Digital Digest: Agfa Launches Jeti Titan S/HS Printers at Open House

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO—Last month Agfa Graphics held an open house for select industry journalists and customers at its new competence center located here. The first of a series of North American "Red Carpet" customer events, the open house kicked off with a keynote presentation from Dominiek Arnout, Agfa Graphics' vice president/inkjet, and his team, who shared the latest in research developments and applications, as well as the changing dynamics in digital sign and display printing. SGIA Vice President of Marketing and Technologies Dan Marx also discussed current trends in the graphics and sign industry.

Other presenters included Willy Van Dromme, marketing director, wide-format printing; Larry D'Amico, vice president, digital imaging, United States; Guy Hauquier, director, applications department; Andy Grant, global head of software; and Tom Cloots, marketing manager, industrial inkjet.

In addition to the presentations, the event marked the official regional debut of a new generation of Jeti Titan systems—the six-color Jeti Titan S and HS UV curable wide-format printers for both indoor and outdoor applications. Van Dromme highlighted some key features of the new presses, noting that they both incorporate a moving table concept, and use Anuvia UV-curable inks that were designed specifically for high-end production platforms.

Both devices feature Ricoh Gen 5 inkjet print heads for higher volume/fast turnaround jobs, motion drive and curing technology, and come with double white as standard. While the Jeti Titan S is equipped with one row of print heads, the Jeti Titan HS has two rows for higher productivity (the Jeti Titan S can be upgraded to two rows of six colors plus white, becoming a Jeti Titan HS). Both units have a "flat-to-roll" option to print flexible media up to 126˝ (3.2 meters) wide. The Jeti's can also handle a wide variety of other media, such as reinforced vinyl, pressure-sensitive vinyl, canvas, fabrics, foamboard, corrugated board, lenticular, tile, dry wall, glass, sheet metal and paper.

RP Graphics, a fully-integrated print services provider located next door to Agfa's competence center, served as a beta testing site for the Jeti Titan HS wide-format printer. Marc Fortier, president of RP Graphics, discussed how using this technology from Agfa has improved his company's business. "It's been a privilege to beta test the Jeti Titan HS and it's working flawlessly," he explained. "The printer performs like a ready-to-market device and has boosted our productivity by 30 percent." Fortier added that the Jeti Titan HS has also simplified job flow in the pressroom, giving the operators the ability to set up and plan jobs ahead of time, as well as keep count in production.

Guests at the event had the opportunity to view live demonstrations of both the Jeti Titan S and HS printers in action. Both printers highlighted the photorealistic quality that can be achieved—with smoother skin tones and subtle degradées—due to the addition of light cyan and light magenta (CMYKLcLm). This makes it ideal for point-of-purchase output viewed at close range, as well as for the high-end art, fashion or cosmetics segments. An Anapurna M3200 RTR, a 3.2 meter-wide, roll-to-roll UV inkjet printer for indoor and outdoor applications, was also demonstrated.

In addition, Agfa reps showed how Asanti workflow automation software (based on Apogee technology) is implemented with the Jeti Titan S and HS presses. Attendees who may have missed seeing Agfa's "House of Asanti" application zone at SGIA last year, had the opportunity to interact with the six-room, two-floor house exhibit via the "House of Asanti" kiosk to learn more about how the house itself was built—and how the fine art, musical instruments, light fixtures, furniture and doors inside the house were all created using printing systems, media and software from Agfa Pitman technologies. PI