Durst, manufacturer of advanced digital printing and production technologies, has restructured its segment for industrial textile printing. The new segment manager, Dr. Stefan Kappaun, has responsibility for the strategic direction in home textiles, clothing and accessories. Dr. Kappaun also will be the connecting link to the Large Format Segment, which takes over soft signage and fabrics in the portfolio.
Dr. Kappaun is a member of Durst Group’s executive team and heads the ink business for all segments as Executive Vice President Inks & Fluids.
This know-how is particularly important within industrial textile printing, because, in contrast to other industries, different materials, pre- and post-treatments as well as large-scale process influences, represent a daily challenge in digital textile production. At the same time, digital textile printing is one of the largest growth markets for inkjet technologies. It is a sector being targeted by advertising media and large format providers in addition to traditional textile producers. All have different textile experiences, but are always looking for new applications and business opportunities.
With the Alpha Series, Durst offers industrial printing systems with water-based reactive, pigment and disperse inks as well as with the pixel-to-output strategy end-to-end software solutions for efficient and cost-transparent digital textile printing.
“The digital textile printing market is fragmented in itself and we see different speeds and developments worldwide,” says Dr. Kappaun. “While new, non-industry service providers often already have digital know-how but less textile experience, the traditional manufacturers are masters of textile finishing, but not all analog processing steps can be transferred directly to digital textile printing.
Dr. Stefan Kappaun succeeds Martin Winkler in his expanded role as Segment Manager Textile Printing, who will take on the role of Global Sales Manager Textile Printing in the future. The Textile Printing Team will also be supplemented by the experienced service technician Martin Oberparleitner, as the new Junior Product Manager Textile Printing. New sales and service structures are also being implemented in the core markets.–