How EFI develops technology to help its customers grow

Many companies claim to be customer-focused. But EFI™ is different in that the company distinguishes between customer focus and true collaboration — collaboration that extends to its customers’ customers.

At its user conference, Connect 2019, EFI CEO Bill Muir told his audience that his job “is to keep the innovation engine alive and well so your business can continue to thrive. We can deliver thousands of innovations, if we work together.” For Muir “working together” is the pivotal difference. “We need to help you with your customers. We need to understand what your customers need. That’s how we will evolve,” he said.

By listening, asking questions, reaching beyond the obvious and paying attention to market trends, EFI knows that delivering added value is critical to success in today’s market.

To be profitable, EFI customers say they need production speeds without sacrificing quality. In fact, quality needs to exceed expectations. They need technology that allows them to respond to new opportunities and to amaze their current customers.

Here are just a few examples of how collaboration plays out.

Beyond Fast

Ringwood, UK-based JCT Developments owns an EFI VUTEk® HS125 F4 hybrid. According to Managing Director Julian Turner, “The machine is far outperforming all expectations, cutting the production time of 100 double-sided set-size Foamex boards from eight hours to 45 minutes.”

In Lincoln, UK, Ruddocks Managing Director, Paul Banton discovered EFI Midmarket Print Suite using EFI Pace as the core MIS. The suite also includes MarketDirect StoreFront e-commerce solution and MarketDirect multi-channel marketing software. “We're saving about five and a half hours a week just from using MarketDirect StoreFront, which is a huge amount of time. And I can only see more benefits as we go on, the more we refine the system”, says Banton. That refinement is done hand-in-hand with EFI with the goal of developing value-added services for Ruddocks’ customers.

EFI technology also leverages its features to prepare customers for changing market demands. Referring to her EFI VUTEk 5r+, Normandy-based BS2i CEO Janette Cacciopo says, “This is a production printer that’s capable of taking on large volumes of printing with very high-quality results. The very small drop size (Ultradrop 7 pl) allows us to position ourselves at the high end of 5-metre printing, especially when it comes to textile printing. It can also be adapted perfectly to the current proliferation of requests for backlit”, she adds.

Dublin, Ireland-based CoverUp Ltd produces banners, flags, signs and covers of various sizes and colours from an A4 Corriboard sign to a large format print for a building wrap. The company use the EFI VUTEk FabriVU® 340i soft signage printer. “We were looking to increase our soft signage printing capacity with a reliable printer with inline fixation,” says CoverUp Operations Director Anthony Byrne. “We 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 technology from EFI gives us a significant competitive advantage in our marketplace.”

While markets are demanding shorter turnarounds, collecting intelligent, usable data about your operation is as critical as speed. According to Martin Klop, Head of Prepress and Digital Print at Grafisch Bedrijf Crezée, Meerkerk, Netherlands, “For our customers, time to market is becoming a highly competitive issue. They also need to communicate with their own clients on a personalised level”, says Klop.

Crezée invested in an EFI Fiery® DFE and Fiery workflow. “I can’t give you exact numbers – but the difference is incredible,” says Klop. “Even before the last file is processed, the machine starts printing, which means production hardly has to wait for file processing.”

All data in the cutsheet printers, including colour management data, is synchronised in real time with the Fiery workflow. “When I change paper in my machines, the information is immediately visible on my Fiery DFE screen. In the same working environment, I can do nearly everything that is needed to produce complete products. Imposing a job with Fiery Impose is a breeze. In only a few clicks I can compile a new form, with bleed, registration, crop and colour marks. It’s extremely easy to save the form as a template, so I can use it again for a similar job”, says Klop.

Crezée is looking for new ways to extend its digital print activities. “Since we have no problem processing and handling files anymore, we can offer more comprehensive personalisation. From now on the only limitation is the available data and the creativity of our customer”, concludes Klop.

--All the results of EFI’s collaboration with customers.

FESPA Global Print Expo 2019 is Europe’s largest speciality print exhibition for screen and digital wide format print, textile printing and signage solutions. Visit EFI at stand E10 in hall B5 at the Messe Munich between the 14-17 May 2019 and discover the available features. Please use promo code FESG902 to register for free.