Fremont, Calif. – Maverick Concepts, a creative design and fabrication business serving top retailers and major consumer packaged goods companies, has completed new investments to drive new opportunities. The Garland, Texas-based company purchased two advanced print technology solutions from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. – an EFI? VUTEk? FabriVU? 340i dye-sublimation printer and EFI Midmarket Print Suite MIS/ERP workflow software.

The new printer – Maverick’s second EFI VUTEk FabriVU 340i model – delivers high efficiency on premium soft-signage textile graphics, with speeds up to 5,381 square feet per hour. The 133-inch wide printer is also the only production-level solution in its class that offers direct-to-fabric production and in-line sublimation without the need for a separate calendar/heat press. As a result, Maverick Concepts’ direct-to-textile prints are immediately ready for finishing and shipping after printing. VUTEk FabriVU printers – which are also available in 70- and 205-inch widths – use aqueous dye-sublimation inks and give Maverick Concepts more firepower to provide its brand clients outstanding quality with a 2,400 dots per inch (dpi) maximum resolution.

Super versatility: Soft signage direct and rigid-substrate transfer work

Maverick Concepts acquired its first VUTEk FabriVU 340i at the PRINTING United tradeshow in 2019, a purchase that has had very positive results. “We can print direct to textile or to paper for transferring offline for maximum flexibility,” said Maverick Concepts Partner Phil Macnamara. “Plus, we have a unique process that allows us to print on transfer paper on our FabriVU 340i and sublimate offline to rigid substrates.”

While fabric soft signage work takes advantage of the printer’s ability to print and sublimate direct to textile in a single process, the ability to also print on transfer paper for sublimation onto rigid substrates has proven to be an essential benefit. Maverick Concepts chose to add its second VUTEk FabriVU printer to address increased demand for rigid-substrate sublimation work along with other soft signage needs.

Pioneering digital print applications with EFI

Maverick Concepts has a unique offering with UV inkjet printing, 3D foiling, dye-sublimation for both textile and rigid substrates and digital inkjet thermoforming production. The company does thermoforming work using an EFI VUTEk GS3250-TF superwide-format inkjet printer. Maverick Concepts was also one of the first companies to install a pair of EFI VUTEk h5 superwide-format LED inkjet printers, which the company uses to produce a broad range of high-end graphics on rigid and roll substrates. The company’s digital inkjet printers all use EFI Fiery? proServer digital front ends (DFEs).

“From a printing perspective,” Macnamara said, “we are all digital with a full EFI ecosystem.”

Superior management with Pace and Fiery

Maverick Concepts has also extended its ecosystem of EFI technologies to its core business management activities; the company is replacing its existing workflow system with an EFI Midmarket Print Suite featuring EFI Pace? MIS/ERP software, and is integrating the software with its Fiery DFEs. The suite, which has specific capabilities that streamline planning, management and execution of superwide-format digital print, will simplify production workflows while handling Maverick Concepts’ detailed production and kitting requirements.

“Our more innovative and creative projects may have 20 plus complex components,” Macnamara explained. “With EFI Pace, you can easily manage these types of complex projects. Plus, with EFI Fiery integration, we can have two-way communication between Pace and our EFI printing equipment, so we truly know capacity and efficiency metrics. And we can manage all of our printers from a single Fiery Command WorkStation? interface, with profiling, color management, and equipment workflow all within one system.

“We are excited about the efficiency boost we will get from Pace,” Macnamara added, “including everything from more timely estimates to project management and workflow to accounting.”

“Maverick Concepts is an excellent example of a company that has the initiative to explore range and depth of products and services enabled by the EFI ecosystem, working closely with its customers to offer solutions that really set it apart from competitors,” said EFI Chief Revenue Officer Frank Mallozzi. “This is exactly the approach that winning companies can take to withstand a challenging economy and create dynamic growth in the future.”