It also has two new flatbed machines, with existing partner Sericol, a faster version of its Columbia and a smaller, higher print quality machine called the Spyder.

Inca will at last achieve its original aim of producing a printer for packaging, said marketing director Heather Kendle. Its a huge leap forward for ink-jet, we believe it will be one of the most interesting products of 2004.

The machine has a print width of 520mm and a resolution of 300dpi and will produce 3,000m2 of print per hour in CMYK. It will be competitive with flexo on runs up to 5,000 sheets according to Kendle.

The firm has plans to develop the machine with wider widths, higher quality and additional colours.

The Spyder, which will cost around two thirds the price of its Eagle, has a maximum print size of 1mx1.5m and a resolution of up to 1,000dpi.

What makes the Spyder different is print quality, said Baxter. Its unmatched by any UV digital printer, which is no accident.

Unlike its bigger brothers, the Spyder keeps the printed sheet static and moves the print heads in a carriage over the sheet.

A new turbocharged version of its top of the range flatbed machine the Columbia is also being launched. Baxter also said the machine would push the economic crossover point between digital and screen printing for PoS from 150 sheets with the Inca Eagle to 225 sheets. It will also handle a bigger sheet size up to 2.2mx3.2m from 1.6mx3.2m.

Image Data Group (IDG) has bought an Inca Columbia for its large format printing division GK Serigraphics, as part of its 5m investment programme.

Story by Barney Cox