, with Artron's products and service reaching out to dozens of countries and regions around the world.
Books printed by Artron have won numerous international and Chinese awards, including the Premier Print Awards (the Benny) of the U.S., the 'Best Book Design from all over the World' in Leipzig, Germany, the Hong Kong Print Awards, and the China Print Awards. Artron won Benny Awards seven years in a row and is honored to have garnered around 1,000 awards over the years.
In addition to art printing, Artron's database of Chinese art is the world's largest art database and functions as a comprehensive platform for preserving, researching, sharing, adding value and reusing the digital resources of Chinese art. Artron's art network includes the world's largest portal for Chinese art, and the company has created the world's largest library of art books.
The first press Artron selected some 20 years ago was from Komori, and since then the two companies have built strong ties. Artron now has over 30 Komori presses at its three main operating sites. At drupa 2016 the company decided to purchase three Impremia IS29 29-inch sheetfed UV inkjet digital printing systems at once. Two are in operation; preparation for installation of the third system is now under way.

The solution for artists and Artron

Until Artron installed the Impremia IS29, they had problems with reproduction of digital images and artworks. Problems resulted from the difference between the quality sought by the artist in reproduction of the work and the reproduction capabilities of the digital printer with regard to color/chroma, gamut, size and substrate. The Impremia IS29 solved the problems that the printer was facing in good order. One K-ColorSimulator is used for two Impremia IS29s, handling color management and job allocation.
These machines were used to produce the Artron Big Book and some of the Artron Images products. These jobs have extremely high chroma printing requirements, and although the company tested digital systems from other makers, none approached the performance of the Impremia IS29. The Artron Big Book captured two Bennys at the Premier Print Awards.
At present, some jobs are sample/proof printing or additional printing using the Impremia IS29. Artron used mainly inkjet printers up to now for proofing, but there were issues such as limitations on the types of paper and the cost of ink.

Infinite potential

Wan Jie, Chairman and President of Artron Art Group

Artron President Wan Jie describes a customer's reaction: "There is one client who has been cooperating with Artron for 20 years. But he's difficult, hard to please and can find the tiniest imperfection. However, the items printed on the Impremia IS29 won his highest acclaim. As he told us, 'Artron's latest digital technology surprised me in three ways. First, color expression is not only the best in the world, it's the world's only. Second, with this technology, it's possible to achieve exactly the same print effects as offset printing. And third, based on this level of technology and innovation, Artron Images will be able to flourish with today's customer demands for individuality and distinctiveness. This system's capacity for producing personalized galleries means that every photographer will be able to create high quality, sophisticated photo collections infinitely.'"
The Komori Impremia IS29 — with its impeccably beautiful finish and incomparable performance — has also won the praise of Artron executives and operators.
Artron President Wan Jie: "The Impremia IS29 is inspiring the feeling of kando in us once again. Artron has tested nearly all digital printing systems, and the quality of the Komori Impremia IS29 is by far the highest of all these systems. We think that the print quality of the Impremia IS29 is perfect."
Artron Vice President for Technology Ge Nong has similar views: "A wide range of papers can be printed on the Impremia IS29 and pre-coating is unnecessary. Color expression is exceptional, the color gamut is wide, output precision is high and the quality is the same as offset printing. Even printing on ordinary paper is almost identical to photographic quality. The features of this technology completely answer our needs — instant curing, high adhesion and rub resistance."

Support for business model

Artron Vice President Song Qiang adds: "With the introduction of new equipment, what is important is not just that it solves the problems that the company has at the time but also that it supports the company's business model for future growth and that it brings together the market and products. What Artron must exploit is the B2C model, and Artron Images is a classic B2C model. The quality and performance of the Impremia IS29 are the perfect match for us. The machine integrates the strengths of both offset and digital printing, thus not only strongly supporting Artron Images print quality but also signifying the direction of our future development."
Yan Liang, General Manager of Artron's Production Delivery Operations Center, puts it as follows: "Customers are extraordinarily demanding when it comes to artwork, so we must be very particular when it comes to selecting equipment. We undertook exhaustive comparison and testing before selecting the Impremia IS29."
Chen Yong, chief Impremia IS29 operator at Artron's Beijing Plant, notes, "Operation of this press is simple and easy — sheet feeding and delivery as well as output can all be handled by one person. It has the stability of an offset press and the flexibility of a digital printing system. It responds immediately even if each sheet is a different image. The color gamut is wide and the print quality is superb. Customers love it. It is also fast — 3,000 sph simplex and 1,500 sph duplex. A great many types of paper can be used, so it meets the vast majority of customer needs. Usually, if the paper is 100 g to 300 g in weight, the Impremia IS29 performs color correction automatically. And perfecting is automatic. Komori KP-Connect is just fantastic. Since this technology connects all printing processes, printing can be made automatic and intelligent as well as efficient and green. I am confident that this machine will draw digital inkjet technology forward."
With the corporate vision of becoming an outstanding general art service agency, Artron integrates technology with art and builds products and services covering the whole art industry chain by tremendous strength in art data acquisition, processing, storage, management and application. The perfect platform for heroic ambitions: the Komori Impremia IS29 29-inch sheetfed UV inkjet digital printing system.