FuturePrint Podcast
FuturePrint is dedicated to and passionate about the power of print technology to enable new opportunities and create new value. This pod features deep-dive discussions with the people behind the tech as well as market analysis, trends, marketing and storytelling!
FuturePrint Podcast
#306 - From Drop Formation to Functional Manufacturing: Ardeje Printing and the Expanding Role of Industrial Inkjet
In this episode of the FuturePrint Podcast, host Frazer Chesterman speaks with Victor Perraudin, Research and Development Engineer at Ardeje Printing, a specialist developer of industrial drop-on-demand inkjet systems.
Founded in 1997, Ardeje Printing has grown alongside the digital printing revolution, focusing not on graphics but on bespoke industrial inkjet solutions where print performs a functional role. Perraudin explains how Ardeje works at the intersection of materials science, fluid dynamics and system integration, supporting customers with applications that go far beyond flat substrates and conventional inks.
The conversation explores Ardeje’s Origin D100 R&D platform, designed to bridge the gap between laboratory experimentation and production deployment. Using this system, Ardeje supports applications ranging from silver inks for printed electronics, antennas and conductive tracks, to carbon nanotube sensors, quantum dot deposition and sol-gel printing.
Perraudin discusses growing interest from sectors such as photovoltaics, batteries, EV technologies, medical devices and construction, where inkjet is increasingly seen as a precise, low-waste method for functional material deposition. He also highlights the challenges shaping the next phase of industrial inkjet, including printing on complex 3D geometries, REACH-driven reformulation of UV inks, and demand for high-viscosity, non-conventional fluids.
Looking ahead, Perraudin outlines a future where drop-on-demand inkjet evolves from decoration to integrated functional manufacturing, supported by smarter data-driven processes and deeper collaboration across the inkjet ecosystem.
Ardeje will be presenting at FuturePrint Industrial Print in Munich, where functional inkjet applications will be firmly in the spotlight.
Listen on:
Apple Podcast
Google Podcast
Spotify
What is FuturePrint?
FuturePrint is a digital and in person platform and community dedicated to future print technology. Over 20,000 people per month read our articles, listen to our podcasts, view our TV features, click on our e-newsletters and attend our in-person and virtual events.
We hope to see you at one of our future in-person events:
FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
Well, hi there. Welcome to another Future Print podcast. And we're very pleased to be speaking to a new client of ours who are working with us in Munich at the Motorworld event in January. They're actually a very significant player in the market because this company, Ardesia Printing, focused very much on developing industrial print technology from Inkjet. And quite a lot of bespoke technology for different applications. We're going to find out a little bit more. I have Victor with me. Victor, hi, welcome to you.
SPEAKER_01:Hi, thank you for welcoming in your podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you very much. Victor, just explain your role at Ardeja and then maybe just tell us a little bit about uh the company and how you work.
SPEAKER_01:So at Ardej, I'm the research development engineer. I'm working on finding solutions for our customers in terms of printing. Uh Ardeja is a company that uh exists since 1997, and uh we have been developing digital printing equipment uh dedicated to industrial environments. Our expertise lies in the designing high-definition drop-on-demand injecting stem uh using piezoelectric uh printheads uh capable of meeting a wide variety of applications.
SPEAKER_00:Yep, yep. So so uh we were talking just a little bit earlier, and you were explaining company's been running for quite a few years, actually, hasn't it? So, you know, really at the heart of digital and the beginning of the digital kind of revolution. Sorry, yeah, no, so it was really at the start of the digital revolution, wasn't it, 1996, around that kind of time, that you you began as a business. Um, so explain a bit more about the technology you have and how, if someone's looking to work with you, how it kind of works, um, what kind of machines you have, what the kind of base uh option is for a client.
SPEAKER_01:So, from a research and development standpoint, uh we believe we have the essential tools for uh in-jet printing, um, namely the drop watcher, uh, as is well-known uh print quality is directly uh influenced by droplet formation. Uh, we also have an Goniometa, which allows us to characterize droplet spreading on the target surface. So we use all those tools to uh to try to find the best solution for our customers. We have um different kinds of solutions. We got um what we call an origin D100, which is a digital printing platform for research and development process and prototyping. Uh it's very useful because you can't uh uh we can use on it uh all types of printed. Uh we can use a wide variety of uh inks, it can be water-based, ozon-based, uv ink, uh, uv resin, organic, and it's etc. Um, what made what uh makes this platform unique? It's uh uh all the inventions, all the tests we realize on it can be directly transferred to a production line. So it uh enables uh customers to try their own inks sometimes to find their own uh printing uh solutions, and then they can we can exchange on it and find uh and design the production line solution for them.
