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EFI launches Nozomi 14000 LED in Asia Pacific
Berli Jucker Public Company Limited (BJC Thailand) appointed as EFI sales partner in Thailand for Nozomi solutions.
EFI has unveiled the new Nozomi 14000 LED press to Asia Pacific at a VIP customer event, held at BJC’s facility in Bangkok, Thailand. Coorganised with their recently appointed sales partner, Berli Jucker Public Company Limited (BJC Thailand), EFI presented the new Nozomi 14000 LED press in May 2022.
The VIP event served as an introduction for BJC Thailand as EFI’s newly-appointed sales partner for the region, highlighting the importance of Asia Pacific. With the partnership, BJC Thailand will bring EFI’s Nozomi solutions to Thailand. Established in 1882, BJC has been a major trading company that is amongst the first to be listed on Thailand’s stock exchange. Over the years, the company has diversified its operations in manufacturing, packaging and distribution.
“As one of the leading trading companies in Thailand, we are excited and proud to begin this partnership with EFI, and to now be able to provide our customers with cutting-edge digital packaging solutions. The EFI Nozomi printers will pave the way to digitising the packaging printing industry in Thailand, and BJC looks forward to be a part of the digital transformation,” said BJC’s Graphics Business VicePresident, Paiboon Chutimapongrut.
“BJC Thailand is one of the biggest distributors of graphic arts materials in Thailand. They have strong relationships with major packaging players in the industry and we are excited to have them as our sales partner. Together with BJC, we are confident that we can help our customers grow their business and ensure that our Nozomi packaging business, not just in print, but it is the way to achieve industry standards in the corrugated packaging market.”
solutions maximise their profitability and revenue,” said Rodd Harrison, Vice-President, for Asia Pacific Sales, EFI.
The event featured a product demonstration of the new EFI Nozomi 14000 LED to prospective customers, while providing insights into the digital trends and opportunities in corrugated packaging.
The EFI Nozomi 14000 LED press is the company’s latest addition to digital solutions for the corrugated market. The new ultra-high-speed inkjet solution leverages Nozomi single-pass UV LED inkjet technology with improvements and is said to bring enhanced productivity, reliability, value, and flexibility to the industrial packaging segment.
“The event went very well with major packaging companies in Thailand, which were in attendance. There was a lot of interest in digital and it was a very interactive and engaging session. The event was a good opportunity to share with them what we’re doing, why we’re here and how we’re trying to change the industry,” said Richard Cotterill, EFI’s Global Sales Director for Packaging.
“We talked about the market paradigms and how they have been evolving. We also discussed the change of the market landscape in the last two years. How it was before COVID, to what it is now, is totally different. While it certainly brought more challenges for our customers, there has been more opportunities as well,” Cotterill continued. “Everybody here at this event recognised that digitisation is something that is important to their
EFI Nozomi 14000 LED: The Perfect Fit for Asia Pacific
The EFI Nozomi 14000 LED is a direct-to-board digital press that prints at faster speeds up to 100 linear metres per minute. The 14000 joins EFI’s flagship press on the Nozomi platform, the C18000 Plus, which is a 1.8-metrewide single-pass inkjet corrugated printer.
At a width of 1.4 metres, the EFI Nozomi 14000 LED is equipped with new productivity modes to offer remarkable throughput while meeting
corrugated packaging manufacturers’ needs for more compact production lines.
"The biggest advantage of the Nozomi 14000 is the smaller footprint. It’s a more compact machine, providing our customers with the ideal format size for their needs. They can produce eight to 10 million square metres a year at quite an attractive capital cost,” Cotterill explained. “We looked at the typical size that fits the workflow and we found that the 1.4 metre is the perfect fit, as it fits a lot of die-cutting flatbed or rotary machines as well. It's a common format in the packaging industry,” said Cotterill.
“In addition, our customers want to get more machines into the factories that they have. Real estate is expensive, so our customers want to get more in the same space. Having a much more compact machine allows them to do that,” he added.
The EFI Nozomi 14000 LED boasts a robust design for heavy industrial use. It offers high reliability, productivity, and uptimes. Packaging converters also get the versatility to print nearly all board flute types, with enhancements to automatically reject damaged boards without stopping print production.
“The solution has a bundle stacker option, which is a much smaller
Photo Left to Right: Mr. Sek Ektrakul Product Manager/Graphic Systems Division, BJC, Mr. Bernard Sun Senior Manager, Business Development, Packaging & Display Graphics, ASEAN & Taiwan, EFI, Mr. Rodd Harrison VicePresident, Asia-Pacific Sales, EFI, Mr. Paiboon Chutimapongrut, Vice President /Graphic Systems Division, BJC, Mr. Richard Cotterill Global Sales Director, Packaging, EFI, Mr. Suphawat Sriratanarat Assistant Product Manager/Graphic Systems Division
footprint. It really does make the machine more compact, and it gives you the opportunity to then integrate robots, which a lot of our customers are looking at because the other thing that they need to do is reduce manpower and labour,” Cotterill continued.
While Cotterill expects the take-up of the Nozomi 14000 to be more attractive
EFI Nozomi 14000 LED
in Asia Pacific, the C18000 Plus will still be relevant to the region.
“A customer producing predominantly displays, would be more likely to go for the C18000 Plus because the format sizes of the displays fit better on it. Or a customer that wanted to run two boards with a size of 900 millimetres on each board, then they can get very good productivity on the Nozomi C18000 Plus. There is definitely a space for both platforms here in Asia,” said Cotterill.
Digital Print in Thailand
“When you look at the installations in Thailand currently, there are a number of lower quality machines that are replacing some very short-run flexo work. However, the high-quality, highend work, has not really been touched very much by digital. This is where the EFI Nozomi will fit,” said Harrison.
