printmonthly PrintMonthlyMagazine printmonthly_signlink KIT & CONSUMABLES | NEWS 12 website: www.printmonthly.co.uk January | February 2026 - Issue 358 First HEIDELBERG Jetfire 50 sold in the UK Micropress has announced its investment in the UK's first HEIDELBERG Jetfire 50, with the aim of strengthening the commercial printer’s growing digital inkjet print offering. The latest Jetfire press is designed to integrate seamlessly with HEIDELBERG’s Prinect workflow portal, with the aim of improving efficiency through automation. Part of HEIDELBERG’s latest generation of inkjet technology, the Jetfire 50 is designed to offer high-speed performance and exceptional image quality. Micropress was also the first UK company to purchase the drupa 2024 model of HEIDELBERG’s Speedmaster XL 106-8P. Speaking of the purchase, Rob Cross, joint managing director at Micropress, says: “We first invested in inkjet technology at the start of 2024, and it has proved extremely successful for us. In fact, we’ve now reached capacity. We needed an additional machine to cope with growing demand, and the Jetfire 50 fits that need perfectly.” According to Cross, the digital inkjet area of the business had become a bottleneck in recent months, which the Jetfire investment directly tackled. “There’s also genuine excitement about being early adopters of the Jetfire 50 and pride in being the first UK business to bring it online,” Cross adds. The Jetfire 50 will play a critical role in supporting the upcoming launch of Press Print, Micropress’s new online print platform. Scheduled to go live soon, Press Print is a new channel designed to make it easier for customers to order what they need, when they need it. HEIDELBERG also recently announced the launch of two new computer-to-plate (CtP) automation solutions integrated into a single line, with the release of its new Compact Pallet Loader (CPL) and Compact Bender. In conjunction with the Suprasetter 106/A106 platesetter models, the CPL enables fully automatic loading of printing plates into the systems. Integration into the Prinect workflow also means the CPL supplies the CtP system with printing plates fully autonomously, in line with the job structure. At the end of the process, the new Compact Bender plate bending system concludes the fully automated processing of the offset plates. When combined with an optional barcode recognition function, the system makes it possible to supply the plates required for the printing process – pre-sorted according to printing press, job, and plate set – without any manual intervention whatsoever. The Jetfire 50 is a B3 water-based inkjet printer Edale announces refreshed press line-up Edale, a Canon company focusing on flexographic printing and converting solutions, has announced a refresh to its range of label and folding carton presses, to further align its offering with Canon’s portfolio. The news, which was teased to the industry ahead of Labelexpo Europe in September, will see new names for Edale’s existing range – the Edale LabelLine FL4e and LabelLine FL4p for labels, and Edale CartonLine FL6p and CartonLine FL7p for folding cartons. The refresh sees the introduction of new performance tiers, namely the Essential (e) range engineered more for day-to-day production and the Precision (p) range designed for premium applications and higher volumes. The refreshed models also adopt a more cohesive industrial design that aims to reflect Canon’s core aesthetic, helping customers to recognise the platform, tier, and intended use of the machine. The news is part of a major growth strategy by the UK print manufacturer, including the recent appointment of Lachlan Buirds as managing director, and Rob Brown as sales and marketing director. The refreshed Edale CartonLine FL6p integrates a number of print solutions Xaar details braille printing capabilities Industrial inkjet manufacturer, Xaar, has unveiled its latest whitepaper, showcasing how its Versatex Printbar can be used to produce braille packaging embellishments. Using the Versatex Printbar print engine module, users can implement high build varnish embellishment to support variable data printing for blind and partially sighted users. The information about Versatex’s braille capabilities was also delivered at two presentations, namely at Labelexpo Asia in Shanghai, and Packaging Europe’s Digital Print for Packaging (DPP) Conference in Berlin. Versatex offers two dedicated modes for braille printing tailored to different production needs. In High-Build mode, it delivers dot heights of 200µm at up to 19m/min, which is reportedly rated most comfortable by blind readers. The mode is designed to ensure well-shaped cells with precise spacing for optimal fingertip recognition. Versatex is designed as an ‘outof-the-box’ solution which can be integrated into new machine configurations or retrofitted onto existing presses, available for both left-to-right and right-to-left press directions. Versatex offers a High-Build mode and a High-Speed mode By Jonathan Pert By Jonathan Pert By Jonathan Pert
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