Production Print on the Rise
It’s a good time to be in the production space. As Annette McCrary, director of strategic marketing for Ricoh’s Production Printing Business Group, put it, “Print is not dead, but has become a very interactive, dynamic media that people may have been overlooking.” And judging from current numbers in the production space, people haven’t been overlooking it as of late. In 2014, the market for production digital presses increased nearly 18 percent to over $2 billion, according to IDC Worldwide Quarterly Production Printer Tracker, and total market shipments were at their highest level since 2009, mainly due to the steady increase in the shipment of digital presses, which were also at their highest level since 2009. And there’s plenty of room for more, as digital pages printed still only account for about 2 to 3 percent of the overall market in production printing, according to Xerox Vice President of Marketing Communications & Customer Engagement Beth Ann Kilberg-Walsh.
Reflecting the recent growth in the production space, this year’s Graph Expo in the Windy City includes new announcements from several of the vendors, ranging from light-production cut-sheet to several new cut-sheet and continuous feed inkjet offerings, with a number specialty products sprinkled in as well.
Canon
According to Brian Dollard, director of marketing for Canon’s Production Solutions Division, Canon has experienced significant growth in the production space over the last few years. From a revenue perspective, Canon’s production business grew 36 percent in 2013, 22 percent in 2014, and is on track to experience upwards of 30 percent growth in 2015. “Canon’s acquisition of Océ really brought two complementary companies together, and continues to pay dividends,” said Dollard, adding that the combined research and development effort of the two companies has led to a breadth of product launches across different high-growth markets.
Among Canon’s Graph Expo highlights were:
The imagePRESS C10000VP and C8000VP, scheduled for launch in November 2015, will be the latest extensions of a very successful product line that began with the launch of the C7000VP Series in 2007. As with its predecessor Series, the C10000VP and C8000VP feature dual-fuser technology that allow the devices to run at rated speed regardless of media, Dollard said. In addition, gloss optimization technology helps to match gloss levels of the printed image to the substrate it’s printed on. Among the enhancements are a higher resolution of 2400 x 2400 dpi, as well as an inline spectrophotometer for real-time quality control and calibration, and an embedded color profiler. Canon also extended the gap between service intervals, for fewer service interruptions, and now features greater media flexibility, with support of uncoated media as light as 60 gsm and coated media of 70 gsm, and support of a maximum paper weight of up to 350 gsm. The devices will be powered by latest PRISMAsync Color Print Server and Fiery-based imagePRESS Servers, all of which will integrate PRISMAprepare professional make-ready solution and PRISMAdirect job submission. They are targeted at commercial printers, in-plants, transaction and direct mail service providers.
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Scheduled for availability beginning in October 2015, PRISMAdirect is an order management system designed to combine job submission and order fulfillment in one centralized solution. As Dollard explained, PRISMAdirect will take job orders from a variety of sources, such as a web portal, hard copy, email, USB, or network folder, manage them and create a job ticket that directs the job through the various workflows. The user interface offers two powerful views, the order view and job view. The order view provides detailed progress status information, allowing users to manage the workflow of orders from creation to finalization. The job view provides a clear overview of all jobs and connected printers, allowing operators to preview, edit production settings, and process jobs assigned to them. The system further allows users to update customers regarding the status of their orders via personalized or automatic emails. In addition, the optional web storefront component will enable customers to set up their own web portal, capture jobs and get them submitted. PRISMAdirect users can create an unlimited number of virtual storefronts, and modify each one to reflect the print provider’s or print buyer’s individual corporate identity. The system also offers connectivity to EFI Digital StoreFront, and can be integrated into existing workflow systems utilizing standardized JDF/JMF interfaces.
