EFI Transforms Research, Development and Manufacturing in Spain

Electronics For Imaging, Inc. reported that it has transformed its Castellon, Spain, manufacturing facility into a world-class manufacturing operation for production-level single-pass inkjet printing for packaging, display graphics and other adjacent markets.

The facility, which was acquired by EFI in 2012, has a heritage of single-pass printing capability based on its solutions for digital printing of ceramic tiles. Since that time, EFI has invested heavily in applying that expertise to other markets, most specifically packaging and display graphics.

Notably, the single-pass technology originally developed in Castellon was a key element in the development of the company’s highly successful Nozomi family of single-pass printers for those markets. These developments have positioned EFI as a market leader in the direct-to-corrugated and display graphics digital printing markets. This single-pass technology has also been successfully applied in other market segments including textiles and building materials.

It is a demonstration of EFI’s commitment over the past 20 years to helping to accelerate the analog-to-digital transformation underway in many different industry sectors.

“EFI has placed a particular focus on the packaging market as it has worked to transform the Castellon manufacturing facility as well as the research and development arm located there,” said Evandro Matteucci, EFI’s VP and GM for packaging and building materials.

“This includes optimizing operations to support ongoing innovation and to leverage our expertise. Our industry-leading single-pass technology is especially applicable to this growth market as it increasingly transitions to digital. As one example of the market opportunity, more than 250 billion square meters of corrugated board are printed each year worldwide, and we believe a substantial percentage of that can be transitioned to single-pass digital printing, bringing additional flexibility, sustainability and profitability to packaging converters.”

Matteucci points out that the successes achieved, especially with respect to the Nozomi family of printers, are proof positive that single-pass technology is well-positioned to enable EFI to expand into additional market segments as those markets, in turn, enter their digital transformation phase. This can include but not be limited to markets such as metal decoration, folding carton, and more. Single-pass technology has also helped EFI take its offerings in the display graphics market to the next level.