Heidelberg plans for its first inkjet press to hit the market with a Fujifilm engine running under hood, fresh off the signing of a strategic partnership between the two global players.
- Shigetaka Komori, Fujifilm, CEO
The German offset press giant has announced its intentions to use this new alliance to build a digital printing portfolio, with projected sales targets of €200 million in three years, while Fujifilm intends to leverage Heidelberg's engineering and manufacturing clout. The decision to pursue the partnership with CtP plate manufacturer, Fujifilm, comes as a surprise to the local market where Heidelberg has an ongoing relationship with rival supplier Kodak on its next-generation range of Sonora XP process-free plates.
Shigetaka Komori, Fujifilm, CEO, said, "Heidelberg's reputation among the world's printers in unique. Its strong customer network opens important new possibilities for state of the art inkjet technologies. With Heidelberg's global market presence in the printing industry we can introduce our products to new customer groups and increase their potential. With Heidelberg's manufacturing know-how we will be able to enhance innovation and develop technologies that will open new roads in digital printing."
The alliance will share Heidelberg and Fujifilm's extensive prepress capabilities, and will focus the portfolios of both companies on market growth segments.
Gerold Loebach, Heidelberg, CEO, said, "With Fujifilm's inkjet technology we can build on the experience in digital printing gained through other partnerships and quickly move into the peak performance segment. It is our goal to also become a global player in the growing digital printing applications market. Together with Fujifilm we can meet customer needs more efficiently and more quickly."
News of the alignment follows recent announcements that Komori Corporation has cinched the global supply deal with Landa Corporation on its new Nanographic press range, in light of Heidelberg touting it own OEM relationship with Landa for its digital platform at drupa 2012.