Images_Digital_Edition_February_2020

INDUSTRY EVENT www.images-magazine.com 36 images FEBRUARY 2020 on the hat to apply a decoration. On previous hat heat presses, you were limited to the front only. Epson SureColor F3070 Another much talked about item was the new Epson SureColor F3070 industrial DTG printer. This new model won’t be available until this summer [in the US; UK dates are yet to be announced], but it has a lot of shops talking. The Equipment Zone booth that was displaying the unit told me that it is already taking orders from early adopters. The SureColor F3070 is a single- platen direct-to-garment printer that is incredibly fast. A 14”x16” image is said to print in under one minute, and at a cost of about $1 [approximately 77p]. Dual 10-channel print heads operate with 16,000 nozzles to produce each image. The unit also has an automatic feature that adjusts for garment thickness. This is designed to ensure great-looking images and reduce potentially costly print head strikes. The ink reservoirs are large: 1.5 litres for the CMYK, and 3 litres for the white. This means less frequent ink cartridge changeovers during production. This printer is made for shops that have volume direct-to-garment work. It is engineered to work fast and help the production crew finish quickly. Operational perspective Walking around the Expo floor I discovered a few things that I really liked from an operational point of view. Were there more? Certainly. But these grabbed my attention. Pulse ID For embroidery decorators, Pulse ID has some game-changing software available that could help to make your shop run better, especially in the realms of operator efficiency, metrics tracking and managing the production floor. The Pulse ID Enterprise Networking solution gives machine operators the ability to pull designs from your shop’s centralised database directly to their machines. It has reporting features that track when operators start and finish orders, and measures KPIs such as pieces produced per hour, number of re-sews, stitches produced, number of runs, speed, total production, and more. But the one thing that really stood out for me is the ability to show the percentage of completeness for the jobs staged today for the operator. Imagine you have 10 jobs that machine number three has to work on today. At any given time, both the machine operator and management can see the progress percentage for completing today’s production goal. What a great way to keep employees on track! Managers and company leaders can access the data online from any PC, phone, or tablet. You can save reports as XLS files, and it has a great graphic interface and dashboards. It works best with Tajima and Barudan systems, but can be configured for others. Corob Clevermix 700 Last year I saw this equipment at a private workshop at Matsui in Long Beach and was impressed. The Corob Clevermix 700 is a gyroscopic ink-mixing station that’s made for use with water-based ink systems. No surprise there, as Matsui is one of the leading water-based ink manufacturers in the world. Why is this important? Well, if you mix a lot of ink daily you’ll know the pain of having to constantly clean your ink-mixing blades and stations. This is a gyroscopic mixer, so how it works is that the components of the colour are placed in the container, and a lid is tightly closed. Put the container in the mixer and it shakes it up until it is completely mixed and blended. No stirrers or blades to constantly clean! It can mix containers from quart to gallon-sized. The best use is for water- based ink as it has a lower viscosity than regular plastisol. If your shop offers mainly water-based printing and you mix a lot of ink colours, this is the system to use. Digital debuts There was a lot of interest from the attendees in digital platforms, and there were a few systems that people I spoke with were excited about. Zeus V This was a very interesting piece of equipment from Malaysian manufacturer CSC Screen Process Supplies. The Zeus V is a digital/screen hybrid printer that rolls up to your automatic press like a portable flash unit, turning your existing automatic press into a digital hybrid one. It can run at production speeds of about 200 pieces per hour, and you have to use their ink that is designed for The newHotronix 360 IQ Hat Heat Press allows any area of a cap to be decorated Pulse ID offers “game-changing software” to make your shop run better The Zeus V digital/screen hybrid printer turns existing automatic presses into digital hybrid ones