Product of the Week

Ricoh is a relative newcomer to the graphic arts market but over the past few years it has been busy building a presence alongside fellow Japanese imaging firms Canon and Konica Minolta. With the introduction of the C900, the company's first production colour press, it has filled what was - in the eyes of many commercial printers - a gap in its portfolio.

In the past three years Ricoh has expanded on its roots in office imaging, adding production print products with the acquisition of Hitachi’s printer business and the distribution company Infotec. It has also taken a stake in Infoprint Solutions, IBM’s high-volume print division, which Ricoh will eventually wholly own. Most recently it has announced a deal to acquire Ikon, a global giant in document imaging and digital print.

With the Hitachi and Infotec acquisitions, and the Infoprint venture, we are absolutely committed to graphic arts, says Ricoh UK director of marketing Chas Moloney. The C900 is the first product that is the fruit of that commitment.

That deal-making spree gave the firm a range of digital print technology spanning office imaging all the way up to the latest high-speed continuous feed colour with the Infoprint 5000, an inkjet machine using Screen technology. But until now it lacked its own machine in the cut-sheet production colour space.

Hitachi’s expertise in high-speed production was used in the development of the C900, the first project of the merged R&D teams. While the C900 is its first cut-sheet colour machine Moloney points out it won’t be on its own for too long. The R&D team in Tokyo is working on a range of machines to meet an even wider range of production volumes and applications.

Good combination
As a newcomer to the cut-sheet colour market, the company needed a USP and according, to Moloney, the 900’s big selling point is its price performance. It offers heavy production at light production price, he says. We’ve put a big kink in the price-performance curve.

Moloney says that the machine’s combination of heavy-duty production features – including 90ppm speed, an average monthly print volume (AMPV) of 170,000 and duty cycle of 400,000 – pitches it against high-end production machines such as Xerox’s DocuColor 7000/8000 and Canon’s ImagePress 7000VP, but its price competes with light-production machines like the new Xerox 700. With a price of up to £145,000 for the machine, including the EFI Fiery workflow, the C900 is competitively priced against its rivals.

Next month’s Total Print! Expo (TPE) will be the machine’s UK launch after its debut at Drupa, and no less than three C900s will be on display alongside a range of Ricoh Pro 1356EX monochrome machines.

Between the colour and black-and-white kit the firm will show its full range of inline cut-sheet finishing options. One machine will be running with the GBC StreamPunch including Z-fold and a Plockmatic bookletmaker with square back fold option. Also on show will be one with two stackers and another with a bookletmaker. Finishing options available for the C900, but shown on the 1356 EX, include an inline ringbinder capable of producing documents of up to 100 sheets and a perfect binder.

Market feedback
Ricoh will also unveil its complete workflow family at TPE, including personalisation and workflow management systems to extend the functionality of the C900’s EFI Fiery front end.

The company is using the latest version of a Fiery with the full graphic arts package as standard, and to enable the operator to access all the features of Command Workstation, the machine includes a PC mounted onto the press.
We found that in CRD [inplants] and print-for-pay environments operators want to work on the machine itself rather than controlling it from a remote workstation, says Karen Lawrence, Ricoh UK professional print solutions marketing manager.

At the feed end the C900 supports one or two large capacity trays, allowing up to 11,000 sheets to be held online and loading while printing. All the trays can take SRA3 sheets and they feature air blowers to ensure sheet separation and reliable feeding even for large sheets, heavy weight and coated stock.

The C900 is Ricoh’s first machine to handle SRA3 sheets, which is part of a trend for digital devices to support the larger sizes of sheetfed offset.

The C900 runs at its rated speed of 90 A4 ppm across the entire range of stocks both coated and uncoated, at all sizes, including 2up on SRA3 and on its entire rated stock range of 60-300gsm. Before we started development we asked printers about their pain points and included the feedback in the specification, says Moloney. One of the biggest gripes was the speed reduction of other digital presses on coated, duplexed and heavy stocks. The C900 is 90ppm whatever you throw at it, he says. One of the biggest headaches printers identified with machines that slow down was in trying to schedule and plan around variable speeds.

