What if instead of using inkjet heads to jet ink, they were used to apply an ink-resistant substance to subtract part of an offset produced image as it was being printed, like a photographic negative blocks light? It would combine the cost benefits of offset with variable data. Such a development could completely transform the printing market.
It may sound like science fiction but it will soon be printing fact, according to RRD. The firm will begin producing direct mail using the process later this year.
RRD calls the process Apollo and it is part of the KBA agreement to develop, manufacture and sell piezo inkjet presses for packaging, security, commercial, and newspaper applications. These further details about Apollo are the most significant news to emerge from this announcement. RRD will license Apollo and other digital technologies to KBA, which will incorporate them into its press offerings. KBA’s new digital press will be introduced at Drupa in May 2012.
RRD has an impressive array of digital printing technology and expertise. In addition to Apollo, it also has ProteusJet, which is already in production.
Apollo is significant because it works with conventional inks, stocks and presses. Rather than attempting to jet conventional inks, which are far to viscous to be applied by inkjet heads, or use special inkjet optimised inks with their own cost and application issues, the firm has developed a fluid that works with the offset process to enable variable imaging. It works as a mask applied to the paper just before the printing unit. The inkjet head applies an oleophobic – that is oil repelling – fluid to the paper, which prevents the paper from receiving ink in areas where it isn’t required. In other respects the offset production is normal, there is a plate with an image on it that is transferred to the blanket cylinder, and the oleophobic mask modulates the image on the blanket restricting what is transferred onto the paper.
The implications are significant. Producing variable data using standard stocks and inks on an existing heatset web offset press blows the economics of other digital processes out of the water.
RRD is in a unique position as the world’s largest printing company and one of the few printers large enough to run its own R&D department. Its development of inkjet technology is based on its own requirements. This is a huge advantage as it has a thorough understanding of client requirements, the competitive landscape and its own pain points. It also understands the economics of high-volume print production, in particular the cost of ink and paper and how the value of digital relates to the price customers are willing to pay.
This deal is a coup for KBA. As a result of the alliance KBA’s offering will, in part at least, be developed by a printer for printers, unlike Manroland deal to sell Océ equipment and Heidelberg’s similar global tie-up with Ricoh.
It is significant that rather than keep its technology to itself, RRD has chosen to partner with a press vendor to sell its proprietary technology to competitors. The firm has said that it will benefit from the ability to address markets that it doesn’t yet serve. It also said that by partnering with KBA it is able to leverage its own R&D spending and get a better return. Without significant steps forward in print’s competitiveness versus other media the entire industry will suffer. As the largest print house in the world, RRD has more to lose than most.
Barney Cox is a senior consultant at InfoTrends Europe. Prior to that he was executive editor for ProPrint’s UK sister title, PrintWeek.
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