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Ricoh’s new High Caliper Media Customisation service allows for the printing on a wider range of paper thicknesses of up to 800 microns
Ricoh has officially announced its new High Caliper Media Customisation service, a digital print production technology upgrade for its Pro C9500 digital colour sheetfed press.
Designed to enhance the versatility of the press, the latest technology update enables printing on a range of Ricoh-approved paper thicknesses of up to 800 microns.
The update will enable Print Service Providers (PSPs) to enhance the product range of the Pro C9500 to include offerings such as loyalty cards, gift cards, and thick media brochures, as well as a wider range of packaging, direct mail, and point of purchase applications.
According to the company, the new technology allows for “the versatile and responsive production of crisp, vibrant, and sharp print, with inline personalisation and coding capabilities, on heavier substrates”, supporting the production of short runs, customised offers, and localised promotion.
The High Caliper Media Customisation service has already being utilised by Green Gift Cards, a British developer of environmentally friendly cards.
Tag Systems UK recently worked with Green Gift Cards to produce a wide range of sustainable gift card options made from recyclable rigid paper.
According to Tag Systems, the use of rigid, high calliper, digitally printed paper-based stock was not previously possible on dry toner presses. However, the latest technology evolution of the C9500 now enables printing on thicker stock, making the custom printing of non-plastic gift cards possible.
The Media Customisation service is available now in Europe on new Pro C9500 presses, and is also retrofittable to existing machines.
Simon Isaacs, national director at Ricoh UK, comments: “In the UK, the Pro C9000 has been our best-selling engine since 2017 and the technology of choice for many successful print companies including most recently Mount Street Printers, Poplar Services Printers, and Bakergoodchild.
“This latest enhancement will provide commercial printers with additional benefits that will open up new market opportunities and revenue streams, whilst promoting sustainable practices particularly in the gift and loyalty card industries.”
Erwin Busselot, director of business innovation and solutions at Ricoh, adds: “The High Caliper Media Customisation service demonstrates our continuing commitment to developing the production versatility of our digital systems as part of our co-innovation strategy.
“This new enhancement supports a wider range of exciting application possibilities, enabling our clients to grow their businesses. This includes co-innovative collaborations such as the recently announced partnership with Green Gift Cards.
“It also presents fresh opportunities in high margin areas such as luxury business cards, swing tags, and gift card packaging.”
In November, Ricoh also launched its Pro VC40000 mono webfed inkjet press.
The latest version of the VC40000 technology platform is designed to meet faster turnaround deadlines and deliver increased output for monochrome applications in comparison to previous models.
The VC40000 comes with two ink set options; dye, which is designed for transactional printing, and mono pigment, which is ideally suited to book printing.
The press can reportedly run up to 180m per minute at full speed with 600 x 600dpi print quality. The mono dye version can run at 225m per minute with 600 x 300dpi print quality.
