Blog

We had a fantastic week at Tecnargilla 2014 showcasing the new Xaar 1002 GS40, Xaar 001 and XPM.  With some beautiful tiles on display, we demonstrated the different effects that can be achieved with our printheads. The Xaar 1002 GS40 allows ceramic tile producers to digitally apply strong, heavy-pigment colours and glazes, and to create textures in order to significantly expand the range of 'added-value' tile designs on offer. TheXaar 001 enables the application of decorative coloured glazes, structure and flood glazes.  Ceramic tile manufacturers can now use digital techniques to create exciting new tile designs that stand out from the competition whilst benefitting from leading edge tile production efficie​​ncy.

The subject of print quality is​ very complex, subjective and difficult to quantify, particularly when printing four colour images.  Some ​recent articles have been playing the numbers game, using the number of dots or lines per inch as the key factor for print quality.  This is a simplistic approach which does not consider the other important factors, many of which are systems related rather than specific to the printhead.
So, what are the other contributing factors for print quality?

Inkjet printing has revolutionised the global ceramic tile decoration industry over a relatively short time. This is an amazing achievement for an industry that for many years traditionally produced either plain or unsophisticated patterned tiles using screen printing and had little use for computers. The conversion of production lines to digital decoration is set to continue as it offers such great economic benefits, but what are the next challenges with ceramic tile decoration and where else can digital inkjet technology provide benefits?Increased colour space​

​​​​In 2012 we launched our own app, 'Xapp​', for Apple devices to showcase the company's printhead technology and how its innovations have led the way in transforming the ceramics, coding & marking, labels, laminates, packaging and wide-format graphics industries. 

​We recently exhibited at the InPrint show, the first industrial print show of its type in Europe. InPrint was co-located alongside the extensive Hannover Messe so there was no shortage of visitors! It was an incredibly busy three days for our team, and the show had a real buzz about it with genuine excitement around the future of inkjet and industrial print. We saw a wide diversity of attendees across a variety of sectors at the show, leading to some really interesting new conversations.