Recognising the right time to act can mean the difference between profit and loss or growth and stagnation.
For EFI, more than ever before, 2017 is the right time for print providers to choose the right technology partner; the right time to invest; the right time to diversify; the right time to integrate and automate.
For many print companies, that time is right now. Andy Yarrow, director, Asia Pacific, says, “Time is money. But EFI is doing more than just helping our partners to be more productive and cost effective, we are partnering with them to help grow their future businesses.
Expanding in all of its areas of expertise, EFI has taken on an industry leadership role in the print, signage, and packaging industries as evidenced by the global attendance at its recent sell-out Connect 2017 Conference.
With a slew of new innovations, the company has positioned itself to make 2017 a banner year for its customers.
“For example, EFI Fiery products provide top quality, without compromise, in digital production printing to the most rigorous production demands. EFI Fiery technology has continued its advanced colour leadership by recently becoming one of the first offerings in the industry to successfully handle all 48 test patches in the new Ghent Workgroup PDF Output Suite version 5.0 – a critical test factor and de facto standard for determining quality printing of PDF documents.”
In Asia Pacific visitors to this year’s PacPrint in May, will also have the chance to see the latest EFI technology in action and to discuss how they can benefit from the solutions on show.
Yarrow says, “PacPrint is the major trade show for our region and we are proud to continue our support for it.
"Our representatives are really looking forward to showing off our innovative technology and solutions that can increase productivity and improve the way we do business., such as the new Vutek 3r and Vutek 5r high volume wide format printers.
Higher volumes less time
EFI calls the Vutek 3r and Vutek 5r printers a maxed-out platform for enormous growth and success.
Yarrow says, “High volume printers need to seriously consider total cost of ownership when looking at investing in new equipment. That is what makes these new models such great assets.”
The printers handle a variety of flexible and rigid substrates. The Vutek 3r has a maximum printing width 3.5m and the Vutek of 5m. The Vutek 3r prints at up to 345sqm/hr and the Vutek 5r at up to 455sqm/hr, both with 1200dpi resolution, using LED-curable UV inks. For media stock management, the Media Saving Wizard indicates remaining media length on each roll.
He says, “They offer productivity, versatility, and quality, that means high image quality at high throughput speeds along with a massive range of options.
“The print heads deliver smaller drop sizes and more precise control using EFI’s seven picolitre UltraDrop technology for high-definition image quality, with superb transitions, vignettes, skin tones. You get outstanding smoothness in shadows, gradients, and transitions. You also gain superb text quality with four-point text in both standard and high quality with fewer satellites and more clarity in all print modes.”
Suggested applications include close-view indoor and outdoor applications; point of sale and point of purchase displays; tradeshow graphics; indoor hanging banners; indoor murals; wallpaper; day/night backlits; window clings/graphics; billboards; and building wraps.
EFI sees LED technology as the way of the future right now. He says, “You can do more for less, offering your customers a quicker turnaround and reducing your operating costs at the same time. You extend your range of supported substrates, including lower cost and added-value specialty media. There is less maintenance, less energy consumption and fewer consumable parts.
Improved control over gloss / matte levels
“It also offers improved control over gloss/matte levels and reduces waste with consistent colour output and simple operation. Many of your customers demand a greener print solution. You can offer low VOCs, lower power consumption, and less waste and consumables.”
The new devices print C, M, Y, K; with optional LC, LM, LK, and white. The white printing offers a variety of white printing modes, up to five layers.
Other optional features include a vacuum plate for printing on thin sheets and rigid media in a selection of sizes; a jumbo roll handling system takes rolls up to 750 kg; and a carriage height adjustment and optional wrinkle analyser help avoid head strikes.
Yarrow adds, “Of course the new printers are optimised for use with the EFI Fiery proServer, Fiery XF production RIP and colour management workflow for maximum Quality and Productivity.
Time for soft signage
At last year’s EFI Connect event, the company confirmed its commitment to textile printing, highlighting its acquisition of Italian manufacturer Reggiani.
Mark Olin, chief finance officer at EFI, says, “We have seen explosion in demand for soft signage printing. It has a number of advantages. For example, you can easily fold it up, making it easy and inexpensive to transport.
“We have been able to take the best of both worlds, using the expertise from EFI Reggiani and from what we have at New Hampshire, to produce our new FabriVu series.
For companies looking to develop and drive greater profitability into their business, the EFI FabriVu series of fabric printers present a fresh opportunity.
At Connect, EFI unveiled its largest soft signage printer, the 5.2-meter EFI Vutek FabriVU 520.
Gabi Matsliach, senior vice president and general manager of productivity software at EFI, says this new printer delivers new capabilities for producing a broader range of soft signage products such as wall murals, theatre drapes, and other applications.
The printer can produce up to 446sqm/hr giving resolutions up to 2400dpi. He says, “It gives you great versatility. It can do both direct-to-textile and transfer printing with an easy changeover using the same ink set. The patented ink-recovery system saves more than 95 percent of the ink lost in textile printing systems offered by other manufacturers.”
It joins EFI’s other fabric printers: the Reggiani pro series, EFI Vutek Fabrivu 180 and the EFI Vutek FabriVu 340. Matsliacht says, “There are numerous advantages in using these printers. They use water based textile inks; our RIP software; and a mix of pre and post dye treatments. EFI has over 500 digital textile machines installed worldwide.”
