Reidler Decal Corporation has installed a pair of advanced wide-format printers from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. – an EFI Pro 16h hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll LED printer, and the newest printer in the EFI Wide Format line up, a Pro 32r roll-to-roll LED printer.
The St. Clair, Pennsylvania-based graphics printing company – one of the oldest and largest independent transportation graphics suppliers in the U.S. – is using the new printers to boost capacity and drive a stronger competitive advantage while meeting growing demand for digital fleet graphics services.
Authorized EFI Inkjet partner Nazdar SourceOne sold the two new printers to Reidler Decal, working closely with the company’s principals to establish the best technology solution to meet growing digital production needs. The new Pro 32r roll-to-roll printer purchase – one of the first installations of that printer in the U.S. – is proving to be especially beneficial as a solution to boost fleet graphics production capacity with reduced printing costs.
The right mix of speed and cost for high-quality fleet graphics
“Our digital market is the fastest growing segment of our business,” said Reidler Decal Corp. President Ted Reidler. “We did a lot of research and comparing of presses, and we found the EFI Pro 32r gives us the most competitive advantage in speed, cost of ownership and pricing of ink.”
Reidler is experiencing greater demand for its fleet graphics across the country and needed more capacity, not only for its own jobs, but also to address demand for larger fleet projects that originate from affiliates the company serves. “We wanted to upgrade our capabilities,” Ted Reidler noted. “The 32r is around two and-a-half times faster than our previous equipment, has more capabilities to print on diverse substrates, and the ink is much more economical. It increases our capacity with higher speeds, while at the same time lowering our cost per square foot.”
The 126-inch wide EFI Pro 32r is an economical and versatile production-level LED printer, with four colors and optional white inks, an integrated mesh kit and a wrinkle analyzer. Designed for high-quality output with mid-level production, the Pro 32r prints up to 2,227 square feet per hour and offers EFI’s 7-picoliter UltraDrop Technology imaging for high-definition print quality.
The printer’s “cool cure” LED imaging helps with lower power consumption, plus it gives Reidler Decal the ability to print on a wide variety of flexible substrates, including thin or specialty media that cannot withstand the heat required with traditional UV or latex printers. A host of value-added options are available for the printer as well, including slitters, automatic blockout printing, backlit printing, an iPhone printer management application and a software productivity pack featuring enhanced tools to reduce media waste.
Hybrid printer versatility and Fiery digital print quality
To further diversify its offerings and complement the robust production capabilities of the Pro 32r, Reidler Decal also purchased an EFI Pro 16h printer from Nazdar, a move that gives Reidler extra production capacity in fleet graphics while also opening the door to more rigid-substrate work.
“We love the EFI hybrid printers,” Ted Reidler stated. “The Pro 16h gives us flatbed capabilities as well as acting as a backup for our roll-to-roll printing. And like the Pro 32r, it also lowers our cost of production.”
The 65-inch wide Pro 16h model includes white ink and is designed with a robust package of features to assure a lower total cost of ownership, superior image quality and a broad range of applications. Like the Pro 32r, the Pro 16h model features EFI’s energy-efficient LED imaging for lower energy costs and compatibility with an exceptionally broad range of substrates.
Both printers feature built-in EFI Fiery digital front ends (DFEs). With the advanced Fiery DFE on both printers, Reidler Decal can ensure high productivity in its digital inkjet workflow, thanks to the DFEs’ EFI FAST RIP acceleration technology, RIP-and-print-on-demand functionality, and the ability to print preRIPed files at the printer interface.
Founded in 1926 as a one-man sign shop for water-applied decals, Reidler Decal Corp. pioneered wraps for trains in the late 1990s. Today, run by the third generation of the Reidler family, the company focuses on fleet wraps for the trucking, rail, and air cargo markets. The Reidler family has built the business through its dedicated commitment to the transportation space, so much so that one transportation customer has been a client of the company since Reidler Decal’s inception more than nine decades ago.
Reidler Decal is also a long-time EFI user and has owned several EFI and EFI VUTEk printers over the years. “The EFI technology is great, but the people are the real strength of EFI,” according to Ted Reidler. “The entire team have been wonderful and very responsive. I think we made a fantastic choice by going with EFI.”
