Fujifilm has announced that during the course of 2016, an unprecedented number of European printers from the UK to Poland, and from Spain to Croatia, transformed their businesses by investing in the ultimate industrial flatbed, the Onset X.
drupa 2016 contributed to the number of companies investing in the platform, as it took pride of place in the wide format section of the Fujifilm stand. On-stand sales to German screen printer Bachmann GmBH and to leading UK POS and POP printers, Kolorcraft Group and Augustus Martin, were among those announced at the show. Footfall across the stand was heavy throughout the exhibition, and the Onset X was a major draw for media and customers alike.
Bachmann’s CEO, Pascal Bachmann, is clear on the benefits he sees this platform providing: "With the Onset X3, we feel that the Fujifilm-Inca Digital partnership has taken both productivity and quality to another level altogether,” he says. “Aside from the increase in quality we’ve seen since the installation, the biggest difference we (and our customers) have noticed is just how quickly we can turn jobs around. I would go so far as to say that I think the Onset X3 is unmatched as a large format machine with the ability to handle both flexible and rigid substrates.
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| The Onset X1 |
“Modern print companies need to revolutionise to survive,” Bachmann continues. “There can be no complacency. No one can say for sure what the future holds, but what is certain is that those with the most flexibility, adaptability and creativity will thrive. With the Onset X3 and our growing partnership with Fujifilm, we think we have given ourselves the best possible platform to deliver on all of these essential requirements.”
Augustus Martin made its decision to invest in two Onset X2 machines and an X3 as a result of its extensive experience with Inca platforms over many years and across a range of models. “We’ve found the quality and reliability of the Inca platform and the Fujifilm Dimatix inkjet system to be exceptional” says founder and Joint Managing Director, Lascelle Barrow. “The new Onset X series has preserved all the rich hallmarks of its well-earned reputation, while dramatically increasing production capacity – making this investment a relatively easy decision in the end.”
At either end of the year, two European corrugated packaging specialists – Grupondunova in Spain and ProDigital in Croatia – invested in Onset X1 machines, citing the quality, productivity and scalability of the platform as their reasons for investing.
“We wanted to be sure we had the fastest machine on the market, but we were not prepared to compromise on quality to get there,” says ProDigital CEO Denis Cigir. Having spent more than a year exploring options, including upgrading the company’s existing digital press, Cigir came to the conclusion that the production speed and capabilities of the Onset X platform could not be matched by anything else currently on the market. He concludes: “We know that when we do reach a stage at which we need to increase our production speed, we can do so very easily and cost-effectively by scaling up our existing platform to achieve speeds of up to 900m2/hr.”
Grupondunova’s Director General Jordi Carrió also had the long-term future in mind when making the investment: “The digital packaging world is still in its infancy,” he explains. “So it was very important for us to find a supplier with the ability and willingness to evolve with us. We were looking for a long-term partner rather than just a supplier and we felt that Fujifilm was ideally suited to that role. Having identified a trend towards customisation and specialised low-volume packaging, we had recently established a new digital packaging business called
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| The Onset X3 |
Wondu, which we had tasked with taking advantage of the increased opportunities in this exciting market. A lengthy period of trials and testing convinced us that the Onset X printer should sit at the heart of this new business proposition, as it has the performance, quality and speed to ensure we deliver on our promise to our customers."
The Onset X platform opens the door for short run package printing, sampling and prototyping at high levels of quality that are proving hugely attractive to the corrugated packaging sector. But whether for packaging, or large format displays, the Onset X series prints onto a wide variety of rigid and flexible materials and produces stunning images for everything from everyday signage to the highest quality backlit displays for demanding markets such as cosmetics and luxury consumer goods. The platform’s “Scalable Architecture” design gives customers a future-proof investment, built to allow printhead configurations to change and grow without having to change other parts of the machine. At the upper end, the Onset X3 prints at a blistering 900m2 per hour.
Tudor Morgan, Sign & Display Segment Manager, Fujifilm Europe concludes: “The evidence we have seen over the past year is that printers are thinking carefully about their long-term future and investing accordingly. In addition to the scalability benefits, Onset X platforms are extremely robust and retain their residual value remarkably well, even years down the line. So in addition to the immediate benefits customers are seeing in increased productivity and quality, the Onset X is an investment that is setting them up for the future.”
Fujifilm Australia
www.fujifilm.com.au
