Plenty of Packaging Insight at Fujifilm Technology Summit
Fujifilm North America Corp., Graphic Systems Division recently hosted an Inkjet Technology Summit at its Chicago Technology Center, showcasing innovative inkjet technology solutions to invited attendees.
Highlights of the three-day event included hands-on demonstrations of the Fujifilm J Press 720S, an offset quality B2 sheetfed production inkjet press, along with the Fujifilm J Press 540W, a web-fed inkjet press.
“I am really thrilled to be invited to a Fujifilm Technology Summit," said Frank Woods, CEO of Premier Graphics, based in Phoenix. "I saw a lot of innovative products. It’s been a great experience. I’ve been a commercial printer all my life, and the J Press is a very exciting product."
The J Press 720S is Fujifilm’s second generation of the J Press 720, first introduced to the market in 2007. At the time, the J Press established an entirely new product category: the high-quality, sheetfed production inkjet press. The new J Press 720S includes many of the features of the original 720 press, including a traditional offset paper feed, and a proprietary in-line paper priming system to enable printing on a wide variety of both coated and uncoated standard offset stocks.
Newly introduced innovations include the use of a unique barcode system for rated speed and 100 percent accurate variable data printing; inline scanning of each sheet to automatically adjust print head nozzles to insure quality output throughout a print run and an improved drying system incorporating IR heaters, and hot air knives to deliver post process ready-printed output.
With a 29.5"x 20.8" sheet, an output of 2,700 sheets per hour and incorporating variable data capabilities at full production speed, the J Press 720S is the solution for printers looking for a product that has the print quality and robustness of an offset press, as well as the versatility and efficiency to handle even the shortest of press runs. The J Press 720S combines Fujifilm’s VIVIDIA aqueous pigment ink and the Fujifilm Dimatix Samba printhead, along with unique FM screening and cloud based color management to produce output that rivals offset quality while providing consistency from run to run with a single pass four color inkjet press.
“We are interested in the J Press, on the sheet-fed side, said Martin Aalsma, president and COO of Eau Claire, Wisconsin-based Documation. "During the demo it was impressive to see inkjet print on gloss, at such high quality with that drop size; it’s something I haven’t seen until now. It’s amazing.”
The J Press 540W is targeted at shorter run print applications traditionally run on web offset presses, ideal for the production of catalogs, calendars, educational textbooks, manuals and on-demand book production. The J Press 540W incorporates Fujifilm’s high performance VIVIDIA ink and unique FM screening technology to facilitate superb image quality with smooth color tones and sharp text, enabling duplex printing within a single tower design, resulting in an extremely compact footprint of 22’ x 9’ and prints at up to 416 ft./min.
An educational presentation on “Moving to Inkjet – Where, Why, and When?” was delivered by Jim Hamilton, group director, On-Demand Printing and Publishing, InfoTrends; and attendees participated in an interactive application user panel featuring Dave Gilson and Tony Bielecki of Gilson Graphics, a Grand Rapids, Michigan -based print provider. The lively and engaging Q&A allowed Gilson and Bielecki to share their real life user experience success stories utilizing their in-house J Press 720S and J Press 540W.
“The additional insight and information shared by industry experts Elizabeth Gooding with Insight Forums, and Mary Schilling of Schilling Inkjet Consulting allowed our customers to gain a further wealth of knowledge about trends in the marketplace, and understand more about Fujifilm as an inkjet leader,” said Ed Pierce, product marketing manager, Fujifilm North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division.
