IJC reveals details of its first US event

The IJC (The Inkjet Conference) will be held in the USA on 12 - 13 April 2018 at the Westin O’Hare Chicago.

Jointly organised with ESMA (the European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association) and with the support of Drupa, the conference (inaugurated in 2014) last year attracted over 500 attendees. The 2018 Chicago event opens with interactive workshops, offered for free to all conference delegates. An ‘Introduction to inkjet’ session, developed by iPrint Institute at the University of Fribourg, will look at printhead operation, drop formation, ink types and system performance issues. Chaired by Prof. Hitoshi Ujiie from the Jefferson University, a ‘Digital textile printing’ workshop will discuss the development of colorants, fabric preparations, fixation and finishing, textile supply chains and workflow optimisation. The conference program opens on 12 April and will be grouped into key inkjet topics: Track one will focus on printheads, hardware, software and integration technologies, whilst track two will look at inkjet ink, ink components, laboratory testing, curing surface science and application related topics. Track one will include Randy Vandagriff, president Kodak Enterprise Inkjet Systems (‘Kodak technology advancements: Expanding the boundaries of digital print’), James Gill from Fujifilm Dimatix (‘Overview of piezo actuation and importance of waveform development’), Julien Bussi from Caldera (‘How big data may be applied to digital print industry’), Graham Vlcek, president of operations at Industrial Inkjet USA and Masao Tachibana, co-founder of Seiko Instruments (‘Recirculation technology in high discharge big pigment applications’). Track will have Brian Fauber from Sun Chemical (‘Aqueous ink solutions for digitally printed packaging’), Daisuke Hamada from Kao Collins (‘Advances in water based ink solutions’), Dr Jo Ann Arceneaux from Allnex (‘Water-based energy curable compositions for graphics applications, including food packaging and inkjet inks’), David Ridealgh from Amazon Filters (‘Optimising the manufacturing process of bulk digital ink’) and Dr Raymond Sanedrin from Kruss (‘Recent experimental advances in characterising inks and substrates optimising inkjet processes and ink adhesion’). Altogether 38 technical speeches will be held on two tracks during two conference days. The goal of the IJC is to “close the loop” on the technical side and to provide a very broad mix of technologies ranging from the physics of the printhead, through high speed data electronics, sophisticated software for nozzle mapping, to ink formulation and surface sciences.