Inkjet Technology and Fujifilm: The Next Chapter in ... Sheetfed Inkjet... · Inkjet Technology and Fujifilm: The Next Chapter in Commercial Printing Technology ... it’s not unusual

Inkjet Technology and Fujifilm:

The Next Chapter in Commercial Printing Technology

August 2012

I. T. Strategies, Inc.

51 Mill Street, Suite 2 Hanover, MA 02339

PH: 781 826 0200 FX: 781 829 0768 www.it-strategies.com

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Inkjet Technology and Fujifilm: The Next Chapter in Commercial Printing Technology Inkjet technology has been used for more than 30 years in consumer inkjet printers. During the last five years big breakthroughs have occurred in scaling inkjet technology in terms of productivity and reliability. The advances have reached such a level that we are now at a stage where commercial printers and graphic arts services providers will soon no longer be able to thrive profitably without a digital printing component in their operations. With offset print job run lengths rapidly decreasing and the frequency of jobs increasing, we will reach a stage where only end-to-end digital production from job order processing to printing will become a requirement. Digital printing will not replace offset print volumes during our foreseeable careers, but it will capture the high-value work that is needed to run a profitable business. Inkjet technology plays a key role in that journey. Inkjet technology development may not be all that far removed from rocket science. Firing tens of thousands of ink droplets per second per nozzle, at a volume as low a two trillionths of a liter per droplet, across an array of 100,000 or more nozzles, with consistent and repeatable reliability is true magic. This magic hasn’t happened overnight; it’s the result of billions of dollars of investment and decades of research. Just like the semiconductor industry, inkjet technology has doubled its performance in productivity just about annually. The investments in maintaining this rate of advancement have correspondingly also grown and it’s not unusual to see investments of $100 million or more in a new generation of inkjet technology. What makes this a resource-intensive technology is that it is a complex, multi-disciplinary science. It is marriage of mechanical and electrical engineering, chemistry, and physics, controlled by software that’s been fined-tuned to address an ever-greater range of

Core disciplines required in development of inkjet printing




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applications that can be printed digitally. Over the last decade Fujifilm has amassed all of the key elements by acquiring and merging each of the pieces that were needed to optimize the development of inkjet printing systems.

Fujifilm’s investments in non-consumer inkjet technology will enable several billion dollars worth of inkjet printing systems and inkjet ink to be sold in 2012 through a broad range of partners as well as under its own Fujifilm Graphics Systems Division brand.

Fujifilm Inkjet Investment History In the early 2000s, Fujifilm recognized that the world of commercial and graphic arts printing would inevitably become a mostly digital world in terms of expenditures on equipment and supplies. As the world’s fourth largest toner-based printing technology company, the natural inclination was to try to further leverage its investment in toner-based technology and increase its productivity performance capabilities to address the needs of commercial and graphic arts printers. It must have become apparent during that time that while dry toner-based printing served and continues to serve a valuable role, there where some physical and economic limitations that would prevent it from ever fully matching the performance parameters of offset technology from Fujifilm’s perspective. During this discovery process, it was concluded that inkjet technology would best complement dry toner for meeting the needs of high-volume commercial printers. At the core of any inkjet printing system is the inkjet print head technology. The inkjet print head is the heart of the press and tends to control the price of the final hardware system, especially in single-pass printing systems that can have upwards of 50 print heads. The application performance is driven by the inks – the fluid that determines output quality from substrate compatibility to print quality. Both of these disciplines require advanced science – a euphemism for saying they require significant time and investment. To reduce the time required for internal development, Fujifilm went on an acquisition journey. In a short span of time in 2005-2006, it acquired one of the leading independent inkjet print head manufacturers in the world, a company called Dimatix, followed by two of the world’s leading inkjet ink manufacturers, Avecia and Sericol. Dimatix’s advanced print heads are used in a broad range of applications by many of the leading printer manufacturers in the market,




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including several companies that many would perceive as direct competitors of Fujifilm. Similarly, this is true for Avecia and Sericol’s inks, now grouped under the name Fujifilm Imaging Colorants. With subsequent investments, Fujifilm cumulatively invested more than $1 billion dollars during the last six years in inkjet printing technology designed to serve graphic arts service providers and commercial printers. At the core of this investment has been print head technology.

