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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 as two-trillionths of a liter per droplet, across an array of 100,000 or more nozzles, with consistent and repeatable reliability, truly is magical. This magic hasn't happened overnight; it's the result of billions of dol- lars 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 invest- ments of $100 million or more in a new generation of inkjet technology. What makes this a resource-intensive tech- nology is that it is a complex, multi-disciplin- ary science. It is marriage of mechanical and electrical engineering, chemistry, and physics, controlled by software that has been fine- tuned to address an ever-greater range of ap- plications 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 annually through a broad range of partners as well as under its own Fujifilm Graphics Systems Division brand. As inkjet web presses speed along faster and faster, finishing partners are striving to keep pace with glossy-coated paper printed in color. By I.T. Strategies Inkjet Technology and Fujifilm: The Next Chapter in Commercial Printing Technology I nkjet technology has been used for more than 30 years in consumer inkjet printers. During the last five years big breakthroughs have occurred in scal- ing 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 re- place 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. www.MyPRINTResource.com JUNE 2014 • INKJET'S AGE 19 Inkjet technology development may not be all that far removed from rocket science. Meet the J Press From Fujifilm North America The world of commercial printing is about to change. Radically, Dis- ruptively. Big time. Enter Fujifilm's J Press 720. The world's first sheetfed inkjet press. MyPRINTResource.com/10988993 QPsupp_19-20_0614 Inkjet Tech.indd 19 5/15/14 2:33 PM