The new 3.2m-wide Vutek was first launched by EFI in February and can print on rigid and flexible materials up to 50.8mm thick. It has been drafted into the firm’s Würzburg premises in order to increase productivity in its large-format print offering.
It was delivered at the start of the year and has been in operation for the past two months, according to production manager Markus Hessdörfer.
He said: “We got the machine at a very good price because of our existing relationship with EFI and it serves to support the volume of our production – which continues to grow and is now very high indeed.
“The Vutek was chosen for its speed, which will support our output day-by-day, as well as the ink consistency and the print quality. We were very confident being the first in Europe to take this on because of the support and guidance of EFI.
“It will allow us to do a very wide variety of applications, including a lot of outdoor work using flexible substrates. We have the option to run it slower for incredibly high quality, or we can ramp it up to incredibly high speeds, so it grants a lot of flexibility.”
The EFI Vutek HS125 F4 can print up to 225 boards per hour in distant view or outdoor mode and 160 boards/hr in production mode. It prints in double-CMYK at resolutions of 600 or 1,000dpi, with an automated six-zone vacuum table and a variety of media handling options including three-quarter or fully automated loading and unloading.
FlyerAlarm has approximately 180 people focused on large-format work at its German headquarters. It sends out around 3,000 completed large-format jobs to customers daily. The firm said the new Vutek will allow it to engage in more small-quantity and bespoke work for clients profitably due to its shorter setup times allowing quicker changeover in substrates and settings.
Another EFI machine – likely to be a FabriVU – is due to be delivered to Würzburg in August, according to Hessdörfer.
FlyerAlarm promotes itself as one of the largest online printing companies in Europe, employing 2,300 members of staff and addressing markets in 15 European territories, including the UK. The company’s UK wing has been without a managing director since Keith Hanson announced his decision to step down after less than a year last August.
Group turnover for FlyerAlarm was reported last year at €330m (£301m), though it does not disclose turnover for its territorial bases.