SPEAKER_00:Interesting, interesting.
SPEAKER_01:So I just want to give maybe some examples of application uh develop it. We've got, for example, uh using uh silver ink, uh, electronic tracks, antenna, yeah, uh anti-static tracks. We also have customers that print with carbon nanotube ink to rely sensors, uh quantum dot printing for uh Q-Aid printing. We also have sol gel printing with graphic effects or mechanical resistance. Uh that's for the OD uh hundred.
SPEAKER_00:So you have quite a range actually by the sound of it. It's it's lots of different things. Did I hear that you say antennae? Antennae and and kind of aerials, was that what you were saying? Yeah, and also we work uh sorry, sorry. Um, and obviously also uh boxes, did you say corrugated boxes?
SPEAKER_01:Um no, I think I'd talk about uh anti-static tracks.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, maybe that was what it was. Yeah, explain what that is, anti-static tracks.
SPEAKER_01:Uh actually, I I don't think I will be able because that's just some example, and yeah, it's only nine months. But uh um what I can say is that uh we have more and more demand about silver inks about printed electronics. That's something that is really coming. Uh it was um we told me that it was already something uh in the past uh five, ten years, maybe, but actually now it's uh coming again, and we have more and more demand about uh special inks and threads to print and uh silver inks in one uh I think top one of the demand that we have actually.
SPEAKER_00:So, what do you think those silver inks applications would be? Are they are you talking about high-tech electronics or are you talking about decorative silver?
SPEAKER_01:Uh we got both of both of them, but uh especially uh technical. Uh, I think a lot for of uh the photovoltaics uh uh uh industries are interesting in deposit layers of uh functional inks and especially silver inks. Um we got a lot of projects inside.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I guess we know from our event in in Munich that looking at the profile of the people that are registering for the event, there's quite a lot of interest in things like EV, battery technologies, this kind of area. Is this is this are you hearing this as well? Do you get requests for this?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, we got a request for this area, battery, photovoltaic energy. There is a lot of people that are interested in using the OD technology uh because I think it's uh a low-cost uh way of depositing uh functional uh materials. I think with a high resolution, and you can even think using it to deposit different types of threads, which enables to create some you know coat, and that's uh it's very interesting for uh the energy uh area.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's definitely an area of interest at the moment. Um automotive EV technologies. Um, I guess also white goods. Do you do you kind of have people from um companies manufacturing washing machines or medical technology that do they come along and talk to you?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, uh, all people that need uh to print a special feed, we are trying to work uh with us. Um we've got some um projects in the medical field, of course. Yeah, uh so I can tell more about it because we are under NDA, of course. Yeah, but yeah, we have this kind of uh field that are starting to interest in DOD. And we can see it uh in the the literature if you when you I'm working and I'm looking for some bibliography. Uh I found a lot of articles from this side. So I think there really is some new interest about DOD and uh you know functionalization application.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think you're right. Um, going back to the challenges, I guess it's always interesting for us to know what you see as the challenges uh that you're currently facing.
SPEAKER_01:So, as I say, customers are uh increasingly seeking to print directly uh onto complex uh functional parts, yeah. Uh sometimes with three-dimensional geometries or non-planar surfaces, which we know is really hard for the DOD technology. It uh requires printing systems capable of advanced uh kinematics, precise control of the nozzle, surface and nozzle surface distance, sorry, and uh high positional accuracy. Yeah, so we have a lot of uh challenges from this part because as with as I said before, we are integrators, so we create the printer for the for the customers. Uh in parallel, uh, we also have uh uh um a pressure that is coming from you know that the rich regulation yeah uh that it's starting to significantly affect UV Inks and UVX uh represents the majority of our industrial application actually. Okay, so um it's forcing manufacturers to revisit their informulations, raw material solutions, and of course we have to to work again on our uh curing strategies, uh our jitting behavior and the long-term rehability of our systems.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. So as you say, reach is uh is is impacting on particularly UV, isn't it? And the the inks used.
