The 700 is a 70ppm machine that is positioned between the DocuColor 260 and the DocuColor 5000 in the fast-growing colour light-production market.
According to Fuji Xerox Australia’s Henryk Kraszewski, this sector of the market (defined as being 41ppm and above) has doubled year-on-year in the past three years, growing 50 per cent this year alone.
Sales are coming from copy shops and commercial printers, some of whom are seeking to replace earlier light-production machines such as Fuji Xerox’s DocuColor 1250 and DocuColor 5065 models, and others taking their first steps into digital colour. The 700 Digital Color Press is designed for printers with demands for an all-in-one machine that can handle a wide range of stocks, produce high-quality output and offer advanced finishing options.
In particular, Henryk Kraszewski says that it is ideal for commercial printers who want to dip a toe in the water of digital production with the least financial risk.
While the 260 proved popular, its comparatively poor sheet-to-sheet registration and limited finishing and stock options meant it was not suitable for all applications. On the other hand, the all-singing, all-dancing DocuColor 5000 was too expensive for many firms looking for a first machine.
Best of both worlds
So as a result, Fuji Xerox has launched the 700, which builds some of the features from the 5000 into a version of the 260, with a machine that plugs the gap between the two.
The most noticeable thing about the 700 is the new optional oversized high-capacity feeder, which is available in one- or two-drawer versions, with capacities of 2,000 and 4,000 sheets respectively.
This heavy-duty SRA3 unit is based on the feeders from the 5000 and includes air blowers to aid sheet separation and registration when working with heavy and coated stocks. Over 75 per cent of the 200-plus European customers to install the machine since drupa 2008 have chosen this option.
The 700’s imaging unit is an upgraded version of the 260’s, and within it lies another technology transfer from the 5000: a new sheet-registration device.
Although it is not as advanced or robust as the 5000’s, it improves sheet-to-sheet and front-to-back registration from 3mm to 1mm, which, according to Kraszewski, is sufficient for production colour. There are also new tools to fine tune image positioning on the sheet. The imaging unit also features an improved laser assembly with more accurate dot placement than the 260’s, which improves image quality and colour accuracy.
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