Polytype's 5m Virtu RR50 roll-to-roll printer has been named as a winner in the Industry and Skilled Trades category of the International Forum's (iF) Product Design Awards 2011.

The machine has received the iF Seal of Design Excellence, valid for its life cycle, as well as a place in the iF's Product Design Award Yearbook. The Virtu RR50 was chosen by a judging panel of 25 experts headed by Fritz Frenkler, professor of industrial design at the Technical University of Munich.

Our VIRTU RR50 has left the competition far behind, winning as the best large-format printer in the category of 3+ meters the prestigious award of the European Digital Press Association (EDP). The features that convinced the panel of judges included, among others, the maximum resolution of 1,200 dpi, a printing speed of up to 320 m2, as well as the option of printing multiple rolls at the same time.

Polytype America Corp. (PAC) sells and services Polytype's Virtu UV flatbed/roll and roll-to-roll UV printers throughout North America, also distributes the swissQprint Impala and swissQprint Oryx UV printers.

The Virtu printers are Swiss designed and manufactured in Polytype's Fribourg, Switzerland factory. Virtu RS25 and RS35 UV printers offer a unique 3-in-1 combination design: True flatbed, hybrid belt and heavy duty roll-to-roll. The award winning Virtu RR50 prints 5 meters wide and like the RS series, provides a heavyweight, stable print platform, producing superior print quality and handing features.

The swissQprint Impala and Oryx UV printers have taken the worldwide market by storm over the past two years, becoming a market leader in exceptional print quality and versatility. Polytype works extensively with each client to provide custom solutions combining broad experience and technology development, to create solutions finely-tuned for each client's business requirements. The Virtu and swissQprint UV printers are suited to print to a wide variety of substrates used in many graphics and industrial applications.