Graph Expo: A Glimpse of Printing’s Future

JUDGING BY the number of in-plant managers walking the Graph Expo show floor last month, there are quite a few in-plants itching to leave the recession behind and get busy adding equipment. The show gave them plenty to ogle, too, particularly in the inkjet arena.

The Graphic Arts Show Company reported a total of 20,451 participants (exhibitors and attendees) at Graph Expo this year, which included 13,426 verified attendees/buyers—up 7 percent from last year's show. GASC notes that, according to exhibitor feedback, this year's attendees came "on a mission" with budgets to spend on the equipment, products, software and applications being demonstrated by the 491 exhibitors.

While the large, high-volume inkjet presses that dominated Graph Expo 2010 were largely missing this year, there were some impressive developments. Xerox finally broke out its waterless production inkjet system, and Xanté showed a very fast 42˝ multi-substrate inkjet printer. Wide- and grand-format printers really stood out around the show floor, with the size of some devices giving them the impression of being the new "heavy iron" in the industry.

Offset made a slight rebound this year, with the return of Heidelberg and Komori to Graph Expo, but actual offset presses on the show floor were few and far between. Instead, press manufacturers focused on technology developments that speed press makereadies and reduce paper waste, and touted partnerships with digital equipment providers.

Heidelberg, for instance, was back in its traditional booth location at the entrance to the hall, but the piece of equipment front and center was an EFI VUTEk GS3200 grand-format UV inkjet printer. It was running in conjunction with a Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition color digital press and a Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74 offset press to demonstrate integrated workflows. Nearby, a five-color-plus-coater Speedmaster SM 52 was on display, with Anicolor zoneless inking, designed for ultra-short-run printing. Heidelberg linked the digital and offset systems with its Prinect workflow to illustrate its cross-platform color management and job routing expertise. (Watch a video demonstration of Heidelberg's Prinect Image Control.)

Right across the aisle, Xerox was grabbing attention with its CiPress 500 waterless production inkjet system. Using solid-ink technology, it can print on standard uncoated papers (34-lb. to 110-lb. offset) without the ink soaking through. In this process, granular ink is heated to a liquefied state for jetting by piezo heads and then hardens again on the paper's surface. The twin-engine device can run up to a 201⁄2˝ web width at a rated speed of 500 feet per minute (fpm), producing a maximum 2,180 (81⁄2x11˝) pages per minute (ppm) at a 600x400-dpi resolution. (Watch a short IPG video about the CiPress 500's key features.)

Xerox also introduced the 70-ppm Xerox 770 and 700i color presses. They use EA toner to print at 2,400 dpi, offer automatic duplex copying/scanning, and can be configured with various in-line finishing options.

Digital Printing Galore

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. displayed a Screen (USA) Truepress Jet520 inkjet system, as part of a new partnership. Konica Minolta also featured its own bizhub PRESS C70hc color printer, a 70 ppm version of its High Chroma color print engine; the new 60-ppm bizhub PRO C6000L color production print system with a Job Centro user interface to display job lists and history; and the biz–hub PRESS C8000/C7000 color press family.

The InfoPrint 5000 version of the Screen inkjet engine was featured in the Ricoh booth, along with the InfoPrint Process–Director bringing native PDF support to the automated document factory (ADF) environment. The company also showed the recently introduced Pro C651EX (65 ppm) and C751EX/C751 (75 ppm) printing system line, which features a maximum resolution of 4,800x1,200 dpi, TCRU (Trained Customer Replaceable Units) kits and a new liquid-cooled developer system that supports heavy use.

Océ, a Canon Group Co., showed its ColorStream 3500 inkjet system for the first time in North America. The 201⁄2˝-wide machine prints at 246 fpm to produce 536 ppm with a single unit, and 1,073 ppm in a twin-engine configuration.

Canon, meanwhile, was running its seven-color DreamLabo 5000 roll-fed inkjet printer, designed for high-end applications. It uses proprietary FINE inkjet technology to apply CMYK plus photo cyan, photo magenta and gray dye-based inks. Canon also showed the new imagePRESS C7010VPS, which teams Canon's offset-like 1,200-dpi resolution with Océ PRISMAsync workflow, and offers up to eight hours of plan-ahead production. (Watch a video detailing its key feaures.)

MGI Digital Graphic Technology featured its new four-color Meteor DP8700 multi-substrate digital press, which supports up to a 13x40˝ sheet (13x47˝ with manual bypass) and prints up to 71 ppm (letter-size) with a maximum 3,600 dpi resolution. The EnvelopExpress Pro option improves the efficiency of envelope printing. (Watch a video showing off its key features.)

MGI also showed its JETcard press, which uses UV inkjet technology to print up to 8,000 CR-80 format cards per hour (simplex) at 720x2,160 dpi in four to six colors with spot or flood coating.

Creating a buzz at the show were implementations of the Memjet inkjet print head technology. The printing speeds/productivity said to be achievable with the technology have made it the "next big thing" for a number of years.

Xanté, for example, drew lots of attention with its technology demo of the Excelagraphix 4200 inkjet system. Scheduled to ship next year and targeted for signage and packaging applications, it employs five Memjet thermal inkjet print heads for a 42˝ print width. It outputs 60 fpm at 1,600x800 dpi and 30 fpm at 1,600x1,600 dpi up to a 100-foot length.

