Ambitious Oce showcases expanded role in print at Open House
New product launches in wide format inkjet as well as in high-speed digital printing set the scene for Océ’s determined assault on all aspects of the digital printing market. The Netherlands-based company has set its sights on being a major force in every sector of the digital printing industry.
This week at the Open House in Poing outside Munich, thousands of industry professionals from all around the world were treated to an impressive display of the breadth and capability of Océ’s printing technology. Divided into two major segments – commercial and corporate printing – Océ demonstrated it is driving hard in many more areas than the ones it traditionally dominates, continuous feed printing and technical documents.
Spanning the commercial printing industry with new solutions for display graphics, direct mail, graphic arts and general printing, it is also addressing the corporate world of the office, the inhouse print room and transaction printing. The result is a convincing display from the 130-year-old manufacturer that it has not only successfully made the transition into the digital age, but is destined to be a major influence in its future.
Three of the best
Among the host of innovations, some native Océ technology, others rebadged OEMs, three industry-defining products serve to illustrate the strengths of the company. Each is set to secure for Océ a leadership position in different markets; direct mail, display graphics and the corporate print room
At the Open House Océ moved to secure its leadership position in high production continuous feed printing by finally bringing four-colour capability to its VarioStream 7000. In the notorious budget conscious world of transactional printing the move towards colour is viewed with suspicion. Why use coloured bills and statements when black and white will do?
Océ’s solution is the introduction of ‘Job Appropriate Colour’ where transactional documents can be produced in either mono, or with two, three and now four colours either in spot or as process. The final addition of the fourth colour to the 7000 proved a hit of the Open House. It may not be graphic arts process colour but it is very fine for its use and will undoubtedly fuel the move towards marketing the huge numbers of essential mail items personalised to their receivers.
Another major launch at Open House is Océ’s wide format Arizona 250 GT inkjet flatbed addressing the display graphics market. This is a very impressive machine with the clever VariaDot ink heads able to output seven different sizes of dot. A number of Australians, including Grant Cunningham of Allprint Graphics, Sydney, (pictured with Dale Hawkins, Océ wide format manager) were very impressed by the quality coming from the Arizona. Long in development, the Arizona out of Vancouver produces detail better than anything seen so far by using tiny 6 pico litre dots.
Able to deliver its full gamut from just four colours it promises a more economical and moneymaking solution for the wide format industry. Océ is claiming ink savings up to 35 per cent over fixed-droplet six colour printers.
Lastly, Océ introduced two new versions of its Gemini instant duplex black and white VaroPrint engine; 6160 and 6200 able to print front and back of a sheet at 160 and 200 prints per minute respectively. This is aimed at those print shops that simply do not have the volume to make use of the original VarioPrint 6250.
The 6160 is for print shops with monthly volumes as low as 300,000 up to 2.5 million, while the 620 is targeting those with 500,000 up to 5 million. The first of the VarioPrint 6250 went into SOS Printing in Sydney last month and while at the open house Bruce Peddlesden, On-Demand (pictured with Servio Notermans, MD, Océ Australia) signed on for his machine.
There was any number of new products launched at what has become a major fixture on the global graphic arts calendar. In addition, Océ displayed an impressive array of industry partners from monitor manufacturer Eizo to Australia Post’s Print Soft and Founder Group of China. This latter was signed up at the show as a distributor for Océ in China in addition to supplying its QuiQ RIP to drive the CPS 9000 colour printer.
The Océ Open House this week leaves no doubt that the printing industry is in the midst of a massive change of technology. Digital technology is in the ascendency and while it will not overthrow offset for a very long time, it would be brave pundit who would dismiss the possibility in the face of such powerful digital engines on display at Poing this week.
Another major launch at Open House is Océ’s wide format Arizona 250 GT inkjet flatbed addressing the display graphics market. This is a very impressive machine with the clever VariaDot ink heads able to output seven different sizes of dot. A number of Australians, including Grant Cunningham of Allprint Graphics, Sydney, (pictured with Dale Hawkins, Océ wide format manager) were very impressed by the quality coming from the Arizona. Long in development, the Arizona out of Vancouver produces detail better than anything seen so far by using tiny 6 pico litre dots. 
The 6160 is for print shops with monthly volumes as low as 300,000 up to 2.5 million, while the 620 is targeting those with 500,000 up to 5 million. The first of the VarioPrint 6250 went into SOS Printing in Sydney last month and while at the open house Bruce Peddlesden, On-Demand (pictured with Servio Notermans, MD, Océ Australia) signed on for his machine.