“Canon’s acquisition of Océ really brought two complementary companies together, and continues to pay dividends.” –Brian Dollard
While not making the physical trip from Canon’s 2015 Expo in New York to Chicago, the tremendous presence of the Océ VarioPrint i300 (the Niagara), the high-speed, cut-sheet inkjet device designed to help accelerate the printing industry’s transition from offset to digital, was certainly felt. According to Dollard, the device, which is targeting the space between cut-sheet color devices and continuous-feed inkjet, has sold out for 2015, and the company is already taking orders for 2016. As Dollard explained, one of the challenges to inkjet historically has been that the ink is water-based as opposed to the more pasty ink used with offset presses, and when the ink hits the paper, it spreads and absorbs and does not lay flat on the paper. To “offset” this, customers can buy pre-treated paper with a coating on it to make it more compatible with water-based ink, but it’s pricey. And while the i300 will start out in the transactional space, it will migrate to commercial print thanks to greater media flexibility when version 1.2 launch, which will feature the ability to treat paper inline. The i300 prints up to 294 (letter) images per minute. It handles paper sizes up to 13.9” x 19.7” (B3) and targets heavy production volumes of 1 to 10 million pages per month. The device uses Océ iQuarius technologies, including iQuarius CMYK Inks and iQuarius Drying System, Precision Sheet Control, and In-Line Quality Inspection.
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The imagePRESS C800/C700, announced at last year’s Graph Expo, have been huge successes for Canon up to this point, according to Dollard. Designed for small-to-medium commercial, franchise, in-plant and quick printers, the devices incorporate some of the features of the imagePRESS C7000VP Series, such as gloss optimization, into a smaller footprint. And according to Dollard, Canon gained the number 1 market share in the 300,000 to 1 million duty cycle range after only selling the product for three months beginning in the fourth quarter of last year. “We’ve exceeded our expectations,” said Dollard. “Our customers are thrilled, and the product is stable, and priced right, with a feature set aligned with the market.” In addition to gloss optimization, the devices feature 2400 x 2400 dpi output. And while there is no dual-fusing technology to allow the devices to run at rated speed regardless of media weight, they incorporate a twin-belt system that allows for enhanced fusing to run heavier stocks at faster speeds compared to competitors, Dollard said. With rated speeds of 80 ppm and 70 ppm, respectively, the C800/C700 support media weight up to 300 gsm, and are compatible with a number of digital front-end systems, including PRISMAsync, and the imagePRESS Server F200 and G100, digital front-ends from EFI Fiery.
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Sharp
Although a relative newcomer to production, Sharp continues to bring products to market in this space and grow, according to Senior Product Manager Kent Villarreal. “We have seen an increase in the light-production space since the downturn in the economy, as digital cut-sheet machines become more capable of handling the offset work that used to be sent out to commercial printers, such as brochures and high-value documents,” said Villarreal. He explained that more and more of the work that used to be reserved for offset devices is trickling down to the light-production space and moving in-house. This is the primary cause of growth in this area, and Sharp’s capabilities are currently focused on this space. “Because light-production color is all new business for us, we’re successfully increasing the market share, and all revenue is net new revenue,” said Villarreal. “We’re having success against all the major manufacturers, and are committed to building out the production line to eventually provide offerings beyond the light-production space.”
Sharp’s Graph Expo highlights included the following:
Scheduled to launch in the first or second quarter of 2016, the 120-ppm MX-M1205 and 105 ppm MX-M1055 will be the successors to the MX-M1204 and MX-M1054. According to Villarreal, they will feature integration of EFI Fiery Command WorkStation into the touch-screen display, similar to the MX-7500N and MX-6500N Pro Series. This BLI award-winning technology not only provides convenience by allowing users to manage all of their jobs at the machine without having to switch back and forth between the MFP and a separate workstation PC running the Fiery software, but also reduces costs and saves the space typically associated with having to purchase and find room for a a workstation. The MX-M1205 and MX-M1055 will also offer support for EFI Fiery technology. As part of that, the company showcased workflow utilizing EFI technology, including Fiery Central, which enables shops to be more productive by splitting jobs and load balancing. The devices will also support the storage up to 1,000 custom media types in the paper catalog.
For the second year in a row, Sharp will be exhibiting in the booth of one of its dealers—Formax. Formax also sells commercial-grade business shredders, inserters, and paper folders, as well as an array of complementary products such as addressing systems, cutters, letter openers, bursters, signers, tabbers and joggers.
Konica Minolta
Production print sales continue to be a high point for Konica Minolta, with year over year growth of 23 percent, and a 19.2 percent growth in unit shipments from the second quarter of 2014 to the second quarter 2015. With the theme of, “What will your business look like tomorrow,” Konica Minolta’s booth at Graph Expo showcased new technologies, as well as technologies that will be available in the future.
