At Sign Expo 2025, Vanguard (a Durst Group company) demonstrated two recent additions to their fleet of fast UV-LED printing systems.
The Radnor is a new all-in-one printer capable of printing the wide variety of rigid and roll materials used in signs, graphics, and displays.
Harpeth is a fully automated print-to-cut system that transports rigid sheets printed on a Vanguard flatbed printer to a Vanguard edition of the Colex Sharpcut Conveyor Flatbed Cutter.
Vanguard Radnor
The Radnor UV-LED hybrid inkjet printing system can process a wide array of print jobs. It handles flexible or rigid substrates up to 126 in. wide, including rigid materials up to 2 in. thick.
The Radnor can print on two narrower rolls of materials simultaneously or feed five rows of automatically aligned smaller rigid materials.
The versatility and upgradeability of the printer makes it well-suited for companies that produce signs and display graphics. But it can also be used by industries that want to custom decorate specific types of materials.
Some of the rigid materials that the Radnor can decorate include: acrylic, stone, brushed aluminum, brick, leather, wood, corrugated board, stretched canvas, porcelain, coroplast, vinyl, and foamboard.
The Kyocera printheads on the Radnor use variable drop technology and 4-picoliter drop sizes for smooth color gradients.
The Radnor can be configured with one, two, or three rows of printheads, depending on the volume of prints that needed to be delivered each week. A sign shop could start with a model with one row of printheads and upgrade it to two or three rows as their wide-format business grows.
The 3-row configuration of CMYK inks has a production speed of up to 3,067 sq ft/hr, and a high-speed express-mode speed of up to 6,146 sq ft/hr.
The Radnor’s magnetic linear drive control ensures accurate dot placement at ultra-high speeds.
The printers can be configured to run either 4 color channels (CMYK) or 6 channels to run white ink and/or a clear varnish. The printer can output a five-layer print (with CMYK plus white ink or varnish) in one pass.
The liquid-cooled LED curing technology uses far less energy than older UV flatbeds with less efficient ink curing systems.
An optional Y-axis slitter combined with the X-axis cutter enables printed flexible materials to skip the offline trimming step and move to the next phase of production or shipping.
Other features include:
- Six independently controlled vacuum zones deliver the right amount of hold-down for rigid materials
- Continuous print mode to maximize throughput of rigid sheets
- Input and output tables with flip-up extensions for long sheets of rigid materials
- Eco-conscious engineering with no VOCs, lower power usage, and reduced waste
“The Radnor builds on the momentum we have created over the past few years delivering faster, high-quality, and accessible printers to every level of print-service provider,” said Jim Peterson, Founder and COO of Vanguard Digital. “The Radnor stands as our most advanced machine to date.”
Harpeth Print-To-Cut Workflow
The Harpeth print-to-cut system uses an inline conveyor system to transport prints from Vanguard’s high-speed 3.2-meter-wide VK3220T HS UV-LED flatbed printer to the 3.2-meter wide Vanguard edition of the Colex Sharpcut SXC Conveyor Flatbed Cutter.
Like the Radnor, the four CMYK inks on VK3220T HS printer can be upgraded to include two or three rows of printheads for faster speeds. With three rows of printhead, the flatbed can print at speeds up 3800 sq ft/hr. White and/or varnish channels can be added to the CMYK color configuration to expand the range of higher value applications that can be produced.
The Vanguard edition of the conveyor system on the flatbed cutter quickly moves the cut pieces off the cutting table for delivery to the next stage in the process.
Harpeth is ideal for signage or packaging companies that want to automate the printing of higher volumes of rigid materials up to 4 inches thick.
The Harpeth system can print and cut approximately 70 square or rectangular sign boards per hour. (Items that require more complex cuts may take longer to finish.)
Durst Workflow
The Vanguard printers come with Durst Workflow prepress and print production software that can streamline production time while improving print quality, managing color, and minimizing media waste and ink usage.
Durst Workflow has recently been revamped with a new look and feel. All the prepress and production functions an operator needs are one click away from the main dashboard.
The prepress automation tools use AI (artificial intelligence) to verify that incoming PDF files are properly prepared. More than 100 common errors (such as low image resolution or extraneous printed elements outside of cut lines) can be automatically corrected without operator intervention. An online approval portal makes it quick and easy for print buyers to review and approve the proof.
Production automation tools can reduce ink usage and use powerful true-shape nesting to reduce the number of sheets required print multiple items with complex shapes. minimize wasted media.
The Future of Durst Software
To continue to develop intelligent workflows and end-to-end workflows for seamless automation, improve their software, connectivity, and automation capabilities, the Durst Group acquired callas software, a Berlin-based company known for developing easy-to-use solutions for tackling complex PDF challenges.
The acquisition will help Durst Group achieve its goal of building an open and connected software for the printing industry. Callas will play a key role in connecting isolated solutions and enable print-service providers worldwide to achieve greater efficiency, scalability, and flexibility.
The goal is to accelerate the development of an open, vendor-independent software platform for the printing industry.
When the acquisition was announced in April, 2025, Durst Group CEO and co-owner Christoph Gamper said, “This is not just another step toward digitalization — we are actively shaping the future of digital printing. With callas at our side, we are making print software smarter, more connected, and more powerful. The best solutions arise when strong partners work together toward a shared vision.”
Vanguard Digital
Vanguard Digital is a leading manufacturer of printing systems for the signage, decoration, corporate, industrial and packaging sectors. A member of the Durst Group since 2020, Vanguard attributes its success to one simple idea: Growing Your Business Together. In response to customer requests, Vanguard has developed field upgradeable printers and support services such as technical education, market guidance, and hands-on workshops.
For a long time, Vanguard used different combinations of numbers and letters to identify their product models. Recently, they began naming their products after popular scenic attractions near their customer experience center in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Tennessee. The Radnor is named after a picturesque Tennessee lake near Nashville. Harpeth is named after the Harpeth River that flows through north-central Tennessee.
For more information, visit: vanguarddigital.com