While B2 sheetfed inkjet was the number-one surprise at Drupa, with Fuji and Screen both keeping their cards close to their chests until the show, at Ipex it will take centre stage and is arguably the technology of most interest to the most number of visitors.

Once again Fuji and Screen are, bar a last-minute turn-up, the two firms with the technology to watch. And at Ipex they promise that there will be more to see than at Drupa with the machines running and samples available for inspection.

Predictably, perhaps, the vendors with an established position in toner-based two-page digital technologies question just how important a bigger sheet is for the majority of digital work, and argue that most requirements can be handled without having to make the leap to a bigger format and a new, and unproven, technology.

"No one is pretending it’s for everyone," says Screen Europe marketing manager Tim Taylor. "But we did set out to develop a digital version of the most common litho press."

He argues that despite digital vendors without the bigger sheet pooh-poohing the need, it's something that has attracted a lot of interest from B2 litho printers, who are comfortable with the format. One point in favour of the B2 format is the ability to work with existing post-press kit.

"Many of the benefits come down to materials handling after the press," adds Taylor.

Fuji agrees with this point. "Our output can be finished exactly like offset, while a lot of digital work has to be laminated to prevent cracking," says Fujifilm Graphic Systems European marketing manager Graham Leeson. "You treat this press like a litho press, but without the makeready and the maintenance."

Quality digital option
And there are digital printers who are clamouring for a bigger sheet. "We've spoken to many Indigo users who have been promised B2 before. For higher-volume users with multiple digital presses they have a proportion of their work that needs the bigger format," says Taylor. "It will always work better on jobs that need a B2 sheet, and there are jobs that just won't fit on B3 such as book jackets, covers with flaps and gatefolds for which there hasn't been a quality digital option."

Taylor acknowledges the argument that for some volume work a digital web might be more effective, but points out that with a new higher-quality version of the Truepress Jet520 Screen has a machine that fits the bill.

While both firms see each others' decision to offer a B2 sheetfed digital press as a validation of the concept, the manufacturers also have their differences. After its Drupa debut, Screen took the SX back to the drawing board to incorporate automatic duplexing.

"Not duplicating on a digital device doesn't make sense to me," says Taylor. "It gets too difficult to personalise, and there's no escaping the need for personalisation, even if it's only a small percentage of work."

Fuji disagrees, believing there is plenty of short-run work to keep its Jet Press 720 busy without variable data. To that end it has stuck to its simplex configuration, arguing that duplexing adds unnecessary cost and complexity.

"Variable data is still only a small part of the digital market, that's often forgotten," says Leeson.

Instead, Fuji is majoring on the economic advantage the machine offers. "We believe that there is a sweet spot for jobs between 500 and 2,000 copies that represents 30-80% of B2 customers' work," says Leeson, who claims that in that segment the machine will be cheaper to operate than both sheetfed offset and B3 cutsheet digital.

However, while both Fuji and Screen say their machines will cost more to buy than a comparable four-colour B2 sheetfed press, they are keeping quiet about the exact figures and the details of the all-important total cost of ownership until the show itself.

Rival HP Indigo argues that the running costs will be crucial. "As a firm with both electrophotographic and inkjet technologies we understand that the key is the coverage of the sheet and the cost of that coverage," says HP Indigo country manager Robert Stabler.

Serious kit
Kodak has been the most vocal player in the continuous-feed market, promoting its Stream technology and the Prosper presses that use it. Ipex will be a chance to see the firm's flagship machine, the Prosper 5000XL, in action. With a maximum speed of 200m per minute, monthly production volumes of 120m A4 pages and a price tag of £2.7m for a fully-loaded four-colour duplex machine, it's a serious piece of equipment aimed at firms with the volumes and deep enough pockets to justify it. Even so, Kodak claims it is mobbed with pent-up demand.
"Demand exceeds our ability to meet it in the time frame," says Kodak Digital Printing Solutions vice-president Kevin Joyce. "We have to accelerate the launch of Prosper because customers are calling for it."

Kodak is not alone in the high-end continuous feed market. HP got off to a head start with the launch of its T300 machine, which has already notched up several installations around the world and, via a partnership with Pitney Bowes, which sells it as the Intellijet 30, has access to the transactional market.

Entry-level options
Although these high-speed machines attract headlines, the market has been somewhat slow to adopt the technology, which has been attributed to the need for more modest performance and prices. Océ will be showing its entry-level JetStream 1000, a 75m per minute single engine.
"We're seeing a need to help customers move from monochrome to colour," says Xerox Global Business Group president Eric Armour. "There is a need for a lower-cost and lower-volume machine."

Xeikon may be hoping that, rather than waiting for other vendors to develop an inkjet to fit the bill, printers will reconsider the firm's toner-based continuous feed machines, which have recently got a speed bump to 230ppm.

At Ipex, Xerox has promised to reveal the details of a new colour technology for continuous-feed, but remains tight-lipped about the details until then. Its current colour product, the 490/980, is notable for being the only product in the segment to use toner technology with flash fusing. Clues of what Xerox sees as the future can be gleaned from its previous pronouncements. At Drupa it revealed the details of an inkjet technology it has developed called ‘gel ink'. At the time it said it was working to commercialise gel ink, while at the same time chairwoman Anne Mulcahy also said the firm would expand the use of solid ink which itself is a class of inkjet, from its office products, into production machines.

Another notable development at this Ipex is in the area of overprinting, which is digital personalisation of pre-printed jobs. In addition to its Prosper presses Kodak also has the Prosper S5 and S10 printheads, which are also based on Stream. Kodak is not alone with both Atlantic Zeiser and Domino announcing a raft of developments to their overprinting products. Domino digital print solutions director Philip Easton argues that for long-run work that includes personalisation a hybrid approach using an overprinter is more efficient.

"For longer runs operating costs become key, and conventional print offers much lower unit costs," says Easton. "When you're producing thousands digitally it becomes expensive. Many variable data requirements are better handled by a hybrid solution; typically they're more cost-effective."

He adds that depending on the width of the system you can get started for as little as £7,000.

One thing is clear about digital at this year's show; it's becoming the dominant technology. Some 38% of the space is taken up with digital technologies this time (though that includes pre-media), whereas litho's share of the space has plunged from 64% in 2006 to just 26% this time.

The most salient point is that while historically if you talked about ‘the big H', it referred to Heidelberg, this time round, having cut back on space by 52% it has been eclipsed as the biggest exhibitor by HP, which with 3,000m2 has 30% more space than before. The times they are a-changing.