Electronics For Imaging has announced that McGowans Print, Ireland’s largest and one of Europe’s most advanced digital print facilities, is installing the new EFI Nozomi C18000 single-pass LED inkjet corrugated board press in its Dublin facility. The press will be the second EFI Nozomi press installed worldwide, and will give McGowans the ability to capture new growth opportunities in short-run corrugated packaging and display production.

“We researched all the single-pass technology available for large-format printing, and the EFI Nozomi press was the best in class by far for our applications,” said Malcolm McGowan, the company’s CEO. “The press checks all the boxes for point-of-sale applications and it allows us to quickly enter the packaging market as well.”

McGowans Print’s longstanding success has been tied to its ability to adapt and diversify to changing market needs. With much of its business centered on high-quality display graphics applications, the company has existing demand for corrugated display work, and many current and potential clients who would also use the company for corrugated packaging as a way to migrate away from litho lamination processes that are not economical for short- to medium-run work. The new press, which will be McGowans Print’s first EFI inkjet product, “takes us to much longer runs and new markets that we cannot reach today with our existing digital printers,” McGowan said.

McGowans Print’s new press is a breakthrough technology in the corrugated space, one that can make digital a cost-effective, profitable option for short- and medium-run production printing. The 1.8-meter wide press can print up to 246 linear feet per minute, producing up to 77,758 square feet per hour. It can print on materials from 14-point card stock to triple-wall board, including traditional Kemi, model, bleach and kraft materials, at full press-rated speeds.

Additional features include:

• A 100% in-line image quality inspection system that actively manages and optimizes inkjet nozzle alignment and uniformity errors for the highest possible imaging quality
• Production in up to seven colors, including white (standard CMYK with optional orange, violet and white ink stations) for high-quality, accurate output in resolutions up to 360×720 dots per inch with four-level grayscale imaging
• High productivity with a permanent head architecture that eliminates the downtime associated with replacing consumable printheads
• A fully integrated, programmable top- and bottom-feed system that also handles media separation, lift, transport and alignment at full press speeds.

The press also is the only ultra-high-speed, singe-pass corrugated inkjet press that has certification for OCC recyclability and repulpability from the Western Michigan University Recycling, Paper and Coating Pilot Plant – a leading certification organization for corrugated recycling.

The advanced, new EFI Fiery digital front end (DFE) McGowans Print is installing with the press utilizes the fastest, most-advanced EFI Fiery technology ever developed, providing a scalable, ultra-high-volume workflow for high-quality, ultra-high-speed inkjet versioned, multi-SKU or personalized production applications requiring consistency, accuracy and robust management. In addition to the new press and Fiery systems, McGowans Print also uses EFI software to drive its online web-to-print operations.

EFI announced the upcoming Nozomi press installation today during the Fespa 2017 tradeshow in Hamburg, where EFI is showcasing corrugated packaging examples from the Nozomi press along with products from its complete portfolio of advanced inkjet, Fiery DFE and print workflow software technologies.