This presentation is from a webinar series we held in December 2009. The focus is superwide format printing, and how to turn all those nice brochure specs in actual productivity and margin.
1. »Win with EFI« Webinar SeriesWin with VUTEk– Turning Productivity Into Business Success Emmanuel Swolfs, Sales DirectorKen van Horn, Product Marketing Manager Pleasedialintotheteleconferencenow – check yourconfirmation email fordial-in numbers
2. EFI: Connecting Digital Printing 20-year history of technology innovation Started as the vendor of Fiery Controllers; 1.8M units shipped Branched into additional businesses $560.4M annual revenue / ~ 2,000 employees 23 offices worldwide 25% of revenue invested in R&D
16. Improved performance and costsRun Length = New print application tipping point for digital penetration
17. By Application….. Quality requirements are increasing across all segments POP is very profitable, and is growing By Technology….. Convergence – From Sign Shops, Screen Printers, Photo Shops to - Digital Print Shops, POP Specialists, Visual Solution Companies Screen print to Digital represents the largest volume shift Transition from Digital Laser Photographic to Digital Inkjet will occur rapidly The Opportunity – Retail Value of Output is $25b Worldwide Sources: Web Consulting, FESPA & SGIA
18. Printer Width The three essential width related questions to ask when selecting a printer are: Board Width – What size rigid material will primarily be printed? Finishing – Is most of the printing to finished board size or cut later? Flexible Material – Is roll-to-roll or sheeted material also a factor and what width?
19. Board width: benefits of a 3.2 m printer Accommodates long-edge-first printing of1.6m x 3.2m boards roll-to-roll mediaup to 3.2m wide 2-up 1.5m wide roll media 2-up, short-edge-first printing Benefits: potential savings on substrate purchases minimises print time and increases productivity by using the full-width print bed GS3200 / QS3220 3.2m 2.5 m printer
20. Table Utilisation VUTEk hybrid UV printers allow for several boards or sheets to be printed at a time Adjustable stops on the precision alignment fence allow printing smaller boards easily and accurately Full Bleed Print Support: essential for printing to finish-sized substrates however many printers available today do not support full bleed due to their Teflon belt coating GS3200 / QS3220 3.2m Other printers up to 3.2m
22. Resolution What does resolution mean relative to printer capability and the impact on image quality?
23. Vertical, Horizontal and Native Resolution Horizontal dpi is the dot spacing in the direction of carriage travel. It is a function of the carriage speed in inches per second and the firing frequency of the jets. Vertical resolution is the dot spacing in the direction of the media path and is dependent on the native resolution of the printhead Native resolution is most commonly used to describe the space between the nozzles within a printhead. The nozzle spacing is converted to dots per inch to find the native resolution of the printhead.
24. True and Addressable Resolution True resolution: One definition of true resolution is the number of dots that can be lined up in an inch without any overlap. Additional overlap is also required to account for error in drop placement. More accurate drop placement will minimize the need for overlap resulting in less ink usage and the ability to print even fine text. The practical definition used by VUTEk is the number of dots that must be lined up to eliminate white space and account for dot placement error. Addressable resolution: Some inkjet printers have the capability to accurately place dots with closer Spacing and more overlap. This is called addressable resolution which will achieve a higher quality image and greater colour density but uses more ink due to the excessive overlap.
25. Apparent Resolution Image quality is further improved with light colour inks by reducing graininess and is most noticeable in images containing smooth gradients, skin tones and pastels. One common misconception is that 6 and 8 colour systems have an expanded gamut. This is not true since the pigments in the light and dark inks are the same. However, light colours do improve colour reproduction, especially in the mid-tones which gives the appearance of a wider gamut.
32. VUTEk Solvent Roll-to-Roll Printers VUTEk 3360 & 5330 The VUTEk 3360 3.2m printer is designed for growing print-for-pay businesses can print solvent or dye-sublimation solvent inks at the flip of a switch. The versatile platform eliminates the need for multiple dedicated systems, additional manpower and increased floor space . The VUTEk 5330 produces up to 207m² on a wide variety of roll-to-roll substrates up to 5 m wide and high resolution images up to 330 dpi. Print sharp, crisp and color-consistent output on vinyl, pressure sensitive films, paper, textiles and more. Affordable Upgradeable Versatile Productivity Quality Versatility
34. VUTEk UV-Curing Hybrid Printers VUTEk® QS2000/QS3220 The award winning VUTEk® QS family combines high quality with high production speeds, making it the superwide printer of choice for print shops of all types. The QS2000/3220 provides brilliant six-colour imaging and a special seventh white ink channel that enable new applications and revenue streams.
48. There Are a Few Ways to React to a Recession The “Wait and See” Approach
49. “During challenging and uncertain times, taking a wait-and-see approach may be tempting, but should be vigorously avoided. Recovery complacency, or complacency at any time for that matter, is a luxury companies in our industry can ill afford.” NAPL BizTrends, Nov. 2009 There Are a Few Ways to React to a Recession
50. Q & A Due tothenumberofparticipants, theteleconferenceis in broadcastmode PleasesubmitquestionsthroughtheWebEx Chat function To access WebEx Chat, look for one of these toolbars (usually on the upper right side of your screen) and click on the Chat button Enter your question in the Chat box and send to “Host & Presenter”
51. Feedback Questions? Comments? Want thepresentation? Want tobeinformedaboutfuturewebinars? Send an email tooliver@efi.com Thanksforyour time & attention!
