With IPEX 2010 right around the corner, OutputLinks talks with Manfred Maier, chief technology officer/chief operating officer, and Crit Driessen, vice president marketing and strategy, SBU Production Printing, both with Océ Printing Systems GmbH, in Poing, Germany.

Maier is responsible for research and development for continuous feed printers in B&W and color. He was born in Dinkelsbühl, Germany in 1949, and joined Siemens AG in Munich in 1978, where he held several R&D related positions. He’s been at Océ since 1996 with the merger of Siemens-Nixdorf HPP and Océ.

Driessen is responsible for strategy development, product planning, partnership development, product launches, acquisition projects, management of marketing, strategic planning and market research. He was born in Tegelen, Netherlands in 1957, and he’s been with Océ since 1982.

Question:

Tell us about your IPEX highlight products and their key figures.

Crit Driessen:

There are a lot of exciting and new Océ offerings that will be featured at IPEX, including the Océ JetStream 1000 with all-in-one full-color inkjet productivity. The Océ JetStream 1000 system is the first continuous feed inkjet printer in its class offering full-width printing on both sides of the paper in a single engine. This full-color web press prints 1010 A4 duplex pages per minute and offers unrivalled configuration options from 1/0 to 6/6 printing. It’s perfect if you want to enter flourishing markets like transaction, direct mail, TransPromo, digital book and manual printing.

The Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex is the fastest color-capable B&W digital printing system. The brand new Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex is the fastest toner-based, continuous feed printer on the market with up to 1425 monochrome and 168 full-color A4 images per minute. This highly flexible production system gives you all the advantages of full color, but prints B&W at B&W prices and speeds. As a result, it is the ideal printer to support customers in their transition to merely black-and-white to a mix including color documents. It allows you to respond therefore effectively in dynamic markets like transaction printing, direct mail, TransPromo materials, books on-demand and manuals.

Both products will take innovation at IPEX 2010 to the next level, demonstrating how technology leadership is driving our customers’ business covering their complete color workflow value chain. PRISMA production drives both systems during the IPEX event, showcasing powerful black-and-white and color applications.

Question:
Why were those products created?

Manfred Maier:

Full-color digital printing has captured attention across the board. For marketers, full-color transaction documents and full-color personalized direct mail get greater attention and contribute to a more polished, professional image at an affordable cost. For end users, full-color documents like statements and marketing offers are more interesting and informative to read. As full-color digital adoption ramps up, Océ continuous feed color solutions have emerged among the top choices for reliable, versatile quality output. Delivering high productivity in combination with lower running costs, the Océ JetStream family and the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex enable profitable production of highly individualized, high impact communications.

Océ ink and toner technologies are helping accelerate the transition from offset to digital printing, providing significant business and profit potential for digital print operations. Océ believes that for the next couple of years toner and ink technologies have different strengths and cover different market needs. Based on this strategic analysis, Océ is the only vendor offering both printing technologies to its customers. The color productivity of the Océ JetStream platform, for example, permits customers to produce full-color individualized mailshots in one workstep, without having to undertake the corresponding preproduction of offset shells. In book printing, Océ technology is transforming the supply chain, enabling books to be printed in short runs ahead of orders or one-off against an order. Print on-demand with the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex, for example, is breathing new life into backlists, giving voice to many new authors and enabling publishers to keep titles alive forever. Digital printing also enables newspaper operations to further explore opportunities in short-run distributed print, niche publications or special editions, as well as in micro-zoning publishing.

Question:

What value does the Océ JetStream bring to the industry?

Driessen:

The Océ JetStream 1000 is a self-contained system which uses floor space more efficiently than competitive devices, with a footprint 20 to 60 percent smaller than other inkjet systems in its class. As a result, customers can enter the production color arena without a negative impact on limited floor space.

The new Océ JetStream 1000 model is designed for users with volumes from 4 up to 24 million prints per month. Many features make the system ideal for operations requiring versatility, speed and uncompromising color quality. Océ PRISMA software makes it easier to embed new applications such as variable personalization and TransPromo documents into existing workflows without disruption. Operators can manage the system as they would their other devices. The Océ JetStream platform supports a broad range of media, ensuring further versatility. To co-exist with current systems and future needs, Type 1 connectivity allows direct integration with third-party finishing systems.

Question:
What value does the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex bring to the industry?

Driessen:

The Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex encompasses high speed monochrome and full-color printing in one device. It provides Océ Job Appropriate Color to ensure customers can choose the best color capabilities for their business needs, without over investing. Commercial printers, direct mail services in-house printers and datacenters benefit from the highest productivity along with the appropriate color and quality for a wide range of applications, all from a single, upgradeable system.

Print operations can take on jobs that weren’t previously affordable or even possible on just one system. For example, users can print the first few pages of a document in color and the next 50 pages in black-and-white at black-and-white speed and costs. With the ability to mix color and monochrome pages in one run, printers can extend their application variety with a single, straightforward workflow. The innovative Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex digital press automatically adapts speed and costs within one job according to the application’s color use.

