To Deliver What the Digital Printing Customer Wants it’s an “and” Conversation

Submitted by: Kevin Horey, vice president, Production Product Marketing

Pepsi vs. Coke; Nature vs. Nurture; Yankees vs. Red Sox; Inkjet vs. Toner … not so fast, it’s inkjet and toner. The inkjet and toner discussion is not an either-or scenario or a battle between two print technologies.

When it comes to inkjet and toner, application use will drive technology choices and as of today, Xerox is showcasing both – digital production technology using toner and high speed production inkjet technology.

Xerox’s production inkjet technology was previewed today at IPEX in Birmingham, U.K. The production inkjet technology can produce more than 2,000 full-color images every minute.  This high speed, high quality printing is achieved by 56 print heads with more than 49,000 nozzles jetting nearly two billion ink drops per second. Impressive, right? Just wait, it gets better.  Xerox Production Inkjet Technology

The ink on all those pages that are produced – can be erased and then recycled. Until now, inkjet documents were notoriously difficult to de-ink because the color soaked into the paper fibers, hindering the recycling process. But leave it to our scientists to solve a problem that’s been nagging the industry for years. The technology also has the capability to print on lighter weight papers, saving print providers money and helping the environment even further by saving an estimated 2,000 trees per year.

So, how do we get vibrant image quality on low-cost papers? It begins with the design of the print head.  It’s only about the size of a couple decks of cards but it contains 880 microscopic nozzles. There are 56 of these print heads stitched together to achieve high speed 600 dpi printing. The device also hosts a sensor that scans the two billion droplets per second ensuring each drop appears exactly where it needs to be.

Now the ink.  We are using a patented, granulated, resin-based ink that does not soak through the paper unlike water-based inks that often suffer from ‘bleed- through’ – which requires more expensive and specially treated papers.

This demonstration at IPEX is the result of a lot of hard work and we’re excited about where this is taking Xerox and the printing industry. It’s not a battle between two technologies – it is two technologies working together to deliver exactly what the customer wants. Production inkjet complements a broader production digital printing strategy that includes digital options.

— Kevin Horey, vice president, Production Product Marketing

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3 Comments

  1. A. Boyd May 19, 2010 -

    Agree on great sustainability benefit of the forthcoming Xerox production inkjet that uses solid ink. I’m eager to see the whole package when it becomes available to assess customer tradeoffs vs. alternatives. Will customers embrace the alternatives equally or tilt one way or the other?

  2. Joginder June 11, 2010 -

    I very much agree and Xerox produces great products for printing lovers like us. The technology benefits now reaching the common man. We at InPrint always use Xerox technology to serve our trusted customers. They love our place.. you can also experience at http://inprintgraphic.ca

  3. diario el tiempo May 3, 2013 -

    An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who was conducting a little research on this. And he in fact ordered me dinner due to the fact that I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this matter here on your website.

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