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On Fire for Fierys

October 26, 2008 "This is an unusual time," said CEO Guy Gecht as he opened EFI's Graph Expo noon press conference. "It's going to be tough times for a lot of suppliers; and tough times for a lot of printers. And it's going to change the trajectory of the printing business." 
Yet EFI took the opportunity this year to expand its Graph Expo display (Booth 2000) to 8,000 sq.ft.--in part to house a growing stable of printing industry production staples. 
"We bought more space and have our biggest booth ever," Gecht said. "We figured a lot of people would be focused on. . .finding new ways of getting revenue from existing customers." That, and entering new markets altogether, such as wide format. EFI cites IT Strategies prediction of 12% growth leading to a 15.3 billion sq.ft. wide format market by 2010. Along with numerous VUTEk models, EFI's 6,000 sq.ft.-per-hour DS 3200S UV digital flat bed printer, nearing launch, will serve that arena. 
Also close to launch and aleady on display, are a next-generation Fiery server, yet to be named, as well as V. 4.0 of the forthcoming EFI Digital StoreFront.
With 1.6 million Fiery users, 10,000 MIS systems (e.g., PrintSmith, EFI Pace, Monarch) installs, 3,000 Vutek superwide format users and 60,000 proofing system installs, EFI has a dominant position in the digital printing world. It claims 60% market share in management information systems. But the Foster City, CA company continues expanding, acquiring firms (Raster, e-Pace Systems) to broaden its menu. 
In striking a distribution deal with Pitman last month for its Jetrion 4000 100 fpm UV digital inkjet web press, EFI expanded an established arrangement; Pitman already sold its VUTEk wide format printers. The UV-ink based Jetrion 4000 is aimed at the $30 billion worldwide market for labels. 

Posted by Bill Esler on October 26, 2008 | Comments (0)