Fremont, Calif. – At this year’s FESPA Global Expo (May 15-18 in Berlin) Electronics For Imaging, Inc. will unveil its new fabric soft signage printer with in-line sublimation, the EFI™ VUTEk® FabriVU® 340i. This advanced, aqueous dispersed dye-sublimation printer features a new platen and extraction system that enables in-line heat press sublimation directly from the printer.

EFI customers gain greater convenience and value with this new offering, as it is available at a price that is less than the cost of a comparable printer and heat press purchased separately. Plus, the combined printer/heat press system uses less floor space than would be required with separate printing and sublimation stations.

The new offering continues a track record of innovation and customer success worldwide with VUTEk FabriVU aqueous dye-sub printers – a best-in-class technology based on EFI Reggiani’s 70+ years of innovation in textile printing.

“We are excited to show the continued advances of our soft-signage portfolio at FESPA,” said Ken Hanulec, vice president of marketing, EFI Inkjet. “Our new in-line innovation for this product line creates direct-to-fabric prints that are immediately ready for finishing or shipping. By combining two major production steps into one continuous process our customers can drive greater throughput and take full advantage of the rapidly growing soft signage and fabric printing market.”

“EFI has just sold our very first VUTEk 340i printer,” Hanulec added, “and it has taken us to a significant milestone, as it is the 100th VUTEk FabriVU aqueous soft-signage printer sold worldwide.”

A milestone achievement at CoverUp Ltd

Dublin, Ireland-based CoverUp Ltd is the first company to purchase the 340i model printer. The company chose the 133-inch (340-cm) wide device to take its soft signage capabilities to the next level of quality and productivity.

“We were looking to increase our soft signage printing capacity with a reliable printer with inline fixation,” said CoverUp Operations Director Anthony Byrne. “We flew to EFI Reggiani in Italy to see one of the very first VUTEk FabriVU 340i demos, and found the printer to be a significant upgrade in terms of image quality, productivity and reliability compared to our existing fabric printers. The addition of this latest technology from EFI is going to give us a significant competitive advantage in our marketplace.”

The new printer provides the high quality of EFI VUTEk FabriVU aqueous dispersed dye-sub printing with sublimation completed in-line at fast production speeds. Customers who occasionally need to print to transfer paper and then sublimate offline can utilize a special direct-to-paper mode on the 340i model for printing only.

In addition to the new VUTEk FabriVU printer, EFI’s exhibit at FESPA, in hall 2.2, stand B30 of Messe Berlin, will include technologies from the company’s leading portfolio of VUTEk LED inkjet and Reggiani industrial textile digital printers – all driven by the latest EFI Fiery® digital front end systems. The exhibit also will feature EFI Optitex®, a leading integrated 2D/3D software platform for apparel and soft goods applications; the EFI Midmarket Print Suite for end-to-end signage and graphics business and production management; and MarketDirect, EFI’s new customer communication platform software.

For more information about EFI products, visit www.efi.com.