EPSON RELEASES NEW PRINTERS IN 40TH YEAR

Epson celebrated 40 years in Australia with a move to a new head office in North Sydney, and the launch of several new printers which will be on show at PacPrint, all under the banner of New Beginnings for a Brighter Future.

The company was established here 40 years ago, with 20 staff, and became a major player in commercial print towards the end of the 1990s, when its newly developed wide format, full-colour, inkjet print systems were used as the primary proofing tool as commercial print leapt into B1 long perfectors and CTP. The triumvirate of new technologies working together marked a dramatic upturn in productivity, efficiency, and turnaround times for local print businesses, and were taken up with gusto by them.

Since then Epson has become a major player in graphic arts, photo, proofing, sign and display, textile and garment, promotional and merchandise, and technical drawings printing, as well as labels, and now has some 150 staff in Australia. 

Speaking at a function to celebrate its 40 years in the market Craig Heckenberg, managing director of Epson Australia, said, “The Japanese take a long term view. Stability and perseverance are key. We are well placed for the next 40 years, especially in the print industry, where our wide format inkjet systems have a 40 per cent market share, which is the biggest in the world for Epson.”

According to Heckenberg, the Epson printers have proved successful in the graphic arts, technical, sign and display and textile sectors here because “Those markets are colour critical and time critical, Epson’s precision engineering and colour management deliver.”

Heckenberg said the market is seeing an increasing demand for customisation and personalisation, with a reduction in job sizes but an increasing number of jobs.

Giving an overview of the current range of printers, Gordon Kerr, product marketing manager at Epson said, “Epson continues to expand its range of printers as the market and applications expand. Today the company has 50 models in its line-up, with eight ink types, addressing 12 different markets.”

Kerr said Epson had a market share of more than 50 per cent in photo graphics, with two new models for the high-quality poster, graphic, signage, proofing and fine art printing markets released at the event.

The new 24-inch P7360 and 44-inch P9360 succeed the top selling SureColor P6070 and P8070 models and feature significant upgrades offering faster speeds and coming with a 2.64-inch PrecisionCore printhead, which Epsn says delivers “outstanding” image quality. They also include an expanded 10-colour ink set – available in 350ml and 700ml cartridges - for an enhanced colour gamut and increased black density with Black Enhance Overcoat technology with dedicated Photo and Matte Black nozzles, ensuring says Epson, more efficient production.

A new printer, the SureCoor S9160, has been released for the sign and display market. The 11-colour printer comes with red,  orange, and opaque white ink, and green for increased colour gamut. Epson says it will hit 98 per cent of Pantone colours. The SC-S9160 is equipped with Epson’s latest user-replaceable 2.64” PrecisionCore MicroTFP printhead, and features an integrated temperature sensor, nozzle verification technology and nozzle replacement. According to Epson, these advancements ensure reliable image quality and consistent colour output, while significantly boosting productivity.

In garment printing, Kerr said DTF, direct-to-film, had only become commercialised in the past 12 months, and was gaining traction thanks to its ability to support a wider range of materials and its lower production costs. Epson will have its first DTF printer at PacPrint, the G6060.

The G6060 uses a 1.33” 8 channel PrecisionCore Micro TFP printhead supports print speeds up to 17sqm an hour in colour + white, and 32.6sqm an hour in white or colour only. Epson says that ink-less nozzle status monitoring, auto-head cleaning, auto cap-cleaning and continuous white-ink recirculation ensure a consistent high-quality output with maximum productivity and minimum waste.

Highlighting another new application Kerr said, “The on-demand merchandise and garment market is growing rapidly, and Epson has released print solutions to enable businesses to meet this demand.”

The company has also released Epson Craft Studio, which Kerr said will enable the instant creation of personalised and customised products in an easy-to-use format.