Datatex Makes Strategic Expansion Into Asia Pacific

ZUG, Switzerland — October 11, 2017 — The Asia Pacific region has long been pivotal in the Apparel and Textile value chain. Datatex Global is proud to announce the opening of our Indian subsidiary, Datatex India. Demonstrating a commitment to the increasingly interconnected global business ecosystem, it became apparent that expanding with a physical presence in India was the next step in servicing our many existing clients and providing a competency center for partners with Asia Pacific operations.

The scope of Datatex India will be to service our rapidly expanding base of clients on the Indian subcontinent along with providing a support hub for the Asian Partner Community.  Additionally, Datatex India will provide momentum to development and support of the NOW ERP offering. The local Indian office will launch with a team of 40 consultants all of whom are highly trained on the entire Datatex solution stack and technology platform.  “We are very excited to extend our operations into India but what makes this move especially intriguing is the addition of highly skilled consultants to our core teams. Adding these consultants, all of whom are experienced in best practices for our industry and our products gives us the capability to expand globally with agility”  said Ronnie Hagin the CEO of Datatex.

Datatex India started operations in July of this year and is instrumental in the development of future industry offerings.

Posted October 11, 2017

Source: Datatex

Teijin Aramid Introduces Teijinconex® Coolnex Super Wicking Fabric Flame Resistant Protection For Work Wear Made Comfortable

ARNHEM, The Netherlands — October 11, 2017 — Teijin Aramid today announced the introduction of the Teijinconex® Coolnex Super Wicking Fabric, a lighter, softer and more comfortable flame resistant Fabric. The outstanding feature of this new fabric is a quick dry absorption of perspiration without losing its flame resistance. An innovation that is fulfilling the needs of the work wear industry.

This state-of-the-art single layer fabric combines the best in personal protection fabrics with high performance sports textiles. It offers unmatched thermal protective performance standing tough against heat, flames and flash fire. Designed to breathe, the fabric allows the sweat to move from the body to outside, producing a cotton like feel. The moisture wicking capability outperforms competing fabrics like cotton, viscose or traditional aramid fabrics. The fabric is reinforced with high performance Twaron® or Technora® para-aramid fibers for superior strength and durability. Garments made with Teijinconex® Coolnex Super Wicking Fabric not only retain their protective properties after thermal exposure, they also remain comfortable and service worthy longer.

Christian Norhausen, Business Department Heat & Cut protection at Teijin Aramid: “With our long history and experience in professional protective apparel and sportswear we designed a fabric that brings comfort in flame resistant work wear to the next level. The intrinsically built-in flame resistance and moisture dry release properties make this a truly outstanding fabric for everyday use.”

The new Teijinconex® Coolnex Super Wicking Fabric will be shown at Teijin Aramid’s stand A39 in hall 9, at the upcoming A+A show, held from October 17-20 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Posted October 11, 2017

Source: Teijin Aramid

SF Landmark Enters Soft Signage Market With EFI VUTEk FabriVU Printer, EFI Fiery DFE And EFI eCommerce Software

FREMONT, Calif. — October 11, 2017 — San Francisco signage and graphics company SF Landmark is meeting surging demand for textile-printed soft signage with the installation of an EFI™ VUTEk® FabriVU® 340 dye-sublimation printer from Electronics For Imaging Inc. With production speeds of up to 5,381 square feet per hour and print widths of up to 133 inches wide, the printer uses genuine EFI water-based CMYK dispersed dye inks to produce brilliant displays, high-density backlit signs and more, with ultra-high resolution four-color printing.

Founded in 1982 with annual revenues of about $1 million and five employees, SF Landmark has built a reputation for high quality, fast turn superwide format printing among event planners, brands and agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area.

An ‘impressive offering’ to broaden SF Landmark’s customer reach

While researching the soft signage market, SF Landmark General Manager Bill Stender attended the 2016 SGIA Expo in Las Vegas and followed up with a visit to EFI’s users’ group conference, Connect. “I was very impressed with what EFI had to offer,” he said.

“We’ve been looking at dye sublimation fabric printing for some time,” Stender added. “We’ve seen many of our professional customers moving into soft signage, and we believed we could bring our great reputation for quality and service to those customers to capture that volume, and that is proving to be true. Plus, we expect to be able to gain many new customers as we market this service to a broader audience.”

