largest textile printer

1.6 Seiren

In the early 1980s, the largest textile printer in Japan, Seiren of Fukui, began

developing the possibility of inkjet printing of fabric directly. In 1989, it

undertook to build a manufacturing facility for printing fabric digitally. By 1991,

Seiren had added inkjet printing to complement its analog operations. It had a

few hundred piezo inkjet printing devices constructed for its digital printing

operations. It brought its considerable expertise with fabric inks to build a digital

textile printing business with an annual gross sales volume in excess of $100

million by 2000. Seiren digitally prints textiles for automotive upholstery, active

and swimwear, banners, and apparel. It has also developed the process of digital

dyeing. Seiren opened ViscotecsTM stores where customers could order fabrics

tailored to their needs. It has also developed information technology (IT) to

supply online response to consumer and industry demand for printed and dyed

products. Seiren created a model with its ViscotecsTM digital system for agile

manufacturing that connects its mass customization production operations

directly to the market. It has extended its digital printing of fabric around the

world with production facilities in Japan, the United States, China, Thailand,

Italy, Belgium, and Brazil.