Implementing Meteor Inkjet electronics and the Harlequin RIP® Core from Global Graphics Software into its custom-built print solutions has resulted in both a reduced time-to-market and cost-to-market for CADIS Engineering GmbH, giving the company a clear competitive advantage.
Key Facts
- CADIS Engineering GmbH manufactures custom printers for OEMs, modifying and customising all functionalities to suit the application.
- CADIS deploys Meteor Inkjet electronics to drive a variety of printheads including those from Epson, Dimatix, Seiko Instruments and Kyocera.
- Applications include pharmaceutical, direct-to-shape, graphic arts, automotive, and packaging.
The Challenge
A move into the manufacture of industrial high-end inkjet printers meant that custom-print solutions provider, CADIS Engineering GmbH, needed to rethink its strategy: it no longer made business sense to develop all aspects of its solution, especially the electronics.
Arne Ditscher, CTO at CADIS, explains: “Originally we manufactured printers for the graphic arts industry, so RIPping and prepress were always implemented by our customers. However, moving into the industrial inkjet sector meant we now provided the complete solution, including the digital front end (DFE) and data workflow, right through to the printhead
electronics and the final print.”
CADIS needed a company it could collaborate with that had industry-wide expertise, offering a universal solution with a flexible and modular
approach that would work in any of its custom printers. Arne continues: “We wanted to work with a company whose software was compatible with the electronics and would meet today’s and future requirements, such as inline compensation and print data manipulation. It no longer made sense to have individual components that weren’t compatible with each other. We needed a universal strategy across the workflow to ensure very high performance.”
The Solution
The team at CADIS heard about a collaboration between Meteor Inkjet and Global Graphics Software: the companies offered compatible solutions, smoothly integrating their products together, allowing you to implement Meteor printhead drive electronics without changing the RIP core
software from Global Graphics. Since Meteor supports all major industrial inkjet printheads and offers rapid support for new printheads, this would give CADIS flexibility in its printhead choice and allow the company to switch printhead models with minimal impact on the RIP and thus on its development schedule. It also meant CADIS could mix printheads from multiple vendors and models in a single press. Having this flexibility and scalability would allow the company to deliver an exceptional product to
market, quickly and cost effectively.
CADIS began by implementing Meteor’s electronics alongside Global Graphics Software’s Harlequin RIP Core and ScreenPro™ screening software. Arne explains: “We see a significant benefit in using Harlequin, due to the fact that it can be easily implemented or embedded into our software according to different applications, for example direct-to-shape printing, graphic arts or for the pharmaceutical industry.”
The Result
Using compatible components from Meteor Inkjet and Global Graphics Software means CADIS
Engineering can offer its customers a scalable
system. CADIS can now offer a basic system with one type of printhead that can easily be switched to a different type of printhead for a different
application.
Arne comments: “It’s now very easy to switch or to test a new printhead. If we need special electronics for a specific printhead we can use the same
software that is integrated or embedded in the DFE. It’s therefore very fast and easy for us to carry out
initial tests with a new printhead. This would not be the case if we developed our own electronics
because then we would need a long development time. Testing takes a lot of time and effort, so the
partnership with Meteor Inkjet and Global Graphics Software is very beneficial to our development
process.”
Outstanding support
However, it’s not only the compatibility between the products that has been a crucial factor in the
company’s success: CADIS found that having only one contact for technical support for both products has also been very convenient and resulted in a
faster development time.
Martin Duda, technical and commercial consultant at Meteor Inkjet comments: “Meteor Inkjet and Global Graphics Software are uniquely placed in the market as we have access to every line of code for every component. Our customers don’t need to request features from any third-party suppliers, such as a RIP core, as we already have it, so it’s a faster process.”
