Fujifilm plans to begin sales of its inkjet printers which are compatible with UV ink¹ and solvent ink² manufactured by its fully-owned British affiliate, Fujifilm Sericol Ltd (FFSR).
Sales operations will begin in the North American market, and will be expanded from there. Through this approach, Fujifil says it will continue to actively expand its operations in the graphic arts business.
A wide variety of customers including screen printing companies, sign and display printing companies, photo laboratories and commercial printing companies employ inkjet printers compatible with UV and solvent inks.
The market for the digitalisation of printing processes has dramatically expanded in recent years due to short run production, short-term delivery and increasing graphic design.
FFSR's UV and solvent inks for inkjet printers, in particular feature a wide colour reproduction range based on the company's unique development and manufacturing know-how and enable vivid colour expression, which has been appreciated as top class by worldwide users. The newly developed UV ink can allow to print on wide variety of substrates, from rigid material such as plastic and acrylic board to flexible material such as film, vinyl and paper.
By taking maximum advantage of its sales channels in the commercial printing market with superior field records through decades long sales of printing equipment and photo laboratories in the imaging operations, Fujifilm will develop its industrial inkjet business based on its inks and inkjet printers worldwide in addition to FFSR's sales network for major screen printing companies.
Fujifilm also plans to offer high value-added services, based on the rich image processing expertise it has cultivated over many years and its hardware/software support structure.
The company has long been a leader in devices and materials for printing. It continues its worldwide development, manufacture, and sales of a broad spectrum of products from graphic arts film, PS and CTP plates through software, film and platesetters for prepress.
Fujifilm plans to continue to expand and develop its graphic arts business, which in one of its core businesses, and is planning to expand consolidated sales figures of this business to ¥300bn (US$2.5bn) or more for financial year 2008.
¹ A type of ink that hardens if ultraviolet rays are applied to it. Printers compatible with UV inks can directly print on not only paper, vinyl and other sheets but also such thick materials as acrylics and metals. Furthermore, UV inks that do not contain VOC are environment-friendly. They are also weatherproof and suitable for outdoor billboards, signs, indoor decoration and POP applications.
² A type of ink that employs an organic solvent. Printers compatible with solvent inks can directly print on paper, vinyl and other materials. As they are very much weatherproof, these inks are suitable for outdoor, large-sized advertisements, billboards and signs.
Fujifilm Sericol Ltd (FFSR) is a global corporation engaged in the development, manufacturing and sale of inks for screen and package printing as well as industrial inkjet inks and materials. With inks for screen printing and wide format digital UV inkjet inks, the company maintains a strong market share position worldwide.