Konica Minolta’s Graph Expo highlights included:
The US launch of the bizhub PRESS C71hc. Targeted to marketing and high-quality output environments, the C71hc features Konica Minolta’s high chroma toner, which according to Director of Product Marketing Dino Pagliarello, features a wider color gamut to allow the device to output more fluorescent colors, which cannot be produced with a narrower CMYK color gamut. As a result, colors such as pink, purple, green and blue become significantly brighter and more vibrant. Additional features include automatic duplex printing of up to 300 gsm, as well as well an air suction paper feeder, which, according to Pagliarello, prevents paper dust buildup to reduce misfeeding. Saddle-stitching for up to 200-page booklets with trimming, and a perfect binder with bookbinding capability of up to 600 pages, are also available.
The bizhub PRESS C71cf is also being shown for the first time at Graph Expo. Similar to the bizhub PRESS C1070, with the addition of roll-feed capability, the C71cf will be targeted at the converter and flexor markets. “This roll-feed, toner based device will be ideal for label printing markets, which we see as another area with growth opportunity,” Pagliarello said.
The JetVarnish 3DS from MGI, which Konica Minolta announced it would begin to carry at its dealer show earlier this year, has now added a foil capability, giving the device the ability to add all types of metallic color to output that is previously toner printed. Konica Minolta acquired a 10 percent stake in MGI last year. In addition to the new foil capability, the device allows users to add a layer of clear gloss varnish to four-color prints. Users can select where on the color page the varnish will reside, and set the thickness of the varnish coating in microns. The device uses Konica Minolta LED inkheads for accurate registration and automatic head cleaning. The 3DS can also handle coated stock within a certain page range from multiple vendor devices, as long as the paper can fit through the device’s 14-inch carriage. As Pagliarello explained, this is ideal for packaging environments, making football or baseball tickets “pop” more, for example.
Konica Minolta also announced the availability of a home-grown spectrodensitometer for its color production devices with scanner-based auto-calibration. According to Pagliarello, other vendors need to use a third-party spectrodensitometer, and have to make sure it is calibrated properly to work with their devices.
The company continues to grow its relationship with 3D Systems, and showcased the ProJet X60 Series full-color devices which, according to Pagliarello, target consumer products, healthcare and other vertical market customers that are interested in printing photo-realistic models for product design, prototypes and color concept models. ZVerse Inc., an applications company that offers a suite of software applications designed to make any 2D content 3D printable, was there to help commercial printers “connect the dots” between purchasing a 3D printer and becoming profitable with it. “The way we see it is there’s always going to be a question on ROI with any new technology,” said Pagliarello. “We believe that 3D printing is going to be a tremendous opportunity in the near future, and that being in on it on the ground floor, and having our sales force knowledgeable about it, and better understanding the technology and how to sell it to customers will be invaluable.”
Pagliarello also provided an update on the KM 1, which the company expects to be available early next year. Beta testing on the device, which will support 6-up, letter-size printing in a single pass, is going very well. “We have not pushed this out to market yet, because we want to do our due diligence first,” he said. “The KM 1 is a significant investment for us, at upwards of $2 million, so we want to make sure we get it right.” Targeted at the book printing and packaging markets, which continues to be an area of growth, the KM 1 is a UV-based inkjet, compared to the water-based inks used by competitors, which take longer to dry, and evaporate over time, he added.
“We believe that 3D printing is going to be a tremendous opportunity in the near future, and that being in on it on the ground floor, and having our sales force knowledgeable about it, and better understanding the technology and how to sell it to customers will be invaluable.” –Dino Pagliarello
The bizhub PRO C754e, which the company believes will be a hit in the legal market, as well as in the entry-level light production color space, is built on the bizhub C754e platform, and features a standard EFI Fiery controller for graphics-intensive applications, along with a 9” monitor on an arm that can be tilted and swiveled, and two-sided scanning at up to 180 originals per minute.
The H1625 LED wide format inkjet printer from EFI serves as a great entry point for the color wide format space where there is display and signage opportunity. Offering four-color printing plus white on both flexible and rigid substrates including plexiglass and metals up to 65” wide and 2” thick, the product has generated a tremendous amount of interest from Konica Minolta’s channels, according to Pagliarello.
