Fujifilm South Africa opened its new Innovation Centre Africa in Roodepoort to the media for the first time on 28 March, and Sign Africa was invited to see the solutions on display, which include electronic imaging, medical systems, large format printing, photo printing and finishing products.
Printers on show include the Acuity 15, LED 1600 II and 3200R. These were demonstrated printing with clear and white inks and raised effects, showing the many applications that can be achieved.
The Acuity 15 flatbed printer is an affordable investment into wide format UV inkjet printing. It delivers a combination of near-photographic print quality and solid production output for a wide range of applications. It’s ideal for users who want to take a step into digital flatbed production.
Features include a dedicated flatbed design, high-resolution greyscale print heads, standard (1.25 x 2.5 m) bed size, five colour channels, up to 22.8 sqm/hr throughput, three-zone vacuum table, powerful instant-curing UV system, Fujifilm Uvijet UV curing ink, roll media option and white ink channel.
The Acuity LED 1600 II features a fast printing mode of 33sqm/hr, which is more than 50% faster than the previous model. This addresses customer demands for quicker job turnarounds and lower output cost. The machine, which has a maximum print width of 1610mm, and a 1200dpi maximum resolution, also offers simultaneous two-layer printing (white plus clear) and three-layer printing (colour plus white and clear) when combined with Caldera or ColorGate RIP software.
Also on display is the Acuity LED 3200R, which features an LED UV curing system (5000+ hours). LED UV uses a fraction of the energy of conventional curing systems and produces no heat. The process is solvent-free and produces little odour, so the Acuity LED 3200R can be used in most working environments without dedicated extraction. The machine produces consistent vibrant colours with a high degree of opacity for optimal results in day/night applications. Instant-curing UV inks enable multi-layer printing that reproduces high-quality designs with two-layer or three-layer printing.
With specially formulated Fujifilm Uvijet inks, users can print on a wide range of display materials. Even some specialist materials like polyester textiles and heat sensitive media print well due to no heat exposure during the LED UV curing process.
Fujifilm South Africa medical and graphics manager, Tomo Hemmi, said, ‘The centre allows us to interact with customers who want to print on unique products and show them the creative applications they can produce. Fujifilm doesn’t sells products, we sell solutions. We also form partnerships with customers so that we can grow together.’
A start up business opportunity that requires only a small investment on display included the compact photo printers, which allows photographers to print their products at home or ‘on-the-fly’, while at schools or sports matches. The high quality photos come out dry, so they can be printed and immediately given to clients.
Medical equipment such as digitised X-ray equipment was also shown. The equipment has been installed at various healthcare institutions in Africa, including Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tunisia.
Visitors were also given a tour of the warehouse, which strictly adheres to Japanese principles that ensure maximum efficiency, and due to this, it is able to be managed by only six people.
The demonstration centre is open to customers by appointment. Contact Anja Botha: anja.botha@fujifilm.com or (+27 11) 430 5400.
FUJIFILM SOUTH AFRICA +27 11 430 5400 http://www.fujifilm.eu/eu/products/graphic-systems/wide-format-inkjet-printing
