EFI is launching the Cretaprint M5, the fifth generation of its ceramic tile printer with a new EFI e-D5 printhead and Industry 4.0 capabilities.

José Luis Ramón Moreno, vice president and general manager, EFI Industrial Printing, says, “This new generation is the state-of-art Cretaprint platform towards the future. It is easy to use and promotes high quality manufacturing of digital tiles.

“It is a smart printer with multiple connectivity options, including the SCADA application for communication with plant management workflows and the EFI Go mobile app that gives operators the ability to monitor the status of the printer as well as view production statistics in an easy-to-understand dashboard. It is an extension of the unique EFI Ecosystem for ceramic tile printing that ensures a connected, smart and streamlined non-stop manufacturing workflow.”

[Related: EFI CEO to resign]

A recent Smithers Pira report points to ceramic printing as driving growth in inkjet, which the research group predicts to become a $100bn market by 2023, currently sitting at $69m.

The printer features a maximum print width of 1138 mm and operators can configure it with up to eight print bars, supporting a maximum tile length of 3000 mm. It has a print speed of up to 70 metres per minute.

EFI says the printer’s plug and play printheads shorten installation and assure fine quality adjustment adding that the printheads feature a new nozzle geometry that ensures printing uniformity, with lower ink drop deviation and reduced nozzle clogging. They can work at higher speeds without compromising quality. The new printers include Fiery proServer Colour Management for Ceramics  for creating better colour separations and lower ink consumption thanks to a new algorithm specially developed for e-D5 printheads.

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