CHICAGO - Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has earned the most honors in the Print/Graph Expo tradeshow's Must See 'Ems competition for the 7^thconsecutive year, and the company's Print 2017 booth at McCormick Place is packed with award-winning EFI Productivity Suite workflow technologies. New "Must See" workflow products on display include the EFI Productivity Workbench dashboard; EFI Metrix planning and impositioning software for ultra-high-speed inkjet presses; EFI iQuote estimating and planning software for folding carton and label production; and an EFI Corrugated Packaging Suite integration with Esko ArtiosCAD software.

EFI Fiery? FS300 Pro technology also is making its worldwide debut as the next-generation platform for Fiery digital front ends (DFEs) used with sheetfed, high-speed continuous feed inkjet, B1 folding carton, and corrugated digital presses. EFI is showing the DFE in its booth (#2302) with Xerox (booth #1302) showing its first commercial product implementation, the EX-P 5 Print Server, Powered by Fiery, driving the new Xerox iGen 5 with White Dry Ink.

The new DFE platform also features a major upgrade to its job management software, EFI Fiery Command WorkStation 6. The advanced new interface has a clean, modern look that is intuitive and easy to use. For one beta user, New Delhi-based Avantika Printers Pvt. Ltd., Fiery Command WorkStation's advancements have boosted plant productivity.

"With the transition of Fiery Command WorkStation to a versatile new graphical interface, operators can look up basic functionalities in deep hidden menus without distress, and that increased the productivity at Avantika's shop floor by 15%," according to Avantika Printers Director Himanshu Pandey.

Fiery Command WorkStation 6 also supports new versions of EFI's Fiery Impose, Compose and JobMaster make-ready software products, which enable users to produce high-value print products more profitably, in less time and with fewer clicks.

Partners for productivity in advanced digital print

EFI partner exhibits at Print 2017 highlight the many different ways EFI products help drive greater productivity and efficiency in digital printing operations. In addition to the Fiery DFE driving the Xerox iGen 5, new and updated EFI Fiery DFEs are present throughout the show floor driving additional digital presses and printers from Canon, Konica Minolta, OKI, Ricoh, RISO, Sharp and Xerox.

Customers at Print 2017 can also capture profitable wide-format graphics production opportunities with the EFI Pro 16h LED wide-format hybrid printer, a 65-inch device presented at the show by Konica Minolta in booth 2031 and Ricoh in booth 2022. The printer — which was recently named the 2017 SGIA Product of the Year for UV hybrid printers from $100,000 to $500,000 — sets a new, affordable entry point for roll/flatbed production printing. The four-color plus white printer has a built-in EFI Fiery proServerCore DFE and delivers superior image quality, with several production modes offering up to 30% greater throughput compared with other EFI wide-format hybrid production platforms.

Award-winning workflows provide the key to success 

EFI is featuring new versions of its Productivity Suites for commercial and digital superwide-format printing at Print 2017 with the EFI Quick Print, Midmarket Print and Enterprise Commercial Print Suites. Also on display are EFI's latest Suite versions for packaging, the EFI Packaging and Corrugated Packaging Suites. Workflow innovations for EFI's Productivity Suites at Print 2017 include new shop-floor data collection technology offering direct integration with Fiery digital print management systems, and EFI SmartCanvas, a powerful online template design tool for EFI Digital StoreFront? web-to-print software that helps print buyers quickly and easily personalize products without third-party applications or plug-ins.

The 2017 Must See 'Ems Award-winning EFI Productivity Workbench presented at the show is included in the latest release of several EFI Productivity Suites for print and packaging applications. It provides real-time visibility across all components of a Suite and is an effective launch pad for common user activities. Users benefit from a unified, convenient and customizable live dashboard view that provides one-click access to task-based, business-critical data across a print organization. The product gathers data with "ContextSense" links back into the system, and Workbench widgets used with the software allow for a display based on the information most critical to each user.

Another 2017 Must See 'Ems Award-winning product, EFI Metrix software for ultra-high-speed inkjet presses, handles complex print change calculations that used to take hours and completes them automatically in seconds. The software, which is linked to new Fiery DFEs for ultra-high-speed digital presses, accelerates the impositioning process, plus it gives users the ability to select multiple jobs in a Fiery DFE queue for instant gang run impositioning, reducing the labor associated with manual job imposition and planning by 80%. The software is launching with the new Fiery DFE system used on Landa digital presses, and it will also be available for other ultra-high-speed inkjet devices.

The 2017 Must See 'Ems Award-winning EFI iQuote estimating and planning software for folding carton and label production reduces the risk converters face in profitably quoting jobs, applying custom business rules for accurate estimates that are easier to create. The software also streamlines planning and production on approved jobs by importing data directly into manufacturing workflows as part of the EFI Packaging Suite. Another 2017 Must See 'Ems Award-winning packaging innovation, EFI Corrugated Packaging Suite/Esko ArtiosCAD integration, automates the process of moving complex CAD design projects into production workflows for faster job preparation and, ultimately, quicker turnaround times.

Digital inkjet innovation for signage and industrial printing
EFI's booth also showcases new inkjet applications with production samples from four additional Must See 'Ems Award-winning offerings. Visitors can see the efficient, high-volume and high-quality work possible with the new EFI VUTEk 3r and 5r LED roll-to-roll printers. Digitally printed wood for furniture, décor and other applications highlight the emerging industrial capabilities of the EFI Cubik printer. Tile applications on display highlight the expanded capabilities possible with the new, entry-level EFI Cretaprint C4 Twin ceramic decoration printer. And, EFI Industrial Textile Ecosystem technologies — including EFI Optitex software, the EFI Fiery proServer DFE and EFI Reggianiprinters — enable a remarkable digital production workflow used to efficiently create apparel displayed in the booth.