Crowds Return to Graph Expo

Any in-plant manager lucky enough to be in Chicago last month for Graph Expo got to witness some significant developments in the world of graphic arts. Most obvious was the near total absence of offet presses on the show floor—a stunning sight indeed—due to the decisions of Heidelberg USA, Komori America and Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses to sit this one out. Perhaps sensing an opportunity to send a message, the digital printing vendors stepped up their presence, several of them bringing their big guns: large inkjet presses.
Meanwhile, the crowds were noticeably larger than those at last year’s PRINT 09. Perhaps, as the vendors hoped, this signaled a renewed interest in buying new technology. Or maybe the full aisles were just a result of some McCormick Place trickery (a back portion of the hall was curtained off to hide the roughly 30 percent of floor space not sold). Either way it looked good, and left visitors and vendors feeling like this was a real trade show once again. (Watch IPG’s Graph Expo video)

Dubbed “The Inkjet Graph Expo” by some, the show featured more inkjet technology than most in-plant managers had ever seen in one place:

• Kodak representatives gleefully pointed out that Kodak had the largest printing press at Graph Expo, with the first U.S. showing of the Kodak Prosper 5000XL inkjet web press, printing 650 fpm on a maximum 251⁄2˝ wide roll at up to 175 lpi.

• Nearby, Screen (USA) showed its Truepress Jet520ZZ inkjet web press, with a top speed of 722 fpm and a maximum 720x720-dpi resolution.

• Hidden by a curtain, but visible at designated demo times, Fujifilm was running its Digital Inkjet J Press 720, a four-up (29.5x20.8˝ sheet) inkjet device built off a conventional press frame. It’s rated to print 2,700 sph on coated stocks at 1,200 dpi using a pre-coat solution and water-based inks.

• Océ displayed a JetStream 1000 color inkjet web press.

• InfoPrint Solutions showed its smaller footprint InfoPrint 5000 MP (multi-purpose) continuous forms inkjet printer.

• HP’s much touted 600-fpm T350 Color Inkjet Web Press appeared only on video.

The absence of the big offset vendors—and the decisions of manroland, KBA North America and Goss International to leave their presses at home—made offset presses difficult to spot at Graph Expo. Baum had one, the small-format, two-color BaumPrint 18. Epson kept a Ryobi press on hand to help demonstrate its new Stylus Pro 7900CTP metal platesetting system. And Gronhi Graphics was showing off the Chinese-made GH524 four-color sheetfed offset press, though it was tucked away in a back corner.

Largest Pressroom at the Show

Presstek actually had the largest pressroom presence at Graph Expo. It brought three DI presses in the 34cm, 52cm and 75cm format sizes. Shown for the first time in North America following its Ipex debut was Presstek’s six-page, 29˝ 75DI digital offset press, with a 31x23˝ maximum sheet size. Also shown were the Presstek 34DI and the Presstek 52DI-AC featuring in-line aqueous coating. The DI presses are best suited for runs of 500 to 20,000, bridging the gap between toner and conventional offset printing.

Toner-based equipment was still plentiful at Graph Expo, despite inkjet’s omnipresence. Ricoh used the show to unveil its new Pro C901/C901s Graphic Arts Edition color press, which adds the ability to print a wide range of media at the engine’s 90 ppm rated speed. It features the company’s smaller, more uniform PxP chemical toners and oil-less fusing technology.

Canon showed its imagePRESS C7010VP electrophotographic (EP), cut-sheet production system. The new 70-ppm color device prints up to 4,200 letter-sized sheets of media per hour, regardless of paper weight. (Watch a video on the C7010VP)

Canon also talked up its new RevGen Program addition to is Business Builder Program. It’s a 12-week, hands-on mentoring program during which business coaches provide assistance with event-driven marketing efforts, sales training and even go on customer sales calls. Likewise, Océ (a Canon company) touted its Océ Press Go! program, combining printed materials, Webinars, video and live training sessions designed to help print professionals grow print volumes and capture new opportunities.

With cut-sheet EP systems topping out in the 100-130 ppm range for a while now, sheet size may be a new battle ground in the toner wars. Xerox launched the iGen4 EXP with support for a maximum 14.33x26˝ sheet size, while Kodak countered with the NexPress SX platform, also supporting a 26˝ long sheet. (Set for release in mid-2011, the the NexPress SX will feature new dry inks with a small particle size and an Intelligent Calibration System for closed-loop quality control using LED imaging heads.)

When running 26˝ sheets—which can be fed via a modified feed tray or the optional Docu-Sheeter iG and roll system—the iGen4 EXP prints 40 sheets per minute, which Xerox says effectively increases its speed to 120 (A4) ppm.

