EFI has just wrapped up its three-day global annual conference, EFI Connect, in Las Vegas with attendees taking home many learnings from the event.

The conference, which saw more than 600 of EFI’s customers and partners attend, shone light on some of the company’s activities and solution launches, its plans for 2020 and the direction it will take moving forward.

The focus of every company and customer should be on the now instead of solely on the future. That was the main message from recently appointed EFI CEO Jeff Jacobson at his keynote presentation at EFI Connect.

According to Jacobson, the now and future pendulum needs to work in tandem, with businesses keeping sight of what they are doing now and how it will impact the future.

“There is sometimes conflicting interests between the now and future conversations. Why do we need to choose between the now and the future? Why can’t we have them both?” he questioned.

“Throughout my 30-plus years in this industry I’ve always been confronted with this same question from my team – do we want more revenues or profits? Why can’t we have both?

“The now and the future is the same debate as analogue and digital. But isn’t it about the convergence of the two? We want to be the now and we want to be in the future.

“You cannot afford to eliminate everything that you own and invested in if you come up with something new every year. This is the print and digital convergence, the co-existence of analog and digital, legacy versus new, and mature versus developing. So, you need the now in order to fund and migrate to the future.”

Vutek launches

EFI took to Connect to launch a mid-range three and five-metre wide roll-to-roll printer line, the Vutek D3r and D5r LED inkjet printers.

The printers leverage the capabilities of the Vutek 3r+ and 5r+ printers to offer a mid-range solution with high value applications, including white and clear ink, offering sign and display customers the opportunity to drive more volume with high-end digital print for endless applications and designs.

The new line, which are 3.5 metres and 5.2 metres wide respectively, supports the unique collection of options for Vutek roll-to-roll LED printers, providing a fully system for higher efficiency and a lower total cost of ownership.

The Vutek D3r can print up to 204 square metres per hour (2196 square feet per hour) and the Vutek D5r can print up to 244 square metres per hour (2626 square feet per hour).

Both presses employ UltraDrop technology which can deliver precise and sharp 3-point size text with a true resolution of up to 1200 dots per inch, offering near-photographic quality.

The printers are also easily customisable with optional features including:

• White and clear ink;
• Inline x-cutters and y-slitters;
• Automatic backlit and block-out printing;
• Media spreaders and motorized winders; and more.

Both printers also come with EFI’s Fiery proServer digital front end allowing for increased productivity and accurate colour matching.

Fiery update

Colour, performance, connectivity and management are the key drivers of profitability and as such Electronics for Imaging (EFI) has added these capabilities to Fiery to help its customers improve productivity.

EFI senior vice-president and general manager of Fiery, Toby Weiss, outlined the four key journeys that EFI is taking with Fiery, with new updates to the Fiery FS400 Pro and Fiery XF7 platforms now available.

It has launched Fiery Edge, a next-generation colour profiling technology for superior colour results, more automation, VDP (variable data production), and cloud solutions.

“Fiery supports the customer journey, regardless of what their journey looks like and helps our customers speed up their paths. These enhancements make output quality of Fiery-driven printers even better,” Weiss said.

EFI has also introduced Fiery JobExpert, an automated system that analyses incoming PDF files, dynamically chooses the optimal print settings, and aims to achieve the highest print quality while optimising production time.

“There’s an enormous number of possible combinations and resulting potential for error leads to test prints and waste. JobExpert is a built-in expert for optimal print output. Fiery JobExpert provides the intelligence to print every job perfectly,” Weiss said.

In the journey from static to automation, the company has launched Fiery FreeForm Create, a free stand-alone VDP creation application.

It is also focusing on its new EFI IQ cloud technology platform, which is an infrastructure that requires only one sign-on and one ID but gives customers different value propositions such as IQ Dashboard, Manage, ColorGuard, EFI Go, and Insight.

• IQ Dashboard provides a real-time current view of key print metrics, with drill down detail
• ColorGuard provides cloud colour verification and compares it to industry colour standards
• Insight provides more detailed printer metrics such as utilisation, ink, media, and job details
• EFI Go provides the same information, but on a mobile
• Manage is for customers who have many Fierys to manage their fleet, providing remote Fiery configuration, status tracking and compliance reports for fleets.

Weiss also spoke about the expansion of EFI Communications and the creation of Learning@EFI, a learning platform that provides free training resources and paid certification programs.