EFI developed its new VUTEk FabriVU series using the advanced technology knowledge base that EFI Reggiani has established over the past 70 years. SF Landmark’s new printer — which is ideal for the production of flags, banners, backlit displays, and other high-end display graphics — offers superior quality with high-resolution imaging up to 2,400 dots per inch (dpi) and four-level grayscale printing with 4 to 18 picoliter drop sizes. SF Landmark has greater versatility with its new investment as well, as the printer has the unique ability to print on transfer paper or direct-to-fabric with the same inkset, which saves considerable labor and machine downtime compared to other printers requiring ink changeovers for different substrates.

SF Landmark’s clients appreciate the company’s attention to detail and color matching capabilities, expertise that, according to Stender, is hard to find among area sign shops. The EFI Fiery® proServer digital front end (DFE) installed with the new printer has the production and color functionalities to allow SF Landmark to maintain its high color quality standards.

“Fiery has lots of great tools for color matching and for adding additional automation to the process,” Stender said. “This will be increasingly important as our fabric business continues to grow.”

New product offerings and growth through online ordering

Stender is currently focusing on production of backdrops for stages and events, but is in the process of tooling up for other products such as flags and temporary pop-up exhibits. He also invested in a sewing system for finishing printed fabric products.

Plus, SF Landmark acquired an additional facility to accommodate the printer and will be staffing that facility up as his fabric volume grows. A new web-to-print offering — EFI’s Digital StoreFront® software — is part of that growth initiative.

“As we expand our product line, we will be implementing EFI’s eCommerce for Soft Signage suite of solutions powered by EFI Digital StoreFront,” Stender said. “This will add a level of convenience for many of our customers by allowing them to order online 24/7. We also like that fact that Digital StroreFront is integrated with the EFI Fiery proServer DFE for the FabriVU printer, meaning that jobs submitted online can be delivered directly to print, saving time while reducing costs, errors and overhead.”

EFI is showcasing its ecosystem of advanced products for soft signage production this week at the 2017 SGIA Expo at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, where the VUTEk FabriVU 340 printer, Fiery proServer DFE and Digital StoreFront web-to-print solutions are on display in booth #1501.

Posted October 11, 2017

Source: EFI

INX International Ink Co. Promotes Jim Lambert To Vice President Of Digital Sales — Ink And Hardware

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — October 11, 2017 — INX International Ink Co. has promoted Jim Lambert to the position of Vice President of Digital Sales – Ink and Hardware. He will continue reporting to Rick Clendenning, president and CEO. The announcement was made at the SGIA Expo in New Orleans, which runs through tomorrow.

Lambert most recently served as vice president and general manager for the digital division of INX International. He has over 35 years of printing industry experience, with responsibilities ranging from operations and management to sales and marketing.

Lambert was the co-owner of Innovative Solutions Inc. in Huntsville, Ala., when INX acquired the digital printer and integration manufacturing company in 2007. Previously he headed the publishing and prepress division at Intergraph Computer Systems, where he was recognized as one of the top 100 industry professionals in 1998. He also served as vice president for JL Troupe Co., an engineering and product development organization with clients that included Federal Express.

“Jim has been such a strong contributor with innovations in the digital group, and through many challenges over the past 10 years,” stated Clendenning. “Since joining INX, he has focused primarily on the hardware and software engineering side. His involvement with inkjet has provided valuable insight and strong leadership, and our customers have been well served with his breadth of knowledge and experience.”

Posted October 11, 2017

Source: INX International Ink Co.

Management Buyout Of DuraFiber Technologies (DFT) In Bad Hersfeld Announced

BAD HERSFELD, Germany — October 9, 2017 — As of last week, DuraFiber Technologies (DFT) GmbH in Bad Hersfeld operates as stand-alone company. As a result of a management buyout, in combination with a strategic investor, the plant is now owned by a newly formed parent company.

The strategic investor owns the premises and buildings DuraFiber Technologies GmbH in Bad Hersfeld is operating in. Together with Ralph Van Loo, who also is shareholder, they will design the future of our esteemed plant. Ralph Van Loo will remain his position as CEO and will continue the strategic path forward which was started last year. The plant in Bad Hersfeld has now a sharper focus and greater financial strengths to keep the leading position for high quality filaments.

