FUJIFILM Corporation announced that it will be entering the market of flexible packaging with the new Jet Press FP 790 water-based inkjet digital press. The plan is to launch the new Jet Press product into the North American market in fall 2021, and thereafter will gradually expand it to Europe and other parts of the world. Fujifilm will continue to leverage the enormously successful Jet Press brand into its line of digital presses.
The packaging markets and particularly the flexible packaging segment are expected to continue growing steadily globally in the coming years. In particular, digital printing for flexible packaging is becoming increasingly necessary as it meets a number of market and consumer requirements that can only be accomplished using a high end digital production asset. The increased demand for shorter and more strategic runs, faster delivery times, strong brand competition for shelf space, much shorter product life cycles, and a more environmentally friendly print process are the driving forces to this expected huge growth.
In 2011, Fujifilm began offering the Jet Press series of inkjet digital production presses to the global commercial printing market ahead of other companies. We have been able to provide to the commercial print markets the highest image reproduction quality and productivity that surpasses even the best offset printing presses, allowing the Jet Press brand to achieve high market share around the world. To date, we have installed more than 250 Jet Press machines and continue our market leadership worldwide. In 2017, Fujifilm began sales of the Jet Press 540WV, a UV inkjet digital press for flexible packaging applications in Japan. With these experiences, Fujifilm is moving faster and wider into full production digital printing for flexible packaging. Using its unique expertise and history in digital imaging and inkjet head development, combined with its knowledge of materials, inks and coatings, will allow Fujifilm to offer packaging converters an exceptional opportunity to enter into a new digital platform.
Main Characteristics of Jet Press FP790 Products
1) Environmentally friendly design & print process
Fujifilm employs environmentally friendly water-based primers and water-based inkjet technologies, which meet or exceed all regulatory requirements for flexible packaging printing. The laminating, slitting, and bag-making processes can be processed in the same way as existing analog printing so no additional capital investments are required. The elimination of the expensive and environmentally unfriendly platemaking process allows for much faster delivery times, no minimum order requirements late stage differentiation as well as fastest time to market.
2) High productivity for short, medium and strategic runs
The maximum substrate width is 790mm or 31 inches and the printing line speed is 50 meters or 164 feet per minute, no matter the number of colors. Changeover of unique printing jobs and design adjustments can be implemented within a matter of minutes. This will contribute to the overall improvement of production efficiency of the entire factory by using it in combination with existing analog assets
.
3) Wide color gamut and high quality reproduction
Using 1200 X 1200 DPI resolutions with CMYK colored inks, the FP 790 can achieve more than 90% of the PANTONE color gamut, while also using two white inkjets channels for delivering high white opacity. This wide color gamut capability will allow converters to achieve special brand and spot color matching with no need for additional special inks.
Fujifilm is committed to developing new and innovative products and components for the digital printing market, which we believe is entering a period of long term exponential growth in the field of flexible packaging.
