Direct Color Systems, LLC

Market position

The company positions itself as a leading manufacturer of commercial and industrial UV LED inkjet printers and states it offers the largest and fastest ADA/Braille printers on the market, based on its patented ADA/Braille printing process. It describes itself as a pioneer in printing ADA/Braille signage with UV LED inkjet technology.

Technology

Core technology is UV LED inkjet printing for direct-to-substrate applications, complemented by earlier solvent and thermal ribbon printing platforms. Differentiating processes include TEXTUR3D, which uses the tonal quality of an image to generate raised, textured prints, and a patented UV LED process for producing ADA-compliant Braille signage, covered by multiple patents granted in 2016 and 2018. Recent printers use Ricoh Gen6 printheads (UV53) and, in the MP series, an industrial-grade negative pressure ink delivery system described as Chromosphere Print Technology.

Go-to-market

Direct sales supported by a global distributor network in more than 30 countries, plus a regional office covering Europe, Asia and Africa. Marketing activities include trade shows such as FESPA Barcelona and the ISA Sign Expo, webinars and recorded sessions, downloadable resources such as an ADA/Braille Signage Production Guide, a Direct Jet TechTips library, promotional programs and Section 179 purchasing information.

Commercial and industrial printing operations, sign makers and ADA/Braille signage producers, engravers, awards and personalization businesses, promotional product and garment decorators, and industrial label and product marking users.

Geography

Headquarters at 99 Hammer Mill Road, Rocky Hill, in central Connecticut, USA, roughly 90 minutes from both New York City and Boston. An EAA (Europe, Asia and Africa) office in Porto, Portugal serves those regions. Distributors operate in more than 30 countries.

History

The company was founded in 1995. In 1997 it became an equipment manufacturer, offering what it describes as the first thermal ribbon name badge printer. In 2005 it brought solvent printing to the engraving market with Direct Jet solvent printers. The Direct Jet UV LED printer series launched in 2010. In 2012 the company introduced TEXTUR3D printing, a UV LED process that uses image tonal quality to produce a textured print, and began developing UV LED inkjet printing of ADA/Braille signage under a then patent-pending process. In 2013 it released the EasyCyl cylindrical printing device and UVMVP bulk ink systems. In 2015 it launched the Direct Jet 7200z UV LED printer, its largest machine at the time. In 2016 it received a patent for UV LED ADA-compliant Braille sign printing technology and released a direct-to-substrate/direct-to-garment combination machine. A third patent covering the ADA-compliant/Braille sign printing process followed in 2018. The 1800S series small format printers arrived in 2019, the UV-84DTS large format printer in 2020, and the UV53 with Ricoh Gen6 printheads in 2021.

Risks & controversies

The company has published guidance warning of the risks of using third-party inks in its printers.