Ricoh has announced the B2 sheetfed inkjet press that was expected to be presented in alpha form at Drupa. Details of price and performance of what is currently called the Pro Z75 will be published “in early 2021”.
The revelation has long been expected, though never confirmed previously by Ricoh. Now with a simultaneous announcement in Europe and North America, backed by video conversations with Ricoh’s selected prospects, the market preparation for a launch next year has begun.
It is a top to bottom Ricoh design, unlike rival inkjet machines: the KM 1 which is a codevelopment between Konica Minolta and Komori, or the Fujifilm Jetpress which uses an RMGT press infrastructure. Ricoh is stressing that its machine is using a Ricoh design for paper transport and perfecting, its own printheads, its own ink and its own drying technology.
The R75 combines the inkjet technology from the Pro VC70000, including the ink that enables the press to print on coated as well as uncoated papers without a primer, and its experience of paper handling through numerous toner presses. The inkjet web press uses Ricoh’s 1200dpi piezo printheads and these are likely to be used in the new sheetfed machine. While this delivers a throughput of 120m/min at this resolution, Ricoh is not saying what the throughput of the Pro Z75 will be.
It will have “market leading speed, offering the reliability and excellent up times that commercial printers need which is key to getting outstanding productivity,” says Eef de Ridder, vice president, commercial and industrial printing, Ricoh Europe. “We made it clear some time ago that we would not bring a B2 sheetfed product until it is right. Well that time is almost here now. Our design engineers have synthesised an extraordinary platform: it combines high ink coverage with the lower cost of inkjet and efficient B2 duplex capability more than previously thought possible.”
It has explored this claim with a selected group of printers who were flown to Japan in January to see the press and engage is deep dive discussions about price and costs, not simply for the press and inks, but into service, market opportunities and the total cost of ownership.
One of these, Herman Verlind from Dutch printer Zalsman (already a Pro VC70000 user), predicts: “This is going to be a very good solution for many commercial printers.”
It will fit above the productivity of the Pro C9200 cut sheet toner presses and will offer greater flexibility on shorter runs and a variety of materials than the continuous feed inkjet press. Ricoh’s decision to opt for a B2 format suits a customer who is a litho printer with finishing equipment that is already in place, rather than an existing digital printer used to a smaller format.
This is unlike the approach taken by Canon and Xerox who have both stuck with digital press formats for their inkjet machines and brings Ricoh up against Fujifilm and KM/Komori, and particularly HP Indigo, where the Indigo 100K is currently the most productive B2 digital press available with a 6,000sph maximum capability.
Ricoh has said nothing about the design of the machine, but a released image suggests that like the Indigo and KM 1, the R75 will have a central drum to hold sheets in place while printing rather than the flatter path chosen by Fujifilm. This also facilities reversing of the sheet.
Ricoh’s Pro VC70000 uses a large heated central drum as a key element of its drying system. The additional feature of small heated rollers which the web winds around on this press, is impractical for a sheetfed machine, but the principal of heating the substrate will be adopted in some way as it is proven to work with the inks.
These carry a high pigment load and a wetting agent to reduce surface tension and allow the inkjet drop to lie flatter on the substrate to achieve the desired colour with less ink. Ricoh describes how a droplet is pinned in position to prevent adjacent drops running into each other. This also reduces the amount of water that is delivered to the sheet and makes drying easier. The polymer component that allows the ink to adhere to the broad range of materials also forms a protective coating above the ink. Post print coating may still be necessary for certain applications.
Ricoh, however, is optimistic that it has learned from existing B2 inkjet presses – the 750mm format enables six US sized A4 pages to be printed, for example. “The press will enable printers to be competitive on short run print jobs and will increase business opportunities and increase services,” says De Ridder.
Given Ricoh’s existing naming conventions for production machines, the R75 is likely to be renamed for launch. Less certain is whether this machine will be made available to Heidelberg or whether the Germany company would want to add it to the toner machines it already distributes under the Versafire badge. Heidelberg has discontinued the Primefire B1 machine but has retained inkjet knowledge and has not ruled out a return to inkjet printing. If, as Ricoh believes, this is the ideal machine for commercial printers, Heidelberg remains in pole position within this market.
