DuPont Unveils Artistri Digital Printer
March 27, 2001
Frankfurt, Germany - DuPont's Inkjet division has unveiled the Artistri digital printer. The machine, which can print up to 60 square meters an hour represents an effort by DuPont to score with large pigment printers of wide-width home furnishings.
DuPont hopes that the machine, which costs $650,000, catches on with large verticals, the likes of Springs, Westpoint Stevens and Dan River, for instance.
"We set out to develop an industrial solution for a market that has not been addressed until now – wide-width home furnishings with pigment inks," said John Kane product marketing manager. "A machine for that audience is going to print all day long, because it greatly simplifies design and strike-off development. It allows them to test many different things cost-effectively gives them a great tool for cost savings and extend market efforts. Can show many more samples to customers. I think overall the development and strike-off and for certain, markets, very short runs. You could fill a niche market with this."
The printer, which was developed in conjunction with the techies at Butek, offers a variety of settings, which affect quality and speed. "At 30 square meters per hour – our stated speed – the line quality is excellent. When we go to 60 sqm/hr, you will lose some registration, but for most fabrics and home furnishings designs – not tie patterns – it is still OK," said Kane.
"Currently we have developed pigment ink for the 3210. We are working on acid dye, disperse dye, and reactive dye. We expect reactive dye to be the next chemistry available by the end of this year." Kane said the Artistri's pricetag won't frighten off prospective customers. "The price will seem high to some of the people currently using digital printers, and they will not be our customers. We set out to develop an industrial solution for a market that has not been addressed until now – wide-width home furnishings with pigment inks.
"To that audience, the system can pay for itself in a couple of months due to the screen cost savings: they don't need to engrave screens until the pattern sells, which saves them the cost of screens that were produced for designs that did not make the cut," he said. "We priced the system – mainly the printer and inks – competitively for short-run printing, so that the cost per printed meter is very competitive with screen printing –because of the up-front cost of screens, set-up, clean-up, labor, etc."
DuPont hopes that the machine, which costs $650,000, catches on with large verticals, the likes of Springs, Westpoint Stevens and Dan River, for instance.
"We set out to develop an industrial solution for a market that has not been addressed until now – wide-width home furnishings with pigment inks," said John Kane product marketing manager. "A machine for that audience is going to print all day long, because it greatly simplifies design and strike-off development. It allows them to test many different things cost-effectively gives them a great tool for cost savings and extend market efforts. Can show many more samples to customers. I think overall the development and strike-off and for certain, markets, very short runs. You could fill a niche market with this."
The printer, which was developed in conjunction with the techies at Butek, offers a variety of settings, which affect quality and speed. "At 30 square meters per hour – our stated speed – the line quality is excellent. When we go to 60 sqm/hr, you will lose some registration, but for most fabrics and home furnishings designs – not tie patterns – it is still OK," said Kane.
"Currently we have developed pigment ink for the 3210. We are working on acid dye, disperse dye, and reactive dye. We expect reactive dye to be the next chemistry available by the end of this year." Kane said the Artistri's pricetag won't frighten off prospective customers. "The price will seem high to some of the people currently using digital printers, and they will not be our customers. We set out to develop an industrial solution for a market that has not been addressed until now – wide-width home furnishings with pigment inks.
"To that audience, the system can pay for itself in a couple of months due to the screen cost savings: they don't need to engrave screens until the pattern sells, which saves them the cost of screens that were produced for designs that did not make the cut," he said. "We priced the system – mainly the printer and inks – competitively for short-run printing, so that the cost per printed meter is very competitive with screen printing –because of the up-front cost of screens, set-up, clean-up, labor, etc."
