Technology Speed and Substitution

Abstract

Most people think that the speed of technology change is accelerating. This is true for some specific technologies, but not for mature ones. Technology speed is a big challenge for all companies, especially when customers need changes fast and over-engineering looms large.

We live in an age in which technological change is pulsating ever faster, causing waves that spread outward towards all industries.

Andy Groove, cofounder of Intel

The Economist: Frugal innovation: Green ink

© The Economist Newspaper Limited, London (Mar 1st 2012)

BY 2017 printing presses around the world will lap up 3.7 m tonnes of ink, worth some $18 billion. Most of it will contain hydrocarbon-based solvents resulting in emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), an undesirable by-product of the manufacturing process. But not all. EnNatura, a company spun out of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi has created a formula for making ink that is environmentally friendly.

Printing ink is made using four components: resins, solvents, pigments and additives. Resin binds the ink together into a film that sticks on the printed surface. Solvents ensure consistent ink flow. Pigments give ink its colour and additives control its thickness. Raw resin, however, is no good. To make it suitable for printing, it is heated in a closed kettle along with a variety of ingredients at high temperatures. This mixture is spiked with petroleum distillates to tweak the resin’s molecular structure such that its bonds are easily breakable. EnNatura’s proprietary resin chemistry does the same thing using castor oil, a natural purgative.

Resin is then mixed with a vegetable-oil-based solvent to make a thick paste called varnish. The solvent ensures that the ink does not dry too soon (while still on the printing plate) or too late (once applied on the paper). In conventional ink manufacturing, hydrocarbons like ethyl acetate and isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) are added for better solubility and to hasten the drying process. As EnNatura’s resin sports a loose framework of molecules, it mixes readily with linseed oil, a natural solvent and an effective drying oil, explains Krishna Gopal Singh, the company’s co-founder.

Other companies, especially in America, make biodegradable ink. But most use petrochemicals to clean the resin from printing plates once the printing job is complete, which defeats the purpose, according to Mr Singh. EnNatura, by contrast, employs a liquid concentrate made from a surfactant, a substance which, when mixed with water, eats into the resin and scrapes it off the printer.

A lithographic printer typically uses half a litre of liquid in the washing process. An eco-friendly wash in America or Europe costs around $10 a litre whereas a hydrocarbon substitute goes for about $3. EnNatura offers its non-polluting solution for just $1 per litre. (However, its ink sells at about 7-10% more than its conventional counterpart. The difference is due to the higher cost of vegetable oil as compared to a petroleum-based one.)

Devoid of any hydrocarbon solvents, EnNatura’s ink, called ClimaPrint, also poses no health hazards to shop-floor workers. This, however, does not seem to be a strong selling point. Most printers respond that they have yet to suffer from any adverse health effect, Mr Singh sighs. Such apathy can be attributed to lax enforcement of regulations against pollution in general. These can be bypassed by greasing the right palm. As a result, printing presses get away with dumping the after-wash waste in the nearest gutter. After much cajoling, though, a few local print-shop workers in South Delhi have now started to print brochures, leaflets, posters and limited-circulation magazines using ClimaPrint.

This small success has been a long time coming. EnNatura took five years to launch its first product, partly due to lack of experience in the ink-making business. Inadequate funds also meant that the laboratory equipment was not always up to snuff. They got around initial hitches by resorting to what Mr Singh likes to call “jugaad”, or solving problems using only those resources, which are at hand. Thus a dough blender helped grind pigment into the varnish. Instead of using a viscometer, an instrument which measures viscosity of liquids and costs a hefty $20,000, Mr Singh turned to local mechanics who built a replica at less than one-hundredth that. Although readings taken from this clunky tool were not terribly accurate, it proved a great help nonetheless. “In the early days, our ink was way off when compared with conventional ink, so a few percent here and there in the reading didn’t matter,” he recounts.

The 15-member team (excluding the two founders) is made up of graduates with non-engineering backgrounds, mainly because engineers demand far higher salaries. Despite striving to cut costs, Mr Singh jokingly feigns indignation at having to spend 250,000 rupees ($5000) for a lawyer to write the patent document to shield a young start-up from bigger companies.

One such is Japan’s DIC Global, the world’s leading ink manufacturer with a very different approach to tackling the VOC-emissions problem. It harnesses waterless lithography, which, unlike offset printing, uses a layer of silicon on the printing plate instead of water to keep the non-image areas free of ink. Thus water, which is used in huge quantities in offset printing, is spared. It also relies on an imaging technology called computer-to-plate in which image is transferred onto to the printing plate digitally. This has replaced the older computer-to-film procedure where images are first transferred onto a photographic film, which entails the use of chemicals for photo processing. In addition, the ink can be easily washed off using water rather than petroleum based solutions.

This high-tech solution is gradually gaining ground, but it requires a switch to advanced waterless presses. EnNatura, which hopes to license its ClimaPrint formula to ink-manufacturers outside India, improvises with the existing infrastructure. For now, then, its model has promise printed all over it.