Last week, Memjet invited a small group of industry journalists and analysts to its San Diego headquarters for a sneak peek at the company’s next printhead/ink evolution – DuraLink, an aqueous pigment-based inkjet system, a new printhead and modules moves Memjet into a new playing field with a solution that delivers higher quality, more durable printed output. The company has already engaged with a number of OEM partners in the development process and is holding firm on its commitment to the OEM model. CEO Len Lauer forecasts that commercial print and packaging, including folding carton, labels and corrugated, will be the most important markets for this technology.

In our first article on Memjet technology in 2012, we found it was an interesting technology and a forward-thinking approach to high speed, low cost production inkjet. However, we also identified some shortcomings with Memjet’s initial “Waterfall” implementation, which was preventing it from finding a wider OEM audience. Our coverage of the Memjet “Aspen” implementation in 2015, detailed which of the initial shortcomings were addressed. Most importantly, the company introduced a single head per color up to 5 colors, while the older technology combined the five ink channels on one head. However, even with that introduction there were still important issues that needed to be addressed. DuraLink promised to address the balance of those issues. “With DuraLink,” Lauer states, “we have significantly increased printhead life (by a factor of 10X) and lowered ink prices. DuraLink can be configured up to 2.5 meters wide and delivers resolutions of up to 1600 x 1585 dpi. We look at this as a combination of invention and innovation built on a stable foundation.” The system operation and integration is similar enough to VersaPass (the new branding for Memjet’s original dye-based inkjet system) that OEMs should not have a very high learning curve.

In contrast to the Aspen (now VersaPass), where the ink heads are installed on blades, one for each of 5 colors in a single unit, DuraLink will be delivered to OEMs in a modular form. Memjet General Manager Eric Owen explains, “With the VersaPass model, we created a print engine that is designed to be integrated with a transport. However, we have found that this approach does not give the OEMs the creativity they want. Since DuraLink is completely modular, OEMs can take all modules, or only the ones they need, so they can build systems as they see fit.” One advantage of this approach compared to the other head manufacturers, according to the Memjet team, is that others require development of everything around the head, while the Memjet approach does a lot of that work for the OEMs, resulting in faster time to market. The team estimates that OEMs will require 1-2 years to get a DuraLink product to market if they are working on a greenfield project, and nine to 12 months if they are simply replacing print heads on an existing press. See below for more details on the modular approach and the overall technology associated with DuraLink.