First implementations of a new web-fed press have a web width of only 520 mm, compared to the wider offerings of rivals such as Screen, Kodak, Océ and HP. The latter two now have  760mm webs, and HP has shown wider.

While that may not be a problem with the currently-available Hunkeler equipment which collates sheeted newspaper spreads and folds them, bigger equipment is needed to increase poroductivity.

Xerox, for its part, says its technology – currently seven long-life piezo print heads – is scalable if required.

Behind the ‘waterless inkjet’ tag is a solid ink technology at least partly related to the old Tektronix copiers Xerox acquired in 2000, and dubbed ‘phase change’. Xerox has been talking up its development at trade shows over recent years.

Put simply, it’s a resin-like granular ink which is melted and jetted… and then resolidifies again, avoiding the dot-gain problems many inkjet inks have. Like the UV-cured inkjet Agfa spruiks, it promises excellent quality, but despite its willingness to handle low-cost papers, per-copy costs may be a long way from traditional offset.

Speed is currently about 150 metres/minute.

Xerox says it has a test customer in production, and promises extra sites in the second half of this year.

Held in Lucerne, Switzerland, this year, the Hunkeler Innovationdays (which close today) have brought together many of the major players in web-fed digital print. Among the, Océ and its new owner Canon worked together to produce a daily magazine on a combination of equipment, while Kodak added an S20 model to its Prosper imprinting range capable of speeds to 610 metres/minute, and showed a VL6200 version of its Versamark inkjet web.