Ricoh has been ramping up its presence in production printing since it launched its range of colour and mono production presses in 2008, worldwide. Its acquisition of a significant shareholding in InfoPrint in 2007, (became a wholly owned subsidiary of the company earlier this year) was a further sign of its intent to go head-to-head with the other established digital production printer manufacturers.

Ricoh launched Pro C900 at Drupa, 2008. The machine quickly found favour with a number of different users, from in-plants to quick printers, and from book publishers through to, of course, commercial printers, says Avijit Mukherjee, the business head, production printing business group, Ricoh India.

Ricoh India launched among its range of production printing products, flagship colour digital production printer Pro C900 and Pro C720 series, in September 2010. "The Pro C900 provided new levels of consistency and reliability that many of our competitors have struggled to match," claims Mukherjee.

As the Pro C900 series rapidly cemented its place as a genuine alternative to other market-leading digital production models with 25% market share in the mid production segment. Many companies would have been content to rest on their laurels, but not Ricoh.

In January this year, the company unveiled the Ricoh Pro C901/C901S Graphic Art Edition in Chennai and Mumbai.

It’s best press yet
Ricoh has termed the Pro C901/C901S/901s "its best press yet", building on the C900’s established technology but with a number of significant upgrades. One of the key differences is the Pro C901/C901S’s new chemical PxP polymerised toner, which replaces the previous fuser oil system.

The new toner provides "finer detail in the output, better solid coverage and smoother gradients," states Mukherjee.

"In addition to the new toner, there is the new oil-less fusing unit that has been modified from the previous version to enable gloss, matt, textured and speciality stocks to run simply and with ease of use. This also provides better fusing on 300gsm media at a rated speed of 90 pages per minute," adds Mukherjee.

The Pro C901/C901S offers a rated speeds of 90 A4 colour pages per minute in duplex mode and can print on a vast array of different stock types with a thickness up to 300gsm, which Ricoh claims makes it the fastest in its class. The Pro C901/C901S also maintains speed and quality on all media, claims Ricoh.

"Printing at 90ppm, the Pro C901/C901S is a digital powerhouse that can easily complement a heavy duty offset environment. It is ideal for the commercial print provider and offer great benefits to the corporate printer too," says Mukherjee.

A further enhancement is the machine’s duty cycle. The Pro C901/C901S is capable of churning out 5,80,000 pages per month compared with the C900’s 4,00,000 pages.

Aside from pages per month, Mukherjee says that another important measure that is "All Ricoh production devices are supported with trained customer replacement units (TCRUs). During installation, operators are trained to replace key imaging components without waiting for a service engineer. These replacements can be done in just 20-30 minutes."

Finishing strength
Ricoh claims that the Pro C901/C901S delivers high quality output for commercial as well as graphic art user with inline finished books and brochures.

Mukherjee further adds: "With an extensive array of finishing equipment including the world’s first inline ring binder, the finishing options take that extra work out of the manual work, highest level of productivity and efficiency is achievable."
 
Workflow upgraded
"The machine, which is available with EFI’s Fiery E-41 print server as an entry-level option for in-plant and commercial work, now offers an alternate option Creo C-81 for demanding Graphic Art environments," states Anjana Saha, marketing manager, production printing business group, Ricoh India.

The C-81 presents a different upgrade path for users with full support for Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE) 2, support for Pantone’s GOE library, a customisable colour library and a range of optional plug-ins.

Saha further adds: "Ricoh’s objective is to help its customers achieve business success by providing them appropriate technology backed up by robust service, to consistently deliver cost-effective, high throughput and support finishing options that suit the customer’s specific workflow and print application requirement."

Ricoh recently introduced TotalFlow, a new offering of solutions for production printing customers from data centre to digital printer. "TotalFlow is the new global brand for production solution and service. It provides a one-stop solution to customers from submission to print and finishing," states Saha.

Ricoh’s Pro C901/C901S supports a full range of solutions for data capture, compelling argument for print and variable data service, manage files and output. "We are being asked more and more to deliver more than just the hardware and to provide solutions that help customers to grow their businesses," says Saha.
 
Nationwide network
In addition to increasing the number of products that the company has to offer, Ricoh has also been working hard to build its expertise and technical capabilities on a national level. Ricoh operates through a wide network of 15 branches and over 260 dealers and have a well-trained sales and after-sales service force.

"The Ricoh Production Printing Business team has a pool of product support managers, who bring in expertise in designing a complex solution in production printing environment," says Anjana.

In terms of the machine’s target audience, Ricoh believes that the Pro C901/C901S is a perfect fit for commercial printers, but it hopes that it will also find a home with anyone who is looking to produce "high volumes of consistent colour on an array of media stock," according to Mukherjee.

"The ease of use of the device, its high-quality finishing, swift productivity and simple media handling makes this machine a preferred option for the print-for-pay market as well as the in-plant corporate reprographics department segment," he adds.

"Ricoh India, based on the worldwide success of the Pro C901/C901S, has aggressive plans for the Indian operation." Mukherjee is confident that these plans are achievable, in light of current high levels of interest and customer acceptance.

The launch of the Ricoh Pro C901/C901S marks, a step up in class for the manufacturer, putting it, if not ahead at least at par with rival manufacturers and further cementing its commitment to grow its production print base.

SPECIFICATIONS

Technology 4-drumdry electrostatic transfer system with internal transfer belt, new PxP toner- polymerised oil-less belt- fusing method. Speed 90 PPM A4 upto 300GSM Paper weight 60-300gsm Max sheet size 13 "X19.2" Resolution 1,200dpi Monthly volumes 3,50,000 A4 impressions per month Workflow RicohTotalFlow Solution Contact +911141613010-18/ avijit.m@ricoh.co.in

THE ALTERNATIVES

Konica Minolta C8000 Demonstrated at Ipex, this is the first of the Bizhubs that Konica Minolta has termed a press with claims of offset image quality and consistency using Konica’s new Simitri HD toner. Speed A4 71.6ppm Max sheet size 330.2x482.6mm Resolution 1,200dpi Contact HCL Infosystems +91-120-2520977, 2526518/umangs@hcl.com               KMI Business Technologies +91 22 2202 3021/nilesh.shah@kmi.co.in               Monotech Systems +91 44 28157894/service@monotech.in

Canon ImagePress C7010 A surprise launch at Ipex, this new version of the 7000 has a few surprises of its own. In comparison to its predecessors, there are new additions in the form of wider range of stock weights are supported, it’s more productive, colour consistency has been improved and the duty cycle (number of pages per month it can handle) has been increased. Speed A4 71.6ppm Max sheet size 330.2x487.7mm Resolution 1,200dpi Contact Canon India +91 124 4160000/ puneet.datta@canon.co.in

Xerox DocuColor 7002/8002 The DocuColors are workhorse devices that fill the gap between the light production 700 and the iGen range. A duty cycle of 1m pages per month, it’s for users wanting more productivity and a higher quality image with the addition of spot varnish. Speed A4 70/80ppm Max sheet size sizes 182x182mm - 320x488mm Max Resolution 2,400dpi Contact +91 124 3371066/pankaj.kalra@xerox.com