As one of the largest architectural ceramics manufacturers in China, the Wonderful Group constantly work to develop new products to meet the growing needs of their customers. But new product development can be time consuming, with many design iterations and tile firings required before they can see the actual results. Plus, it was never easy for designers to predict or visualise the final colour without seeing an actual production tile. Multiply that across multiple product lines and several brands, and the Wonderful Group had a big challenge. They decided to evaluate colour management solutions on the market and, as part of their research, visited the Ceramics China show in 2014. There they saw the Fiery ® proServer. Mrs. Xiao, director of R&D for the Wonderful Group, says, “We were amazed by Fiery proServer capabilities like lightweight prototyping on inkjet printers. We could see how this would help us visualise our designs in the ceramic colour space, irrespective of the number of output channels.” Taking the next step Wonderful Group have 22 Cretaprinters™ in three locations. They value these printers because they are very reliable. Mrs. Moli Li, general manager of EFI™ Cretaprint™ China, first spoke to the Wonderful Group about the Fiery proServer and its benefits. She recounts that she told the company, “The proServer produces the most accurate and consistent colour quality for ceramic tile decoration and lowers ink consumption — no matter what the production conditions.” And, with Fiery ColorWise ® technology, the company would be able to see an accurate prediction of final colour onscreen or on inkjet proofs, without the need to wait for final production equipment to produce a prototype. This would clearly cut product development time at the Wonderful Group considerably. Plus it offered them other Fiery proServer helps the Wonderful Group shorten product development time. Fiery proServer Case Study Challenge: New product development can be time consuming, with many design iterations and tile firings before designers could see the actual results. Plus, it was never easy for designers to predict or visualise the final colour without seeing an actual production tile.
Transcript
As one of the largest architectural ceramics manufacturers in China, the Wonderful Group constantly work to develop new products to meet the growing needs of their customers. But new product development can be time consuming, with many design iterations and tile fi rings required before they can see the actual results. Plus, it was never easy for designers to predict or visualise the fi nal colour without seeing an actual production tile.
Multiply that across multiple product lines and several brands, and the Wonderful Group had a big challenge.
They decided to evaluate colour management solutions on the market and, as part of their research, visited the Ceramics China show in 2014. There they saw the Fiery® proServer. Mrs. Xiao, director of R&D for the Wonderful Group, says, “We were amazed by Fiery proServer capabilities like lightweight prototyping on inkjet printers. We could see how this would help us visualise our designs in the ceramic colour space, irrespective of the number of output channels.”
Taking the next step
Wonderful Group have 22 Cretaprinters™ in three locations. They value these printers because they are very reliable. Mrs. Moli Li, general manager of EFI™ Cretaprint™ China, fi rst spoke to the Wonderful Group about the Fiery proServer and its benefi ts. She recounts that she told the company, “The proServer produces the most accurate and consistent colour quality for ceramic tile decoration and lowers ink consumption — no matter what the production conditions.” And, with Fiery ColorWise® technology, the company would be able to see an accurate prediction of fi nal colour onscreen or on inkjet proofs, without the need to wait for fi nal production equipment to produce a prototype.
This would clearly cut product development time at the Wonderful Group considerably. Plus it off ered them other
Fiery proServer helps the Wonderful Group shorten product development time.
Fiery proServerCase Study
Challenge:
New product development can be time
consuming, with many design iterations
and tile fi rings before designers could
see the actual results. Plus, it was never
easy for designers to predict or visualise
the fi nal colour without seeing an actual
production tile.
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benefi ts in colour quality and commodity costs. So the Wonderful Group decided to add a Fiery proServer to their Cretaprinters at one of their plants.
Reaping the rewards
After adding their fi rst Fiery proServer, the Wonderful Group saw how easy it was to adapt to their workfl ow. In addition, they also saw some important benefi ts in speed, quality and cost:
• Improved the inkjet product research and reduced product development cycles
• Increased production effi ciency
• Products became more realistic
• Unit quantity of ink decreased, reducing the cost of production
• Since Fiery separations are optimised for the Cretaprinter, they ensure optimal use of inkjet nozzles, which helps reduce maintenance on the machines
Because the Fiery proServer uses adaptive algorithms that are optimised for ceramic tile decoration and based on spectral measurements of actual tile production conditions, Wonderful Group is able to keep improving colour accuracy and prediction over time.
Wonderful Group, located in Dongguan City, was established in 1988 to manufacture and distribute architectural ceramics. Now one of the larger manufacturers in China, it produces a wide range of products such as matt, lappato and polished porcelain tiles; interior wall tile and artifi cial grain decorative tile under brand names such as Marco Polo, L&D, Wonderful and others. The company prioritises innovation and artistry, and puts a premium on product quality and brand image. In addition, the Wonderful Group is well known in the industry for its R&D capability and has won more than 380 national patent rights.
The Wonderful Group decided to add a Fiery proServer
to their Cretaprinters at one of their plants.
One of the largest manufacturers of architectural ceramics in China, the Wonderful Group has four subsidiaries and three manufacturing facilities with 40 production lines.
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They get best-in-class colour matches to the original designs, no matter what the print condition, location, ink used, glaze or kiln. Fiery ColorWise accuracy means they no longer have to make trial-and-error file adjustments on the production line to match colours.
After seeing the benefits of the Fiery proServer, the Wonderful Group decided to buy a second proServer for another plant and has already successfully installed it. Mrs. Xiao says, “We are extremely happy with Fiery proServer and will continue to buy additional units for our growing production plants across the world.”
Results:
“Fiery proServer shortened our product development
cycle significantly, with much superior colour results.
This is helping us to bring new designs to market in
a shorter span of time. We also see significant
reduction in ink consumption during production.”
MRS. XIAO, DIRECTOR OF R&D THE WONDERFUL GROUP
Adding Fiery proServer to their EFI Cretaprinters allowed the Wonderful Group to get more realistic tile decoration with consistent colour and lower ink usage. They also shortened their product development time with accurate colour proofs.
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