RICOH IS STEPPING UP ITS COMMITMENT to production print, releasing a new version of the 90ppm colour digital press designed to meet commercial print requirements. Like the C900, the Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition will be produced in Telford for delivery throughout Europe. It is also offered with an optional document scanner. Inline stitching is a further option for the inplant segment.
Key to the enhanced version is a new PxP polymerised toner. This produces a more even finish with a much closer match to offset litho output. As the Ricoh technology uses no fuser oil, it already provides a good level of quality across a wide range of papers. Fusing temperature for the new toner has been reduced to minimise impact on paper. The result, says Ricoh, is a consistency to colour and repeatability on longer print runs.
The company has built a dedicated production line for the PxP toner, an indication perhaps that future products will be based around this toner. “We have also increased the durability of the machine so that it can run higher volumes,” says Peter Williams executive vice president, Ricoh production printing business group.
IN A FURTHER NOD TO PRODUCTION PRINT requirements, the press comes with an increase in Operator Replaceable Components to allow the press to reach a duty cycle of 580,000 pages a month. Total life is put at 21 million pages, says Williams. Many of the improvements have followed customer feedback from users of the C900, more than 2,000 of which have been sold. The greatest success to date has been in CRD and inplant with sales now beginning to increase in the commercial print sector.
Williams says: “We know that this market is going to be bigger than corporate inplants and the Pro C901 is designed to take us further into the commercial market and the sales channels we use will reflect that.” The new press has been under development and undergoing field testing for nine months ahead of the launch. It appeared at the GraphExpo show in the US and customer shipments are primed to begin this month.
The two existing machines, the C900 and C720, have boosted Ricoh’s market position with a 9% increase in market share in the last year according to Infosource figures. “Sales since the end of the first half have been very strong as well,” says Williams. “And in a broader market segment than that defined by Infosource we believe our market share has increased 50%.”
MORE MEDIA BEING QUALIFIED FOR THE NEW PRESS with settings accessible through a library of media types. At its introduction 260 media types have been qualified. Customers will be able to create their own profiles for less common substrates while updates as media is qualified in the Telford factory will be downloadable through a website. It will handle stock to 300gsm with no drop in the 90ppm output speed, single sided and duplex printed, aided by air assist technology which ensures clean feeding. The media choice is easier to handle through a revised media library.
The C901 GAE has a choice of EFI or Creo servers and fits with the range of web to print and variable data print applications that Ricoh supports. Colour management will also build on existing applications. The launch fills a gap in the portfolio, slotting between the C900 Pro light production press and the range of Kodak Nexpress units that Ricoh also distributes. The test phase has been completed and Ricoh says deliveries can begin this month. Like the C900 the new press will also be available through its Infoprint division.
The C901 GAE enters a market sector where the Xerox Colour 1000, a 100ppm press, the KM 8000 (due for launch this month), and Canon’s C7010VP are providing the competition and all are snapping at the heels of the previous generation of toner based digital presses in terms of quality if not yet in terms of duty cycle.
The Pro C901 fills a gap in Ricoh’s portfolio of production presses, between the C900 Pro light production and the range of Kodak Nexpress units that the company also distributes. Tests are complete and delivery began in November.
