Agfa, Xaar announce Inkjet agreement

Agfa and Xaar have announced a strategic agreement for joint research, development and manufacturing of next-generation inkjet printheads. The agreement covers a five-year period and will give Agfa access to innovative inkjet technology for new applications in package as well as commercial and newspaper printing.
This joint development has resulted in a new generation of printheads that will be previewed at Drupa 2004 in Dusseldorf, Germany. The new printheads will be manufactured at Xaar’s plant in Jarfalla, Sweden, and both companies will have the right to sell them into their respective markets. To support the expected production volumes and increase the capacity of certain key processes, Agfa has invested more than 2.5 million € in new equipment at the Xaar facility.
The new printheads will include both binary and greyscale versions, with a choice of either 382 or 764 firing channels. Ink droplet size will vary from 80 pico litres for high-productivity and high-coverage applications, down to 3 pico litres for high-resolution and high-quality applications.
The agreement confirms Agfa’s renewed focus on the digital inkjet print market following the recent acquisition of dotrix, which produces the .factory press and supplies the SPICE imaging module for Mark Andy’s hybrid DT2200 press.