“The KM 1 is a significant investment for us, at upwards of $2 million, so we want to make sure we get it right.” –Dino Pagliarello
The KIP 940 color wide format device is designed for a range of printing tasks, including architectural renderings, geographical maps, posters and signs. Features include a large color touch-screen display, integrated USB drives and automatic roll trimming after loading. According to Pagliarello, a single belt drive system performs automatic media calibrations to simplify the changing of media types. The device is rated for print speeds up to 4,200 square feet per hour in black and white and 3,500 square feet per hour in color. The device further offers an integrated stacking system to stack multiple prints.
The Watkiss square-bind booklet maker with trimmer is now available for the bizhub PRESS 2250P. According to the Pagliarello, it will allow Konica Minolta’s devices to run a higher volume of booklets with less user intervention than any of its current crop of booklet finishers allow for. Also now available for the bizhub PRESS 2250P is a 60,000-page roll feeder, which will allow the device to run non-stop overnight unattended.
Xerox
According to Kevin Horey, Xerox’s vice president and general manager of workflow and solutions, Xerox is very bullish on the production market space. “Digital production printing is a bright spot in an ever-changing world, and with the largest portfolio of engine offerings of both conventional and inkjet offerings, we’re ready to take advantage of it,” Horey said. According to IDC Worldwide Quarterly Production Print Tracker, while Xerox’s market share (based on shipment value) in the production space for the second quarter of 2015 was 44.8 percent, down slightly from the second quarter of 2014, which was 45.9 percent, the company still holds the largest market share in this space by a wide margin. The next closest competitor to Xerox holds a market share of 18.8 percent. Showing the breadth of its offerings, the company had more than 17 technologies and solutions showcased at its booth.
Xerox’s Graph Expo highlights included:
The iGen 5 Press made its North American debut. Built on the iGen 150 Press platform, the iGen 5 adds a fifth station, increasing the ability of the Press to match a larger gamut of Pantone colors, according to Kilberg-Walsh. In addition, the iGen 5 will not slow down when running the fifth station due to its single-pass architecture, she said. The new family comprises the 150-ppm iGen 5 150, the 120-ppm iGen 5 120and the 90-ppm iGen 5 90. The Press also features the ability to apply two different line screens on one single application automatically, which allows customers to, for example, have great photo and text without having to sacrifice the quality in one or the other, Kilberg-Walsh added. Additional capabilities include gloss or matte dry ink options, 26-inch sheet size for applications such as six-panel brochures, gatefold pamphlets, pocket folders and direct mails, and a choice of EFI Fiery or Xerox FreeFlow print servers. The Press is targeted to market graphics communications and commercial printers, and should also play well in the photo market. “The iGen 5 could also open up logo printing market for us, in markets that have a specific color they’re looking to hit that they have not previously been able to hit,” Kilberg-Walsh added.
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The Xerox Rialto 900 Inkjet Press also made its North American debut. Jumping further onto the inkjet bandwagon, the Rialto 900 is an inkjet press with a relatively small footprint. “The Rialto 900 is a revolutionary product in terms of what it offers and the space it fills,” Horey said. As he explained, the device is a roll-in and cut-sheet out device in one cabinet, in which the printing is done on a continuous-feed sheet of paper, and then cut on the way out and stacked on a high-capacity stacker. “We see an opportunity in the market above cut-sheet production but below the continuous feed 20-inch web offerings [the Rialto 900 features an 11-inch web]. Not all customers can run the volume that justifies the hefty price tag of the continuous-feed 20-inch web offerings, which is often in the tens of millions of impressions per month. The Rialto 900, on the other hand, is targeted at customers in the direct mail and transactional space running volumes of 1.5 to 5 million impressions per month. The Rialto 900 is the bridge from the world of high-end cut-sheet into the world of continuous-feed inkjet.”
“Digital production printing is a bright spot in an ever-changing world, and with the largest portfolio of engine offerings of both conventional and inkjet offerings, we’re ready to take advantage of it.” –Kevin Horey
Xerox also showcased a number of new tools in its Profit Accelerator Program, including an inkjet prospecting and planning kit to help customers develop this area of the business. FreeFlow Core Cloud is a fully functional cloud offering on the production side for Xerox, Horey said. While the on-premise FreeFlow Core job automation software has been on the market for several years, customers will now have the choice of whether to host the solution on premise or have Xerox host in the cloud. “Many customers do not have IT professionals on staff, and are reluctant to invest in servers and infrastructure,” Horey said. “With the new cloud offering, we do the hosting and setting up for the customer for a setup fee and monthly access fee. This solution is ideal for small to medium size printers without in-house IT personnel, and also opens up different ways for customers to acquire and start using the workflow automation capabilities of FreeFlow Core.” FreeFlow Core Cloud will be browser-based, as is the FreeFlow Core on-premise offering, but will only be offered in a single configuration with preflight, imposition and rules-based routing, as opposed to the more modular architecture available for the on-premise offering, which in addition to the base software offers JDF/JMF compliance and optional modules.
