Fuji Xerox signs up for power of Memjet

Australians could be first in line for a Memjet wide-format machine as Fuji Xerox announced Asia-Pacific plans for a device powered by the waterfall printheads.

The manufacturer has developed a 1,066mm (42in) wide, roll-fed, aqueous inkjet single-pass printer that is being shown as a technology demo at Drupa.

The four-colour device could be seen on the Caldera stand at Drupa, printing on a wide range of media, from 85gsm coated stock to much heavier canvas and polyester-based stocks.

Caldera’s RIP is a key part of the equation as it is responsible for keeping pace with the very high data rate that is required to run the 1,600dpi printer at its 9m/min running speed.

A spokesperson from Fujifilm, which co-owns Fuji Xerox along with Xerox, said the company planned to launch the product in Asia-Pacific later this year, primarily for the computer-aided design and graphic information systems markets.

However, Xerox, which is responsible for Fuji Xerox sales in the US, Europe and some emerging markets, is understood to be targeting the device much more towards graphic arts production.

This can be seen from the range of substrates and the type of images produced in the sample book on the Caldera stand, which includes prints on backlit film, polyester, canvas, mesh and lightstop, as well as on the live, on-demand demonstrations.

The printer’s print speed doubles to 18m/min when printing at lower 1,600x800dpi resolution, taking it from 14 A1 pages per minute (ppm) to 28 A1 ppm.

Pricing for the printer is not currently available and Fuji Xerox would not disclose the cost of the consumables, including the inks and printheads. The company did reveal that the printheads had an average life of 10,000 metres of print and that they would be user-replaceable.

The manufacturer added that the total cost of print, including all consumables and service costs, would be "very competitive" and that the company was aiming for a 2013 launch in the US, Europe and emerging markets.

The new printer has potential for multiple market applications.

Fuji Xerox was one of two vendors showing concept wide-format machines from Memjet at Drupa, along with the Océ Velocity machine on the Canon stand. 

Click here for a YouTube video of the wide-format device in action at Drupa 2012.

This article originally appeared at printweek.com