EFI Cretaprint Ecosystem Shows Digital Advantages in Tile Decoration at Tecnargilla, Cersaie

At the recent Tecnargilla tradeshow in Rimini, Italy, Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFI) presented the advantages available to the ceramics and home décor industries with its complete, advanced ecosystem of EFI Cretaprint technologies. Visitors saw the latest EFI Cretaprint printers and Genuine EFI Cretacolor Inks, along with advanced EFI Fiery digital front end (DFE) technology for digital production workflows.
 
EFI also presented the high-quality digital ceramic tile decoration capabilities the EFI Cretaprint ecosystem offers with a showroom display at the recent Cersaie 2016 tradeshow in Bologna.
 
Making its debut at Tecnargilla was the new EFI Cretaprint D4 printer, which features up to 12 print bars. The printer fulfills the most demanding tile decoration needs by giving users the ability to incorporate a full range of ceramic inks and digital print effects. A newly upgraded EFI Cretaprint C4 printer running at the show featured the just-released Xaar 2001 printhead. The new, optional Xaar printheads have 2,000 nozzles per head and deliver bold colours and special effects for high-coverage projects in an advanced Cretaprint platform that can print at resolutions up to 720 dpi and at speeds up to 50 meters per minute.
 
Another printer shown on EFI’s Tecnargilla stand, the Cretaprint M4-SOL, is the most popular model of EFI Cretaprint’s SOL series of printers available in widths from 700mm to 1800mm. Specifically designed for producing high-transit, porcelain-polished tiles, the printer gives users the ability to jet soluble-salt inks and bring richer colors to their porcelain tile decorations with lapatto and polished finishes.
 
For the first time at a ceramics tradeshow, EFI presented an LED UV-inkjet, wide-format solution for tile decoration – the EFI H1625 LED, a 1.65-meter wide printer. The EFI H1625’s LED UV-curable inks provide photorealism and vibrancy to customized, ceramic coating jobs. Users can move beyond traditional limitations in ceramic tile home décor imaging, printing one-off or short-run pictures and high-resolution images on conventional ceramic pieces.
 
EFI also highlighted Cretaprint X4, the company’s award-winning technology for new, larger slab lines. The new technology brings advanced, smart functions for customizing ceramics for architectural projects, including facades, flooring, paneling and countertops.
 
EFI Fiery DFE technologies and Genuine EFI Cretacolor Inks bolster the EFI Cretaprint ecosystem for ceramic decoration printers, ink and color management. The latest EFI Fiery proServer DFE presented at Tecnargilla provides highly accurate and predictable results, with the lowest ink costs.
 
Genuine EFI Cretacolor Inks used in the Cretaprint printers at Tecnargilla are formulated to deliver the highest quality and optimal performance. At the show, EFI presented for the first time its newest color addition to Cretacolor Inks, a new green ink that significantly expands the available color gamut for customers. Cretacolor inks are odourless, stable and non-hazardous, and offer a long shelf life of eight months from the date of manufacture.
 
“With so many new innovations available, we were especially excited to meet with customers and prospects at Tecnargilla and Cersaie,” said José Luis Ramon Moreno, VP and GM, EFI Industrial Printing. “Our world-class, single-pass inkjet technology continues to expand the range of possibilities in ceramic decoration. And, with EFI’s broader ecosystem of products, including inks, the Fiery proServer and short-run, wide-format UV LED technology, we have a unique ability to provide efficient, superior-quality, integrated systems that create new opportunities and fuel greater success for our customers.”