SPEAKER_01:Um so we are working uh hands-on-hand with our supplier to find the best solution and to keep the same results for our customers, for our actual customers, and to find the best uh um printing uh options here for future customers. And we also have a lot of um of uh um demand uh for uh non-printing uh non-conventional printing freeze, uh sometimes with viscosity well beyond standard of the OD recommendation. So it's a new challenge for us and for the printhead limits, waveform optimization, frame conditioning, and uh it's open open to us a new uh kind of uh expertise.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Just going uh it sounds to me that you as a company uh quite flexible. You have a model that you use, but you're quite flexible. Do you do you have a good relationship with the ink manufacturers, the head manufacturers, the the driver electronics? Do you work with a lot of different companies or do you have your own technology? How does it work?
SPEAKER_01:So, of course, yes, uh, we need to work as I say hands-in-hand with our uh suppliers. So we've got different suppliers of ink because we have always different type of substrate, so we try to find the best. So, yes, we we try to have always some um information, uh feedback for our for our suppliers. So uh when we try new things and new substrate, we always try to give them give them uh some insight of their inks on the behavior and how it goes. Yeah, uh for the um I think the hardware part we work mainly with one uh suppliers, yeah. Uh which is well known in the in the field, which is meteor. Um but uh and yes, but we uh develop our own software and uh interesting.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_01:We try to to use other things to create in one in one solution for another.
SPEAKER_00:Of course, of course. Uh listen, I just wonder what you see and what the other see as the future of of kind of inkjet technology. What's your you know, we've talked about a few things that are impacting on the technology. What what's your sense about the future?
SPEAKER_01:Um, I think that the future of digital painting is being uh shaped by the convergence of functional manufacturing, uh increasing path complexity, and uh also uh the data-driven intelligence that is coming. Um I think um DOD is uh transition transition transitioning from a decoration technology to a fully integrated uh industrial process functional function functionalization parts uh which will enable the deposition of conductive, optical, dielectric, or memor even biological materials directly into components. So I think that's would be the possible area, big uh DOD.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you're right. It's um it's it's evolving, isn't it? So that the different applications, perhaps there's always places where maybe people don't recognize what you can do with Inkjet and drop on demand and you know that kind of potential. Uh so I think it's constantly an evolving market as a as people kind of get it, but also us as the industry, the industry is evolving what what potential there is from Inkjet. So, yeah, you're right, it's a kind of evolving space. Um, just as we kind of come to the wrap-up, so I'm interested in your customers. What kind of customers are you working with, and and how do you support those customers in in the you know in the kind of developing the technology?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, so we are uh working with a wide range of variety of uh of customers. We've got the big customers uh working in the luxury area, we've got some in the uh you know electronic parts or even in the field of uh buildings. Uh I don't know if there is a term for this kind of uh sector of the the fact that uh um the construction parts.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, buildings, yeah. No, I think that's an interesting one. What kind of what kind of products are you thinking about in buildings?
SPEAKER_01:Uh it's uh more about uh you know, it can be um it's uh most of them is just for marking, just to um deposit their own uh their uh label on the on their solution. I don't know if I can talk more about that. No, don't worry, don't worry. I'm just trying to get my head around what you were for for those parts, it's essentially uh decorative or marking solutions.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:Uh we don't have yet the big customers in the field of functionalization, it's almost always university projects for the moment. Yep. But we have some projects that may come with uh some uh big uh influence, I mean, uh big medical uh parts.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Um Victor, what just as we wrap up, what what is it that you're gonna be talking about in Munich at the motorworld?
SPEAKER_01:I think I will talk about the functional uh uh the functional things. Uh it's what is driving me for the moment. Uh it's my responsibility inside of RDESH. So I think we will orientate our presentation on this because I really think that this is the future of DOD. Yeah. And uh I think there is a lot of things to talk about. And uh I hope I can have uh you know uh feedback from uh people that will be present at the event and find maybe some new uh partners for for the future.
SPEAKER_00:I think you will. I think you will. I think um yeah, it will be interesting for you. Um, and I think the the ecosystem around the event is very much uh both potential customers but also partner companies, many companies who are approached about a project they can't manage, but they might talk to you about the project. So, yeah, I think I think it's gonna be interesting.
SPEAKER_01:We will be a good experience, and I'm excited to be there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, looking forward to it. Listen, Victor, it's been good to find out a bit more about Ardesia. Thank you for very much for giving us your time. Um, looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks in in Munich and um looking forward to finding out a bit more about Ardesia. Thank you. Thank you very much.
