Boasting a 35% increase in production speed in POP mode alone, the EFI Pro 33r roll-to-roll printer features upgrades to imaging quality, reliability, and dot accuracy thanks to its new Ricoh Gen-6 5pL printheads – updated from the Ricoh Gen-5 7pL heads featured in its parent model.
As in its predecessor, a mesh kit is fitted as standard, a wrinkle analyser to avoid printhead strikes and built-in proofing lights and Fiery digital front-end.
Updating the machine was a natural step following from the major success – over 100 machines installed in two years – of the Pro 32r+, according to Ken Hanulec, EFI’s vice president for worldwide marketing.
Also on show is the proof of EFI’s recent deal with Agfa, whereby the manufacturers have given each other distribution rights to two machines, each benefitting from the other’s strong market presence in the US and Europe, respectively. EFI’s new Vutek Q3h XP, on display at stand 1-D70, is the rebranded Agfa Jeti Tauro 3300 HS.
Coming in alongside the Q3h X (Tauro 3300 S), the Q3h XP has supplemented EFI’s hybrid offering with high-scale production presses, marking a step up in speed from EFI’s popular h5+ hybrid model, which has sold nearly 300 models worldwide.
“Our two new products [from Agfa], the Q3h X and Q3h XP, really filled a gap for us: we needed to get at that 80 boards an hour [market] and then north of 100 boards an hour. It’s on our stand, branded EFI, driven by Fiery, and it has been met with some early enthusiasm from our sales channels around the world – this is where it starts to get really exciting,” Hanulec said.
EFI’s 3.5m Vutek Q3r roll-to-roll printer is also on display at the manufacturer’s stand. Printing up to 558sqm/hr, it can also produce work up to 1,200dpi.
Hanulec emphasised EFI’s mission to drive digital adoption in strategic print markets: “When I started with this organisation about 14 years ago, we had one product in the sub-$200,000 category, today we have a complete solution from 1.6 to 3.2m hybrid, two different flatbeds, and some roll-to-roll [machines]: it’s been really successful for us, and we look to that as our starting place to get customers on board – but you’ll hear more about this going into Drupa [in May 2024].”
Other upcoming developments from EFI include the firm’s second full sustainability report, to be published before the end of May, and a freshly-launched lifecycle assessment (LCA) tool for EFI fabric printers, which will allow customers to benchmark themselves against conventional printing processes.
One EFI customer using the tool was revealed to be saving over 60 tonnes of carbon emissions annually on a single client alone.
Versions of the LCA tool for other print verticals are currently under development.
EFI is on stand 1-D70 at Fespa.
