Fujifilm bolsters digital ambitions with big hire

Lawn: exciting future ahead
Lawn: exciting future ahead

Fujifilm has hired an industry big hitter to spearhead its attack on the cutsheet toner market after its split from Xerox.

Mark Lawn started in the newly created role of head of POD Solutions on Monday.

A seasoned campaigner in the print on demand (POD) market, Lawn has notched up more than 30 years across digital manufacturers including Xerox, EFI and Canon, spending 17 years with the latter rising to the role of Canon Europe director of Professional Print and Commercial Inkjet Solutions.

In a LinkedIn post yesterday (25 January), Lawn said after working continuously after university, the six months gardening leave since handing his notice in at Canon had been much harder than he anticipated, but added it had been “an honour to be part of and lead… the amazing [Canon] Professional Print family” but that he couldn’t be more excited about his new role at Fujifilm.

“This is genuinely a unique opportunity to help a fantastically innovative company to develop and build a significant new pillar in their already diverse business,” he said.

“What else can I say but watch this space for more information about this new journey.”

His appointment follows Fujifilm ending its 60-year Fuji-Xerox joint venture with Xerox last year, which resulted in it launching the Fujifilm Revoria Press PC1120.

The Fujifilm Revoria Press PC1120 is a single-pass 120ppm toner-based device that, like Xerox’s Iridesse, can print in up to six colours – CMYK plus a choice of clear, gold, silver, white and pink, with the option for undercoat and top coat. It also includes AI and automation technology.

While it's currently only available in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, Lawn will be responsible for the introduction and expansion of the Revoria family.

In a statement, Fujifilm Graphic Systems Europe head of Digital Press Solutions Taro Aoki said: “Fujifilm is delighted to have Mark joining the team. After a successful 2021 for Fujifilm’s inkjet portfolio, with the launch of the Acuity Ultra R2, Acuity Prime and Jet Press 750S High Speed Model, as well as Samba Imprinting bar solutions, we are confident that Mark’s creativity, in-depth knowledge and passion will help to build on this success and drive our digital POD business to new heights in 2022 and beyond.”

Lawn added: “The future is exciting, and we have a unique opportunity to bring these [new Revoria] products to market in an agile and flexible way, as well as being a little bit disruptive, which I think is good for the market and for customers.”