Kodak and manroland have signed a global deal to provide Kodak digital inkjet heads to manroland webfed presses, with Australian news organisations already interested in the variable print capabilities of the technology.
The Kodak Prosper S30 and S20 inkjet heads can be integrated into new conventional newspaper presses at the option of the buyer, or retrofitted to existing systems.
Adding inkjet heads to newspaper presses allows publishers to quickly publish lottery numbers, promotions, up-to-the-minute news, QR codes and local and personalised advertising and addressing within the webfed printing process, allowing unprecedented personalised value adds to attract readers.
The manroland Australasia managing director Steve Dunwell says the partnership with Kodak puts newspapers in a better position to service Australian customers.
“The technology is a great opportunity for newspaper companies to improve their product,” he says.
He says with the deal just inked, no Australian newspapers have integrated the technology, but Fairfax is in talks to both add the inkjet heads to its existing presses and explore full-digital options.
[Related: More newspaper news]
Dunwell says the development of inkjet on commercial web presses and sheetfed inkjet machines, such as those announced by manroland rival Heidelberg with Fujifilm last week, is being discussed but there are no plans at this stage.
“The market is more ready for it now but we see newspapers as the biggest opportunity for the moment,” he says.
“We will be looking at new markets for the technology with Kodak soon and see how the market reacts.”
He says the paper tension on sheetfed machines is a challenge for inkjet implementation.
Kodak Australia managing director Steve Venn says the Prosper S30 can print on 3000 feet of paper a minute, making it good for the high speed and volume of newspaper printing.
He says Kodak will be bringing the technology to commercial and packaging printing in the near future.
[Related: More manroland news]
The deal between manroland and Kodak coming the same month as that between Heidelberg and Fujifilm signals the traditional offset manufacturers looking to a digital future. Both Heidelberg and manroland will also be feeling the heat from Benny Landa’s proposed nano press technology, which promises B1 and B2 presses at sheetfed speed with digital printing at offset quality, although Heidelberg at least is privately sceptical about Landa’s ability to get nano printing technology off the ground.
Dieter Betzmeier, manroland technology and order processing vice president, says following successful integrations in Axel Pringer publications such as German Bild and Newsprinter UK, the technology is ready for wide implementation.
“Print customers around the world can obtain the print head and overall project management for the Integrated Inkjet from us,” he says.
“We have already successfully proven that we can upgrade webfed printing systems from all major manufacturers with an inkjet function.”
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