Other features based on market feedback are toner refill on the fly and automatic purging and restarting of the press should there be a paper jam.

Ricoh is promoting the compact footprint of the imaging unit, which it says is half that of the Xerox DC 8000.

New technologies
Within the imaging unit Ricoh has incorporated some new technologies. Before printing there is a registration unit that controls the sheet’s horizontal and vertical position on the leading edge and its skew. The imaging unit itself is a 1,200dpi laser scanning system offering two-bit per pixel resolution. It is the first firm to implement the hybrid screening offered by the latest Fiery front ends, which offer up to 200lpi with options to optimise graphics, text and images.

Conventional mechanically ground toner and fusing oil are used, which the firm selected to ensure the widest possible colour gamut. Image gloss level is a silk finish to provide a good compromise with different stocks. An innovative fuser uses stock thickness and stored paper settings to adjust the nip width and pressure as well as temperature to optimise fusing for all stocks.

Environmental performance is an important consideration for Ricoh; all its manufacturing sites are ISO 9001 and it demands the same of its suppliers. The firm operates a recycling and re-use scheme for toner bottles and other components on top of end of life disposal. UK printers in particular can rest assured that the machine hasn’t clocked up huge emissions from its transportation to their factories as it is built at Ricoh’s Telford factory.

So far the reaction to the machine has been good. The first unit in Europe is going to Welsh firm Integrated Graphics and a further 18 UK printers signed letters of intent to take the first production units at Drupa without waiting for a price. At TPE next month, Ricoh is hoping that the performance and price will mean that those 18 will be joined by many more UK printers looking for cost-effective digital colour print production.

SPECIFICATIONS

Speed (A4) 90ppm
Max sheet size 488x330mm
Stock weight 60-300gsm
Capacity up to 11,000 sheets
AMPV 170,000
Monthly duty cycle 400,000
Workflow EFI Fiery
Price Up to £145,000 (for a typical configuration including workflow)
Contact Ricoh 020 8261 4000 www.ricoh.co.uk

THE ALTERNATIVES

Canon ImagePress 7000VP
Canon’s flagship machine, the VP version, works at rated speed of 70ppm on all stock types and weights. For less demanding users there’s the 7000 and the 6000VP and 6000. The firm emphasises the colour quality and colour management features of its range, which also use EFI Fiery controllers.
Speed 70ppm
Price up to £196,400
Contact Canon 01737 220463 www.canon.co.uk

Kodak NexPress M700
Based on Canon’s ImagePress 7000VP, the 700 is Kodak’s entry-level machine. The firm highlights the powerful NexStation workflow as the m700’s differentiator.
Speed 70ppm
Price £130,000
Contact Kodak 020 8424 6514 www.graphics.kodak.com

Konica Minolta Bizhub Pro 6500E/EP
The C6500e/eP is available in 16 configurations with different heavy-duty finishing and feed modules, and EFI and Creo workflows. Speed remains constant whatever stock is being printed on.
Speed 65ppm
Price from £52,000
Contact Konica Minolta 01908 200400 konicaminolta.co.uk

Océ CS 600 Series
Based on the Konica Minolta engine, the Océs are volume production oriented with a very attractive starting price and a choice of EFI or Creo front ends. The CS650 Pro is also capable of producing colour that conforms to ISO 12647-7.
Speed 65ppm
Price from £45,000
Contact Océ 0870 600554 www.oce.com/CS650pro

Xerox DocuColor 5000/7000/8000AP
Xerox argues where most rivals only have one machine regardless of application and average monthly print volume (AMPV) it offers a range, which could be more cost-effective. The AP range of machines run at rated their full speed regardless of stock weight. The firm also emphasises the importance of  workflow and the choice of three front ends for its colour presses Freeflow Print Manager, EFI Fiery and Creo.
Speed 5000AP 50 A4ppm, 7000AP 70 A4ppm, 8000AP 80 A4ppm
Price up to 5000AP £140,000, up to 7000AP £175,000, up to 8000AP £198,000
Contact Xerox 0870 873 4519 www.xerox.com