Latest solutions deliver a combination of high quality, productivity and ROI
Epson demonstrated its advanced range of professional production inkjet printers and presses at drupa 2016 for label, sign & display, photographic, apparel, décor and product decoration applications. The Epson booth at drupa was split into 5 zones: Prepress, Sign & Display, Label, Print Shopand Technology to allow visitors to focus on specialist demonstrations and applications and experience the significant business benefits each can deliver.
The company has stepped up its development programme and more than doubled the rate of new product launches for the professional printing industry since the last drupa in 2012. Over the last six months alone, Epson has launched 13 new printers and these were demonstrated together for the first time at drupa.
Epson’s compact, precise and energy-saving inkjet printers use its own micropiezo printheads and ink. Every component of an Epson printer – hardware, printhead, ink and firmware – is optimised to deliver the best possible performance.
Reducing the environmental impact of its technology is a major focus for Epson. The design and precision of the inkjet printers and presses reduces energy and ink use, and cuts down waste. For example, the new SureColor SC-S printers demonstrated at drupa use up to 4 x less energy compared to latex technology, about 15% less ink than the previous SureColor generation and up to 50% less ink than latex technology (depending on the substrate and quality printed).
Epson’s third generation PrecisionCore TFP printhead in single head and linehead configurations is making a significant impact on Epson’s development of its printers and presses, enabling products that deliver higher quality, higher speeds and better all-round performance. To meet predicted demand, Epson has just announced a €160 million investment in a new factory in Japan to triple printhead production capacity for new professional print products currently under development.
In line with its commitment to meet the changing needs of the printing industry and to maximise the potential of many different print applications, Epson has merged its wide-format, label and textile businesses to create a major new global ‘Professional Printing Solutions’ division, headed by COO Sunao Murata. drupa 2016 provided the launch pad for this new division where Epson shows how it is transforming professional printing with a range of smart production systems that are affordable, easy-to-use and which produce a wide variety of ‘added-value’ creative products.
Sunao Murata, COO Professional Printing Division, Seiko Epson, says: “Our commitment to R&D and continual improvement shapes everything we do. The industry sees the very latest results at drupa where we are demonstrating more professional inkjet printers and presses than ever before – all delivering the ultimate in production performance and user experience – and show how companies can use them to build successful businesses and enter new markets.”
Pre-press, Signage & Display, Label, Print Shop and Technology zones illustrate breadth and versatility of Epson’s latest inkjet printers & presses
The Epson drupa zones:
Sign & Display zone
In this zone Epson showed its latest range of wide-format SureColour SC-S signage printers and SC-F dye-sublimation printers producing a selection of signage, display and décor products on a variety of substrates. Visitors saw the new Epson Control Dashboard which gives users online access to over 200 different media profiles for easy and automatic set up. These printers offer the very best combination of quality, speed and price.
Label zone
At drupa Epson united its high-end industrial label presses with its desktop office, retail and handheld label printers to display the broadest selection of label printing solutions developed by any single manufacturer. Highlights included Epson’s SurePress digital label presses which were a major focus within this zone.
Print Shop zone
Here Epson showed how high street retailers, bureaux and copy shops can expand their services. Visitors saw a range of desktop-based production printers from the SureColor SC-F2000 direct-to-garment printer to the SureLab D700 inkjet printer enabling the widest variety of applications. A particular highlight in this zone were Epson’s new SureColor SC-P printers with the latest PrecisionCore MicroTFP printheads. The 44-inch SureColor SC-P10000 was launched at drupa.
At drupa, Epson unveils significant new features on its multifunction aqueous SureColor SC-T printers with integrated scanners.
Prepress zone
The ultimate in colour-accurate proofing was demonstrated by the latest SureColor 24-inch SC-P7000 and 44-inch SC-P9000 printers with the 11-colour UltraChrome HDX inkset, incorporating a new violet ink. These printers use the PrecisionCore printhead to ensure the highest-quality output. They achieve 99% of Pantone® certified colours for accurate spot colour reproduction while large replacement ink cartridges (350ml and 700ml) are ideal for large print runs.
Technology zone
Epson invests over a million dollars every day on R&D to drive innovation and in this zone it displayed and demonstrated some of its latest technologies and explained in depth its unique core printing technology. Furthermore, visitors viewed a video showing the PaperLab – the world’s first instant office paper recycling system. This new system uses a dry process to recycle office paper and produce A4/A3 paper, business cards and coloured/scented paper. PaperLab signals the launch of a new smart recycling division for Epson, which will investigate how the technology can be applied on a larger scale in the future.
