Xerox to launch fast mono printer,
hints at future inkjets (21.01.08)
Xerox is following up its autumn announcement of the reel-fed 490/980
digital colour production printers with pair of even faster mono models,
the 650/1300 Continuous Feed Printing System, to be launched at Drupa.
This will be its fastest ever dry toner production printer, able to
print up to 1,232 duplex A4 pages per minute (ie 91.4 m/minute), thanks
to the LED imaging and flash-fusing technology also used in the 490/980.
The fast fusing and lower temperatures will allow it to run stock weights
from 60 – 200 gm2.
The Xerox 650 will be a mono model; the 1,300 is duplex. The numbers
refer to the approximate speed in terms of US standard-format pages
per minute.
“Some people are saying that 2008 will be the inkjet Drupa,” said
Valerie Blauvelt, vp of marketing for Xerox’s production systems
group. “We believe that inkjet has its place and is suitable for
high volumes. But we also believe that the quality of inkjet isn’t
always suitable for transpromo work.”
Nevertheless, he revealed that Xerox is putting a lot of research and
development effort into inkjet printers “at all levels,” meaning
up to production speeds. “We have 1,200 patents on inkjets and
inks,” he said. “We will launch future products when we
think the market is right for that sort of technology. We don’t
want to duplicate today’s inkjets, we want to wait until we can
do it better. We’ll demonstrate at Drupa some new print heads
and inks that are better than aqueous. We’ll also have a new colour
technology – we can’t say what it is yet, but it was developed
by our own scientists.”
Xerox does already have a considerable inkjet business, albeit using
the relatively rare solid ink phase-change technology acquired through
its purchase of Tektronix – late last year Xerox opened a new
factory to make increasing volumes of this ink. Xerox also sells wide
format acqueous printers, which will be at Drupa too, though there was
no news of whether there would be new additions.
Valentin Govaerts, senior vp of production, graphic arts industry,
for Xerox Europe, said that the Drupa technology showing would include “a
full portfolio of solid and liquid ink technologies,” adding “When
we do bring our inkjet products to market, we want them to go to a new
level, such as wider formats, and foils. They will address the limitations
of acqueous today.”
Xerox says it currently addresses four key target markets with its
production printers, ranging from the sheet-fed mono Nuvera and colour
DocuColors up to the reel-fed mono 650/1300 and colour 490/980. These
are: Collateral (general documentation work); Books and manuals (including
colour photo books); Promotional/Transactional; and Direct mail.
It’s now intending to add folding carton packaging to this list,
particularly with the DocuColor iGen3, which has already sold “double-digit” numbers
into packaging sites. It already has a reselling relationship with EskoArtwork,
which supplies packaging design and pre-press systems. Given the A3+
format of the Xerox production printers, its main focus is inevitably
versioned or personalised pharmaceutical work – most other carton
work requires much larger sheet formats and heavier board weights than
the iGen3 can handle. “There’s a study that says 50% of
pharmaceutical packaging work could be printed digitally,” said
Govaerts.
Although not mentioned by Xerox, it’s worth noting that Xeikon’s
use of LED imaging rather than laser beams is why it can build 52 cm
reel-fed printers, that are able to address more of the packaging market
than everyone else’s A3+ format sheet-fed models. The 49.5 cm
web of the Xerox 650/1300 may not be its last word in this department,
though it would also need to get the substrate weights to well above
200 gm2 to be any use in packaging.
Govaerts also said that the photo books market is potentially enormous.
He gave the example of a customised system that Xerox has put together
with MyPhotoFun in Holland, comprising an iGen3 100 printer, Xerox FreeFlow
and DocuSP front end software, and an on-line application, MyPhotoFun
Editor, developed by the customer.
“In books and manuals, variable data accounts for about 30% of
the volume,” said Govaerts. “If someone says VDP is not
happening, they are absolutely wrong.”
At Drupa 2004 Xerox started talking seriously about running digital
alongside conventional offset for mixed jobs where the two qualities
would be indistinguishable. It’s backing up that message at Drupa
2008 by showing a Heidelberg press in the Xerox hall, running side by
side with the Xerox digital printer. “It’s very exciting
or us and shows how offset and digital complement each other,” said
Blauvelt.
Another important alliance at Drupa will be with Fujifilm, where the
two companies will share adjacent halls. The Fuji XMF automated pre-press
workflow, announced last year, will be able to drive Xerox production
printers as well as Fuji’s own platesetters.
Also new at Drupa will be updated iGen3 software, including support
for the Gracol standard for colour profiling, and with more self-service
maintenance for the machine.
Drupa will also be the first major public showing of Xerox’s
new logo, announced at the beginning of January. Another major theme
for Xerox at Drupa will be its environmental solutions, especially reduction
of paper usage, waste and better machine management.
Contact: www.xerox.co.uk
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