UDS Sp. z o. o., one of Poland's leaders in point of sale (POS) signage production, will be Central Europe's first user of the EFI Nozomi C18000 single-pass, ultra-high-speed LED inkjet corrugated press from Electronics For Imaging, Inc.
With this machine, the Warsaw-based company will be able to provide faster response to customers' changing needs, solve warehousing problems for customers expecting just-in-time deliveries and add more corrugated packaging options to its product offerings.
"The Nozomi helps us respond ideally to market trends, including serialisation, frequent changes in promotional campaigns, just-in-time deliveries, and flexible response to market requirements," said Andrzej Bączkowski, owner and president of the board of UDS. "We've been observing the technology of digital printing for years and the Nozomi is the first digital machine for printing on corrugated board that makes economic sense for us.
"Our customers expect us to reduce production time without compromising on quality," he added, "and the Nozomi ensures this."
Fast time to market and high quality create a strong competitive advantage
Scheduled for installation next month, the Nozomi press - with its high-end imaging capabilities and fast running speeds of up to 75 linear metres (246 linear feet) per minute - offers the critical capabilities UDS can use to differentiate itself from the competition by focusing on short lead times as well as innovations in technology, product marketing and logistics. "Our purchase decision," explained Bączkowski, "was based on a combination of many factors: very good, offset-like quality, productivity, price per printed sheet and optimal sheet width."
The Nozomi press's strong environmental benefits are also very important to UDS, as they will allow the company to save up to 400 sheets of corrugated on each set-up required compared with analogue litho-lam processes, solving to some extent the problem of warehousing orders for customers expecting just-in-time deliveries. The corrugated press will also give UDS the ability to offer its customers targeted production in multiple batches. That process minimises the damage risk when larger quantities of corrugated products are held in storage, while also ensuring customers receive relevant, freshly printed, high-quality displays and packaging.
High-end colour capabilities with a broad colour gamut
"EFI Nozomi is the only machine that has implemented a colour measurement system that results in high quality from the very first sheets," said Daniel Dzbański, head of R&D at UDS. "In addition, it has recently been equipped with a Photo mode, and that will allow us to achieve up to 97% compliance with the PANTONEÂ palette with six colours. This is an ideal feature for printing corrugated display materials where saturation and vivid colours are key.
"Another decisive factor," Dzbański added, "was that the Nozomi's output is odourless. In our office, we have printouts that were produced using other printers a few months ago, and those printouts still emit a distinctive smell. Our customers would not accept that."
The press, which can print up to 10,000 890x890-mm (35x35-inch) boards per hour two-up, features an innovative, single-pass, piezo inkjet writing system that delivers accurate, high-fidelity colour, including consistent reproduction on solid areas. And, the EFI Fiery NZ-1000 digital front end (DFE) used to drive the press provides blazing performance, outstanding colour accuracy, efficient job management and the ability to produce versioned or variable work at full speed.
Once the new press from EFI is up and running, UDS's priority will be to expand its product portfolio with low-volume corrugated packaging. This investment will enable the company to further develop its export activities, giving UDS a competitive advantage in Central Europe with the strengths Nozomi LED inkjet technology provides compared to other digital corrugated print methods. With this in mind, UDS has already expanded its workforce by hiring additional sales representatives.
UDS's new Nozomi inkjet press - a production platform that is in use at top corrugated packaging companies in Europe, North America and Asia - is part of a complete ecosystem for corrugated production available from EFI, with leading edge inks, Fiery DFE technology and an EFI Corrugated Packaging Suite manufacturing execution system workflow.
