Dr. Stefan Kappaun takes over as Durst Group’s new Textile Printing Segment Manager, who has responsibility for implementing strategic direction in home textiles, clothing and accessories
Durst Group, 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 and Fluids).
A technical chemist with a focus on polymer science and a trained business economist, he is an expert in materials science and the development and marketing of ink systems for digital inkjet printing. 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 Group 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,” Dr. Kappaun said.
“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. Durst Group has a comprehensive ecosystem to serve the different requirements and to support customers in the digital transformation. Our printing systems are designed for industrial productivity, but also offer profitability from the very first metre,” he added.
“The prerequisite for this is mastery of the pre-treatment and post-treatment steps as well as the digital workflow, in which Durst Group focuses on the consulting and training services at its new customer experience centre at the headquarters in Brixen,” he further stated.
Dr. 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 Oberparleiter as the new Junior Product Manager (Textile Printing). New sales and service structures are also being implemented in the core markets.