The new 725sqm/hr model is the first printer to be based on Inca’s new Onset Scalable Architecture, enabling printers to upgrade the productivity and quality of their machines as they evolve and expand their businesses.

The S50i is designed to satisfy printer’s ever-growing need for greater productivity, according to Inca and Fuji.

Tudor Morgan, systems marketing manager, Fujifilm Specialty Ink Systems, said: “In the retail sector the amount of print being ordered has remained about the same but there is a lot more customising and multi-versioning for different regions or individual shops, so there are peak times when that work arrives. 

“And it’s now more common for retailers to only pay for work when delivered to store, so it’s absolutely critical printers hit those deadlines. Finishing and delivery times stay the same so it’s the time to print which is being constantly squeezed.”

The Inca Onset S50i features double density print heads, increasing the number of print heads to 56 per colour and so reducing the number of passes needed to print. This means the printer is capable of printing 6,000 m/sq a day, reported Morgan. He added that the machine’s 15-zone vacuum bed meant that productivity could in fact be boosted still further, due to time saved on masking.

New features include a new more intelligent lamp system to give more control of the shutter and therefore gloss settings and a print carriage with eight channels to allow for CYMK plus white plus lights, or double CYMK. It also features a reversion from the optical height detectors used in previous models, back to a mechanical system, found to be less prone to false alarms.

Morgan said that the new model was likely to be suitable for those printers with multiple sites and multiple print technologies. He noted that the high productivity of the machine makes it a cost-effective alternative to offset presses and multiple screen presses.

As the first model based on Onset Scalable Architecture, the S50i has been built so that ink tanks, printheads, UV curing lamps, automation, speed modes, electronics and software can all be converted onsite at a later date. In fact all Onset models built since April have been produced with Scalable Architecture, though customers have not been told about this until now.

“If you put these on a show stand you wouldn’t see the difference,” saidHeather Kendle, director of marketing at Inca. “But we really have had to go back to basics on the core machine as all previous models had been developed at different times and had little quirks individual to them that we had to standardise. We had to spend time looking at what the components were we were going to take across. For us it means we have had to add cost to the machines, as we have had to introduce common features across the platforms. But we’ve been able to do this without making the machines prohibitively expensive to us or the customers.”

Time taken to convert a printer could vary significantly due to the range of scenarios this might cover, but should take between around three days to a week on average, according to the manufacturers. Conversion cost again would be highly variable, with £40,000 the average cost for uplifting the speed of a basic model, and £110,000 - £150,000 for adding automation.

Kendle said: “You might have someone with a four colour manual model with a 300msq/h capacity. Their first move might be to add automation, which would take them up to 500msq/h. They then might want to add more print heads to take them up to a 725sqm/h machine. Or they might want to improve quality or add more colours.”

Kendle added that some older Onset models, manufactured before April this year, would also be upgradable. “But we had to do a lot of work to put this in place so there will be a cut off point,” she qualified. “The earliest S40s are only six channel so can’t be taken up to the 500sqm/h spec. But they could be made more automated for example.”

The new Onset Scalable Architecture-ready S50i model has been installed at four sites so far, including POP printers Showcard Print in the UK. The printer costs just below the £1m mark, uses Fujifilm Uvijet OB or OZ inks and can print media up to 3.14m x 1.6m and up to 50mm thick.