Fujifilm sprang a surprise on the industry last week with the announcement that it would cease sales of the Jetpress 750 and the 1160 inkjet web press in European markets as a first step in “a strategic transformation of the Fujifilm Europe Graphic Communications business”.
This suggests that further changes are possible with printing plates in the spotlight. Fujifilm has already ceased plate production in Europe and its Tilburg site which once had three plate lines and converting facilities is now dedicated to its healthcare business and the recycling of toner cartridges. Printing plates are imported from Asia and face stiff competition from lower price Chinese made plates.
Fujifilm has been running the plates business as a cash cow, focusing on transferring sales to higher value process-free plates and aiming to help the digitisation of the commercial printing industry. If that was the strategy in Europe, the announcement that sales of two inkjet products would cease on 1 April seems to put a hole in the plan. This is the start of Fujifilm’s next financial year, pointing to a clearing of the decks before that date.
The company has planned the discontinuation of low margin products in analog printing and to spur the digitisation of commercial printing. It points out that a major business risk from “a greater than expected decline in demand in the offset printing market” according to the Fujifilm annual report.
The Print on Demand business, around the Revoria machines, is the youngest Fujifilm business in Europe at least, and anecdotally is performing well and taking market share in a sector it has not previously had a direct involvement. Fujifilm also has a large format inkjet business with a spread from low cost roll to roll models to hugely powerful machines for printing corrugated board.
The company will continue to market and sell the FP790, its inkjet press for flexible packaging, which is at the beginning of its life. However “due to ongoing profitability issues” the mature Jetpress 750 and the recently introduced 1160 will no longer be available to European customers.
The decision raises questions over the future of the customer showroom in Brussels which has been dedicated to inkjet printing. The company opened a European showroom in Ratingen in 2024 to showcase all its graphic arts products.
Sales of the B2 inkjet Jetpress proved difficult because of a combination of the cost of ownership and the lack of duplexing capability. Even as just about the only machine in the sector for the last decade, excepting the B2 versions of the HP Indigo, sales have remained slow.
Impress Print is the most recent commercial printer to install the press in 2022, followed by Electric Stage for a niche packaging application. Other users include CPI Books and Clays for book covers, Pipi in carton printing and Emmerson and Kingfisher Press, both long standing users of the machine. Those that use it have been very loyal to it, praising the quality of print, consistency and reliability.
Now B2 sheetfed inkjet presses are here or are coming this year from Canon, Heidelberg, Konica Minolta, Komori and Ricoh.
The webfed 1160 was shown at Drupa and put through its paces at the Hunkeler Innovation Days last year. It uses an innovative approach to tackling the issue of drying a water based ink. The paper was heated before printing to reach an optimal humidity and reduce the amount of drying needed after printing. While innovative, the approach differed from established machines from Canon, HP, Ricoh and Screen and this may have contributed to any uncertainty any new technology faces.
The decision is also a major volte face from Drupa where the machines, along with a B2 toner press, were the centrepiece of the stand. At Labelexpo last year, there was a focus on the Jetpress for carton printing applications along with the integrated inkjet printbar products.
As this arm is attached to the Dimatix inkjet head operation, it does not come under the Graphic Systems Business and is not affected by the changes.
There are no statements about similar changes that might take place in North America or in Asia, where the structures will be different. The North American operation for example has only two countries to support, not the twenty or so in Europe.
The Graphic Communications division remains a significant business. It accounted for 29% of revenue for the Business Innovation division in the year to March 2025, amounting to £163 billion.
