And there was plenty of new kit on show at the end of November. Fujifilm Business Innovation scored the biggest surprise at the show with a brand new B2 cut-sheet dry-toner press. It was shown as a prototype and for now is named the B2 Revoria. Fujifilm is planning to start beta testing it in the first half of this year and to launch it in the second half of 2023.

It takes a 750x662mm sheet that’s able to print six A4 pages and can handle  a wide range of media (64-450gsm), including coated paper, plain paper and non-woven materials. It’s been designed for commercial print applications as well as photobooks, catalogues and transpromo. The samples from the B2 Revoria that were shown at IGAS were of very high quality.

The print resolution is 1,200x1,200dpi at 10-bit and Fujifilm has developed a new method of charging and distributing toner uniformly over the sheet to cope with the larger sheet size. There’s a two-step fusing process that includes a far infrared system to apply a low temperature fusing followed by a drum to apply low pressure. The prototype runs CMYK but there is space for two further colours, with Fujifilm looking at gold, silver, white, clear and a pink that’s said to be almost fluorescent.

It should produce 2,500 B2 iph with a monthly volume of 300,000 B2 sheets. Fuji has yet to determine the price and the service charge. The B2 Revoria will be sold in the UK and Europe, where it will sit alongside another cut-sheet B2 device, the Jet Press 750HS though the B2 Revoria should work with a broader range of media than the inkjet. 

Hidden behind the B2 Revoria, Fujifilm also announced, but didn’t show, two new Jet Press roll-to-roll inkjet presses. These both use similar imaging systems to the sheetfed Jet Press 750 series, using Dimatix Samba printheads at 1,200x1,200dpi resolution. 

The main difference between the two models is the inkset and therefore the target applications. Thus the Jet Press 1160CF – or ‘continuous-feed’ – uses a new high-concentration pigment ink which has been designed for uncoated and plain paper, where the paper can absorb some of the water content in the ink to reduce the amount of drying needed. It can run at 160mpm at 1,200x600dpi – around 2,096 A4 ppm – or 80mpm in its Image Quality mode at 1,200x1,200dpi. 

The second model, the Jet Press 2150CFG – ‘continuous-feed graphics’ – has been designed for printing to offset paper without any inkjet treatment. This press uses a different water-based pigment ink, which Fujifilm described to me as being “sticky”, where the ink is designed to hold the shape of the dots to give a sharper image and prevent any spreading into the substrate.

The 2150CFG is aimed primarily at graphics applications, such as books and magazines. It’s maximum speed is 150mpm or 1,968 A4 ppm on uncoated paper, dropping to 80mpm in Standard mode, and 50mpm in Quality mode. However, Fujifilm is currently only selling these inkjet presses in Japan.

One of the highlights of the show was Ricoh’s first public showing of its Pro Z75 B2 cut-sheet inkjet press, which should launch commercially later this year. It’s designed to handle a broad range of commercial print work, including packaging, direct mail, posters and display graphics. It will print on offset coated plus plain and inkjet coated paper from 60 to 400gsm without a primer. It takes B2 sheets up to 585x750mm, which can print 6-up US letter size pages but not 6-up A4 pages.

The printheads are the same 1,200dpi Ricoh Gen5 heads as used in the existing rollfed VC70000 but with a more compact version to make for a better fit across the printbar. It uses 11 printheads per colour and runs CMYK. However, there is space for one more colour and Ricoh is assessing feedback to see if it needs to offer a fifth colour. The ink is a water-based pigment ink. The press uses two drying systems, including NIR plus a second system which Ricoh won’t disclose until the technology is fully patented.

The Z75 can print at 4,500iph and includes full auto duplexing. Ricoh sees Fujifilm’s Jetpress 750 as a major competitor and believes that the auto duplexing ability is a key differentiator. 

Screen announced new inks for two of its inkjet presses. There’s a new SC+ to replace the existing SC ink for the Jet520 HD series, which has improved black density and colour gamut as well as improved resistance to bleeding and abrasion. This will allow the presses to cope with a wider range of uncoated media.

Then there’s a new aqueous pigment NP ink for the Jet520NX that can run plain paper without inkjet coating or primer. It will enable a new High Speed printing mode for the NX of 180mpm. Screen has also improved the black density which should allow users to take on more catalogue and book printing work.

