DS Smith Iberia, a worldwide leading company in packaging solutions, has recently installed the EFI™ Nozomi C18000 Plus six-colour single pass-LED inkjet printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. in its facility in Lisbon. The new printer will allow DS Smith to further expand its offering to customers with more designs and possibilities.
“The EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus completes the wide range of current products that DS Smith Iberia offers,” said Jorge Requejo, DS Smith Iberia Managing Director. “This solution will help our clients to promote their brand, personalise packaging and messaging, adapt to the seasonality of their demand, and gain in reaction capacity and impact specific promotions – with photographic printing quality and in batches adapted to what their end customer demands.
“We needed to have a more flexible and agile solution,” he added. “We thus turned to EFI and the Nozomi press as they are the ideal partner not only because of their know-how in digital printing, but also because of their valuable contribution, in particular, for the corrugated cardboard packaging industry.”
High productivity and near-photographic imaging
With this new investment, DS Smith Iberia will be able to reach markets faster with easily achievable high-quality imaging. “The productivity of the Nozomi enables a reduction in time to market,” said Requejo. “With the press, we will enjoy the quality of printing that achieves a solution equivalent to offset printing technology without the need for litho lamination. In addition, variable printing is another inalienable competitive advantage to digital printing.”
DS Smith is a leading provider of sustainable packaging solutions, paper products and recycling services worldwide with over 80 years of history and expertise. DS Smith is recognised around the world for innovation and the quality of its packaging.
“We are excited to have DS Smith Iberia as one of our partners in paving our way to digital leadership in the corrugated market,” said EFI Building Materials and Packaging Vice President and General Manager Evandro Matteucci. “Both DS Smith and EFI share the same customer-centric values and, together, we will ensure that our customers have the right solutions for success and growth.”
DS Smith Iberia’s Nozomi C18000 Plus is 1.8 metres (71 inches) wide and prints up to 75 linear metres (246 linear feet) per minute, producing up to 10,000 890x890-mm (35x35-inch) boards per hour two-up. Its single-pass, piezo inkjet imaging system delivers accurate, high-fidelity colour, including excellent, consistent reproduction on solid areas.
The advanced direct-to-board LED UV inkjet printer includes a new transport feed and patented vacuum table systems that eliminate warping while maximising printer productivity and uptime. The Nozomi C18000 Plus also features an improved post-print quality inspection system to help users monitor quality and quickly identify inkjet nozzle issues or other defects.
DS Smith Iberia’s new printer has a six-colour configuration (CMYK, orange and violet) for superior-quality and expanded-gamut imaging with matte, satin or glossy finishes.
360o Nozomi advisory support
“Our customers’ success is basically our main focus,” said Matteucci. “We want to ensure that our customers get the most out of their single-pass LED digital inkjet printing investment. As a result, we have recently expanded our value-added professional services platform, the Nozomi Digital Solutions Program, to ensure maximum uptime for customers. The programme is designed for us to be with our partners every step of the way – during the installation, the ramp-up process, and during regular and intensive use.”
The platform includes advisory and application support as well as proactive, preventive maintenance, delivering more personal attention, coaching, mentoring, and customised maintenance plans to help customers continue to build their digital output with their EFI Nozomi printers. Customers can achieve higher productivity and printer capacity as a result of professional services supporting the ramp up process. New remote support solutions have been added to the programme, which include innovative data and intelligence offerings centred around the EFI IQ™ cloud platform integrated with Nozomi printers’ EFI Fiery® digital front end (DFE).
A superior digital corrugated solution
EFI Nozomi technology is the only ultra-high-speed, single-pass corrugated inkjet solution to have its output certified for OCC recyclability and repulpability by the Western Michigan University Recycling, Paper and Coating Pilot Plant – a leading certification organisation for corrugated recycling. Additionally, Nozomi inks are GREENGUARD Certified, meeting some of the world’s most rigorous and comprehensive standards for low emissions of volatile organic compounds into indoor air.
The EFI Fiery NZ-1000 DFE used to drive the printer provides outstanding print and colour quality, with new job processing capabilities that handle jobs 5% faster. The Fiery NZ-1000 DFE also features Smart Ink Estimator, an advanced solution that accurately analyses image data for more-precise control of ink costs. Fiery Edge™, EFI’s next-generation profiling technology, is included as well, delivering out-of-the-box colour and quality enhancements. Another new capability on the Plus model – integration with EFI IQ cloud applications – gives DS Smith the ability to extract more value from operational data.
The EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus is part of a complete ecosystem for corrugated manufacturing available from EFI, with leading edge Genuine EFI Inks, Fiery DFE technology and a complete EFI Corrugated Packaging Suite business and production management workflow.
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