The Apollo is an automatic high-speed digital garment press for runs of 1 up to a couple thousand, with a pricing mannequin that might allow printers to interrupt into DTG with out breaking the financial institution.
What does it do?
It’s a high-throughput, absolutely automated digital direct-to-garment printing system that may output as much as 400 impressions per hour, cured and able to despatch. Every could be a one-off, or a part of a future. It’s meant for quantity manufacturing of shirts or hoodies (with or with out pockets) and variations, the place every picture could be distinctive and it may immediately swap from dealing with white to colored supplies.
This can be a huge system, with a 14.8×5.6m footprint, but just one operator is required. All working prices, together with the machine, set up and consumables, are lined by a single click on price based mostly on a yearly estimate of gross sales.
When was it launched and what markets is it geared toward?
Kornit has been growing DTG printers because it was based in Israel in 2004, and it developed the primary digital white inks for darkish textiles. Apollo is its largest and quickest mannequin up to now, capable of deal with volumes as much as one million clothes per yr. It was launched in ITMA 2023 in Milan, Italy, and output clothes had been featured on Kornit’s stand at Drupa – guests had been additionally invited to see one of many massive strains in motion at Kornit’s European HQ in a close-by manufacturing unit unit in Düsseldorf.
Based on Moran Levy, director of Kornit’s Mass Manufacturing Section: “That is an industrial resolution, meant to enhance a fleet of analogue carousels.” The Apollo’s pace is about the identical as a mean carousel, and the idea is that in a high-throughput atmosphere, Apollo can handle one-offs and runs of up to a couple thousand, alongside typical display screen print carousels that may deal with the lengthy runs of hundreds of equivalent clothes.
“Apollo can match a spread of markets, from retail by promotional and licensing, due to the flexibility to match Pantone and spot colors, with on-demand manufacturing,” says Levy.
The pace means it may change a number of “legacy” DTG digital or analogue printers.
How does it work?
That is an inkjet printing system that may print six colors (CMYK, purple and inexperienced), plus white as a base layer on darkish materials, an ‘intensifier’ and a fixer. The inkjet system is Kornit’s MAX know-how, beforehand used on its high-volume Atlas MAX and Atlas Poly printers, that are slower and have much less automation.
It makes use of Kornit’s Eco Speedy, NeoPigment water-based inks. Kornit says all its inks are designed to satisfy the best environmental requirements in addition to consumption reductions. Eco Speedy ink is licensed to stricter laws and is compliant with GOTS and OEKO Passport licensed, and BlueSign System Associate.
The ink is suited to a variety of material varieties, however is optimised for cotton and cotton- wealthy blends. Kornit cites appropriate materials as cotton, polyester, cotton-polyester blends, Lycra/Spandex, rayon/viscose, silk, leather-based, denim, linen, wool, “and extra.” No offline pre-treatment is required – all of Kornit’s options use its ‘wet-on-wet’ know-how with all processes dealt with internally.
The ‘good manufacturing’ sequence is solely computerized and all of the operator wants do is manually load every garment in the beginning. A clean garment is scanned for measurement and different “related particulars”. Based mostly on this, the pallet will change its measurement mechanically. The operator picks up the clean and arms it on to the semi-automatic loader, which stretches it onto the formed pallet that retains it flat all through printing. There are two printing stations. Pre-treatment is utilized, with the quantity of fixation fluid customised for the precise garment, and the white layer is printed if wanted for darkest clothes. Then the color print is utilized within the second station. Every shirt travels by each printing stations, so productiveness is similar for white and darkish shirts.
The automated unloader removes the shirt from the pallet and locations it on one lane of the dryer’s conveyor belt. Good curing will regulate in line with garment and remedy in a two-step course of. The inline dryer makes use of know-how developed by Tesoma, an organization Kornit acquired some years in the past, with a hybrid curing system that mixes IR and scorching air (from a fuel heater), mentioned to make use of 50% much less vitality than typical dryers.
Lastly the finished garment is transported by belt to a supply bin on the finish, the place it may be picked out for folding and packing.
The embedded front-end is Kornit’s personal Okay-Rip, which takes PDF recordsdata and mechanically identifies the mandatory workflow. Levy says this allows mass customisation, providing “unparalleled color accuracy to satisfy the wants of manufacturers and retailers”.
Does it change something?
No, Apollo is an all-new system within the Kornit vary, with extra pace and automation. Kornit claims it’s distinctive out there.
What’s the USP?
Based on Kornit, it’s a mix of “ground-breaking productiveness” with a single operator, due to semi-automatic loading, absolutely computerized printing with switch to Tesoma-based good curing and supply. It incorporates Qualiset tech for color know-how, and it may reproduce Pantone values and different model colors.
How straightforward is it to make use of/study?
Levy says: “Apollo makes the coaching brief and simple, since our good manufacturing takes care of all the technical knowhow that’s wanted to function the system. The operator can deal with loading and nothing extra, making the coaching course of and ramp-up very fast. We provide full coaching packages that carry your staff up to the mark with all the technical instruments which can be wanted to run the system every day. The method takes two to 4 weeks, and contains all operation, purposes and upkeep.”
What does it value?
At Kornit’s Drupa press convention, CEO Ronen Samuel mentioned: “Apollo would value $1.8m (£1.4m), plus ink and repair contract. However as a substitute we provide all-SaaS fashions for clicks, which incorporates the machine. This frees up capital, so purchasers solely pay for clicks, ie bought jobs.”
Whereas Kornit isn’t saying what the cost-per-garment shall be, this does appear a gorgeous solution to get into the DTG market with out main outlay. Most likely many one-off orders will come from web-to-print, with cost obtained prematurely.
Are there any installations?
Gross sales and installations have began, with the primary two going to Mad Engine World and T-Shirt Central within the US. There was one sale within the UK to an undisclosed website.
SPECIFICATIONS
Course of Inkjet with Dimatix StarFire 1024 Twinflex printheads, plus inline curing
Colors CMYK plus purple, inexperienced, white and primers
Ink Water-based Kornit Eco Speedy NeoPigment
Max decision 1,200dpi
Garment varieties Shirts and hoodies (with or with out pockets)
Material varieties Cotton, polyester, cotton-polyester blends, Lycra/Spandex, rayon/viscose, silk, leather-based, denim, linen, wool
Max print space 508x508mm with measurement shifting for bigger clothes
Throughput As much as 400 typical shirts/hour
Footprint 5.6×14.8m
Worth All lined by click on price decided by predicted volumes
Contact Kornit www.kornit.com [email protected]
ALTERNATIVES
Kornit claims that the pace and all-in-one automation of the Apollo is exclusive out there, and we haven’t discovered anything that’s a direct competitor. Different high-volume options embody Brother’s POD providing, however this includes a battery of separate small GTX Professional B garment printers with separate pre-treatment stations, grouped subsequent to a number of lane configurations of the standalone Firefly curing techniques. This permits throughput of as much as 380 shirts per hour with 9 printers and a three-lane Firefly, nevertheless it wants three operators with handbook loading and unloading of every printer and switch to the Firefly lanes.
Contact Brother garmentprinter.world.brother/en-emea
USER REVIEW
“Apollo is proving significantly invaluable for each retail and display screen printing segments, to shorten lead occasions and enhance margins for short-to-medium run manufacturing. Retailers can react in real-time to new consumptions and traits and in addition dramatically streamline stock necessities and prices. Display screen printers can shorten lead occasions to days and even hours” Mad Engine World, San Diego, California