Since 1966, the plant in Bad Hersfeld has remained at the forefront of the industrial fibers and fabrics industry, developing next-generation technologies and products for a variety of applications with focus is on delivering the very best service to our global customers. DuraFiber Technologies Bad Hersfeld industry-leading portfolio includes high tenacity multifilament yarns manufactured from PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PEEK (polyetheretherketone), PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) and PBT (polybutylene terephalate). Our wide range of products are used in applications requiring high strength, from architectural design to seat belt yarns, from MRG to sewing threads and specialty applications.

Consequently this step will bring us into a sustainable position to fully focus on all specific activities and the potential related to our site in Bad Hersfeld. We are confident that this strategic change will further strengthen our relationship to all our partners and will be key for positioning us to manage the current and future market dynamics.

In order to position our new strategic alliance, we will change our name in the near future and will advise accordingly.

Posted October 10, 2017

Source: DuraFiber Technologies GmbH

Dassault Falcon Jet Digitalizes Its End-to-End Interior Design Value Chain

PARIS — October 2017 —  Lectra is empowering Dassault Falcon Jet to exceed the expectations of its clientele with faster turnaround times and enhanced quality.

A Customer-Driven Business Transformation

Marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation building the most advanced business jets on the market, Dassault Falcon Jet has earned a reputation as the finest aircraft company in the world. The company focuses on high-quality production to personalize business jets meeting customers’ exacting requirements. The process begins in France, where the airframe, engine and avionics are assembled, ending in Little Rock, where the aircraft is finished with a custom livery and interior hand-crafted to precise specifications.

Due to their customers’ ability to change interior design specifications during completion, Dassault Falcon Jet needed greater flexibility to meet customer requests faster and more efficiently. Design for manufacturability is a major consideration due to aggressive cost targets and a chief reason behind the company’s digital specification-to-delivery process—the most advanced in the industry.

The Little Rock upholstery shop has recently undergone significant reorganization to align the production of aircraft interiors with the digital specification-to-delivery process. After first streamlining its design studio with DesignConcept® 3D design and costing software, Dassault Falcon Jet turned once more to Lectra to revolutionize its cutting room with acquisition of a Versalis® digital leather cutting solution.

A First Major Change With 3-D Design And Prototyping

Before working with Lectra, Dassault Falcon Jet used 2-D software for the design and development of aircraft seating. The upholstery shop’s highly manual prototyping process did not capitalize on the company’s use of 3-D data and often resulted in inconsistent quality.

Following a successful proof of concept, Dassault Falcon Jet progressively implemented six DesignConcept workstations, laying the foundation for a fully digital development process. Rollout of DesignConcept design and virtual prototyping solution enabled the customer to iterate into 3D designs directly, eliminating the need to make as many physical mock-ups.

FROM Digital Design TO A Full-Fledged Digital Value Chain

Following Dassault Falcon Jet’s switch to 3-D design and prototyping, the company turned its efforts to increasing efficiency and productivity in the upholstery shop. Acquisition of a Versalis has enabled the customer to extend the digital value chain from seat design through to leather cutting execution. Now Dassault Falcon Jet can develop patterns using DesignConcept prototyping software and directly export 3-D data into the Versalis digital leather cutting solution.

Powered by data intelligence and advanced cut preparation software, Versalis eliminates variation and reduces the number of over-cuts to optimize yield on expensive full-grain leather. The advanced cutting technology incorporates hide scanning and laser projection to give operators a high degree of control over the placement of parts. By eliminating the deformation of cut parts, Dassault Falcon Jet has achieved a substantial improvement in quality. Leather cut execution is now more accurate, with a rate of rejected pieces approaching zero. The upholstery shop’s leather yield has furthermore increased from 5 percent to 10 percent.

A Smoother Overall Process For The Production Of Custom Interiors

With the addition of Versalis, Dassault Falcon Jet now benefits from an end-to-end digital process, with 3D design and prototyping, direct merging of data and digital cutting. The fully automated Versalis enables Dassault Falcon Jet to deliver within budget by cutting costs, improving productivity and minimizing waste. Because flexibility is even more important to the production of one-off custom interiors than to serial manufacturing, digitalization has enabled the company to both expedite operations and reinforce its reputation as a world-class aircraft manufacturer.

