EFI has confirmed that Complete Design & Packaging (CDP), an independent corrugated packaging provider based in Concord, N.C., will be the first business in the U.S. to install its high-speed production printing technology, the EFI™ Nozomi C18000 single-pass LED corrugated packaging press. CDP will use the six colour press for cost-effective, high-quality, direct-to-board digital printing that extends client brand presence in retail corrugated packaging. Installation of the press is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2017, with production operations going live by the end of the year.
CDP’s founder, Howard Bertram, started the business in 2002. Today, the company offers high-end analog flexo and litho laminated corrugated printing for retail packaging applications. CDP currently does some prototyping and very short-run digital work on a multi-pass flatbed inkjet printer, but after spending the past year examining emerging trends among customers and prospects, Bertram and his business partner, Scott Sumner, sought ways to help customers capture a broader range of brand-building opportunities with high-end, regionalized/localized and customized packaging.
“There are a lot of flexo and litho laminating options out there today, but customers face limitations in their marketing without digital printing and as a young, independent company, we want to be on the leading edge of that offering,” said Bertram, who is the president and co-owner of CDP. The quality CDP saw touring the world’s first EFI Nozomi C18000 corrugated converting installation at Hinojosa in Spain gives Bertram and Sumner confidence in the press’s ability to deliver higher-throughput, single-pass productivity to clients requiring exceptional printing for greater shelf appeal.
“We chose EFI because of their strengths in R&D and their commitment to make things happen in the industry,” added Sumner, who is CDP’s vice president and co-owner. “In addition to the productivity that comes with single-pass printing on the Nozomi press, Fiery technology was definitely a selling point for us. We could see how EFI’s legacy with digital print colour management will be a big plus for us developing our digital packaging business.”
They found that the 1.8m (71-inch) wide EFI Nozomi C18000 single-pass press has the technology to deliver on that opportunity with its speed: up to 75m per min (246 linear feet per min) with throughput up to 6,600 sheets per hour. The EFI Fiery® NZ-1000 high-performance digital front end (DFE) for the press, based on new, scalable Fiery XB bladed architecture, will provide fast, efficient job processing to eliminate downtime spent waiting for jobs. Plus, the new DFE platform offers advanced EFI Fiery job preparation and color management tools needed for superior quality.
CDP’s customers include food and consumer product manufacturers in a wide range of industries, including the home improvement and home electronics fields. Customers include The Home Depot, Sam’s Club and other warehouse clubs and big box stores throughout the Southeast. Over time, CDP will have the opportunity to help its customers drive greater sell-through and higher revenues using the Nozomi press to create high-impact, short and medium-run regional and demographic-focused designs that are not cost-effective to produce using analog processes.
The brands CDP serves will benefit from the press’s capabilities to produce a wide colour gamut with its six-colour inkset, plus a white ink scheduled to be released shortly after the press is installed. The press’s LED imaging capabilities provide brilliant, accurate colour imaging on just about any board substrate, including traditional coated, mottled, bleached and kraft materials. Packaging produced with the press is fully recyclable, with printed output meeting a leading industry standard — certification for OCC recyclability and repulpability from the Western Michigan University Recycling, Paper and Coating Pilot Plant.
The press provides high-quality output with resolutions up to 360 x 720dpi with four-level grayscale imaging. A 100% in-line inspection system on the press is tied to robust print optimisation technologies, including inkjet nozzle, alignment and uniformity correction for the highest possible imaging quality. Plus, the Nozomi press’s permanent head architecture eliminates the downtime associated with replacing consumable printheads.
