SHANGHAI — The new, industrial, entry-level EFI™ Reggiani BLAZE scanning printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is making its debut at the ITMA Asia tradeshow, 12-16 June in Shanghai, China. The high-quality printer is an easy-to-use, smart solution to help textile companies blaze their successful trail into the world of efficient, sustainable industrial inkjet printing. It is equipped with EFI Reggiani’s state-of-the-art technology, offering the highest quality, reliability and flexibility on the widest variety of designs.
“Despite the impact of the pandemic, EFI Reggiani has continued to invest and develop the next trailblazing technology for the textile market,” said EFI Reggiani Senior Vice President and General Manager Adele Genoni. “Our customers are our number one priority no matter how small or big they are. With the EFI Reggiani BLAZE, we are able to offer an ideal solution for companies that want to enter the industrial textile digital printing space. We are excited to be able to offer such a solution and look forward to embarking on this journey with our customers.”
EFI Reggiani is presenting the new Reggiani BLAZE printer in Hall 5, Booth D08 at ITMA Asia. The company’s exhibit in Shanghai is one of the most important showcases of new digital textile printing technology at the show, emphasizing leading-edge innovations that make customers successful in the global textile industry.
Cutting-edge technology in a compact footprint
The EFI Reggiani BLAZE printer is designed to give textile companies the opportunity to enter the digital textile printing market with a compact solution. The new, 1.8-meter wide printer offers an innovative, low-maintenance, continuous recirculation ink system equipped with a level sensor and degassing as well as a printhead crash protective system for longer printhead life and superior uptime.
Thanks to its cutting-edge printhead reliability and low maintenance costs for a competitive TCO (total cost of ownership), the BLAZE printer can produce up to 125 linear meters per hour with a printing resolution up to 600×1200 dots per inch (dpi). The printer – which delivers excellent productivity as one of the fastest digital inkjet solutions in its class – has eight 300-dpi dual channel printheads and can print in up to eight colors with full variable drop size.
Flexible fabric feed and handling for higher productivity
The EFI Reggiani BLAZE is equipped with a continuous and switchable belt washing unit to remove water and fabric hairs. An embedded device for adhesive application offers the possibility to use thermoplastic, resin and permanent adhesives.
The printer also includes other features for enhanced productivity and value, including a 400-mm roll unwinder, expandable shafts, an air gun and a pneumatic bar for standard fabrics.
Efficient software and electronics technology
The Reggiani BLAZE printer offers a friendly and intuitive user interface with real-time image processing and flexible queue management. The software also runs a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) job editor, as well as tools to accurately predict printing speed and ink usage.
The entry-level BLAZE launch is the first in an important series of 2021 product introductions coming from EFI Reggiani, including another advanced digital inkjet printer – a higher-volume EFI Reggiani HYPER model making its debut in July.
EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver enhancement
EFI has also released an enhanced version of the EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver printer, a 1.8-meter wide printer operating with EFI Reggiani’s unique TERRA pigment ink with binder solution for high-quality, highly sustainable, direct-to-textile printing without steaming or washing.
The new-version TERRA Silver printer is part of EFI’s complete TERRA line-up of pigment ink printer solutions for a greener, smarter, short process in industrial textile printing and features:
- A new recirculating ink system for superior reliability and minimum maintenance at start up and during production;
- Several printing modes to ensure maximum flexibility in terms of design capability;
- New, real-time image processing that eliminates time spent in image pre-calculations;
- A user friendly, intuitive interface;
- A more-efficient polymerization process that takes place as printed textile goes through the printer’s on-board dryer.
The EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver solution prints with smooth and precise material handling of knitted and woven fabrics. Users benefit from high-uniformity printing modes, an accurate WYSIWYG interface and flexible queue management.
EFI Reggiani also is a leading developer of inks, and one of the only industry suppliers with a complete range that includes all primary textile ink types. At ITMA Asia, the company is announcing a new service provided to Chinese customers, offering EFI Reggiani AQUA water-based reactive inks that EFI Reggiani is now manufacturing in China. Designed to deliver outstanding quality on cotton, silk, viscose rayon, linen and lyocell, AQUA inks are ideal for producing home textile and fashion products with deep, intensive colors.
Now in its 75th year, EFI Reggiani delivers innovations that are the result of extensive research targeted at improving productivity and quality, optimizing the textile manufacturing process, and reducing energy and water consumption. Green EFI Reggiani processes also give users fast, complete and sustainable solutions across a broad range of textile applications. For more information about the EFI Reggiani portfolio of solutions for the textile and apparel industries, visit www.efi.com/reggiani.
