World First for CMYKhub and EFI

Australian trade print supplier CMYKhub has become the first in the world to confirm an order for the new EFI VUTEk Q3h XP and EFI VUTEk Q3h X hybrid printers, which were released to the market at FESPA in March.

The order, placed with EFI’s ANZ channel partner Currie Group, also includes an EFI VUTEk FabriVU dye-sublimation printer and will not only dramatically increase the capacity of CMYKhub's rapidly-growing wide-format trade printing service, but also add a completely new, soft-signage service to the company’s growing offering.

The deal, which was signed this week by CMYKhub Director, Trent Nankervis at EFI’s New Hampshire headquarters, puts CMYKhub at the forefront of wide-format print technology, allowing it to deliver to the most exacting standards across a huge range of applications and, more importantly, to do so with reliable, 24-hour turnaround across Australia.

The first of the machines to be delivered will be the VUTEk Q3h XP, which is set to arrive in Melbourne within the next six months, quickly followed by the VUTEk FabriVU 340i+, which is expected before Christmas. The VUTEk Q3h X will join its stablemates at CMYKhub’s Sydney premises next year.

Dayne Nankervis, CEO of CMYKhub, says the driver for such a significant expansion – which comes on top of a suite of other investments in labels, book finishing and more over the past 12 months – is quite simply to meet the needs of print service providers.

“As a trade printer, that’s always our guiding principle – we listen to what our resellers are telling us, what their customers are telling them. Then we make our own, strategic investments to ensure they can continue to grow and enhance their businesses, whatever sector of the market they are in, and wherever they are in Australia,” he says.

The two EFI VUTEk Q3h models will provide important additional speed and flexibility for general wide-format applications. At 3.4m wide, the hybrid flatbed/roll-fed inkjet production printers offer the highest-quality imaging at high speed, to a vastly expanded range of substrates.

With eight rows of print heads and advanced automation options, the machines can operate at speeds of up to 680 m2/hr for the Q3h X, and 905 m2/hr for the Q3h XP. Both models support single- and dual-roll double-sided printing and, using to EFI’s advanced inks and low-VOC, low-energy LED technology, can handle a vastly extended range of substrates.

Most importantly, there is no compromise on quality, with superior 1200dpi print resolution and a choice of four or six colours – CMYK or CMYKck configurations – with white and clear as options, and an expanded colour gamut, thanks to EFI’s dynamic screening wizard.

Alan Nankervis, National Wide Format Manager for CMYKhub, says the demand for the company’s wide-format services has grown rapidly since it was introduced eight years ago, and the two new hybrid machines will not only provide greater flexibility, but add important capacity to provide more jobs, with a faster turnaround.

“The EFI VUTEk Q3h X and Q3h XP machines are incredibly fast and flexible,” he says. “The X is nearly twice as fast as our existing H5 model, and the XP faster again by some 40%. Together, they will increase our capacity for rigid signage by about 400%, which is massive.”

With its existing EFI VUTEk H5 superwide printer, which runs out of its Melbourne wide-format operation, CMYKhub had been able to offer 24-hour turnarounds to customers in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. The new investments, Dayne says, will enable them to replicate that service across the country.

“This will extend our wide-format capacity and make us the only company in Australia that is able to deliver this kind of high-quality product for next-day delivery in every Australian State and Territory,” says Dayne.

These two hybrid machines will be complemented by a new EFI VUTEk FabriVU 340i+ dye-sublimation soft signage printer which offers arguably the widest application range of any machine on the market. With outstanding 2400dpi image quality and depth of colour, at production-level speeds, it enables users able to print directly to fabric and sublimate in-line, delivering product ready for immediate finishing and shipping.

“The FabriVU 340i+ marks a move into a completely new area for us, but it really is just the logical next step,” says Dayne.

“The FabriVU really hits the mark for the types of products that are in demand – everything from backlit and front-lit graphics, to retail fixture wraps, block-out banners, flags and interior décor applications – and we are really looking forward to bringing those options to our customers.”

Alan agrees, saying the company had in fact been looking at soft signage since about 2018, and had settled on this machine’s predecessor, the EFI VUTEk FabriVU 340i, before COVID intervened and the project was put on the back-burner.

“This year, however, the timing seemed right to go ahead, so we took another look at all the options,” he says. “In the end, it wasn’t hard to come back to the FabriVU; it still had all the features we had liked initially, and also the upgrades available in the new 340i+ model – namely four additional print heads, bringing the total to eight, which boosts image quality and increases speeds in POP mode by nearly 50%.”

Both the VUTEk Q3h hybrid printers and the FabriVU 340i+ represent truly ‘best in class’. technologies, Dayne says, but there was another important factor underpinning the company’s investment decision – the ‘Currie Group factor’.

“These are great technologies, but there’s no questions that our confidence in the expertise of Currie Group, their commitment to us, and their unmatched service and technical support, played a big role in our decision,” he says.

Paul Whitehead, Business Unit Manager – Sign & Display for Currie Group, says that’s all part of the partnership.

“Demand on all print service providers to meet the ‘key three’ factors of price, quality and speed has never been stronger, and for trade printers like CMYKhub, those demands are amplified even more,” he says.

“It’s been a long process of consultation, investigation and evaluation to get to this point, but it’s great to see the team now take this step, confident that it is the best technology to suit their own needs, and those of their resellers. With these cutting-edge solutions from EFI, CMYKhub has once again gone one step beyond, to stay at the very forefront of the trade print market well into the future.”