SMP Group director of digital print Mark Turner said the R50i investment would expand its operation increase productivity and enhance quality.
“We embraced industrial flatbed printing 12 years ago and became the first company in the world to print with a fine picolitre drop size at industrial speed. We work with some of the largest retailers and brands in Europe and they demand the highest quality and accurate print results," he said.
Turner added that the 80-year-old print firm had been impressed by “the perfect balance between speed and quality” in the new machine.
SMP signed the deal for the Onset R50i at Fespa in Cologne, where Fujifilm also gave the first public showing of the latest addition to the Onset range, the lower-cost R40LT, which is targeted at mid-size businesses in the high-quality sign and POS market.
Fujifilm UK managing director Keith Dalton said: "This area [of the market] is great – people are investing like mad and they’re getting their money back pretty quickly. The growth in wide-format POS is clearly in bespoke targeted print. Print is going local – it’s more targeted to a community.“
The R40LT can print at up to 265sqm/hr (the fastest machines in the Onset series can print at up to 700sqm/hr) and can print on substrates of up to 50mm thick.
It comes with CMYK inks as standard but can print in up to eight colours. As with the higher spec Onset R50i, it uses 14pl Fujifilm Dimatix Spectra printheads, a 15-zone vacuum table, a UV sensor system and mechanical substrate height detectors.
Fujifilm head of European communications Graham Leeson said the technology would be popular in the middle of the market.
“It’s a scalable machine so you can add other printheads and automation. The big attraction for mid-range business is you’re looking at something that can grow with your business. For us it’s a big deal.”
The Onset range is the result of a 15-year partnership with Inca, which makes the machines. Fuji produces the heads and has developed new UV ink, Uvijet OW, currently available in CMYK, light cyan, light magenta and orange, which, Leeson said offered high adhesion to a wide range of substrates.
Fujifilm is in Hall 6 on stand S9.
