New Experience Centre provides digital textile innovation hub

IndPrint

SPGPrints has strengthened its commitment to the adoption and development of digital textile printing technology, with the formal opening of the Experience Centre – the demonstration and training facility located at the company’s Boxmeer (Netherlands) headquarters.

The facility contains SPGPrints’ two flagship digital textile printers in precisely maintained atmospheric conditions: an 1850 mm wide single pass Pike printer, designed for both large and short volumes with production speeds of up to 40 metres per minute; and a 3200 mm wide multi-pass Javelin printer, for home furnishing applications. The Centre also features a meeting room and presentation equipment.

The Experience Centre gives suppliers and buyers of digitally printed textiles a showcase for learning how to reap the benefits of digital printing, and understanding the end to end implications of digital production with SPGPrints’ technology. The innovation hub will also give textile printers the ability to trial new designs and fabrics under test conditions and expert guidance. Furthermore, it will allow SPGPrints’ own research and development staff to test and optimise proprietary Pike and Javelin inks as new fabrics are introduced, enabling colour-matching and performance trials to be accelerated.

Dick Joustra, CEO, SPGPrints, commented: ‘Digital printing undoubtedly represents the future for textile printing. It is transforming the supply chain, making a wider variety of designs possible, shortening delivery times, delivering major cost savings and eliminating waste. At SPGPrints, we have been empowering the industry to exploit these benefits, through over three decades of digital inkjet innovation, culminating in the Archer technology deployed on the Pike and Javelin printers.

‘The opening of the Experience Centre marks our commitment to driving the adoption of the digital workflow. Not only will this provide the opportunity for brand owners and printers to gain a first hand, real time insight into this technology’s tremendous potential, it will provide a dedicated space for further innovation in quality, productivity and sustainability, complementing our resources for the continued development of traditional rotary screen technologies.’

The new centre is part of an €8 million capital investment programme by SPGPrints, covering an expansion area of 3000m2. This also includes the building of the expanded digital inks factory for production of its inkjet inks, enabling the company to boost capacity in response to the growth of the digital textile printing sector.