Oce VarioPrint DP 110/120/135

When Canon announced its tie-up with Océ back in 2009, industry commentators expected a rolling stock of groundbreaking new product developments to start trundling off the production line.

Two and a half years later, it’s fair to say that delivery of these new products hasn’t quite lived up to the initial hype. While the partnership delivered the first fruits of its labour, the ImagePress 7010VPS, in March last year, it took a further six months before Océ summoned the global media to its headquarters in Venlo, last September, to unveil the ImageRunner Advance C9000S PRO and the VarioPrint DP line.

Black-and-white presses may not be the sexiest beasts in the press hall – or the corporate print room for that matter – but the VarioPrint DP is undoubtedly the most interesting product unveiled by the digital duo to date. The new line combines Océ printing technology – it features an Océ engine and controller – with Canon’s scanning and finishing expertise, and is available in three different configurations: 110/120/135 (the number indicates the speed in A4 images per minute, roughly speaking). As the headline figures suggest, this is a light- to mid-production machine, which is targeted at corporate print rooms, print-for-pay print shops and commercial printers in the graphic arts market.

At the heart of this new system is Océ’s DirectPress technology. “It doesn’t use light, high temperatures or electrical charges to create an image, making it a reliable alternative to traditional technologies for the black-and-white market,” claims Damian Schaller, marketing manager DDS at Océ Australia. “It offers excellent and consistent print quality as there is no influence from light sources like laser or LED and the mono-component toner maintains stability in both structure and quality. The system produces no ozone, no toner waste or
toxic materials to dispose, which makes for a cleaner working environment. With a short, compact process containing fewer steps and components and no build-up of static, reliability reaches new and unsurpassed levels.”

It’s a big sell from Schaller, who cites media versatility and reduced energy consumption as two of the VarioPrint’s key USPs – the company claims the device uses 30% less energy than other comparative systems in its class and switching from standby to printing mode only takes three seconds. Another major attraction is PrismaSync controller, which allows the pre-planning and scheduling of up to eight hours work of work.

Océ and Canon jointly launched the product in Australia in March with a roadshow around the country. Schaller says the machine was well received by visitors, with events split into two distinct groups – one lot catering for corporate customers and the other commercial print customers.

“Attendees at the launch events have been impressed by the environmental credentials of the VarioPrint DP line as well as its ease-of-use in operation and its impressive printing capabilities,” he says. “With the possibility to print on almost any kind of stock, from any tray, from 50gsm to 300gsm up to SRA3, customers were able to see how they can reproduce the most complex of documents including colour inserts, covers and tabs in a very effective and easy way.”

Sales surge

Since its launch, the machine has sold exceptionally well, according to the vendors. So far more than 300 VarioPrint DP units have been installed in Europe with 10 systems sold into Australia since March. Schaller says many more sales cycles are in their final stage. Canon isn’t taking orders until June once engineer and sales training has been completed, but Steve Lockwood, PPS product manager at Canon Business Imaging, says that at the recent roadshows, education, government, corporate and print-for-pay customers responded positively towards the environmental benefits and print quality offered by the VarioPrint DP.

“Each of these segments also liked the service parameters associated with the DP line in terms of its high reliability and the short service call time,” says Lock­wood. “They perceived this as providing maximum availability to produce the jobs required by their customers.”

In addition to strong European sales and positive feedback from potential customers in Australia, the line also won industry recognition when it clinched an IF Product Design Award in March.

“A breakthrough print system has to take into account human values such as simplicity, effectiveness and a pleasant user experience, as well as meeting functional demands like print quality, productivity and versatility,” explains Schaller. “Design is a way of shaping products so that users’ abilities, preferences, cognitive skills and cultural backgrounds are integral to design decisions at each stage of product development. Recognition by the IF award jury demonstrates that the Canon and Océ development teams are deeply committed to developing human-centred products.”

For an award-winning device, the VarioPrint has a refreshingly modest price range of $35,000 to $85,000, depending on configuration, and is also being offered on a click charge basis, which includes service, support, all spare parts and consumables, other than paper and staples. With a guarantee covering up to 100 million impressions – more than any competitor machine in this market segment, says Océ – Schaller believes there isn’t another device that can directly match the VarioPrint DP.

