Transaction Printers Are the Leading Adopters of High-Speed Continuous-Feed Process Color Digital

Who is buying high-speed continuous-feed process color printers? Early evidence indicates that it’s transaction printers. About 200 print engines in this class were placed around the world in 2009 but it hasn’t been entirely clear which environments have been most likely to buy them. It was my assumption that the quality and running cost capabilities of these devices made them attractive to transaction, direct mail, and some publication environments but I wondered whether that was really the case. I decided to look at the public announcements of companies that have placed such products to see what this said about market preferences. Read more »

TKS to Unveil JetLeader Production Color Inkjet Newspaper System

At the JANPS newspaper production show in Tokyo later this month a web offset press manufacturer called TKS (Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho) will be unveiling a production color inkjet newspaper system called JetLeader. It is a roll-fed device that prints at speeds of 150 meters per minute (492 feet per minute) and has a maximum print width of 541 millimeters (21.3 inches) on a maximum roll width of 546 millimeters (21.5 inches). It uses piezo drop-on-demand inkjet heads and aqueous pigment inks. TKS says it can print on groundwood newsprint at weights of 60 gsm or higher. The configuration that will be shown at JANPS will be process color on one side of the web and monochrome on the other (4/1) and will include a sheeter and accumulator. TKS says that a 4/4 configuration will be available upon launch at the end of this month. Pricing has not been released. In addition to the standalone JetLeader newspaper system, TKS will also demonstrate a hybrid offset/inkjet offering at JANPS. Read more »

The Inkjet MICR News Keeps On Coming

What is it about magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) that has made it such a hot topic recently? There have been at least five MICR announcements involving high-speed color inkjet in recent memory:

• Océ started the trend with its announcement of MICR capability for JetStream in October of 2008. The JetStream implementation was the first in a high-speed color inkjet device to use a fifth color implementation of a MICR inkjet ink.
• In September of 2009 HP announced a technology alliance with R.R. Donnelley that includes joint development around inkjet MICR. This will assure that a MICR option will be available for HP’s T300 Inkjet Web Press.
• At Print 09 InfoPrint added MICR inkjet ink capability for the black station of the InfoPrint 5000 (InfoPrint also had other MICR activity at the show with cut-sheet toner products through its partner Rosetta Technologies).
• At Print 09 RISO (in partnership with Kirk-Rudy) announced an in-line MICR accessory for the HC5500. This new accessory was announced at the same time as a new envelope feeder.
• In October Kodak announced a MICR option for the Versamark VL series that will be available in the first half of 2010 (more on this below).

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Beyond Process Color Digital Printing: Approaches to Additional Colors, Special Effects, and MICR

I’ve been giving some thought to devices that offer one or more imaging stations above the typical four (for the four process colors). HP Indigo, Kodak NexPress, and Xeikon have had this capability for many years but recent announcements are expanding this capability, and, in addition, others are entering this space. The possibilities range from simple spot color use to custom colors, coatings, and magnetic image character recognition (MICR). The table below shows a brief summary of the current state of the art. This table includes only currently available products used for document applications. Another table would need to be dedicated to adequately address products in the flexible label and packaging space. Read more »