SUCCESSFUL PAIRING OF HYMMEN AND ENGINEERED FLOORS

Engineered Floors, based in Dalton, US, has been an industry leader with its pure colour solution, dyed fibre for carpeting. Now the innovative flooring producer reaches its next evolution in hard surfaces. Engineered Floors presents the flooring industry with the latest cutting-edge technology – digital print luxury vinyl tiles (LVT). Pure-grain, HighDef technology is the first domestically made LVT in the US. It uses digital-print technology to create high resolution designs directly onto a high-density stone plastic composite (SPC) core. 

Hymmen is the machine and plant building company based in Bielefeld, Germany. As Engineered Floors’ technology partner, it has delivered the award-winning and patented technology for the digital decor and structure printing of flooring.

Using digital-embossing technology, a grain structure is built up on the surface of the board, creating an exact texture match to the design. This provides the closest authentic wood look and feel of any product on the market. Each decor is taken from real wood, designed with 35 unique plank patterns. With high-resolution digital printing, it is possible to arrive at previously unachievable sharper details and a vivid colour spectrum. The increased dots per inch (DPI) lead to the High-Def colour clarity, allowing Engineered Floors to create its innovative products. The flooring producer emphasises that there is five times more colour clarity with digital flooring compared to traditional film products. Additionally, with the flooring product PureGrain, not only the design, but also durability, meets unparalleled features and benefits. 

Pure-grain, HighDef technology is the first domestically made LVT in the US

The digital flooring offers the realistic look and feel of actual wood. The collection includes modern light looks as well as darker designs. These can be used in living rooms, bedrooms and halls. The digital flooring can also be used in bathrooms thanks to its water resistance and durability.

PureGrain products are supplied by Engineered Floors. They are 100% US made, sourced and owned, offering the advantages of fast and easy access to the product. Digitally printed, directly onto a high-density rigid core, with exceptional realism, eliminates possible international trade restrictions. 

Numerous points of sale have already been placed. Interested customers can ask their flooring installers or have a look at PureGrain flooring at numerous dealers.

The ability to produce high quality, digital flooring has become strategically important for the future of the global flooring industry. Hymmen has invented and patented innovative technologies for the production and decoration for this purpose. The company entered a technology partnership with i4F – a group of companies providing patents and technologies dedicated to delivering the world’s best and most cutting-edge technologies to the global flooring industry. It includes exclusive licensing rights for all Hymmen digital-printing patents and technologies for flooring productions. For example, Hymmen’s award-winning Digital Lacquer Embossing (DLE).

Each decor is taken from real wood, designed with 35 unique plank patterns

The journey of a blank plank to a beautiful, digitally-printed LVT product in the Dalton plant involves the expertise of the design and manufacturing professionals of Engineered Floors, as well as new state-of-the-art equipment. This includes Hymmen’s JUPITER JPT-C digital, single-pass machine – a direct print-to-board line that delivers outstanding advanced features. This machine is designed for 24/7 industrial production. It also offers a high-precision continuous substrate conveyor for maximum register accuracy. In addition, the JUPITER JPT-C can achieve printing speeds of 25–50m/min and an optical resolution of >1000 dpi. Furthermore, it can achieve the highest colour stability and print quality.

The digital flooring offers the realistic look and feel of actual wood

The JUPITER line features DLE technology, creating structures embossed-in-register (EIR) to the decor of the surface. This technology grants all commercial and technical benefits of digital, single-pass printing such as flexibility, fast set-up times and individualisation. The digital structuring supports the surface performance. All features such as abrasion and scratch resistance, adhesion and chemical reliability of the core lacquer remain. The whole process build up is UV-lacquer based.

The complete line has an overall length of 120m. It includes a feeding portal, several liquid-coating machines for print preparation, the digital décor printer JUPITER JPT-C, coating applications as an abrasion resistance performance layer, the DLEplus, machines for the topcoat application and a stacking portal at the end of the line. 

The final product stands out with a perfectly registered embossing to the digital flooring, resulting in unparalleled visual and physical depth on the product surface. 

After the first contact in May 2021 – together with the technology partner i4F – a large-scale product evaluation at the Hymmen technology centre in Rödinghausen, Germany began. In November of the same year, contracts were signed and the plant project realised. This included the detailed engineering, production, shipping and mechanical and electrical installation. Production began in August 2023. 

“From the beginning of the project the co-operation between the teams of Engineered Floors and Hymmen was very close” says Dr René Pankoke, CEO and Managing Partner of Hymmen. He emphasises, “Upcoming challenges could be solved easily in the transparent and trustful atmosphere by the involved experts on both sides.”

Mike Sanderson, Vice-President Product Marketing at Engineered Flooring, comments, “Digital print LVT is the future and at Engineered Floors, the future is now. Our pure-grain, HighDef LVT is the next generation of hard-surface flooring.” He concludes by saying, “We will move the industry forward together with this latest innovation.” Engineered Floors relies on the Hymmen technology and already plans to widen the trans-Atlantic partnership by increasing its capacity with the German machine and plant manufacturer. 

i4F is a registered Trademark