Kodak has announced two new 300 metres/minute Prosper 6000 inkjet web presses, based on its “low cost” Stream technology.
And unlike the model shown at DRUPA two years ago, these presses have a shipping date with a first installation to be announced later this month.
A “select group of customers” have already been given details of the press and Kodak says interest has been high. News Corp Australia – in the market for a press to be installed in Brisbane and interviewing shortlisted vendors next week – is not, however, understood to be among them.
The company quotes a (northern) summer availability for the 6000C – optimised for commercial print applications requiring high-ink laydowns – and autumn deliveries of the 6000P designed for publishing applications such as books and newspapers which typically use light weight paper (42-125 gsm) and low to medium inking.
In media briefings, Kodak showed how the presses would cope with difficult stocks with an extended web lead and air drying. It says the 6000C will print heavy-weight glossy and silk stock (42-270 gsm) at 200 metres/minute, while uncoated and matt papers including newsprint can typically run at 300 metres/minute, with quality “approaching 200 lpi”. Web widths from 204-647 mm are supported.
With long inkjet head life, high operational uptime and fast job make-readies, it estimates per page costs “approaching US$0.005” per A4 page in colour consumable costs. A spokesperson told GXpress this would equate to US$0.015 per tabloid newspaper page, inclusive of labour, equipment, power, ink, click charge, service and paper in the cost per page.
We were told the Prosper 6000 presses would deliver “close to” 3000 copies of a 48-page tabloid newspaper every hour, and that the presses have “the right throughput” to produce 15,000-20,000 newspapers a day.
In a direct mail context, targetted high-gloss pieces would be produced for an average of 30 per cent less than using toner based systems.
Kodak digital printing and enterprise president Doug Edwards says the future “from book publishing to commercial and newspaper printing” will revolve around digital solutions: “Today’s printers need tools that enable them to quickly respond to the needs of their customers, as well as the needs of the business,” he says.
New transport, air-cooled NIR drying and writing systems are combined with advanced press management technology in a “completely new product offering”, Kodak says.
A choice of GSS, EMT and Hunkeler unwind/rewind systems are being offered, together with a splicer option.
Kodak says an advanced print system monitors, evaluates and adjusts operations including registration to ensure exceptional quality output, while newly-formulated nanotechnology inks offer a greater colour gamut and print quality that “rivals offset output” on a wide range of uncoated, coated, and glossy papers. Duty cycle is 90 million A4-equivalent pages a month, with automated cleaning, stitching and calibration processes looking after basic maintenance. “It is not uncommon for a jetting module to last for thousands of hours,” the company says.
Supporting the new presses is a digital front end based on the Kodak 700 print manager, and capable of supporting totally-variable newspaper editions at press speeds. This includes a Restore Point feature which recalls press settings from a previous job. It handles PDF VT formatted files without a page description language transformation, leading to better support of elements such as transparency and vignettes, the company says.