Central to Canon’s stand will be its colour imagePress 850 and Océ VarioPrint 135 monochrome devices, both from the manufacturer's cut-sheet family of presses, and its flagship roll-to-roll Océ ColorWave 700 wide-format device.
The technology will be running live on the stand in a full production workflow alongside a range of solutions including colour management and pre-press software and samples from 3D Systems, Canon’s 3D printing partner.
“Regardless of who you are and what sort of print business you are, we have something that will help you develop your business,” said Adam Poole, Canon UK B2B marketing director.
“We will be flooding the stand with applications to inspire our customers in terms of what they can do. We are finding organisations of all types are playing an increasing role within customer communications. They are having to be more than just a printer and move themselves up the value chain.
“They are now talking to brand owners about how they are running their campaigns so what we are demonstrating through the solutions on our stand is that not only are we providing end-to-end workflows but also demonstrating how printers can bring everything together to provide new opportunities,” said Poole.
Of the Océ ColorWave 700, Poole said it was “a wide-format print shop in a box” that was built around productive, reliable and easy-to-use technologies with users in mind. Experts on the device and its applications will be on the stand during the show along with samples to view, he said.
The imagePress 850, meanwhile, is being shown for its ability to add value and create new opportunities, with its auto-duplex longsheet facility and ability to use litho stock highlighted as particular cost-saving features.
Being presented as a top-end black and white device, the VarioPrint 135 is also highlighted for its efficiencies and Poole said it was a reason for users to still “get excited about black and white”.
“The technology is unrivalled and looks like litho quality,” he added. “It allows people flexibility to migrate short-run litho jobs to digital, giving similar quality with no set up costs and bigger margins.”
A growing area for Canon and one it will be demonstrating with US firm 3D Systems, is 3D printing. Poole said aside from the more technical uses of the technology, such as those used by architects, there is growing demand for customisation.
“There are more and more things that can be 3D printed and are aimed at consumer use. You can walk into a retail outlet or go online and make a 3D print of your family photo. There are memories and merchandise that can be created and that is an opportunity,” he said.
Poole was tight-lipped about Canon’s new UVgel technology and said that details about how it would be brought to market would be revealed at the manufacturer’s workshop session to be held at the show. “It will definitely inspire and tick all the boxes we want to discuss,” he said
Aside from the new UVgel technology, Poole said the workshop would focus on helping businesses to identify potential growth areas based on market developments and demonstrating how those opportunities can be harnessed.
“We recognise that the print industry is getting more and more challenging and it is important for printers to be able to differentiate themselves,” he said. “There is growing competition locally, nationally and online. Customer demands are growing and research backs this up as we see more and more people wanting jobs within 24 and 48 hours.
“We recognise those things and we want to use our expertise and heritage to be able to help print businesses to evolve and grow and be as efficient and profitable as possible – our workshop will explore all of these factors,” he said.
PrintWeekLive! takes place on the 8 and 9 March at the Wasps Arena, Coventry and features a conference, workshops and technology-focused show floor.
