Cambridge, UK-based industrial inkjet printhead manufacturer Xaar announces that its 2001 printhead has won the ‘Product of the Year Award’ at the 20th NMI Awards held recently in London.

The NMI Awards are presented annually by NMI, a UK trade association for electronic systems, microelectronics and semiconductors. It defines its mission as increasing the quality and quantity of electronic engineering and manufacturing in the UK and Ireland. This year’s awards received a record number of entries, the organization reports.

In announcing the award, NMI’s judges noted: “Xaar achieved new product launch in record time by a combination of cross-functional team work and an extremely well-structured and well-managed product development plan.”

According to Xaar, its 2001 printhead delivers a combination of market-leading image quality, highest productivity and industrial reliability for ceramic tile decoration. Tile manufacturers can print a wider range of tile patterns and designs while increasing production uptime. Ultimate image quality is achieved by jetting one color at a resolution of up to 720 dpi with 2000 nozzles per printhead; this delivers the high ink laydown needed for bold colors and special effects, the company says. The 2001 also delivers line speeds of up to 50 m/min to ensure highest productivity and maximum throughput.

“This award is a well-deserved credit to all those who were involved in developing the Xaar 2001” says Ted Wiggans, Xaar’s chief operations officer. “We took an innovative approach to the design and development of this new printhead which allowed us to bring it to a very successful market launch in a record time earlier this year. There is no doubt that it will have a significant impact on the ceramic tile decoration market globally.”