Productivity Software Suite enhancements

EFI productivity software portfolio product management vice-president Nick Benkovich pointed out the new enhancements to its software portfolio at EFI Connect:

Mailing workflow (iQuote)

Benkovich said that as mailing is still huge in parts of the world and developed markets, the company has made a significant investment in its iQuote platform to specifically deal with the needs of large commercial mailers.

“There hasn’t been much work done in this space previously. We found that a lot of people had homegrown solutions or outdated solutions in place and the market needed one that works throughout the production cycle,” he said.

“It will be a complete end-to-end mailing solution – from submission to entry to the mailing stream. Basically, if you think about mailing, it’s often done where the details are somewhat vague.

“But variable data has sub components to it and letters need to be personalised and contain variable content. Some need to be mailed out on different dates. So, there needs to be a solution that plans it and updates as you go.”

EFI has signed up four early adopters in the US and the product will go into general release in Q3 this year.

Workbench expansion/adoption and eFlow Automator live

Benkovich said as the automation conversation is important for EFI, it has launched a new module called eFlow Automator, a business platform management system.

“It is the backbone that we use to connect all our components. It allows you to create automated rules in a system that if a job, an estimate or a customer, for example, meets certain criteria, that we can detect and perform actions such as alert through an email or chat message, or add onto a to do list,” he said.

“What it does is allow customers to take those mundane, repetitive tasks and largely automate it. And this solution is not just about the EFI ecosystem; it allows you to automate actions outside of the EFI system. If you’re connected to an SAP for example, we can update the credit limit in SAP.”

Through early adopters, eFlow Automator will be available by the end of this week.

Vertical Applications

Vertical Applications has been available in the market if a customer buys one of EFI’s MIS but the enhancements now enable customers to leverage the technology with one of EFI’s MIS or with a generic ERP system.

According to Benkovich, Vertical Applications takes EFI’s software technology and allows it to be connected to any generic ERP system.

“Historically, we’ve been an MIS company and sold MIS systems and then, things attached to MIS systems. This past year, we’ve been working on a strategy where we will allow customers to integrate many of our components directly into a generic ERP system,” he said.

MarketDirect expansion – PackCentral enhancements

In the packaging space, EFI has expanded its MarketDirect suite with PackCentral enhancements that include a fulfilment solution (a solution that transitions from spreadsheet based to cloud based), a new module called AutoEngage, and a new integrated shipping model named ShipExpress for orders to be shipped out easily.

“It’s going to be a game changer for us, especially in the folding cartons and corrugated space,” Benkovich said.

PackCentral has early adopter customers in the field and will be made globally available in Q2 this year.

The full update to the EFI Productivity Suite 8 is as follows:

Packaging: Digital Print workflow enhancements and enhancements in end-to-end workflow for flexible packaging

Midmarket: Display Graphic production roll optimisation and management, simplified estimating workflow to reduce clicks and improve win rate, business intelligence for MM Suite

Enterprise Commercial: Increased efficiency with Import RFQ Spreadsheet for large campaigns and investment in end-to-end mailing workflow

Corrugated: Business Intelligence for Corrugated Print Suite and improved efficiency in MES

Web-to-Print and Marketing Solutions: MarketDirect PackCentral packaging procurement and eCommerce solution, as well as AutoEngage – integrated customer retargeting solution for MarketDirect StoreFront

Auto-Count: Packaging expansion, especially for flexibles and resin.

Single Pass for display graphics

 EFI vice president of worldwide marketing, Ken Hanulec, has given away some clues at EFI Connect in Las Vegas about the company’s direction in industrial and display graphics.

“As we move with Single Pass across all of our portfolio, the one printer you don’t see Single Pass in right now is display graphics. So, if you connect the dots, maybe you can see where we’re going with the technology,” he said.

EFI Inkjet Single Pass Technology has been a major rollout for the company across industrial building materials, industrial packaging and industrial textile.

“We believe that we have the broadest inkjet product range. We have got a robust display graphics line. We’re just getting started with Single Pass and you’ll probably soon see Single Pass extend to display graphics,” he said.

“I foresee Single Pass to be the dominant technology that wins in the end at drupa. Anybody in the production environment will see value in Single Pass and we have a leadership in this position, which is why it’s critical that we talk about it.

