At the event, taking place this week at the Fujifilm Print Experience Centre in Ratingen, Germany, the manufacturer hosted the first European demonstration of its Revoria Press GC12500.
This followed an appearance of the B2 format sheetfed toner press at Printing United in the US in October, and an earlier technology preview at Igas in Japan in late 2022.
Fujifilm said the first Revoria Press GC12500 has just been installed and is running at a customer site in Italy, the name of which will be announced “around April time”.
The manufacturer also revealed the 100th installation of its Revoria Press PC1120 in Europe. Druckerei Glaudo, based in Wuppertal, Germany, installed the flagship Fujifilm toner press in November 2023.
Peak Performance Print, which concludes today (1 February), has been hosting hundreds of existing and potential commercial and packaging print customers throughout the week, as well as members of the international industry trade press.
Alongside showing a raft of its inkjet, toner, and wide-format printers at the event, Fujifilm also placed a major focus on its workflow offerings, including XMF PressReady, and Revoria Flow DFE.
It used the occasion to unveil its 46kUV Inkjet Printbar System, which it described as “a new, integrated print solution for industrial production operations across a wide range of labels and packaging materials”.
Available for sale worldwide immediately, the system features a drop-on-demand design to streamline workflow with printing speeds of up to 150m/min. It uses Fujifilm’s proprietary Samba printhead technology, which leverages the precision of silicon MEMS processing and sputtered PZT.
Additionally, the system has a native resolution of 1,200dpi and can print individually unique QR codes, as well as fonts as small as 2 point.
The system is available in various print widths, including 254mm, 330mm, 432mm, and 508mm to integrate seamlessly into traditional printing processes. Fujifilm’s 3IC document creation software can be used with the system to efficiently create variable data content.
The printbar’s cleaning and capping module is designed to help maintain image quality. The system uses Fujifilm’s proprietary Redijet patented ink recirculation to optimise image quality across the print width to minimise the need for printhead refurbishment.
Additionally, Fujifilm said at the event that its next Innovation Print Awards will take place during Drupa in May. Previously an internal competition that began in 2007 within the Asia-Pacific region, the event is now going global.
The manufacturer said the awards provide the opportunity for printers, designers, and creative minds to showcase their work in print.
The awards are free to enter for anyone using Fujifilm print technology. There are 13 print application categories that span a range of topics from books, brochures, and packaging to wide-format, and direct mail, as well as an ‘other’ category for special creative projects that don’t fit neatly into any of the defined categories.
There are also a further five subject categories covering areas such as sustainability, use of special colours, and business effectiveness.
All winning entries will be showcased across the world in various industry events, including on the Fujifilm stand at Drupa. The winners will also be invited to attend an official gala dinner during Drupa on 31 May 2024, to receive their trophies.
Finally, Fujifilm revealed at the event that Northampton-based Eco Flexibles has completed a successful beta trial of the Jet Press FP790 in the last week and has now confirmed its investment in the digital inkjet flexible packaging press – becoming the first customer for the machine outside of Japan.
Speaking to Printweek about the reasons for holding Peak Performance Print, Fujifilm Europe digital press and print manager Mark Stephenson said: “There’s just so much happening at the moment that it’s almost overwhelming. We can’t just save it up for one big splurge, we have to space it out.
“But people will only come to listen if they know they can see something they haven’t seen before, and we knew the Revoria Press B2-plus size was coming so we delayed our Peak Performance Print from its usual slot in September to now.”
He added: “People are impressed with the quality [of the Revoria Press GC12500]. There’s a reason we’ve got two presses [for B2 inkjet and toner] – one is more capable of quality than the other, another is possibly more commercially viable in other environments or more appropriate, for instance, for high-volume variable data – a duplex press has strengths in that area.
“So there’s a choice for customers – we’re trying to give them the value they need in as many ways as we can to try and fit in. We’re never going to stop innovating to try and meet customer needs and just one platform can’t meet every need in the market, so with two platforms you’ve got more chance.”
