EFI unveils its newest digital front end and workflow solutions

EFI unveils its newest digital front end and workflow solutions

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EFI unveils its newest digital front end and workflow solutions
Addressing the display graphics and industrial printing market

EFI has unveiled its newest digital front end (DFE) and workflow solutions for display graphics and industrial printing, EFI Fiery XF/Fiery proServer version 7.3 and EFI Fiery Prep-it workflow software. Fiery XF 7.3 with Prep-it helps simplify and integrate operation, reduce operator training, and achieve consistent, high-quality color output. 

EFI has hundreds of new supported printers

According to the company, print shops with mixed-manufacturer printers can achieve greater production efficiencies with less operator training by having one RIP technology. Fiery XF 7.3 software and the EFI Fiery proServer digital front end now have added support for more than 180 new printer drivers from Agfa, Canon, d.gen, Durst, HP, Mimaki, Mutoh, Roland DG, and Teckwin, among others, bringing the total number of Fiery-supported printer models to more than 1,200. The company said that customers can now request a driver for an additional 400+ printers to complete support for their shop’s installed printer base.

More efficient and flexible ways to print and cut

The company believes customers are no longer tied to one cutting workflow when they own multiple different types of equipment with the new capability to mix and match cutting equipment with print and cut printers. Fiery XF 7.3 increases productivity through QR code support for cutting solutions from Zünd, Esko Kongsberg, iCut, EuroSystems OptiScout v8, and Matic cutters, the company added.

Faster and more powerful color management

This release also includes a new printing mode that can reduce jobs’ processing time with spot colors by up to 50%. Users can choose between presets that select the highest accuracy (e.g., for proofing applications with certain spot color settings) or the highest speed as their priority when processing jobs. 

Print businesses with wide-gamut printers can make the most of their printer’s color capability with a new clean colors mode that delivers more intense, vibrant prints, the company said. The newly supported PrintWide2020 ICC profile produces greater color saturation and contrast for higher-impact prints while, at the same time, maintaining G7 tonality, a neutral gray balance, and realistic skin tones.

Automated cutting workflows

In November, the new EFI Fiery Prep-it software can improve cutting preparation and production in wide- and super-wide-format printing. Prep-it delivers industry-leading true-shape nesting, saving more media versus competitive solutions due to its superior image placement, the company said. 

Automated workflows, double-sided nesting control, sophisticated cut path editing, and more significantly accelerate print to cut production. The exclusive Fiery XF integration with Fiery Prep-it supports more than 1,300 cutters for the Fiery Prep-it and Fiery XF combination.

Offerings to proofing vs production markets

Fiery XF 7.3 now offers two versions that are more precisely tuned to the needs of proofing and production customers. The two different product configurations give customers in each segment precisely what they need, including the Fiery Color Profiler Option, at the right price – with room to grow when their businesses and needs change. 

“The advanced, highly automated Fiery XF, proServer, and Prep-it solutions we are launching make end-to-end production more efficient and more profitable for customers,” said John Henze, vice president, sales and marketing, EFI Fiery. “These new innovations reflect our ongoing goal to help wide and super wide-format print customers deliver the very best possible prints as quickly as possible.”

The latest Fiery XF software release is now available for all users with a current EFI software maintenance, and support agreement or an EFI enhanced service program. Users can purchase Fiery Prep-it software from EFI or authorized EFI Fiery resellers.

 

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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