FREMONT, Calif. - Electronics For Imaging, Inc. today reported that Hatteras, a family-owned printing business with locations in New Jersey and New York, will be one of the first businesses to install the high-volume, 3.2-meter EFI VUTEk HS125 Pro hybrid roll/flatbed inkjet press. The company, founded in 1983 and employing 290, operates a production facility consisting of offset, digital and superwide format printing, primarily serving pharmaceutical and high-end retail customers. The new press being installed is the company’s third VUTEk acquisition in 18 months. 

“The addition of the HS125 gives Hatteras an extremely well-rounded arsenal of printers that enables to us to deliver with the speed and quality that our customers require,” said Bill Duerr, Hatteras’s president.

The company purchased the VUTEk HS125 press to stay ahead of growing demand and create flexibility within its department. Hatteras added its first VUTEk printer, a 5-meter roll-to-roll LED model, to expand capacity beyond what the company could produce on solvent and latex printers. Now, both the roll-to-roll printer and the 3.2-meter hybrid VUTEk LED printer Hatteras installed in 2015 have changed the way Hatteras’s clients utilize the company’s services. 

“One of the reasons the initial 5-meter roll-to-roll printer was attractive was its 3M™ SuperFlex inks and LED curing, which gave us the ability to use a wider range of substrates and an ink that doesn’t crack on flexible substrates,” Duerr said. “That printer has been busy since the day training was concluded, and we have added two more devices to address organic growth and increase our ability to deliver large projects quickly in a marketplace that requires fast time to market.”

Longer-run jobs produced in a shorter amount of time

Hatteras’s new press is EFI’s flagship inkjet production model for signage and graphics applications, and produces up to 125 boards per hour at imaging quality that approaches offset. With the installation, Hatteras has tripled its superwide- format inkjet graphics production capacity. Just as important, Hatteras now has a higher-volume production option for longer-run work. 

“We are winning an increasing number of larger jobs,” Duerr said, “and we need the capacity that the HS125 Pro brings. Now, we will have great quality across all three printers and the new press allows us to produce those larger jobs much faster.” 

Duerr cited as an example a job the company prints for a large retailer where print time will be reduced by 60% on the VUTEk HS125 Pro. “This saves a huge amount of time without sacrificing quality,” he said. 

Continuous growth in superwide-format graphics opportunities

The quality available with EFI VUTEk technologies so far have helped make superwide-format inkjet graphics a significant contributor to ongoing, profitable growth at Duerr’s company.  

“Back in 2014, I couldn’t have predicted the type of success we would have, but we made the right equipment decisions at the right times,” Duerr noted. “EFI also has been very responsive and really supported our business. They are the nimble kind of partner we need to make the quick business decisions required in today’s dynamic marketplace and to be able to capitalize on new opportunities.”

“Hatteras is another example of a customer that has recognized and benefited from the tremendous opportunities that can come with the quality, flexibility and productivity EFI VUTEk technologies deliver,” said Frank Mallozzi, EFI’s senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. “We congratulate Bill Duerr and the team at Hatteras on their success, and look forward to continuing to work with them as Hatteras charts a new path to growth as one of the very first users of our highest-volume VUTEk press.”