XAAR celebrates 30th Birth Anniversary

In 1990, XAAR was founded by a team comprising Mike Willis and Mark Shepherd. The goal of the team was to commercialise the work done at Cambridge Consultants by Steve Temple and David Paton, the inventors of the company’s piezoelectric drop-on-demand technology—both of whom also joined the company shortly after XAAR was established. Now XAAR is celebrating its 30th birthday in style with a toast to the business and its role in pioneering the use of industrial inkjet technologies around the world. XAAR signed its first commercial agreement in 1991 with Brother Industries, who licenced the technology to develop home office printers and fax machines. By 1992, the company had reached a significant milestone, surpassing £1m in sales achieved from licence fees, the sale of evaluation kits and technical consultancy. Alongside licencing its technology, the development and manufacture of inkjet printheads became an equally important part of XAAR’s success.