As the long-time leading vendor in high-speed continuous-feed monochrome digital print, Océ potentially has a lot to lose in the race for colour in the continuous-feed market. As a result, the JetStream family will be crucial to ensuring it stays in the running.
“Our goal is to have the same strength in colour as we have had in monochrome,” says Océ director of business development, inkjet technology, Robert Köckeis. “We want to be market leader in the long term, but initially we want 25% of the market.”Köckeis is conscious that the switch to colour could be disruptive, and there are no guarantees that clients will stay loyal. “Anyone with kit won’t automatically go back to existing suppliers. They will look at the whole market to see what best fits their needs.”That’s one of the reasons why the JetStream range is unrivalled in the diversity of its configurations, speeds and price points using a single technology platform and offering full field upgradability. The range is designed to support monthly page volumes from 4.8m to 80m depending on the hardware installed. It begins with the 750, a 100m-per-minute single-engined machine that can produce one-up duplex or two-up simplex work. If there is a need for higher productivity, users have the choice of adding a second printing engine to form the JetStream 1500 or 2200, which print at 100m and 150m per minute respectively. Océ has also announced plans to introduce the 300m-per-minute 3000 and 3100 models over the next two years.
Image quality
The ink droplet size affects image quality and currently the JetStream machines offer user-selectable fixed droplet sizes between seven and 12 picolitres, which allows spot size to be optimised to stock type. However, a forthcoming software and firmware upgrade will offer variable spot size within a job, which Océ claims, pushes the quality even closer to offset. Ink and paper stock also influence image quality and the JetStream has the option of either dye or pigment inks depending on application. So far, most users have opted for the cheaper dye inks, which deliver the highest quality results if used with special stocks, whereas the pricier pigment inks offer greater paper flexibility.The JetStream stands out as the only machine, so far, with an optional fifth colour, which can be used for MICR inks or spot colours. This option will be available in 2009. When it comes to inkjet it is important to consider their recyclability. As Köckeis says: “De-inking is a political issue not a practical one. However, if we needed to use a coating to enable de-inking we could use the fifth channel for that.”
Environmental concerns
Power consumption is another environmental consideration that is becoming a more important factor in purchasing decisions. “Competitors claim our machine has a high power requirement,” says Köckeis. “They are only considering the power rating and forgetting that we can produce more pages in less time, which means less power per page. A fair measure is power consumed per million pages.” Because of this, the firm is working on its figures in these terms, which are becoming a common measure and will help companies to assess carbon footprints for printed products.One of Océ’s arguments in favour of the JetStream is that while colour is undoubtedly the future, in the short term it may make up little of a printer’s work. Océ is promoting the JetStream as a way of future-proofing a business, because although the hardware costs the same, it offers lower page rates for monochrome and spot colours than full colour, allowing users to cost-effectively migrate their applications over time.“No-one has 60-80m pages per year of colour yet,” says Köckeis. “Customers may start with 25-30% colour, but within 18 months that will have increased to 60-70%.” He adds that one prospective customer is also looking at taking the machine purely for mono work initially.While transpromo and direct mail are the much-vaunted applications for continuous-feed colour Océ believes the JetStream is also ideal for book and newspaper applications.“Laser machines only go up to 100m per minute, and newspaper and book applications need to go above that,” says Köckeis. “When printing newspapers you have a six- to eight-hour window to produce 6,000-8,000 48pp papers.”This point is echoed by Océ newspaper specialist Paul Krisson, who believes that the JetStream is an enabling technology for digital newspaper production.“We’ve been digitally printing newspapers for eight years,” he says. “The issue in the past has been that digital has been too expensive and too slow. The JetStream is a logical upgrade for existing sites and opens up a bigger opportunity for regional publishers looking to focus on smaller communities.”Prices for the JetStream hardware start at £1.27m for the 750, rising to £2.95m for the 2200, but in this market the more pertinent number is total cost of ownership (TCO), but as that depends on monthly volumes and ink coverage it is always framed with a number of caveats. Köckeis claims that while other vendors may offer more attractive upfront hardware costs, Océ’s TCO costs will be competitive. He quotes a TCO for a typical transpromo application, with 5% K and 15% CMY coverage produced in a volume of 10m A4 pages per month, working out at £5.91/1,000 pages.