Print heads FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc. – a leading provider of inkjet print heads to the graphics inkjet market, including other manufacturers who some might view as competitors – has been manufacturing print heads for more than 28 years for a wide variety of applications, ranging from ceramics to electronics to wide format graphics. Its most advanced print head is used in the Fujifilm J Press 720, a 20”x29” sheetfed press aimed at graphic arts printing (this format is often called half-size sheet in the United States, medium sheet in Europe, and B2 in Japan). The SAMBA™ inkjet print heads used in the J Press 720 are manufactured at a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Silicon Valley, a setting that would not be out of place in a James Bond movie. Unlike many other piezo inkjet heads, including those made by Fujifilm, SAMBA™ print heads are created using MEMS technology and have a native print resolution of 1200 dpi.

FUJIFILM Dimatix SAMBA™ print bar




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Native resolution is a better indicator of print quality than apparent resolution, a statistic that is most often cited in the market place. MEMS technology, an abbreviation for microelectromechanical systems, relies on silicon thin film material rather than metal and carbon for the creation of the print head. The inherent characteristics of silicon allow the inkjet head to work under very little stress, allowing it to jet billions of droplets without failure.

SAMBA technology takes this to the next level by combining MEMS fabrication, VersaDrop™ technology, as well as re-circulating ink technology. VersaDrop™ technology allows manipulation of the waveform affecting how the droplets are formed, allowing precise control over the amount of ink pumped with each droplet before it detaches from the nozzle. In simple terms, FUJIFILM Dimatix’s patented VersaDrop™ technology merges the final volume of the droplet size that hits the substrate by merging the droplets near the point of the nozzle rather than in flight or on the intended substrate. By controlling the size of the droplet when fired rather than building the droplet one pixel at a time, it allows for:

• faster printing of grayscale images. • improved print quality since there is less chance

for satellite droplets. • reduction in nozzle redundancy since the

volume of the droplet that can be instantly create can compensate for adjacent nozzles in case of failure.

• a wider range of ink fluids since the volume of the droplet is not limited by the print head but rather the VersaDrop™ electronics that fire and merge the droplets.

SAMBA Print Head Technical Capabilities Nozzles/head 2,048 Native resolution (dpi) 1,200 Droplet size 0.1 to 2 picoliter Firing frequency variable, up to 100 Khz Footprint of single head < 2" deep Print bar configurations 3.2” to 72”+; limited by data processing ability Compatible Ink types aqueous, solvent, UV-curable, oil, other Ink viscosity range 5-10 centipoise

Judging Print Quality Print quality is a subjective measure, just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are, however, some metrics that one can use to judge print quality. DPI – dots per inch. Just as we use megapixels to determine the quality of a digital camera, dpi is a surrogate for print quality. However, higher dpi isn’t always better. What’s key is native resolution of the print head and its ability to fire grayscale droplets. Grayscale – the ability to create variable sized droplets on-the-fly, meaning one can place a 2-picoliter droplet adjacent to a 12-picoliter droplet to give the appearance of continuous tone, much like a photograph.




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The reduction in the need for nozzle redundancy greatly improves the economics since fewer nozzles and inkjet print heads are needed. The grayscale capability also eliminates the need for additional light cyan and light magenta inks to create the color gamut required to print photographic-like output. This reduces the complexity (and cost) of the J Press. One of the unintended consequences of developing higher precision silicon MEMS print head technology is an across-the-board increase in complexity. So while the capabilities of the inkjet print head are far greater in terms of performance, so is the need for greater capabilities in fluids, ink delivery, maintenance, etc. By owning and controlling all of the parts that make the ink technology work, Fujifilm is arguably in a more advanced position than other future inkjet sheetfed system developers. In the Fujifilm J Press 720, there are four color bars, each comprised of 17 SAMBA™ inkjet print heads stitched together to form the color bar. Each print head contains 2,048 nozzles – resulting in nearly 140,000 nozzles firing a 2-picoliter droplet (the same size as most inkjet proofers) at speeds up to 100,000 droplets per second.




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Controlling these droplets is truly rocket science: one has to ensure the inks are compatible with the micro-materials that make up the inkjet print head and that the flight pattern of the drops result in consistent, round droplets that allow enough ink spread (but not too much) to create smooth, photographic images.