Xerox also launched the Color 550/560 printer models, which print 50 ppm (color) or 55 ppm (black) and 60/65 ppm, respectively, using low-melt emulsion aggregation toner. (Watch a video on the Xerox Color 550/560) The Xerox Color 1000 Press (introduced at On Demand) was on display too, printing 2,400x2,400 dpi at 100 ppm.

Other EP Offerings

Hinting at some new in-plant installations, MGI USA has now made the previously optional Super Format (13x40˝) a standard feature of its Meteor DP60 Pro digital press that is capable of printing on multiple substrates, including plastics. It takes a maximum sheet size of 13x26˝ and can print up to 3,900 A4/letter sheets per hour using oil-free toners.

In other EP developments, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. leveraged the technology in its recently commercialized C8000 model to produce two “scaled down” versions—the biz-hub PRESS C7000 (70 ppm) and C6000 (60 ppm). The new models also offer a 1,200-dpi resolution with true eight-bit color, automatic Image Density Control (IDC) and Simitri HD toner for high-quality and consistent color imaging.

Making its first appearance at a North American trade show, the HP Indigo 7500 digital press is a 13x19˝ sheetfed printer capable of printing 120 color letter ppm. The press can deliver up to 3.5 million color pages or 6.5 million monochrome pages per month. Its new integrated Vision System module enables scanning of press output at full press speed.

Xanté’s ILUMINA Digital Envelope Press GS was attracting a lot of attention, printing full color envelopes, sheets and cards on a variety of media and sheet sizes. The company also debuted its ILUMINA 750 GS Print System, which can print on very heavy card stocks (up to 36pt cover) and textured stocks.

Also new was Duplo’s DP-U950 air-fed duplicator, great for printing two-color envelopes and newsletters at 150 ppm.

More Inket Printers

Representing the third generation of its inkjet platform for page (maximum 133⁄8x215⁄8˝) printing, RISO’s ComColor 9050/7050/3050 family continues its focus on “communication color” quality. The three models are rated at 155, 120 and 90 (simplex) ppm, respectively, and print at 300x300 or 300x600 dpi.

Inkjet was also represented at the show by myriad wide-format printers, such as Agfa’s Anapurna M 2050 hybrid (flatbed and roll) inkjet printer, which made its North American debut. It offers six-color plus white printing on a maximum 3x2m format at 720x1,440 dpi.

EFI’s new Rastek H652 UV hybrid and T1000 UV flatbed inkjet printers are said to be designed for production print shop environments. Both offer 1,200-dpi printing with white ink capabilities on up to a 65˝ wide (H652) or 52x98˝ (T1000) format. The company also announced an agreement with xpedx that allows the latter to distribute numerous models of EFI’s Rastek and VUTEk printers.

Epson had plenty of wide-format printers at the show, like the new Epson Stylus Pro 7890 (24˝) and 9890 (44˝) printers. They use Epson’s MicroPiezo TFP print heads to produce higher quality prints at faster speeds. The eight-color printers use Epson UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta, along with Epson’s new AccuPhoto HD screening technology and an in-line spectrophotometer.

On the CTP Front

Epson’s big announcement, though, was the chemical-free Stylus Pro 7900CTP system designed for two-color printing applications. It combines a 24˝ Stylus Pro 7900 printer with a heat curing device to image Epson’s own Direct-Plate aluminum plates that reportedly produce up to 20,000 impressions.

Elsewhere on the CTP front, the Processless DigiPlate (PDP) system from Mitsubishi Imaging was introduced. It’s a chemical-free plate-making system consisting of the PDP 6-VL platesetter and PDP-VL polyester or paper plate material available in roll format in various thicknesses. The violet-sensitive plates use a polymer cross-linking technology that only requires a water rinse.

Presstek featured the new chemistry-free Aurora EXP thermal plate, along with the four-page Dimension Pro 400 metal and two-page DPM Pro 400 polyester/paper platesetters, all introduced at Ipex earlier this year.

Agfa showed its new daylight working :Amigo TS plate, which uses ThermoFuse technology for better quality and remarkable chemical resistance. The daylight working plates can be processed in all standard plate processors and boast a run length of up to 200,000 impressions without post baking.

ECRM touted a new DM Screening RIP upgrade option that is said to analyze and “digitally modulate” every pixel to produce more image detail, smoother vignettes and no moiré. It also debuted three new violet platesetters: The MAKO 400 and 400matic four-up models and the MAKO 200 two-up platesetter.

At its booth, xpedx focused on connectivity and integration across every aspect of print production. It showcased solutions in workflow, color management, proofing, wide-format and finishing. Demonstrations included EFI Digital StoreFront, EFI Pace and EFI PrintSmith software; Kodak PRINERGY Digital Workflow; EFI Colorproof XF and Epson Stylus Pro GS 6000 and 7900 printers; Morgana’s DigiFold Pro; and Secap’s mailing solutions.