Print Devices
Several four-color digital devices fit the bill for high-speed production. The Xerox DocuColor iGen3 is a sheet-fed printer that is just rolling off the line and promises better VDP printing. The DocuColor 6060 runs 60 ppm on 75- to 135-gsm stock with an 8,000-page capacity and three RIPs: Xerox DocuSP, Creo Spire, and EFI EXP6000. The Heidelberg NexPress 2100 has sold fewer than 200 presses but, because Heidelberg has a strong foothold in the commercial print market, it will sell many more to commercial printers. Running at 70 ppm and on a variety of substrates, the NexPress handles 100 percent variable data through the first PDF/PJTF implemented NexStation front end.Known for high-speed B&W machines, the Oce CPS700, a new seven-color machine that runs at 25 ppm in either simplex or duplex modes, can RIP and print at the same time. A new mono-layered system, which requires less heat to set toner to the page, prints the "look and feel" of 400 x 1600 dpi and doesn't curl or distort the paper. Due to its quality, the CPS700 is expected to replace some faster machines in the VDP market.
Although it has a 300 dpi, the VersaMark Vantage produces 708 ppm, with a low operating cost. Its parent, Scitex Digital Printing, is working on a higher resolution print engine for printing utility bills, bank statements, and other high-volume consumer documents at high speeds for pennies per page. Experts expect this technology to be adapted by transaction printers to add marketing capabilities to their businesses.
The new HP Indigo line is the broadest in the market, with both six- and seven-color offerings with 800 dpi and up to 52 feet per minute production speeds. Additionally, some smaller digital printers from Canon, Epson, Konica, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, and Ricoh will handle variable data, and networking them can produce high-volume jobs. No matter how one dices resolution, speed and adaptability, digital-printing devices are ready to handle VDP.
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