Canon announced the ColorStream 8000 series of continuous feed inkjet printers. An addition to the ColorStream family, the new flagship represents the next stage in the evolution of the platform and sets a new standard for high volume production environments with its combined advances in productivity, print quality and application flexibility.
Built on a decade of continuous innovation in response to customer feedback, the ColorStream 8000 series has been designed to meet the current and future production challenges of corporate and public sector in-plants, print and communication service (transactional and direct mail) providers and specialised commercial printers, such as those producing books, manuals or pharmaceutical leaflets. Featuring advanced technology that takes the ColorStream to a new level of quality, efficiency and productivity, the 8000 series gives users the ability to produce more in less time, broaden their application reach, explore new markets and grow their profit streams.
Taking productivity to the next level
Comprising two models – the ColorStream 8133 and 8160, which reflect the maximum print speed of each (133m/min and 160m/min) – the ColorStream 8000 series prints up to 2,152 A4 images/min (15 – 70 million A4 images per month), easily handling production peaks and providing the capability to reduce run and labour costs by consolidating volumes from offset and continuous feed toner presses onto the ColorStream. The productivity of the series is further improved by the fact that everything that could be automated has been, making the series exceptionally easy to operate and freeing up operator time for other value-added activities. The many automated tasks add to the remarkable uptime (over 90%) of the ColorStream 8000 series, giving users a reliable solution they can really trust.
The Proactive Maintenance available with the ColorStream 8000 series offers additional peace of mind in production planning by delivering predictive maintenance, enabling targeted machine downtimes for service and avoiding unpredicted downtimes during production.
Taking print quality to the next level
The series features new 1,200dpi printheads that yield a stunning and consistent print quality – even at the highest speed – from the first print to the last, reproducing smoother gradients, homogeneous tints and sharper detail, and minimising typical inkjet technology artefacts. The ColorStream 8000 series also uses a new water-based pigment ink set with latex polymer, which delivers a very wide colour gamut that meets Fogra process standards, perfect droplet formation, and deep black and vibrant colours on uncoated paper without any pre-treatment.
Taking application flexibility to the next level
In a fast-moving market, finding new applications can be crucial to staying competitive. Thanks to the improved print quality of the ColorStream 8000 series and its ability to print on a wide variety of uncoated, recycled and inkjet treated papers from 40gsm to 160gsm as standard (and selected papers up to 220gsm), print and communication service providers can now proactively respond to the challenges of today’s market and provide high quality promotional applications next to transactional, direct mail and book (mono and full colour) applications. This capability is enhanced by the design of the press’s paper path, which, with a maximum print width of 560mm, gives impositioning freedom to create outstanding promotional pieces and maximise book formats.
First ColorStream 8000 series customer
DATEV eG is the third largest provider of business software in Germany, one of the largest European IT service providers and the first Canon customer to install a ColorStream 8000 series printer. The cooperative of tax consulting professionals supports a total of 2.5 million companies, self-employed persons, municipalities, associations and institutions, and manages the complete production of customers’ business documents as a full-service provider. Operating a high-performance, modern and highly secure Digital & Print Solution Center (DPSC) in Nuremberg, it produces, on average, more than 1.1 billion pages per year, ranging from promotional and informative mailings to invoices and reminders to high-quality account statements and insurance policies.
Commenting on the ColorStream 8160 acquired by DATEV, Gunther Ruffing, Production Director at the DPSC, DATEV, says: “The ColorStream 8160 was installed and running incredibly quickly. We were able to produce eight million pages on the system in just four weeks. The first applications were perfect for the machine: individualised blocks, ideal to print digitally. It’s also important for us to highlight the high speed of 160 m/min, because it’s only with high quality and high speed that we can produce economically.”
Hayco van Gaal, Vice President, Production Printing Products, EMEA Commercial Printing, Canon Europe, comments: “Since its introduction in 2010, the ColorStream family has been recognised by customers across the globe as a highly productive and reliable solution. The ColorStream 8000 series is a new platform that leverages the heritage of the existing ColorStream family and takes its users to the next level of productivity, print quality and efficiency. I’m confident that the ColorStream 8000 series, as the latest milestone in the evolution of the product family, will prove to be just as popular, if not more so, than earlier models and will play a major role in the continuing migration of print volumes to digital inkjet.”
Based on customer demand for the fastest ColorStream version, the ColorStream 8160 will be available from the date of launch, 12 May, while the ColorStream 8133 will follow early in the second half of 2021. Both models will be available in mono and full-colour configurations
Customers can see the new ColorStream 8000 series at the Customer Experience Centre in Poing, Germany or request a virtual demo.
