Images_Digital_Edition_June_2019

INDUSTRY EVENT www.images-magazine.com 22 images JUNE 2019 to its Wurks cloud-based production management software. The package is priced at US$260,000. According to Victor this allows customers to buy two Cheetahs for the price of one industrial machine from competing manufacturers, offering extra production capacity and hardware redundancy for busy DTG operations. Roq was also showing its digital printing solution in the shape of the updated Roq Now printer with separate print stations for printing digital white and CMYK inks. Launched at the ISS Long Beach show in January, the Now model on show in Munich represents the finished design, which is geared firmly towards print shops involved in fulfilling web orders and is notable for its high level of automation. Nuno Venda, head of marketing, underlined the fact that while the Now can be configured with screen printing heads, the base model is designed specifically as a high- volume direct-to-garment digital printer. Polyester breakthrough The main attraction on the Kornit stand was the new Avalanche PolyPro industrial printer, which was on show at a European trade show for the first time since its launch in April. Billed as “the smartest, most cost-efficient single- step process for polyester printing”, the machine pairs Kornit’s new NeoPoly technology with its NeoPigment Olympia ink. It can print on both light and dark polyester fabrics, including woven, knitted, blends (poly-Lycra, polycotton), using CMYK + white + Poly Enhancer ink channels and is said to prevent dye migration. The new printer has a claimed maximum production output of 85 dark garments and 106 light garments an hour. The polyester printing technology is the result of over ten years of R&D, according to Lea Duckwitz, regional marketing manager EMEA, who added that customer response to the new printer and its capabilities has been overwhelmingly positive at a time of increased demand for both sports and athleisure apparel. Aeoon was showing its industrial direct-to-garment digital printing solutions, with an emphasis on its new and enhanced automation features. To demonstrate the speed and efficiency of these new features, the company had set up a photo booth and invited visitors to have their photo taken and then watch as the image was automatically sent to an Aeoon Compact printer where it was output at high speed onto a souvenir T-shirt. Jonas Nussdorfer, software engineer, explained that the system removes the need for manual data input making it perfect for web- to-print operations, and it can also be used with barcodes if preferred. Roland was showing its new TrueVis VG2 series printer/cutter, which was launched in March and offers new orange ink plus more than 40 enhancements to the first generation models; however, it was the prototype Texart S-Series XT-640S multi-station DTG printer that caught our eye (even though we didn’t get to see it actually printing). Based on the Texart 640 roll-to-roll machine, the XT-640S uses CMYK and white pigment inks in place of the XT-640’s usual sublimation inks, for direct printing on T-shirts, cotton bags etc. A flatbed replaces the 640’s usual rollers and supports either nine XL or 12 standard T-shirt platens (larger products, such as banners, can also be accommodated). Roland claims that the machine will output 12 standard size shirt prints in 15 minutes. A launch date for the XT-640S is yet to be announced, The prototype of Polyprint’s new Pretreater, which is expected to launch in Q4 Exile Technologies’ new Spyder 3 DTS computer-to- screen machine Kornit’s Avalanche PolyPro for DTG printing on polyester