Delivering the keynote address at this year’s Connect user conference in Las Vegas, USA, new CEO Jeff Jacobson said that further development of the EFI ‘ecosystem’ would lead to a ‘symphony’ of products at drupa in June.

Mr Jacobson did not provide any specifics, but reiterated the pillars of the company’s current offering – namely applications in the printing of textiles, building materials, packaging and display graphics, all underpinned by Fiery and other software development, plus ink and coating development and services. 

In what was effectively the first public address made by Mr Jacobson since he took over as CEO in August 2019, he explained also how the Siris acquisition – in which he was involved – came about and why he believes that the move into private ownership is the best route for the company, which had reached the US $1 billion revenue target under previous-but-one CEO Guy Gecht.

‘Siris’s business model is to acquire public companies that are going through the analogue to digital transition. EFI is its first industrial technology acquisition,’ he explained, adding that being free from the requirement to post quarterly performance figures meant that a ‘focus on long-term thinking’ could be applied.

Mr Jacobson recapped his career in the print industry from early days with Sun Chemical through the Polychome/Kodak Polychrome Graphics period, followed by his tenure at Xerox, the end of which he described as a ‘break from the industry’, drawing parallels between his career achievements and key moments in EFI’s history. Implying that his and EFI’s parallel courses were bound to intersect eventually, he commented that ‘EFI’s was the only CEO job that I would come back for. EFI is the technology company in the industry.’

Although he didn’t make any product-specific statements in his presentation or in response to questions from Digital Printer, he did state that even if EFI could not deliver perfection it would ‘promise responsiveness’.

The opening day of the three-day event wrapped up with the usual ‘fireside chat’, in which former CEO Guy Gecht was interviewed by Mr Jacobson and revealed various insights into some key decisions taken during his 25-year involvement, including that embedded systems and consumer electronics had been considered as development options, before settling on the industrial print path that led to the acquisition of Vutek in 2005.

Mr Gecht also stated that he thought a highlight of his last decade with the company had been the introduction of the successful Nozomi single-pass printer for corrugated board. Given that the company now also has highly productive single-pass printing offerings in ceramics (via Cretaprint), textiles (via Reggiani) and continues to see packaging as a key market, it seems reasonable to speculate that a solution for flexible packaging materials is in the offing.

More detail on EFI product lines is expected to be revealed during the second day of the conference.