Fujifilm and Barberán are working together to bring a high-speed, single pass inkjet printer to market in late 2023. A number of sign and display businesses have already signed agreements to take the first machines, which will print up to 1.6m wide at speeds of up to 6,000m2/hr.
Following extensive and successful talks over two years, Fujifilm has agreed terms for a joint development with Spanish manufacturer Barberán, which
has established its credentials for high productivity industrial presses for the corrugated market over the last ten years, with 30 customers in North America alone. This new partnership combines Barberán’s manufacturing expertise with Fujifilm’s knowledge of inkjet integration, ink chemistry and its experience in the sign and display market.
The 30m long printer will use a new Fujifilm ink and primer – developed at its factory in Broadstairs, UK – making it suitable for printing to onto all typical sign and display substrates, including plastic and particleboard, up to up to a width of 1.6m.
David Burton, business and commercial director at Fujifilm WFIJ HQ, said: “We’ve been in close talks with Barberán for more than two years because they have a huge amount of expertise in industrial print manufacturing. They already have a single pass product that is proven in the corrugated sector, and we have the expertise to help them adapt it for the very different requirements of the sign and display market.
“Fujifilm has a huge market presence across the whole graphics sector, which has digitised most rapidly in the last two decades. We’ve played a key role in that transformation and, with this project, we can take that process a step further – supporting digitisation for some of the highest volume sign and display production businesses in the world. We will be able to provide a path to digital transformation for businesses printing such massive volumes that (for now) offset processes often still make more economic sense.
“That breadth of experience, and our unrivalled expertise in ink development, combined with Barberán’s skill in heavy engineering, also makes us the perfect partnership to provide a business development opportunity for high-end flat sheet sign and display printers.”
Eladio Lerga, technical director of Barberá, added: “We’re really excited to be bringing our technology to a whole new market. Fujifilm’s breadth of experience in print for sign and display will be crucial to this – as well as its expertise in inkjet ink chemistry and inkjet systems. Working together we can maintain our print speeds and quality and adapt our systems to accommodate a much wider range of substrates and to meet the very different market requirements of this sector.”
