07.14.22
6453 Kaiser Drive
Fremont, CA 94555
Phone: 650-357-3500
www.efi.com
Sales: $200 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: EFI has one of the graphic arts industry’s broadest inkjet printer portfolios, including VUTEk, EFI Wide Format, Reggiani, Nozomi, Cubik and Cretaprint printers and presses. EFI offers a wide range of ink products for the wide-/superwide-format sign and display graphics and industrial inkjet printing markets, including UV and UV LED inks, ceramic and mineral inks, and water-based inks for direct to textile and transfer printing. EFI also makes reactive, pigment and water-based acid inks for industrial textile printing.
Key Personnel: Jeff Jacobson, CEO; Frank Mallozzi, CRO; Grant Fitz, CFO; Doug Edwards, CTO; Scott Schinlever, COO, inkjet business; Paul Edwards, VP, ink technology.
Number of Employees: Approximately 2,000
(Ink World estimate)
Comments: As one of the world’s largest inkjet equipment and ink manufacturers, Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFI) is continuing to meet growing needs in the transformation from analog to digital printing, whether it is in textiles, packaging, industrial, sign and display or other key markets. EFI’s ink operations are a key driver in the company’s success.
Mark Goodearl, senior ink product manager for EFI, noted that EFI’s ink operations were able to deliver consistently and maintain commitments to customers throughout 2021. For EFI, the largest change within the company happened at the end of 2021, when EFI embarked on a significant overall realignment to focus on and invest in digital print’s strong growth potential.
“Private equity company Symphony Technology Group acquired EFI’s eProductivity Software business – the leading developer of MIS/ERP workflow software for printing and packaging businesses,” Goodearl said. “EFI in turn has since had some reinvestment around our core digital print-focused strategy.”
EFI has also been actively developing new products.
“Within the last 12 months, we have further improved our disperse dye-sublimation offerings with a new plus version of our VUTEk FabriVU soft signage printer line,” Goodearl noted. “We are also bringing important new products and solutions to market, including a new UltraClear Coat offering for our roll-to-roll printers, which is unique by being both decorative and protective and will significantly improve process efficiency for applications such as truck side graphics.”
Additional highlights for EFI in the last 12 months include a few recent announcements.
“In March, we launched an advanced new platform for single-pass inkjet for corrugated packaging, the EFI Nozomi 14000 LED press,” said Goodearl. “EFI won a number of orders immediately following its launch, so this press is already extending EFI’s position as the leading single-pass inkjet provider for the corrugated space. In May, our EFI Reggiani textile business acquired the world’s leading RIP provider for industrial textile printing, Inédit Software, and it is a move that expands both our workflow capabilities in textile and our geographic market presence in strategic locations.”
In an effort to avoid supply chain issues, EFI has strengthened its ink manufacturing in Europe.
“EFI has taken proactive steps to make our own logistics, supply chain and manufacturing capabilities even more consistent and reliable,” Goodearl observed. “And with ink, that includes having full redundancies of our Ypsilanti, MI ink manufacturing facility within Europe.”
As for 2022, Goodearl said that EFI is seeing continued recovery in 2022 for most applications and in most regions.
“EFI has fared well through the first half of 2022. There continue to be disruptions from the pandemic and global events, but the majority of EFI customers are sharing positive outlooks for the remainder of the year,” he added. “There has been strong take-up of our new EFI Pro 30h hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll UV LED printer. And, we recently sold the 800th printer to come from our dedicated roll-to-roll printer production operations.
“We have also successfully taken single-pass inkjet into the display graphics market with the first two placements of our Nozomi 18000+ LED printer, plus, we are entering a new market for paper-based signage with a new VUTEk PaperPro printer using pigment ink,” Goodearl concluded. “EFI’s outlook is positive – we have a broad and strong product portfolio and are well positioned in our target markets.”
Fremont, CA 94555
Phone: 650-357-3500
www.efi.com
Sales: $200 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: EFI has one of the graphic arts industry’s broadest inkjet printer portfolios, including VUTEk, EFI Wide Format, Reggiani, Nozomi, Cubik and Cretaprint printers and presses. EFI offers a wide range of ink products for the wide-/superwide-format sign and display graphics and industrial inkjet printing markets, including UV and UV LED inks, ceramic and mineral inks, and water-based inks for direct to textile and transfer printing. EFI also makes reactive, pigment and water-based acid inks for industrial textile printing.
Key Personnel: Jeff Jacobson, CEO; Frank Mallozzi, CRO; Grant Fitz, CFO; Doug Edwards, CTO; Scott Schinlever, COO, inkjet business; Paul Edwards, VP, ink technology.
Number of Employees: Approximately 2,000
(Ink World estimate)
Comments: As one of the world’s largest inkjet equipment and ink manufacturers, Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFI) is continuing to meet growing needs in the transformation from analog to digital printing, whether it is in textiles, packaging, industrial, sign and display or other key markets. EFI’s ink operations are a key driver in the company’s success.
Mark Goodearl, senior ink product manager for EFI, noted that EFI’s ink operations were able to deliver consistently and maintain commitments to customers throughout 2021. For EFI, the largest change within the company happened at the end of 2021, when EFI embarked on a significant overall realignment to focus on and invest in digital print’s strong growth potential.
“Private equity company Symphony Technology Group acquired EFI’s eProductivity Software business – the leading developer of MIS/ERP workflow software for printing and packaging businesses,” Goodearl said. “EFI in turn has since had some reinvestment around our core digital print-focused strategy.”
EFI has also been actively developing new products.
“Within the last 12 months, we have further improved our disperse dye-sublimation offerings with a new plus version of our VUTEk FabriVU soft signage printer line,” Goodearl noted. “We are also bringing important new products and solutions to market, including a new UltraClear Coat offering for our roll-to-roll printers, which is unique by being both decorative and protective and will significantly improve process efficiency for applications such as truck side graphics.”
Additional highlights for EFI in the last 12 months include a few recent announcements.
“In March, we launched an advanced new platform for single-pass inkjet for corrugated packaging, the EFI Nozomi 14000 LED press,” said Goodearl. “EFI won a number of orders immediately following its launch, so this press is already extending EFI’s position as the leading single-pass inkjet provider for the corrugated space. In May, our EFI Reggiani textile business acquired the world’s leading RIP provider for industrial textile printing, Inédit Software, and it is a move that expands both our workflow capabilities in textile and our geographic market presence in strategic locations.”
In an effort to avoid supply chain issues, EFI has strengthened its ink manufacturing in Europe.
“EFI has taken proactive steps to make our own logistics, supply chain and manufacturing capabilities even more consistent and reliable,” Goodearl observed. “And with ink, that includes having full redundancies of our Ypsilanti, MI ink manufacturing facility within Europe.”
As for 2022, Goodearl said that EFI is seeing continued recovery in 2022 for most applications and in most regions.
“EFI has fared well through the first half of 2022. There continue to be disruptions from the pandemic and global events, but the majority of EFI customers are sharing positive outlooks for the remainder of the year,” he added. “There has been strong take-up of our new EFI Pro 30h hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll UV LED printer. And, we recently sold the 800th printer to come from our dedicated roll-to-roll printer production operations.
“We have also successfully taken single-pass inkjet into the display graphics market with the first two placements of our Nozomi 18000+ LED printer, plus, we are entering a new market for paper-based signage with a new VUTEk PaperPro printer using pigment ink,” Goodearl concluded. “EFI’s outlook is positive – we have a broad and strong product portfolio and are well positioned in our target markets.”