“While there are numerous competitive products in the segment of 100 to 135 impressions per minute, none of them truly competes with the VarioPrint DP line as they use electrophotography, a technology that despite being called ‘digital printing’ actually contains analogue steps which causes the print quality to deteriorate significantly from the first day a system is installed,” says Schaller.

High hopes

The digital duo have high hopes for the VarioPrint DP line, which Lockwood believes will further aid integration between the two companies in Australia. Canon and Océ have already co-located their offices in each states, with showrooms displaying the VarioPrint DP line in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

“In terms of the Océ-Canon relationship within the production print market, this has been working well, from shared showroom and office facilities, joint tender approaches and the recent Océ-Canon launch events for the DP line,” says Lockwood.

“On specific marketing activities, we have jointly funded sponsorships of print associations within Australia and several major print-for-pay national events. Our future plans include a joint stand at the next major print exhibition in Australia, PacPrint 2013, in the same way Canon Europe and Océ will have a joint stand at Drupa 2012.”

The strap line for the digital partnership is ‘stronger together’ and if the two manufacturers can continue bringing together their joint expertise to deliver further innovations like the new VarioPrint DP line, Schaller is confident that this philosophy will eventually bear fruit.

“The sky is the limit for Canon and Océ who have set out to become the number one in production printing worldwide,” says Schaller. “There are close to 400 black-and-white mid to light production devices up for renewal across Australia in the coming months and black-and-white volumes offer a sizeable area of revenue.”

Judging by these figures it looks like the digital partnership could be on course to meet its ambition aspiration of becoming the number one print provider in the not too distant future.

 

 


 

 

SPECIFICATIONS

Toner: Mono-component toner

Resolution: 600×2,400dpi

Paper weight: 50-300gsm

Paper size: 203x203mm to 320x488mm

Max paper capacity: 7,800 sheets (80gsm, 8.5x11in); 4,600 sheets (80gsm, all sizes)

Max print speed: VarioPrint 110 – 13 pages per minute (A4 duplex), VarioPrint 120 – 12ppm (A4 duplex), VarioPrint 135 – 38ppm (A4 duplex)

Max monthly print volume: VarioPrint 110 – 1.7 million images, VarioPrint 120 – 2 million images, VarioPrint 135 – 2.2 million images

Price: $35,000-$85,000 depending on spec

Contact: Océ, www.oce.com.au, 1300 663 623; Canon, www.canon.com.au, 13 13 83

 

 


 

ALTERNATIVES

Fuji Xerox

The manufacturer’s D95/D110/D125 light production beasts boast speeds of 95, 110 and 125 pages per minute (ppm) respectively and can print at a maximum resolution of 2,400×2,400dpi. The Xerox Nuvera 120 is another potential alternative to the VarioPrint 120 as it’s capable of printing up to 120 images per minute.

Price: On application

Contact: Fuji Xerox, www.fujixerox.com.au, 1300 667 955

Konica Minolta Bizhub Pro 1200

The Pro 1200 has a maximum paper capacity of 14,000 sheets and is capable of printing at speeds up to 120ppm. With a maximum monthly volume of three million pages, it runs the VarioPrint 120 close on the spec front.

Price: On application

Contact: Konica Minolta Australia, www.konicaminolta.com.au, 1800 789 389

Ricoh

The Pro 1106 and the faster Ricoh 1356 1356EX and 1357, are capable of printing 110-135 pages per minute (simplex and duplex) respectively at 1,200×1,200dpi. The 1106 has a maximum monthly volume of around 1.5 million whereas the 1356EX can handle as many
as two million pages.

Price: On application

Contact: Ricoh, www.ricoh.com.au, 1800 181 002

Kodak Digimaster

The Digimaster E125 is the closest match to the VarioPrint 120 with a maximum running speed of 125ppm at a resolution of 600dpi. The E125 is a robust workhorse with a monthly duty cycle of 2.4 to 4.25 million impressions. The nearest match to the VarioPrint 135 in the Kodak range is the Digimaster E138 or EX138, which as the model name suggests is capable of handling a similar number of pages per minute to the 135.

Price: On application

Contact: Kodak, graphics.kodak.com/AU, 1800 895 747

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