The device will be installed on 24 February at the firm's Suffolk premises. It is an addition to the 21-staff outfit’s existing fleet and will mainly be employed for short-run work.
The Jet Press 720S was launched in late 2014 but until recently had seen slow uptake in the UK.
Kingfisher managing director Jon Doidge said he spotted the machine at Drupa but initially had “no thoughts of buying anything”.
“While we were at Drupa we viewed a Speedmaster XL 75 and a Jet Press. We then sat down and decided as a company we had three options: do nothing, invest in an XL 75, but this wouldn’t really give us anything new, or a Jet Press, and we thought this would offer a whole new revenue stream for us,” said Doidge.
“We decided it was the right thing to do, knowing that there was only one at the time in the country, so we just thought that it’s good to get ahead of the game on this one and go with it."
The £995,000-listed B2 inkjet Jet Press prints at 2,700sph simplex at a resolution of up to 1,200dpi using Fujifilm Dimatix Samba printheads. It handles sheet sizes ranging from 545x394mm to 750x532mm.
Fujifilm announced at its open house in September 2016 that of the 80 Jet Press 720S models installed worldwide so far, the majority have been in Japan, with around 20 in Europe.
“Its main selling points are the short run lengths and extremely high quality. The quality is, dare I say it, better than litho,” added Doidge.
“When you’re running 100 to 200 copies, the speed is irrelevant. The time you save with no plates, no makereadies is huge. So you’ve more than made your time up.”
Kingfisher added in a two-story 56sqm extension in order to accommodate the Jet Press. It also runs a Speedmaster XL 75, a Xerox DocuColor 8080, a wide-format Jetrix 3015 and a Mimaki CJV130. It has a wide client base, carrying out a variety of commercial work, with its biggest client accounting for around 8% of its sales, which sit just under £3m.
The company is currently considering recruiting an additional member of staff to operate the Jet Press.
