Canon Launches varioPRINT iX-Series of Sheetfed Presses

On April 1, 2020, Canon announced the latest update to its varioPRINT series of digital printers. Designed with commercial printers in mind, the varioPRINT iX-Series offers a wide variety of capabilities to improve automation, productivity, and media handling. Following on the success of the original varioPRINT platform that was introduced in 2015, this announcement demonstrates Canon’s continued efforts to combine digital capabilities with the quality and productivity of offset.

Canon’s varioPRINT iX-Series

The varioPRINT iX-Series is capable of producing over 9,000 SRA3 images per hour (320 A4 pages per minute) with over 90% average uptime and no need for daily calibration or maintenance. This makes it particularly suitable for customers whose print volumes exceed one million A4 pages per month. The press also features an extended media range with compatibility from 60 to 350 gsm, making it compatible with a wide variety of commercial applications.

The press will ship with a number of technological improvements, including the following notable innovations:

• An upgraded drying system that combines airflow with humidification to protect the paper and ensure high quality images on all compatible substrates, leaving sheets flat and ready for immediate finishing
• Improved ink chemistry using a proprietary polymer pigment water-based ink and Canon’s ColorGrip technology
• 1,200 dpi printheads (co-developed with Kyocera) that use an inline scanner to automatically check and align single nozzles during the production run to eliminate streaks

varioPRINT iX-Series Paper Path

The varioPRINT iX-Series also includes a range of additional features, including an improved media handling system that discards damaged sheets before printing and Canon’s PRISMAsync software solution for optimizing workflow and advanced scheduling. In the press release that accompanied this announcement, Peter Wolff (Canon’s Vice President for Production Printing Products) noted, “The appeal of inkjet is its excellent productivity in the face of ever-tighter deadlines and higher volumes of short-run jobs that require quick changeovers. With the varioPRINT iX-series, there’s no need to compromise between quality and media range, or between productivity and cost-efficiency. Commercial printers can now commit to virtually any order with confidence in high print quality, vast media options, and quick turnarounds.”

Canon’s varioPRINT iX-Series of sheetfed inkjet presses enables customers to offer an even broader portfolio of high-quality applications. In addition to growing their volumes, businesses can manage smaller, more diverse jobs with more flexibility and profitability than ever before. For additional information about this series, please click here.