“Manual management of inks is a problematic aspect: the ink residue we lose is 3-4%, not to mention the impact that this task can have on the rest of the production activities…”
I am walking with my client in one of his plants, and this last sentence concludes a long conversation about the tiles’ digital printing systems.
Modern and fast machines for creating high-quality products have also spread in Peru. Digital tile printing is one of those innovations that has rapidly become widespread and has now reached all corners of the world.
Many of our clients have adopted this technique: it is fast, precise, and allows to reduce production costs and improve quality of the finished product.
The idea is very similar to that of an inkjet printer; it is, in fact, a machine composed of a series of colour tanks from which some pumps draw and combine the right shades for the tile designs.
The colour is then distributed onto the tile surfaces through digital printing heads.
Our client’s concern lies in the management of the colour jerry cans: the sedimented ink needs to be shaked by designated personnel before being poured into the printers. This entirely manual operation could cause a number of significant problems, mainly due to the human element involved in this task.
If the operator does not properly agitate the jerry cans, which happens often, the sedimented material remains stuck to the container, resulting in significant waste. Additionally, any agglomerate of product poured into the machine could clog the filters and the printing heads of the digital printers.
Another issue can arise when the technician responsible for the refill makes the mistake of loading the wrong colour into the machine’s tank. In this case, the colour mix is composed incorrectly, and the produced tiles must be eliminated.