EFI Continues to Push Digital Transformation
Jeff Jacobson, CEO of EFI.
The past year has seen significant change for EFI, including a new CEO and an acquisition by Siris Capital, a private equity firm, with a focus on technology businesses. But despite the shifts in company structure, EFI remains poised to continue its leadership position in technological development, maintaining a significant footprint in nearly all areas of the industry.
Jeff Jacobson, who most recently was CEO of Xerox, took over the top executive position at EFI in August. The industry veteran of more than 30 years opened the company’s press conference on Wednesday detailing his excitement to be at the helm of EFI, describing it as an “anchor” of the industry, due to the roles EFI technology plays across the print process.
Turning to the acquisition by Siris Capital, Jacobson explained that part of what attracted the equity firm to EFI is the role the technology company has played in driving the transformation of print from analog to digital.
“We spend 15% of our revenue on R&D every year and Siris loves that,” Jacobson said.
Following Jacobson, Ken Hanulec, EFI’s VP of marketing, provided an overview of some of the products on display at the EFI booth.
The EFI VUTEk 32h is being shown for the first time at PRINTING United, and is one of EFI’s four SGIA Product of the Year Award winners. The VUTEk 32h is a 3.2 meter LED inkjet printer, highly suitable for printers making an entry into high-quality superwide-format printing.
On the soft signage side, Hanulec highlighted the company’s FabriVU 340i, a 10-ft.-wide dye sublimation printer, which has exceeded 200 shipments. Soft signage is a high-value application, Hanulec said, and the FabriVU 340i provides exceptional flexibility for printers to produce a variety of applications.
Hanulec also provided an update on the Nozomi C18000, EFI’s single-pass, direct-to-board inkjet printer for corrugated, which includes a new top feeder design and coating technology.
Lastly, Hanulec introduced EFI IQ Cloud, which allows printers to leverage cloud-based data to improve operations.
Cory Francer is an Analyst with NAPCO Research, where he leads the team’s coverage of the dynamic and growing packaging market. Cory also is the former editor-in-chief of Packaging Impressions and is still an active contributor to its print magazines, blogs, and events. With a decade of experience as a professional journalist and editor, Cory brings an eye for storytelling to his packaging research, providing compelling insight into the industry's most pressing business issues. He is an active participant in many of the industry's associations and has played an essential role in the development of the annual Digital Packaging Summit. Cory can be reached at cfrancer@napco.com
