IPEX Highlights
24
PRINT.IT
01732 759725
IPEX highlights
Printers & presses
IPEX 2014, being held at ExCeL, London on March 24-29, is the place
to discover the latest technologies and solutions for your corporate print
centre. Here is a small selection of highlights to whet your appetite.
Konica Minolta,
the market
leader in cut-sheet printing in
the small- and mid-production
segments, is bringing its KM1
B2 cut-sheet digital inkjet
press to IPEX for the first time.
It will also be demonstrating
toner-based solutions like
the bizhub PRO and PRESS
C1060 and C1070 colour
systems and the bizhub
PRESS 2250P mono system.
In total, Konica Minolta will be
showing 12 systems suitable
for a variety of applications
including commercial
production, packaging, wide
format, document printing,
corporate, on-demand
publishing, direct mail,
labels and photo-printing.
Other attractions include a
workflow automation area
and pre-press and post-press
solutions.
Making its debut at IPEX
2014,
Lumejet
will be
demonstrating its inkless
Digital Print Head (DPH)
technology designed from
the ground up to exploit the
continuous tone quality
and extended RGB
colour gamut of Silver
Halide (AgX) media.
The first product to
incorporate LumeJet’s
DPH technology,
the LumeJet S200
printer takes 305
mm photographic roll
paper for page sizes up
to A3 landscape double-
page spread, full bleed,
including trim (1000 x
305mm maximum) – ideal
for premium quality pitch,
presentation and photo
books. Rob King, managing
director of Altaimage, the
first company to acquire a
LumeJet S200 printer, said:
“The print quality is fabulous,
quite unlike anything we’ve
ever
seen before. Fantastic
photographs, eye-popping
colours, sharp text and
line art – all on the same
page at the same time. Any
agency using iPads for client
presentations should get the
prints made on it: it’s the
hard-copy equivalent of a
retina screen.”
Oki
is showing the industry’s
first five-colour digital LED A3
printer, the ES9541. Enabling
a wide variety of specialist
printing applications to be
produced in-house and on
demand, the printer gives
users the option of printing
a fifth spot colour in white
or clear gloss. Oki will also
be demonstrating its C931
four-colour digital LED A3
printer for creative agencies
and design teams and its
C920WT A3 and C711WT A4
white toner printers.
...continued
continued on page 27...
More Highlights...
Konica Minolta KM1
Oki ES9541
Lumejet S200
reasons of quality or productivity
has traditionally gone to external
providers.
“The obvious reason for doing
this is that they can print at lower
cost internally and save money.
But that’s not the only reason,”
explains Blanchard. “Doing so
can also provide a greater level
of control. If printing internally,
you can make changes at a
later stage and can print more
efficiently on demand. Cost
savings – particularly in the
public sector – are a key aspect,
but the control of the whole
process is equally important.”
As an example, he cites
the case of a pharmaceuticals
company that used to outsource
the printing of leaflets included
with its drugs. This involved such
long turnaround times that the
printed material was often out
of date by the time the drugs
were boxed up. To overcome this
problem, the company decided
to print the information sheets
in-house. Doing so saved money,
but more importantly it has
allowed changes to be made at a
later stage.
“A lot or organisations are
doing that today and not just
for black and white documents.
They are also doing it for colour,
as today’s technology has the
quality and productivity to print
more and more in-house. When
you couple that with improved
finishing capabilities, people are
now able to print in-house what
previously had to go outside.”
Added value
This process, says Blanchard,
requires careful consideration,
especially for businesses that
have not had a print room before.
In addition to the space and
the skilled staff needed, they
will need to manage the switch
from external printing to doing
things in-house. As part of this,
managers will have to start
marketing themselves better.
“Most organisations we
work with have existing print
rooms and we help them to
embrace the value of that.
We encourage them to look at
how the print room supports
the communications of the
organisation and how it supports
business objectives. Rather than
being a print room that sits in
