Xaar, the world leader in digital ceramic printing technology, announces the launch of the first commercially available Xaar 1001 GS12-based tile printers at Tecnargilla 2012. The Xaar 1001 GS12, which joins the market-leading Xaar 1001 GS6, was designed to meet specific ceramics sector requirements.

Many of the major manufacturers of tile decoration equipment have chosen to develop new machines using Xaar's latest printhead because it delivers considerable quality and production performance benefits. Intesa-Sacmi, KERAjet, Projecta SiTi B&T, and TecnoFerrari will present the first printers to feature the Xaar 1001 GS12 at this year's show.

To date the proven Xaar 1001 GS6 printhead has been the printhead of choice  for  tile printer manufacturers and tile producers all over the world because no other printhead delivers the same level of reliability and print quality. The Xaar 1001 GS6 jets dynamically-variable 6-42 picolitre drops, which makes it ideal for printing pale shades and fine detail. The new Xaar 1001 GS12 printhead delivers larger 12-84 picolitre ink drops to provide double the colour intensity for bolder tile effects. Alternatively, users can opt for twice the line speed to increase throughput. The choice is theirs. Both printheads can achieve a stunning replication of natural materials like marble and granite, as well as highly decorative and creative new designs.

The unrivalled reliability of the Xaar 1001 is achieved using Xaar's TF Technology, a unique ink recirculation approach which is underpinned by 54 patents worldwide. Despite other printhead manufacturers' claims about ink recirculation, no other printhead today can deliver the same high flow rate enabled by Xaar's TF Technology for effective air bubble and particle removal and printhead thermal control. This ensures unrivalled reliability, lowest maintenance requirements and outstanding print quality, even in the harshest industrial environments.

Visitors to Tecnargilla can see the first commercially available printers using the Xaar 1001 GS12 printhead as well as examples of tiles produced with this printhead.

Intesa-Sacmi (Hall B1) presents its second-generation, high-definition COLORA HD2 Series featuring the Xaar 1001 GS12 at the show. The new features in the COLORA HD2 include: new ink supply and recycling systems, more effective cleaning processes and new machine control and management software. Users can choose the 6-colour printer model to suit them ranging from 697 to 1675 mm print widths and delivering 48m/min performance.

The modular KERAjet K700 and K1400 systems (Hall D2), with up to 12 colour bars, print quickly and with exact repetition. In addition to the Xaar 1001 GS12 printhead, the KERAjet incorporates a number of features, such as an integrated ink circulation system, automatic self-cleaning and optimised ink use, to ensure maximum efficiency and swift return on investment. "You can rely on Xaar to deliver high-end performance and the new printhead brings new levels of productivity and commercial benefits to our customers," says Juan Carlos Garcia, Chief Sales Officer, KERAjet.

Projecta SiTi B&T (Hall A3) has equipped the EVOSEVEN Plus, EVOFIVE Plus and the new EVOTHREE Plus with the new Xaar 1001 GS12 printhead to deliver more speed and more intensity, from 3 to 7 colours. These printers are also available for large size tiles up to 1.33m print width.

The single-pass TecnoFerrari VivaJet (Hall B2) is available with a choice of up to 8 colour bars in three available models and prints at up to 70m/min. Users can choose either the GS6 or GS12 variant of the Xaar 1001 printhead supported by new Xaar electronics to deliver maximum performance. "The Xaar 1001 GS12 printhead is the new market standard in digital decoration," says Alberto Annovi at TecnoFerrari. "Not only does it deliver more ink to the tile to produce stronger tones, but tile manufacturers also benefit from higher production efficiency, flexibility and reliability."

Both EFI Cretaprint (Hall C1) and New King Time (Hall C3) are developing new printers with Xaar 1001 GS12 printheads to deliver ultimate production performance. Visitors to these stands will be able to find out more about the specific features of their printers.

Finally, two other major tile printer manufacturers, Hope and Meijia (not exhibiting at Tecnargilla), will also be giving their customers the flexibility to use either the Xaar 1001 GS6 or GS12 in their printers, depending upon their specific decoration and production requirements.

"No other printhead can deliver the same extremely high level of machine uptime as the Xaar 1001. It is a major endorsement that eight of the world's leading digital printer manufacturers are quickly taking advantage of the faster print speeds or increased colour density delivered by the new Xaar 1001 GS12 printhead," says Mark Alexander, Director of Marketing. "Their customers will benefit from maximum productivity and therefore a quicker return on investment as a result."