Digital Printing

Canon imagePress C850/C750/C650 
The Canon imagePress C850/C750/C650 digital colour production press is a new range that was released late last year. Canon says the imagePress C850 Series is designed to provide offset-like image quality through Canon’s Gloss Optimisation technology, and with a 32-beam R-VCSEL red laser to help produce crisp and clear images efficiently at 2400 x 2400 dpi. With a number of screen patterns to choose from, the press now offers a new 190 lpi dot screen for increased flexibility and optimised quality closer to offset. By using CV Toner and an Advanced Image Transfer Belt, these devices can print high-quality, consistent output on a variety of media, including textured stocks. With these features, users have the ability to enjoy color consistency for predictable quality output, a necessity of print providers who run repetitive jobs. 
 
The imagePress C850, C750 and C650 devices operate at print speeds of up to 85, 75 and 65 A4 pages per minute, respectively, in colour and black- and-white. These digital presses provide reliable paper feeding with air separation and double sheet detection intended to reduce paper jams and production interruptions. First-time-right results with consistent colour and precise registration achieved by the Compact Registration Module help increase the amount of sellable output. A new option is the Booklet Trimmer-F1, which helps save valuable time with a larger trim waste bin and continuous run capability with on-the-fly trim waste removal. 
 
The imagePress C850 Series supports a variety of in-line finishing options to help expand the offerings of print service providers, including the ability to stack, fold, saddle-stitch, staple, perfect-bind. A new option for this series will be the Multi-Function Professional Puncher-A1 for die punching on a wider range of media sizes and weights for A4 and larger, oblong bound books. Using Canon’s  die set, this new finishing module can professionally crease documents in-line to produce folded applications, including saddle stitch booklets, with less paper cracking on the spine of the document. 
 
This series of printers now supports auto-duplex printing of up to 762mm long sheets, proving itself helpful in the short run production of six page brochures, posters and dust jackets.  
 
 
Currie Group HP Indigo 12000 Digital Press
The 75cm format HP Indigo 12000 Digital Press produces the widest commercial application range with superior print quality, high productivity, and wide versatility. Supplied by Currie Group and built on the best-selling and proven HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press, the press brings printing capabilities that extend high-value opportunities to grow business.
 
An easy fit for offset printers, the HP Indigo 12000 Digital Press offers a solution for the digital printing of any commercial application on any substrate. Use the full sheet to print canvas wall art, high-impact posters, folders, oversized books, specialty products, and more.
 
Enabled by HP Indigo’s liquid ElectroInk technology digital offset process, HP Indigo digital prints are of the highest quality. Using dozens of software and hardware innovations, the press delivers the smoothest and sharpest prints in the industry, matching or even exceeding offset quality. HP Indigo ElectroInk has the widest digital colour gamut, reaching up to 97 per cent of Pantone colours and using up to seven ink stations on press. A 5th ink station is standard. Breakthrough colour matching tools ensure perfect colour accuracy and consistency.
 
Printing B2-sized sheets in colour at up to 4600 per hour, the press is capable of producing over two million colour sheets per month. Print monochrome in duplex at 4600 sheets per hour. Sophisticated automation tools boost production efficiency and uptime.
 
One Shot extends substrates to canvas, synthetics and metallised media. Print on substrates from 70 gsm to 400 gsm and 75 to 450 microns in thickness—including coated, uncoated, coloured and dark papers, and paperboard for folding cartons. Use on-press HP Indigo ElectroInk Primer to expand printing possibilities on off-the-shelf papers.
 
Brands use HP Indigo for its high print quality, just-in-time production, and ability to engage customers by customisation and personalisation with variable data printing capabilities.
 
HP PrintOS is a print production operating system with apps that help you get more out of your HP Indigo presses and simplify and automate production. Use PrintOS to continuously improve operations. Access the open and secure cloud-based PrintOS platform anytime, anywhere.
 
Digital offset colour technology. HP Indigo’s liquid electrophotography (LEP) technology, using HP Indigo ElectroInk with minute ink particles, delivers crisp linework, attractive images and smooth vignettes with a thin ink layer that gives uniform gloss between the ink and substrate.
 
HP says innovation in software, hardware and supplies takes print quality to new levels. Advances include a superfine adaptive colour profile, optimised calibrations for perfect colour uniformity, tailored print modes and a microsphere-based blanket.
 
