The Canadian company (N5-D461) is at the show aiming to expand its UK and European customer base.

Using its proprietary, multi-step process the company “renews and rejuvenates” the surface of printing blankets.

Chesapeake is among the early adopters here.

Dan McDonald, director of research and development at EIS, said: “Our customers typically save a good 40-50% on their annual blanket costs, so the savings are quite substantial, and it also reduces their environmental footprint – a UV printer with an eight-colour press will discard two tonnes of blankets annually.”

The EIS system involves packing used blankets into a special crate that can hold up to 125. This is then shipped to Vancouver for the blankets to be renewed. “They don’t necessarily look new afterwards, but they will perform like new. We get the printability back,” McDonald stated.

“It’s particularly appealing for UV printers because of the amount of blankets they use,” he added.

Precise details of the process are not disclosed, but it does not involve grinding. “We don’t compromise the surface by grinding it,” McDonald stated.

EIS said that blankets could be renewed four times on average, although it has achieved as much as 10 or 12 cycles for some customers.

It can fix blanket smashes and some dents, although badly damaged blankets will not be renewable. The firm only charges customers for those that are.

At Ipex the company showed a print sample featuring flat tints and halftones produced using blankets where half of the blanket had been renewed and the other half left in its worn state, to demonstrate the 'before and after' results. 

EIS has a calculator on its website www.enviroimagesolutions.com to allow printers to work out the potential benefits, and is also offering a free trial where it will rejuvenate 10 blankets as a test.

“Basically, people should be able to cut their blanket costs in half,” McDonald said. The firm also carries out root cause analysis on blankets wear, and provides reports to its customers enabling them to adjust production methods to gain maximum productivity from the consumable.

Although most of EIS’ customers are currently sheetfed printers the firm is planning to extend the service to web printers using expensive sleeve blankets.

“We are at the final R&D stage with sleeve blankets and have had good success with a big American printer. We expect to be in that market in early 2015,” he added.