Ricoh has announced the Pro VC60000, a new generation, continuous feed, inkjet technology platform for graphic arts, designed to excel at direct mail, book printing and marketing materials.
The modular-based system is the most versatile colour inkjet system available on the market and will be available in EMEA from January 2015.
“Ricoh believes the Pro VC60000 will set a new benchmark for quality in its class as a result of its unique multi-drop ink technology, achieving an effective optical resolution of up to 2400×2400 dpi,” says Jacques van Wyk, COO at Ricoh SA. “The Pro VC60000 will meet the high productivity needs of commercial printers with a duplex system offering fast speeds, producing nearly 100 000 A4 images per hour. It is the ideal investment for medium to large graphic arts printers seeking to future-proof their business and to reach new clients with new innovative applications and accelerate offset to digital migration.”
Peter Williams, executive VP and head of the Production Printing Business Group at Ricoh Europe, says: “The wait for graphic arts businesses seeking the optimum inkjet platform and partner to grow their business is at an end. At Ricoh, we’ve combined our 30-year experience in print head and ink development with our software and services expertise to ensure we can work closely with our clients as they grow and change for the future.”
The Pro VC60000’s Ricoh-patented, long lasting print heads and quick drying high viscosity water-based pigment inks ensure graphic arts businesses can control costs with a reliable system that delivers maximum uptime while minimising the environmental impact.
Flexibility, essential for a busy print operation, is met with its ability to produce premium output on a broad range of media that includes uncoated and even heavy coated offset, digital, treated and recycled. The optional undercoat unit and protector coat station ensure high quality output on lower grade papers and a durable scratch and scuff resistant layer on coated papers.
Fast set up times and easy to produce personalised print runs ensure clients get their messages tailored to who they want and on time, as the Pro VC60000 can meet tight deadlines faster than traditional printing methods.
Whether integrating into a fully digital or hybrid offset workflow, Ricoh’s Digital Front End print server, the TotalFlow Print Server R600A, ensures native support for both PDF and AFP/IPDS together with JDF and advanced colour management support. It also comes with a new user interface designed specifically for the challenges of graphic arts production.
Williams says: “We’ve successfully been developing our digital front end print servers for almost 40 years, giving us a deep insight into what clients need to operate effectively. Our success is based upon our approach to providing scalable print servers that are flexible enough to handle integrated workflows in mixed environments. The latest TotalFlow Print Server R600A builds on this success, coming fully equipped to handle the demanding needs of fully digital and hybrid offset workflows.”
The Pro VC60000 is further supported by Ricoh Process Director and Process Director Express, modular software that allows print services providers to automate the flow of jobs through production while retaining control of their print and mail production processes.
The Pro VC60000 complements the existing InfoPrint 5000 series of inkjet presses and extends Ricoh’s comprehensive range of inkjet solutions into graphic arts. The Pro VC60000 will also follow the same strategy as the successful InfoPrint 5000 series, whereby the investment is future-proofed with an ongoing development plan and continuous upgrade path. Like the InfoPrint 5000 series, it will easily integrate with third party finishing devices. Ricoh will also continue to enhance the InfoPrint 5000 series to meet transactional printing demands.
Williams says: “We know that technology-led change has been reshaping the graphic arts industry rapidly over the last decade. We firmly believe that one step for graphic arts businesses seeking to future-proof their business, keep pace with the speed of change and adapt to evolving client requirements, is to invest in a technology system like the Ricoh Pro VC60000.
“Printing on offset coated papers in class-leading resolution, they will be able to transfer offset jobs to this digital system. Our clients, many of them primarily offset printers, will gain enhanced productivity while carefully controlling costs and creating new ways to service their clients.”
In addition to the introduction of the Pro VC60000 continuous feed, the colour cut sheet offering is growing fast with the recent C7100 launch to meet medium and low volume print production needs, along with the Pro 8100 mono press. The hardware portfolio is completed by wide and large format printers, configured for graphics and for architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) requirements. Ricoh’s software solutions deliver connectivity and performance across the spectrum of workflow needs that professional production printers have, whether in mixed or digital-only environments.
A summary of features include:
* Premium print quality with Ricoh print head and multi-drop ink technology and an effective optical resolution up to 2400×2400 dpi (actual resolution 1200×1200 dpi);
* High productivity with fast speeds able to produce up to 40 million impressions per month;
* Versatile with a broad range of media support that include uncoated, coated offset, digital, treated, recycled and ground wood. Optional undercoat unit and protector coat station ensures high quality output on lower grade papers and a durable scratch and scuff resistant layer on coated papers;
* Flexible with the Ricoh-patented TotalFlow Print Server R600A – Ricoh’s Digital Front End with native support for a wide range of file formats together with JDF and advanced colour management support;
* Future proofed with ongoing development plan and continuous upgrade path;
* Compatible with Ricoh Process Director and Process Director Express; and
* Extends Ricoh’s high volume inkjet portfolio, complementing the existing IP5000 series.