EFI Accelerates Innovation and Significantly Expands Offerings with New Inkjet Technologies at SGIA Expo

With EFI's newly developed inkjet products and an expanded product line from recent acquisitions, signage and graphics professionals can gain more profitable business opportunities with digital printing than ever before using the EFI™ (Nasdaq:EFII) technologies on display at this year's SGIA Expo. The 4-6 November tradeshow also represents the first exhibit of EFI's newly expanded inkjet production technology portfolio, with recently acquired EFI Reggiani soft signage textile printers and EFI Matan roll-to-roll printers shown along with the company's VUTEk® and Wide Format offerings. The worldwide unveilings at EFI's booth include:

• The EFI VUTEk HS125 Pro inkjet press - the fastest VUTEk product ever developed - 3.2m, hybrid roll/flatbed product offering true analogue replacement capabilities with quality approaching offset, production speeds up to 125 boards per hour, and a variety of automated material handling options including one for corrugated board.

• The new EFI VUTEk GS3lx Pro LED printer, a 3.2m hybrid, high-end printer offering high print speeds, high-resolution grayscale imaging and LED cool curing technology, along with maximum versatility to support higher volumes and shorter lead times.

• The EFI H1625-SD, an entry-level production, 1.65m UV hybrid printer with award-winning EFI SuperDraw UV ink for near-photographic imaging direct to thermoformable substrates.
  
  
• EFI Armor, a new line of UV roll and water-based coatings that provide three- to five-year weather and chemical protection on customers' high-value rigid, flexible and thermoformable inkjet graphics output.

Both the VUTEk HS125 Pro and VUTEk GS3lx Pro printers feature new UltraFX Technology, an advanced, inline clear print capability that enhances the visual impact of printed images and reduces the appearance of unwanted visual artefacts without adding time-consuming or costly steps to the production process. For one early VUTEk GS3lx Pro user, Carlstadt, N.J.-based visual imaging solutions provider Coloredge, EFI's newest LED inkjet technology provides greater productivity and quality. "The EFI VUTEk GS3lx is 30% faster speed than our GS3250lx Pro printer when running at the same speed/quality setting," said Eric Anderson, Coloredge's production technology manager. "Plus we can get 50% greater productivity with the GS3lx Pro model by using a faster speed setting, and the quality is still comparable to what we achieve running our other VUTEk LED printer on its slower, point-of-purchase mode." EFI is focused on giving customers the best opportunities to fuel their success, from UV, LED and water-based printers used in some of the industry's most successful signage and graphics operations, to versatile inks and time-saving digital front end and production workflow products.  Leading-edge technology for the growing soft signage marketEFI is showcasing the remarkable, high-margin production opportunities possible with efficient, reusable textile soft signage with industry-leading EFI Reggiani technologies and water-based dye sublimation inks. The EFI Reggiani ONE 180 soft signage printer on display in the EFI/NextWave booth (No. 2435) is a 1.8m printer for direct-to-textile or transfer paper printing. The versatile printer offers high speeds up to 310 square metres (3,336 square feet) per hour, dramatic four-color printing with a wide colour gamut, ultra-high resolutions up to 2,400 dots per inch (dpi) and four-level grayscale imaging. The Reggiani ONE 180 is an ideal solution for businesses looking to capture dynamic opportunities in the fast-growing digital textile soft signage market. Additionally, EFI is showing a second printer Reggiani printer in the EFI/NextWave booth: an EFI Reggiani PRO 180 shown printing transfer work on Coldenhove sublimation paper. The PRO model prints up to 600 square metres (6,458 square feet) per hour, providing superior quality and high productivity in soft signage applications.  Fuelling success in LED and UV digital printEFI is helping its customers win in additional, growing digital print applications as well with UV and LED inkjet and print workflow products at SGIA Expo, including: 

• The EFI Matan Quantum LED printer, a seven-colour product with optional white ink and unique feature sets like double side printing, wrinkle analyser and many more. The printer offers high-quality imaging with 7 picolitre grayscale imaging in resolutions up to 1,200 dpi. Plus it has labour-saving inline finishing and single-operator media handling capabilities. The printer sets a new benchmark in reducing waste in media handling, with only 40 cm of wasted material on every roll.

• The 5m, roll-to-roll, EFI VUTEk GS5500lxr Pro LED printer, which features 7 picolitre UltraDrop™ Technology and the greener, more-efficient advantages of "cool cure" LED imaging. The printer will be running highly flexible EFI - 3M™ SuperFlex Inks on a new textile substrate shown for the first time, 3M™ Printable Fabric 9100 that offers a 3M™ MCS™ Warranty for up to six years on outdoor vertical applications.
  
  
• The 2m EFI VUTEk H2000 Pro printer, a production-level, high-quality UV inkjet printer that gives customers a more-affordable entry point into mid-volume, premium production printing while giving them the option to add features - including white ink, roll-to-roll media handling, and an award-winning clear ink - as they grow their business.

• The EFI H1625 LED printer, an award-winning, entry-level hybrid printer for printing rigid and flexible substrates that has quickly become a popular production-level LED inkjet device thanks to its high quality, eight-level greyscale capability and its superior white ink offering. EFI partner Nazdar SourceOne is also exhibiting this popular, 1.6m hybrid printer in booth 3737.

• VUTEk Go, an Android-based, remote monitoring application for the VUTEk HS Pro series that streamlines high-volume inkjet production management with real-time mobile print queue and press status monitoring and automatic push notifications for printer alerts or errors.

• The EFI Fiery® proServer, version 6.2, an upgraded digital front end platform for VUTEk printers that can process print files 60% faster than earlier versions of the proServer, or 170% faster than alternate inkjet printer RIPs.

• The EFI Midmarket Productivity Suite, an end-to-end, modular business and production management workflow that includes award-winning EFI Pace™ MIS software and an array of market-leading technologies for marketing automation, eCommerce, Web-to-print, planning, imposition, scheduling, shop floor data collection, fulfilment, warehousing, shipping, and direct integration to JDF-enabled EFI Fiery products.

"Visitors who come to see EFI products at the SGIA Expo will walk away with many new ideas they can use to improve profitability and establish new revenue streams," said Scott Schinlever, senior vice president and general manager, EFI Inkjet Solutions. "In the past year, EFI has invested significantly in acquisitions, R&D and product development so our customers can continue to outperform in the industry's highest-growth markets." EFI's exhibit is in booth 3411 at the SGIA Expo, 4-6 Nov. at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. For more information about EFI products, visit www.efi.com.