More than 1000 of Canon’s Colorado roll-to-roll wide format printers have now been installed worldwide. 

The Colorado 1640 was launched in 2017 and was then joined by the 1650 in May of this year. The latest press was launched with with a new flexible ink for customers producing applications that need to be folded, wrapped or bent. The newer model also features FLX finish technology, allowing customers to choose between gloss or matte effects without the need to change ink or media.

Canon says that placements of the printers are growing rapidly and that each installation is producing higher volumes than initially forecast, with 16% of customers printing more than 25,000sqm annually on individual Colorado devices.

‘We‘re working in a dynamic market with constantly evolving application requirements,’ said Dirk Brouns, vice president large format graphics at Océ Technologies. ‘Our research and development philosophy is to listen and work closely with our customers and partners to focus our innovation on actual customer demand. After the initial success of the Colorado 1640, we identified further growth opportunities for customers who can benefit from a matte finish and a more flexible ink. With both the 1640 and the 1650 solutions in the Colorado family, we can now meet any roll-to-roll print need.’

To celebrate reaching this milestone, the company spoke to a selection of companies currently operating Colorados. 

Bartosz Swiderski, owner at Polish graphic art production studio Studio Bell was most impressed with the speed of the machines. ‘The Colorado 1640 is very efficient — 40sqm/hr is more than four times higher than we have been able to offer our customers before. This means that instead of printing one wallcovering project for an office customer within four days, I can print it now within one day.’

In the Netherlands, Jeffrey Vermaat, co-owner at De Resolutie, values the effects the machines enable. ‘We look for printers that allow us to combine different materials so we can develop new products and concepts – that’s our strength. We can print a gloss effect on matte papers, in colour, and a matte effect on glossy media. These applications bring many new business opportunities for us in interior design.’