Big Community
The industry’s leading exhibitors showcased the most advanced and innovative product launches at the 2009 SGIA Expo, making it the only show in North America representing the full range of technology for all production levels — from screen printing advancements to digital devices capable of the highest print production.
Here are some of the highlights of this year’s Expo:
Durst Rho 900
 Durst launched another Rho printer at SGIA Expo in New Orleans last week — the Rho 900, which uses the company’s new Quadro Array 30D technology. The 2.5m-wide, 216 m2 per-hour machine features an automatic feed table and a wider color gamut to make it easier to reproduce brand colors. According to Durst, the additional colors help to output high image quality at high print speeds, producing smooth gradients and more even solids.
EFI VUTEk® GS3200
EFI brought their new flatbed and roll-to-roll UV printer, offering a combination of photorealistic quality and high productivity, with true 1000 dpi for high-precision print quality, 12-picoliter droplet technology for all colors, including an opaque white, and output at up to 2400 ft²/hr (223 m²) with continuous board-to-board, board-to-sheet and roll-to-roll printing capabilities. “The market has moved from solvent to UV,” said EFI President, Fred Rosenweig.
HP Designjet L25500
This year, HP rolled out their second machine — the Designjet L25500 — using the company’s Latex Ink Technology (the first, HP Designjet L65500, debuted at SGIA ’08 last year). The new, smaller printer is able to produce outdoor signage with durability comparable to eco-solvent inks as well as achieve high-quality results for indoor signage applications, from exhibition graphics to interior decorations. “Latex is more than just an ink, it’s a printing system,” said HP’s Joe Reicher. “It allows high-quality printing with water-based inks.”
Agfa :Anapurna Mw
Agfa introduced its new :Anapurna Mw, a six-color system that adds single pass pre-white and multi-pass post-white to the :Anapurna M series. The :Anapurna Mw creates new possibilities for printing on transparent material and backlit applications or printing white as a spot color, according to the company. “SGIA attendees posed questions and participated in onsite demos so that they could see the :Anapurna Mw in action,” said Jeff Lewis of Agfa.
Roland XC 540 MT with Metallic Silver ECO-SOL MAX Ink
Roland debuted its new printer, the first to use a metallic silver inkjet ink (which won a SGIA Product of the Year award in the Digital Ink category), and showed examples in the booth illustrating the effects that can be created using the new metallic inks. The printer will start shipping later this year. According to Mike Renna of Roland, the machine is capable of recirculating the ink without having to renew it, which helps to make it capable of printing both metallic and reflective.
AnaJet SPRINT
AnaJet presented its next generation direct-to-garment printer at the SGIA Expo last week. The SPRINT features a new print head, a new print engine, 30 percent more production, 50 percent less maintenance, and prints on light and dark garments in one to three minutes, respectively, according to the company. It uses AnaJet’s Closed-Loop Ink Delivery System and has automated most of the printer maintenance so it does not require regular print head cleaning as in the earlier models.
FUJIFILM Sericol UVISTAR Series
FUJIFILM Sericol demonstrated the UVISTAR Series of UV roll inkjet printers during the 2009 SGIA Expo, which were developed out of a partnership between FUJIFILM Sericol and Matan Digital Printers. With speeds of up to 3800 sqft/hour, the UVISTAR series is designed to produce both POP-quality as well as billboard quality at exceptional speeds, according to the company. The series currently includes 3.5m and 5m printers that can handle a wide range of media.
Kornit 921 Breeze
Shown at the 2009 SGIA Expo but not currently available in the market (it will be commercially released at the beginning of 2010), the Kornit 921 Breeze has been engineered to provide affordable printing with high-quality performance. The new, industrial but small direct-on-garment printer is designed to allow garment decorators to use high-end technology benefits at entry-level costs, according to the company. This new digital unit is capable of printing on both dark and light garments and includes an automatic pretreatment system integrated into the machine.
2009 SGIA Expo Conference Recap > |
