As runs and lead times get shorter for POS materials, the company expects to migrate away from litho due to the quality, better colour fastness, wider colour gamut, less waste and more.

DUSSELDORF – Electronics For Imaging, Inc., today reported that UK-based Kolorcraft has acquired an EFI Nozomi 14000 SD single-pass display graphics printer, most recently highlighted at drupa. The EFI Nozomi 14000 SD was designed to specifically meet the needs of the display graphics market, giving users the opportunity to significantly improve speed to market and increase profitability with a wide range of substrates and brilliant colour quality. It also offers sustainability benefits, including a reduction of Global Warming Potential (GWP) by 50% compared to offset printing, according to a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) performed in collaboration with the Clean Agency.

Kolorcraft was established in 1979 in Ossett, England. Michael Atkinson, currently the company’s Managing Director following his acquisition of the company in 2019, started with the company 35 years ago as a trainee estimator, working his way to Commercial Director. Gary Herrington, Operations Director, had left the company, but returned after Atkinson acquired it. The company was operating its display graphics business with a combination of offset, digital and screen-print and had been following the progress of single-pass technology for some time.

“We knew that single-pass was a technology that people were working on, and we wanted to understand what the benefits were,” Herrington said. “Right from the outset, we were really impressed with the quality we saw from Nozomi. We talked to other potential suppliers and did testing on site at various facilities. And we came to the point of view that EFI was leading the market.”

“We also had the opportunity to visit EFI’s Valencia Customer Experience Centre to see the Nozomi in action there as well as to see how the equipment is manufactured,” Atkinson added. “We were blown away by the visit and saw that we had the opportunity to buy a production-ready machine, more advanced in readiness than any of the other competitors we have seen. It didn’t feel like we were taking a leap of faith with the purchase. And we are seeing continuing decreases in run lengths for what would have traditionally been offset work in our sector, which is ideal for the Nozomi and it will enable us to eliminate offset from our operation.”

Proven industry-leading technology gave Kolorcraft confidence in the investment

The EFI Nozomi 14000 SD single-pass printer for sign and display applications gives users the opportunity to significantly improve speed to market and increase profitability with a wide range of substrates. Herrington noted, “The Nozomi 14000 SD is a display market targeted machine, and it looked like something that wouldn’t scare away our operators and engineers. It looked more approachable, more user friendly, and it worked in a way that we could fully integrate into our way of working from Day One.” Kolorcraft chose the CMYK + orange ink configuration to increase the colour range of the machine. “We went with the orange because it gives us some really vibrant colours, almost fluorescent colours. In the future, we might add another specialty colour as well.”

The company will be printing anything with the Nozomi, from paper through to polypropylene, Corex, corrugated board and box board, the full gamut of what is required for the retail environment Kolorcraft serves.

Atkinson reported that the company has been having conversations with both customers and prospective customers, adding, “We are already talking with them about commissioning different tests and print samples and discussing the benefits of the investment. It’s generating a real enthusiasm among customers and colleagues, and the knowledge that the machine is being installed has certainly helped conversations with prospective customers.”

Another advantage Kolorcraft saw was the responsiveness of the EFI team, and the ability for technical support to easily travel to their location from Valencia if needed. “The training is the most in-depth, thorough process I’ve been involved in,” Herrington explained. “To be perfectly honest, I’ve commissioned large-scale litho and flexo hybrid machines in the past. And none of those had the same sort of depth of involvement that I have seen from EFI in this process. So it gives us a lot of confidence in the performance of the printer and its future support.”

For information about EFI products and services, visit www.EFI.com.