Graph Expo Showcases Digital Future

More coverage of Graph Expo product introductions .

IT MAY be telling that the majority of presses in operation around the show floor of Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006 last month were of the digital variety. Offset units were conspicuous in their absence.

Digital presses have become part of the commercial printing mainstream, rather than being a specialty product segment or market niche.

To emphasize this, Hewlett-Packard shared results from an InfoTrends study that surveyed a sampling of digital color printing buyers and producers. The research firm found that the percentage of color printing jobs with a run length of 500 pieces or less in 2005—whether produced digitally or via offset—had grown to 50.5 percent (up from the 29.6 percent finding of a similar study InfoTrends did in 2002). Color Jobs with run lengths of more than 5,000 pieces declined to 20.1 percent (down from 32.6 percent).

Interestingly, Heidelberg cited this same trend as a reason for introducing Anicolor inking unit technology for its Speedmaster SM 52 sheetfed offset press. It says the zoneless, short inking unit provides offset quality at “digital” prices for short runs.

Heidelberg showed the Anicolor unit for the first time in the United States. Designed for four-color models of the Speedmaster SM 52, it will become commercially available next fall. With Anicolor, the ink is stored in the ink chamber rather than on the surface of the rollers. The operator does not need to adjust ink keys during makeready, thus cutting makeready time by 40 percent.

Though Heidelberg has stopped producing them, digital offset or DI (digital imaging) solutions were also in evidence on the show floor.

Presstek receiving customer commitments for more than one dozen DI presses, with the new Presstek 52DI making its official North American debut at the show.

DI technology also was on display in the xpedx Printing Technologies booth in the form of the Ryobi 3404 DI four-color press. The company unveiled a new “pay-per-click” program for in-plants that enables them to add OEM-branded digital equipment to their operations for a flat per-page fee, rather than an upfront capital outlay.

Also on the DI front, KBA North America showed a KBA 74 Karat, and Screen (USA) brought its Truepress 344 to McCormick Place.

Among the non-DI presses debuting, Hamada of America introduced the Duetto Mark I perfector, which features a new feeder that has the ability to run makeready waste from one feeder pile, then good sheets from another pile—or it can be used as a continuous feeder. Also shown was the new B452 Mark II, a 14x20? sheetfed press capable of speeds to 10,000 sph, with semi-automatic plate loading, swing gripper in-feed and extended delivery.

Digital Color Developments

Developments in the digital color printing arena largely amounted to updates on previous announcements.

Canon’s imagePRESS C7000V (70 ppm) color press, introduced earlier this year, drew large crowds. It is on track to begin shipping in March. The engine uses a new toner with Gloss Optimization that reportedly doesn’t build up on the sheet and uses no fuser oil to produce offset quality printing without the usual toner sheen.

HP launched a new color engine in September at Labelexpo. The HP Indigo press ws4500 is a narrow-web (13?) system with up to seven color stations. It offers a new fast ink replacement feature for near zero downtime in switching spot colors.

HP also highlighted workflow solutions like the new HP Indigo Production Manger and HP Scalable RIP Solutions (SRS) for the 3050, 5000 and w3250 press models.

While it was running the three-over-three color version of its Vario