EFI™ is exhibiting its productivity software with its advanced automatic digital workflow, enabling print environments to become more efficient, generate greater cost and time savings, and implement integration to drive their businesses forward, at Ipex 2014 (Stand N2 – D175).
Primary products being demonstrated include: EFI MIS/ERP portfolio including next-generation estimating software, print planning and imposition technology, Fiery® and Fiery ProServer digital front-ends, web-to-print solutions Digital StoreFront and OPS, and the SmartSign Analytics tool to measure the effectiveness of signage.
Also featured is a full application wall showing the many types of output that can be produced using EFI’s inkjet portfolio of wide-format and VUTEk® flat-bed and roll-fed presses, Jetrion® narrow-web systems and Cretaprint tile printers, all driven by the Fiery workflow and colour management.
EFI is hosting its EFI Productivity Software User Days at Ipex, as well as a series of eight Fiery workshops with sessions that include live demonstrations on how users can save time and money with the company’s innovative expertise. Designed to accommodate all sizes and types of print environment, scalable workflow solutions include job submission via Digital StoreFront and Fiery JobFlow, through the use of core Fiery technology to provide low touch and no touch solutions for optimum productivity. These demonstrations are complemented by the latest cloud and mobile apps that simplify workflow management and monitoring. The workshops are being held in North Gallery Room 8 at the Excel.
Paul Cripps, vice president Sales, EFI Europe Middle East and Africa said, ‘This year’s Ipex reflects the changes in the industry since the event four years ago with the growth in cross media, plus increased reliance and emphasis on cloud-based applications and services. Today the dynamic is more keenly concentrated on business efficiency and growing profitability than ever before. EFI has selected its product showing in-line with the event’s audience demographic, and we’re expecting high levels of interest from print companies of all sizes using every type of production process, from conventional analogue to state-of-the-art devices.’
With EFI’s MIS and ERP software now representing the optimum in business and administration software, users have the ability to streamline their operations, reduce costs and remove the margin for error. Benefits include financial, CRM and sales management, with full shop floor data collection, purchasing and inventory management plus business analysis and reporting. Automated integration of these tasks brings speed advantages along with the simplification of time-consuming activities, with accurate accountability making it easier to generate more profits.
‘We made a decision a few years ago to invest in EFI MIS systems and it has helped to insure we are minimising our waste and eliminating errors from our operation,’ stated Nick Denning, financial director of Precision Colour Printing in Telford, Shropshire. ‘EFI Monarch’s advanced job management and intelligent features, plus its JDF integration, have become integral, very important parts of our operational structure.’
The need to match colour accurately is addressed with the Fiery implementation of the Pantone Plus Series, which streamlines colour workflows, enabling users to get the right spot colour first time without needing to determine tint values manually. Based on industry-standard ICC profiles for the Pantone Matching System, this feature is coupled with Fiery’s scalable colour management, with EFI being the first to implement a Pantone approved workflow for digital devices. Available to current Fiery users, its built-in colour libraries have now been extended to incorporate the new 84 Pantone colours.
The growth in demand for web-to-print and e-commerce is addressed with EFI Digital StoreFront, a fully scalable solution that integrates with Fiery. Fully customisable, it allows clients and print buyers to order online, edit and preview their job details on a single page and includes powerful VDP technology to add greater versatility to customised orders.
Offering advanced flexibility suitable for companies working with dynamic publishing and cross-media options, OPS (Online Print Solutions) provides a unified platform that covers web-to-print storefronts, job submission, personalisation via variable data and retail portals. Both products integrate with full workflow operations, plus MIS and accounting applications, and online payment plans.
‘Since we started in business in 1982 the market has changed radically, and so has our customer base,’ says Naresh Raghvani, managing director of Max Print and Media in London. ‘Digital print has brought a dramatic shift in emphasis, making it a practical proposition to print very short runs and highly customised jobs which we couldn’t have considered when we had only analogue presses. Adding web-to-print with EFI’s Digital StoreFront enables us to find new customers, service our existing clients more efficiently, and grow our business.’
‘Our product portfolio is designed to enable users to unleash the full potential of digital production, and Ipex gives us a unique opportunity to promote EFI’s mission to help our customers benefit from our innovative technology,’ concluded Cripps. ‘The future of print is based increasingly on diversification and this means that companies need to become more competitive. Automation in processes such as MIS, web-to-print and workflow capabilities is the key for businesses that want to grow through profitability by becoming more efficient and reducing production costs’
EFI CEO Guy Gecht will be a keynote speaker at the World Print Summit session ‘Print: Doomed or on the Verge of a New Digital Renaissance?’ The World Print Summit is located in Excel’s South Hall. Visitors may attend the World Print Summit free of charge, on a first-come-first-served basis at 2pm, 25 March.
