EFI today announced the installation of a new, hybrid roll/flatbed EFI H1625 LED printer at a Kansas City, Missouri, US-area FASTSIGNS franchise. The Gladstone, Missouri, FASTSIGNS centre is now growing its business with the 65-inch wide printer by producing high-quality, flatbed-printed parking lot signage, backlit signs and other display graphics.
The FASTSIGNS centre, which does a significant amount of flatbed printing on aluminium and aluminium composite substrates, needed the printer to accommodate challenges its previous equipment could not handle. "The older hybrid printer we had in our facility was not performing the way we wanted it to, and the manufacturer had discontinued the service warranty for that model," said Gregg Kruse, who is a co-owner of the franchise location along with his wife, Diane.
Kruse was on the verge of purchasing another hybrid UV printer from his former print technology vendor until he learned about the EFI H1625 LED printer at the annual sales summit for FASTSIGNS franchisees. The EFI printer's white ink capabilities, combined with its single-pass, multilayer printing and its true eight-level, variable-drop greyscale printheads, provided a competitive quality advantage in flatbed production throughput that Kruse did not have before.
Unlike many other entry-level, wide-format production printers, the EFI H1625 LED printer has white ink loaded all the time. Kruse's printer operators do not have to remove inks, clear ink lines, and install white ink every time it is needed for a job, a process that involves significant printer downtime, waste and labour cost.
Faster, more accurate printing with EFI's LED technology
"The EFI H1625 is faster than our last hybrid printer and it prints more accurately," Kruse said. "Plus, I love the fact that it prints white whenever you need it to. I know other franchises that have white ink capabilities on their printers but do not use it because of the time they lose switching to white ink. Our new EFI printer solves that problem."
FASTSIGNS International based in Carrollton, Texas, is aware of the printer's competitive benefits as well. FASTSIGNS International has just completed its own evaluation of the EFI H1625 LED printer and has designated it as a recommended production device for its franchisees.
LED productivity for greener, efficient, cost-effective graphics work
The new EFI H1625 LED printer helps companies grow with more creative business opportunities by printing on a broader range of substrates compared with UV or latex inkjet printers. The printer's grayscale printheads produce near-photographic image quality, with saturated colours and smooth gradations.
The printer's "cool cure" LED technology handles roll or flatbed media that cannot withstand the heat of other curing or drying processes. Plus, its instant on/off LED lamps provide more consistent imaging with fewer wasted prints. The lamps also last longer than the lamps employed in traditional UV inkjet printers, reducing users' consumables costs.
The printer also is a greener option compared to other print methods, printing with virtually no VOCs. Plus the printer's LED lamps can significantly decrease power consumption.
The Gladstone FASTSIGNS franchise operates its new printer using an EFI Fiery® XF workflow software package offering advanced colour and print management capabilities.
"With its proven, industry-leading LED inkjet imaging technology and its low total cost of ownership, we are confident that the EFI H1625 LED printer will prove to be one of the very best hybrid wide-format production options available for FASTSIGNS franchises and other signage and graphics operations," said Scott Schinlever, senior vice president and general manager, EFI Inkjet Solutions.
The EFI H1625 LED printer and Fiery XF software will be among the many innovative EFI technologies on display in booth 1902 next month at Graph Expo, 28 September- 1 October in Chicago. For more information about EFI Wide Format and Fiery products, visit www.efi.com.
