The Essential Image Scores Fifth Jeti inkjet from Agfa

The Essential Image, based in Kitchener, Ontario, is one of North America’s largest marketing services companies. Focusing first on water-based printing, it made the leap to UV printing with the purchase of its first Jeti wide-format printer in 2008. 

Pioneering UV inkjet printing

“We were there at the very beginning of UV-based printing,” says Tony Tuka, president of The Essential Image. “We saw endless opportunities with inkjet, and liked the idea of offering a large range of SKUs from one machine.” 

The business has grown exponentially by gaining cutting-edge technology that produces indoor and outdoor applications and short- and long-run print jobs.

The Jeti Tauro H3300 LED from Agfa (Booth C8130) is a productive UV wide-format inkjet engine featuring award-winning print quality with extreme speeds, powerful automation, and low ink consumption. Built for multiple-shift operations and 24/7 printing, these heavy-duty hybrid printers offer additional printheads for faster production. Suited for a wide variety of rigid and flexible substrates, the Jeti Tauro H3300 LED prints up to 3.3m wide with speeds up to 453 sqm/hr (4,876 sqft/hr). 

Less maintenance and higher uptime

The Jeti Tauro LED lamps offer minimal heat output and a broader scope of print applications, especially heat-sensitive substrates like self-adhesives or stretched PVC materials. They provide significant energy savings. 

Manufacturing that marries components

Agfa’s unique integrated system approach delivers inks perfectly matched to the inkjet printer’s performance across various print jobs. Agfa’s patented “Thin Ink Layer” technology is based on a combination of pigments with exceptional color strength, perfectly matched to printer components that warrant low waste and maintenance. Therefore, ink consumption per square meter is the lowest on the market. 

Inks with long life and excellent adhesion

Specially formulated to print on rigid or flexible media, Agfa’s GREENGUARD Gold certified Anuvia UV LED inks broaden the application scope.

Combined with Asanti’s color management, the system allows for accurate mapping of spot colors and neutral gray printing. The six-color models include light black (CMYKLcLk), guaranteeing a perfectly neutral gray balance. 

“Agfa has developed such a good system of ink chemistry and machinery,” says Tuka. “These things don’t typically work together in UV inkjet printing, but with the Tauro, you get both ink performance and long head life.” 

Essential Image configured the Jeti Tauro H3300 LED with the Master roll system designed for high-volume print runs of roll-to-roll or roll-to-sheet printing. It handles longer, heavier rolls weighing up to 700 kg. 

Accomplish more

“Our operators can multitask when running the Tauro LED,” says Tuka. “It can easily run four or five hours unattended while the operator is free to do something else.”

Versatility

Essential Image is setting its sights on meeting customer demand with a broader range of applications. “We’ve printed on tempered glass for restaurant customers, on marble rocks, tiles and tent materials, as well as all the standard materials.”

Increased efficiencies

“The Jeti Tauro H3300 LED Master roll system increases our width production from eight to 10'. Whether we are doing a 10' sheet, or master rolls, or running sheets on the Tauro H2500 and rolls on the H3300, we increased our production efficiency,” Tuka says.

“The Jeti Tauro LED offers increased throughput, efficiency, and quality. All of these benefits provided the competitive advantage we wanted,” Tuka said.

The technology on the Tauro H3300 LED is impressing customers and making Essential Image more prosperous, competitive, and inspiring greater creativity.