A Black-and-white Issue

The demand for black-and-white printing continues in an increasingly colorful world.

By Gretchen Peck

Digital color printing has been stealing the spotlight from black-and-white in recent years. But the black-and-white technology developers have had no fear; they realize it's still, very much, a black-and-white world out there.

According to Paul Preo, business line manager of distributed printers for IBM Printing Systems, recent data indicates that as much as 75 percent of the work managed by in-plants is of the black-and-white kind.

"Monochrome is still a lot less expensive and now offers excellent quality," he notes.

"Today's digital monochrome technology boasts the strongest image quality ever, rivaling offset output," concurs Jerry Murray, vice president, product marketing, Xerox Production Systems Group.

"While color printers have made great strides in terms of print speed, there is still a need in many market segments for high-volume black-and-white printing. Most text is still printed in black, and for high-volume requirements, this is most economically accomplished with a black-and-white printing system," suggests David Dunn, marketing director for Nipson America.

"Black-and-white printing has reached the point where its print quality is competitive with offset printing in many applications," Dunn continues. "For high-volume requirements—with or without variable data printing—digital printers can now handle many of the jobs formerly run on offset units. The advantages are that high makeready costs of offset are avoided, and the [in-plant] can print only what is necessary, rather than printing an economic quantity and storing the bulk in inventory, where some portion will become obsolete and have to be discarded."

There are still significant incentives for in-plants to invest in black-and-white technologies, according to Janet Cain, director, Production Systems Division, Canon USA. She cites several industries that are driving black-and-white demand.

"Healthcare has a huge initiative, due to HIPPA regulations. Finance does a great deal of variable data printing that is not yet color specific—as do utility companies for invoicing, insurance for reimbursements and statements. Litigation is still monochrome-centric. Universities still generate a great deal of course packs, which are monochrome. Book publishing will never shift to color unless the cost of four toners equals the cost of a single toner, which is not probable."

"The price and speed [of color printing] will never quite equal that of black-and-white printing," admits Thom Cordeiro, group product marketing manager, production print, Konica Minolta Business Solutions. "Even with the speed of some of the new color devices at 50 and 60 pages per minute, and a monthly rating of up to 150,000 impressions, that does not begin to reach the requirements of the large in-plant, which may be printing upwards of 500,000 to 700,000 impressions on a single device. … There is no question that the cost [of color] is getting lower and closer to the cost of black and white, but it is not there yet."

Expectations For The Future

What's next in the realm of black-and-white? What can in-plants count on from digital printing equipment manufacturers?

"[Black-and-white] applications will require even tighter registration and a higher level of image quality than the past monochrome output [options offered]," asserts Canon's Cain. "New products may offer more operator control over image quality than in the past. And, obviously, the cost of maintaining older equipment will be greater than the new products of tomorrow."

"You will see a whole new modular design to black-and-white systems," Xerox's Murray predicts, "which can be integrated with new and existing workflow solutions." For example, he says, Xerox's new Nuvera 100 and 120 Copier/Printers "define an entirely new mid-production product category."

At Nipson, Dunn suggests, "We will continue to offer more productive units with lower operating costs. Our magnetographic imaging technology…has no physical limits to its print speed capabilities, so there is much room for us to grow our product line in the area of higher throughput. In addition, we anticipate that current developments in toner will help us significantly reduce the cost to operate."

IBM Printing Systems recently introduced four new models to its Infoprint line, which, according to Penny Hill, worldwide production marketing manager, exemplify in-plants' needs for workflow complements to digital print engines. For example, these new multi-function printers offer JDF-compatibility and software solutions for remote management, accounting, costing and monitoring.

Cordeiro, of Konica Minolta, believes in-plants can expect to see black-and-white products that offer impressive price and performance.

"These products will match almost all the capabilities offered by the big-iron systems that have been the standard in the in-plant, at speeds of 100 to 135 pages per minute, in a smaller footprint and at a smaller price," he suggests.

Konica Minolta plans to take the in-plant market by storm later this year, according to Cordeiro, with the introduction of the 105-ppm bizhub PRO 1050.

"We will introduce this model as an engine at 105-ppm, rated for up to 1.5 million impressions per month, with 10,000 sheet output, supporting paper stocks of up to 300 gsm."

