36 email: news@printmonthly.co.uk September / October 2023 - Issue 344 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT / FUJIFILM UK ▲ GPG produced the graphics for Fujifilm’s stand at FESPA 2023 using an Acuity Ultra R2. Image: Daniel Gutendorf, GPG and Ali Meybodi of Fujifi lm Fujifilm partnered with German printing business GPG Digitaldruck to produce the eye-catching graphics for the 2023 edition of FESPA. GPG also used the Acuity Ultra R2 due to its speed and versatility. These graphics were designed to showcase Fujifilm’s Blueprint Live concept which was first launched at FESPA 2022 and celebrates Fujifilm’s all-new Acuity range of wide-format printers, developed in-house from the ground up. Confidence In Customers Back in May, UK-based partner of Fujifilm, Soyang hosted an Open House event to showcase the capabilities of the superwide Acuity Ultra R2 roll-fed printer to customers in its showroom. Soyang initially partnered with Fujifilm in mid-2022 to become a distributor of the Acuity Ultra R2 in the UK. The well-attended event took place in Soyang’s new purpose-built Acuity Ultra R2 showroom at its 70,000sq ft head office and distribution centre in Accrington, Lancashire. Another company that has invested in Fujifilm technology for another area of the industry is Paragon Germany. The company purchased a pair of one-metre-wide Fujifilm imprinting bars to print to the front and the reverse of the web for its direct mail production line. Describing its decision to invest in Fujifilm technology over other systems, Paragon operations director for Direct Mail Bernd Wein said the company liked that Fujifilm fully owns all the technologies including the printheads. This, he said, gave Paragon confidence to be dealing with one partner which it believed could offer the service and support needed to ensure ongoing smooth operation and the swift resolution to any problems. “It’s also proven technology,” Wein adds. “Fujifilm has a long heritage in inkjet and its imprinting solutions are tried and tested. It's a strong and respected manufacturer and a financially robust and stable company that we know we can depend on over the long term.” In 2022, Fujifilm acquired Unigraphica and this was also a factor in Paragon’s decision with the combination of Fujifilm and Unigraphica's inkjet systems integration expertise seen as an attractive proposition. A UK-First Back to the UK and Emmerson Press became the first UK investor in Fujifilm’s ApeosPro C toner press. Kenilworth-based Emmerson Press has been a Fujifilm plates customer for almost 20 years and in 2016 became the first printer in the UK to invest in the Jet Press 720S, later upgrading to the Jet Press 750 in 2019. Now, the company has become the first in the UK to purchase the newly launched ApeosPro C810 toner press. The deal was formerly agreed at a Fujifilm event in London’s docklands in May to celebrate the launch of the manufacturer’s toner technologies in the UK. A company that has been operating for nine decades is bound to come across some stumbling blocks or challenges along the way. Historically, Kent says Fujifilm’s biggest challenge came when the market for photographic film plummeted almost overnight around the turn of the 21st century. However, the company’s success in rapidly diversifying into multiple other sectors, including the print industry, has since become the subject of books, articles, and academic theses. From a local perspective, Kent says the constant change is the most challenging aspect, but also very exciting! Something that was a challenge for all businesses and another cause of business changing overnight was Covid-19 and Kent says he is very proud of the way Fujifilm UK has emerged from this period. “The investment in R&D never stopped and we are reaping the rewards now,” he says, adding: “I am also proud of our staff who manage to stay so passionate and focused on our customers amid the constant change around them.” Looking forward and Fujifilm UK plans to continue to innovate and support businesses across the industry, especially in the area of digital transformation. “That is our mission and I don’t think that will ever change,” Kent concludes.
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