Birmingham, – April 7, 2006 - Océ, a global leader in digital document management and delivery solutions, is planning to change the balance of power in production monochrome printing with the launch of world-first technology that is up to 70% faster than any competitor product in the market place.

 

Huge interest has been shown in Océ’s VarioPrint® 6250 cutsheet printer featuring the new Océ Gemini Instant Duplex technology. Designed for high-end commercial and corporate printing markets, the Océ VarioPrint 6250 produces 250 duplex A4/letter or 132 duplex A3/ledger prints per minute, making it at least 70% faster than all other high volume, cutsheet duplex processes when printing on larger formats. The Océ VarioPrint 6250 was formally launched on March 27 at Océ OpenHouse 2006 near Munich, Germany.

 

According to Océ market studies, over 80% of the jobs produced on high volume cutsheet systems are double-sided prints. But all existing systems are designed for simplex printing. To produce double-sided prints, each sheet must be fed through the printing process twice. The Océ VarioPrint 6250 uses Océ Gemini Instant Duplex technology to press toner images into both sides of the paper simultaneously. This results in perfect print registration and offset-like quality.

 

The results for users will be higher print productivity, greater operational efficiency and lower printing costs. Gemini is Latin for 'twins' and is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Océ chose the name to underscore the new technological approach to double-sided printing.
 
Michel Frequin, Executive Vice President, Océ Digital Document Systems, said: “This breakthrough technology is a demonstration of our commitment to be a leader in the digital production printing market.  Our high speed printing organisation has led the way in continuous-feed printing for decades. Now we bring the same kind of innovation to high-speed cutsheet printing.  We are going to change the balance of power in production-class monochrome printing, and together with our existing products in this segment, we aim to raise our market share to 20%.”
 
The Océ VarioPrint 6250 will offer new opportunities to commercial digital print providers.  It will help build their business by increasing their capacity - producing more double-sided output in less time and offering a higher level of service to their customers. Thanks to its high speed and quality, the Océ VarioPrint 6250 is a new alternative for graphic arts printers for the short-run production of books. Another key market for the machine is the in-house corporate printroom where higher speed duplex printing will mean more efficient production of manuals, technical documentation and other corporate information. The Océ VarioPrint 6250 is suitable for production volumes of between 600,000 and 8,000,000 prints per month.
 
In addition to instant Duplexing, Océ's new Gemini technology features numerous innovations, such as Advanced Active Registration technology. The single-pass technology supports perfect registration for books, manuals and other publications, since the system prints both sides simultaneously. To ensure correct printing on pre-printed and pre-punched stocks, Océ employs a new technique called Paper Logic which takes the guesswork out of paper orientation. 
 
The Océ VarioPrint 6250 has the largest paper input/output capacity for larger media sizes larger than SRA3. It supports A4, letter, A3, ledger, oversized (320mm x 488mm max.) and custom size media as well as tabs and inserts from any of its 12 trays. No additional, expensive interposer is needed. Users can load up to 13,800 sheets of any size at once to promote unattended printing for up to four hours. With 'load paper while you print' functionality, the system can print in excess of 15,800 equivalent A4 images per hour with minimal operator intervention. An optional output modules providing a greater than 21,000 sheets of mixed media also supports this increased throughput.
 
The Océ VarioPrint 6250 is fully modular at every stage, from file submission to document delivery. Key components are the Océ Smart Imager Controller, which brings high performance, multi-tasking capabilities, high RIP speed and open architecture to a company's IT infrastructure. On-line finishing options include bookmakers, set finishers and a high-capacity stacker. Océ will also offer the state-of-the-art Watkiss PowerSquareTM 200 bookmaker. The integrated DFA interface of the Océ VarioPrint 6250 enables direct connection to many third-party finishing systems for perfect binding, cover binding, folding and punching. And the Océ VarioPrint 6250 is fully supported by the Océ PRISMA® software suite, designed to promote high workflow efficiency and seamless integration in third-party printing environments.
 
Ed Hudson, PrintRoom Marketing Manager, Océ UK, said: “The Océ VarioPrint 6250 is in a class of its own, which has been demonstrated by the fact that my phone has hardly stopped ringing since the announcement. The technologically advanced features result in higher productivity than any other machine available for this market and greater operational efficiency.  It also has the best Total Cost of Operation of any digital cutsheet solution covering the whole production workflow.”

 

The first customer deliveries of the Océ VarioPrint 6250 are scheduled for the end of this year.

 

This was just one of many market-changing announcements that were made at the 2006 Océ OpenHouse event in Poing, Germany on 27 March. 

 

Further details available on the CD in the Media Pack.

 

Further announcements will made at Océ’s Press Conference in Seminar Suite 2, Gallery Area, IPEX
on Friday, April 7 at 9.30am

 

-Ends-

 

About Océ
Dutch based Océ is one of the world's leading companies in the area of document management. In advanced research centres and high-tech production facilities the company develops products and services for the efficient and effective exchange of information.
These comprise products for the reproduction, presentation, distribution and management of documents.
The range of products and services offered by Océ is characterised by its recognised high quality, which is based on reliability, productivity, durability, ease of use and environmental friendliness.

 

Océ's products and services are mainly offered direct via the company's own sales and service organisations; a limited number of them are also distributed via third parties.
Océ focuses on professional user environments, particularly on those in which high document volumes are processed.
In 2005 Océ achieved pro forma revenues of EUR 3.1 billion and has around 24.000 employees worldwide.
For more information on Océ, visit  www.oce.com