The Pike digital textile printer from SPG Prints offers new standards of quality and production efficiency. Among the benefits are reductions of lead times by up to 50 per cent, reduced stockholding costs, faster time-to-market, and improved print quality, including the ability to print micro patterns, broadening the scope for new designs.

Ideal for volumes of more than two million linear metres per year on substrates up to 1850 mm wide, the Pike uses single-pass technology with fixed-array piezo-electric print heads. Using SPG Prints’ Archer technology, fine details and bright, saturated blotches can be produced with variable drop sizes ranging from 2 to 10 pL. Archer technology also enables ink to be precisely fired on to substrates from a distance of 4 mm, giving the Pike unparalleled substrate versatility.

Printing digitally eliminates screen preparation time as well as chemical and water waste. Job changeovers require only the digital files to be loaded, and, possibly, the substrate changed.

Another trend that is challenging textile printers is more complex designs. More colors and finer detail are increasingly requested by fashion brands, and the desired results are simply not possible with screen printing. High-performance digital printers, like the Pike, can deliver the designers’ concepts.