ORAFOL is one of the leading manufacturers of retroreflective materials to produce permanent traffic signs and temporary signs for construction and mining zones. Since 2013, the company has partnered with Agfa to create a complete traffic & wayfinding reflective sign solution of hardware, ink and materials, thus creating a reliable single-source of supply and service for this critical signage sector.
Joint co-operation between Orafol and Agfa ensures excellence in reflective traffic signage systems
The cooperation between Orafol and Agfa celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The close and trusting partnership between Orafol and the digital inkjet printing specialist Agfa, has resulted in an optimal product range to produce traffic signs for permanent signage and construction zones. This is based on the Agfa Anapurna UV digital printing systems, the Oralite UV digital printing inks specially developed for this application, and Oralite reflective films and protective laminates. The technology offers sign shops a highly reliable and easily scalable solution to produce reflective traffic signs.
Maximum Efficiency, Emission-free and Environmentally Friendly
The Anapurna high-speed hybrid inkjet system with UV LED curing enables high-quality printing on a wide range of uncoated rigid media as well as on roll stock. The industrially-developed system is designed for a permanently high workload and maximum efficiency, in terms of both time and costs, as well as sustainable production: the "thin ink layer technology" and intelligent workflow software enable extremely low ink consumption. Additionally, optimized self-cleaning of the printer prevents unnecessary ink consumption. Furthermore, there is no need to mix inks. The UV curable inks for faster drying and with a comprehensive color gamut were developed specifically for the needs of digital traffic sign printing.
The Oralite Traffic Sign system with Agfa's Anapurna LED-UV printer and Oralite retroreflective materials & inks
Developers and application engineers from Orafol and Agfa work hand-in-hand to guarantee the high quality and durability. The inks are also VOC-free, so no solvents evaporate. The LED lamps used for printing on the thermally-sensitive materials are very energy efficient at 290 watts, enabling constant UV output with low costs for maintenance and consumption.
This complete package could only be developed and continuously enhanced in close cooperation between the two partners. Employees from both companies work closely together in the area of research and development, and both companies ensure that the world's largest OEM technician network for traffic sign printers can meet all customer requirements at all times. Regular technician training courses make an important contribution to this.
Learning from each other
Adalbert Dörner, Technical Sales Manager Reflective Solutions at Orafol says: "We are proud of the trusting cooperation with Agfa. Customers can rely on the consistency, competence, and service orientation from both companies. Agfa accompanies our development and contributes its own technology and great know how to our joint projects. Thanks to this stable partnership, we can secure our - more importantly our customers' - success in the long term."
Stephan Gilleßen, Sales Manager at Agfa, quotes Henry Ford: 'Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, working together is success' and continues: "In these 10 years of cooperation, we have been able to learn a lot from each other, have found common paths and are deepening our partnership on the basis of a very trusting cooperation at eye level."
The cooperation between Orafol and Agfa guarantees customers long term and very responsive worldwide service and one contact person for all concerns relating to UV digital printing of traffic signs and guidance systems.
Orafol Australia Managing Director Alex McLelland confirms that several of the jointly-developed Oralite UV traffic sign systems are installed across Australia.
