Not convinced 2012 was the B2 inkjet Drupa? For those who remain in doubt, there were the Fujifilm Jetpress 720, a Screen Truepress JetSX and a Konica Minolta KM1 to test your convictions.

Not all the B2 digital production presses on show were sheetfed or inkjet. KBA’s entry in this market is through the RotaJET 76, which is a webfed inkjet machine. Meanwhile, the half-size HP Indigo 10000 commercial press uses liquid-ink technology at 2.5 times the size of the previous largest Indigo format. There is also the Indigo 30000 folding carton line. The Ryobi-Miyakoshi joint venture, dubbed the Digital Press 8000, also uses liquid toner. Visitors to Drupa were also given insight into Xeikon’s new liquid toner technology, called Trillium, which outputs at 1200dpi.

But within the new “upsized” digital segment, B2 inkjet represent the largest group. These sheetfed newcomers are throwing down the gauntlet to offset machinery in the lucrative B2 format, the sector when volume print runs are made. 

(To be clear, we are not talking about the inkjet webs aimed at publishing or transactional printing. This space is also well catered for. Here in Australia, a bevy of machines have been installed, including the continuous-feed HP T-series presses at Blue Star, Griffin Press and Opus Group, the Kodak Prosper at SOS Print & Media in Sydney or the InfoPrints at Computershare.)

What we are talking about is a new purpose for digital that challenges offset’s home turf: sheetfed production, the bread and butter of commercial printers. At resolutions that reach up to the 1,200dpi mark, the new crop of half-size inkjet presses sports a quality that arguably gives them bragging rights in sheetfed’s heartland.

The vendors of B2 inkjet presses talk up their compatibility. A B2-format machine can be easily dropped into a commercial sheetfed pressroom geared to half-size printing. But the jury is still out for some sceptics of the technology. They argue that connecting your B3 presses to some of the latest inline finishing still remains more productive than ganging on the larger sheet size.

With Australian print companies quick to get behind inkjet webs, will they also back the new breed of sheetfed presses? There was definitely a lot of Australian interest at the Drupa stands of Fujifilm, Screen, Konica Minolta and others. Vendors can be hopeful this will translate into local investment in the coming year. A further boost is likely once locals get up close and personal with these machines during PacPrint in mid-2013.

Some forward-thinking printers were not prepared to wait until next year to get a head start on the next generation of printing technology. Many flew to Düsseldorf to clap their eyes on the new machines for themselves. So what did these players think of the machinery on show at Drupa?

Core blimey

One printer represented in Germany was Victorian commercial operation Core Print. The firm’s client list includes THL, New Zealand’s premier tourist company, digital marketer Bullseye, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the International Design School and the Stroke Foundation. The Port Melbourne company runs a conventional sheetfed offset workflow, with an Agfa Blue Violet CTP system feeding its Speedmasters, and work finished by Stahl and Polar kit.

Managing director Rob Maloney was impressed by what he saw at Drupa. He says he couldn’t help being floored by the new inkjet sheetfed machines. “To see A2 sheets printing two sides and variable at that. Wow, that is where its going.

“What this will do to the A2 market is the same as what the Indigo has done to the A3 market: take away the jobs of up to 1,500 sheets. The place in the market where this falls is variable data and multiple images.”

However, it will be some time before Core Print considers adding a B2 digital juggernaut to its armoury. Maloney considers the smaller litho offset formats fair game for digital encroachment, but not B2. “Long-term absolutely. Short-term, the costs are so excessive that the click rate will keep litho for medium to long runs in the market for a long time yet.”

Digital vendors have upheld the click-charge model even as their kit pushes offset technology aside. The click charge is a major concern to Maloney. He is less than enthusiastic about these financial tiebacks to the vendors. In fact, he thinks the business model might be one of the greatest impediments to larger-format production inkjet taking hold.

That’s one hurdle, but not the only one. Maloney also believes local printers are still weighing maintenance overheads. 

“It seems the reliability and the amount of downtime and engineer requirements are incredible. This is not technology that you can set and forget, like the Heidelberg presses. These are run by temperamental computers and software that is still a long way off production reliability and user friendliness.”

Michael Schulz, director of SOS Print & Media in Sydney, took the opportunity at Drupa for a close-up look at the new breed of sheetfed inkjet technologies. SOS is no stranger to taking the plunge with new digital technology. In 2010, the company made headlines when it invested in a Kodak Prosper 1000 mono inkjet web press. It would seem that advancing to sheetfed in the inkjet realm might not be such a giant leap for the forward-looking company. However, SOS is keeping both feet planted firmly on the ground for now.

Rather than see a potential shake-up in the general commercial market where SOS operates, Schulz sees B2 sheetfed inkjet as a compelling offset replacement path in packaging. “Everybody is aiming first for the pack-aging market, which seems to be due for a digital, on-demand revolution, provided economical pricing can be achieved.” 