Screen also showed off a new single-pass inkjet packaging press, the Pac520P, for printing paper-based packaging materials such as pouches for non-liquid goods. The Pac520P can run at 80mpm at 900x600dpi resolution. Screen is still testing it with different media, but it should be available in the spring of 2023 and is likely to be launched in Europe first because that’s where Screen sees the most demand.

Kyocera Document Solutions announced plans to build on the success of its TaskAlfa Pro 15000c printer with a larger production printer that will take SRA3-sized paper and can print to coated paper. It will use 1,200dpi Kyocera heads combined with a new water-based ink plus a new drying system that uses near infrared. Kyocera is hoping to run beta tests later in 2023 with a commercial launch in 2024, presumably at Drupa.

In the meantime, Kyocera showed off a monochrome version of the TaskAlfa Pro 15000c, which runs at the same speed of 150ppm but will be around 30% cheaper. Shinichi Uchida, general manager of the R&D division, says it’s mainly designed to compete against monochrome laser printers in Japan but will also be sold in Europe this year.

Miyakoshi demonstrated the MJP20EXG, a four-colour inkjet printer that is mainly targeted at short run book printing. It takes a 20in (508mm) wide roll and runs at 160mpm at 1,200x600dpi but can also be run at 1,200x1,200dpi at 80mpm. It comes with a perforating unit with both horizontal and vertical perforations, which can vary dynamically from one sheet to the next to offer a completely digital post-press solution in-line with the press. It includes slitting and creasing and a rotary cutter that can split the roll into two lines. Masahiko Kamei, general manager of Miyakoshi, explained that in order to get the most efficient use out of digital printing, it’s also essential to have digital finishing.

The smart factory

Aside from the new presses, the dominant theme from the show was towards increased automation with many vendors demonstrating some form of robotics, mostly to load media or unload everything from printed sheets to book blocks. Toshiyuki Ishibashi, group leader for RMGT’s international sales and marketing, explains: “Many Japanese printing companies are facing small-lot jobs with a lot of images. Plus the rising cost of materials and a lack of manpower.”

To this end, RMGT demonstrated automatic plate loading and unloading on a 970 PF8 offset press, which was fitted with a prototype Plate Supply System on the seventh and eighth colour units that removed the used plates from the print units and inserted new plates. There were also two autonomous guided vehicles, or Nippers. One collected the plates from the platesetter and delivered them to the press while the other loaded a palette of paper to the pile feeder for the press. This has been designed for the Japanese market but will be rolled out worldwide later.

After printing, the Nipper AGV then took the printed sheets to Horizon’s stand for folding and binding, a neat demonstration of the interconnectedness of devices, even from different vendors. Many other vendors also created solutions around this interconnected ‘smart factory’ concept, including Fujifilm which showed off the Revoria One Production Cockpit on the RMGT stand, showing production information for Fujifilm’s own digital presses as well as for the offset and post-press processes from other vendors.

Horizon built its whole approach around the smart factory concept, giving it an outsize presence at the show. Horizon teamed up with a number of vendors through its iCE range of Intelligently Connected and Efficient finishing equipment that can connect to cloud-based services to help track job and performance data between devices.

Horizon also hosted a plow-fold book block solution developed in conjunction with Miyakoshi, which consisted of an unwinder to hold a printed roll, together with a plow folder, both from Miyakoshi, connected inline with a Horizon book block feeder, perfect binder, and variable trimmer. This can turn printed rolls into books in a single line at a rate of around 800 books per hour.

Horizon showcased a number of new devices, including a new roll-to-booklet saddle stitcher, the iCE Stitchliner Mark V, which can produce 6,000 booklets per hour. This can individually score the sheets, which are then plow-folded before stitching to create sharp spines and tight folds. There was also a sheetfed version in the form of the new iCE Stitchliner Mark IV. 

In conclusion, IGAS proved harder to navigate than a European trade show, partly because Japan still mandated wearing masks indoors, but mainly because of the difficulty of finding someone who spoke English to interview. That said, there was always someone else willing to help with translation and the language of print is fairly universal.