Textile Printing

KBC catches the first PIKE single-pass digital inkjet printer from SPGPrints

Monday 23. November 2015 - SPGPrints announces the first sale of its new PIKE single-pass digital inkjet printer to KBC Fashion GmbH (KBC), of Lörrach, Germany.

Launched at ITMA, the SPGPrints PIKE printer features Archer Technology, a new array of 43 Fujifilm Samba print heads. These heads fire at 32KHz across the 1850mm print width, delivering variable dot sizes (from 2-10pl) at a resolution of 1200 x 1200dpi. A gap of up to 4mm between the print heads and the substrate enables a wide range of fabric textures to be printed using specially formulated PIKE Reactive inks that eliminate mist.

Established in 1753, KBC has always been a leader in textile printing technologies and installed its first digital inkjet machine in 1990. Today, KBC’s digital output is up to 25,000m per day, complementing its rotary screen output of 80,000m per day.

The SPGPrints PIKE digital printer, with its ability to print 13 million square metres per year, will significantly expand KBC’s digital capacity while simplifying its workflow.

“When we first saw the PIKE inkjet printer at the sneak preview last December, it surpassed our wildest expectations,” said Henri Rowienski, CEO, KBC. “The high-quality print and its ability to cost-effectively print short runs for the fashion market made the PIKE the obvious choice. The ‘no print head headache’ replacement programme provided an additional attraction.”

The SPGPrints’ ‘Archer Print Head Program’ enables PIKE ink customers to exchange faulty print heads free of charge, with the costs covered by the price of the ink. Print heads can be replaced by operators in less than an hour without the need for mechanical adjustment. Register and flow are controlled by the operating software.

“KBC has been a leader in European digital textile printing for many years,” said Jos Notermans, Commercial Manager Digital Textiles, SPGPrints. “It is especially gratifying for an industry leader to be the first to install the new digital PIKE printer as it endorses the concept, its features and print quality.”

The PIKE digital inkjet printer will be installed at KBC immediately after ITMA and is expected to be in production in March.