Tennessee-based based print distribution business Ingram Express Services (IES) has installed the world’s first EFI Vutek XT hybrid flatbed roll-to-roll display graphics printer.
IES invested in the new super-high-speed press to expand its Vutek-heavy digital graphics production floor and venture into new market opportunities, addressing a growing demand for higher-volume rigid substrate work.
The new printer is built on an entirely new platform, designed for throughput and print capabilities, litho-like image quality, and ink yield to help sign and display graphics providers win more profitable business and expand their applications.
IES owner Adam Ingram said, ‘The Vutek XT is going to change us in many ways, the biggest being pressroom disruption. Our capacity is going to go through the roof compared to where we are now.’
IES purchased its first EFI printer in 2016. Now, along with the new XT model the company runs two hybrid and two roll-to-roll Vutek systems – including a second Vutek Q3r roll-fed UV LED inkjet printer installed in early 2022.
Founded in 1995 as a kitting, fulfilment, and distribution company, IES has grown to offer a broad range of display graphics services for retailers, restaurants, and grocery and convenience stores. Plus, the company has expanded into graphics for the sports and events markets, serving many of the state’s professional sports teams – including the National Sounds, the Nashville Predators, and Tennessee Titans.
The VUTEk XT printer is designed to drive a significant reduction in total cost of ownership with superior throughput exceeding 350 boards per hour. A new vacuum architecture on the Vutek XT printer offers five times more hold-down for a wide range of materials. A new media transport eliminates the need for material edge guides, ensuring highly accurate registration and smooth transport of even thick boards.
Mr Ingram added, ‘Our customers are looking for faster turnaround at better cost. We’re in a time now where material costs are through the roof so customers are looking for everything they can and efficiencies matter.
‘In wide format, large jobs – while they’re great – can be very scary because you can get them in and all of a sudden you think this is a 12-15 day run. Now, for us, those jobs will be 2-3 days max, so we’ll be able to turn more jobs out in a quicker span.’
A multi-lane printing feature on the new Vutek XT model offers users the option to feed boards in up to three printing lanes, using the same or different print files. The machine supports roll-to-roll printing of large rolls up to 1.5m in diameter with two independent drives for two-up printing, or one collaborative drive for one-up printing.
Enhanced dual-zone ‘Pin and Cure’ technology on the new printer uses LED lamps to immediately pin drops of ink on the substrate during printing, followed by a traditional UV lamp cure as the substrate leaves the printer. This proven and innovative curing process offers better uniformity, colour density, and a wider colour gamut in high-volume throughput. EFI’s new CP5G ink delivery technology on the printer delivers complete ink circulation, superior dot placement, 5-picolitre drops and grayscale imaging – a robust feature set that can ensure IES and its customers gain fine text imaging and near-lithographic imaging with a four-color CMYK inkset.
The ink recirculation system is leveraged from EFI’s Nozomi single-pass inkjet printer architecture and ensures continuous flow of fresh ink, at the correct temperature, always at the ready. Users can also expect to obtain a yield of more than 168sqm per litre of ink – an ink yield increase of 30% to 50% compared to other inkjet sign and display graphics printers.
The EFI Fiery proServer Premium digital front end (DFE) drives IES’s new Vutek XT printer, providing built-in production tools and colour management, along with EFI’s RIP technology for accelerated file processing.
A high-throughput data channel and unique Fiery Sign Flow every print is different (EPiD) technology allows IES to quickly sequence retail display graphics for optimal in-store installation. Campaigns come off the printer and onto the pallet in the order needed for optimal installation, based on each specific store layout, reducing the need for hand collation either at the print shop or the store.
