Digital Printing-Wide Format - Roll to Roll

Several new wide-format printers are featured from Canon, EFI, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Océ and Screen (USA).

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.

IPG checked out some of the most innovative products at Graph Expo 2011. Here, Editor Bob Neubauer chats with Steve Cutler about the features of Fujifilm's Acuity LED 1600 wide-format printer. Its low-power-consumption LED imaging system can print three layers of ink in one pass.

University Printing Services at California State University, Dominguez Hills has installed an HP Designjet L25500 printer to meet the demand for large-format printed output. The new printer allows the in-plant to print on a variety of media, from recyclable HDPE banners to a range of gloss and matte photo papers.

Until recently, when the University of Tennessee Graphic Arts Service needed to print a banner for an outdoor event, the in-plant had to outsource the work. For posters, the shop used an HP inkjet copier. But that has all changed since the Knoxville in-plant purchased a 64˝ Mutoh ValueJet 1608 Hybrid wide-format printer.

When the print shop for the City of Longmont, Colo., wanted to improve its capabilities, it didn't send out e-mails to ask what type of services customers needed. Instead, staff went out to each customer and asked what they thought the in-plant was lacking. "There was an expression of a need for a wide-format [printer],” reports Richard Showers, in-plant manager.

Now in its 18th year, the On Demand Conference and Exposition tried something new this time when it moved south of the Mason-Dixon line to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Not everyone was happy with the results. Though some exhibits were packed at intervals, others were not so busy. Perhaps the absence of key companies like Xerox, Kodak, Presstek and Standard caused some potential attendees to skip this year's event. Or maybe D.C. was too far for the Northeast day trippers who attended previous years' shows in Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

When art students graduate from Longwood University, they will leave with higher-quality portfolios than ever thanks to some recent additions in the in-plant. The five-employee shop, in rural Farmville, Va., has added two wide-format printers: a 54˝ Xerox 8254E color printer, and a 36˝ Xerox 6604 black-and-white printer with a color scanner.

Central Michigan University Printing Services has installed a Fuji Javelin 8300 thermal CTP system running Fuji Brillia and Ecomaxx-T processless thermal plates.

The University of Houston’s Printing and Postal Service department celebrated its 60th anniversary last month, an event that honored not only the in-plant’s longevity but its recent advancements as well. Over the past 12 months, the 30-employee shop has added several major pieces of offset and digital printing equipment, gearing itself up for a very busy 2010.