FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division reinforced their inkjet technology leadership within the highly successful 11,000 sq. ft. ‘NOW YOU CAN’ themed booth at PRINT’13, offering new capabilities to help printers respond to faster turnaround of customized print runs while still meeting high quality output.
“Fujifilm understands print buyer needs – it’s about turning short-run jobs faster, utilizing variable data and designing and delivering multi-channel campaigns. With Fujifilm inkjet technology, now you can change the way you do business,” said Terry Mitchell, vice president, marketing, Fujifilm North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division.
Many new products made their US debut at PRINT’13, including: Graphium, a new digital UV inkjet press for labels, packaging, and specialty print, and also recognized as a 2013 MUST SEE ‘EMS “Best of Category” award winner. The Inca Onset Q40i, a new UV inkjet press, is the first commercial production printer of its kind, capable of producing crisp, fine lines, sharp text and smooth tonal gradations, all at 62 full-bed sheets per hour. The J Press 540W, second in the J Press Series, is a high quality inkjet web press that is fully variable content capable and ideal for short run production of leaflets, magazines, textbooks, manuals, and newspapers. XMF Workflow v5.5 incorporates new Adobe Mercury RIP Architecture. This latest version of the industry-leading cross-media workflow includes a number of major new variable data and productivity-enhancing features designed to optimize high-speed print-production on the J Press 540W digital inkjet press.
Live presentations of the J Press Series, Graphium, XMF Workflow, and the Inca Onset Q40i drew large crowds each day.
“PRINT’13 was a great success for Fujifilm, we are extremely proud to have this opportunity to offer our new and innovative inkjet technologies to the industry,” said Todd Zimmerman, vice president and general manager, FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division. “We remain committed to delivering to our customers the most innovative, highest quality products to help them win new business and drive new revenue. Our inkjet solutions deliver on that promise.”
Taking a non-traditional twist on the typical press conference, Fujifilm hosted a ‘Media Event Luncheon’ and featured five Fujifilm customers sharing real-life experiences about how their Fujifilm digital investments have made positive impacts on their operations. Members of the media engaged in lively conversation within the open forum Q&A session. Topics included: The J Press 540W, the J Press 720, The Inca Onset Q40i, and XMF Workflow, XMF Remote and ColorPath Sync with Ink Optimization.
Erik Landrowski of NGS Printing, Elgin, Illinois, noted that his company’s move into wide-format inkjet output has been critical from a business survival standpoint. “If we were just a screen printer, we’d be out of business if we hadn’t jumped into digital,” added Landrowski, referring to NGS’s business strategy in purchasing an Inca Onset Q40i from Fujifilm earlier this year.
Speaking to his experiences with Fujifilm’s XMF Workflow and XMF Remote, Jerry Axtell, prepress manager at Macon, GA-based Panaprint commented, “About 85% of our business comes through a remote portal; obtaining a workflow that had a good remote portal was key in our success. The automation tools enable us to turn jobs quicker, compared to some of our competitors. Due to digital technology we’re venturing into new markets we couldn’t compete in previously, and the service and support that we’ve gotten from Fujifilm has been unparalleled.”
Fujifilm advocates continued their accolades, “The Fuji (Fujifilm J Press 720) is amazing in the output,” said Brett Heap, president and CEO of Print Fulfillment Services, Louisville, Kentucky.
Fujifilm also demonstrated to large crowds on the show floor its latest wide format inkjet printing technologies including the Acuity Advance Select HS and the Acuity LED 1600, and its latest innovation with the digitally-mastered, high-definition image quality of the Xerox® Color 1000 Press with clear ink. Various newspaper solutions along with workflow and software products were also available, including XMF Workflow v5.5, XMF ColorPath® color management, ColorGATE, for wide format inkjet printing workflow, and Metrix® automated job planning tools.
Another industry changing technology for the packaging market making that made its US debut at the show was the Clarity water washable flexo plate. With industry-changing innovative technology, Clarity provides the highest flexo print quality (175 lpi and 1% dot) at the fastest production times, and significantly lowers cost-in-use compared to the latest thermal, solvent and competitive waterwash technologies.
Sales Highlights from the Show Floor
Sales results from the show were strong, including many transactions within the Acuity Series, as well as a purchase of the Inca Onset Q40i UV inkjet press, by Color Ink, a Sussex, WI-based print provider.
“After testing many of the high speed wide-format platforms on the market today, we chose the Q40i because it outperformed the competition with regard to image quality. Since we are primarily a litho printing company, our customers really like the fact that we can get pretty close to replicating our litho output with the Q40i. Quality, speed, reliability and cost of ownership made the decision easy for us to choose the Inca Onset Q40i,” said Todd Meissner, president, Color Ink.
Look for Fujifilm at the annual expo of the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) in Orlando, Florida, October 23-25, 2013 where the company will exhibit in booth #2621.
