KURZ has 18 international branch offices and 70 distributors, more than 2,600 employees and ten production facilities throughout Europe, the United States and the Pacific region.
Recently, the company has come to the forefront of another realm of finishing, with its innovative range of high quality thermal transfer printer ribbons.
“Suitable for the company’s thermal transfer desktop or inline printers, flat head or near edge head, KURZ Australia’s K-series thermal transfer ribbons provide a better print finish on almost every substrate,” says managing director Neil McIver.
“They are suitable for the company’s thermal transfer desktop or inline printers, flat head or near edge head, and in addition, KURZ ribbons are environmentally friendly.”
To further increase the company’s drive into thermal transfer ribbon technology, last year KURZ announced an agreement with leading North American thermal transfer ribbon manufacturer IIMAK, which sees KURZ incorporate the CleanStart™ Printhead Cleaner on the company’s complete range of thermal transfer ribbons.
“In a nutshell, CleanStart™ Printhead Cleaner is designed to sit between the leader and the ribbon on the printhead and clean the printhead by removing debris before it builds up - thus removing residue and helping maintain an excellent print quality,” McIver explains.
“CleanStart™ Printhead Cleaner is a revolutionary technology for thermal transfer printer ribbons, that will greatly enhance the productivity and longevity of a thermal printhead.”
“The idea behind this product is that every time you load the printer with a new role of ribbon, CleanStart™ cleans the printhead, so it’s preventive maintenance; stopping build up before it happens.”
“The main benefits include hassle free printhead maintenance, unbeatable printhead quality, a reduction in cost - as the printhead lasts around three times longer - and it only takes six seconds to clean,” says McIver.
KURZ Australia also delivers brand protection high-security products through state-of-the-art, optical anti-counterfeiting technology.
McIver says Diffractive Optical Diffusion features provide economical and effective protection against forgery while strengthening the consumers trust in the brand name of a product.
“The most effective barrier against counterfeiting and tampering is a combination of suitable, available security technologies, such as optical authenticity features made with special security materials and non-visible information written with security inks,” he says.
“Alternatively a product or its packaging must have copy proof appearance.”
Bank notes are perhaps the best example of how these features can be combined, however this is not usually possible on clothing, watches, cosmetics, consumer articles, medicines or automotive spare parts.
“This is where refractive authentication features such as Trustseal ® and Kinegram ® from KURZ come in to play,” McIver says.
“The Kinegram ® process has unique features that are easy to verify but difficult to copy, and is widely used around the world for bank note security-marking; notably the Euro banknotes,” McIver explains.
“The Trustseal* range, which comprises stand-alone security features, offers a very high functional level of security."
"A flexible element of any design, these features can reinforce the purchaser’s trust in the brand.”
"Optical security features from KURZ, can self-destruct, if required, when someone attempts to tamper with the product."
“The design possibilities for this foil are virtually unlimited,” McIver enthuses.
“Different technological processes, from holography to digital computer technology, can be used to generate the tools for foil production, depending on the customer’s security level requirements.”
"Even though a hologram is an effective security feature, it is by no means safe from the skills of a professional Counterfeiter,” McIver warns.
“For that very reason, KURZ has devised an even more effective form of security technology.”
Trustseal® diffractive optical structures are produced by means of a computer based proprietary process and replicated in a foil polymer structure.
These striking structures can be recognised easily, even under unfavourable lighting conditions.
Additional security elements, such as information that can be read by using a special viewing apparatus and so-called ‘nanotext’ also provide high-level protection against counterfeiting.
“Trustseal® technology can also be used to implement diffractive bar-codes, thereby allowing automated authenticity verification,” says McIver.
“A holographic forgery would be readily identifiable on account of the bar-code’s Trustseal® microscopic structures.”
“All in all, the best protection against product counterfeiting is to always stay (at least) one technological step ahead of potential counterfeiters,” McIver says.
“KURZ Trustseal® and Kinegram ® technology can help you do just that.”
Bruce Manuel is marketing consultant to KURZ Australia.
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