Fujifilm Inkjet Summit Woos Potential Clients

KANSAS CITY, KS—In one fell swoop, Fujifilm offered attendees of its Inkjet Tech Summit—roughly 30 printers of various forms—a tinge of levity to go with a heavy dose of gravity in its two-day show-and-tell held at the Crown Westin Hotel in Kansas City, MO, and its offices in Kansas City, KS.

Sure, the information on inkjet technology was wrapped like a fortune cookie with a Fujifilm message stuffed inside, but the big picture perspective was quite clear. "Anything printed analog today will be printed digitally in the future," Fujifilm's Mitch Bodie predicts. So regardless of a given manufacturer's technology, the digital output device is going to play an ever-growing role for the printer of tomorrow.

One of the most enlightening and entertaining presentations was given by Bill Baxter, CEO of Inca Digital Printers, Fujifilm's UK-based partner. He spoke of the company's early days with its Eagle 44 flatbed printer, which debuted in 1998. Again, the burgeoning significance of the digital printing device, particularly inkjet, was hammered home.

"These are the very early days for inkjet," he says. "In 10, 20, 30 years, it will still be evolving, still be dynamic."

During the demonstration portion of the event, attendees toured the shop area to get a taste of Fujifilm's wide- and superwide-format digital offerings, including the Inca Onset S40i flatbed UV inkjet printer, which debuted at drupa last spring. Visitors watched as the Onset jetted impressive images via eight passes on 100-lb. cover stock.

Also on display was the Acuity Advance series of roll-to-roll printers, which allows full-bleed printing on rigid substrates. Highlights here include a white ink option, with the HSX2's bed offering two 4x8' printing sheets and near-photographic image quality. Likewise, the Acuity LED 1600—a six-color, 64˝ wide-format machine boasts 1,200 dpi resolution and the ability to print white and clear ink—can operate either as flatbed or roll-to-roll. It is geared toward low-volume, high-resolution applications.

Another machine introduced at drupa, the Uvistar Pro8, is a high-speed, superwide inkjet printer, that's ideal for POP, banners and billboards. It has a backlit camera option that automates registration for two-sided printing.

On the finishing side, Fujifilm highlighted Esko's Kongsberg XP digital cutting table, which can enable print providers to generate high-margin products including 3D items, boxes and table tents, among other things.