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When Xerox launched its DocuColor 2000 series of sheetfed digital colour production printers, they revolutionised the market. Since then, the company has expanded the range and sold more than 12,000 models worldwide, which is almost certainly more than all its rivals put together.

Now Xerox is launching a high-res model in its mid-volume slot. The DocuColor 5000 ships in Europe early in June. This was announced at the US OnDemand show last week, but an early example was shown behind closed doors at Ipex in April.

So, that gives us three two page-format digital presses in the market sharing the number 5000: HP Indigo, Xeikon and now Xerox, all with different speeds and prices.

The DocuColor 5000 has a maximum speed of 50 A4 or 25 SRA3 pages per minute and a monthly rating of 150,000 pages. As with other DocuColors, a built-in duplex path sends double-sided jobs though for a second pass. It is a mid-level colour production press – above the compact DocuColor 240/250 and below the higher volume 7000 and 8000 models. A typically configured DC 5000 costs £140,000, compared to £50,000 for a 250 and about £250,000 for an 8000.

Niche offering
As our Alternatives list shows, this puts the 5000 into a price/quality/performance niche without an exact equivalent. The nearest alternative is probably another DocuColor, the 52ppm, 600dpi DC 5252. Xerox says production of the DC5252 will continue and it will be sold alongside the 5000.

The DC 5000 is geared for quality and media flexibility. It adopts the 32-beam Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) technology for 2,400dpi resolution. This is also used in the 240/250 and 7000/8000 models and gives much smoother photographs and graduations in colour or mono. There’s a choice of stochastic screening or clustered dot screens in 150-600lpi pitches.

“Volume and price are the deciders in the range,” says Xerox UK product marketing manager Kevin O’Donnell. “There’s no difference in quality between the 2,400dpi models. All DocuColors are fully featured, so you can progress from PoD to web fulfilment and volume printing.”

Although the 2,400dpi engines do vary in terms of speed, duty cycles and paper capacity, the print quality is consistent so users can run different models side by side with the same results. Actually, the compact entry-level DocuColor 240/250 models use the new Emulsion Aggregation Toner, which gives somewhat better gloss matching on a wider range of stock than the other models’ “conventional” toner.

Toner cartridges can be renewed without stopping. There are two black cartridges and one each of C, M and Y.

The original DocuColor 2045/2060 models could only hit their rated speeds on medium-weight papers and would slow down dramatically for heavy or coated stocks. Later models from the 6060 onward improved and ran heavier stocks at reasonable speeds. The 5000 runs any stock up to 220gsm at the 50ppm speed, then drops progressively to a minimum of 33ppm at the maximum supported weight of 300gsm.

Xerox stresses media flexibility as a key selling point. Apart from heavyweight and coated stocks, the 5000 can handle “speciality media”, such as tabs, labels, synthetics and DocuCards (plastic-coated cards attached to 120gsm A4 sheets). A pair of decurlers in the output path makes sure heavier stocks are delivered flat. It comes with two high-capacity paper input trays for up to 2,000 sheets each as standard. All trays have vacuum feed and can accept all supported sizes and weights. Auto-duplexing is only available for weights up to 220gsm – anything above that has to be manually turned.

As with the 7000/8000, operators can manually fine tune the paper handling for “difficult” stocks and then save this as
a profile for instant re-use on similar jobs.

Output options include a high-capacity stacker cart on castor wheels for up to 3,750 sheets and a high-capacity stapler/stacker for 2,250 sheets from 60 to 220gsm. You can have one high-capacity stacker and a stacker/stapler, or two stackers inline. You can plug third-party inline finishing systems straight in via the Xerox DFA (Document Finishing Architecture), but, so far, Xerox is not supporting the non-proprietary UP3i architecture outside its development labs.

A separate PC provides the press control and user interface. Xerox offers three standard front ends for the 5000: its own FreeFlow DocuSP; the EFI Fiery; or the Creo PODS Spire.

