Drupa News

Billed as the inkjet Drupa, the 2008 show delivered some stunning advances in digital kit, not always from expected quarters. Jo Francis looks at some of the unsung stars of the new digital world,

When a major print show comes around, it’s a bit like the circus is coming to town, and alongside the established acts it’s always nice to find a surprising or low-key ‘star of the show’.

At Drupa 2004, it was Riso’s cheap and cheerful HC5000 inkjet copier/printer, which is somewhat ironic considering that when it came to Drupa 2008, inkjet was hogging a lot of the pre-show headlines. But many of the hyped products remain a way off commercial reality, and feedback from digital kit suppliers is that printers aren’t holding off as they await the next technology wave – they want to progress their business plans sooner rather than later, particularly those companies looking to enter the digital market. Others want to enhance their existing offering. As a result the real action was in the more affordable entry-level digital production area, where a number of new machines that are available now or in the very near future have racked up impressive sales already.

So what was the surprise star of the show at Drupa 2008? Arguably, it was Canon’s compact colour printer, the Imagepress C1+. Even Canon Business Solutions head of professional marketing Ben Milford admits its popularity "took us by surprise" with a phenomenal level of interest at the show. As an affordable way to create added-value digital prints it has a lot going for it, and Canon lays claim to having the first light production machine in this class.

The C1+ prints at between 11ppm and 40ppm (depending on application) in CMYK plus a clear toner that can be used to enhance the sheet with a gloss, matt or metallic-effect coating. The same toner is used for all three effects. "It allows customers to enhance the printed page and offer something different at a cost-effective rate," adds Milford. What’s more the potential applications for it keep on coming.

Design agencies looking to proof concepts or produce short runs of creative designs are one example. Existing users with an Imagepress 6000 or 7000 have been looking at the C1+ as a flexible offline coating device. Because the clear toner can’t be copied, it can also be used for security applications such as tickets and vouchers. And the coating option opens up the possibility of a host of other high-value short-run applications, including greetings cards, photobooks, and test marketing of packaging. The C1+ will ship in mid-November and with a price tag of around £25,500 expect a crush around it at its first UK public showing at Total Print! Expo in October.

Sweet spots
Hitting a sweet spot with customers is also having positive results for Ricoh, which launched its C900 printer at Drupa. At the show, the company picked up 13 letters of intent from UK customers, along with a host of bookings for in-depth demonstrations from potential buyers. The device will ship mid-October. Marketing director Chas Moloney says the firm spoke to customers about so-called "pain points" with their existing systems, and the C900’s considerable appeal is a result of addressing these pains. "The key thing is that it’s 90ppm no matter what the substrate – it’s still 90ppm if you’re running 300gsm," he explains. "So customers know exactly how long a job will take when they’re scheduling." Other enhancements include the ability to refill toner on-the-fly, and more flexibility on finishing options. Moloney reports that customers are investing to address business needs they will have in the next six months, with many looking to purchase at the end of this year or early next. Typical applications include adding digital services alongside existing litho offerings. Pricing is still to be confirmed, but it’s likely to be around €110,000 (£90,000) for the print engine with large capacity tray.

Konica Minolta claims that its BizHub Pro C6500 was the best-selling product in its category across Europe last year, and the enhanced C6501e version shown at Drupa started shipping in September. This model features additional finishing elements as well as improved image quality and stability. In fact, the "flat, litho-like" image quality of the device combined with the ability to finish sheets immediately after printing are two of the reasons it is proving so popular with commercial printers and corporate reprographic departments, says Konica Minolta head of production print sales Clare Revell, who also emphasises "it’s not just about the box, it’s what’s around it. We have service engineers who specialise in the production field, and the back-up and support is contributing to its continued success".

Revell reports a successful Drupa that showcased future products as well as products that were available immediately. "Customers can see a roadmap to the future," she adds. With more than 300 UK installs of the 6500 and 5500 series printers already, Konica Minolta is aiming to build upon that success with the 6501e.

Over at Xerox, the new 700 model proved to the star attraction. "It’s selling like hot cakes, we’re really, really pleased with the demand from Drupa – in fact the 700 had the top number of enquiries on the stand," says Kevin O’Donnell, marketing manager for colour products, who describes the size of the market and potential opportunity for the device as "massive". "We’ve been in production digital colour for 10 years, but a lot of SME companies haven’t made the transition to digital output yet. A lot of machines in that space are office printers on steroids, whereas the 700 comes out of our production heritage with associated reliability and uptime." Print quality combined with the flexibility to handle a range of stocks are part of the 70ppm machine’s appeal, and it can also do longer runs unattended. "Interest post-Drupa hasn’t stopped, and it’s by far and away the most booked unit in our demo suite," he adds.

O’Donnell reports that interest is coming from a wide range of potential customers because of the 700’s abilities. These range from small graphic arts companies that have perhaps dabbled in digital with smaller devices and want to step up to a more heavyweight offering, companies making their first foray into digital, corporate and the public sector, and companies looking to buy multiple units for distributed print systems. We’ve placed a pleasing number of units and we’re well into double figures now, says O’Donnell. "It’s earning its spurs in the market. We’re not seeing a big pull in this category for inkjet. Customers aren’t just looking at engines, either, they’re looking at workflow, finishing and how they can build a digital business."
With a print speed of 230 A4 pages per minute and a price tag of circa £700,000 the new Xeikon 8000 is by no means an entry-level machine, but in terms of "making the most of now" it is already proving a popular choice for more demanding, higher throughput applications of up to 8.5m pages per month. Punch Graphix obviously doesn’t want to get in a position where it’s dangling future carrots in front of its customers – it has a corporate policy that products are not announced unless they’re going to be available within three months’ time.

Investing sensibly
UK sales director Greg Neesham says that at Drupa the firm received a lot interest from bigger companies with a definite game plan. "We sold lots to larger players who see a market need and an opportunity and aren’t scared to invest," he adds. From Neesham’s point-of-view the days when customers would put digital presses in on something of a wing and a prayer are long gone. These days, businesses are tending to take a far more analytical view of how their investments will fit with their markets. The Xeikon 8000 has already started shipping on the continent and UK shipments, including the machine bound for Howard Hunt, start in September.

Inkjet printhead developer Xaar took a similar approach and chose to focus its Drupa energies on products that are available now, explains marketing director Mark Alexander. "A lot of people at Drupa were talking about inkjet products or technologies of the future, and we wanted to make the point that the technology on our stand was ready and available – for example the FFEI/Nilpeter Caslon label printer." This press was shown in a 16in configuration at Drupa and is available in 13in too, but in fact it could be as wide as the customer wants it to be. "It was printing onto labels but it’s not just limited to that market, the quality is adequate for a lot of commercial print applications and we want to help people understand that kind of flexibility," he adds. The Caslon uses Xaar’s 1001 printhead, which employs the company’s TF Technology whereby air bubbles and particles are diverted away from the nozzles. "This offers high reliability for single-pass printing, and we’ve had great interest in it in the sheetfed and web printing space. We have tens of projects coming to fruition."

The evidence from these suppliers is that despite challenging economic times and a fast-changing technology environment print service providers are willing to invest when kit comes along with the sort of price-performance ratio that hits a sweet spot.