Crowds packed Fujifilm booth for live demos of Graphium   

HANOVER PARK, IL – FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division continued to demonstrate their inkjet technology leadership at Labelexpo within their highly successful “What’s Changing” themed booth. Attendees filled the Fujifilm booth to experience live demonstrations of Graphium, a hybrid UV inkjet press with a modular design, which provides the ultimate in flexibility as it combines inkjet, flexographic printing and finishing, all inline; and they also learned more about Fujifilm Clarity Water Wash Flexo Plates and Fujifilm Flexo inks. 

The Graphium press was purchased from the show floor, and now on its way to Distinct Packabilities, a Shepardsville, Kentucky-based print provider. 

Distinct Packabilities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Publisher’s Printing Company, a fifth generation family-run business since 1866, is a premier provider of flexible packaging and label printing. They also offer a wide range of flexible packaging and prime label converting capabilities, along with in-house art, graphics, prepress and platemaking services. 

Graphium is designed specifically for the narrow web market by FFEI, Ltd. and marketed exclusively in North America by Fujifilm. Utilizing greyscale print heads that produce a range of drop sizes from 6 to 42 picoliters combined with inter-color LED pinning of Fujifilm Uvijet inks enables Graphium to print fine details, smooth tones and small font text demanded by the most exacting customers at single-pass print speeds up to 164 ft./min. 

“I am very impressed with the Graphium print quality, inkjet head technology, LED curing system, configuration options, and ease of switching jobs,” said Mike Starcevic, plant manager, KURZ USA, a major international supplier of hot and cold stamping technology.  “The amount of technical detail in the design of the various press mechanical component is equally impressive.”

Graphium is the first press to be configured with under and over white, allowing pure white designs with opacity that exceeds traditional flexo white.  

Distinct Packabilities chose Graphium based on the capabilities of its hybrid design, incorporating digital and flexo printing into one platform, to create spot colors, respond quickly to short run demands, and produce flexible packaging and prime labels, without the common limitations often found throughout the industry. These newly added capabilities will allow the company to support brand owner’s needs for colors and graphics that stand out on store shelves. 

David Haley, VP, Distinct Packabilities says Graphium offers labels and packaging printers a digital print quality and capability proposition which had previously not been available. He is anxious to get the press into the production environment in order to begin offering a new suite of products and services to current and prospective customers.

Fujifilm’s Clarity Water Wash Flexo Plates also drew plenty of attention at the show. Clarity offers the highest flexo print quality, at the fastest production times while significantly lowering cost-in-use compared to thermal, solvent or other water-wash technology. 

Clarity’s innovative water wash chemistry does far more than simply eliminate the need for solvents and wicking cloths – it delivers longer runs while producing a consistent 200lpi at 4400dpi, and a 1 percent process dot structure for print quality never before seen with flexo plates. 

“Attendee traffic to see Clarity and Graphium in our booth was fantastic,” said Chris Lomas, VP Sales, FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division. “This has been our best Labelexpo to-date.  Kicking-off the show with a Graphium sale to Distinct Packabilities generated a lot of attention for Fujifilm.”  

Follow Fujifilm Graphic Systems Division on Twitter @FUJIFILMGS, and watch for updates from #GraphExpo and #NowYouCan.  

Visit Fujifilm at Graph Expo, booth # 3213, to learn more about Graphium, and see how this technology, among others, will change how you print labels and packaging. Forever.