Printers Demand Latest in Digital Presses

The strong presence of digital press vendors at Graph Expo offered numerous "first looks."

MONOCHROME: Canon showed its 125-ppm imageRunner Pro 125VP ($265,000—the 150-ppm version is $379,000); both are re-branded NexPress machines. Xerox Nuvera 100 ($177,000) and 120 ($217,000), geared for heavy-duty settings (1.5 million pages monthly), use "near-offset" SmartPress technology.

HIGHLIGHT COLOR: Xerox showcased the 180-ppm Highlight Color system for spot color on statements, priced up to $472,000. Océ revealed that a continuous-feed VarioStream 9220 on the floor was set for pilot testing at Blue Cross of Florida after the show. It runs 1/1 monochrome at 853 images per minute; 2/2 highlight color at 353 ipm. This will be the platform for a full-color, high-speed printer, says Océ.

FULL COLOR: Canon USA and KPG both showed Canon's latest CLC's: the 5100 (51 ppm) and CLC 4000 (40 ppm), half that on 12×18″. Resolution is 400×400 dpi but Canon Image Refinement is said to generate an 800×400 dpi appearance. Both are rated up to 200,000 impressions per month and are equipped for variable-data production. HP Indigo showed its seven-color 3050 and 5000 sheetfed presses, running 4,000 four-color, 8½×11″ single-sided pages-per-hour (two-up). Its newest machine is the HP Indigo press ws4050 (successor to the ws4000), for full-color variable labels, with expanded media capacity that includes conductive and shrink-sleeve film.

Kodak Versamark showed "business color" variable-data print in its VX5000e inkjet commercial web, driven by a CS600 system controller jointly developed with EFI. Speeds of 1,400 ppm allow 300×1200 dpi output.

Konica-Minolta Graphic Imaging, in its first Graph Expo since the two copier companies merged (the former Konica Graphic Imaging, similarly renamed, also is under the corporate umbrella), showed its new short-run, LD-5100 Digital Color Printer (51 ppm). It uses a patented Simitri Color Polymerized Toner for sharper text and better halftones, and supports a full bleed 12×18″.

NexPress Solutions, now sold also by sister firm KPG, showed intelligent color and coating capabilities with a fifth imaging unit (debuted at Drupa), expanding the color gamut to 96% of Pantone matches, or clear coating to curtail in-the-mail scuffing. An off-line post treater, due Q1 '05, will raise the coating to a gloss.

RISO unveiled the inventive HC5000 Full Color Printer, based on new technologies—ForceJet, an inkjet-to-print belt platform, and ComColor, producing 105-ppm "pleasing color" work.

Xeikon's 5000 made its North American debut. This web-fed machine can print multi-page documents at a speed of 7,800 full-color pages per hour (130 A4 pages per minute). It also can be equipped with a fifth (duplex) color station to add spot color, special toner for security applications or MICR toner. RR Donnelley put two of them in its Hungary plant; Rastar Digital Marketing, Salt Lake, also ordered two.

Xerox debuted the DocuColor 8000 (80 ppm, 7.7×7.7″ to 12.6×19.2″). At $300,000, the Doc 8000 fits between the 45–60-ppm DocuColors and 100-ppm iGen3.