“Single Pass only works if you have a world class printer and world class ink. The only way to make Single Pass work is if you also have the workflow and digital front end tools available to keep up with those production speeds.”

 Reggiani update

 The move towards green is driving EFI Reggiani’s transformation, with the company making efforts to improve its sustainability efforts, says EFI senior vice-president and general manager for Reggiani Adele Genoni.

She mentioned that the three biggest drivers within the textile industry are sustainability, big data management and Artificial Intelligence, and technical textiles for any application within industries such as fashion, healthcare, home, and others.

“What we have done so far is keep on the edge of technology and becoming a one-stop shop for those in the industry,” she said.

“We have built on a continuous ink recirculation system, proprietary electronics and software, higher uniformity printing modes, and new recirculation printhead integration. With the Reggiani range, we aim to satisfy the needs of both small-scale customers and mass production customers.

“Our focus is on driving digital innovation but doing so in a sustainable fashion.”

There are three green processes that Reggiani will be increasing its attention towards:

• Direct to fabric sublimation: allowing print to go directly onto fabric instead of paper, eliminating the need for steaming and washing
• Greenest pigment technology: creating no requirements for steaming, washing and stentering
• Denim dyeing: finding new ways to reduce chemical usage, higher indigo intensity, reduced water usage, operating costs and deeper sulphur dyeing shades with no steaming

Expanding beyond enterprise in APAC

In Asia-Pacific, EFI is expanding its vision to provide solutions to not just enterprise customers alone but rather, those in the mid-market as well.

According to EFI Asia Pacific sales vice-president Rodd Harrison, the recently launched new Vutek solutions show that the company is moving its product range vertically.

“We’re no longer doing just high-end product ranges anymore within the MIS and ERP area but moving into the mid-market range with the newer products that we’ve brought and will soon bring out,” Harrison told Sprinter from EFI Connect in Las Vegas.

“This will extend our reach into smaller and medium sized businesses. We want to touch more customers, and not just those in the enterprise level.”

EFI Asia Pacific is also refining its go to market strategy. Customers are now its key focus.

“We don’t just meet a customer and try to sell printers. We take a holistic approach with both hardware and software and try to solve our customers’ needs. This holistic approach is what sets us apart from our competitors,” Harrison said.

“Our approach has been to go back to customers that have our hardware and letting them take a look at our software products. This has enabled them to unify their workflows.

“Typically, in Australia, our customers go bespoke – they custom-build their own software solutions or they go buy something off the shelf. So, the software enhancements let us to play in both markets. We’ve got a range of products that can help them.

“For instance, they could deploy some of our software solutions for their customers so their customers are on boarding jobs into their workflow in a much more automated, seamless way.”

Harrison said with EFI refining its product (hardware and software) sets every 18 months, it puts the business ahead of the average three-year innovation pace that the industry takes.

Life after EFI for Guy Gecht

Long-serving former EFI CEO Guy Gecht sat down with EFI CEO Jeff Jacobson in a fireside chat to talk through some of his time at EFI, activities after leaving the company, and trends he’s seeing in the industry.

Gecht said that following his resignation from the EFI CEO role, two years ago, he was faced with uncertainty as to what he wanted to do with his time.

“It was always a mystery to me what I was going to do when I left. I was with EFI for 19 years and the company went through so much transformation in that time; and as a CEO, the weight was on my shoulders because customers expected us to deliver quarter after quarter,” he said.

“But when I stepped down from all that responsibility, I wanted to slow things down to zero. I took things down to zero to think about what I wanted to do. In the early days, I slept as long as I wanted and recuperated.

“Then I slowly picked things up. I never had more than a meeting or catchup a day. And then I took classes in standup comedy, which my family signed me up to, I don’t know why and also took the time to read some books.

“After a few months, I ended up on the board of Logitech. There’s plenty of innovation in that company that I had to learn about. So, I utilised my time towards that.

“I have also been mentoring CEOs of startups as well. Silicon Valley is a huge space for startups and I try and impart my knowledge to leaders that seek it,” he said.

The change of pace has been a transition for Gecht, who has also taken up some projects on the side.

“I never thought this sabbatical thing was going to last. I’m now a general contractor with my wife and that keeps me busy. We have been building our home, the land which we bought from the Hewlett (the Hewlett part of Hewlett Packard) family and we’ve been working on that project together,” he said.

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