Available worldwide: EFI’s VUTEk HS100 Pro UV inkjet press.
Offering fast production speeds, high quality imaging through Pin & Cure – a unique technology that enables precise ink lay-down – and variable-dot greyscale imaging, the EFI VUTEk HS100 Pro UV inkjet press is now available worldwide.
According to the manufacturer, this performance enables printing companies to open up new business opportunities, with the productivity of screen printing and image quality that approaches offset.
The 3.2 metre wide HS100 Pro UV prints at speeds up to 100 boards per hour, or 70 boards per hour in P-O-P mode, helping to accelerate the industry’s shift from prep-intensive, analogue screen print and large-format offset to efficient, versatile UV inkjet digital printing.
‘In this market, printing firms have had to choose between higher quality or higher productivity, but could not get both in a single machine. We have addressed those issues, taking print quality and productivity to a higher level and combining those benefits in the VUTEk HS100 Pro,’ said Scott Schinlever, senior vice president and general manager of EFI’s Inkjet Solutions.
The press also has great versatility in substrates, thanks to a robust and accurate media handling system that handles both roll and rigid materials such as styrene, fluted poly propylene, card stock, foam core and corrugated board. EFI said that customers are also successfully printing with a number of unique substrates, including aluminum composite materials, and recycled-content boards used in printing, packaging and construction applications.
Four of the systems have been sold to US firms, with one in Europe, at German advertising production firm WTO in Wiehl. Further installations in Europe and the US are being completed.
PVS In-Store Graphics in Portland, Oregon was the world’s first HS100 Pro user. Co-owner Nick Olson said: ‘This new press is exceptionally fast. We had a three-day job for our VUTEk GS3200 printer that was printed in less than one day on the HS100 Pro.’
EFI showed the HS100 Pro UV at FESPA in London, where it also announced the introduction of thermoforming digital UV-curable inks which can be printed directly onto thermoplastic sheet materials.
