Fujifilm Corporation and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG have reached a new global strategic partnership in the area of inkjet printing, which is described as a broad alliance aimed at strengthening existing business and establishing a platform to drive new business.
“In Fujifilm, we have found an internationally recognized partner with innovative strengths in future-oriented areas – consumables and inkjet technology,” stated Gerold Linzbach, CEO of Heidelberg. “This marks a significant step forward in our corporate strategy. Fujifilm’s prepress capabilities and their technologies in the area can enhance and grow existing business.
“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,” continued Linzbach. “It is our goal to also become a global player in the growing digital printing applications market… Within three years we envision a sales potential for Heidelberg in the digital business of more than €200 million.”
The alliance is to focus on developing future inkjet systems and providing access to each other’s prepress technologies. Along these lines, Fujifilm’s expertise primarily sits with print-head and ink development, highlighted by its established J Press line, while Heidelberg brings decades of experience in engineering platforms for sheet transfer and systems integration.
“Fujifilm and Heidelberg have led the printing industry in each domain. Heidelberg’s reputation among world’s printers is unique,” stated Shigetaka Komori, Chairman and CEO of Fujifilm Corp. “Its strong customer network opens important new possibilities for state-of-the-art inkjet technologies… With Heidelberg’s manufacturing know-how we will be able to enhance innovation and develop technologies that will open new roads in digital printing.”
This move marks the second significant partnership between Fujifilm and Heidelberg in relation to Canadian printers, after the two companies announced in May 2013 that Fujifilm Canada reached a thermal plate distribution agreement with Heidelberg Canada Graphic Equipment Limited.
Print this page
