EXCEPTIONAL VALUE – HIGHER MARGINS

EFI has been a premier supplier of sign and display graphics’ printing equipment and services for decades. EFI believes its success depends on its customers’ success. The company is committed to working closely with customers to help them achieve their business goals. EFI’s newest offering – the VUTEk M3h X hybrid LED printer– is a versatile 3.2m true hybrid flatbed/roll-fed LED printer. It prints on rigid and flexible materials up to 5cms thick.

In a competitive market, signs and display graphics is a fast-growing and highly lucrative business. To ensure continued growth, it has become imperative for producers in this industry to take advantage of the latest technology. Whether a dedicated display graphics producer or a commercial printer looking to add display graphics to the mix, there are several considerations to be made:

• Is outsourcing display graphics’ projects necessary due to a lack of in-house capability and capacity?
• Are customers increasingly looking for faster time-to-market and a single-source supplier for their display graphics’ project components?
• Is it difficult to print on certain substrates, especially thinner, heat-sensitive materials?
• When outsourcing display graphics’ projects, is it necessary to seek out multiple vendors in order to meet time restraints and high quality?
• Is there excessive downtime, causing delivery delays?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’, it may be time to consider levelling up in-house production platforms. The EFI VUTEk M3h X offers all of these capabilities, thus answering the above questions with a ‘no’.

It might also be important to consider if consumables and parts are readily available in a timely manner. Additionally, if a true partnership is in place with a printing equipment supplier.

Every generation of EFI sign and display graphics’ printing equipment and inks represent a technological sea change. The EFI VUTEk M3h X features multilayer printing, up to nine layers in any colour in a single pass, at a resolution of up to 3,000dpi and 7pL/14pL grayscale printing. It comes with CMYK plus white and optional clear and orange inks as standard, for high quality and durability. LED printing allows for safe printing on thinner, lower-cost and heat-sensitive speciality media.

The M3h X prints up to 105 boards per hour in Express mode. There are six print modes that balance speed and image quality for virtually any application. Continuous Print Plus – with multi-queue functionality – detects the next board, while automatically managing queued jobs. This allows operators to maximise productivity with minimal interruption. Easy, double-sided printing of rigid and sheet material further expands production efficiency. The M3h X expands the range of applications produced and reduces turnaround time. Furthermore, it is possible to safely print on uneven material because of its print gap of 2mm. 

“The VUTEk M3h X prints up to 105 boards per hour in Express mode”

The VUTEk M3h X incorporates advanced automation features. These include automated head cleaning, media height detection and operator alerts when wrinkles or other defects are detected. Add to that, its magnetic linear drive, state-of-the-art control systems and high-speed ink jetting that delivers precise dot placement for sharper images. The M3h X enables print service providers (PSPs) to deliver excellent image quality at production-level speeds. As a result, customer expectations can be met for quality, turnaround time and substrate versatility.

With six production modes – from Express through to Ultra – throughput can be optimised or image quality based on each job’s requirements. The printer delivers outstanding results from everyday signage to premium point-of-purchase (POP) graphics.

Helping meet sustainability goals, EFI LED technology extends the range of supported substrates to include thinner, lower-cost and heat-sensitive media. At the same time, this also reduces operating costs through lower energy consumption, fewer consumables, reduced waste and instant on/off LED curing. 

Genuine EFI LED inks are custom-formulated, tested and optimised specifically for the VUTEk M3h X. The inks are manufactured in the company’s facilities in Michigan, US and Bradford, UK. They contain virtually no volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions and no heavy metal. In addition, they are trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide (TPO)- and tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate (THFA)-free, and are formulated to meet future regulations.

What is more, the Mh3 X printer is driven by the optional high-performance Fiery proServer Premium. The proServer features Fiery XF software for expert digital-colour management, spot-colour support, FAST RIP, colour profiling, verification tools and Fiery Command WorkStation.

For PSPs looking to differentiate their business in the display graphics market, the EFI VUTEk M3h X offers an ideal solution. Contact EFI to learn how the M3h X can help deliver exceptional value to customers while increasing profitability.