TEC Lighting Web Coater Brings Continuous-Feed Inkjet Closer to Offset Quality

TEC Lighting announced the successful installation of their new TECWEB550LX at Tidewater Direct in Centreville, Md. Tidewater Direct, a web offset printing company specializing in direct mail printing, continuous forms printing, and pharmaceutical printing, is in the midst of officially launching a new line of high-speed web coaters. The installation was completed in late July at Tidewater’s main production facility.

“As an inkjet trade printer for letter shops and agencies, we see a lot of value by offering inline UV coating for self-mailers and postcards,” notes Tidewater Direct President Geoff Eisenberg. “Combined with the quality and economy we get from our Screen HD, we see this as a homerun for our customers that chose to outsource inkjet. We are proud to be the first installation for the TEC Lighting team. The install and training process was straightforward, and the performance exceeded our expectations. Our operators have been self-sufficient since startup, which in my opinion is impressive.”

The new TEC Lighting TECWEB550LX web coater offers several new features that make it an ideal fit for inkjet service providers, including:

• Duplex UV/(Optional Water-based) coating at speeds up to 400 feet per minute;
• Stunning finishes including high gloss, satin, Matte and soft-feel;
• Compatibility with existing continuous feed inkjet press, creating offset-quality work;
• In-line compatibility with any continuous feed inkjet web press;
• Production friendly with all standard offset stocks, and many inkjet-treated media.

“We have been analyzing the continuous inkjet printing market for many years, and only now do we feel the marketplace is ripe to accept and support a UV coating solution,” notes TEC Lighting Sales Manager Moses Nuno. “The print quality of continuous inkjet web printing technologies has been getting increasingly closer to traditional offset standards, and so the introduction of untreated offset stocks makes web inkjet a viable solution for printing that requires the enhancements of UV coating.

“With the addition of UV coating within the TEC Lighting TECWEB550LX offering, commercial printers can now achieve brighter, glossier more brilliant printing. UV coating demand has evolved into production requirement, especially in direct mail, magazines and traditional commercial printing markets. Now with the help of TEC Lighting, it’s readily available to the web inkjet market.”

The TEC Lighting TECWEB550LX duplex web UV coater is currently available through direct channels.