Mr. Ronen Samuel, CEO of Kornit Digital, a global market leader in digital textile printing innovation, has announced the company development plan for Asia in 2019 and revealed the upcoming launch of a new industrial production printing solution and a new solution for dark polyester printing. Both the introductions are intended to make waves in the textile printing market and bring in unprecedented opportunities for the growth of the Kornit digital printing business.
Mr. Ronen Samuel has over 20 years of experience in the printing industry. Prior to joining Kornit Digital, he held several leadership positions at HP, where he was responsible for strategic marketing of the HP Indigo division’s image printing business in Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa. With his veteran printing technology expertise and in-depth understanding of the textile market and technology, he will continue to bring significant value for Kornit Digital and lead the company to achieve a global market revenue of $500 million within five years.
At a media session during his first Asia tour, Mr. Ronen revealed the three key factors for Kornit Digital’s rapid development – the right timing, the right technology and the right company.
The right timing
Mr. Ronen Samuel believes that it is now the best time for Kornit Digital to seek breakthroughs in the digital printing market and continue to expand its business. He said: “The e-commerce market is growing rapidly. Statistics reveal that the e-commerce market grows by $100 billion per year between 2014 and 2020. By 2020, the volume will reach $410 billion. The e-commerce market is largely occupied by clothiers who rely on the digital printing solutions from Kornit Digital for rapid development of online and offline linkage, which in turn also boosts Kornit Digital’s development.”
Mr. Ronen also believes that the trend of personalized and fashionable clothing is prominent. “Clothing is always a necessity. The younger generation is more eager to express their individuality. They like to express their ideas or pursuit of beauty through wearing distinctive clothes. Fashion brands and supply chains must find suitable production methods and techniques, such as digital printing, to satisfy their needs,” said Mr. Ronen.
Furthermore, demand for flexible production, speedy delivery and small batch supply is growing stronger. Traditional large-scale industrial production methods create large volume of stocks, but the market response is slow. Fashion brands or personal brands need to adapt to market changes by expanding new methods for retail or on-demand retail. Kornit Digital can shorten the original 3-month and 6-month delivery cycle to just 2 to 3 days. This not only meets the on-demand production requirements of small-batch personalized products at the same or even lower cost but also significantly reduces the pressure on stocks.
Mr. Ronen Samuel has pointed out that there are still plenty of opportunities to explore in this market. “The T-shirt market alone requires the printing of 15 billion pieces of clothing every year. By 2023, the volume will reach 25 billion pieces, of which only 2% by digital printing. In addition, the annual market volume of roll-to-roll printing is 38 billion square meters, with broad application prospects in fashion cut-pieces and home and furniture textiles.”
He has predicted that efficient, environmentally friendly and automated digital printing is the solution of choice for manufacturers to enhance their own strengths: “The concept of environmental protection is embodied in Kornit Digital’s DNA. From non-hazardous water-based inks to energy-efficient equipment and raw materials to finished products, the whole process is eco-friendly, providing manufacturers with sustainable production means.”
The right technology
Kornit Digital’s new HD printing was widely adopted since its launch last year. Over 200 units of the related equipment have been shipped so far. At the event, Mr. Ronen disclosed that Kornit Digital will launch a new printing equipment catering for industrial mass production. This new technology solution could print several hundreds of products per hour providing customers with both speed and quantity answers they’re looking for. The cutting-edge solution catering for dark polyester printing will also go to market in April.
With new inks and processes, the new solution is designed to break through the limitations of traditional and digital production methods on dark polyester fabrics, while improving the color-fastness. The new inks secure enhanced adhesion, better hand-feel and richer color gamut. They can be printed on a wider variety of fabrics. A new ink with metallic feel will follow next.
The right company
Kornit Digital is a NASDAQ-listed global company headquartered in Israel with branches and offices in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, and its Asia Pacific regional bases are in Hong Kong and Shanghai. “We look at the entire Asia market with a long-term perspective, and we look forward with great anticipation to the lifting of the veils in the Asia Pacific market,” said Mr. Ronen.
Equipped with adequate prerequisites, Kornit Digital can respond efficiently to the market changes and production needs while gaining market share. The company also applies the concept of micro-factory to its roll-to-roll printing. By integrating the production processes, it turns roll-to-roll printing into “roll-to-product” to form a complete supply chain which is leading the market revolution.
