(This article ran in Day 1 of the drupa daily.)

The EFI family of Nozomi single-pass direct-to-corrugated printers continues to expand. The company has brought multiple versions of the printer to market since it first debuted at drupa 2016, including 1.4- and 1.8-meter wide printers customized for corrugated printing as well as models customized to the display graphics market.

Nozomi represents a transformative technology for increasing printing capabilities and crafting new business models. Its image quality turns plain boxes into colorful brand magnets. And it’s sustainable as well—reducing waste, speeding time to market, and using genuine EFI packaging inks, UV LED curable reducing energy requirements. EFI Nozomi LED inks for corrugated packaging are GREENGUARD- and GREENGUARD Gold-certified, meeting UL’s rigorous standards for low-level emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) intended to reduce indoor air pollution and the risk of chemical exposure. They also meet OCC-E certification for reliability and recyclability (testing performed in the US and EU at Western Michigan University and Fachgebiet fur Papierfabrikation and Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik (PMV)).

The latest member of the Nozomi family is the Packsize® EFI™ X5® Nozomi developed in partnership with Packsize, the industry leader in right sized, on-demand packaging technology, tailoring custom sized cardboard boxes for every product. Right-sizing boxes optimizes space and results in a 40% reduction in boxes, 60% less void fill, and a 26% decrease in corrugated material, significantly saving on materials and shipping costs.

“With the explosion in ecommerce and the emerging regulatory requirements requiring less packaging waste and reduced voids in shipping boxes, this system will bring capabilities to our customers to not only enable them to produce beautiful, graphically enhanced boxes, but to create each box individually, right-sized to its contents,” said Evandro Matteucci, vice president and general manager, Packaging & Building Materials, at EFI. “And that’s exactly what the Packsize EFI X5 Nozomi does. Corrugated fanfold or Z-fold material is fed into the system, it’s cut to the right length, digitally printed, variable die cut/cut, glued and erected all in line, in about 6 seconds. The box is exactly the right size for its contents as it can be driven seamlessly from a MIS/ecommerce system using Packsize’s PackNet® software. Each box can be different—different graphics, a different size, fully decorated for the ecommerce or big box store environment—and all automatically driven without an operator, greatly reducing labor costs and creating a true on-demand system.

This breakthrough in customizable packaging offers a transformative approach to addressing the surging demand for right-sized, eco-conscious packaging solutions and leverages the proven Nozomi performance.

Matteucci added, “Nozomi by itself is already a system that delivers 50% less global warming impact versus analog systems such as offset and flexography. Now we can add the environmental benefit of right-sized boxes, printed on demand in one streamlined process with high quality graphics in quantities as low as one. This means that packers and 3PL companies can not only transport more boxes per pallet or truck, reducing the carbon footprint and the costs of transport, but they can do so with uniquely decorated boxes that are ideal for ecommerce and offer a unique unboxing experience, giving brands and retailers the opportunity to take advantage of on-box advertising opportunities.”

Be sure to visit EFI at drupa to learn more about the Packsize EFI X5 Nozomi, running live at EFI’s booth. It will revolutionize the way you think about boxes for packing and shipping.

View the full video interview with Matteucci here.