Heidelberg waited until Drupa to unveil its brand-new Jetfire range of presses, in collaboration with Canon. Presented for the first time at the Düsseldorf show, the new Jetfire family is aimed at the industrial digital commercial printing market. Jetfire machines are the varioPRINT iX3200 water-based inkjet presses from Canon, whose cooperation is officially announced with this range. These machines are integrated into the Heidelberg ecosystem via its Prinect workflow, which combines both offset and digital printing, guaranteeing great flexibility.
The Jetfire 50, presented at Drupa and now available, is a B3 (35 x 50) sheet-fed machine described as "productive and reliable". It boasts a speed of 9,120 single-sided SRA3 sheets per hour (or 18,000 A4 pages/hour).
This inkjet press produces a resolution of 1,200 DPI on substrates from 60 to 350 g/m 2 for uncoated paper and from 90 to 350 g/m 2 for lying down.
Thanks to its various modules, it is possible to integrate in-line machining elements. The first Jetfire 50 customers are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2025.
The range also includes the Jetfire 75, which will go on sale in mid-2025 with deliveries scheduled for early 2026.
This B2 (61 x 75 cm) format press for commercial printing will print up to 8,700 B2 sheets per hour (or 35,000 A4 pages/hour), twice as fast as current machines on the market, says Heidelberg. This means it can print up to 54 million B2 sheets a year.
It also produces images with 1,200 DPI resolution and handles uncoated substrates from 60 to 450 g/m² 2 and coated from 75 to 450 g/m 2 .
With its format and speed, "it's not only possible to print extremely productively, but also to produce special formats such as posters, 6up banners or variable or numbered jobs. On-time production and on-demand printing become the norm with the Jetfire 75", assures Heidelberg.
With Jetfire, the German brand adds sheetfed inkjet solutions to its digital portfolio, which already includes Versafire toner systems.
"So we offer the whole range, from toner to inkjet, offset to flexo printing - controlled from a common Prinect workflow," says David Schmedding, Heidelberg Sales Director.
