The new technology, which has been developed using hardware from both manufacturers, will be available from Ricoh in Q3 2017 and from Xerox in Q1 or Q2 2018. The announcements were made at a press event in Tokyo last month, hosted by new Datalase owner Sato.
Datalase initially used Drupa to demonstrate its inline technology in colour for the first time and announce its strategic partners.
Chief marketing officer Mark Naples said: “It’s quite a revolution in what it can do and how it can digitally print information. We are using laser technology rather than ink technology and this agreement is formalising the go-to-market approach between the companies.
“Global brands are looking for personalisation between brands and their consumers. The way we promote the inline digital printing solution is as a solution that can help create value and bring consumers and brands together in new ways through digital printing.”
The technology, which Xerox is calling Variprint, will allow brand owners to personalise and differentiate products and packaging.
Xerox will be using its Laser Imaging Module (LIM), which can print inkless at high resolutions, producing grayscale images with a natural resolution up to 1,200dpi. It can digitally print variable information such as graphics, barcodes and text at up to 1m/s.
Patented laser reactive pigments are incorporated into a coating that is conventionally printed onto products or packaging. When exposed to the LIM, a colour change reaction is generated in the coating.
The Ricoh version is similar to Xerox’s but will print at higher speeds of around 2m/s at a lower resolution. It will use Fibre-coupled Laser Diode Array (FLDA) technology, implementing the solution using different hardware to Xerox.
“Final output would look similar but actual mechanism is very different,” said Naples, who couldn’t confirm which Ricoh and Xerox presses would be implementing the technology. He said the models are yet to be determined.
Since Datalase was acquired by Japanese barcode technology provider Sato it has appointed a new board of directors, bringing a number of Sato employees onto the board, including its president and chief executive Yasuhiro Tanabe and managing director Tetsushi Kondo.
“I think people now see Datalase as a major player. Rather than being a small company we’re really approaching the market in quite exciting ways and I think the benefit of being part of Sato is that it has given us the ability to speak to a much wider market,” said Naples.
