Signage Printer Invests Big with EFI

FREMONT, Calif. - January 25, 2018 - New Home Media, a Lorton, Va.-based signage printing business, will reach a new level of efficiency, productivity and quality following its significant investment in new technology from Electronics For Imaging (EFI). New Home Media purchased EFI VUTEk LX3 Pro hybrid roll/flatbed and VUTEk 5r roll-to-roll LED inkjet superwide-format printers, along with a complete EFI Midmarket Print Suite developed specifically for superwide-format inkjet business and production workflow management.

EFI announced the purchase during its Connect users’ conference in Las Vegas, which features an exhibit of EFI’s integrated portfolio including the Midmarket Print Suite and VUTEk LED hybrid and roll-to-roll LED inkjet printers.

The EFI VUTEk 5r roll-to-roll LED inkjet superwide-format printer.

A Technology Advantage for Efficient, High-end Signage Production

New Home Media has come a long way since Owner and lead salesperson Chuck Smith transitioned from selling residential real estate to printing real estate signage with an old screen print press. The 28-year-old business has a strong market presence and a growing digital production operation, serving Northern Virginia homebuilders. Smith and his team have a New Year’s resolution to become more efficient to better service existing customers and attract new ones. The technology partnership, where EFI is supporting the company with end-to-end production and workflow capabilities, is a big part of New Home Media’s 2018 initiative to expand and improve.

The energy-efficient VUTEk LED printers New Home Media is installing this month create many new opportunities because of their size and throughput. “They’re faster and we expect them to be more reliable, too,” said New Home Media’s COO, Fred Cowell, of the company’s decision to upgrade from smaller UV inkjet printers to the 10-foot wide hybrid and 16-foot wide roll-to-roll LED printers from EFI.

Versatility Yields Productivity, Less Overtime and Faster Delivery

Cowell believes that one of the most immediate benefits of the new printers will be a drastic reduction in setup time between media. But, with the new VUTEk printers, switching media is almost an afterthought. “Our set-up time will go from 15-20 minutes to a matter of seconds with the new printers,” Cowell said, referring to the printers’ ability to automatically calculate media thickness, recalibrate, and then draw the material through.

The purchase is New Home Media’s first transaction working with EFI. The company is pleasantly surprised at EFI’s approach to ensuing high-quality service for superior uptime, including comprehensive training EFI is providing to New Home Media’s staff.

A Workflow That Gives New Home Media Clients a Marketing Advantage

In addition, New Home Media is installing EFI’s Midmarket Print Suite workflow this year. It will feature EFI Pace as its core MIS/ERP technology, and will allow New Home Media to integrate its entire business and production process, from job submission to delivery. It also will include EFI’s unique Superwide Format component technology for better, more accurate signage and graphics estimating, scheduling, and production management. EFI Fiery proServer digital front ends (DFEs) used to run the new printers will feed production data into the Suite, ensuring New Home Media’s staff have real-time, up-to-the-minute information on their production operation.

The most important advantage of the workflow, according to Cowell, is the ability to create and quickly access databases to revise past jobs. New Home Media primarily serves homebuilders, clients that may have up to 80 signs printed in different sizes on various media in each of their new communities. Those customers often need to update their signs with new price information. The new EFI workflow will simplify the process of recalling the specs and production data for all of those signs each time an update is required.

The company also is excited about a web-to-print component being installed with the Suite, which will enable New Home Media to create customized storefronts with templates for clients to create and track orders online.

Source: EFI.

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of Printing Impressions.