Most of the major digital suppliers brought new printers, inkjet or toner, or versions thereof, plus new softwares and enhancements to existing systems to show off at last week's Innovation days in Lucerne. Here's a brief overview of some of the digital printing technologies, either new or enhanced that were on show.
1. Xeikon launched its new dry toner-based digital colour press, the Xeikon 9800. The brand-new press was demonstrated for the first time at the Hunkeler show. The 9800 will replace the Xeikon 8800 press in the family of digital colour production presses, complementing the 8500 and 8600 presses. The Xeikon 9800 digital colour press uses Xeikon's new QA-CD toner at speeds up to 21.5 metre per minute at reduced consumables cost.
Xeikon was taking orders for the new press at the show with deliveries scheduled from September 2015 onwards.
2. Canon launched the Océ ColorStream 3000 Z series, a high-speed commercial inkjet printing system designed in parallel to the existing Océ ColorStream 3000 range to provide high productivity where a smaller footprint is needed or support for stacked paper is desired.
The Océ ColorStream 3000 Z series comprises four systems, ranging from 48 to 127 metres per minute, for an equivalent productivity of 324 to 1714 A4 pages per minute, while using around 30 per cent less floor space.
The Océ ColorStream 3000 Z is claimed to be the slimmest high volume full colour continuous feed inkjet system on the market. Its built-in simplex Z-fold stacking functionality further reduces space impact, and supports stacks of up to 300mm for a wide range of applications, including high-speed monochrome imprinting.
3. Xerox showed its new Rialto 900 Inkjet Press at the Hunkeler show. It was launched by Paul Morgavi, chief operating officer, Inkjet Division, Xerox, and general manager, Impika.
The Xerox Rialto 900 Inkjet Press, the world’s only fully-integrated roll-to-cut sheet, narrow web inkjet press, is designed for print providers who produce 1.5 to 5 million impressions per month. Xerox’s newest press will make inkjet technology a reality for more print service providers by breaking down barriers such as high print volumes, large footprint and cost. The Xerox Rialto 900 Inkjet Press offers first-of-its kind features and carves out a new space within the growing production colour inkjet segment.
It claims to be the world’s only fully integrated roll-to-cut sheet, narrow web inkjet press designed for print providers who produce 1.5 to 5 million impressions per month. It has the smallest footprint of any inkjet press on the market – 11.9 x 5.1 feet/ 3.58 x 1.55 metres (including the press tower) – a cost-effective option for various production environments.
To help lower the entry point into production inkjet technology, the Rialto 900 prints duplex jobs, one-up on the smallest, narrow web (9.84 inches/250 millimetres) on the market.
4. Dainippon Screen showed its latest high-speed web-fed inkjet press, the Truepress Jet520HD. The HD stands for High Definition and this has been achieved by fitting all-new printheads capable of up to 1200 x 1200 dpi, new wide-gamut high-density inks, new screening software, new paper transport and drying system and a new version of EQUIOS workflow software. A wider range of paper from 40gsm to 250gsm can be printed, some of these standard offset stocks.
The Truepress Jet520HD printed live alongside a standard Truepress Jet520, producing a variety of commercial print applications, including high-quality cookery books and short-run magazines. In addition, the Screen Truepress Jet520HD will be used to produce the complete set of Hunkeler brochures in five different languages. The commercial work was saddle-stitched on the Screen stand while the cookery books was perfect-bound on the Hunkeler/Horizon stand. The two presses combined to also print a ticketing application for the Hunkeler laser perforating line.
5. HP had live production demonstrations of the HP T230 Color Inkjet Web Press and the HP Indigo 7800 Digital Press. The HP T230 Color Inkjet Web Press will be configured in-line with Hunkeler finishing equipment. The HP T230 offers productivity and cost advantages for colour publishing in 558-mm production environments. The high-performance, compact press offers fast duplex printing speeds up to 122 metres per minute in colour and mono and, with a 520.7-millimetre print width, provides the flexibility to support multiple applications on coated and uncoated media.
The HP Indigo 7800 Digital Press, also in operation on the HP booth, provides simplified colour management, high productivity and media versatility. Demonstrating direct printing on synthetic substrates with One Shot Color technology, the HP Indigo 7800 printed plastic cards, overlays, lenticular applications, point-of-sale and premium postcards. It can also be used as a powerful complement to HP Inkjet Web Presses in the production of high-quality book covers, dust jackets, and promotional materials.
Information about the recently announced HP IHPS High Definition Nozzle Architecture (HDNA) technology was available on the stand. By doubling the number of inkjet nozzles (to 2400 per inch), HDNA will take thermal inkjet printing to a whole new level. The higher quality and performance enabled by this new technology means that HP Inkjet Web Press users will be able to open new revenue streams with a wider range of applications. These applications include colour trade books, magazines, retail catalogues and high-end brochures. With the ability to run the press at higher speeds (up to 800 feet per minute in Performance Mode), productivity can be increased while still delivering the benefits of quick start-up, reduced paper waste, reduction of inventories and just-in-time logistics.
6. Ricoh highlighted the newest enhancements to its Critical Communications solution suite. With a focus on enabling multi-channel preference management and distribution, the latest version of Ricoh ProcessDirector, the backbone of its Critical Communications suite, addresses the challenges faced by mailers today as they seek to deliver campaigns with multiple touch points.
Benefits and features of the new version of Ricoh ProcessDirector include:
• Unified workflow for management of disparate channels - many production print operations today rely on various workflows that are operated in silos and don't speak to each other. With Ricoh ProcessDirector, these printers can implement a unified workflow that helps manage, control and distribute output to multiple channels.
• Ability to define the desired delivery channel - there are many challenges facing print services providers today who are seeking new ways to provide multi-channel distribution capabilities for critical communications documents. With Ricoh ProcessDirector, printers can now rely on one, centralised workflow that enables multi-channel campaign delivery and management.
• Electronic presentment capability - Ricoh ProcessDirector offers electronic presentment solutions via a web services API that allows users to search Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) and PDF jobs and retrieve documents from within those jobs via the secure archive. These capabilities offer integrated document delivery for both internal (call centre, help desk, etc.) and external (end users) applications from the same centralised and integrated document archive - ultimately increasing efficiency and productivity.
• More intuitive, streamlined processing features - With the new version of Ricoh ProcessDirector, print service providers can now process preference management and multi-channel distribution without the need to go back to the source application for changes because all of the processing can be done within Ricoh ProcessDirector.
• Document-level composition – Multi-channel distribution and preference management is now possible at the document level, even for fully composed jobs, and is directly accessible via the production workflow. With Ricoh ProcessDirector, system administrators can easily configure and manage workflows to process individual documents within larger PDF and AFP jobs, then product and distribute them as desired.
• Advance data capture features - Ricoh ProcessDirector can now mine email addresses directly within individual AFP or PDF documents, or even import them from external sources.