Heidelberg, Fujifilm ‘Fire Up’ Industrial Inkjet Press

The new Heidelberg Primefire 106 digital press will be demonstrated at drupa 2016.

Building on a strategic partnership formed in late 2013, Heidelberg and Fujifilm have developed a B1-format (approximately 28x40˝) industrial inket printing press that will be demonstrated throughout drupa 2016 as part of Heidelberg’s motto, “Simply Smart.” Built around the flagship Speedmaster XL 106 feeder and delivery design, the new seven-color (CMYK, orange, green and violet) Primefire 106 digital press incorporates Samba MEMS printhead technology from Fujifilm Dimatix.

Geared primarily toward the short-run and customized industrial packaging market, the straight printing machine uses Fujifilm’s water-based pigment inks with Rapic technology for high-definition imaging. Capable of 1,200x1,200 dpi resolution, the Primefire 106 incorporates a conditioning unit that puts down a fluid on the substrate, which chemically reacts with the ink pigments, causing them to coagulate. The press is capable of printing on heavy board stocks and complies with food packaging safety regulations. It is driven by Heidelberg’s Prinect digital front end and will be commercially available in late 2017.

That was the big announcement made by the German-based press manufacturer during a two-day international press event Feb. 18-19, in which it opened up its R&D facility to showcase the Primefire 106 and other digital devices. Heidelberg also revealed that it is standardizing the naming convention of its digital product portfolio under the “Fire” moniker, effective with drupa 2016.

Thus, toner-based Linoprint (Ricoh) presses — with an installed base of more that 1,000 machines — are now called Versafire CV and CP models. The narrow web Gallus DCS 340 hybrid flexo/inkjet label press, which also employs Fujifilm Dimatix Samba printheads, has been renamed the Labelfire 340. Likewise, the Jetmaster Dimension — which robotically prints on 3D objects such as household goods, sports gear, toys, lifestyle products and automotive interiors using inkjet — has been expanded to include the Omnifire 250 (4 axis), the more industrial Omnifire 1000 (6 axis; launches end of 2016) and, eventually, the Omnifire XL.

“The name ‘Fire’ for our digital printing portfolio stands for performance, dynamism and growth — and also for digitally ‘transmitting’ data and ink onto different surfaces,” Jason Oliver, head of Heidelberg’s Digital Division, notes. “We want to send a clear message to our customers that we have one of the highest performance digital printing offerings in our industry.”

Among several other drupa-related announcements:

• The new Prinect Press center XL 2 is more intuitive with an integrated touchpad or multi-touchscreen that operates more like a smart phone. myWallscreen XL, complete with several helpful Prinect widgets, also enables greater personalization for press operator convenience and control.
• The Prinect Inpress Control 2 in-line spectral color and register system provides faster measurements and control algorithms that reduce setup waste by up to 20% and provides 50% faster first measurement results. Prinect Image Control 3 now measures not only color bars on opaque white, but also controls the opaque white itself. Proof Match references proofs or original samples and then matches this reference with minimum Delta E.
• The Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor 2 features Anicolor Booster for higher ink densities at the push of a button, selectable de-inking programs for quicker job changes, faster washups for ink changes, and an Anicolor UV version presented with IST in UV and DryStar UV LED versions.
• More XL technologies have been added to the Speedmaster CX 102 press, including Prinect Press Center XL, washups in under one minute, Prinect Inpress Control 2, fully automatic nonstop delivery, a new air transfer system with universal grippers and DryStar LED technology.