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Océ Printing Systems in Poing has received one of the three grand prizes awarded by the Bavarian State to underline the importance of innovation in the development of Bavaria as an industrial location.

Océ, a Canon Group company and an international leader in digital document management and delivery, today announced that Océ Printing Systems in Poing has been awarded the prestigious Bayerische Innovationspreis 2012 (2012 Bavarian Innovation Prize) for the innovative design and technology of the Océ ColorStream 3000 series.

The winner is – the Océ ColorStream 3000 series
The sponsors of the Innovation Prize are the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology, the Bavarian Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Working Committee of the Bavarian Chamber of Trades Crafts.

The Océ ColorStream 3000 series is a family of high-performance full-colour inkjet printing systems developed by Océ Printing Systems in Poing. At speeds of 48 to 127 metres per minute (324 to 1714 A4 pages per minute), these digital printing systems achieve a high print quality immediately after startup. The products in this family of systems are primarily used for individualised applications such as invoices and mailings as well as the scheduled printing of books and newspapers.

A single production step
For account statements, mailings or insurance policies, for example, up until now coloured pre-printed shells have been widely stocked that were created utilising offset litho. In a second step, these forms were then taken out of storage and digitally overprinted in black with variable data such as names, addresses and similar.

Utilising this new technology from Océ, it is now possible to replace the applications produced in this two-step process by a considerably more economic single digital production step. An ultra-fast high-quality b/w printing speed on blank or pre-printed paper with no setup time and including document personalisation / individualisation options has resulted in this all-inclusive package being adopted by more and more customers throughout the world.

The innovative Pause and Headsafe concept
The Océ ColorStream 3000 series is the first, and currently only, webfed inkjet printing system with a production pause function. ‘This avoids metres of wastage every time printing is started,’ said Hans Manzer, chief operating officer and chief technology officer Océ Commercial Printing. ‘A one-minute waste-free printing pause permits the operator to carry out a visual data and quality check and then continue printing without waste.’ The paper path can be printed on until the system has been brought completely to rest and sellable print products can even be produced in the acceleration phase.

The Headsafe concept, developed and patented by Océ, uses a cap to prevent paper dust accumulating in unused colour nozzles and clogging these. This obviates the need for laborious manual cleaning of the print heads during the printing process.

Environmentally-friendly and economic
This form of on-demand production spares the environment, reduces paper consumption and avoids wastage. In only seven years of printing on the system, and assuming 27 million A4 prints per month at an average of two quality checks per roll, this can lead to a saving of up to 120 tons of 80gsm paper. Even if the most inexpensive paper is used to this gives a potential saving of around 1.5 million Euros or around 273 tons of wood (for fresh-fibre paper), 12,450 hectolitres of water and 622GWh of energy, as well as reducing COD water pollution by 8.1 tons.

Productivity is increased because downtime and maintenance periods can be minimised, while the change from monochrome to full-colour can be realised in less than five minutes. The digital printing process permits customer communications to be better targeted and customised.

Leadership in digital full-colour inkjet
‘The new systems of the renowned Océ ColorStream 3000 series join the Océ inkjet family and once more extend the company’s leadership in digital full-colour inkjet. Through a full-line assortment print providers have now more choices to easily migrate from toner systems, other inkjet platforms or offset printing to high-speed digital printing based on their productivity requirements,’ explained Sebastian Landesberger, executive vice president Commercial Printing.

Award ceremony in Deutsches Museum Munich
Since its market introduction in 2010, Océ has delivered more than 150 Océ ColorStream 3000 Twin systems to customers and has thus, according to a survey by Infotrends, achieved world leadership in digital colour inkjet webfed printing.

The 2012 Bavarian Innovation Prize was awarded on 19 November 2012 in the Ehrensaal (Hall of Honour) of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the world-renowned place for masterpieces of science and technology. The recipients of the prize will be honoured by the Bavarian Economics Minister Martin Zeil, the president of the Bavarian Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Prof. Erich Greipl, and the president of the Working Committee of the Bavarian Chamber of Trades Crafts, Heinrich Traublinger.

© Graphic Repro On-line, 20 – 21 November 2012.