EFI Digital Front End
Acquiring or upgrading a digital press is an important decision. But the choice of the digital front end, or DFE, is just as important. Both decisions will have long-lasting effects on your business and your bottom line. The right DFE affects operational and employee productivity, the use of your digital printer, output colour quality, the services you can offer and ROI on your print engine investment.
 
Think of the DFE as the brain of your print production workflow. With it, you can achieve efficient job submission, automation plus integration with web-to-print systems, choice of makeready location in prepress or at the DFE, advanced colour management tools integrated with the DFE Integration into a hybrid workflow with offset prepress and workflow solutions, management of multiple presses with a single operator interface. A Fiery DFE provides a wealth of capability: colour management, document makeready, Fiery Command WorkStation, job management of multiple printers, media management, preflight and softproof, job automation, late-stage job editing, variable data, raster image processing, finishing support and MIS/web-to-print integration.
 
Consider future needs for the dynamic, ever-changing digital print environment. What is good enough now may not keep you competitive in the future. Look for a DFE that keeps you current or ahead of industry trends. Industry trends at the moment are shorter runs, faster turnaround times, personalisation, end-to-end job automation, improving colour output quality, online ordering, hybrid offset and digital workflows, connecting systems through JDF or APIs and using print production analytics to improve operational efficiency.
 
Each printing business is different, and there is no single approach that fits them all. Your company will benefit from an informed decision and a total cost analysis. This analysis should include the cost savings and productivity enhancements you can achieve with the right DFE and workflow software. 
 
Fuji Xerox Colour C70
The Colour C70 is an affordable digital colour solution with the capability for professional image quality and is scalable to grow with the business. 
 
Purpose built for both high-value applications and everyday work, the C70 offers the productivity of a multifunction device with a higher level of quality and finishing for creative and production teams. With print, copy and scan functions, the C70 has multi-tasking abilities with PC, USB and email, to save time by sending prints from any smart phone or tablet.
 
The Colour C70 prints up to 70 colour pages per minute and 75 black-and-white pages per minute on both uncoated and coated stock up to 300gsm and 220gsm for auto duplexing. 
 
Fuji Xerox says the Colour C70 can create customer brochures, proposals, posters, window decals or polyester signs. It features 2,400 x 2,400dpi resolution and uses Fuji Xerox Special Polyester EA Low Melt Toner. 
 
Using variable data printing software from XMPie, high-value variable data applications can be handled to expand product offerings. 
 
The Colour C70 is modular and has several server options, as well as enterprise workflows to reduce print costs with Xerox Standard Accounting. Security enhancements include password protected PDFs, Print and Secure Print.
 
Flexible feeding is handled by four standard paper trays, and finishing options include stapling, hole punching, folding and face trimming.
 
Kodak NexPress ZX 
Kodak says its NexPress ZX Digital Production Colour Platform helps protect the environment while consistently producing outstanding printed materials: Now more than ever, the Kodak NexPress ZX digital production colour press delivers new digital. Kodak says the NexPress ZX Platform is designed with an unprecedented level of user serviceability. The combination of Operator Replaceable Components (ORCs) and a world-class, on board operator support system helps ensure that you will be printing, not waiting for service to arrive.
 
The Kodak Nexpress ZX digital production colour press with the new optional upgrade Substrate Expansion Kit now supports thicker paper and thicker synthetic substrates, opening up new packaging and retail application opportunities including labels, tags and small folding cartons, without limiting the range of commercial jobs that can be produced. 
 
The press will be shipped with System software v16, providing a set of new tools to control image quality and maintain productivity to optimize costs and uptime, including an ink estimating tool, which estimates the CMYK and all specialty inks used in a print job; spot colour recipes which allows PSPs to create colour blends for clients and save them for future orders; a new production dashboard which allows users to monitor the activity, consumables and performance of their
 
Nexpress on a handheld device; automated data export, providing periodic data on press production details for integration with external MIS systems; NexPert operator support, a fully featured operator support and diagnostic system based on HTML5, allowing for fast and responsive operator access with no Java-related security or performance restrictions; and variable speed control which allows for the printing speed to be set in the job ticket, optimizing quality and press performance.
 
Kodak says the NexPress ZX platform enables significant gains in image quality, productivity and growth.  Featuring new substrate length 48”/1200 mm long sheet option, you can run more jobs per shift, drive more profit per page and reap the benefits of new, higher-value solutions.
 
