Fujifilm hopes to have the first Revoria PC2120 in the UK at its Luton showroom in June and has a number of potential customers in detailed negotiations to be early adopters of the press.
Jet Tech, the winner of the European partner of the year prize at the dealer meeting in Vienna last week, is hosting the UK launch event on 14 July.
The eye catching aspect of the Revoria PC2120 is the option of a neon green toner in a six-colour press. When used alongside the neon pink introduced for the PC1120, the press delivers a colour gamut that Fujifilm says comes close to the RGB screen gamut with brighter cleaner colours and ability to hit 93% of the PMS range.
But it will be the inclusion of AI to simplify press operation down to single clicks for paper profiling and optimising the press set up that will prove more significant. There is technology to control consistency, to eliminate the chore of running system calibrations and to run remote diagnosis checks.
The press has the same 120ppm throughput and can handle materials from 52-400gsm and up to 1,300mm long (729mm when duplexing) as the PC1120, which was introduced five years ago.
But the inclusion of the AI features will increase productivity and deliver more sellable sheets to the floor.
The substrate profiler is a device with within seconds can capture information about a new paper measuring its key physical properties and using this to adjust press set up. Once entered a single test print is all that is needed to confirm the image quality. There is no need to repeat this process a number of times.
The Revoria Flow AI will analysis the digital version of the job and make a recommended setting to the operator and the press started with a single click. The printed sheet passes through the Smart Monitoring Gate before delivery. This measures from to back registration and also density patches on the sheet, making any changes automatically to keep the job consistent on a longer run. Combined this reduces the need to wasteful reprints and set up time.
In this way Fujifilm is tackling key issues that commercial printers face: demands for faster turnarounds, shorter runs, increased customisation and shortage of experienced and skilled people. There is also the ability to lift the impact of print through the additional toners offered: white, clear and gold and silver metallics as well as the two neon colours.
“We are investing in toner technologies,” says Fujifilm Business Innovation corporate vice president Kazuo Tamura. “The new Revoria will set new standards and offer greater creative potential for our customers. It is a new press concept.”
A further change is the use of AI in remote diagnostics and to reduce maintenance issues. A printed sheet can be measured, the data uploaded to the cloud and there engineers can identify the cause of a fault, cutting any fix time and identifying issues before they become problems.
Fujifilm’s decision earlier this year to cease the Jetpress was a necessary realignment the company says. Likewise the decision to pull out of large format inkjet shortly afterwards, because that has become a market saturated with Chinese made low cost machines. The FP790 inkjet press for flexible packaging remains. “
“We are following two clear directions now,” says SVP Fujifilm Europe graphic communications and device technology Keita Yamamuro, ”print on demand in production printing and office printing. We have made changes to the graphic communications business, but it’s a required step to strengthen our business and we will keep investing in print on demand and device technology.
“We have reviewed our business from two perspectives: sustainable business growth and profitability, so for the next couple of years at least, it’s about print on demand.”
The one area to escape the inkjet cull is flexible packaging where there is less competition and greater scope for growth as less than 1% of flexible packaging is printed digitally and the Triton Aquafuze technology which is unique to Fujiflm.
The company is not shutting the door completely on any future return for inkjet in commercial printing “perhaps in a couple of years. “ he says.
Nor is it shutting down development of a B2 toner press. Two years ago at Drupa Fujifilm introduced the GC1250, but nothing more has been heard of this. Again it is not a priority. Development continues in the background, says Yamamuro. “But there is no schedule for us to bring anything to market.”
In the meantime there is the Revoria PC2120 to establish as the leading toner press that Fujifilm believes it to be. At what point, if ever, this machine appears under different names is a question to be addressed in Tokyo. Historically Xerox has rebadged machines that Fujifilm has built for commercial printing, including Versants and the Iridesse based on the Revoria 1120. The press is also available through Sharp in North America in particular. The same is likely to happen again, but not immediately. Fujifilm believes it has the leading toner press available and will want to exploit that as much as possible.
