The Japanese press manufacturer is lining up developments in inkjet printing while also increasing marketing efforts to carton printers.
Komori is doubling down on digital print and packaging according to the company’s 2024 annual report.
The company introduced a new B2 inkjet press at Drupa, after the close of the financial year that is discussed in the report. This is the 6,000sph J-Throne 29, a B2 press that uses a new style of UV inkjet ink and what the company calls “unique image forming functions” that have been developed in house. There are no dates for the introduction of this machine as a commercial product.
It will sit alongside the IS29, the B2 inkjet press that was the result of a joint venture with Konica Minolta. Despite printing at half the speed of the new machine, the IS29 continues. Komori says it is advancing the roll out of the press as it “has overcome the technical issues with the system” and that “the product’s overall polish has been improved”.
The NS40, Komori’s application of Landa technology in a B1 press, is subject to efforts to resolve technical issues and so relate the product to the market as early as possible. Komori does not disclose the nature or the issues, nor where they lie. The Japanese company has announced a beta installation some time ago, but nothing since.
If these digital developments show a technological trend towards digital, there is a strong market move towards packaging and away from the declining commercial print market. “The demand for commercial printing may further decline due to the rapid spread of digital media in emerging nations,” the report says. “So the four of the offset press business shifts to package printing.”
Commercial printing is not ignored. The company has managed to reduce energy consumption on a litho press by 18%. This has been achieved by changing the configuration of inking and damping rollers to reduce the overall number required combined with a change in the design of blowers used on press. This will help customers cope with stippling energy prices the report says.