Features Printing Wide-format Inkjet
Fujifilm Announces Scaleable Inca Onset

Fujifilm today unveiled two significant innovations for the Inca Onset Series of large-format industrial presses, including a new manufacturing platform and the first printer built on it. Fujifilm is the exclusive global distributor of Inca Digital’s inkjet systems.

Onset Scaleable Architecture
Inca Onset flatbed UV machines are now being built on a “future-proof” scalable architecture platform to allow for in-the-field upgrades of productivity and colour systems.

The new modular Onset platform provides the ability to adapt ink tanks, print-heads, UV curing lamps, automation, speed modes, electronics and software. For example, a company with a 4-colour, manual, 300 sqm/hr (3,229 sqft/hr), or a six-colour, semi-automatic, 560 sqm/hr (6,028 sqft/hr) printer can add and exchange colours up to a total of eight, in a variety of combinations, including lights and whites. Onset-enabled printers can also boost productivity speeds in increments up to a maximum 725 sqm/hr (7,803 sqft/hr).

Onset Scaleable Architecture enables Inca itself to streamline manufacturing of the machines, which the company indicates can reduce lead time from order to build by 25 percent. The new Onset engines run Fujifilm Uvijet inks, as well as Inca’s iNozzle mapping electronics and a 15-zone vacuum table to reduce bed masking requirements.

“Onset Scaleable Architecture is a dynamic ‘future-proof’ technology that protects a company’s investment for the long term and provides a highly flexible production centre that can grow and change with them,” stated John Mills, Inca CEO. “Since Inca launched the very first flatbed UV inkjet printer in 2000, we have continued to introduce exciting new technologies that have transformed the market for digital print. This new-generation platform is another significant development and maintains our reputation as an innovator in the world of wide-format printing.”  

New Onset S50i
The first new-generation Onset printer to be developed on the Onset Scalable Architecture is the dual CMYK, Onset S50i flatbed UV system capable of printing 725 sqm/hr (7,803 sqft/hr). The flatbed UV system is immediately commercially available and currently in full production at four companies, three in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. 


“When the Onset S70 was launched in 2007, we changed the industry’s expectations of digital print speed for display graphics,” stated Mills. “The launch of the powerful, new-generation Onset S50i today raises productivity levels still further and makes it a true commercial and cost-effective alternative to offset presses and multiple screen presses.”

The S50i’s throughput of up to 725 sqm/hr (7,803sqft/hr) is equivalent to 144 full beds per hour. The new system uses Fujifilm Uvijet OB or OZ inks to print onto a range of rigid and flexible media up to 3.14 x 1.6 metres (123.6 x 63 inches) and up to 50 mm (2 inches) thick. A choice of print modes can be selected, alongside satin and gloss finishes, depending on the specific job requirements. The Onset S50i incorporates 224 (56 per colour) Fujifilm Dimatix printheads on a full width print array and two UV lamps for curing.

“The desire for a greater level of personalization, combined with shorter run lengths, is well documented in the industry,” stated Tudor Morgan, Systems Marketing Manager, Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems, “The challenge for the OEM is to satisfy this in an economical way. The speed and quality of the Onset S50i makes this achievable.”