Riso was showing off its own inkjet equipment by running its ComColor 9050 and 7050, printing 150 ppm and 120 ppm respectively.

CTP: Not a Show Stopper

Like offset presses, computer-to-plate (CTP) systems were conspicuous by their near absence from the show floor. Heidelberg featured a Suprasetter A75 thermal platesetter, and Mitsubishi Imaging showcased its processless, chemistry-free Thermal DigiPlate media by printing live on a two-color BaumPrint 18 offset press.

Kodak introduced the 400 xLo Chemistry System for processing its ELECTRA XD thermal plates. The system is designed to offer an extended life and increased plate throughput while reducing chemistry usage.

Agfa Graphics had the only other significant CTP hardware on display in the form a couple of new plate processors. Agfa also introduced the Azura Vi chemistry-free, violet photo–polymer plate rated for up to 150,000 impressions, and the Energy Elite Pro thermal plate with a higher sensitivity.

Agfa's booth was dominated by three wide-format printers in a display of real-world inkjet printing applications. Making its first appearance at a commercial printing show was the Anapurna M1600—a 63˝, CMYK plus white ink UV machine that outputs a 720x1,440 dpi resolution using G2 inks at speeds to 500 square feet/hour. Also new was the Apogee Prepress 7.1 workflow upgrade featuring the latest version of the Adobe PDF Print Engine and preflight enhancements.

Just prior to the show, OKI Data Americas announced a national agreement with Agfa Graphics that enables the latter to sell the OKI pro510DW digital web press, which prints continuous-fed media or cut sheets in widths up to 12.9˝ at up to 30 fpm/36 ppm, respectively, with a maximum 600x1,200 dpi resolution. In its booth, OKI displayed its complete proColor series, including the pro930 printer and pro900DP envelope press.

To complement its super-wide printer in the Heidelberg booth, EFI launched the Fiery XF proServer as a front end for the VUTEk family. The scalable system is optimized for fast image processing, features colorimetric tools for color correction and integrates with other EFI products, such as Pace and Digital StoreFront.

Among EFI's other workflow news was the launch of PrintSmith Vision, a browser-based management solution that provides estimating, quoting, order tracking, scheduling, production forms, data collection, inventory, costing and invoicing tools. It is slated for release in early 2012. EFI also previewed a new version of Digital StoreFront—which Xerox is also now offering—that features an enhanced user interface and new online preview capability.

Also showing off management and Web-to-print products was Avanti. It highlighted three award-winning products: CRM Automated Lead Management, which automatically sends leads into Avanti's Print MIS system; Automated Proof Tracking, a web service that streamlines proofing; and Avanti-Ultimate Impostrip Integration, which integrated Avanti's MIS with Ultimate Technographic's imposition software.

LED Technology In Action

Shown for the first time in the U.S., the Fujifilm Acuity LED 1600 wide-format inkjet printer features LED UV technology, which cures ink using less energy and lower temperatures to support thinner substrates. Slated to ship in early 2012, the eight-color device prints roll and rigid media at up to 215 square feet/hour and a 1,200 dpi resolution. It can print three layers of ink in one pass. (Watch a video detailing the features of Fujifilm's Acuity LED 1600.)

Since Fujifilm elected not to show the J Press 720 sheetfed inkjet press, the dominant piece of hardware in its booth was the Inca Onset S40 flatbed inkjet printer—the first model in the line to use heads based on Fujifilm Dimatix's MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) technology.

The centerpiece of the Kodak booth was the Kodak NexPress Photo Platform with Print Genius, designed for printing high-quality photo products such as photo books, calendars, greeting cards, posters and magnets. Kodak also featured workflow enhancements that included upgrades to Prinergy Connect and EVO Workflow, Kodak Color–Flow and Kodak PREPS 6 imposition software with a new user interface. Making its debut was the Kodak MarketMover Managed Campaign Services suite, a set of services designed to help printers market and sell data-driven, multi-channel, direct marketing campaigns.

While the HP Inkjet Web Press family was not on the show floor, the company did announce that the 201⁄2˝-wide T200 model will get a high-productivity color printing option early next year, increasing the speed to 400 fpm. HP also introduced the 41⁄4˝ HP C500 (color) and M500 (monochrome) inkjet printing modules that enable in-line printing at up to 500 fpm. In its busy booth, HP showed off HP Indigo digital presses like the 7500, 5500 and 3550 along with several HP Designjet wide-format printers.

Komori America promoted its "OffsetOnDemand" concept centered around ultra-short runs and quick turnarounds using Komori sheetfed offset presses. The core of the system is the fusion of Komori's KHS-AI integrated control system (which reduces makeready and production times, and cuts paper waste) and its single-lamp H-UV curing system. Komori also launched its PDC-SX print density control scanning system, which allows for color bar placement anywhere on the sheet to maximize the printing area. In addition to automatically tracking the color bar and measuring color and density, it displays and controls register.

Heidelberg unveiled the Prinect Web-to-Print Manager solution developed in cooperation with Pageflex, a division of Bitstream Inc., and previewed its new Prinect Business Manager MIS software.

Presstek was demonstrating the five-color Presstek 75DI, which can go from a digital file to a sellable sheet (max. 31.02x23.62˝) in just six minutes. Also in its booth were the Presstek 52DI-AC (aqueous coating) and 34DI presses.

For details on the bindery innovations on display at Graph Expo watch for our November issue.