At Drupa, he admired the build quality of the new presses and was very impressed by inline options, such as coating. 

Before SOS considers any move into B2 sheetfed inkjet, some factors need to be sorted, says Schulz. “Productivity needs to increase and price needs to come down.” 

He would also like to see duplexing. “Single-sided is just not versatile enough.”

SOS is being pensive about its next technology play. It also has to weigh up the option to upgrade its web-fed Kodak Prosper 1000 to the full-colour 5000XL version. The company is still evaluating colour engines. “We need a machine that can produce a wide variety of applications, with differing quality expectations, stocks, and so on, and we have not seen an engine that can satisfy these requirements.” 

Dynamic digital

David Minnett, whose Sydney business Group Momentum specialises in short-run sheetfed and variable-data projects, admits he is not printing for the markets that the new B2 inkjets cater to, but finds them a dynamic step forward, with loads of potential for the book printing sector.

“There’s been significant quality development and there’s a real niche there for that kind of kit in publishing, in terms of versioning and personalisation.”

Sheetfed inkjet, especially in the B2 format, will represent a major drop in costs per page, he predicts. “The HP Indigo [W7200] webfed machine is fantastic, but the cost per page is high.
But with the Truepress JetSX and similar machines, you’re talking a portion of those costs.” 

Minnett concurs the new presses are offset-replacement technology, with proven speed, rising quality and falling prices set to make the larger digital sheetfed formats a viable scenario for commer-cial offset printers in coming years. 

Theo Pettaras, managing director of Sydney company Digitalpress, emphasises his business specialises in high-value short-run printing, with some longer-run jobs, and he is not chasing the B2 sheetfed market. But he views it as beneficial for printers at the volume end of digital.

The GASAA president sees the digital half-size format as potentially a way of saving on click charges and reducing run times by ganging A3 and A4 work, but he can’t shake the impression that “B2 is a tricky area for digital”.  

It is a fact of life that much of the commercial digital printing that takes place in Australia is in low volumes, and Pettaras questions whether there is much demand for short-run digital B2.

Offset, with all its efficiencies as a technology, and as a non-click charge business model, has a relatively low cut-in point in the half-size format. That is, the number of impressions at which offset becomes more economical is far sooner reached in the larger formats than in A3 and A4. “Even if the need for short-run A2 printing was required, a small offset press may still be more cost effective.”

The vendors voice up

Screen was an early entrant to this market, one of only two manufacturers to demo B2 inkjet at Drupa 2008 (the other being Fujifilm). The company’s Australian arm was pleased with a legion of curious Aussies inspecting its Truepress JetSX at Drupa 2012. Northern region manager Bruce Wright confirms there was a trend among local packaging printers to give B2 jets more than a once-over in Düsseldorf, and with good reason, as it is “the first B2 digital press to handle thick carton boards up to 0.6mm”.

Wright also noted strong interest from businesses offering photobook services, “because of the ability to print larger formats and 4-up photobooks in duplex mode, using B2 finishing techniques”.

“Digital B2 sheetfed in general – not just inkjet – was probably the most talked about topic at Drupa. Sales of B2 digital presses kicked off for the first time, with many heading for the Australia & New Zealand region. The question is, will B2 digital have the same impact on offset
that B3 digital has had? If it will, then Australian printers need to be ready for that shift in customer demand. 

“A B2 printer can have both digital and offset and decide when to make plates or send the files directly to a digital press, depending on the economics of the print run. B2 digital also has the potential to take work from the B3 sector where legacy B2 folders, binders and cutters can be used more efficiently,” he said.

Matt Ritson, Fujifilm’s graphic systems marketing manager, believes Australia’s printers are taking notice of the company’s Jetpress 720. “The technology is ground-breaking, new-generation inkjet printing technology that enables high-quality, high-speed printing on a large sheet size.”

The 720 has been designed to make print production more flexible, he asserts. “As the Jetpress is B2 format, it fits into existing sheetfed pressrooms without the need of any alterations in terms of paper handling and finishing. Once imaged, the B2 sheet can be treated like any offset sheet, dropping into existing finishing equipment with many special finishes possible. We see the Jetpress 720 not as a replacement for offset but to allow printers to add additional digital printing services to their portfolios.”

But some vendors are holding back from B2 sheetfed printing. German press major KBA falls into that category. Dave Lewis, director of KBA Australasia and general manager its sheetfed presses division, says that at this stage, KBA has decided not to enter the sheetfed digital zone.

“We introduced our RotaJET 76 digital web press at Drupa, but KBA are going to see how the digital sheetfed market develops before making any move.”

For Lewis, part of this conviction rests in his company’s dedication to its core lithographic hardware in the half-size sheetfed format. “We firmly believe that there is a lot of life left in sheetfed offset after receiving over 110 sheetfed press orders at Drupa, including one in Australia.”

B2 digital: The contenders

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter