Courtesy: http://wirthconsulting.org
Electronics For Imaging (EFI) reports that it’s made two key acquisitions, acquiring industrial inkjet-textile printer provider Reggiani Macchine, and Matan Digital Printers, a provider of technologies for super-wide-format display graphics and other industrial-printing applications. EFI also launched a new Fiery server, the Fiery FS200 Pro.
Reggiani Macchine Acquisition
EFI says the Reggiani acquisition gives it an industry-leading presence in the high-growth inkjet textile-printer market. Based in Bergamo, Italy, Reggiani markets an extensive lineup of industrial inkjet printers that use water-based inks for printing on fabric, an application recently identified as the industry’s most “exciting growth application” by a new, global survey from industry association FESPA and analyst firm InfoTrends.
According to EFI, Reggiani’s inkjet technologies, which will be rebranded as EFI Reggiani, address the full scope of advanced textile printing, with versatile printers suitable for water-based dispersed, acid, pigment, and reactive dye printing inks. In its 60+ year history, Reggiani has been marketing a full range of industrial solutions for textile manufacturing, including printers for fashion and home-furnishing textiles, with a portfolio spanning the company’s original rotary-screen technologies, to more advanced inkjet textile printers and inks. EFI says Reggiani has also established relationships with many of the leading textile manufacturing companies around the world, and provides an integrated offering, including equipment for all stages of the textile printing process, centered around its digital inkjet textile printers.
“This acquisition gives EFI an immediate leadership position in one of the world’s largest industries undergoing the transformation from analog printing to digital. The textile printing market is just beginning that transition, which will enable manufacturers to shift from long-run to on-demand manufacturing, responding to the increasing demands of short runs and customizations,” commented EFI CEO Guy Gecht. “The addition of Reggiani’s innovative team and their ‘Made in Italy’ textile-printing technology, which is renowned worldwide, will drive continued growth in industrial textile, and also enable EFI’s customers to expand into soft signage-based display graphics using Reggiani’s water-based industrial inkjet printers.”
Reggiani has customers in more than 120 countries served by a distribution network and agents in over 40 countries.
To acquire all of Reggiani’s outstanding shares, EFI will repay Reggiani debt of about €20.1 million ($22.6M USD), pay the former Reggiani shareholders up to about €27.4 million ($30.8M USD), and issue the former Reggiani shareholders up to about €27.4 million ($30.8M USD) of EFI stock. It will also pay up to €50 million ($56.2M USD) for up to the next 30 months based on Reggiania’s revenue and profitability. Reggiani’s work force of approximately 190 employees joins EFI.
Matan Acquisition
EFI’s acqusition of Matan will given EFI an “even broader range of products to help our customers capture important opportunities in super-wide-format display graphics printing,” says EFI CEO Gecht. “Matan’s strong R&D capability will further accelerate EFI’s inkjet innovation, while filling a key spot in EFI’s portfolio for a lower-acquisition cost-line of roll-to-roll production printers focused on signage, banners, billboards, and fleet graphics.”
Based in Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel, Matan has developed digital printers and presses for a wide range of industrial applications for more than a decade. The company’s digital industrial-inkjet printers are designed for high productivity, quality, and durability, while ensuring a low cost of ownership. EFI says Matan’s focus on roll-to-roll workflow has resulted in one of the industry’s strongest offerings of material-handling features, such as in-line cutting and slitting.
Matan’s work force of approximately 70 employees has joined EFI, giving EFI a significant presence in Israel,. Matan’s CEO Hanan Yosefi has joined EFI as vice president and general manager for EFI Inkjet Israel.
EFI’s acquisition was an all-cash transaction in which EFI paid the shareholders of Matan approximately $29 million to acquire all of Matan’s outstanding shares.
New Fiery FS200 Pro
EFI also recently launched the newest platform for its industry-leading Fiery digital front ends (DFE) for digital-printing systems.
The DFE platform, which will be incorporated in several new digital presses from EFI partners starting in the third quarter of 2015, features tools for higher-speed processing and expansion to CMYK+ colors. It’s also said to provide robust capabilities for print-shop automation and connectivity. As the industry’s only CIP4-certified JDF DFE, the Fiery platform can connect with other JDF-based devices. Users can also establish fully automated, bi-directional communication and integration with EFI’s MIS/ERP and web-to-print products.
According to EFI, Fiery DFEs are powered by EFI’s proprietary ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) with RIPChip technology that can process print files significantly faster than alternative DFEs. It says the Fiery FS200 Pro also expands the performance advantage on high-end servers with EFI’s Fiery HyperRIP offering. HyperRIP now has a mode optimized for multiple jobs, as well as the previous, single-job mode, boosting processing performance up to 55 percent compared to the performance without HyperRIP. Now, the Fiery FS200 Pro platform can RIP (process) up to four print jobs simultaneously.
The new Fiery platform also includes a Rush RIP mode that opens up a fifth RIP to process rush print jobs when all four main parallel processors are busy, allowing operators to accommodate last-minute rush print jobs without interrupting the ongoing workflow or cancelling jobs that are already being processed.
The EFI Fiery FS200 Pro system also improves color management with the introduction of a CMYK+ feature set for incorporating expanded-gamut process-color imaging beyond standard four-color imaging. CMYK+ is said to “open the door” to a range of inkjet press technologies that may be capable of incorporating five-, six-, or eight-color process imaging. Print businesses can more precisely match a wider range of brand colors on digital presses. offering expanded toner-imaging capabilities.
EFI has also released color correction and process-control improvements for the Fiery Graphic Arts Package, Premium Edition including:
A new features in Fiery ImageViewer that provides greater consistency in the color workflow, with automated color adjustment between similar print jobs using custom color curves.
A WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface to edit control bars, providing users with more control over placement and content.
The first DFEs based on the Fiery FS200 Pro platform will be available in the third quarter of 2015.
Tagged: digitaltextile, EFI, industrialinkjet, Matan, REGGIANIMACCHINE, UVprinting 
