The new press was unveiled last week, and will have its worldwide launch at Drupa. Described as

being completely redesigned from the bottom up, the 5000 is Xeikons first major launch since the old Xeikons abortive foray into sheetfed digital with the CSP 320 in 2000.

Xeikon claims the new model beats comparable machines from Xerox (the iGen3) and HP Indigo (W3200) on price, speed and substrate flexibility. The 5000 is capable of 130 A4ppm and will be targeted at high-end digital printers it has been built to produce volumes of more than 3m impressions a month.

Stock weights handled have been expanded to 40-350gsm. Its 5/5 configuration allows spot colours, including special security toners, to be printed. Improvements to the press include a more ruggedised construction, better paper conditioning and the ability to add toner while printing. New imaging technology is claimed to eliminate the edge effect that could affect print quality on older Xeikons. It is also possible to adjust fusing and gloss levels on each side of the substrate.

Two companies have beta tested the machine Imprimerie LV and Moore Response Marketing with another four on order from existing customers. Jean-Paul Gast, president of Imprimerie LV, said: For many years we hoped for a green button dream machine that would produce high quality without daily maintenance. Previous attempts have failed, but after almost half a years scrutinising the 5000, we can say Xeikon did it.

We opened the machine only once in five months, and that was a mistake formed out of habit! Gast added.

A new front-end called Swift will drive the machine, which Xeikon promises has all the features of its PrintStreamer and Intellistream front-ends and is even more powerful. It will improve productivity drastically switching jobs while printing is almost instantaneous, said Erik Laurijssen, vice president of Xeikons front-end group.

At the heart of Swift is Mila, a new processing board capable of handling 800 megapixels per second. Each front-end can be equipped with up to six boards.

A 5000 with Swift front-end will cost 369,490 (550,000).

Story by Jo Francis