At drupa 2016, its third presence at the show, Ricoh’s demonstrations will include a fully configured Ricoh Pro VC60000 running a variety of media roll-to-roll and roll-to-sheet, and a single engine Pro VC60000 that will allow visitors to take a close look at the technology that powers it. Furthermore, color cut sheet presses including, the Ricoh Pro C9110 and the Ricoh Pro C7100x with its fifth toner station will also be available for demo at the stand.
The Pro VC60000 is the web-fed inkjet press that Ricoh has been building with its own technology since the last drupa where it first privately discussed the idea even while it has continued to sell the web-fed Infoprint inkjet series based on a Screen engine. The Pro VC60000 was demonstrated running live and printing high quality color at the Hunkeler Innovationdays in February 2015. At Hunkeler the VC60000 press was shown printing on a variety of substrates with one coater before the print engines and a varnish coater after the printing that added outstanding gloss to color images to offset substrates. Having already installed a VC60000 at Finland based Hansaprint, Ricoh now has a beta testing site.
Benoit Chatelard, vice president, Production Printing, Ricoh Europe, addressing journalists at the media conference in Dusseldorf said, “By harnessing the power of digital print and data, and by creating innovative new technologies for multichannel production and communication environments, Ricoh is providing new ways for any print service provider to transform, optimize and grow their business.” Peter Williams, executive vice president and member of the board at Ricoh Europe, said that this year will see Ricoh’s ‘most impressive’ ever drupa.
Print production performance for this broad portfolio of production printers has been strengthened by a number of pre-drupa announcements by Ricoh. Visitors to the show will be able to see live demonstrations of the new aqueous resin (AR) latex inks for the Ricoh Pro L4100 large format printer. The increased finishing capabilities with the Watkiss PowerSquare 224 booklet maker running in-line with the Pro C9100 series, Pro C7100x series, and the Ricoh Pro 8100 series digital presses will be shown.
In addition, being shown for the first time will be the enhanced banner option for the Pro C7100x and Pro C9100 digital presses. Another important addition to the Ricoh portfolio that will be on show at drupa is the Ricoh TotalFlow Cloud Suite, a hosted portfolio of cloud-based services comprising carefully selected Ricoh software and Ricoh-endorsed third-party solutions.
Ricoh will also be demonstrating large format promotional work. Here visitors will see how print service providers can expand their horizons to grow their business in many different directions, including through increasing print volumes. Applications will include indoor and outdoor sign and display graphics, interior decoration, photos and fine art prints, labels and packaging, and banner solutions.
Chatelard further added, “Heidelberg has helped Ricoh for the last few years to understand the digital needs of our customers. We will be showcasing game-changing solutions in hardware, software and services for the graphic arts industry as well as corporate print rooms, publishers and marketing agencies. Ricoh’s commitment to innovation will be unmistakable throughout the stand. Highlighted will be our best-in-class sheetfed and continuous feed line of digital presses powered by Ricohcentred workflows. But in addition, we believe visitors will be intrigued by the entire suite of new technology on show, from industrial inkjet to additive manufacturing and robotics.”
Visitors will also have the opportunity to be on the cover of one of Germany’s most popular news magazines, Focus. In a demonstration of end-to-end production with Ricoh solutions, a photograph of each participating visitor will be taken and a personalized magazine cover ready for collection will be printed.
