Ricoh has announced what it calls a “significant upgrade” to its flagship toner production press. The Pro C9210 becomes the Pro C9500 with features that address issues that users have raised with the existing machines and in response to changing market opportunities.
The key upgrades take on colour quality and consistency, automation and ease of integration with a wide range of workflow types. The changes include an Auto Colour Diagnosis unit which compares colour, registration and physical flaws to a signed off proof and the ready for press file. Any deviations are corrected at full production speed. Any sheets that fall outside acceptable parameters are rejected then automatically reprinted.
The DFE on the new machine paves the way to easier integration with non Ricoh workflows. It is a joint development with Fiery and goes substantially further than the E82 controller used on the Pro C9200 the company says.
UK printers will get their first chance to see the machine at a Ricoh open house in Telford on 3 October for commercial printers or the following day for inplants and corporate print units. It will be sold through Ricoh’s established dealer channels. This will include Heidelberg, which has made no announcements about plans for the machine.
“Printers using the Pro C9200 have told us they want greater automation, more flexibility when connecting the DFE to workflows, better image quality and importantly, better and more reliable and sustainable quality across a production run,” says Ricoh UK director Tim Carter.
“We have worked with Fiery to create much better and seamless connectivity into other workflows like Apogee, Prinergy and Prinect.”
This will bring mixed technology and supplier environments much closer together, making it easier to move a job from litho to digital. The use of the ACD unit will both manage colour quality in longer runs and from job to job and from machine to machine where printers have machines side by side. Automation will reduce operator stress says Ricoh, saying it will lead to “greater labour savings throughout the entire workflow”.
The national director of Ricoh UK graphic communications group Simon Isaacs adds: “I believe the launch of the new Pro C9500 represents a leap forward in the evolution of production technology and is designed to enable print providers to expand their production reach. Its capabilities will enable our clients to maximise their business effectiveness and return on investment.”
A print company receiving a job online will be confident that quality will be consistent irrespective of which machine it is printed on and where the machines are located. This will be useful for companies working across multiple sites.
Ricoh has had a machine in Europe as an intensive beta site along with a machine in the Customer Experience Centre in Telford where the emphasis was on running as many materials as possible. This led to feedback and suggestions which have been implemented in the version that is now being launched.
It also meant putting the launch back as Ricoh wanted to have the press street ready when launched.
The top speed of 135ppm is the same as the Pro C9210, but paper range is extended at the lower end to 40gsm (52gsm). There are improvements to paper transport and side lay registration, a new fusing unit to minimise stress on the paper while applying heat and pressure evenly on the paper.
The top end of the paper range is unchanged at 470gsm and it can accommodate 1,260mm long banners. The range of inline finishing options is also expanded.
The introduction of the Pro C9500 comes five years after the Pro C9200 was launched. The timing of the new model breaks with habits when Ricoh has launched new presses – it has previously introduced the mid production model of a new platform before the high production press and the entry level model. These must now follow behind the new version of the flagship press.
