Improving turnaround times is a constant battle for printers, who must frequently invest in faster and faster equipment to keep up with customer demands - but a new 4D printing solution will enable delivery of customer jobs before they are even ordered.
Japanese manufacturer Shigatsu-Baka's new time-travel-enabled DMC-12 4D printing press uses an inbuilt flux capacitor and special tachyon-based inks to produce not only fast print but past print, according to Avril Fou, head of sales and marketing for Shigatsu-Baka International.
"For too long, print houses have struggled to shave down their turnaround times as much as possible. In this business, even a delay of a few hours can be costly," said Fou. "With the DMC-12, printers can produce completed jobs before their customers even know they want them - it's the ultimate time saver."
The press will be available in sheetfed and web-fed configurations, and is currently installed at a number of test sites around the world including Sydney's Gallifrey Print, which is trialling a print-before-demand service.
Sherman Peabody, managing director, told Print21 that the press is running smoothly, but is not without its flaws.
"Look, it's great that when a customer comes in to place their order it's already printed and ready to go, but the safety requirements are a big hassle. Last week our trainee operator forgot to actually load a job that had printed four days prior, which caused a paradox and tore a hole in space-time right in the middle of the plant," said Peabody.
"Plus we haven't actually had any 4D jobs come off it since Friday when a long stream of paper printed from next month saying 'they've launched them all, this is the end, warn the world and stop this before it's too late', which really isn't great for us from an ROI perspective.
"Image quality is pretty good though," he said.
The Shigatsu-Baka DMC-12 is in an advanced state of development, and once testing is complete, is expected to be ready for its big launch three years ago.