The summer brought us a fresh batch of 2023 inkjet installations to add to the 58 previous installations reported for this calendar year. In case you missed it, our previous report provided a 6 month look-back to split out the inkjet installations that were made public in 2023 from those that were physically installed during the year. Over the summer we gathered information on 24 press installations (including 1 hybrid press) at 21 companies.  Companies covered were located in the US (8), UK (8), Germany (5) and one each in Australia, India and Indonesia.  Let’s start with the firsts and doubles:

• The first Bobst Mouvent LB702 label press in the UK was placed at Soabar Label Solutions in Leister, England
• The first Screen L350UV SAI label press in Southeast Asia was placed with Theia in West Java, Indonesia
• Faller packaging in Waldkirk Germany doubled up on their purchase of Screen Truepress Jet 520HD mono presses to produce pharma leaflets.
• TJ Books in Cornwall England doubled up on their acquisition of Canon ColorStream 8000 presses to complement their existing Canon ColorStream 6000 and varioPRINT iX3200 presses

The types of products installed overall were diverse. There were 14 roll-fed, 9 sheet and 1 hybrid press with the following further breakdown:

• Sheet-fed includes 4 B1 format, 2 B2 and 3 B3. As B1 format tends to be dramatically more expensive than its smaller brethren, it’s important to note that 2 of the installations were for packaging where the smaller format presses don’t really play and 1 targeting sign and display.
• Roll-fed included 8 of the typical 2-up format as well as 2 wide roll and 4 roll-label presses. We had noted that through the middle of 2023, 15% of reported installations were for 3-up or wider presses and that trend is continuing.

We also saw a healthy mix of application segments represented. The predominant categories were packaging, labels, books/publishing and direct mail. In looking at the OEMs by the numbers we found 5 Canon, 4 Screen, 3 Durst (including 1 hybrid press), 2 each for Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Xeikon and 1 each for Bobst, EFI, HP, Koenig & Bauer, Landa and Monotech. You can find the table with details and links to the company site below.

However, in things that make me smile, I wanted to share the announcement of the installation of the Koenig & Bauer Rotajet at SIG Digital Printing complete with what I have dubbed a “Snow White” automation illustration. I thought that representing the new process as drones carrying buckets of paint was hilarious. It’s a great press, maybe it really is magical.

Announcement of the installation with a picture (at right) that I found hilarious. Is it just me?

As always, we ask that if you are aware of others that we have not covered, please let us know. You can find more details on individual press models on the Inkjet Device Finder.