TKS has its second inkjet web user site – and third US press sale – with an order from Japanese publisher Hawaii Hochi in Honolulu.

The company – a subsidiary of Shizuoka Shimbun – prints Hawaii’s only Japanese language newspaper and will use the JetLeader 1500 press to supplement current printing operations. They also print a variety of commercial products.

The four-colour digital press – which prints at 150 metres/minute using piezoelectric drop-on-demand printheads – will include a variable cutoff folder with chopper units for broadsheet products, and TKS workflow.

It is due for startup in Decemberof this year.

President of Hawaii Hochi Keiichi Tagata says the publisher has been watching development and implementation of the technology “for the last few years”.

“Not only will this facilitate our current product portfolio in Honolulu, but allow us to bring in new business, including newspaper titles from the US mainland,” he says.

TKS (USA) president and chief executive Nobuyuki Nakajima says he is excited to be expanding the JetLeader install base: “This will be our second JetLeader 1500 order this month, which brings our North American install base to a total of three.

“The more you look at what ink jet printing can accomplish and the flexibility it has, it makes a lot of sense, especially compared to offset solutions.”

Pictured: Haruki Masuda (bureau chief of the Shizuoka Shimbun’s printing department), Go Oishi (president of the Shizuoka Shimbun), Keiichi Tagata, Nobuyuki Nakajima  and Mr. Kobayashi (president for TKS  Kazusa Techno Center)

On our home page: Nobuyuki Nakajima and Keiichi Tagata shake hands on the deal, watched by Haruki Masuda