Posted October 10, 2017

Source: Lectra

INX International Ink Co. Begins West Chicago R&D Expansion

SCHAUMBURG, IL — October 10, 2017 — On Opening Day of the SGIA Expo in New Orleans, INX International Ink Co. announced plans to expand its iconic Research & Development complex in West Chicago, IL. When completed in July 2018, the facility will more than double its current space to 56,000 square-feet.

The new construction in West Chicago represents continuation of an aggressive, multi-year capital improvements program. INX opened a new manufacturing facility in Lebanon, OH in 2015, completed expansion of the metal decorating plant ln Charlotte, NC in 2016, and doubled the size of an existing manufacturing plant in Edwardsville, KS earlier this year. Parent company Sakata INX in Japan is following a similar path, building new or expanding facilities throughout Asia.

Since the West Chicago R&D complex opened in 1996, overall activity and the number of chemists working on site has increased dramatically as a result of significant business growth, says Rick Westrom, Senior Vice President of Sourcing and R&D.

“We have experienced sales growth and production in many areas, and a major reason for this expansion is our commitment to global digital efforts. A large portion is being dedicated to growing and supporting digital products across all product lines, as well as expanding our Energy Curable technologies.”

Westrom indicated the $7 million project construction would add 32,000 square-feet to the facility. INX currently employs 62 people in West Chicago and will be adding more chemists after the new space becomes available.

Posted October 10, 2017

Source: INX International Ink Co.

Porcher Industries Acquires Entire Operation Of P-D Interglas Technologies From Preiss Daimler Group

BADINIERES, France — October 2017 — Porcher Industries has completed the acquisition of Interglas Technologies’ operation including all business operations, workforce resources, assets, infrastructure and brand rights from the Preiss Daimler Group. Interglas Technologies GmbH is a German producer of technical fabrics for aeronautic, industrial, electrical and building applications.  This transaction will reinforce Porcher Industries’ position as a leading global manufacturer of technical textiles.

Interglas Technologies GmbH has more than 50 years experience in the manufacturing and innovation of glass, carbon, basalt, aramid and other synthetic fabrics. Headquartered in Germany with production facilities in Erbach, the company is a key supplier of technical fabrics both within Germany and worldwide.

With a vast product range that complements Porcher Industries’ offering in terms of technology, region and application, this acquisition represents a strategic step in the company’s long-term plans to extend both the technical and production capacity for high quality technical textiles, particularly glass fiber fabrics.

The transition from P-D Interglas Technologies GmbH to Porcher Industries Germany, will start beginning of October, with the current highly experienced Interglas workforce of 155 moving across from this point too.

Andre Genton, CEO, Porcher Industries commented: “We are immensely proud to have completed this acquisition. As a respected competitor for over 40 years, we hold the company’s experience, technology and reputation in high regard. Porcher Industries will be even better positioned to serve and innovate and we look forward to continuing Interglas’ tradition of delivering excellence”.

Posted October 10, 2017

Source: BGF Industries

PrimaLoft Inc. Partners With Victor Capital Partners To Accelerate Its Growth Strategy

LATHAM, N.Y. — October 10, 2017 — PrimaLoft Inc. — a materials science company specializing in advanced branded technical products including insulation, fabric, and yarn for outdoor, fashion, and other industries — today announced the completion of a management-led transaction to recapitalize the business and to help the rapidly growing company invest in innovative technologies to meet growing consumer demand. The new investor group is led by private equity firm Victor Capital Partners in partnership with the private equity group at Allstate. PrimaLoft management will continue to maintain a significant investment in the business. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Latham, N.Y., PrimaLoft is a leader in research and development of high performance materials for leading outdoor and fashion brands, as well as work wear, hunting, home furnishings and military applications. Originally developed in the 1980s for the U.S. army as a water-resistant, synthetic alternative to down insulation, PrimaLoft® is today recognized as a leading consumer ingredient brand.  With a focus on innovation, the company has expanded its product line into a broad array of comfort solutions that are recognized by consumers and brand partners for being lightweight, warm, water-resistant, comfortable, soft, breathable, durable, eco-friendly, and animal-friendly. The company was previously owned by Prudential Capital Group.

