Fujifilm Open House Focuses on SumnerOne, PPS

The Cannata Report was in Hanover Park, Illinois, yesterday for a Fujifilm and SumnerOne/PPS Open House at the OEM’s 24,000-square-foot demo center. We were the only industry media/analyst outlet present at the Chicago-area special event, and I was honored to be there!

The backdrop: Last week, FUJIFILM North America’s Business Innovation Division publicly announced a partnership with Production Print Solutions (PPS), a print service provider based in Laurel, Maryland, wherein PPS will market a suite of Fujifilm’s print service solutions. SumnerOne and PPS merged 14 months ago in February 2024; PPS features a national footprint of more than 70 service technicians throughout multiple states.

PPS President Brian DeFazio and his team’s primary, production-print focus is the Revoria Press PC1120 (pictured below), a digital toner device that this week’s open house crowd got to see in person. As part of the collaboration with Fujifilm, SumnerOne also will offer printbar products for integrated inkjet and the B2-format J Press continuous-feed inkjet solutions through its PPS subsidiary. On the industrial print side, PPS is particularly interested in the OEM’s ACUITY™ wide-format inkjet solutions.

FUJIFILM Revoria Press PC1120

Tuesday’s program began with welcome remarks from key Fujifilm executives Toyoyuki “Tommy” Katagiri, head of international new market business development, and Yuji Oki, North American business innovation GM. They handed off to Edmund and Liz Sumner, the sibling team that co-manages $100+ million dealer SumnerOne with its fleet of some 150 service technicians.

“We want to dismantle the idea that SumnerOne is a regional, Midwest copier dealer in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma,” explained St. Louis-based co-managing director Liz Sumner. That was a primary reason for the merger last year with PPS. In addition to seeking a national footprint, the Sumners also have a 100-year goal.

Liz and Edmund Sumner, her brother, are guiding the dealership toward its hundred-year milestone and fourth generation of family leadership. Bud Sumner, their WWII veteran grandfather, started the company as an A.B. Dick distributor in Oklahoma City back in 1952. (Read more about SumnerOne’s rich history.)

Edmund added how impressed he was with the OEM’s presence at the drupa international print fair in Germany last spring. As a well-established manufacturer, “it was obvious that Fujifilm is deeply committed to print,” he observed. To his point, the size of its Tech Center, situated 33 miles northwest of Chicago, more than doubled 11 years ago.

Demonstrating Disruption

During a print pep talk, Andrew Gunn, Fujifilm’s director of print-on-demand solutions and enablement, shared with the prospects in attendance that he prefers the word “platform” over portfolio when discussing disruptive technologies. In addition to hardware and consumables, the OEM’s expansive breadth includes software such as XMF PressReady Workflow for prepress and its ColorPath Sync open-architecture, color-management tools. “It’s time to disrupt the print status quo,” Gunn proclaimed. “The pain of staying the same can be worse than the pain of change.”

Attendees inspected printed samples in the demo area, then they split up into two tour groups. Michael Poulin, new senior manager of Inkjet Solutions at Fujifilm, walked the groups through the paces of the J Press 1160 CFG, which can run at resolutions up to 1200 dots per inch (dpi) and at a maximum speed of 525 feet per minute at 600 dpi. Now is available in North America, the continuous-feed “graphics” model features a wide substrate range including coated, uncoated and inkjet papers. No primer is required, Poulin explained, thanks to a paper-stabilizing dryer unit. Printheads from Kyocera and an unwinder from TECNAU are part of the configuration.

Next, 33-year Fujifilm veteran Rick Brown, VP of digital solutions sales in the United States, provided a brief inkjet history lesson. In Japan, he said, Fuji first got into the inkjet business 20 years ago when it acquired manufacturers of inkjet printheads and inks. Its J Press brand debuted in 2008. Brown proudly showed attendees the J Press 750 HS model, which features proprietary and sustainable Samba piezo printheads—and sets on a RYOBI MHI Graphic Technology Ltd. chassis. “It’s a versatile press,” he pointed out, “running paper from 60# up to 24-pt.”

The ensuing lunch buffet served up local fare: famous Portillo’s Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago-style hot dogs (with no ketchup, of course!). After the noontime feast, wide-format demonstrations included the Acuity Ultra R2 LED model. Chris Cohara, national sales manager, also showed the tour group the Acuity Prime Hybrid flatbed series, which has a mid-range price point ranging from approximately $120,000 to $200,000. (View mesmerizing, short videos of two machines in action on my LinkedIn page.) From a consumables perspective, Cohara reminded people that Fujifilm’s parent company in Japan is the world’s largest ink manufacturer.

Liz Sumner’s fashion choice of donning a green jacket on Tuesday was intentional. “It’s Masters Week,” she explained, referencing the major pro golfing tournament in Augusta, Georgia. One brand-conscious Fujifilm partner noted that she was wearing “Fuji green” as well.

But it is bowling, not golf, on the minds of today’s 25 or so production-print prospects in attendance. They will have about an hour to relax and put up their feet at the hotel before heading to a nearby Pinstripes Bistro at 5:30 p.m. for a VIP Dinner. Some may instead choose to play bocce ball, who knows? Either way, with Fujifilm’s strong print commitment, they’ll all feel like winners, Edmund Sumner believes.