VLF digital print pops for P-O-P

-- Converting Magazine, 9/1/2008

Point-of-purchase displays and their related packaging are entering a new era of converting via super-fast, very-large-format, flatbed digital-printing systems.

The latest market entry: The Inca Onset (at right) from Fujifilm Sericol USA (www.sericol.com) which debuted last month at the supplier’s new customer demonstration center in Kansas City. The Onset is large enough to literally walk inside, so it’s easier for the manufacturer to bring customers to it, than to exhibit the system at tradeshows.

Onset’s high-speed inkjet capability comes from a massive array of 576 Fuji Dimatrix Spectra printheads (24 print modules of 24 heads [CMYK] each) that reportedly deliver three billion ink drops/sec. (at left). Standard satin-finish output is said to be up to 5,380 sq ft/hr. With 73,000 nozzles, it prints a 5 x 10-ft sheet bi-directionally in about 15 secs, flash UV-curing as it moves to deliver the job fully cured. With automated infeed and delivery, the Inca Onset prices around $3 million. But its performance is sufficiently speedy and some traditional screen-printers are abandoning their old presses and moving entirely to digital output.

The Onset has been placed in nine operations worldwide, including the UK, Spain, The Netherlands, and three in North America: C2 Media in Englewood, CO; and Holland & Crosby and Artisan Complete, both in Toronto, Canada.

This article was prepared with the assistance of Graphic Arts Monthly.