Digital Duplicators Go Commercial

Duplicators, which long served schools and churches in producing newsletters and pamphlets but now are aided by digital operation and control, are finding new usage among commercial printers and quick-print providers drawn by the machines' simple operation, quick start-up, high output, and production versatility.

Says Carl Terrasi, product manager for Duplo USA Corporation, "It's been a slow migration into the commercial and instant-print market, but the graphic arts industry sees new digital duplicators as tools that provide short-run color prints with less machine maintenance."

At the same time, he concedes, four out of five buyers still represent the school market; other users include government agencies, general businesses, and printers.

Adds John Reiling, senior marketing manager for Ricoh Corporation's Digital Duplicator Group, "The graphic arts industry is our number-one target. All of our new product development is aimed at this market, including our new SeriPrinter, which we believe will be a big contributor in helping us do business with the printing industry. We also believe that, as our print quality increases, so will our market share."

But what is a digital duplicator? While it emulates the original spirit-duplicator process, today's system employs state-of-the-art methods to scan originals, then uses a thermal process to cut an image into a "master"; ink then is pushed through the cut areas of the master according to the ink's resolution rating (dpi), transferring the image onto paper. The unit ejects the master when the job is completed.

"Digital duplicators fill a very precise niche between a high-speed copier and an offset press," explains Steven Reny, vice president and managing director of the Business Systems division of Standard Duplicating Machines Corporation.

Reny continues, "These machines are both very productive and extremely versatile, meaning that an operator can print a good first copy in just 15 seconds, producing a variety of items like business cards, carbonless stock, envelopes, and sheets up to 11'17" in size. The equipment, which now operates directly from digital files from a computer desktop, is simple to use and provides quick change-over between jobs."

While a contemporary digital duplicator may still look like a liquid-ink copier of old, its output more closely resembles that of an offset press. In fact, users find that a newer system can produce a copier's workload more efficiently than can an offset press.

Unlike a copier, a digital duplicator uses ink, not toner, so it does not need to fuse toner to produce an image.

The manufacturers in this market, according to a report last year in Better Buys for Business, are Duplo, Gestetner, Ricoh, RISO, Savin, and Standard. Ricoh is recognized as the largest manufacturer of digital duplicators; according to the company, it has the largest market share in the U.S. and the world. The Digital Duplicator Marketing Group sells the equipment under the Ricoh name as well as under the Savin and Gestetner brand names.

Duplo launched the DP-460 Duprinter a year ago, adding the model to its DP-21L, DP-22L, DP-330L, and DP-430 offerings. The DP-460, designed for use by in-plant shops, quick printers, government agencies, religious organizations, and educational institutions, can achieve 600-dpi resolution on monochrome and spot-color printing on paper, card stock, carbonless paper, envelopes, and other substrates.

Duplo enhanced its three-roller feed system with a pulse stepper motor to provide tight registration without additional hardware. A unique integrated computer interface is standard, with a bidirectional parallel port connection. The 1,200-sheet feed and stack capacity and optional 60-sheet ADF increase productivity and decrease downtime.

Pushbutton image rotation eliminates manual adjustment, and electronic registration adjustment, driven four ways, aids image control and eases operation.

"The main advantage is that the DP-460 allows a user to rotate an image from the platen 90 degrees or 180 degrees," says Carl Terrasi. "The unit also features book-shadow erase, a whitening step that eliminates the center-spine shadow when copying facing pages from a book."

Last month, Ricoh Corporation introduced the SeriPrinter Model 25, described as a high-powered add-on unit designed to be coupled with any existing 400- or 600-dpi digital duplicator, to provide fast, economical four-color process printing and high-density ink coverage in black and spot colors.

The Model 25, which can print on semigloss and selected coated stocks, plus Tyvek envelopes, utilizes dedicated resin-based ink that's formulated to cure instantly under ultraviolet energy, reportedly eliminating dot gain and any delay for second-side printing. This fast-drying technique speeds the output of four-color process and a virtually unlimited range of black and spot-color line art and images.

The SeriPrinter works as a finishing unit for Ricoh's TC-II digital production printer and Priport JP5500 and JP8500 systems. Ricoh claims that advanced engineering allows the Model 25 to completely eliminate any ink smudging and offsetting no matter the type of paper stock selected.

"This unit is the only system that can print on matte and selected glossy stocks," says John Reiling, "something that hasn't been possible with four-color process digital duplicating to date. We think that its low-cost advantages will help quick-print shops be more competitive with offset shops."

In May 2002, RISO, Inc., a long-time supplier of printers and duplicators, introduced its 8000 digital press, a high-speed, fully automatic printing system engineered for two-color/one-pass work. The system utilizes RISO's unique "V" press configuration: dual master cylinders operating above a common impression cylinder.

Powered by Zykros technology that enables the imaging and printing of multiple colors in a single pass, the 8000 produces high-quality copies with one or two vibrant colors and solids in one pass at up to 7,200 prints per hour.

This capability, says the manufacturer, boosts production and cuts downtime in on-demand print production in short to medium-length runs.

By printing two colors in a single pass, explains Daniel S. Weil, president and chief executive of RISO, the 8000 "virtually doubles productivity for customers" while addressing three market trends: declining margins on black-and-white output, increased demand for spot-color printing, and shorter runs driven by the need for small quantities of customized output and the pressure to reduce inventories of printed material.

Weil adds, "With ideal run lengths from 300 to 3,000, the 8000 offers a unique and versatile solution to businesses seeking highly productive, economical short-run printing."

The system is able to print 70 stock colors, plus an unlimited assortment of custom color, imaging a variety of papers ranging in size from 4'6" up to 11'17".

Last November, Standard Duplicating Machines introduced the 400-dpi SD420 system, which can print up to 120 sheets per minute in an 11'17" format.

"Digital duplicators combine the convenience of a copier with the reliability of a press," says Steven Reny. "In recent years, we've seen big improvements in this equipment across a broad spectrum: print quality, image register, and masters with new advanced thermal inks, plus breakthroughs in digital front-end compatibility, all of which appeal to new users such as small commercial shops and quick printers. They find it very appealing to be able to take a file from a computer or a network and print off a number of runs in different colors in a short period of time."

Reny points to Standard's SD650, a 600-dpi duplicator with a unique gripper cylinder design, powerful connection options, and a unique double-sheet detection system designed to increase job integrity. The system can image paper up to 11'17" at up to 7,200 sheets per hour.

A new offering is the SD80, a network-capable computer interface for Standard's high-speed digital duplicators that allows connection to either a Macintosh or Windows PC.

Finally, Standard recently announced a non-exclusive agreement with Toshiba America Business Solutions to enable that company's subsidiaries to become authorized dealers for Standard's range of digital duplicating and document finishing products.