From Drop Formation to Functional Manufacturing: Ardeje Printing and the Expanding Role of Industrial Inkjet

This article is inspired by a podcast interview with Victor Perraudin, Research and Development Engineer at Ardeje Printing

Industrial inkjet has long promised more than decoration. Yet for many years, its real potential lay just beyond reach - constrained by materials, system complexity and the difficulty of translating laboratory success into production reality. Speaking on the FuturePrint Podcast, Victor Perraudin, Research and Development Engineer at Ardeje Printing, offers a grounded and technically rich perspective on how that gap is now closing.

Founded in 1997, Ardeje emerged at the very beginning of the digital printing revolution. While many early players focused on graphics and signage, Ardeje took a different path: designing bespoke drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjet systems for industrial environments, where print becomes part of a manufacturing process rather than a surface embellishment.

“We design printing solutions for customers who need something specific,” Perraudin explains. “That can mean unusual inks, complex substrates, or non-planar parts. Our job is to make inkjet work where standard systems struggle.”

Engineering Inkjet from First Principles

At the heart of Ardeje’s approach is a strong emphasis on fundamentals. The company maintains an extensive R&D toolkit, including drop watchers to analyse droplet formation and goniometers to study ink spreading and wetting behaviour on real substrates. These tools allow Ardeje to characterise both ink and surface interaction before committing to a production design.

This research-first mindset is embodied in Ardeje’s Origin D100 platform - a flexible inkjet system designed for R&D, prototyping and early industrial trials. Crucially, developments made on the Origin D100 are not confined to the lab.

“What makes the platform valuable is that everything developed on it can be transferred directly to a production line,” says Perraudin. “Customers can test their own inks, explore feasibility, then scale with confidence.”

The range of applications already explored on the platform is striking. Ardeje has worked with silver inks for printed electronics, conductive tracks and antennas, carbon nanotube inks for sensor applications, quantum dot deposition, and sol-gel printing for functional and mechanical surface layers. These are not graphic prints in disguise - they are functional structures with electrical, optical or mechanical roles.

The Return of Printed Electronics

One of the strongest signals Perraudin sees in the market is the renewed interest in silver inks and printed electronics. While these applications have circulated for more than a decade, demand is now becoming tangible again, driven by energy, mobility and electronics markets.

“We see strong interest from photovoltaics, batteries and EV-related industries,” he notes. “Inkjet offers a relatively low-cost way to deposit functional materials with high precision.”

This aligns closely with what FuturePrint has observed across advanced manufacturing: inkjet increasingly positioned as a materials deposition technology, not a printing method. The ability to deposit multiple functional materials selectively, at high resolution and with minimal waste, is becoming strategically attractive in sectors under pressure to innovate faster and more sustainably.

Printing Beyond Flat Surfaces

With opportunity comes complexity. One of the biggest challenges facing Ardeje and its customers is the demand to print directly onto complex, three-dimensional parts. Non-planar surfaces, variable stand-off distances and tight tolerances push DOD inkjet well beyond its comfort zone.

“Printing on 3D geometries requires advanced kinematics, very precise control of nozzle-to-surface distance, and high positional accuracy,” Perraudin explains. “As an integrator, we have to design the entire system around that challenge.”

At the same time, regulatory pressure is reshaping materials choices. REACH regulation is having a significant impact on UV inks, which currently dominate many industrial inkjet applications. Reformulating inks, adapting curing strategies and ensuring long-term system reliability have become central engineering tasks rather than side considerations.

Adding to this is rising demand for non-conventional inks with viscosities far beyond traditional DOD specifications. For Ardeje, this opens new territory - and new limits to explore.

“It forces us to push waveform optimisation, fluid conditioning and printhead capability,” says Perraudin. “But it also creates new expertise.”

Collaboration as a Competitive Advantage

None of this happens in isolation. Ardeje works closely with ink suppliers, printhead manufacturers and electronics partners, feeding real-world performance data back into the supply chain. While the company relies on established hardware partners for core components, it develops its own software and system architecture to integrate everything into a working industrial solution.

This collaborative mindset reflects a broader truth about industrial inkjet: success depends less on individual components and more on ecosystem integration. Chemistry, physics, mechanics, electronics and software must align around the application, not the other way round.

From Decoration to Functional Manufacturing

Looking ahead, Perraudin sees drop-on-demand inkjet continuing its transition from decoration to fully integrated functional manufacturing.

“DOD is no longer just about graphics,” he says. “It is becoming a way to deposit conductive, optical, dielectric and even biological materials directly into components.”

As data, automation and AI increasingly enter manufacturing workflows, inkjet systems will also become more intelligent - optimising waveforms, materials usage and process stability in real time.

Ardeje’s customer base already reflects this shift, spanning luxury goods, electronics, construction materials and medical technology. While large-scale functional manufacturing is still emerging, Perraudin notes that many of today’s most advanced projects are coming from universities and research environments - often a precursor to industrial adoption.

Looking Ahead to Munich

At FuturePrint Industrial Print in Munich, Ardeje will focus squarely on functional inkjet applications - the area Perraudin believes will define the next phase of DOD technology. The event’s ecosystem-driven format is well suited to Ardeje’s approach, bringing together technology developers, integrators and industrial decision-makers in one environment.

“I’m looking forward to the discussions,” he says. “Feedback, collaboration, new partners - that’s how these technologies move forward.”

In many ways, Ardeje represents a broader shift within industrial inkjet: away from standardised platforms and towards application-led engineering, where print becomes a tool for manufacturing innovation rather than an end in itself.