The Big Picture - June/July 2014 - (Page F16)

FOCUS EFI www.efi.com New Profit Opportunities with White Ink and LED Experienced digital printing businesses looking to expand the types of applications they produce may want to explore what they can do with white ink and with UV LED. New formulations for white ink have proven to be a game changer for businesses looking to boost their work in packaging, high-end retail signage, and other markets. LED inkjet, a type of UV inkjet printing that uses lowertemperature curing, expands the types of substrates print businesses can run, and it offers a number of additional benefits that translate into higher profitability. WHY WHITE? INTEGRATING NEW TECHNOLOGY White ink works wonders because it opens the door to transparent, translucent, colored, and even metallic media. Today, white ink is often required on backlit displays and window clings printed on transparent media, as well as for package printing and prototyping. Printers that adopt white ink can generally benefit from the higher margins those types of jobs command, particularly for premium specialty applications like prints completed on glass or metal. Some wide-format printer models can even print a single-layer white at full production speeds - which goes a long way toward making the work as efficient and profitable as possible. Jacksonville, Florida-based print business and studio Dali Decals (dalidecals.com) has used the white-ink capabilities of its flatbed UV inkjet printer to grow the range of products it offers. The company, which started by providing vinyl decals online, now uses white ink to 16 FOCUS 2014 print custom-designed art and décor pieces printed on acrylic, metal, wood, and flooring substrates. LED-ING THE WAY LED UV inkjet is another technology ripe with opportunity for print professionals. It creates a very durable end product, making it an ideal choice for businesses that currently use solvent, UV, or other inkjet technologies. Traditional UV lamps gradually deteriorate with use and, left unchecked, that leads to unusable prints because of color shifting and improper curing. LED lamps, on the other hand, provide an instant-on, consistent cure that ensures high-quality printing while producing very high-quality images. "Cool cure" offerings give users the ability to print on substrates that can't withstand the heat of traditional curing or drying methods, opening doors to even more applications. In flatbed/rigid substrate printing, this eliminates wasteful and potentially costly headstrike damage. With roll media, LED creates truly unique opportunities, such as printing on bubble-wrap paper, an application that's being pioneered by JMC Signmakers (jmcsignmakers.nl) in Europe (see image at left). LED curing also uses less energy. JMC, for example, reports that it has cut its energy usage by as much as 75 percent by switching to LED. Reducing energy usage not only creates significant cost savings, but also makes LED a much greener solution. Since print professionals can print on lighter-weight materials, they can reduce the carbon footprint associated with transportation. Considering the weight savings and reduced energy requirements, in addition to low VOCs, less waste, and fewer consumables, LED has one of the industry's best environmental profiles. Taking advantage of these opportunities does not have to be an either/or proposition: EFI Vutek LED printers offer the benefits of cool cure imaging, plus they have top-quality white-ink capabilities. Printing companies can expand in ways they could not imagine before, setting the stage for more profits and continued momentum in the industry's transformation from analog to digital printing. http://www.efi.com http://www.efi.com http://www.jmcsignmakers.nl http://www.dalidecals.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - June/July 2014

The Big Picture - June/July 2014
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
Up Front
Graphics on the Go
Flavorful Interiors
Step-by-Step: Deer Caught in the Spotlight
Stay Sharp with Cutters and Routers
R+D
Explorer

The Big Picture - June/July 2014