U.S. Launch Of Ricoh Pro C900 Set For GRAPH EXPO
Ricoh Pro C900: Ricoh's Full Color Production Powerhouse is specifically aimed at Print for Pay, Reprographic and Graphic Arts environments, as well as at commercial users such as service bureaus and direct mailers.
July 28, 2008 -- Ricoh Europe (Netherlands) B.V. announced at drupa the launch of the Ricoh Pro C900, its complete workflow solution for color production printing. As the flagship of Ricoh’s new Pro line, the Pro C900 stands out from the competition with its high-speed, durability and the wide range of configurations for fully automated finishing. This high-duty engine is capable of printing 90 color pages per minute (ppm) and has a remarkable paper capacity of 11,000 sheets. It is specifically aimed at Print for Pay, Reprographic and Graphic Arts environments, as well as at commercial users such as service bureaus and direct mailers.
See the C900 at GRAPH EXPO
Ricoh will launch the Pro C900 at GRAPH EXPO 2008 (October 26-29 in Chicago).The C900 is currently in five beta testing sites. The list price for a C900 system including a high-capacity feed unit, the EFI-based controller, and a base finisher will not exceed $125,000. The C900, which prints 90 images per minute on all rated stocks, will have a cost per print of under six cents for an 11” x 17” simplex color page and around one cent for an 11” x 17” simplex black & white page. Ricoh stated that the duty cycle of the Pro C900 would be 400,000 impressions per month and that the expected average monthly volume would be between 170,000 and 240,000. The device supports stocks from 13 lb. bond to 110 lb. cover (approximately 300 gsm).
“Digital printing is leading the way in the color production market because of its efficiency and short turnaround time,” says Ikuro Yamaga, Product Manager at Ricoh Europe. “More and more production printers are opting for digital over offset printing for commercial documents. In choosing an engine they often have to decide between a low-priced light production machine of which the performance does not live up to their requirements, or a heavy production machine with a high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that significantly affects their profits. Ricoh’s Pro C900 uniquely combines professional quality and heavy duty performance at a cost-effective price. It is also easy to use, and we trust it will make our clients’ jobs much easier.”
Fastest Engine in Class
Its 90 ppm print speed makes the Ricoh Pro C900 the fastest engine in its class. It accepts a variety of paper sizes up to SRA3, and with a maximum weight of 300 g/m². The Pro™C900 does not slow down when printing heavy stock. Excellent productivity is ensured by several measures: the machine’s 11,000-sheet input capacity guarantees long runs, and toner can easily be refilled on the fly. In the interest of minimising downtime, Ricoh has developed a number of Trained Customer Replaceable Units (TCRUs): allowing users to gain time by servicing the machine themselves.
To deliver the excellent quality required for production printing, the Pro C900 is equipped with a built-in EFI Fiery controller that has been developed especially for it. The powerful processor rips very fast, and the image resolution is a sharp 1,200 real dpi. Color density change remains below 0.1, and registration is excellent at ± 0.5 mm. With ColorWise Pro Tools like calibration, custom profile creation and spot color matching, printer colors can be managed with great accuracy. The standard Graphic Arts package consists of a number of professional features, among which soft and hard proofing and paper simulations. For flexible Variable Data Printing, there is the standard EFI FreeForm utility.
The Pro C900 can be fitted with several in-line finishing options that fully automate the production workflow: a 3,000-sheet finisher with 100-sheet stapler, punch unit, Plockmatic booklet maker, saddle stitch unit, GBC StreamPunch III and Z-folder are available. For complete, professional booklets, customers can opt for the Ring Binder or Perfect Binder units. The Ring Binder automatically punches and binds documents of up to 50 or 100 pages with black or white rings. With the Perfect Binder, users create books of up to 200 sheets with strong, glued backs. The books are trimmed at three edges.
The Pro C900 is the latest addition to Ricoh's new Pro range of professional digital production equipment. The Pro line caters to the quality, speed, reliability and finishing needs of printing professionals. Ricoh currently manufactures one of the world’s most extensive line-ups of printers, copiers, scanners, faxes and multifunctional devices, as well as advanced software solutions.
For more info, go to http://www.ricoh-europe.com
Ricoh Americas Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 72-year-old leading supplier of office automation equipment and electronics, with fiscal year 2007 sales in excess of $19.4 billion, a 7.3 percent increase over the previous year. The company is a leading provider of document solutions. Ricoh’s fully integrated hardware and software products help businesses share information efficiently and effectively by enabling customers to control the input, management and output of documents.
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