AGFA buys Gandi

[Steve Werner]

Fuji sells the Oce unit under their name, they call it the Acuity. Fuji is also in bed with Inca and owns Sericol. Fuji will become the dominant player in this industry, they displaced Kodak and Agfa in the offset printing industry. Gandi and Agfa should be a nice marriage. Gandi was financially insolvent. The inkjet industry should start narrowing very quickly the big boys are starting buy up operations in hopes of finding new profit streams. I wouldn't be surprised if Feller's gets bought by Pitman or Fuji in the next year or two. That is going to be the next logical step for them.

 

[Steve Werner]

Dainippon Screen also sells their own printers aside from the Inca printers, actually are quite nice. Dainippon goes by the name DS America mostly here in the states.

 

[Steve Werner]

Link to DS America site and printers
http://www.screenusa.com/products.cfm/category/digital_printing/grand_format_wide_format

 

[wonsngis]

Good info, Steve.

Of course, there's also relationship between Fuji and Agfa since Fuji owns Dimatix/Spectra who makes the heads in the Gandi's (among many others).

Funny how rapidly everything is weeding out. I wonder who's next for acquisition. Mutoh? Seiko Infotech? Mimaki?

 

[Rodi]

Dainippon Screen also sells their own printers aside from the Inca printers, actually are quite nice. Dainippon goes by the name DS America mostly here in the states.

I have used Screen Cameras (old graphic arts cameras) and have a mid 90's drum scanner by them, and it is bullet proof and quite an excellent scanner. I love their stuff. If I had my way I would have their DI Press the 344.

Fuji also rebadges Screen CTP devices… they are kind of a distributor of Screen stuff, they seem to do a great job on that.


BTW I would not trust Agfa, just swap out the "g" with an "l" too much and too much. I have had some experience with them…

 

[beermonster]

fuji does indeed re-badge screen ctp devices - BUT so does agfa

ive seen the screen uv machines - good but expensive. personally, on my litho side here - i'm a huge screen fan have had 2 screen imagesetter and now a screen CTP system (platerite 8000II) using agfa azura ts plates - in my experience a hugely solid and robust combo - but thats litho

screen bough inca a while back - UK inca is based near me - and their kit looks good. screen and fuji are all within 30 miles of me here and i've visited them all - fuji sericol uk is a three day camel ride away but been there too

i might not agree with past comment that fuji have displaced kodak and agfa in litho - thats a topic for a huge debate that is - but these guys seem to be trying to make their market share/product lists even bigger

dont we need the "smaller" manufacturers to stay around so we continue to have better freedom of choices?

 

[wonsngis]

dont we need the "smaller" manufacturers to stay around so we continue to have better freedom of choices?

Absolutely! While it is interesting to watch this all go down, I do think it is ultimately detrimental to the industry as a whole.

Having said that, this is a byproduct of the global economic woes (in part, anyway). As such, I believe that as the economy regains momentum, the smaller manufacturers will begin to appear again.

It's not really good for any of us in the printing world if we wind up only having 2 or 3 manufacturers to choose from. More competition from more companies drives innovation up and keeps prices down.

 

[Steve Werner]

I believe Fuji is a partner both in terms of stock and name with Screen. I don't think most people realize the scope of Fuji's size. They are massive, quite possible larger than a company like GE. The small manufacturer will continue to lose marketshare and die off unless they can innovate and stay ahead of the curve. The sign/screen/offset business are going to start to bump heads more than they ever have before. Offset printing is screaming for another profit stream as is screen printing, they see the digital inkjet market as that opportunity. The biggest thing that most will have going for them is that the size of a traditional digital job does not appeal to your average offset print salesperson, too small and labor intensive. That will change though as offset printers are starting to change their sales core to create business for their new equipment. In the long run unless you become an expert in your business or stay technologically advanced I think all of this will result in eroded profit margins. Great for the end user but not so great for the producers.