Driving force
Océ’s established Prisma workflow is used to drive the JetStream range. The workflow offers IPDS/AFP functionality, including the latest support for ICC profiles in the system to enable the migration of data-intensive jobs to colour. While the data workflow is important the JetStream’s user interface is designed to be similar to other machines in its range, including high-volume monochrome continuous feed, to ensure its transition is simple for the operators.To ensure data integrity, including the matching of pages between the front and the back of the book, the JetStream includes sophisticated cameras and image analysis tools, which are essential given the sensitive and personal nature of transactional and transpromo work and the throughput, which make manual visual inspection impossible.Details of the first UK installation are expected imminently, but there are already three machines installed in the US and several in mainland Europe. With current interest in the machine balanced half and half from existing Océ customers and new prospects, Köckeis’ prediction that inkjet colour is disruptive and causing firms to seek out new suppliers is proving correct. As for his plans for market share, it’s too soon to say, but the early adoption and the compelling specification suggests that the firm has got off to a good start.
“Our goal is to have the same strength in colour as we have had in monochrome,” says Océ director of business development, inkjet technology, Robert Köckeis. “We want to be market leader in the long term, but initially we want 25% of the market.”Köckeis is conscious that the switch to colour could be disruptive, and there are no guarantees that clients will stay loyal. “Anyone with kit won’t automatically go back to existing suppliers. They will look at the whole market to see what best fits their needs.”That’s one of the reasons why the JetStream range is unrivalled in the diversity of its configurations, speeds and price points using a single technology platform and offering full field upgradability. The range is designed to support monthly page volumes from 4.8m to 80m depending on the hardware installed. It begins with the 750, a 100m-per-minute single-engined machine that can produce one-up duplex or two-up simplex work. If there is a need for higher productivity, users have the choice of adding a second printing engine to form the JetStream 1500 or 2200, which print at 100m and 150m per minute respectively. Océ has also announced plans to introduce the 300m-per-minute 3000 and 3100 models over the next two years.
Image quality
The ink droplet size affects image quality and currently the JetStream machines offer user-selectable fixed droplet sizes between seven and 12 picolitres, which allows spot size to be optimised to stock type. However, a forthcoming software and firmware upgrade will offer variable spot size within a job, which Océ claims, pushes the quality even closer to offset. Ink and paper stock also influence image quality and the JetStream has the option of either dye or pigment inks depending on application. So far, most users have opted for the cheaper dye inks, which deliver the highest quality results if used with special stocks, whereas the pricier pigment inks offer greater paper flexibility.The JetStream stands out as the only machine, so far, with an optional fifth colour, which can be used for MICR inks or spot colours. This option will be available in 2009. When it comes to inkjet it is important to consider their recyclability. As Köckeis says: “De-inking is a political issue not a practical one. However, if we needed to use a coating to enable de-inking we could use the fifth channel for that.”
Environmental concerns
Power consumption is another environmental consideration that is becoming a more important factor in purchasing decisions. “Competitors claim our machine has a high power requirement,” says Köckeis. “They are only considering the power rating and forgetting that we can produce more pages in less time, which means less power per page. A fair measure is power consumed per million pages.” Because of this, the firm is working on its figures in these terms, which are becoming a common measure and will help companies to assess carbon footprints for printed products.One of Océ’s arguments in favour of the JetStream is that while colour is undoubtedly the future, in the short term it may make up little of a printer’s work. Océ is promoting the JetStream as a way of future-proofing a business, because although the hardware costs the same, it offers lower page rates for monochrome and spot colours than full colour, allowing users to cost-effectively migrate their applications over time.“No-one has 60-80m pages per year of colour yet,” says Köckeis. “Customers may start with 25-30% colour, but within 18 months that will have increased to 60-70%.” He adds that one prospective customer is also looking at taking the machine purely for mono work initially.While transpromo and direct mail are the much-vaunted applications for continuous-feed colour Océ believes the JetStream is also ideal for book and newspaper applications.“Laser machines only go up to 100m per minute, and newspaper and book applications need to go above that,” says Köckeis. “When printing newspapers you have a six- to eight-hour window to produce 6,000-8,000 48pp papers.”This point is echoed by Océ newspaper specialist Paul Krisson, who believes that the JetStream is an enabling technology for digital newspaper production.“We’ve been digitally printing newspapers for eight years,” he says. “The issue in the past has been that digital has been too expensive and too slow. The JetStream is a logical upgrade for existing sites and opens up a bigger opportunity for regional publishers looking to focus on smaller communities.”Prices for the JetStream hardware start at £1.27m for the 750, rising to £2.95m for the 2200, but in this market the more pertinent number is total cost of ownership (TCO), but as that depends on monthly volumes and ink coverage it is always framed with a number of caveats. Köckeis claims that while other vendors may offer more attractive upfront hardware costs, Océ’s TCO costs will be competitive. He quotes a TCO for a typical transpromo application, with 5% K and 15% CMY coverage produced in a volume of 10m A4 pages per month, working out at £5.91/1,000 pages.