With the optional business-building Kodak NexPress Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, you can print gold, opaque white, dimensional raised print, accurate spot colours, clear, security features with red fluorescing dry ink or MICR, watermarking or a protective coating, and create high-impact glossing that Kodak says will capture customers’ attention and deliver higher margin application streams for you.
 
Konica Minolta MGI Meteor 
PacPrint 2017 was a watershed event for Konica Minolta Australia with launch announcements and first customer signings for the anticipated AccurioJet KM-1 B2 Inkjet Press as well as MGI JetVarnish EVO and iFoil solutions and C71cf label press. However, while these solutions drew centre stage, Konica Minolta was previewing a quiet achiever in the soon to be launched MGI Meteor Unlimited Colours.
 
On the surface, Meteor is a four-colour press with impressive credentials. Combining productivity with image quality, 1200 x 1200 x 8 bit colour, support for 400gsm and 1200mm length banner print. . Its ability to handle a wide stock latitude from the standard coated and uncoated through to a full range of textured and linen stocks as well as synthetics allowing for greater cross section of plastic based applications.
 
The jewel in this solution though is the integrated foiling solution. The Meteor Unlimited Colour system uses a 100 per cent digital foil production process. This printing and foiling process eliminates the cost and need for die making, screens and traditional make-ready setup times and waste. The MGI iFoil unit connects in line with the Meteor press and utilises a wide variety of standard market foils and colours. Through the creative combination of foil and CMYK printing, the Meteor Unlimited Colour fulfils its naming status to produce the broadest range of colours possible as well as distinctive printing solutions for your customers.
 
Konica Minolta says this digital enhancement option allows printers to generate lucrative, high margin output, expand their service portfolios, and strengthen their client relationships. MGI Meteor Unlimited Colours will have one additional differentiator that changes the digital landscape. The MGI Meteor offering in Australia will attract a similar service model used globally. That being one of no click charge. The purchase of consumables will depend on consumption the operator training structure will be designed to give a high degree of self-sufficiency. And with that, far greater control of costs and downtime.
 
OKI Pro8432WT
The Oki Pro8432WT white toner printer, released by Oki Data Australia and sold by Walcar Graphics, has the ability to print CMY and white while maintaining a compact size and a relatively low cost. This allows businesses to expand on demand printing capabilities on a variety of media.
Ben Sam of Walcar Graphics says the OKI Pro8432WT delivers fast, short-run, on demand printing, with print speeds up to 35ppm at 1200 x 600dpi. This is a perfect fit for businesses who want to produce a variety of niche products at the entry level.
 
Using Energy Efficient digital LED printing technology, the Pro8432WT offers high definition colour and white printing, alongside the ability to print on the most extensive range of media –  an ideal combination for creative businesses and reprographics studios.
 
Combining flexible media handling, high print speeds and now white toner capability in a compact A3 size, allows businesses to take printing to a new level, whether producing banners, point-of- sale, leaflets, vinyl graphics, stationery as well as promotional merchandise and garments using high quality compatible transfer paper, designed to work specifically with Oki white toner printers.
It uses separate toners and drums to reduced wastage and is energy efficient through the use of LED technology. The Oki Pro8432WT comes with a three-year on-site service warranty in metro areas as well as Walcar’s reputed after sales service.
 
The Oki Pro8432WT is priced under $10,000 (subject to options), with suitable lease and rental arrangements being available to prospective buyers.
 
 
Ricoh Pro C7100X Series
Ricoh offers a complete portfolio of digital colour production cut-sheet presses from entry-level models – catering to those producing smaller volumes of high-quality print – to high volume models designed to handle a million prints per month. Ricoh says every model offers print quality, precise registration, support for a broad range of substrates, banner printing and dedicated Ricoh production service and support.
 
The most popular models in the Ricoh portfolio are the Pro C7100X Series that suit the needs of small to mid-size printers. Versatility is the key to the success of the Pro C7100X – according to Ricoh the range of stocks and sheet sizes it supports, finishing options, and the added value of a fifth colour station provide printers the opportunity to offer customers a much broader array of printed offerings.
 
With a paper weight range of 52.3gsm to 360gsm, the Pro C7100X Series will run a diverse range of paper stocks, including coated and uncoated, recycled, coloured (including black), pre-printed, pre-punched, tab, envelopes, labels, letterheads, translucent, transparency, and synthetic material.
 
