OKI Data Debuts ‘Disruptive’ Technology

Last month, OKI Data Americas invited IPG to its Mt. Laurel, N.J., facility for a sneak peek at several new color printers it was about to unveil for the graphic arts market. Long a supplier of LED technology to other graphic arts equipment vendors, OKI has made a name for itself in the office products environment. Now the company is moving into the production color printing environment too, directly challenging the existing suppliers of digital color printers.
Late last month OKI launched the OKI proColor Series of products for color-critical applications, marketing them under the OKI Printing Solutions brand. It unveiled five OKI-branded products in all: three cut-sheet printers, plus a digital envelope press and a digital web press.

Richard Egert, general manager of OKI Data Americas’ Strategic Technology Provider Business Group, told IPG and other trade magazine editors that the running costs of the machines have been reduced so they can compete in the graphic arts space. Because OKI owns its technology, Egert noted, the company is more flexible than other equipment vendors; it can easily bring out new products scaled to different widths or color requirements. This is all reflected in his group’s vision statement: “To utilize OKI’s technology as a disruptive element to create new market opportunities.”

Egert cited four core advantages of OKI’s products:

• High-definition LED print heads, which he says deliver superior images with finer detail.

• Microfine high-definition toner, providing sharper, glossier images on ordinary office paper.

• A single-pass flat paper path, enabling continuous printing.

• A printer control system, which constantly checks alignment, registration and color balance.

Randy Rickert, director of Graphic Arts & Production at OKI, called the OKI proColor Series “a breakthrough in color technology” that lets customers perform short-run jobs faster and more cost-effectively.

“In-house production shops will have access to unprecedented quality output from a more conducive footprint,” he noted.

The OKI proColor Series includes the following products, each with a two-year on-site warranty:

• OKI pro910 (list price $5,960): A tabloid/A3 digital color printer that prints 31 pages per minute (ppm) color/36 ppm monochrome. It handles paper stock up to 330 gsm including card stock, magnetic media and static clings.

• OKI pro930 (list price $10,230): Operating at the same speed as the pro910 (31 ppm color/36 ppm monochrome), the pro930 adds PANTONE calibration, embedded EFI Fiery and SmartRIP technology for consistently accurate color matching. With variable data capabilities, it is reportedly the lowest cost, embedded solution supporting XMPie. It, too, supports a wide range of media substrates.

• OKI pro900DP (list price $26,500): Available next month, this digital color envelope press can produce variable data on a range of media, including full-color envelopes. Powered by PANTONE calibration and an embedded EFI Fiery controller, the pro900DP’s high-capacity lift holds up to 4,000 sheets of 20-lb. bond paper. It prints 36 color ppm and 40 monochrome ppm.

• OKI pro510DW (list price $36,200): This digital color web press prints up to 30 feet/minute, handling a 2,500-foot roll of stock. It supports paper, labels and various tag stocks and includes automatic cut and reload between print jobs to eliminate operator intervention. It will be available in March.

• OKI pro810 Series (list price $3,248): An alternative to costly wide-format plotters, it delivers professional-quality color proofs at 30 ppm color/32 ppm monochrome.

Egert noted that OKI is talking with folding machine vendors to develop inexpensive inline and offline folding solutions for its products.