Italian company NoeCha, which last month announced the NoeCha 1 large-format UV flatbed printer, is now seeking agents in various European territories including the UK.
At an unveiling for prospective customers at its factory near Milan last Friday, it provided more detail on the new machine, which comes in five configurations (different speeds but same print quality) and starts at 400,000 Euro. At the event NoeCha founder, former Scitex and Nur man Marco Baio, said the first printer will be installed at a company in June though it was keeping the identity under wraps.
The NoeCha 1 has been developed with financial backing from 035 investimenti, a company founded in 2012 to invest in small Italian companies with high-growth potential. NoeCha aims to reach 100m Euro revenue in five years. It has invested over 5m Euro so far in intangible assets (founded 100% by equity) and intends to invest 10-15% of total revenue in R&D.
NoeCha has recently moved into an enlarged site in Capriate San Gervasio, outside Milan, where it will build its UV flatbeds. The site has a production capacity for 100 machines per year.
“We did some analysis of potential flatbed customers and realized that flatbed printing opportunities are still growing. We think a UV flatbed with a certain productivity and print quality can still be a breakthrough product, even today,” said Baio.
The one side loading/unloading NoeCha 1 uses new Kyocera 30khz printheads, based on a NoeCha specification, to provide four greyscale levels from 3pl to 14pl, and a 600 x 600dpi native resolution in a single pass. The UV inks used in the printer (CMYK plus up to four options from white, violet, green, orange or varnish) are produced by Magenta Vision in Belgium to NoeCha specifications, to which it owns the intellectual property. It is supplied in five litre bottles.
The 13,500kg printer can handle media up to 320 x 205cm (printing area 320 x 200cm) via a fixed vacuum table accepting material up to 125mm thickness. It comes with a Caldera GrandRip+ and uses touchscreen operating software based on Windows 8.
New features are expected to be added during 2014, including a new vacuum table, printhead cleaning station and feeder/stacker system.