Xaar signed an alliance with Quantica for inkjet printing of ultra-high viscosity. The win-win partnership between Quantica and the German company. Xaar claimed that the performance of recent acquisitions FFEI & Megnajet was better than expected.
The deal means that Xaar will manufacture Quantica’s NovoJet printhead at its Huntingdon facility. Quantica made the heads themselves, but only on a trial basis.
Quantica’s NovoJet 3D printing systems are designed to enable ultra-high viscosity printing for 2D and 3D printing applications. The company has partnered up with Xaar in order to benefit from its printhead manufacturing expertise.
The initial NovoJet printheads will be shipping in Quantica’s first 3D printers from the end of 2023.
The partnership also gives Xaar access to Quantica’s intellectual property for jetting viscous materials up to 400cP (cP is the unit of viscosity). By comparison, Xaar’s existing heads and new ImagineX range can jet up to 100cP which is already very high for graphic arts applications.
Xaar announced its results three months earlier. An official statement said, “Sales were up at Xaar, and customers have embraced its Aquinox printhead with two new machines already in development – ahead of the group’s expectations.”
The first machines that will be developed for textiles, and direct-to fabric (DTG) printing with pigmented dyes. Aquinox also handles reactive dyes.
Another important target market is corrugated.
Xaar reported a 23% increase in sales for its continuing operations, to USD 75-m. Gross profit jumped 42%, to USD 29 million.
Xaar reported that recent acquisitions FFEI & Megnajet have performed above expectations.
Megnajet’s Kettering facility is being doubled in size to support growth in its fluid management offering.
Xaar also invested USD 1.5m to reorganise its Huntingdon production facility in order to improve the energy efficiency and manufacturing process. This included reducing from four clean rooms to two energy-intensive ones.