Commercial Printing is About to Change…Big Time

Initially introduced at GRAPH EXPO 2010, the Fujifilm J Press 720 (Booth 414) provides a superior solution for the fastest-growing segment of the commercial printing market, where a majority of print jobs reside and where many printers struggle to compete—namely, in high-quality, short-run printing.

In fact, in recognition of its innovative design and function, the Fujifilm J Press 720 earned a 2012 InterTech Technology Award from the Printing Industries of America. This is the fifth InterTech Technology Award for Fujifilm, and the announcement follows the first North American installations of the J Press 720 at Gilson Graphics in Michigan and Digital Edge in Canada.

With the development of the J Press 720, Fujifilm established an entirely new product category: the high-quality, sheetfed inkjet press. Employing Fujifilm core technologies, and Fujifilm Dimatix drop-on-demand inkjet print heads, the J Press 720 offers a solution for print runs of just one or thousands, an area where traditional offset and digital printing are failing to perform.

Core technologies

The J Press 720 benefits from Fujifilm’s Core Technologies: organic materials that give rise to sharp image and a wide color gamut through the water-based inks and bleed-free ink coagulation ability; imaging and software technology that produces the excellent image and high repeatability of print quality; mechatronics/electronics raise the productivity through the superb registration accuracy that matches an offset press; and analysis/evaluation and simulation technologies provide the wide adaptability of commercial papers and its print reliability. Moreover, the J Press 720’s high performance is made possible by MEMS technology that can achieve resolutions of 1200x1200 dpi with four levels of grayscale inkjet head.

With the J Press 720, Fujifilm gives commercial printers the ability to create a number of jobs that were previously not possible by creating an inkjet press that produces offset quality. The four-color, half-size format consistently produces stunning highlights and shadows, vibrant colors, flat tints, fine details, and line work and jobs can be immediately finished, just like offset.

The beating heart of the press is the SAMBA print bar. This state-of-the-art piezo-electric inkjet print bar is not a traditional head array. Rather, it’s a solid state bar fabricated using precision MEMS technology that can achieve 1200x1200 dpi resolutions with four levels of grayscale. This represents unprecedented deposition performance from an inkjet system. MEMS is a general term that refers to technologies that are used to create three-dimensional electronic and mechanical structures on silicon substrates at a micrometer level, and manufactured parts using such technologies.

Fujifilm’s R&D team also made use of the company’s advanced chemical technologies to develop a new water-based ink. Each of the four CMYK ink colors has been developed to match the performance criteria of the heads and achieve the best performance on the widest range of standard coated and uncoated offset papers.

As for environmental impact, the J Press 720 achieves good recycling results (the sheet can be recycled), as certified by the European paper-recycling group INGEDE. Additionally, the chemical/ink system presents no VOCs in the ink, the primer, or in the head-cleaning fluid.