Fiery: experience counts
Encouraging the use of its software solutions, EFI wants to help companies make the most of more than 25 years of Fiery technological innovation.
Olin says, “A proper digital front end can really make a big difference to your production environment. For example, we are looking at faster production speeds for digital printing inkjet and on the colour and imaging front, technology has also evolved so we see the ability to drive new colours.
“Looking also on the workflow side, this has really evolved over the last few years, moving from hot folders through to fully connected suites. EFI Fiery is really an integral part of all of these technological advances. But you need to be using those. If you are not taking advantage of all of that, you aren’t making the most use of what you have. If you are not taking full advantage of what you can get out of your digital front end and your digital printer, you are wasting money every day you are manufacturing,
“One thing to remember is that Fiery can drive all of your wide format devices and it can become an integrated part of all of your print. It can provide common functionality and common integration.
Yarrow says, “In developing the new Fiery NX server and NX Station, EFI has focused on a number of improvements such as a faster RIP and much more streamlined cut-sheet production automation.
“The Fiery digital front end products for wide and superwide-format inkjet proofing and production are the industry standard. The Fiery Workflow Suite offerings boost productivity with tools for document imposition, assembly, late-stage editing, visual make-ready, prepress automation and more. The newest version of EFI Fiery Navigator simplifies the process of analysing daily digital print operations and long-term trends, delivering actionable business intelligence in a customizable, visual dashboard while providing device management capabilities.
EFI's Fiery Command WorkStation version 6 expands its print job and device management interface to support all Fiery servers. This means that Fiery servers driving toner-based cut sheet, wide and superwide format and high speed inkjet devices in a print site can be managed in the same user interface while enabling tools that are appropriate for each print technology. The Fiery NX station and NX server form a really great combination. Fiery cloud based sync and back up can sit on top of that too. We also have a new version of our EFI self-service solution. He says, “We want to partner with our customers to help them enable their business and product evolution."
He compares the industry to the game of soccer. He says, ‘In soccer, as in the industry, you have a large pitch and play is constantly moving with unexpected things happening all the time. There are no time outs; just continuous movement.
“At EFI, we supply you with a sound technology platform to deal with that. The spirit behind the productivity suite strategy is that we focus foremost on out-of-the box value – enabling new business and driving efficiencies. In addition, we are trying to get better and better at providing segment specific orientation.
MIS: productivity time
EFI has made improvements to its productivity suite. Yarrow says, “The good news is that the six suites are already proven and successful.
“For the midmarket suite, we have strengthened our super-wide format capability, especially in terms of the universal importer speed; the creation of estimate, job and delivery details; and combo and ganged jobs. It offers as customisable workbench and simplified workflow configuration with Fiery and Vutek.
He adds that the enterprise commercial suite has enhanced and proven dynamism and estimated planning; an extended ecommerce workflow; next generation auto-count; streamlined inventory and purchase management. He says, “This provides a solid path forward for printers diversifying their business.
“The packaging suite offers dynamic planning for cartons labels and tags; Efficient modern mobile data collection; Metrix embedded optimised imposition and layout; a simplified digital workflow; and additional depth in core ERP.
EFI sees major growth opportunities in corrugated and its corrugated packaging suite works as an end to end certified solution. He says, “EFI creates out-of-the box digital workflows, which in turn provide new market opportunities with EFI Fiiery HXS series and Nozomi. Highlights include a new functional depth; custom tag creation and real time job displays; and modern mobile shop floor management.
“EFI has also made improvements to its publication print suite and to its quick print suite that will help print operations drive margins, increase throughput and eliminate errors.”
Connecting the print world
This year, EFI hosted its 17th Connect Conference at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.
Hosting over a thousand customers at its annual Connect conference, EFI continued to expand its reach in the industry.
Guy Gecht, chief executive at EFI, welcomed around 1500 conference delegates, urging them to look for opportunities in their business.
Gecht’s keynote presentation included his thoughts on some of the big technological revolutions that have affected us all, and one whose influence on us will continue to increase: artificial intelligence. He recounted the recent evolution of technology, moving from personal computers, through the internet, mobile life and now AI. For EFI, this next wave of advanced technology has already impacted. For example, some ERP and MIS workflow products developed by EFI learn to be more efficient as they track business’s operations.
Gecht said, “As with the developments we have all seen with personal computers and mobile technology, artificial intelligence promises to create more opportunities. In print, it can drive preventive diagnostics and predictive maintenance, which helps our customers improve their top and bottom lines.”
The company will continue developing AI for the graphics and packaging industries. However, it would be wrong for graphics professionals to think that EFI will focus only on theoretical innovations. While the company uses its Silicon Valley base to good advantage, co-existing alongside some major software and technology players it retains a sound base in concrete businesses. For example, it has poured resources into textile printing and moved into corrugated; both areas of strong growth.
The conference welcomed EFI customers from 37 countries, and hosted over 200 sessions over three days. It introduced its largest soft-signage printer and showcased new LED, roll-to-roll printers as well as its Fiery technology.
Connect also featured new technologies and exhibits in its solutions centre from EFI partners. These included 3M, Berger Textiles; Canon; Duplo; Enfocus; Esko; KDX America; Klieverik; Kodak; Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.; NextWave; The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation; Print ReLeaf; Progress Software Corp.; Ricoh Americas Corp.; Riso; Xerox, and Zünd.
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