Electronics For Imaging, Inc. announced the installation of two new printers at Paris-based superwide graphics provider METROPOLE: a 5-metre EFI VUTEk FabriVU 520 soft signage printer and an EFI VUTEk LX3 Pro hybrid roll/flatbed LED inkjet printer.
METROPOLE is recognised as having the most reliable print technology in the heart of Paris. "Thanks to continued investment, we have been able to offer our clients a production operation capable of producing any creation," noted Patrice Boquého, the company's associate director.
"Our purchasing policy aims for exceptional equipment. That is why over the past year, we have acquired new superwide technologies, a unique offering in our territory," said Boquého. "The EFI VUTEk FabriVU 520 and the EFI VUTEk LX3 Pro, which recently arrived, reinforce this policy. They allow for more creative freedom and that creates real advantages for our market."
METROPOLE's strategy in superwide-format technology investments has paid off. The company is focused on setting new benchmarks in superwide printing in a facility that has 3,000 square metres of workshops and offices and produces more than 300,000 square metres of banners, adhesive and other graphics applications per year. The company employs 90 and has revenues of €19 million, offering service that goes beyond printing to desktop publishing and design, management of administrative requests, finishing work, including welding, sewing and stapling, and on-site installation of printed jobs.
"In our profession, everything is based on quality and responsiveness," Boquého explained."In this very competitive market where the clients are more and more demanding, you have to know how to put forward ideas, innovative solutions, and a complete service - as well as maintain deadlines - to be different, because decisions are made later and later and no matter what happens, the printing remains the last link in the chain."
After a detailed study of the printers available on the market, METROPOLE chose its two new EFI models. Now, the company is benefitting from the printers' exceptional printing quality and speed. Plus, additional innovative capabilities such as 5m-wide textile printing on the VUTEk FabriVU 520, and being able to create embossed designs with multilayer print capability on the VUTEk LX3 Pro, create greater value in METROPOLE's comprehensive graphics production offering.
METROPOLE's new VUTEk FabriVU soft signage printer offers resolutions up to 2,400 dpi and four-level greyscale printing with 4-18 picolitre drop sizes to ensure exceptional quality. It can run at 157 square metres per hour in point-of-purchase (POP) quality mode, and has a maximum speed of 446 square metres per hour. METROPOLE's customers can use the printer to migrate traditional signage and graphics work to textile soft signage, which has a lower carbon footprint because it is reusable, easy to store and lightweight, which reduces the amount of resources required to store and transport printed jobs.
The other new VUTEk model at METROPOLE is a versatile, 3.2 metre-wide hybrid roll/flatbed LED printer that is optimised for high-volume POP production and compatible with rigid and flexible substrates up to 5.08-cm thick. It has multilayer print capabilities in eight colours plus white with true 600 dpi or 1,000 dpi resolutions. The printer's "cool-cure" LED technology extends the range of supported substrates and offers greener, more sustainable production with reduced energy consumption compared to UV or latex printers.
