The Xerox Rialto 900 inkjet press is web-fed but produces sheets.
Product announcements were to the fore at the Hunkeler Innovation Days event in Lucerne, Switzerland. The high volume continuous feed digital printing show attracts the biggest names in the sector, both in terms of exhibitors and visitors.
Canon, Kodak, Xeikon, Xerox, Pitney Bowes, Muller Martini and hosts Hunkeler themselves, have all displayed new or improved technology at the event, which was expected to peak at 3500 people on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Amongst a plethora of announcements from Canon was the introduction of new continuous feed inkjet printers – the Océ ColorStream 3000 Z series and the Océ ImageStream 2400 – and a sheetfed inkjet press – the Océ VarioPrint i300. The ColorStream 3000 Z has been designed in parallel with the existing ColorStream 3000 but has a smaller footprint. The ImageStream 2400 introduces the ability to print on offset-coated media in web widths of 20.5 inches (520 mm) 2-up A4 applications. Meanwhile, the VarioPrint i300 is the company’s first high speed sheetfed inkjet press. It can print at speeds of up to 8500 duplex A4 sheets or 3800 duplex B3 sheets per hour.
New from Kodak was the Prosper 1000 Plus press, which it says is the world’s fastest black and white inkjet press, printing at speeds of up to 1000 feet per minute (300 metres per minute). This makes it compatible with Hunkeler’s POPP8 paper handling technology, which is designed to run at such speeds. There was also the company’s new offline coating solution, the Prosper IOS, which produces optimally coated inkjet paper for the Prosper presses.
Xeikon was showing its newly announced Xeikon 9800 press at the event, which has a throughput of up to 63 feet per minute on a maximum 20.3 inch (512 mm) web width. It has a print resolution of 1200 x 3600 dpi and a fifth colour station for spot colour and security applications.
From Xerox came the news of a new press that is roll-fed but outputs cut sheets. The Xerox Rialto 900 inkjet press is intended to bridge the gap between cut sheet toner and continuous inkjet. It is the first results of collaboration between the development teams at Xerox and Impika, and is built around two Panasonic inkjet heads also used in the Impika presses. Xerox said the press is aimed at printers who produce 1.5 to five million impressions per month.
On its stand, Pitney Bowes was showing its new Mailstream Engage direct marketing solution, which incorporates a unique fold that delivers high impact, full colour, personalised mailers from an A4 sheet. Also new on its stand is an new inserter, the Epic, which is highly automated in set up and operates at 21,000 items per hour.
There was a new perfect binder on Muller Martini’s booth, this being the Vareo – a three-clamp machine that was begun by Heidelberg until taken over by the Swiss manufacturer. It is interchangeable between hotmelt and PUR. Capable of 1350 cycles per hour, the device is aimed at the run length of one book market, so is highly automated in detecting format changes and setting up accordingly.
Hunkeler’s own technology on show included the DP8 dynamic punch and perf machine and the HL6 laser for security applications, which can carry out sophisticated features such as numbering and micro-perforating. The company’s Book Line, which was purchased by Ashford Colour Press last year, was shown with new DynaCut variable book format cutting. The show concludes on Thursday 26 February.
