Fujifilm unveils 5D printing solution strategy at drupa

Print Solutions

Fujifilm has announced a partnership with EPAC Technologies to create the long awaited true automated system to fulfil the demands of the printing industry. With the partnership, Fujifilm will unveil its ‘5D Printing Strategy’ at drupa, to showcase the future vision for the digital commercial market.

‘Fujifilm presents the first step in its revolutionary 5D Printing Solution,’ announced Takuo Ito, director and corporate vice president of Fujifilm Global Graphic Systems. ‘On top of the three evolutionary dimensions of printing technologies – offset printing, digital printing, and 3D printing –our 5D Printing will create two new paradigms in the printing industry with Fujifilm's ‘true’ offset quality in digital printing and – in partnership with EPAC Technologies – game changing print automation.’

Since 2012, Fujifilm has made contributions to the commercial digital press sector: the Jet Press 720S, a B2 sheetfed digital press, now has over 70 units installed worldwide; the Jet Press 540W, a roll to roll digital press, has created value for the book publishing market.

At drupa, the company will provide a glimpse of the 5D Printing future. It will be bringing the heads from the Jet Press 720S press to its roll fed digital press. It will demonstrate 1200 dpi inkjet heads, prior to the Jet Press 720S print heads being introduced.

Fujifilm is also introducing a new kind of automation in partnership with EPAC Technologies. EPAC engineered a revolutionary automation strategy based on the fundamental principle of non linearity. Powered by its development of some of the world's fastest industrial robots and propriety algorithms, EPAC provides a digital printing solution: E2. EPAC's ‘non-linear’ automation production combines the best printing technology and the best bindery equipment in a fully automated, multi-dimensional system that can produce any quantity at prices that displace most of the offset world. For book manufacturing, for example, the E2 systems combine the best components for printing, cutting, binding, trimming and sorting orders for delivery to bookstores or the end user through automated processes that do not involve any human intervention, dramatically reducing costs while simultaneously increasing quality and reliability.

In 2016, Fujifilm and EPAC established initial production systems in the US, Europe and Latin America that incorporate Jet Press and EPAC's E2 technology including a new ink. The partnership brings to the commercial print market short run, full automation, zero waste printing with, what the company says is offset quality.