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Cary Sherburne:  Hi, I’m Cary Sherburne, Senior Editor at WhatTheyThink.com and I’m here with Mike Wozny, who is Strategic Project Manager for EFI Inkjet Solutions.  Welcome.  

Mike Wozny:  Hey, yeah, that’s a long title, isn’t it?  

Cary Sherburne: That’s a long title, it’s a business book not a business card.  So, we’re here to talk about textile printing.  And you guys have a relatively new offering in the market.  You’ve been doing soft signage for a while, but you have a new offering in the market.  Tell us a little bit about it.  

Mike Wozny:  We do, we’ve had soft signage products or product for the soft signage market for close to 10 years.  It started with the 3360 and with our fabric view product being followed on by Ultraview product, and most recently we’ve introduced what we call the TX3250R.  It’s based on our QS platform which has been a very successful platform for us. With some minor modification and new ink technology and we’ve got a very high speed, high performance, high quality product that’s being very well received in the marketplace.  

Cary Sherburne:  And so in terms of the soft signage market, you could do either print direct to the sub straight or using transfer.  Right?  

Mike Wozny:  And that’s one of the advantages that we have due to our technology.  Some customers have come to us and said, you know, we want to be able to do flags, which is typically a direct type of application, but they also wanted to do a vinyl banner replacement exhibits graphics, those types of things.  So, by offering both, our customers are able to say, yes, more often.  They are able to provide more solutions to their customers.  So it’s sort of a win-win for both of us.  

Cary Sherburne:  Now, I understand that in terms of the people who buy signage that soft signage is pretty popular and maybe a little higher margin than some other types of signage.  

Mike Wozny:  The, just the final product provides so much advantage for our customer’s customers.  The shipping costs are less, it can be reused, it’s easier because you’re just rolling it up.  It’s easier for it to be installed.  So when you factor in all of those things, all of those benefits to our customer’s customers, you know the guys who are buying the product, they’re willing to pay more for it.  And if they’re willing to pay more, the result is, you bet higher margin for each square foot or each square meter that’s produced.  

Cary Sherburne:  Because they’re looking at the total cost of ownership of the signs.  

Mike Wozny:  They are. Absolutely, absolutely.  Plus, it just feels better because it’s a greener, it’s got a smaller carbon footprint, so you know, vinyl has got, you know, in terms of waste, it’s got a big impact on the environment, when you’re printing on a textile type of sub straight, it just – it’s just environmentally it’s just a better, better product.  

Cary Sherburne:  So, how wide is the press?  

Mike Wozny:  So, it’s 3.2 meters wide, so a little over 10 feet, which is great for exhibits, it’s great for banners because banners you can run on the short side.  So it’s a nice width.  

Cary Sherburne:  Direct printing, is it mostly polyesters or… 

Mike Wozny:  Yes.  It needs to be polyester based, which is really the key sub straight or the primary sub straight in flags anyway.  

Cary Sherburne:  And do you do any other kind of textile printing, like anything that would be apparel or would be home décor or any of that stuff?  

Mike Wozny:   Well, inevitably, given the ROI’s that exist with this type of product, I mean, a customer can run in less than an hour a day, five days a week in 20 days in a month and make enough money to pay back that payment or make that payment at the end of the month.  So, when you have an ROI like that, it’s inevitable that our customers are going to explore into other industries, such as the apparel, such as the home furnishings, such, you know, those kinds of markets.  It’s just natural for them because they have that opportunity.  

Cary Sherburne:  It’s certainly exciting.  I’m looking forward to the day when I can customize my entire house from tile to drapes to carpets.  They’ll have that all on VTechs.  

Mike Wozny:  Cost effectively.  And then when you get tired of it, you can do it all over again.  

Cary Sherburne:  Take it down and do it all over again.  Thanks Mike.  

Mike Wozny:  Thank you.  

 

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