FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Shigehiro Nakajima) today announces its strategy for the company’s Graphic Arts business, which will form the basis of its presence at drupa 2016, being held in Dusseldorf, Germany from 31^st May to 10^th June.  Under the slogan “Value from Innovation”, Fujifilm will outline how its wide ranging technologies will add value to print operations in the commercial, wide format and packaging market segments, and will explain its vision relating to the digital evolution of print production. 

Value from Innovation

Celebrating its 80^th anniversary in 2014, Fujifilm introduced a new corporate slogan – “Value from Innovation”.  This phrase reflects the company’s strong commitment to continuing to create exciting and innovative technologies, products and services to expand future business opportunities and improve the quality of life for everyone.  Ever since the company was formed, Fujifilm has placed great emphasis on its graphic arts business, and the company has taken a leading role due to its fundamental development of organic & inorganic materials chemistry, imaging & optical technologies, and analysis & production technologies, all of which have contributed to a world-class portfolio of products and services, and have provided the foundation and been the driving force behind the company’s next innovations.

Graphic Arts Business Strategy

Today, Fujifilm is focusing its efforts on two areas to achieve “Value from Innovation” in the print industry.  The first is the company’s world leading inkjet technologies, brought together at drupa 2016 under a new brand name “FUJIFILM Inkjet Technology”, to deliver class leading quality, productivity and performance.  The second is a focus on its conventional technologies, products and services to optimise traditional print processes, provide resource savings and improve profitability, and in the process help printers minimise their environmental impact. 

1. Resource Savings

For many years, Fujifilm has been a leading supplier in the field of offset printing.  However, it is widely recognized that the commercial print market that offset presses serve has undergone significant change, dramatically altering pre-press processes and creating an increased demand for short print runs and quick job turnarounds, which in turn has changed the way the industry perceives press and post-press productivity. Print businesses need to respond to these changes by improving the efficiency of their manufacturing processes, with environmental issues on a global scale also forcing printers to reform their production. Ultimately, the market only has room for companies operating lean manufacturing processes that are capable of addressing both cost and environmental requirements. 

Fujifilm is determined to help printers address these challenges through innovation in the form of “Resource Savings”. Achieving the highest print quality while minimising environmental impact has been the driving force behind the development of the company’s offset and flexo printing plates.  But Fujifilm is taking this one step further by analyzing the print processes themselves to minimize the various associated costs and maximize performance.  SUPERIA is one of the solutions to address these issues, and is the result of Fujifilm’s comprehensive technologies, products and services combined and packaged specifically to reduce resources and help printers improve their profitability. In addition, Fujifilm’s recently introduced water washable plate for flexo printing “FLENEX“ also has many resource saving benefits. Both solutions deliver premium quality and stability, essential to minimise resource utilisation, and improve on-press performance, while also minimising environmental impact.  Both solutions ultimately allow printers to optimise their traditional print processes, be more competitive and generate greater profits than ever before, providing an ideal foundation for investment and growth.

2. Inkjet Technology

Digital printing can be a weapon for printers to shape a new future in the industry with its ability to provide value that traditional production processes cannot deliver, e.g. quick job turnarounds and personalization based on variable data print technologies. 

Fujifilm has been developing an industry-leading portfolio of inkjet technologies for over 10 years that are at the heart of a range of powerful new printing systems that can create new opportunities and value for print companies.  One of the first results of this strategy was the Jet Press range of products which the company applied all its expertise to perfect.

The core components that form the basis for inkjet marking are printheads, inks and a range of image optimisation technologies (for example screening and paper priming). How these cutting-edge technologies are combined is the key to achieving superior print quality. At drupa 2016, Fujifilm will present the company’s unique strengths within these three core technology areas, under a new brand name “FUJIFILM Inkjet Technology”.

The Jet Press 720S is the company’s flagship B2 inkjet press which continues to evolve with “Fujifilm Inkjet Technology”. The ability of the Jet Press 720S to deliver outstanding print quality, a wide colour gamut and amazing job turnaround times has astonished designers and photographers, making it a powerful weapon for printers that have invested in the system. The press remains the leading B2 inkjet print production system and Fujifilm will continue to refine and evolve the innovations at the heart of the Jet Press 720S to further enhance the reliability and versatility of the press as a commercial production system. 

This collection of technologies also forms the heart of the B1 industrial inkjet press “Heidelberg Primefire 106“ targeted mainly for packaging printing, jointly developed with Heidelberg.  “FUJIFILM Inkjet Technology“ is used for the core print engine of this machine, and along with Heidelberg’s world class press manufacturing and systems integration expertise, will meet the evolving needs of the packaging market.

Fujifilm’s inkjet technologies will be further expanded in the future to broaden the company’s portfolio of digital printing presses, breaking into new markets like flexible packaging production, and improving the performance of existing systems.  Fujifilm is also expanding the use of these inkjet technologies in the field of industrial printing as a way of improving quality and simplifying production processes.

The days when the simple investment in new hardware directly resulted in profits have long gone in the printing industry. Now, it is important for a print business to identify their areas of strength, and then implement actions to meet changing customer needs, overcome challenges and advance forward.  To this end, Fujifilm’s “Resource Saving” concept for existing analogue print processes and new “FUJIFILM Inkjet Technology” offering for expanding digital print production are the cornerstones of the company’s business operations, and the mechanism for delivering “Value from Innovation” to the print industry, ultimately allowing Fujifilm to contribute to the sustainability of print.

Fujifilm booth at drupa 2016

Drupa provides the perfect opportunity for Fujifilm to showcase its strategy and demonstrate how the company’s products and solutions provide value from innovation. However, drupa also gives Fujifilm the opportunity to present its cultural background and the value this provides to print businesses. 

It goes without saying that Fujifilm is a Japanese company. As such, Fujifilm values the Japanese traditions of dedication to craftsmanship and culture of hospitality. For Fujifilm, a commitment to craftsmanship translates into a commitment to quality and the technologies that help achieve it, and the culture of hospitality provides the foundation for the world-class customer support that the company delivers day in, day out to its worldwide customer base. Fujifilm’s 80-year history has fostered the development of traditional technologies, inspired the latest inkjet technologies, and provided the basis for software innovations and the know-how to provide the optimum support for the company’s customers. At drupa 2016, Fujifilm will use the traditional Japanese pattern “Mitsudomoe” as a symbol of the combined values Fujifilm provides to the printing industry.

Fujifilm would like to invite visitors to stand A25, Hall 8b to understand how the company’s technologies and solutions can provide “Value from Innovation” and to experience traditional Japanese hospitality first-hand.