“The Nozomi platforms will give customers the opportunity to get all the benefits of digital in the offset lamination market. It is that real highquality, high-graphic market where we think our customers can get the most benefit from the Nozomi,” said Harrison.
“In the whole of Southeast Asia, we’re seeing manufacturing becoming very buoyant in Southeast Asia with a number of macro-economic factors. We are most certainly seeing major manufacturing companies and brands moving into Southeast Asia,” Cotterill added. Data from the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) indicated that the Thai economy is recovering post-COVID, expecting to grow 3.03.5% in 2022. “Many big brands are investing in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam with their factories, and of course, they need packaging to go with that,” said Cotterill.
E-Commerce Pushed Growth for Digital
Digital print in packaging is expected to grow from USD 22.57 Billion in 2022 to USD 47.91 Billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 9.43%, according to research from Market Data Centre. The pandemic highlighted opportunities that will continue to drive the digital adoption growth, one of which is in e-commerce.
“E-commerce has grown. Some might even say there was 10 years’ worth of movement in the one year during COVID. Digital print gives you the opportunity to provide the level of personalisation that people want in e-commerce,” said Cotterill.
We have seen a growing demand with brands working closely with our customers using ‘’mass versioning’’ capabilities, which digital printing can offer, to produce creative personalised festive season packaging for their end consumers.
For example, UK-based corrugated converter, Durham Box, used the Nozomi C18000 to produce a Christmas advent calendar for their customer, Edinburgh Beer Box. Every beer box was personalised for different types of beer, instead of having a generic gift pack. The calendar, which included vibrant colours and black and white areas, was subject to a one-pass layering effect by the Nozomi, giving the visual effect of a spot. The advent calendar was produced as a box to hold 24 cans, where a coated B-flute board was used to provide protection, completed with a high-quality print finish and 100% recyclability. For the calendar box construction, internal dividers were used for the cans to sit in, in addition to a speedy tear cutting rule to give a clean and precise opening experience.
Similarly, our Australia-based customer, the Opal Group partnered with one of
De Bortoli Wines advent calendar
EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus
its customers, De Bortoli Wines to print an advent calendar for wines. A range of different designs were created for the advent calendar using a combination of 16 specific Pantone colours and 12 different graphic objects in the form of Christmas “decorations,” to deliver thousands of individualised boxes! Each box has a unique mix of colours and decorations appearing in different areas on the packaging to ensure that no two boxes are the same.
“The campaigns were very successful, which highlighted the power of personalisation. The benefits of digitally printed packaging include shorter run lengths and minimal set up costs and importantly, it gives the brand owners an opportunity to create individuality for their brands,” Cotterill continued.
‘’The increased use of social media channels for brand promotion is also driving the growth of digital printing in packaging. For example, we are seeing an increasingly popular trend of leveraging social media influencers to create exciting unboxing experiences to express the brand story. Brands are now able to use creative and innovative digital packaging to attract and influence the end consumer’s buying decision,” said Cotterill.
Increased Awareness in Sustainability and Circular Economy
The Nozomi platforms address an increasingly important focus on environmental awareness, not just in output, but across the entire production line. The EFI Nozomi 14000 LED press is designed for greater sustainability in corrugated production. An even broader spectrum of packaging businesses, from independent box plants and start-ups to integrated paper companies, can leverage on the Nozomi to be a durable, reliable, sustainable and efficient digital alternative to analogue corrugated production.
“Everything that's printed with Nozomi is recyclable, so the pulpability means that you have true circularity with corrugated. The recycling rates are very high, which is important because there's less virgin paper that can come into the supply chain,” said Cotterill. Based on data from Fogra, EFI Nozomi technology is leading the corrugated market in digital print energy efficiency. The Nozomi 14000 LED delivers energy-efficient productivity, with virtually no volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and up to 35% lower energy consumption than flexo printing. The press also significantly reduces ink and board waste compared with flexo and litho-lamination. In addition, the press does not require water for cleaning unlike analogue printing methods, reducing costs and environmental footprint.
“Since it's a non-contact printing process, you can use thinner papers and still get the box strength that you are getting now. With flexo or laminating, you're crushing or weakening the flutes, so you have to use a thicker paper. Digital is non-contact which means being able to use thinner papers, hence have lower paper costs. When you're transporting products, there is less weight so you can get more in a lorry, with less CO2. The Nozomi is again, a very green proposition,” said Cotterill.
“The awareness levels for sustainability in Southeast Asia have increased significantly. Major brands and retail chains are focusing on greener solutions and are driving environmental awareness through the supply chains as an integral part of their business,” said Harrison.
“It's not just the brands that are driving it, a lot of the customers are constantly looking at ways to be more efficient and effective. They are trying to find ways to reduce costs, not in terms of increasing capacity, but where they could save energies,” said Bernard Sun, Senior Business Development Manager, Packaging, ASEAN & Taiwan, EFI.
“By introducing and bringing in technologies like the EFI Nozomi and LED presses, we're introducing a much more effective solution that is cost-saving, energy-saving, and reduces wastage,” said Sun. “We see that with a lot of customers as well. We walk into many of our customer’s production facilities, and they have the solar panels installed everywhere, so everyone's cautious of that.”
Fresh off its worldwide debut, EFI further announced that UK packaging company, Caps Cases, has installed the first Nozomi 14000 LED.
“There are already five Nozomi 14000 LED presses sold globally. The second Nozomi is being delivered to the US as we speak. We definitely expect to place multiple units of the Nozomi 14000 in the region, so watch this space!” Cotterill concluded.