“This is an incredible opportunity to enhance the future of PrimaLoft,” said Mike Joyce, president and chief executive officer of PrimaLoft.  “In recent years, we have enjoyed significant growth and further established PrimaLoft as a leading consumer ingredient brand that partners with many of the best outdoor, fashion, and home furnishings companies in the world.  Our new partnership with Victor Capital will provide the capital, commitment and operating support to drive our technological innovation and market development to new levels.”

“We would like to thank Prudential Capital Group for the tremendous support they have provided the Company over the past five years,” said Joyce. “They have been an exceptional partner and a great steward of the business, helping to drive the strategies that have underpinned our growth and position us well for the future.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with Mike Joyce and the talented team at PrimaLoft and bringing our experience working with valuable consumer brands to the company,” said Douglas Korn, managing partner of Victor Capital.  “The strong and growing reputation of the PrimaLoft brand and the company’s history of leadership in developing innovative technologies offer an exciting platform for continued growth.  We look forward to helping the management team propel the company to new levels of success.”

About Victor Capital Partners
Victor Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity firm that invests in branded businesses with compelling growth potential in the industrial and consumer sectors. Victor Capital’s focus areas include industrial manufacturing and technology, industrial and business services, and specialty consumer products and services. Victor Capital seeks to use its capital and resources to partner with companies that have valuable brands, solid foundations in technology, potential for add-on acquisitions, and attractive business and market trends and characteristics. The firm was founded in late 2015 by Douglas R. Korn, a private equity veteran who has been partnering with strong management teams to help build great companies since the late 1980s.

Posted October 10, 2017

Source: PrimaLoft, Inc.

EFI Offers New LED, Textile And Flatbed Technology At SGIA Expo To Accelerate Competitive Advantage For Print Providers

NEW ORLEANS — October 10, 2017 — The Electronics For Imaging Inc. (EFI) exhibit at SGIA Expo shows how signage and graphics businesses can gain productivity and profitability advantages with a broad portfolio of digital production products, including the new EFI™ Pro 24f true flatbed LED printer shown for the very first time. EFI’s exhibit at the New Orleans tradeshow also includes an EFI Reggiani industrial textile digital printer making its North American debut. Plus, attendees can see a complete portfolio of production inkjet printers, workflow software and EFI Fiery® digital front end (DFE) technologies that help businesses drive a stronger competitive advantage.

Complete digital offerings for new growth opportunities

The EFI portfolio shown at SGIA Expo will help customers succeed in digital markets primed for continued growth. Customer Bill Stender, general manager of San Francisco-based graphics company SF Landmark, attended last year’s show to learn more about opportunities with textile-printed soft signage. That visit ultimately led him to acquiring an EFI VUTEk® FabriVU® 340 soft signage printer, an EFI Fiery proServer DFE, and EFI Digital StoreFront® technology for web-to-print ordering.

“I was very impressed with what EFI had to offer,” Stender said of his complete EFI production offering. “We’ve seen many of our professional customers moving into soft signage, and we believed we could bring our great reputation for quality and service to those customers to capture that volume, and that is proving to be true.”

Attendees at this year’s SGIA Expo can see how all of those technologies can be integrated — from online job submission to fast Fiery job processing, to high-end output on the 3.4-meter wide VUTEk FabriVU model — in EFI’s booth, #1501.

NEW: EFI Pro 24f LED flatbed printer

Visitors can also experience the latest advancements EFI has developed to fuel customers’ success in digital wide-format graphics production. The new Pro 24f LED flatbed printer launching at SGIA Expo is designed to give signage and graphics providers a sharp competitive edge. It contains the most powerful features, including EFI’s LED and variable drop grayscale head technology, and provides precision imaging, fine detail and outstanding image quality.

The printer, which has a 4×8-foot bed, prints in four colors plus white ink standard and is a highly strategic choice for signage, photographic backlit displays, art reproductions, membrane switches, graphic overlays, lenticular prints and other specialty applications up to 2 inches thick. Efficient hold-down with a multi-zone vacuum system eliminates masking while ensuring accurate registration for multiple over-prints or panels. EFI’s “cool cure” LED technology ensures low power consumption, minimal waste and compatibility with thinner and heat-sensitive substrates.

