Leibinger's new solvent 77001-00187

11 December 2025

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Leibinger's new solvent. That is to say, if you don't know what it's about, it's about.... 

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The company Paul Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG of Tuttlingen, Germany, has been manufacturing industrial ink-jet printers for years. Models such as the JET3-UP and JET2neo are the most common printers from this manufacturer in Poland. Leibinger also supplies inks and solvents and spare parts for these devices. Around 2010, the company decided to install electronic security features, so-called RFID TAGs, on all consumables. Officially, this was to ensure the safety of the equipment's operation, and virtually guarantee uninterrupted and continuous profits by making printer users dependent on a single supplier.

Leibinger's Polish experiment
W Unii Europejskiej użytkownicy, którzy kupią drukarkę Leibinger’a, pracują na podstawowym i najpopularniejszym solvencie 77001-00030. Wyjątek stanowią nieliczne aplikacje wymagające bardziej specjalistycznych atramentów, do których solvent może być inny. Jednak w Polsce od lipca 2024 roku wprowadzono “nowość”: solvent 77001-00187. Officially, this is a new basic solvent dedicated to the Polish market. The problem is that Leibinger has not given any specific reason for its introduction.
When we started looking into this issue it became clear that there were a lot of doubts and question marks around it. Furthermore, the way in which this solvent was introduced to users who had previously used solvent 77001-00030 was highly controversial, but one step at a time....
Firstly: the old and the new solvent are virtually the same product. It has the same chemical composition, and of course it works the same ( Well, it can't be otherwise if it's the same product - author's note). This all confirms the fact that it is not necessary to flush the hydraulic system in the printers in order to use it. And since this does not need to be done, it is clear that no technical factors were the reason for replacing the solvent with the new one. So the difference comes down solely to the trade name and what is not being talked about out loud, that is, the introduction of a blockade that prevents the use of the existing solvent 77001-00030 and cheaper substitutes.
That is to say: everyone marks with the old solvent 77001-00030, and the Polish users got the new one, with a lock.

Those who have older printers do not have the new solvent.
The older models of Leibinger's printers - ECO Jet, JET2, JET3 and JET2neo (JET2neo models up to a certain vintage) - still work without problems on solvent 77001-00030. Why? With a probability bordering on certainty, it has not been possible to make universal software that works on all printer models. Well, and at this point, Leibinger got caught in the crosshairs and led to an absurd situation that could not be concealed, because:

• some customers with older and newer printers in their fleet, e.g. JET3 and JET3-UP, are forced to use two types of solvent after a visit from a service technician
• customers with older printers still using the old solvent
• Customers with only newer printers fall into two categories:
  - those who have agreed to switch to the new solvent
  - those who have not agreed to switch to the new solvent

The summary of this whole operation with the introduction of the new solvent is that Leibinger wanted to introduce the new solvent to Poland, but in the end did not fully succeed in doing so.

What is it all about? That is, if you don't know what it's about, it's about MONEY
As we have previously written in an article entitled: The most expensive solvent in Poland, the price of solvent 77001-00030 in Poland is approx. EUR 44,00 net (data for 2024). However, one only needs to look at offers from importers importing it in larger batches from the EU market for the price to drop immediately by more than 20%. And if one opts for replacements, one can save as much as 50%. The maths here is clear: these are real large sums in the budgets of Polish entrepreneurs.
So how do you stop the customer from reaching for such solutions? How do you make him not buy where it's cheaper? The answer is simple: isolate him from alternative purchasing sources. Lock him into a system where it is not the market price that decides, but the software lock in his own printer. This is the role of solvent 77001-00187.
The planners at Leibinger have set the path clearly:
PRODUCER → DISTRIBUTOR → USER
No exceptions and no alternatives.

One Polish user of Leibinger's printers, assessing the matter, said accurately:
Working with a monopoly is like playing in a casino. Sometimes there is something to gain, but in the end the winner is always the casino.

How to introduce a new solvent - the 'serviceman's way'
The introduction of the new solvent takes place via a visit from a service technician (we are talking about printers that have been purchased with solvent 77001-00030). During the visit, he makes changes to the printer's software and from then on the customer can only use the new solvent. Details are shown in the video below:

IMPORTANCE: customers who bought a Leibinger printer on solvent 77001-00030 also and primarily paid for the fact that they received it with a certain functionality. This functionality (access to the selection of inks and solvents from the printer) allowed them to use solvents from different suppliers including cheaper replacements. After the service technician's visit, this functionality was blocked, which customers are often not aware of. This is reminiscent of a situation where a car mechanic has increased the fuel consumption of a car from 8 to 10 litres during a technical inspection without the customer's knowledge. The car still runs, but its running costs are higher than the car the customer paid for.  

Will the manufacturer therefore reimburse customers resulting from the reduced functionality of the printers they paid for?

When change becomes a problem.

But it does not end there. There are more negative consequences:

• Printer impairment - if a user who has had his solvent replaced would like to sell his printer to a foreign customer, it is worth round ZERO EURO. Why? If a foreign customer uses the old solvent - as all of Europe does - he will not be able to use this solvent in such a printer, so its purchase would be completely unjustifiable and he will not opt for it. We will repeat this: the printer by the change made abroad is worth nothing.
• Decreasing competitiveness of Polish companies - If a Polish company producing e.g. films has a competitor in another EU country who also uses Leibinger printers for marking, but uses imported solvents or their substitutes, his marking costs are automatically higher.
  The difference can well be seen in concrete figures. If such a customer buys 100 solvents per month at a price of EUR 44.00, he pays EUR 4,400.00 per month, or EUR 52,800.00 per year. If his foreign competitor uses a substitute, he pays half this amount, which makes a difference of EUR 26 400.00 per year. This is money that could be used for development, innovation, bonuses for employees, increasing competitiveness, etc.
• Threat to continuity of production - The experience of the 2020 pandemic demonstrates the importance of broad availability of consumables. When global supply chains collapsed, it was common and standard products that enabled many companies to keep working. And every Polish entrepreneur knows that from 2020 onwards, the market situation is even less stable than before.
  Solvent 77001-00187 was designed exclusively for a narrow market. The key question, then, is whether, in similar circumstances, the manufacturer's priority will be to ensure a continuous supply of solvent that is new and limited or widely used?

MMTech, the solution to the problem

MMTech has been helping to dramatically reduce marking costs on Leibinger printers since 2017. If you were previously using solvent 77001-00030 and it has been replaced with the new 77001-00187 and you want to reverse this change then please email or call us.
Email: biuro@mmtech.com.pl / TEL: +48 61 307 83 20
We look forward to seeing you.

IMPORTANCE: The old solvent 77001-00030 is doing very well in Poland and is on sale all the time. It is not supplied to those customers who have been persuaded to replace it with the new 77001-00187.

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In preparation another article entitled: "How to become a Leibinger distributor in Poland? That is, money is flowing in a wide..."

Data powstania wpisu: 11.12.2025 r.
Author of entry: Andrew