Inkjet & Digital Printing
The entire world of digital printing: Océ at drupa 2008 – an overview
Thursday 15. May 2008 - TransPromo, on-demand production of collaterals and books, and just-in-time technical documentation - these are just some of the exciting digital print innovations which raise the efficiency of print production, increase customer loyalty and build leaner, tighter workflows. At this years drupa, Océ is running real-life applications to demonstrate the strengths of digital printing, also unveiling innovative digital presses to support corporate and commercial print users.
Océs keynote segments at drupa 2008 frame four typical areas for digital printing: publishing, personalization, promotion and technical documentation. In all four areas, Océ can demonstrate that much of todays print production can be managed more cheaply, flexibly or quickly by digital printing – and in some cases, digital printing is the sole way to achieve the desired results.
Publishing: fast, cost-efficient production of short runs
Undifferentiated printing of huge runs is way out of tune with modern publishing requirements. With product lifecycles accelerating and product variety growing, it makes far more sense to print short runs of items such as spec sheets and info brochures – creating more opportunity for updates. The outcome: better availability of up-to-date information, zero inventory and zero pulping. Even highly customized product offerings can be complemented by high impact information. The same advantages apply for book production: short runs of new authors, cost-efficient reprinting of works that are otherwise out of print, or specialist literature where demand is likely to be weak – digital printing is the only way to turn these challenges into cost-effective propositions.
At drupa 2008 Océ is showing five different systems with workflows for short-run production of books, booklets and magazines. The Océ ColorStream 10000 full-color continuous-feed digital press is producing six-page brochures and books with color and B/W elements (among other applications) and the Océ VarioStream 9720 is showing fully automated printing of high quality books in black & white. Complemented by inline finishing equipment and inline feed of the color covers (also digitally printed), this workflow delivers professionally bound books in a single, intervention-free end-to-end run.
With its special “Roll Over Gutenberg” book, Océ is showing how high quality color and B/W pages can be merged inline in an automated production workflow. The book combines prints from two digital presses, the Océ VarioPrint 6250 (black & white) and the Océ CS650 Pro (color). The workflow is managed by Océ PRISMAprepare, which separates the B/W and color portions of the document and ensures the page data is routed correctly to either the B/W or color press. It then takes charge of the post-print merging to reassemble and finish the product. The Océ VarioPrint 6250 and Océ CS650 are also teaming up on a second application, and will be demonstrating their flexibility for digital newspaper production on original newsprint. Here too, the color covers and monochrome content pages are merged automatically.
Personalization: one-to-one customer communication and extraordinary service
Virtually every print product can be adapted to a particular recipient. The classic example is direct mail, where the item is personalized by adding the recipients name and address on preprinted material. There are now also other, more innovative opportunities: such as TransPromo documents and custom-assembled magazines. With its line-up of hardware and software systems at drupa 2008, Océ is demonstrating all these new opportunities.
The Océ VarioStream 8000 is demonstrating high-speed personalization of preprinted material, and the new Océ JetStream 2200 is showing its power for TransPromo printing. In combination with Océ PRISMAproduction workflow software, the system combines transaction content and carefully matched promotional messages to create high impact TransPromo documents in full color. The Océ JetStream 2200 is also producing color sections of digital newspapers on newsprint – demonstrating that even full-color daily newspapers can be produced cost-effectively in short runs, for instance at remote locations or as special editions for hotels and conference centers.
Rounding out the publishing applications is high-end production of personalized magazines on the Océ CS665 Pro with the Océ Document Designer Advanced. With this combination, exclusive glossy magazines can be individualized with custom-selected text and images to create a personal copy for each recipient – an appealing marketing opportunity for high-end consumer-good brands and for luxury hotels wishing to offer their guests extraordinary and individual service.
Promotion: limitless creativity in customer communication
In the advertising industry, the benchmarks for print production are speed and quality – for everything from CD covers to posters and adboards. Another imperative (this time from the side of print service providers) flexibility in printing systems. Without flexible equipment, service providers have no chance of efficiently fulfilling the highly varied orders of a varied client base. With systems on show such as the CPS900 and Arizona 250 GT complete with roll-to-roll option, Océ is demonstrating unique combinations of flexibility, quality and speed in wide and standard-format printing.
The most outstanding example is arguably the Océ Arizona 250 GT digital flatbed printing system, now also available with a roll-to-roll option. This add-on enables users to print rolls and simultaneously prepare the next print job on the fixed-installation suction table. With one and the same system, customers can print signage, displays and banners, posters and backlit signs in superlative quality and at ultra-fast speed.
Flexibility is also the hallmark of the Océ CPS900, which can process an outstanding variety of substrates for no-holds barred creativity in customer communication. Moreover, the extraordinary color stability of the Océ CPS900 ensures that reprints and updates can be produced quickly without complex re-calibration – and maintaining maximum color consistency.
TechDoc: Just in time – in color and black & white
Technical documentation is at home in both the wide format and standard format arenas. And in both arenas, technical documentation is the domain of digital printing. Even for mass consumer goods such as refrigerators and cookers, just-in-time production of operating guides and manuals is now standard procedure, with each item of documentation printed in the very latest version. There are no inventory costs, and of course no costs for pulping outdated material. For large format technical documentation such as GIS or CAD plans, digital printing is the only viable option anyway – owing to the usually short print runs.
Océ is exhibiting production of small format technical documentation in a number of ways: stitched A4 documents in color, produced on the Océ CS665 Pro; or black & white in A5 format, with professional-grade binding. All the workflows are supported by the Océ PRISMAprepare software; the B/W systems are also controlled by Océ PRISMAproduction, which routes the IPDS data flows.
In wide format printing, Océ will be premiering a new technology, and the focus is above all network printing. The ReproDesk Professional workflow software enables control of the entire workflow on different systems and even at different locations. In addition, the customers of a service provider can submit their print jobs straight into the providers workflow by means of client tools installed on their own workstations. Océ is demonstrating the opportunities for efficient, high value wide format printing on the basis of the TCS500 Hybrid (full color) and TDS700 (black & white).