EFI Acquires Miniaturization Company NanoPrint

EFI, a digital printing company with offices in Meredith, acquired NanoPrint LLC, a miniaturization company based in American Samoa. While financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the acquisition is not expected to be material to EFI's 2012 results. EFI plans to utilize the NanoPrint technology to release a Micro-VUTEk pocket-printer, driven by a Fiery Mini-RIP. Current CEO Edward Minimi will step down and CTO Michael Smolen will take on the roll as the new general manager of EFI Miniature Printing in American Samoa.

EFI is already the dominant player in superwide printing, and now we'll be scaling that down for the booming mobile printing market, said Smolen. Miniature printing holds opportunities for many unique, on-demand applications, including individual business cards, labels, ID tags, and e-signatures. The technology will even enable printing of fingernail-size items such as business cards that have to be read with a loupe.
 
For years EFI is encouraging the industry to Think Big, but we now see a need to consider small investments in small sized printers, said Scott Schinlever, senior VP and GM of EFI inkjet solutions. We are starting a long journey with the goal of putting a Micro-VUTEk on every desk in the world by 2025.
 
The new Micro-VUTEk and Fiery MiniRIP will be on display this month at EFI Connect, the company's annual users' conference, where attendees will be invited to print a miniature version of their conference badge using the new technology.