The Fujifilm Jet Press 720S at Ebro Color
Based in Albstadt, southern Germany, cardboard packaging print specialist Ebro Color has invested in a Fujifilm Jet Press 720S specifically for folding carton production.
The company produces cardboard packaging and display units for a range of customers in a variety of sectors including cosmetics, food, jewellery and tourism. Already something of a short-run specialist, offering run lengths as low as 25 units, the company wanted more flexibility at lower costs, so decided to make its first digital press investment.
‘Run lengths have been trending down for some time,’ said German Brodbeck, CEO. ‘We recently invested in a specialist offset press for short-run work and we’ve been very happy with it. However, as the trend continues and average run lengths get shorter still, we want to put ourselves in the best possible position to win new short run work and deliver it cost effectively.
‘We were also seeing increased demand for personalisation and unique identifiers on printed products, so we knew this meant investing in digital, a first for us. We looked carefully at the market and attended demonstrations for a range of machines.
‘Nothing else quite matched up to the quality of the Jet Press and the feedback from users regarding the quality was that it is at near-photographic levels.
‘Users were also very positive about the up-time which they said is reliably over 90%. We felt that the quality, combined with the reliability of the machine, represented excellent value for money and we also feel, based on our research into all the technology out there, that inkjet is the future.
‘We see significant business growth opportunities ahead with this investment,’ concluded Mr Brodbeck. ‘The Jet Press will give us the ability to offer ultra-short-run jobs (down to runs of one) both quickly and profitably, enabling us to produce high quality samples and prototypes, and to seriously target the end user market for the first time.’
