Inkjet & Digital Printing
Ricoh Unveils New Milestones for Its Continuous Feed Inkjet Portfolio
Wednesday 13. February 2013 - InfoPrint 5000 empowers customers with expanded media support, industry-leading low power consumption, powerful ink management tools, and the industry's most reliable printhead technology
Ricoh, a leading provider of digital output solutions, today announced significant achievements and enhancements of its inkjet portfolio, on display this week at Hunkeler Innovationdays.
In the past year, the InfoPrint 5000 family has surpassed the landmark of printing 35 billion production impressions around the globe, gaining momentum by enabling book, commercial and transactional print customers to realize the vision of “print and beyond.” The InfoPrint 5000 family is unique in using up to 50 percent less power than other ink jet systems, delivering ever-increasing and unmatched printhead life across its large worldwide install base, continuing expansion of its media support, color and ink management enhancements, and more. These achievements illustrate Ricoh’s ongoing commitment to further enhance its flagship solution to meet the evolving needs of its global customer base. “At Ricoh, we realize that customer requirements expand as their clients’ needs change, so a flexible architecture that would protect customers’ hardware and software investments was a key design objective when we built the InfoPrint 5000 technology. With the ability to quickly adapt and upgrade our modular system in the field, we can effectively help our customers achieve their goals,” said George Promis, vice president, Production Solutions & Technology Alliances, Ricoh. “We will continue to leverage our extensive skills, experience and industry-leading technology to help businesses excel and deliver value-added services to their clients.”
The latest enhancements to the InfoPrint 5000 include:
Extended Media Dryer Option: This feature, which is being demonstrated for the first time in Europe at Hunkeler Innovationdays, allows the InfoPrint 5000 to print on a broader variety of coated stock and less expensive papers, with the added benefit of enhanced color vibrancy and accuracy, and larger images with high coverage.
G7 Hardware Certification: The InfoPrint 5000 is now G7 hardware certified. Integrating G7 Gray Balance into the system’s workflow allows machine-to-machine, job-to-job color output consistency with color balance on various paper grades and weights.
Arcis Pantograph support: The InfoPrint 5000 support of Arcis Pantographs has been extended to include dye and pigment inks, running at up to 128 meters / minute (420 feet), with a new multi-color prismatic Pantograph, and the option to support micro-fonts. This function enables customers to increase the security of negotiable documents such as checks.
Enhancements coming in 2013 include new configurations and functions. The InfoPrint 5000 MP Monochrome and MP Color platform will be extended to support simplex and dual simplex configurations; and the InfoPrint 5000 GP Color platform will be able to support an extended page length.
Ricoh’s flagship InfoPrint 5000 platform continues to offer customers unparalleled technology leadership and value in several high profile areas:
Longest Printhead Life and Highest Reliability in the industry: The InfoPrint 5000’s inkjet printheads are the most reliable heads in the market, lasting on average well over 18 months and providing customers with the peace of mind needed for fulfilling the intense demands of their printing environment
Industry-Leading Low Water Content Inks: The InfoPrint 5000 consumes up to 50 percent less power than other products in the market, does not require exhausts or cooling rollers, and does not experience paper path shrinkage, due to the high yield of its high-density inks and the decreased energy requirements to dry these low water content inks, making it the perfect choice for high-coverage, high-speed applications.
Exceptional Color Consistency and Color Management Tools: The InfoPrint 5000 offers exceptional color consistency in the inkjet market today, with less than 3 Delta E (?E) between printer systems, print runs and over extended time frames. The system supports industry-standard and customer-created International Color Consortium (ICC) profiles for accurate color reproduction. Ricoh offers state-of-the-art color management tools for increased cost savings, including the Ink Savvy tool for ink optimization, which now supports coated papers, including Appleton Utopia 45 pound Book with InfoPrint 5000 Extended Media Dryer Option. Depending on the application, Ink Savvy can provide ink usage reductions from 10 percent to more than 50 percent, while preserving the document’s high-quality color appearance.
Predictable and Easy Operations: The InfoPrint 5000 family requires minimal operator tasks and interventions, so one operator can handle multiple systems. In addition to offering industry-leading self-diagnosis, self-correction and ink conservation capabilities, the user-friendly operator GUI and notifications enable operators to quickly learn the system.
Exclusive Variable Drop Size technology for Superior Images and Crisp Text: The InfoPrint 5000’s unique variable drop size technology automatically and dynamically determines the optimal drop sizes to jet at every pixel on every page to produce clear text (even small fonts) and outstanding images with smooth grey scale.
Ricoh’s customers span the globe and are leveraging the InfoPrint 5000 in a variety of unique print environments with varying demands, such as producing nine to ten million duplex feet of output a month. In Europe, for example, Italian publisher Loescher demonstrates the benefits of the InfoPrint 5000 for publishers, while Württembergische Versicherung AG and The Bonus Club illustrate the InfoPrint 5000’s strengths for insurance and direct mail applications.