Canon U.S.A. (Melville, New York) has announced the launch of its varioPRINT iX-Series. Built on the success of the varioPRINT i-Series platform introduced in 2015, this advanced sheetfed inkjet press utilizes iQuariusiX technologies that combine the image quality of offset with the productivity and cost efficiency of production inkjet, to support customers with production volumes of one to 10 million letter images per month. Offering “an average 94% uptime and virtually eliminating the need for daily calibration and maintenance,” the varioPRINT iX-series streamlines productivity and helps to improve overall running costs, thus “differentiating itself from other market technologies.” Users can print up to 4,500 12” x 18” sheets per hour (or up to 312 letter images per minute) on a wide range of media – including offset-coated paper ranging from 90 to 350 gsm with native 1,200-dpi processing. This feature allows customers to produce high volumes of commercial print applications, from marketing collateral and premium direct mail, to catalogues, magazines and books. The new inkjet press is expected to be available for installation in Q3 of 2020, said Canon U.S.A.
“With more than 250 installations to date worldwide, the varioPRINT i-Series has established Canon as a leader in sheetfed inkjet production printing for transactional applications, books and high-quality direct mail – and we plan to continue building on this success through the new varioPRINT iX-Series.” said Shinichi Yoshida, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Canon U.S.A. “This new press provides customers with advanced print quality, more media options and quick turnaround times in order to help them grow their print volumes, as well as manage flexibility and profitability of smaller, more diverse jobs,” he added.
The latest iQuariusiX technologies of the new varioPRINT iX-series combine three key innovations:
- A “breakthrough” drying system utilizing heat, humidification and cooling, protects paper and helps ensure robust prints on a wide media range – straight and ready for finishing.
- New proprietary polymer pigment, water-based inks and ColorGrip for high-quality, vibrant and robust colour on a variety of media, including coated stock up to 350 gsm.
- iQuariusiX quality control technologies for high-end image quality. Advanced nozzle uniformity control (NUC) technology uses an inline scanner to automatically check and align single nozzles during the production run to help eliminate streaks. This also offers the capability of detection and auto-compensation of the nozzles during the job, thus reducing downtime and waste, and helping to ensure high image quality. Supporting (NUC) is Nozzle Activity Control (NAC) that controls the nozzle performance and automated correction, when needed, for maximum stable quality without operator intervention or productivity loss.
Together, said the OEM, these innovations deliver a balance of excellent image quality, media and application versatility, reliable productivity and cost efficiency – all in a single inkjet press. Through the series’ improved media handling, and ability to handle short runs, switch jobs quickly, and produce finished documents with mixed media confidently, the press meets demanding customer deadlines with ease, helping to further optimize quality and productivity. Powered by a high-performance, media-driven workflow, the PRISMAsync print server optimizes productivity by automatically setting the appropriate printing parameters for the media selected, while enabling advance scheduling of up to 8 hours of production. Combined with PRISMA software, a completely automated and highly intuitive solution that can be integrated into any existing workflow, the technology covers multiple stages of production – from creation and print management to finishing and delivery tracking.
