Public Funding for Technijet Limited

This project will produce a prototype of an innovative system to clean and prepare fabric prior to Digital Printing (DP) using a contactless application method. The system will move the DP industry forward making fabric pre-treatment available at an affordable and commercially acceptable price to all printing companies. The product will give the printer the ability to clean and pre-treat small amounts of fabric appropriate to planned print runs, use different chemical formulas to suit different printing systems, improve quality, reduce costs and improve gross margins. Digital printing is a growth market and is expanding at some 25% per annum. Conventional printing has moved out of Europe because of high labour costs and environmental issues. The trend within Europe is to print with digital technology with low environmental impact and lower capital investment. DP reduces lead time to market, placing production closer to the end user. This value added activity is continuing to grow in the EU and is returning production from overseas suppliers. Technijet is an innovative company based in the North of England with a record of designing specialist machinery for high profile customers including Rolls Royce and BAE Systems based on an ongoing R&D programme.

Many large components require specially treated surfaces for their functionality. These include metal plates that are electrochemically etched, an energy intensive process with a toxic effluent, and the "roughening" of composites to create better adhesive joints. The roughened surface ensures that the adhesive is well keyed to it for additional strength. Laser processing offers a more efficient and cleaner way of creating these textures but is traditionally slow and has difficulty achieving fine textures. This project will demonstrate the use of high power lasers and a beam delivery that creates interference patterns to overcome these issues and provide a commercially viable, energy efficient and environmentally friendly surface processing technology with many applications in a wide range of manufacturing sectors.

Technijet is a small company based in Kirkby Lonsdale Lancashire, which specialises in pressure washing technology. Technijet design special purpose cleaning machines for a range of companies including Rolls Royce Aerospace and BAE. Technijet have patented technology in the specialist area of cleaning for Fabric Printing and Coating. The aim of the project is to develop a commercially and technically innovative cleaning system to be used in Digital and Flat Bed printing. Lint or dust on the surface of fabric before printing or coating leads to unacceptable defects such as white spots on the finished products which then have to be rejected or reworked. Digital printing and Flat Bed printing systems use a different process to other printing systems which have been targeted by earlier products. Digital Printing technology is growing rapidly particularly in Europe and in other developed economies and is forecast to have a significant market share in the next few years as the technology develops. The proposed system to be developed will be designed and tested in house at Technijet, including all elements of design including embedded control systems and software. Technijet have an impressive track record of success in this type of project. The project activities include design, testing in house and also at a local customer. They also include elements of market research and IP protection. The developed system will be unique in the marketplace, will offer improved quality and efficiency to the customer and will extend Technijet’s product range, increasing future sales and turnover, leading to expansion and job creation. Sales will be mainly exported through existing and new distribution channels. Grant support allows the project to be undertaken in a timely manner while also allowing other activities to continue to safeguard turnover and jobs and to provide funding for the project