Ricoh is to distribute the Kyocera Taskalfa 15000C as a first step into inkjet printing for printers that are nervous about committing to fast developing technology.
The Kyocera SRA3 press has been available for more than two years, but has still to make the impact expected, possibly because Kyocera is an unknown quantity to many commercial printers. Ricoh’s endorsement of the technology may change thus be beneficial to both companies.
Ricoh Europe says: “It is a strategic project that combines the strengths of both innovators and will enable Ricoh to serve a wider range of customers’ needs as our closeness to the evolving market indicates that there will be a growing demand for productive SRA3 solutions. It plays three strategic roles: entry point into inkjet which enables customers to test inkjet economics with limited risk; a bridge technology which sits between toner production and higher volume inkjet; and an ecosystem anchor which introduces PSPs to Ricoh software, workflow, and services.”
The four-colour press is fast, printing at 150ppm; it can cope with papers to 160gsm; energy consumption is extremely low. However, it only prints on uncoated papers, making its suitable for direct mail letters and transactional mail documents.
Ricoh is calling the press “the fruit of collaboration between Kyocera and Ricoh” explaining that Ricoh’s input and delivery technologies are used.
Despite this Ricoh will retain the Kyocera identity when adding the press to its portfolio. This includes the VC80000 continuous feed press and Z75 B2 sheetfed press, though the applications are closer to the VC40000 continuous feed press used for books and transactional printing.
There has been a pilot installation in the US which has been a success, though there are no details of the test site. Ricoh Europe believes the same conditions and demands exist on this side of the Atlantic.
Ricoh will handle sales directly rather than supplying it to its dealer network, some of which will have separate deals with Kyocera. Kyocera is also supplying the press under OEM terms to Xerox which is selling the machine as the IJP900. Its UK debut comes at the Xerox UK showroom next week.
Ricoh Europe Graphic Communications Group director of commercial print sales Sander Sondaal says: “We know our clients require outstanding flexibility to handle a diverse range of jobs quickly, efficiently, and reliably and this press delivers, while also opening up new opportunities to extend application capabilities and production agility.”
Ricoh will install a machine at the Telford Customer Experience Centre alongside other inkjet presses. Further collaborations are not ruled out. Kyocera announced a new SRA3 press at Drupa able to print on coated papers in a joint venture with Screen, due to come to market laster this year.
The addition of the SRA3 press comes as Canon is preparing the introduction of the iX1700 as an entry level SRA3 press and enables Ricoh to have an offer at more levels in the market.