Driving force
Océ’s established Prisma workflow is used to drive the JetStream range. The workflow offers IPDS/AFP functionality, including the latest support for ICC profiles in the system to enable the migration of data-intensive jobs to colour. While the data workflow is important the JetStream’s user interface is designed to be similar to other machines in its range, including high-volume monochrome continuous feed, to ensure its transition is simple for the operators.To ensure data integrity, including the matching of pages between the front and the back of the book, the JetStream includes sophisticated cameras and image analysis tools, which are essential given the sensitive and personal nature of transactional and transpromo work and the throughput, which make manual visual inspection impossible.Details of the first UK installation are expected imminently, but there are already three machines installed in the US and several in mainland Europe. With current interest in the machine balanced half and half from existing Océ customers and new prospects, Köckeis’ prediction that inkjet colour is disruptive and causing firms to seek out new suppliers is proving correct. As for his plans for market share, it’s too soon to say, but the early adoption and the compelling specification suggests that the firm has got off to a good start.
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SPECIFICATIONS
Web width 521mmSpeed (linear metres per minute): JetStream 750/1500: 100; JetStream 1100/2200:150; JetStream 3000/3100: 200
Speed (A4 ppm): 750: 675; 1100: 1,010; 1500: 1,350; 2200: 2,020; 3000: 2,700
Resolution 600dpi
Ink type Aqueous dye or pigment
Printhead 600dpi piezo drop-on-demand variable drop size.
Workflow Océ Prisma Production AFP/IPDS. PostScript and PDF options available in 2009
Applications Transactional, direct mail, transpromo and on-demand book/newspaper printing
Price JetStream 750: £1.27m (€1.5m); JetStream 2200: £2.95m (€3.5m)
Contact Océ 0870 600554
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THE ALTERNATIVES
Agfa Dotrix TransColorTarget applications include DM, transactional, transpromo and newspapers.
Web width 630mm
Speed (linear metres per minute) 24
Speed (A4 pages per minute) 484Type UV-cured piezo drop-on-demand inkjet
Price £1.2m
Contact Agfa UK 020 8231 4929
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HP Inkjet Web PressUses thermal inkjet technology and a fifth colour to print a binder for the ink. Expected to start shipping mid-2009.
Web width 762mm
Speed (linear metres per minute) 122
Speed (A4 pages per minute) 2,600
Type water-based thermal drop on demand inkjet
Price £1.7m ($2.5m) (duplex)
Contact HP UK 0845 270 4000
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Infoprint 5000Based on the Screen Truepress Jet 520, the 5000 is designed to drop into existing mono environments.
Web width 520mm
Speed (linear metres per minute) 64
Speed (A4 pages per minute) 862
Type drop-on-demand piezo inkjet
Price £1m for twin engined duplex machine.
Contact Infoprint Solutions 0800 774 68464
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Kodak Versamark VL2000Kodak’s first drop-on-demand competes with the 1100.
Web width 474mm
Speed (linear metres per ) 75
Speed (A4 pages per minute) 250-1,000
Type drop-on-demand piezo inkjet
Price from £920,000
Contact Kodak 020 8424 6514
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Screen Truepress Jet 520A single-engine two-up with duplex option or twin-engine duplex with speeds to match requirements.
Web width 520mm
Speed (linear metres per minute) up to 128
Speed (A4 pages per minute) 420-1,680
Type drop-on-demand piezo inkjet
Price £850,000-£1.9m
Contact Screen UK 01908 848500
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Xerox 490/980Toner not inkjet device. Xerox claims substrate flexibility.
Web width 495mm
Speed (linear metres per minute) 69
Speed (A4 pages per minute) 900
Type flash-fused dry toner
Price not supplied
Contact Xerox UK 0870 873 4519
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