Ricoh
Business is booming for Ricoh in the production space. Currently the number 1 market share holder in the cut-sheet color production space for monthly volumes up to 1 million impressions, the company also holds the number 1 market share in the continuous feed space, according to McCrary. And according to IDC Worlwide Quarterly Production Print Tracker, an astounding 68.8 percent growth in unit shipments from second quarter 2014 to second quarter 2015. “I think it’s our combination of great technology and great service,” McCrary said. “The Pro C7110 and C9110 and C9100 are game-changers, and we’ve dedicated over 1,000 service resources just for production services. Our customers can rest assured that if we don’t already offer what a customer needs, we’ll help them find it.”
Ricoh’s Graph Expo highlights included:
According to McCrary, sales of the Ricoh Pro C7110, introduced at Ricoh’s dealer show earlier this year, are “blowing away the initial forecasts.” With a rated speed of 90 ppm, the media library for the machine supports 1,000 media types, with 99 attributes programmable for each type, including fuser temperature and transfer current. And this goes a long way in making the machine compatible with most any paper type available. “The applications customers are coming up with to be used with the machine have been incredibly creative,” McCrary said, adding that the product marketing team at Ricoh has done an exceptional job of producing and delivering a kit that has samples of applications and a very detailed guide as to how to create with these particular elements. “This went a long way towards eliminating all customer fears of, ‘Will I know how to use it,’ and allowed customers to hit the ground running.” The device supports paper weights up to 360 gsm in both simplex and duplex modes, and a maximum paper capacity of 16,200 sheets. The “X” version features a fifth station for white or clear toner. The device also features 12 key components that are customer-replaceable, including the fuser and developer units.
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“The Pro C7110 and C9110 and C9100 are game-changers, and we’ve dedicated over 1,000 service resources just for production services. Our customers can rest assured that if we don’t already offer what a customer needs, we’ll help them find it. –Annette McCrary
While the Ricoh Pro C9110 and C9100 began shipping a little later than the C7110, customers thus far have been giving the devices rave reviews, according to McCrary. The devices are finding much of their early success in environments with short to moderate runs which used to go to offset devices, according to McCrary, adding that the majority of customers are running the device at the recommended monthly volume of 1 million impressions. Featuring rated speeds of 130 ppm and 110 ppm, respectively, the Ricoh Pro C9110 and C9100 support paper weight up to 400 gsm from any of the paper trays. In addition, all the trays, which support paper up to 13” x 19”, are vacuum-fed, and feature three belts, allowing paper to be picked up and moved through the machine straight to eliminate curling that can be found on machines with just one belt. The fuser features five lamps, so there is no reduction in speed, even for paper stock above 350 gsm, according to Ricoh. A built-in cooling system features eight fans, allowing paper to output at room temperature. The devices support a maximum paper capacity of 17,600 sheets, and up to two stackers can be attached to the device at the same time.
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The enhanced Ricoh Pro 8100e Series features a new interface box that allows these engines to communicate with third-party finishers, bringing inline high-end production finishers that were previously only available as near-line or offline options. The first third-party finisher to work with the new interface box is the C.P. Bourg Booklet Maker, which features staples on a wire, to make them more reliable when used for thicker booklets. According to Ricoh Product Manager David Rolon, this moves Ricoh more into the conversation with commercial print shops that may already have an investment in Heidelberg or C.P. Bourg, for example. The new interface box also eliminates lag time between jobs that was experienced in the past.
There was also an enclosed pavilion focusing on Ricoh’s Pro VC 60000. Announced at last year’s Graph Expo, the continuous-feed inkjet device is targeted at the commercial print and high-end transactional space with a targeted monthly volume of up to 40 million impressions. “While offset presses are great for long-run jobs in which every page is the same, the VC 60000 is ideal for customers that need a more targeted approach due to its variable data printing capabilities,” McCrary said.