Inkjet Ink Ink is the hardest working component in any inkjet printing system. Inkjet ink is composed of colorant suspended in a carrier solution. This carrier solution can be water, solvent, or a combination thereof. UV-curable inks are based upon solid colorant monomers, used with or without water or solvent carriers (monomer is a molecule that binds chemically to like-molecules to create polymers; water and/or solvent are occasionally used to reduce the viscosity of the monomers so that they can be jetted). With the J Press 720, Fujifilm has developed VIVIDIA ink, in which a pigment colorant dispersion is suspended in a water carrier solution, combined with a combination of proprietary additives to make the ink perform. As stated earlier, the ink has to be compatible with material of print head so the pH-level of the inks doesn’t cause pre-mature print head failure, and the ink can’t dry or clog the sub-micron nozzle orifices when not firing. Most importantly, the ink must be able to adhere to a wide range of substrates, an especially large challenge since the offset paper industry has had more than a half a century to develop the broadest range of substrates one can imagine – and new substrates are introduced daily. It is especially challenging to match the inkjet inks to offset substrates, as the environmentally friendly inks are mostly water-based. The substrate has to absorb the water carrier and/or heaters have to evaporate the water carrier, while enabling enough of the colorant to “seep” in to ensure adherence (providing abrasion resistance), while leaving sufficient amounts of colorant on top of the surface to provide the bright color gamut that most buyers of print prefer. Due to the small picoliter firing size, the droplet fluids must also be extremely precise. Dispersion for pigmented inks had to be optimized to prevent agglomeration (think of the pulp of fresh-squeezed orange juice settling at the bottom of a glass), which could result in variations in print quality. As a leading chemical manufacturer, keeping the colorant evenly dispersed during the 12-month shelf life of the ink is one of Fujifilm’s strengths. Developing inks in-house speeds up the learning curve when it comes to matching inks to applications as well as new print head technology. Furthering the range of inkjet inks compatible with the SAMBA print heads, Fujifilm is introducing a line of UV-curable inks targeted at folding carton applications. Folding




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cartons are subject to more “abuse” than document print applications, in that they are finished into three-dimensional structures where the ink has to stretch around corners and must adhere even more strongly than water-based inks due to abrasion that occurs during the shipping process when the folding cartons rub against the secondary corrugated shipping containers (corrugated material is quite abrasive, much like sandpaper) and other material. Fujifilm’s background in offset plate technology is extremely helpful in understanding the application requirements for each ink type that is being developed for the SAMBA print heads. In fact, substrates may well be the Achilles heel for inkjet technology as there is no standard substrate for any application.

Substrates To overcome much of the complexity of matching the ink to the wide range of substrates available, the J Press 720 primes (in-line, with no effort required by the user) the substrate before printing with an Anilox roller (a roller with lots of fine dimples that evenly applies a pre-treatment primer to the substrate). The water-based clear flood primer is optimized to work with Fujifilm’s pigmented inks and does not affect the look or feel of the substrate, preserving the original character of the fibers. The priming process is fully automated since it is not economically possible to adjust the primer manually for every job order.

This doesn’t mean the J Press 720 can print on any substrate automatically; offset presses cannot always print on every substrate either. (But the long learning curve on offset technology enables it to print on any standard coated or uncoated stock.) There will be a learning curve, one that Fujifilm has to invest in along with the customers of the J Press 720. It is in both parties’

interest to come up this learning curve as fast as possible, as it doesn’t behoove either to have an idle J Press, and this is where Fujifilm Graphic Systems Division’s application experience comes in.




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Application Experience Fujifilm’s inkjet technology reaches across a broad range of applications. While the J Press 720 may garner the most attention among commercial and graphic arts printers, Fujifilm also has a strong background in large format printing systems. The very latest Fujifilm Acuity large format printer features yet another breakthrough: LED UV-curing lamps. The Acuity LED 1600 features LED UV-ink curing lamps that use much less energy than traditional ARC-type lamps, which, aside from lower energy costs, also provide the additional benefit of being able to print on an even wider range of substrates (including self-adhesive substrates) because they emit less heat. At the extreme productivity end of the signage market are the Inca Onset flatbed UV-curable inkjet printers. Printing at up to nearly 6,500 square feet per hour, the Onset series of printers are used by both screen and commercial printers to address mostly point-of-purchase advertising signage. FUJIFILM Graphic Systems Division is the exclusive distributor of Onset printers, which are a result of development by FUJIFILM Sericol, which manufactures the UV-curable inks, and Inca Digital, which manufactures the printer hardware. The Onset printers were among the first products to use Fujifilm’s single-pass inkjet print head technology, featuring 576 print heads in a single printer. These 17,000 pound, 35+ foot long, $1M+ systems operate most effectively with a steady flow of continual print jobs. Fujifilm is also one of the leading offset plate manufacturers in the world, having invested more than $1.5 billion since 1998 in its 57-acre manufacturing plant in Greenwood, South Carolina. The experience formed over the last few decades is invaluable in understanding how commercial printers use their offset presses to create print. This experience extends not just to commercial printing but also packaging applications. FUJIFILM Dimatix has been selling print

