Page 14 - Print 21 Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

Digital: Connect
Connecting print
The world’s biggest print technology user group, EFI Connect, has just taken place. Print21 editor Wayne Robinson was in Las Vegas, and reports direct from the convention floor on EFI’s vision.
EFI presented its ongoing investment across the board in print at its Connect 2019 user
group event, saying that opportunities for print businesses are expanding rapidly, particularly into new areas.
New CEO Bill Muir highlighted packaging and textiles as two sectors in which the company believed digital print could have a major impact, and the rest of the event saw company division leaders outline developments and business opportunities across all sectors.
Some 1000 printers – including several from Australian franhcise groups and major printers – spent four days at the Wynn in Las Vegas, a sprawling complex that accommodates several thousand people in what has to be one of the world’s best hotels, and includes
a variety of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, theatres, swimming pools, and the obligatory gigantic casino (minimum bet $10 daytime, $25 after dark).
EFI continues to invest around 15-16 per cent of its business in R+D, resulting in a raft of new products and technologies coming to the market. At Connect these include
the new Version 7 Productivity
Suite, updates to its inkjet printing equipment – there are now some 39 different wide format print systems alone – and a new Fiery processor that can operate at twice the speed of existing solutions.
The company also revealed it would be launching some groundbreaking technology at drupa next year, including one for instant curing. Muir said his mission as new CEO was to provide innovative solutions to the market that came with great execution, and to ensure EFI was customer obsessed.
Highlights of the week included
a presentation by behind the scenes staff at Cirque Du Soleil on its costume creation and its impending move to digital printing for costumes.
Fiery
In pure technology terms the big news in Las Vegas was the launch of Fiery FS350, the fastest Fiery ever produced. It has also allowed EFI to achieve the Unified Fiery Printroom, which means all production equipment in a print room can now be operated by a single rip.
“With this new platform release, we are continuing to stay ahead
of market requirements, ensuring that customers can be as productive and versatile as possible,” said
John Henze, vice president of Fiery marketing and sales, EFI.
According to EFI its new DFE software offers new features in the key areas of colour and imaging, productivity, management tools and connectivity. New DFEs based on the EFI Fiery FS350 Pro software will drive digital printers and presses from several leading manufacturers across sheetfed, high-speed continuous feed, B1 folding carton, and corrugated digital production systems, including both toner and inkjet technologies.
In pure technology terms the big news in Las Vegas was the launch of Fiery FS350, the fastest Fiery ever produced.
EFI says the new release also will help customers better manage their print production, using what it claims is the industry’s most intuitive and integrated DFE offerings, including the ability to establish automated, bi-directional communication and integration with EFI’s MIS/ERP and web-to-print products. Users also can unify production operations for all Fiery Driven printers – including wide- format and superwide-format inkjet printers – from a single EFI FIery Command Workstation interface.
Display Graphics
EFI now has no less than 39 different wide format printers in its portfolio. The high-volume, premium-quality EFI Vutek h5 hybrid LED printer made its debut at EFI Connect,
it is part of the Vutek h series of devices that global EFI R&D teams developed from scratch, in order, says the company, to establish new benchmarks for productivity and profit opportunity.
It is based on the Vutek h3, and in fact h3 users can upgrade to h5 in the field. The 126-inch wide h5 printer can run up to 109 boards per hour, and offers eight-colour and optional four-colour printing modes plus white, as well as an up to nine-layer print capability. It has UltraDrop Technology with native 7-picoliter grayscale printhead imaging and multi-drop addressability, delivering smoothness in shadows, gradients and transitions.
EFI says the Vutek h series automated table and carriage alignment – along with a new camera-based
vision system for subpixel alignment, printhead density balance, and step
and bi-directional setup – significantly
14 Print21 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019