With digital textile printing set for rapid growth EFI is showing its latest series of textile printers at ITMA Asia this week, including the 12-colour EFI Reggiani Colors printer.
The company - which is about to get a new CEO Bill Muir to succeed long serving Guy Gecht - is also showing its Reggiani Terra solution featuring new pigment ink with binder for a greener, faster and competitive textile process; and its EFI Optitex 2D/3D CAD design software; as well as the EFI Fiery DesignPro software suite for print preparation and production.
EFI says its ecosystem of textile technologies leverages EFI Reggiani’s 70 years as a leader in textile industry innovation with digital and conventional processes. The company says its EFI Reggiani products, along with some of the industry’s most advanced software innovations, are designed to simplify the transition from conventional to digital production.
At ITMA Asia, EFI experts will highlight the company’s completely renewed digital printer line, including products that give users improved production workflows and the ability to move to greener, more environmentally friendly processes.
The Reggiani Colors printer – EFI’s fourth high-tech industrial textile printer launched in less than a year – offers an imaging configuration that the company says is important for customers seeking to establish a distinct competitive advantage. The printer runs at speeds up to 560sqm an hour, delivering says EFI printing quality and uniformity with an extended colour gamut, colour depth and increased penetration into fabric.
EFI says users can place the printer’s 12 colours in a high-productivity 6+6 configuration for superior imaging at much faster throughput speeds. An innovative continuous ink recirculation system ensures reliability and lets users print with a wider variety of inks while reducing purging and maintenance.
Proprietary electronics on the printer reduce setup time and streamline maintenance tasks. New EFI Reggiani printing software on the Colors model allows for real-time image processing, which improves users’ overall workflow performance. The printer, which is available in 180mm, 240mm and 340mm widths, can also use nearly any configuration of inks – including special inks, inks with different chemistry types, and special treatments.
EFI is also presenting the Reggiani Terra solution for direct-to-textile production. Terra eliminates the need for steaming or washing on direct-to-textile applications using a greener, more efficient polymerisation process that takes place as printed textile goes through the printer’s on-board dryer.
The new version of EFI Optitex software on display, O/18, provides more than 100 types of pre-defined fabrics to choose from. Users can now visualise their designs before creating physical samples in a better, more realistic digital environment. And, a new EFI Optitex Marker Creation Wizard enables users to create and define multiple markers within a single, user-friendly interface.