I have just attended the IMI European Ink Jet Printing conference in Barcelona. One tends to think that inkjet printing is something new but this was the 17^th annual conference on this subject. One tends to forget just how long the inkjet technology has been around and also just how long it has been used in the graphic arts markets. Inkjet printing has come much more into prominence in the last couple of years with the arrival of the high-speed continuous feed inkjet presses that drew all the attention at last year’s drupa event. Inkjet however in graphic arts has already totally transformed the signage and display markets with wide format and super wide format printers. More recently we have seen the changing of technologies in this area with the flatbed inkjet printers for point of sale and other applications using UV curable inks. Another area that has been around for many years has been the use of continuous inkjet printing systems as monochrome marking engines attached to presses or binding lines for numbering and addressing applications.

The IMI European Ink Jet Printing conference has for many years been the place to come to find out the most recent developments in new print head designs and support systems from the different suppliers. This would often indicate the likely trends of the market as integrators and printer manufacturers incorporated these new heads into their latest products. This year however was slightly different with hardly any new print head designs being announced. Instead once could say that this years conference showed a maturing of the markets as finally areas of the market that had been discussed for years as having potential for inkjet printing saw new products and approaches becoming available.

This is not to say that we did not hear about developments in print head technology. Fujifilm Dimatix gave a full presentation on the ongoing developments of their print heads using their unique MEMS technology, and in particular spoke about the new Samba head that is being used in the Fujifilm JetPress 720 that was previewed at drupa. We were told that this head is now in production and a large number of heads have been delivered to Fujifilm ready for the launch of the press at Ipex next year. The Samba head however is particularly being seen as the Dimatix head for future printed electronics developments.