Cambridge, UK-based industrial inkjet printhead manufacturer Xaar is celebrating its 25th year as a leading developer of printheads for industrial inkjet printers.

Xaar began life in 1990 as four people in a small office on Cambridge Science Park. Their goal was to develop and commercialize the digital inkjet print technology arising out of work done by Cambridge Consultants. Today the company employs more than 600 people worldwide an has additional manufacturing facilities in Huntingdon and J?rf?lla, Sweden, and offices in Hong Kong, India and the U.S.

Over the last 25 years Xaar has proved itself to be an inkjet innovator many times. The company introduced its popular Xaar 128 wide-format printer printhead 20 years ago; and even today Xaar technology still drives approximately 75% of the wide-format printers in use, according to the company. In 2007, Xaar launched its Xaar 1001 printhead that is being widely adopted in the ceramic tile decoration industry. More recently, Xaar expanded its focus into other significant marketing sectors, including direct-to-shape packaging printing and the hi-tech world of additive manufacturing, 3D printing and nano-imprint lithography, a process used to manufacture silicon wafers.

To mark its 25th anniversary Xaar is organizing a program of events during the summer and autumn. In line with the company’s record of supporting local and national charities, it includes a number of company-wide charity challenges, starting with a 26-strong Xaar team undertaking a 60-mile London to Cambridge bike ride to raise more than ￡2,000 for an organization called Breast Cancer Now.

Other challenges planned are the Chariots of Fire relay race in September (for East Anglia Children’s Hospice) and October’s the Byte Night sleep-out in aid of Action for Children.

Richard Barham, Xaar’s chief customer officer, believes building the celebrations around charity events says a lot about Xaar as a company. “We’re immensely proud of what we’ve achieved over the last 25 years, but we know we couldn’t have done it without the advantages that come with being in Cambridge—not only our people but also the superb high-technology support infrastructure that’s in place. By linking our anniversary celebration with support for these charities we are giving something back while also showing that we remain an energetic company with a strong drive to succeed.”