FreeFlow options
The Xerox FreeFlow utilities suite provides other options, such as process manager, a workflow that handles pre-flight, pre-press, colour management, proofing, re-sizing and can be linked to a printer’s MIS. FreeFlow web services allows customers to order new or repeat jobs, with automatic job ticket generation, tracking and job management for the press. The variable information suite handles personalisation.

There’s also an option to fit a Xerox 665E colour scanner with FreeFlow scanning software, which can read up to 60 A3 pages per minute at 400dpi or 40ppm at 600dpi.

Hybrid working that combines offset and digital is important to Xerox. It reckons the 2,400dpi models can match offset quality, though gloss matching isn’t quite the same as offset on some high-gloss or very matt stocks.

It has introduced links with third-party workflows normally associated with platesetters – a JDF/JMF link to Heidelberg Prinect production networks was announced at Ipex.

As the digital production printer market matures and pure technology is no longer a novelty, Xerox is stressing its total business package. Its ProfitAccelerator is designed to help printers get out and sell digital print and, just as importantly, make a profit on it. There’s also a choice of cost-per-page service agreements, or service cover excluding consumables.

“Choosing the engine is the easy part,” O’Donnell says. “You need to first consider the business model, then the workflow, and finally the engine.”

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SPECIFICATIONS
Max speed 50ppm (A4 simplex), 25ppm (A4 Duplex)
Sheet sizes 182x182mm-320x488mm
Max print area 316x480mm
Stock range 60-300gsm
Max resolution 2,400dpi
Front end options EFI Fiery, Creo PDS Spire, Xerox FreeFlow DocuSP
Price about £140,000
Contact Xerox UK 0870 900 5500 www.xerox.co.uk

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THE ALTERNATIVES
HP Indigo Press 1050
Based on the original Indigo Series 1 digital offset colour engine with liquid ink, the base price is for four colours, but £125,000 gets you six colours. Duplex is standard. Speed is lower than the DC 5000, stock weights are more restricted and there is only one (offset-style) feeder. Quality is good despite relatively low resolution, with the Indigo trademark of offset-style gloss matching. Multi-pass technique gives considerably faster speeds with one, two or three colours. It can be used with the IndiChrome off-press spot colour ink mixer or the six-colour on-press extended gamut range.
Max speed 33 A4ppm
Max sheet size 320x464mm
Stock range 115–270gsm
Max resolution 800dpi
Front end Indigo RIP (Adobe PostScript 3)
Price from £105,000
Contact HP Indigo 01923 242402 www.hp.com

Canon imagePRESS C7000VP
Canon has just entered the high-volume production printing market with the Ipex-launched imagePRESS C7000VP.?It took 15 sales on the stand, but is not shipping yet. Image quality and gloss matching on coated stocks looked good at the show. It can maintain a 70 A4ppm on stocks up to 300gsm, for volumes of 100,000 to 300,000 per month. With a price around £260,000 and 10,000 sheet-feed input capacity (and 5,000 sheet stacker), in reality, this is more of a competitor for the DocuColor 8000.
Max speed 70ppm (A4 simplex)
Max sheet sizes 330x487mm
Stock range 60-300gsm
Max resolution 1,200dpi
Front end Canon imagePRESS Server A3000
Price about £258,000
Contact Canon UK 01737 220000 www.canon.co.uk

Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500
Brand new at Ipex, this forthcoming production colour printer has broadly similar specs to the DocuColor 5000, for a duty cycle of around 200,000 A4 pages per month. Input capacity is 7,500 sheets, with stacker capacity up to 8,400. New small-particle Simitri-HD toner is said to require less coverage and its silicon-free low-heat fusing means reduced curl and paper damage, KM says. Pricing hasn’t been announced but KM staff said it will be pitched against the Xerox 5252/6060 models.
Max Speed 65ppm (A4 simplex)
Max sheet sizes 324x460mm
Stock range 50-300gsm (64-256gsm duplex)
Max resolution 600x1,800dpi
Front end EFI Fiery IC-303
Price TBA
Contact Konica Minolta Business Solutions 01268 534444 www.konicaminolta.co.uk