The event, which featured a series of informal panel discussions, technology overviews and live music at the historic Trinity Buoy Wharf opposite London’s 02, was attended by more than 100 specially invited guests, with a similar number of prospects set to attend today.
Speaking in the opening panel discussion, which featured senior Fujifilm executives, Taku Ueno, senior vice president Graphic Communications Division Fujifilm Europe detailed how important professional print was to Fujifilm.
He highlighted how the business had adapted and evolved to the rise of the opportunity of digital, urging printers to take a fresh look and “discover the difference and values of partnering with Fujifilm”.
Other panel sessions included the UK leadership team and a pair of European Revoria Press PC1120 users, Henning Rose, managing director of German commercial printer Wegner and Tiago Yu, CEO of FloriColor in Portugal, who waxed lyrical on the impact the press had on their respective businesses.
Fujifilm used the event to give a brief insight into the technical capabilities of the new presses, with three machines on display, one from each series.
The battery was headlined by the 120ppm, six-colour Fujifilm Revoria Press PC1120, which runs CMYK plus a choice of clear, gold, silver, white and pink. It also includes AI and automation technology, active air-feeder, static discharge, and extensive inline finishing options.
“It offers a colour gamut that really makes you just say ‘wow’ and opens up applications that really stretch the boundaries, you’ve got to see it to believe it,” said Spencer Green, head of sales Fujifilm UK – Print-on-Demand.
The family of new devices also includes the monochrome Revoria Press E1 series, which consists of four models with rated speeds of 136, 125, 110 and 100 ppm. The flagship C1136 was on display on the event.
Also on show in East London was a machine from the new light-production ApeosPro C series, which comes in 81, 75 and 65ppm flavours – with the top rated C810 on display.
All the new devices can be driven by Fujifilm’s own Revoria Flow PC21 frontend, or by Fiery. Fujifilm's new XMF PressReady workflow was also being showcased.
Following this week’s unveiling, the three engines on show will be moved to Fujifilm UK’s new demo facility in Luton, which was announced last night and is currently being fitted out to offer clients and prospects a deep dive into the new machines’ capabilities.
Speaking on stage, Green said the business wanted to create partnerships and help customers win new business and differentiate themselves from their competition and “stand out with us and ultimately discover the difference”.
The new toner engines became officially available on the UK market last month, following the expiration of contractual agreements with former joint venture partner Xerox.
Now going head-to-head with its former partner, as well as vendors like Canon, Konica Minolta and Ricoh, one industry watcher mused: "It's going to be a battle, but Fujifilm has the advantage as they're the manufacturer."
After the event, the machines will be relocated to Fujifilm's new demo facility in Luton, close to the airport and M1. It should be fitted out and fully up and running a couple of weeks.
