Printer Moves to Same-Day Delivery for Superwide-Format Graphics with EFI VUTEk

The EFI VUTEk 3r superwide-format roll-to-roll LED inkjet printer.

FREMONT, Calif. — January 19, 2017 — Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFI) reported that Campus Digital Imaging Ltd. invested in an EFI VUTEk 3r superwide-format roll-to-roll LED inkjet printer. The new printer, which was installed in Q4 of 2016, has already generated new business for the Rishon LeZion, Israel-based company. 

“It’s faster than the three machines it replaces combined,” says Rami Cohen, General Manager at Campus Digital Imaging. “New customers usually ask how soon we can deliver before sending us their order. That often amounted to two or three days. Now we can offer same-day delivery or the day after at the latest.”

Top-Tier Quality, High-Volume Speeds, and Best-in-Class Options
The new printer offers the fastest speed and the highest resolution available among 3-meter graphics printers in its class. Plus, the printer offers best-in-class integrated material finishing and workflow options. Campus Digital Imaging chose the EFI VUTEk 3r for its speed, its technical superiority and because EFI quickly turned out to be a very reliable and credible business partner.

“It immediately became clear they have a lot of experience with inkjet printing,” Cohen says. “They have a thorough knowledge of the market as well and are eager to share it with you. EFI offered a lot of tips to grow my business with this new machine, many of which I’m already implementing.”

The company specializes in printing point-of-purchase (POP) displays and window branding for retail, and provides wide-format printing, production and installation services all over the country. Its customers include large retail companies, health maintenance organizations, hi-tech and pharmaceutical companies, etc.

Substrates the company currently handles include magnetic paper, textile, vinyl, PVC, polypropylene, flags and paper. While the cooler operating temperature of the LED-based EFI VUTEk 3r printer will enable Campus Digital Imaging to offer customers an even larger range of printable substrates, its standard media saving feature, the Media Saving Wizard, will reduce waste. Because POP displays are typically viewed from a close distance of three feet or less, Cohen and his team also made sure that the new printer’s resolution, color gamut and color fidelity were as good as the devices it was due to replace — a pair of 1.6m solvent inkjet printers and a sublimation textile printer.

The new VUTEk printer passed the test with flying colors. It offers speeds of up to 3,715 square feet (345 square meters) per hour, printing with true premium-quality resolutions of up to 1,200 dots per inch. The printer’s 138" (350-cm) maximum width is suitable for a broad range of graphics production projects. In addition, Campus Digital Imaging’s printer is equipped with an optional, built-in cutter and slitter.

Now, Campus Digital Imaging is offering customers better, much faster service. Despite the printer’s higher, 1,200 dpi resolution, its throughput speed is higher than the three machines it replaces combined. 

“Part of our dramatically increased productivity comes from the integrated slitter and cutter,” Cohen explains. “Before, we had to move the printed rolls to an offline cutter/trimmer. Now, the finishing happens on the printer itself, synchronized with the printing process.”

Cohen is happy with the robustness of the printer as well; the new VUTEk has been working without any downtime since it was installed three months ago. “At the moment, we are running the printer from 9 am to 10 pm. When we purchased the machine, we had already planned to grow the business so that, eventually, the VUTEk will be running for five consecutive days 24 hours a day,” he says.

EFI officially launched the new VUTEk 3r printer and a new, five-meter version, the EFI VUTEk 5r printer, at Connect, its annual users’ conference taking place this week in Las Vegas. 

Source: EFI.