The advanced, greener EFI Cretaprint Hybrid digital tile decoration solution that Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is showcasing at the Cevisama tradeshow earned the company one of the tile industry's most respected honours, a 2020 Alfa de Oro award from the Sociedad Española de Cerámica y Vidrio. The highly competitive award recognises ceramics and glass manufacturing equipment that stimulates technological and artistic creativity.

The award-winning Cretaprint Hybrid digital inkjet printer ecosystem gives tile manufacturers a long-term business advantage for current and future productivity, with the unique ability to work with eco-solvent inks now, and then move to aqueous inks using the same EFI Cretaprint printer. This remarkable solution, which is making its European debut at Cevisama, facilitates the important future move to greener EFI Cretacolor aqueous inks, as well as the adoption of highly accurate, efficient digital glazing.

"We are addressing our customers' key concerns for immediately adding eco-friendly processes - something that will eventually become standard for an industry looking to reduce its environmental footprint," said José Luis Ramón Moreno, vice president and general manager, EFI Industrial Printing. "We have already had several successful EFI Cretaprint Hybrid implementations, and our users are able to achieve the same level of print quality and reliability that they have had previously, with improved sustainability."

The groundbreaking EFI offering at Cevisama includes the world's only hybrid eco-solvent/aqueous inkjet ceramic tile printer technology, available in widths from 700 mm to 1,400 mm. EFI Cretaprint Hybrid printers include 5th-generation printer software for "Smart Printer" capabilities, with enhanced connectivity and an intuitive user experience.

Once Hybrid Cretaprint users switch to EFI Cretacolor aqueous inkjet inks, they can gain tremendous sustainability advantages, eliminating more than 90% of the volatile organic compound emissions - and 73% of the average carbon emissions - that occur with eco-solvent ceramic inkjet inks. The aqueous inks also offer a short drying time, with higher print quality and image definition compared with eco-solvent inks.

Versatile EFI Cretaprint Shield auxiliary modules for the Hybrid ecosystem include a digital glazing option with important environmental and economic benefits. The digital glazing feature applies the right amount of glaze in a controlled manner, reducing the amount of waste that is typical in tile manufacturing. The EFI Cretaprint glaze formulation also has lower vapour emissions and requires less water consumption. Users can apply the glaze with superior accuracy, an essential factor in the production of larger-size tiles.

The EFI Fiery proServer digital front end (DFE) for Cretaprint, a dedicated colour management solution for digital ceramic tile decoration, features innovative ColorWise separation technology for ceramics. ColorWise uses purpose-built colour management algorithms for sharper, more detailed output versus conventional ICC colour management methods. Combined with EFI Cretacolor inks, ColorWise separation technology reduces ink usage by up to 30% versus ICC colour management without affecting accuracy, gamut or definition. Plus, a Smart Ink Savings feature for the Fiery proServer can reduce ink costs further by calculating the most affordable ink combination needed to produce a design. These combined technologies can deliver a total ink cost savings of up to 40% versus other tile production methods.

The award EFI received during Cevisama is EFI's second Alfa de Oro honour. The company also earned the prize in 2016 for its innovative larger-format solution - the 1.8-metre wide EFI Cretaprint X4 printer featuring a DTP 2.0 system that eliminates unused space when decorating different tile sizes in a single production run.

Prepared on the basis of information from EFI