An EFI Fiery proServer Core DFE built into the printer features FAST RIP acceleration technology plus a host of color management and production options delivering a turnkey solution.

Affordable industrial digital textile production with the new FLEXY printer

For industrial apparel and décor textile applications, EFI is showcasing the new Reggiani ReNOIR FLEXY printer in its North American debut. The 1.8-meter wide printer delivers the high resolution and outstanding performance and results of larger Reggiani devices, yet it is affordable enough to allow nearly any business to get into industrial textile. It supports the widest variety of fabrics — from knitted to woven as well as low- and high-stretchable materials — using the printer’s new “Dynaplast” fabric adhesion device.

The printer incorporates the latest digital technologies for best-in-class performance, is easy to operate and has a low maintenance cost, making it an ideal solution for production and sampling alike. It also is the first EFI industrial textile printer to have a new green housing reflecting Reggiani’s brand heritage as well as the product line’s environmentally friendly production advantages, such an ink recovery feature that dramatically reduces ink consumption.

High-quality hybrid print for entry-level and high-volume production

The EFI Pro 16h LED wide-format hybrid roll/flatbed printer on display sets a new standard for entry-level production. This extremely affordable 65-inch wide Fiery Driven™ printer includes white ink and delivers a low total cost of ownership and superior image quality for a broad range of applications. It also has faster speeds than other EFI entry-level hybrid products, with some print modes offering up to a 30-percent higher throughput. The Pro 16h model is the winner of SGIA’s 2017 Product of the Year award for UV hybrid printers from $100,000 to $500,000, and it is available from EFI and a number of EFI partners, including two companies that are also exhibiting it at the show: Nazdar SourceOne® (booth #1545) and the Ricoh® Commercial & Industrial Printing Group (booth #1351).

Another hybrid product on display in the EFI booth, the EFI VUTEk LX3 Pro printer, is a 3.2-meter, eight-color, LED production device that helps companies perfect their premium-quality point-of-purchase (POP) business. Designed to deliver high throughput, higher volumes and shorter lead times, it prints up to 64 4×8-foot boards per hour in POP mode. Users benefit from the high image quality needed for premium retail work and, like the Pro 16h printer, its cool cure LED imaging reduces energy costs and gives access to more substrates, including heat-sensitive materials such as chipboard, foam and acrylics. Attendees can also witness a virtual reality demonstration of the EFI VUTEk HS125 Pro, a high-volume production hybrid inkjet press offering the productivity and low total cost of ownership needed to transition larger volumes of print from analog to digital printing.

Best-in-class print resolution and speed in roll-to-roll printing

EFI is also showcasing its next-generation line of VUTEk roll-to-roll printers, with the award-winning, 3.5-meter EFI VUTEk 3r LED printer on display at the show. This highly productive printer, with speeds up to 4,090 square feet per hour, has the highest resolution in its class, offering superior quality using EFI UltraDrop™ Technology 7-picoliter print heads.

Designed to be the industry’s most technically advanced LED roll-to-roll production offerings, EFI’s newest VUTEk printer line features an integrated production workflow that allows print professionals to do more work in less time. Users can choose a complete set of value-added options, including an inline finishing system for all-in-one printing, x-cutting, slitting and collecting, and additional white and light colors.

Integrated workflow in the ‘Journey of a Job’ for graphics production

EFI is bringing streamlined, simplified production workflows to the Big Easy with its advanced productivity software. Version 5 of the EFI Midmarket Print Suite, which includes EFI Pace™ as its core MIS/ERP software, drives end-to-end efficiencies for display, signage and graphics customers. Improvements include an upgrade to the Suite’s Superwide Format component database for easier estimating, planning and management in dedicated signage and graphics production printing environments, as well as a new, award-winning workbench tool and deeper integration with imposition and fulfillment components.

The end-to-end workflow possibilities shown at SGIA Expo extend to cross media marketing with EFI DirectSmile, a fully integrated marketing software solution for data-driven print, PURL, email, SMS, social media, mobile media and image personalization. The software enables customers to offer robust, customizable and flexible campaign management across multiple media, including traditional and soft signage.

Posted October 10, 2017

Source: Electronics For Imaging

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