The local head of Agfa has shared the roadmap for the next two years following the launch of the SpeedSet 1060 water-based inkjet press.

According to Agfa sales manager – inkjet for Oceania, Phillip Burns, the SpeedSet 1060 is “just the beginning”.

“I have been closely watching the development of the Speedset 1060 over the last year. Agfa’s investment into the digital print space was driven by Inca’s single pass print technology and that represents where we are heading into the future,” Burns said.

“We have always had valid equipment relevant to the sign and display category, but now with the Speedset 1060 we can now address emerging markets including inner and outer corrugated packaging – which is very hard to compete in without single pass technology.

“The good news is this is just the beginning and based on the roadmap for the next few years, the size will double by the end of 2024 and double again in 2025 up to 1600 x 3600.

“I have results here in our Melbourne head office and when viewing these samples you would think they are printed on a high resolution roll to roll printer. The image quality offered by the Speedset 1060 at high speeds is as good as the industry has been used to at much slower speeds. It is like watching an offset printer operating – it is phenomenally fast and delivers exceptional quality.

“This positions Agfa up against other vendors such as the EFI Nozomi and the Fujifilm Barberan as well as the HP Pagewide CP500, but none of these competitors have been able to tame the technology and we are now way ahead of the market in terms of speed and quality,” Burns said.

Agfa acquired Inca in April 2022 and said at the time that the acquisition strengthens its position in high-speed digital printing and brings additional focus on packaging printing markets.

“The Inca acquisition is a major step in Agfa’s transformation, Agfa- Gevaert Group president and CEO Pascal Juery said at the time.

“Digital printing is a profitable growth engine for the group with a tremendous potential that will be further accelerated by the addition of Inca,” he said.