EFI reported today that customer demand for its award-winning digital printing technologies and innovative solutions on display in Munich (Germany) last week, make this year's Fespa the most successful European wide-format exhibition the company has attended in years. Visitor numbers were up, VUTEK®, Rastek™ and Jetrion® stations were busy throughout the five days of the show, and attendance for product demos peaked at more than 200 per day.
"Fespa Munich was a fantastic show," said David Hocquet, CEO of Deltenre, a Belgian printing company. "It was energetic and busy and the EFI stand was the busiest of them all as everyone wanted to see the latest VUTEk machines. We have two of them installed already and certainly for future investments in superwide format, we'll look to EFI VUTEk and no one else."
"We not only exceeded digital inkjet targets for VUTEk and Rastek that we had set for this show, we also surpassed goals set for our software products," said EFI EMEA's managing director Paul Cripps "Proof that EFI's customers in Europe are doing well and continue to require cost saving solutions to optimise, automate and streamline operations."
Attendance up from North and South America, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific
EFI tracked a significant increase in visitors from high-growth markets such as Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East, adding to vast numbers from Western, Central and Eastern Europe.
Products on display included the VUTEk GS3200 with the new MediaMaster fully automated media handling system, the GS5000r, the high-productivity QS3250r UV roll-to-roll superwide printer, the versatile Rastek T1000 and the H650 wide-format UV printers, and the Jetrion 4830 digital label press.
Pace™ print management system, Digital StoreFront® web-to-print solutions and Web Control Center for remote proofing completed the portfolio. Together, they offered a practical demonstration of EFI's integrated workflow from order taking to printing and shipping.
Eighty VUTEk GS Series sold in one year
EFI announced that it had sold the 80th VUTEk GS printer since the product's European introduction at Fespa 2009.
Leading its category in installations worldwide, the VUTEk GS3200 flatbed and roll-to-roll hybrid UV printer delivers photorealistic quality, superwide speed, and innovative applications that expand the reach of superwide into new industries.
Debuted for the first time in Europe, the MediaMaster is a fully-automated material handling system for the GS3200 that continues to increase productivity and economics of digital superwide printing. Equipped to handle full-size 1.5 x 3 metre boards at up to 50 beds per hour, and also master as many as 3-up smaller boards across the width of the printer, for over 150 boards per hour with precision. This enables the material handling system's hands-free productivity: a single person can operate two GS3200 printers with MediaMasters, reducing cost and optimising production time.
Now commercially available, the VUTEk GS5000r offers exceptional quality and roll-to-roll speed that allow users to tap into premium-margin markets that demand point-of-purchase (POP) quality graphics.
Rastek T1000 makes European Debut at Fespa 2010
EFI's new Rastek T1000 wide-format printer was also shown for the first time in Europe. This new flatbed printer offers class-leading print speed, including white running the same speed as CMYK - all with stunning 8-level greyscale, up to 1200 dpi print quality. With a stationary vacuum table and retractable media registration pins, it has the versatility to handle a wide range of rigid media quickly and easily.
The new award-winning Jetrion 4830 UV Inkjet System from EFI offers wider web widths and faster linear speeds to increase label printing throughput more than twofold over the company's market-leading Jetrion 4000. The Jetrion 4830 prints 21 cm wide, enabling two-up 10 cm labels. Its wider print zone lets label converters efficiently take on more print jobs. With its higher speed print mode of greater than 36.6 meters per minute, the system increases productivity significantly. The new Jetrion also has an optional white printing station with the most opaque digital white print available.
EFI's Web Control Center web-based application connects, monitors and controls proofing and printing at all remote sites in a production workflow. Web Control uses JDF communications to interact with Fiery® RIP solutions (EFI Colorproof™ XF and Fiery XF v4.0) at any location via EFI proven web hosting capabilities.
For more information about EFI solutions, including VUTEk superwide printers, MediaMaster, Rastek wide-format printers, Jetrion label presses and EFI Web-to-Print, RIP or Print MIS solutions, visit www.efi.com.
