FREMONT, CA—Premium Color Group (PCG) is meeting surging demand for new business and its custom packaging line with high-end LED digital inkjet technology from Electronics For Imaging Inc (EFI). PCG, located in Carlstadt, NJ, has installed an EFI VUTEk LX3 Pro hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll LED inkjet printer that is expected to significantly increase the company’s responsiveness and capabilities supporting PCG’s growing business.
The 126-in. wide digital printer, which produces up to 50 boards per hour in its premium quality/point-of-purchase modes, offers a dramatic speed increase for PCG, so much so that the company was able to replace a pair of smaller LED printers while increasing its throughput capacity by 78 percent. Because the VUTEk LX3 Pro handles both rigid and roll materials, the company has also eliminated the need for one of its two roll-to-roll printers.
“Two-and-a-half years ago, we got into the custom packaging business with our U.S.-patented Box line,” said Mark Fitzgerald, one of the three managing partners at PCG along with John Watson and Andy Griffin. “In two-and-a-half years, we grew the line tenfold, and the demand continues to grow. We needed to vastly increase our throughput while keeping the same great quality, and the VUTEk LX3 with the Fiery controller fits the bill perfectly. We loved the quality of our previous EFI printers, so we had confidence the VUTEk LX3 Pro would also be a quality product, and it is.”
PCG’s new printer delivers high production throughput for shorter lead times while maintaining exceptional image quality. The versatile hybrid device can print on materials up to 2 inches thick with eight colors plus white and multilayer printing at resolutions of up to 1,000 dots per inch.
The range of compatible media for the VUTEk printer was a key consideration in the company’s purchase decision. PCG’s new production device features EFI’s “cool cure” LED technology. LED not only reduces the amount and cost of energy used for curing prints, it gives PCG the ability to print heat-sensitive substrates.
The company is getting the most out of the printer’s LED technology and its hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll format by printing packaging board and rolled media.
PCG’s experience and comfort with using EFI technologies goes beyond the printer to the advanced Fiery proServer digital front end (DFE) the company also acquired to drive the new printer. According to Mark, PCG’s operators appreciate the advantage Fiery DFEs bring to streamlining production processes and maintaining high quality. “We have two digital presses with Fiery DFEs, plus we had them on our previous EFI Wide Format printers,” he said. “So, we know firsthand how Fiery gives us more control over color profiling than other systems.”
PCG aims to continue on an accelerated growth path relying on its new EFI technologies, utilizing a digital super wide format inkjet production platform that delivers true premium-quality packaging and graphics output.