Editor's Notes
Board Width – A 3.2m printer will accommodate long- edge-first printingof industry standard 1.6m x 3.2m boards, roll-to-roll media upto 3.2m wide or 2-up industry standard 1.5m wide roll media. This notonly translates into potential savings on substrate purchases but alsominimises print time and increases productivity by using the full-widthprint bed.3.2 meter printer widths also enable 2-up, short-edge-first printing.By maximising your printer’s width you are able to reduce time betweenboards and increase productivity (see fig.1).If printer width is less than 3.2 meters wide, a 3m board must berotated to print short edge first. This increases overall print timebecause a larger number of printer carriage passes are required.Printers 2.0 or 2.5 meters in width will suffer with this application usingonly 1.5m of the total width of the printer, thereby limiting printerperformance and published speeds by up to 40%. The result is that aprinter that quotes 111m2/hr raw throughput may, in fact, deliver only66m2/hr of real productivity. The same is true for full width 3m roll-to-rollmedia. Full width roll-to-roll media not only utilises the full bed ofthe printer, it also saves additional time between prints (see fig.2).
When printing multiple boards up,material placement and accuracyis critical to maximising productioncapacity. VUTEk hybrid UV printersallow for several boards or sheetsto be printed at a time. This featuremaximises the full width of theprinter making versatility of theVUTEk hybrid platform ideal for variousproduction requirements. Bycontrast, printers that only allow upto 2 boards at a time cost valuableprinting time and a significant lossin capacity.
example: the print heads in the VUTEk GS series have a nozzle spacing of .00555” (0.14097 mm) which equals a native resolution of 180 dpi (1/.00555 = 180). By aligning the printheads to interlace rows and printing over multiple passes, the vertical resolution can be increased in multiples of the native resolution. The result is called vertical resolution.
NOTES for definition of true resolution: However this is not practical because of the white space between dots. Until technology is developed to fire square drops, there must be some overlap to achieve optimal colour density.NOTES FOR ADDRESSABLE RESOLUTION:For printers limited to a single drop size, this is an effective way to improve image quality and extend the range of possible applications although the use of true resolution from a smaller drop is ideal.
An 8 colour system has twice as many gray levels as a 4 colour system; therefore a true 540 dpi image in 8 colours will look the same to the human eye as a 4 colour image at 1080 dpi. Since the images would appear the same, it is said that a 540 dpi image printed in 8 colours has an apparent resolution of 1080 dpi.
When printing multiple boards up,material placement and accuracyis critical to maximising productioncapacity. VUTEk hybrid UV printersallow for several boards or sheetsto be printed at a time. This featuremaximises the full width of theprinter making versatility of theVUTEk hybrid platform ideal for variousproduction requirements. Bycontrast, printers that only allow upto 2 boards at a time cost valuableprinting time and a significant lossin capacity.
When printing multiple boards up,material placement and accuracyis critical to maximising productioncapacity. VUTEk hybrid UV printersallow for several boards or sheetsto be printed at a time. This featuremaximises the full width of theprinter making versatility of theVUTEk hybrid platform ideal for variousproduction requirements. Bycontrast, printers that only allow upto 2 boards at a time cost valuableprinting time and a significant lossin capacity.
When printing multiple boards up,material placement and accuracyis critical to maximising productioncapacity. VUTEk hybrid UV printersallow for several boards or sheetsto be printed at a time. This featuremaximises the full width of theprinter making versatility of theVUTEk hybrid platform ideal for variousproduction requirements. Bycontrast, printers that only allow upto 2 boards at a time cost valuableprinting time and a significant lossin capacity.
When printing multiple boards up,material placement and accuracyis critical to maximising productioncapacity. VUTEk hybrid UV printersallow for several boards or sheetsto be printed at a time. This featuremaximises the full width of theprinter making versatility of theVUTEk hybrid platform ideal for variousproduction requirements. Bycontrast, printers that only allow upto 2 boards at a time cost valuableprinting time and a significant lossin capacity.
When printing multiple boards up,material placement and accuracyis critical to maximising productioncapacity. VUTEk hybrid UV printersallow for several boards or sheetsto be printed at a time. This featuremaximises the full width of theprinter making versatility of theVUTEk hybrid platform ideal for variousproduction requirements. Bycontrast, printers that only allow upto 2 boards at a time cost valuableprinting time and a significant lossin capacity.
When printing multiple boards up,material placement and accuracyis critical to maximising productioncapacity. VUTEk hybrid UV printersallow for several boards or sheetsto be printed at a time. This featuremaximises the full width of theprinter making versatility of theVUTEk hybrid platform ideal for variousproduction requirements. Bycontrast, printers that only allow upto 2 boards at a time cost valuableprinting time and a significant lossin capacity.