Heavily textured media provides no challenge for the Pro C7100X Series with its AC-transfer system and elastic fusing belt technology transferring more toner to the media and improving image quality. It can handle a maximum sheet size of 330mm x 700mm enabling the creation of six-page A4 brochures or A4 landscape booklets.
 
Inline finishing choices include fully-finished professional saddle-stitched booklet making, punching, folding, ring binding and perfect binding. Mechanical registration ensures precise sheet-to-sheet and front-to-back image placement for easier finishing, whether inline or offline.
 
The Pro C7100X Series features a fifth print station with printers able to use neon yellow, clear gloss or white toner, to add value to documents and offer customers some unique special effects. 
The Pro C7100X Series deliver outstanding image quality with an ultra high print resolution of 1200 x 4800 dpi and a self-contained liquid cooling system that keeps the developer at a constant temperature to ensure colour consistency across a print run.
 
The press is available in two print speeds – 80ppm or 90ppm – and with a scanner option for multi-function applications, including copying and scanning. Dedicated Ricoh production service and support includes a customer care program and tailored operator training syllabus. It is backed by Ricoh’s TCRU program (Trained Customer Replaceable Units) which enables operators to replace more than a dozen parts to maximise uptime.
 
Screen GP Truepress Jet 520
Screen GP introduced a whole new era for digital print in 2005 when it rolled out the world’s first continuous reel-fed inkjet press, the Truepress Jet 520. Since then, the Truepress name has been applied to Screen’s ever-expanding range of digital print systems that now cover transactional, direct mail, promotional and commercial print applications plus wide-format and the high growth area of digital label production. They are all inkjet and all digital. 
 
Screen’s Truepress Jet L350UV label press was joined this year by its smaller non-UV sibling, the Truepress Jet L250AQ. As the name implies it uses aqueous inks rather than UV-curing and has a 250mm maximum web width against 350mm for the L350UV.
 
Peter Scott, managing director at Screen GP says, “The L250AQ is the ideal entry-level into digitally produced labels of the highest colour and detail. Unlike the various desktop type label machines, it has a proper unwind and rewind, web tensioning and intuitive software that can even calculate the cost-per-label based on stock and ink used. It fits perfectly in both an established label printer’s workflow, where reels can be finished on legacy finishing lines, or into commercial printers seeking to expand into labels where there are numerous third-party finishing systems we can work with to take the printed reels to be die-cut, matrix stripped, further embellished and rewound ready for use.”
 
Screen GP markets and supports the Truepress Jet L250UV with factory-trained local technicians and also has a reseller agreement through Jet Technologies, who also offer the bigger L350UV digital label press. A floor-standing robustly engineered press, the footprint is small enough to sit in most printshops and its futuristic looks have found appeal when showing customers around.
 
Scott says, “We have tested numerous self-adhesive stocks from Avery and other producers and have a growing list of approved substrates to deliver outstanding results on the L250AQ. Starting at under $100,000, it represents a modest investment for immediate entry into high-margin digital label production.”
 
Xeikon 9800
The Xeikon 9800 is a dry toner-based digital color press launched in 2015. It replaced the Xeikon 8800 and forms together with the Xeikon 9600 the 9000 Series of digital color production presses for the document and commercial printing industry.
 
The Xeikon 9800 digital color press uses Xeikon’s QA-CD toner toner platform, delivering the proven Xeikon print quality at speeds up to 21.5 meters per minute, at reduced consumables cost. Xeikon says the new Xeikon 9800 digital color press underlines Xeikon’s heritage of innovation in digital print technology, as the press sets another benchmark for quality and versatility in digital document and commercial printing. 
 
The machine can print on a wide range of untreated substrates ranging from a lightweight 40gsm to 300gsm. Its adapted Xeikon QA-CD toner and Xeikon’s high-quality imaging system deliver a print resolution of 1200×3600, with variable dot density for quality. Integrated with the variable data capabilities of the Xeikon X-800 front-end, the company says this press is suited for high-end direct marketing work. 
 
At speeds of up to 21.5m per minute, the Xeikon 9800 is the most productive digital colour press in the Xeikon portfolio with five over five single-pass duplex printing. Available QA-CD toners include CMYK, red, green, blue, extra magenta and superblack as well as white and clear (UV reflecting) toner. 
 
Upon request, Xeikon can also provide special colours specified by print production operations and their brand owner clients. 

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