Fujifilm Showcases Digital Disruption Technology, Promises 'Better Than Offset' Quality

At its “Digital Disruption Reveal” event today outside Chicago, FUJIFILM North America Corp., Graphic Communication Division, made good on that description by unveiling the FUJIFILM J PRESS 1160CFG inkjet series of presses for North America and announcing the commercial availability of the FUJIFILM Revoria Press EC2100 Series and SC285 Series mid-range production presses.

“Now is the time to start our digital disruption,” declared Yuji Oki, incoming general manager of the Graphic Communication Division. He will replace Toshi Kino, who was on hand to welcome attendees to the event, and highlight Fujifilm’s platform of innovation, which he said will provide more impact, more ease, more profit, and more smiles.

Andrew Gunn, Fujifilm's director of print on demand solutions and enablement, explained how the company's technology disrupts the status quo.

Then Andrew Gunn, Fujifilm’s director of print on demand solutions and enablement, took the floor to highlight how the new presses “disrupt the print status quo.” The new EC2100 and SC285 presses, he said, provide “better four color, better automation, better feeding and finishing … improvement with embellishments, and it ultimately gives you a better return on your investment.” And perhaps most enticing, he contended that Fujifilm's output is “better than offset quality.”

One reason for that, he said, is its use of Super EA-Eco toner, which lays down a 4.7-micron dot, providing super sharp rendering of detailed characters and fine lines, providing output resolutions of 2,400x2,400 dpi. Another key quality-enhancing feature on the presses is the optional Smart Monitoring Gate D1, which detects color variation and front-to-back misalignment during printing, enabling automatic correction in real time to maintain high print quality without compromising productivity.

“If it detects a color variance or density issue … what it's going to do based on the scans that it's taking, it's going to pull it back into what it was 10 pages before … not even having to stop the press,” Gunn explained.

Perhaps the most emphasized feature of the new presses was its CMYK+ in-line embellishment capabilities. The EC2100S and SC285S models (the “S” stands for “special color”) are equipped with a specialty toner station in addition to its four-color toners, enabling five-color printing in one pass. At launch, the presses will have pink, clear, and textured paper toner options, with gold, silver, and white to come later.

Andrew Gunn moderated a panel featuring (from left) Christine Yardley of Print Panther Direct; David Zwang of WhatTheyThink; and Kevin Abergel of Taktiful.

Embellishment was further emphasized at the event in a presentation by Kevin Abergel and Eric Vessels of Taktiful, who noted the attention-grabbing benefits of embellishing printed pieces, and also some of the reasons it is not being used more, chiefly due to lack of marketing by print providers. This was followed by a panel discussion during which three panelists (Christine Yardley of Print Panther Direct; David Zwang of WhatTheyThink; and Kevin Abergel) talked about adopting embellishments and how AI technology is impacting it.

In the afternoon, the group traveled to Fujifilm’s Graphics Innovation Hub where attendees got to see the new presses in action. The EC2100S and EC2100 presses print at a high speed of 100 ppm while the SC285S and SC285 presses print at 85 ppm. Gunn stressed the presses maintain these speeds regardless of paper weight, which ranges from 52-400 gsm.

“We’re able to maintain that productivity regardless of the paper weight,” Gunn said.

All four products achieve a compact footprint through Fujifilm’s newly developed Vertical Toner Development Technology, which transports developer from bottom to top against gravity, significantly reducing the size of each development unit, and in turn enabling five-color printing (on EC2100S and SC285S models) without increasing the machine size.

Other interesting features are the Air Suction Feeder, which ensures reliable feeding of coated paper through the use of vacuum technology; the Static Eliminator D1, which removes static electricity from film paper and other static-sensitive printing paper, enabling reduction of adhesion between sheets of paper for work efficiency; and the ability to print up to a 13x51.18” banner sheet.

Attendees also got demos of the new FUJIFILM J PRESS 1160CFG, the latest addition to Fujifilm’s J Press digital inkjet series of presses. Shown recently at Hunkeler Innovation Days but making its North American debut, the J Press 1160CFG features the newly developed "Paper Stabilizer" functionality which pre-dries paper before printing and controls moisture levels throughout the process, eliminating the need for a primer while minimizing waviness and paper fluctuations. This results in excellent print quality even on thick coated paper. The presses use newly developed aqueous pigment ink, which prints beautifully on both coated and uncoated paper without primer.

“It’s not your transactional-type press,” emphasized Gunn. “We’re looking at offset transfer.”