heads used for coding and marking applications in packaging for more than 20 years. It also sells its print heads for ceramics tile printing, where the ink particles tend to be heavy. This experience has helped it to create white inks (which are also heavy since they are mostly based

Fujifilm Acuity LED 1600 large format printer

Fujifilm J Press 720




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upon titanium particles), which are important for clear film printing applications, common in packaging.

Service and Support With the technology behind the J Press 720 having been incubated for decades, its performance is now in the hands of Fujifilm. The Graphic Systems Division of FUJIFILM North America Corporation has more than 600 employees, with more than 200 of those dedicated to solving workflow, consumables, and service challenges. Many of those will be available to hold the hands of J Press 720 customers as time goes forward and the install base grows.

Recycling While it is important for the inks to adhere, it is also important for the printed image to be able to be recycled. Fujifilm proclaims good recycling results for its printed media as certified by the European paper-recycling group INGEDE. This is additional to Fujifilm’s emphasis on a chemical/ink system, which presents no VOCs in the ink, the primer or even in the head cleaning fluid. One of the core reasons why the ability to recycle output from the J Press 720 is very good is because the Anilox coating technology allows the pigmented particles to flock off the paper during the recycling process. In addition, unlike many consumer inkjet printers installed that use molecular-sized, dye-based color inkjet inks, the pigmented particles, while small, are sufficiently large enough that they can agglomerate during the recycling process and can be skimmed off leaving behind white paper that can be recycled.

A new future…. Inkjet technology is on a journey to match analog printing technologies in terms of output quality and performance. While it has achieved this goal in some areas and is on a path towards matching or exceeding analog printing technology in other areas, inkjet printing’s real advantage is in its ability to create new print applications. The Fujifilm J Press 720 is wider than most toner-based printers, allowing for greater productivity in the creation of new print applications such as consumer photobooks, just-in-time large format point-of-purchase advertising, and soon even highly versioned and customized packaging. Because the ability to create and end-to-end digital workflow, products like the J Press require a re-thinking of how commercial and graphic arts service providers operate their businesses. The operations of a traditional offset commercial printer are focused on long run length jobs in part because the sales person commission structure is rewarded on high print volumes. Since digital printing technology thrives on low-volume, high-frequency print jobs that until now have been antithesis of what commercial printers needed, it will




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most likely require a different operational infrastructure than the one commercial printers strived for in their analog print operations. What most commercial printers and graphic arts service providers will focus on first, however, is print quality. The output quality of samples provided by Fujifilm to I.T. Strategies look as good as any other standard bearing printing technology whether this is offset or the best output quality toner. One can expect Fujifilm to continue to develop further technology improvements, substrate compatibility expansion, and operation automation. Fujifilm is a conservative company; hence, we trust it is in its interest to pre-qualify buyers – who will, like Fujifilm, see this as a partnership journey, ones who will use lots of ink, creating high margin products. As stated upfront, inkjet technology is akin to rocket science in complexity. Fujifilm’s full resources as a multi-billion corporation are in place to help forward-looking commercial printers and graphic service bureaus transform their business, helping them move to digital printing with production inkjet printing technology and new business models required to thrive profitably in what remains a $100 billion plus retail value of graphics output business in North America alone.

About I.T. Strategies: I.T. Strategies is a printer market research analysis and research consultancy founded 1992 with a focus on production and graphics printing markets. The company has a strong emphasis on qualitative, deep research on future trends, and is noted for independence of thought and analysis.

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Inkjet Technology and Fujifilm: The Next Chapter in ... Sheetfed Inkjet... · Inkjet Technology and Fujifilm: The Next Chapter in Commercial Printing Technology ... it’s not unusual