Kornit Digital values total customer experience and is fully committed to making customers always feel totally satisfied and successful throughout all the process. As a result, they usually become repeat customers for regular purchase of inks, consumables, equipment, training applications, and so on. According to Mr. Ronen, Kornit Digital has very high financial flexibility with a cash flow of $110 million, which enables the company to invest in R&D, acquire cutting-edge products or companies for complementarity, market extension and company expansion.
Most importantly, according to Mr. Ronen Samuel, Kornit Digital is a customer-first company. “We always strive to put our customers first and place them at the heart of everything we do,” he said.
During the Asian tour, he met a number of valuable business partners and customers with the local management team to understand the market and share global information. The team has secured several important orders during the visits.
Mr. Ronen also believes that a strong management team across the world is the key prerequisite for Kornit Digital’s success. “Great people are what make Kornit Digital a great company, and employees are important assets and cornerstones of the company. At every level of Kornit Digital, our employees share a passion and mission for bringing innovation technology to the textile printing market.”
Launches Atlas, next-gen direct-to-garment printing platform
Kornit Digital, a global market leader in digital textile printing innovation, has announced introduction of the Kornit Atlas. Following the success of Kornit’s Storm HD6 and Avalanche HD6 / HDK, the Atlas is the first instance of the company’s next-generation direct-to-garment printing platform, providing garment decorators and screen printers a unique tool for mastering the current and future challenges of the textile supply chain.
The Kornit Atlas is a heavy-duty system created for super-industrial garment decoration businesses. It was designed to deliver a typical annual production capacity of up to 350,000 impressions, optimizing production efficiency and the cost of ownership.
The Kornit Atlas is aimed at highly productive garment decorators, mid to large-size screen printers and innovative businesses looking to combine state-of-the-art technology with the lowest cost of ownership. The system, equipped with new recirculating print heads, comes with a newly-developed ink, NeoPigment Eco-Rapid. It has a unique printing engine, featuring an enhanced version of Kornit’s HD technology, complemented by a professional raster image processing (RIP) software solution, and produces prints that meet the highest standards of retail quality and durability.
The all-new Atlas comes ready for Kornit’s future releases of its cloud-based business intelligence, productivity analytics and optimization software platforms, scheduled to be released in the second half of 2019. It will allow for easy future network connectivity required to support fleet management and optimization of global multi-systems and multi-site enterprises.
Omer Kulka, Kornit’s VP of Marketing and Product Strategy, comments: “This is a huge leap forward, not only for Kornit but also for the direct-to-garment industry as a whole. We have delivered the Atlas on the collective feedback of thousands of Kornit systems operators and on the experience collected from hundreds of millions of printed garments. Simply put, the Atlas is the best and most cost-efficient direct-to-garment printing technology for high-quantity and high-quality production requirements. On top of that, the Atlas has been designed in a modular and future-ready way, driving quick and easy implementation of new developments in the future. At Kornit, we remain focused on constantly introducing technology that allows the industry’s leading brands to better connect with their customers and to adapt to the rapid changes in consumer preferences, impacting the fashion and apparel industry and is driven by the talent in our global research and development division.”
The new NeoPigment Eco-Rapid ink is a main driver of the Atlas’ retail quality prints. It provides an industry-leading white ink opacity, matched to those of conventional screen inks and meets highest durability standards on multiple fabric types. Its increased color gamut and saturation allow for deep full tones and precise spot color matching. The new ink has been developed with sustainability in mind, carries the Oeko-Tex Eco-Passport certification and is GOTS pre-approved.
The new Eco-Rapid ink will be integrated with new Storm HD6 and Avalanche HD6/HDK systems and will also be retrofitted to the existing Kornit HD systems. Kornit intends to switch all existing HD customers to NeoPigment Eco-Rapid during 2019.
The launch of the Atlas completes an extensive period of beta testing, with extremely positive feedback from the early adopters. Deborah H. Merrill, President of the Delta Group, parent company of DTG2Go, says: “Many of the Kornit Atlas’ innovative capabilities, including the wrinkle detection and pallet ergonomics, present clear productivity benefits. The new Eco-Rapid ink provides impressive brilliance and color gamut, meeting all wash test standards with no discernible scent. We are glad we had the opportunity to beta-test the Kornit Atlas and are certain it will become a key component within DTG2Go’s production line.”