Hot on the heels of Agfa’s inkjet move prepress rival Dainippon Screen announced it has spent €44m (A$70m) buying UK inkjet manufacturer Inca. The acquisition is the latest phase in the ongoing expansion of Dainippon Screen’s digital printing business and, effective immediately, Inca Digital becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.
Inca Digital has only been around since the beginning of the decade in 2001 it shipped the world’s first commercial digital flatbed printer. The company has established a reputation for quality, reliability and performance and built a successful global distribution network for its innovative Eagle, Columbia and Spyder inkjet printers with Fujifilm Sericol. There are a handful of Inca machines in Australia.
Akira Ishida, Dainippon Screen’s chairman and president says, "This is a highly strategic investment for us. The impact of digital inkjet technologies on the conventional print market is accelerating and Inca’s technology complements our existing digital imaging and printing products perfectly. Significantly, Inca’s expertise gives us access to important new markets in industrial printing and packaging. By combining Inca’s expertise in wide format inkjet printing, with Screen’s considerable experience in the media technology, semi-conductor and flat-panel display industries we can further strengthen and grow Inca and Dainippon Screen’s businesses, while working together to develop new applications across multiple sectors in the future."
The company will operate as Inca Digital (a member of the Dainippon Screen Group of companies) from its existing headquarters in Cambridge, UK with no change to the current management team and staff.
Inca Digital Printers today employs 140 people with a quarter of these working in R&D.
Inca claims its Eagle and Columbia printers set the early standards in flatbed technology and says the recently launched Columbia Turbo and Spyder 320 have ensured that the company’s products remain at the forefront of productivity, quality and reliability.
In addition to flatbed technology, Inca is developing single pass printing technology the first application is for the corrugated packaging sector. Ink manufacturer Fujifilm Sericol, which manufactures and develops the UV inks used in the machines, sells Inca’s flatbed printers around the world. In April 2005 the company won two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise acknowledging its achievements in Innovation and in International Trade.
