Kyocera is relatively new to building inkjet production machines, but the Japanese manufacturer says its inkjet printhead legacy and partnerships with EFI Fiery and Solimar Systems proves it knows how to make technology work.

Kyocera entered the inkjet production market in November 2019 with the TASKalfa Pro 15000c, which it says builds on its heritage in inkjet printhead technology.

Kyocera’s representative in Australia and New Zealand is Jacob Palathingal and Sprinter has contacted him for comment.

Marcus Ebbenhorst, Manager Production Print at Kyocera, presented the features of the press at virtual.drupa. He said Kyocera’s strategic decision to enter the production inkjet space means print service providers, of all sizes, can benefit from this entry level device.

The modular press comes in small to large configurations and prints at up to 150 A4 pages per minute.

Ebbenhorst said media flexibility, colour consistency, high productivity and low maintenance are just a few of the reasons why the TASKalfa Pro 15000c is a great option for many printers.

“Although this is the first inkjet platform we have launched to the market, we are not new to inkjet,” Ebbenhorst said during the presentation.

“Kyocera is long recognised for manufacturing printheads and building the most reliable multi-function printers (MFPs). This is just the first time that we combine both into our own inkjet platform.”

Print Applications

The press has various applications including direct mail, educational workbooks or high value print. It does require specially treated paper but Ebbonhurst said it does achieve a more vibrant result on inkjet treated media, adding this means less ink is also required as well.

It can also handle printing in thin stocks, primarily used for medical instruction sheets, with no problem.

Ebbenhorst said the high-volume press uses Kyocera produced inks and does not require high temperatures for drying which means its energy consumption is low.

“Kyocera is producing its own ink and is in full control of its development and improvements. Inkjet is proving the best colour consistency as we are not mixing toners or changing temperatures,” he said.

Deon Wepener an expert in production print solutions at Kyocera also gave a presentation and talked about other features of the press.

What’s on offer:

• Two high capacity feeders which can handle 2,400 sheets per tray vacuum fed with air separation technology;
• Option to add another another multipurpose tray for banner printing;
• Drying unit dries sheets in tandem at 58 degrees Celsius;
• A high capacity stacking unit can handle 5,000 sheets with capacity to add more if required;
• Three finishing options – one for small run work, one for stacking and one for booklet making with features of stapling and punching also available.

Wepener also spoke of the benefits of the EFI Fiery optional interface.

“One of our other benefits is we have partnered with EFI who is providing our front end RIP for us on this device. We do have a customised Kyocera version of our frontend controller from EFI which features a very powerful suite of software that we have standard on this suite,” Webener said.

“We can integrate into third party workflows, legacy workflows and competitive workflows. One of our key moves has also has been our partnership with Solimar and we have got the Solimar icon running at a couple of key print providers in Europe.

“So we might be new to this industry but really we do know how to put knowledge to work.”

Last month Kyocera signed a partnership with Solimar Systems which means transactional and variable data print service providers can access a comprehensive workflow solution to maximise efficiency and productivity.

“Solimar Systems is an inventive player in the market with a strong portfolio and flexible solutions that fit our customers’ individual requirements,” Ebbenhorst said.

“They offer scalable, modular platforms that easily integrate with our customers’ existing workflow and Kyocera’s TASKalfa Pro 15000c without any impact on productivity and reliability. In fact, combining these two market-leading technologies increases production efficiencies for a faster, more reliable print operation.”

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