A Look At What's Out There

Canon's imageRUNNER 110

Designed for print-on-demand, central reprographic and print-for-pay operations, the imageRUNNER 110 enables 110-ppm output, 600-dpi resolution, batch scanning and a range of automated finishing capabilities. It comes standard with a three-drawer, 4,000-sheet paper supply and a 3,000-sheet finisher. For more information: www.usa.canon.com

The Delphax CR2000

Fifty percent faster than Delphax's CR1300 web press, this new model, introduced at Drupa 2004, is a toner-based digital printer capable of producing nearly 2,000 8.5x11˝ pages per minute at 600x600-dpi resolution. It supports Postscript, PCL, PDF and IPDS data streams. For more information: www.delphax.com

IBM's Infoprint 2060ES/2075ES

In-plants can produce between 60 and 75 impressions per minute with the Infoprint 2060ES or 2075ES digital printers. Both models offer up to 8,100 sheet input capacity, with modular features that support booklet finishing. They can scan to e-mail/fax/server, and offer 1,200x1,200-dpi resolution and support for Native IPDS data streams and media between 16-lb. bond and 110-lb. index.

For more information: www.printers.ibm.com

The Konica Minolta Di5510

Introduced in March, Konica Minolta's Di5510 offers a print speed of 55 ppm, 600x600-dpi resolution and support for duty cycles of up to 300,000 pages per month. It features Simitri Polymerized Toner and enables scan-to-e-mail/FTP/hard drive in both PDF and TIFF file formats. Options include an internal Pi7200e Controller for PCL printing, plus stapling, booklet making, and two- and three-hole punching modules. For more information: www.konicaminolta.us

The NexPress Digimaster 9110

The basic configuration of this digital production press offers 110-ppm output, 600-dpi registration and three paper supplies for up to 4,000 sheets. The printer is also available in specialized models—9110m (for MICR printing), 9110cp, 9150i and E150—for higher-volume duty cycles and expanded compatibility with a variety of substrate types and sizes. For more information: www.nexpress.com

Nipson's VaryPress 200

Introduced at Drupa, Nipson's VaryPress 200 produces more than 500 600-dpi images per minute in two-up simplex mode. The production printer uses magnetographic technology (enabling it to print MICR characters without modifications). It supports a wide array of data streams (including IPDS, PostScript, PDF and PCL). Outputting 230 feet per minute, it can print on most substrates, including printing stocks, labels, synthetics, foils and thermal or pressure-sensitive stocks. For more information: www.nipson.com

Océ Printing Systems' VarioPrint 2045

The VarioPrint 2045 Multifunction Printing System from Océ Printing Systems is a 46-ppm, cut-sheet option for copying, scanning and printing applications. The company says it's ideal for operations with monthly duty cycle requirements of 10,000 to 50,000 ipms. It is capable of printing on a range of substrates, including letter, legal and ledger printing papers, polyester labels, adhesive films and heavy card stock. For more information: www.oceusa.com

Ricoh's Aficio 2045e

The Ricoh Aficio 2045e is a black-and-white digital imaging system that offers network print and scanning. Scan features include embedded scan-to-folder and embedded scan-to-FTP. Fax features include Internet faxing, LAN-fax, fax forwarding to a hard disk and fax forwarding to e-mail. For more information: www.ricoh-usa.com

Sharp's AR-M550 Digital Imager

Sharp's multifunction line of AR-M Digital Imagers feature the manufacturer's Scan2 Technology, which will scan both sides of a double-sided document in a single pass. The AR-M550 model features a 150-sheet duplex single pass feeder that facilitates 65-ipm scanning in simplex mode and 76 ipm in duplex; it's rated to print and copy at 55 pages per minute at 600-dpi resolution. For more information: www.sharpusa.com

The Xerox Nuvera 100/120

The Nuvera 100/120 Digital Copier/Printers were designed to support mid-level production requirements—from 60,000 to 400,000 impressions per month for the 100 model, and 100,000 to 500,000 ipm for the 120 model. A 7,760-sheet capacity comes standard on both models, which can be doubled if the customer chooses a second paper-feed unit. An air-shuttle feed system leads the paper—from 5.5x8.5˝ to 12.2x18.5˝, and from 16-lb. bond to 80-lb. cover—through the printer. For more information: www.xerox.com/inplant