Page 34 - Print 21 Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

Digital Printing
Jake Nelson
Electrifying
developments in toner
With inkjet making strides into the digital print world, you could be forgiven for thinking dependable old toner is yesterday’s news. Not so, say the big manufacturers, with toner presses still booming – and still innovating. Jake Nelson investigates.
Whether in dry or liquid form, toner has been a mainstay of the digital printing industry since the beginning – and still is, even as inkjet gains ground.
The toner market is healthy, with plenty of names in the game, and manufacturers like Canon, Fuji Xerox, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, and HP Indigo continue to bring out new machines using the tried-and-true technology.
Canon impresses
with ImagePress
Canon will release new models
in its ImagePress range of toner- based digital presses this year. In the meantime, its C750 and C850 presses remain the Canon machines of choice for corporate print rooms, commercial printers, in-plant operations, franchise printers and other print service providers.
Capable of printing 85 A4 pages per minute in colour or black and white, the C850 uses Canon’s gloss optimisation technology to achieve what it says is offset-like image quality of 2400x2400dpi. The C850 also supports a number of in-line
finishing options including stacking, folding, stapling, perfect and ring binding, and saddle-stitching.
Toby Davis, product manager large format and production at Canon says, “The 750 plays in the light production space, around 75-80 pages per minute, and the 850 is in the mid production area, around 85-90 pages per minute. It is this speed that sets them apart.
“We focus on the light-to-mid colour commercial space. We do have a high-volume machine, the ImagePress C10000. We see good volumes in the light to mid space. It is a healthy segment, in the 70- 90ppm colour range – that is where we are seeing some market stability and volume growth.
“From a workflow management perspective, the ImagePress devices are seamlessly integrated with the versatile Prisma software. The recently released PrismaPrepare version 7 is Canon’s next generation of make- ready tools. This new version provides features and functionality that are designed to help increase productivity, reduce turnaround
times and enhance
personalised
services.
“These include a new production workspace, new product configurations and smart and editable automated workflows. Importantly, the new modular structure allows users to customise their configuration for their requirements and significantly reduces the entry cost so even small-print operations can take advantage of PrismaPrepare’s core document make- ready capabilities.” Current customers that have a maintenance agreement are eligible for a free upgrade.
Fuji Xerox continues
Iridesse innovation
For Fuji Xerox, one of the most well- known manufacturers of toner-based presses, dry toner still represents the bulk of its stable. That's according to Roger Labrum, marketing manager for graphics communication services at Fuji Xerox Australia.
“The majority of our product offerings are based on toner; our inkjet is made for high-volume applications such as transactional. We still believe in toner, given its quality output and high resolution.
“Inkjet and all that is coming up, but for the short to mid term we’re heavily invested in the toner product. We are
34 Print21 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019