Canon boasts strong sales growth

Canon’s sales are 30% up on last Drupa as it reached its show sales target for the 100ppm imagePress C10000VP by day three of the show.

Canon Europe head of commercial print group Peter Wolff said his team was selling Océ ColorStream 6000 Chromas daily, while Australian printer Direct Image signed for the new flatbed Océ Arizona 2280 on day one of the show.

On day two, Canon also signed two customers for its €850,000 flagship high-speed sheetfed inkjet press, the Océ VarioPrint i300.

UK personalised gifts company Signature Gifts and German marketing communications company Borek signed for the 300ppm A4 speed machine on Wednesday.

Signature Gifts prints more than 350,000 personalised products, from glassware to calendars, but will use the machine for personalised books.

Co-owner Kevin Spindler said: “The VarioPrint i300 is made for our business – it’s high-speed, high-quality and given that every unit we produce is unique, a short production run is vital.”

The machine is now being targeted at graphic arts applications following the development of a new ink set and the introduction of ColorGrip – Canon’s spot pre-coat option that enables the i300 to run a broad media range, including uncoated and offset papers. Inline finishing is provided by Watkiss and Technau.

The firm has also sold its flagship photo printer, the DreamLabo 5000, to a Nigerian company, while German firm Print System bought its first inkjet, the ColorStream 6000 Chroma to replace offset technology

“We’re 30% up on 2012 after three days, in terms of sales. We’re very happy,” said Wolff.

“Two thirds of our customers have been in transactional print and DM. With improvements to ColorStream we’re able to get into more commercial applications,” he added.