Question:

What niche of the market does the Océ JetStream line fit?

Maier:

From its launch the Océ JetStream line has innovated the industry

By continuously expanding it with new models covering the largest-possible range of customer requirements, Océ offers its customers a product line that broadens the markets, which in turn benefits from a powerful technology.

Today, Océ JetStream technology is used in transaction printing, digital newspaper printing as well as book publishing and marketing applications. The versatility of the Océ JetStream line secures most applications ROI – indispensable in today’s economic situation and key to success in a highly competitive marketplace. The Océ JetStream 1000 meets these requirements with speed, integrated MICR, up to six-color printing and a unique print quality, reaching 1200 dpi quality by employing powerful multi-level inkjet technology. Our customers can now develop and offer an extended range of print services and handle many more applications, which results in a very attractive business model.

Question:

What is the niche of the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex?

Maier:

Océ enjoys already a very good reputation in the production color market. The Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex is the latest launch of high-speed black and white capabilities within our tonerbased color portfolio. It turns this platform into a versatile product line capable of handling a multitude of configurations that address most diverse requirements. Our customers are now offered a consistent and solid core technology paired with an outstanding level of versatility which allows to grow the platform as new business opportunities emerge.

The Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex can print on a wide range of paper stocks and will be supported by two front-end systems to address the widest variety of customer requirements. Océ PRISMAproduction workflow provides extensive capabilities in AFP and PDF operations, while the new Océ PRISMAcolorworksä software enabled by Creo Color Server Technology features easy-to-use graphic arts functionality for enhancing pre-press work, along with excellent connectivity into traditional printing environments.

In the transactional printing market, the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex allows customers to grow into color incrementally at their own pace, without compromising existing black-and-white job requirements and budgets. In the direct mail market, print providers can take advantage of Océ Job Appropriate Color to offer their customers the most appropriate choices for their business goals. For customers in book and manual printing and other segments of the graphic arts market,  the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex offers distinct advantages, including excellent front-to-back print registration and the ability to print on lightweight stocks giving it a place in the pharmaceutical industry.

Question:
What are the benefits of the Océ JetStream?

Driessen:

Key features of the Océ JetStream platform include Océ DigiDot inkjet technology and SRA MP controller architecture. Océ DigiDot piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet technology uses the industry's fastest inkjet print heads to produce stunning color at top speeds. All combined with the industry’s smallest inkjet footprint and integrated 6/6 color capability. The Océ SRA MP controller enables high-speed, uninterrupted workflow

for AFP/IPDS data streams and rigorous full-color digital printing. Océ controller technology draws on more than 20 years of experience in high-speed controller development.

Question:
What are the USPs of the tonerbased Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex?

Maier:

An extensive number of customers still produce a large volume of their work in monochrome, and they look for a solution that can secure their business now and give them a future as they move into color. Océ combines both benchmark black and white speed with continuous feed color productivity, all switchable with a click.

The new Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex system offers a solution for the range of requirements encountered in today’s market. It is designed to support these mixed environments. Customers investing in a monochrome system today can also easily grow into additional color capabilities when necessary. This highly flexible production system gives you all the advantages of full color, but prints b/w at b/w prices and speeds.

Question:

How does this portfolio fit into Océ’s “Back to Growth” theme?

Driessen:

Based on 2009 placement data provided by InfoTrends, Océ leads the market with a 26% share in the production color continuous feed market segment, including inkjet- and toner-based technologies, in the combined US and Western European geographies.

The Océ JetStream family of inkjet systems has joined the toner-based Océ ColorStream line to create a full range of continuous feed color solutions. Over 20 orders for our latest product, the Océ JetStream 1000, have been received worldwide in the first quarter of 2010 alone. With the flexible capabilities of the systems, Océ enables the adoption of high volume digital color printing for transaction documents, TransPromo, direct mail, books, manuals and newspapers.

Since the first installations of Océ JetStream and Océ ColorStream systems in 2008, Océ has steadily built market momentum. One of the key success factors of this remarkable growth results from the fact that Océ is the only vendor of continuous feed printers to build on its strengths in both dry toner and inkjet technologies.

Today’s business reality shows that we execute what we promised 18 months ago. The demand for digital color applications continues to accelerate, and Océ is committed to helping our customers gain every advantage in pursuing color business opportunities. As the success of our continuous feed systems indicates, Océ remains on target with the wide range of color solutions we are bringing to market.

Question:
Tell us about the greatest successes of the product.

Driessen:

As mentioned in the mere 18 months since the launch of the Océ continuous feed full-color technologies, Océ has established itself as the clear leader in the marketplace. That in itself is a great achievement and demonstrates clearly the trust our customers have in Océ and its technologies and solutions.

To learn more about Océ >>>.