EFI showcases Single-Pass Production Inkjet Display Graphics and Textiles at drupa 2024

EFI highlighted its single-pass printing solutions for the display graphics and textile markets at drupa 2024. Visitors to EFI’s stand saw some of the company's latest single-pass innovations live, including the EFI Nozomi 14000 SD single-pass printer for sign and display. The company also showcased a vast array of applications produced on the brand-new Nozomi 14000 AQ true water-based, single-pass printer for corrugated packaging and displays, and the Nozomi 12000 MP single-pass technology for direct-to-metal package printing, as well as the next-generation EFI Reggiani BOLT XS single-pass textile printer.

“Since 2012, when we acquired Cretaprint for single-pass inkjet printing of ceramics, and drupa 2016, where we first unveiled Nozomi, we have not only been focused on leveraging single-pass technology across multiple markets but also continuing to improve the speed, quality, efficiency, and more for this disruptive printing technology,” said Evandro Matteucci, Vice President/General Manager of EFI's Inkjet Packaging and Building Materials. “The entire global EFI team continues to participate in these developments, pulling technologies and expertise together in a way no other company can. The initial proof case of this capability was bringing the original Nozomi to market in less than two years, an incredible achievement that has resulted in the installation of more than 60 units around the world.”

The company says the EFI Nozomi printers represents exceptional single-pass inkjet corrugated technology in terms of power consumption efficiency, certified by the Fogra Research Institute for Media Technologies against the ISO 20690 energy standard. The EFI Nozomi is certified for OCC recyclability and repulpability by the Western Michigan University Recycling, Paper and Coating Pilot Plant – a leading certification organisation for corrugated recycling.

“We see single-pass printing as the future of production printing in the markets we serve,” Matteucci added. “With an increased focus on sustainability around the globe, this technology stands to be able to accelerate the migration of an increasing volume from less sustainable analogue printing technologies while at the same time opening up new business opportunities for the print providers that adopt this technology. With quality no longer being an issue, and the speed at which these single-pass printers can operate, print providers also have the opportunity to distinguish themselves in the marketplace with both the speed to market they can deliver for their customers and the ability to eliminate minimum order quantities, which reduces waste and inventory risk.”

In addition to showcasing single-pass inkjet printing at the show, EFI also introduced two new software solutions that add to the value of single-pass technology, including:

• EFInsight, cloud-based software that optimises the operational efficiency and TCO of EFI packaging, display graphics, or textile digital inkjet printing systems with powerful cloud-based data collection, analytics, reporting, proactive maintenance, and process control tools. It delivers the insights needed to understand the economics of production and the tools to maximise inkjet printer investments. It is currently available for EFI Nozomi single-pass printers for packaging.
• EFI’s Life Cycle Assessment tool for Nozomi printers, which documents Nozomi’s environmental footprint, developed in partnership with Clean Agency. This tool, which EFI customers and their customers can use, analyses their CO2 emissions as part of their overall packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and has proven that printing corrugated materials on the EFI Nozomi digital press reduces Global Warming Potential (GWP) by over 50% when compared to analogue printing technologies.

“Across the entire spectrum of our inkjet printers, EFI offers the widest array of solutions, using Genuine EFI inks and many of them powered by Fiery® technology,” said Matteucci. “Experts were available during drupa to explain the differences between multi- and single-pass technologies, where each fits, and the benefits of single pass, especially in high-volume environments. We believe single pass is the future of high-volume production inkjet printing across the markets we serve today and new markets in the future.”