Print Pings: Heard Loud and Clear in Poing
The Latest from Canon's Océ Brand
As June rolls in, I was recapping the past month in my mind. One of May's highlights for me was a trip to Germany with a small, select group of print industry journalists and analysts.
The first leg of our journey brought us to Venlo, the Netherlands, by way of Düsseldorf, the drupa tradefair town that the print medium has made famous. The 45-minute bus jaunt over the border was to see, for the first time, Canon’s “Niagara” cut-sheet inkjet press in action. In a relatively small test room, the B3-format production device was put through its paces in an impressive demonstration. Unfortunately, an extensive non-disclosure agreement prevents me from writing about much of what I saw – not yet, anyway – for competitive reasons.
Canon for Business 2014
Moving on to the sprawling Océ manufacturing facility in Poing, Germany, near Munich, we saw a Niagara preview of what will be showing at the upcoming GRAPH EXPO in Chicago (Sept. 28 – Oct. 1). Canon expects to start taking orders by mid-2015 and, in 15 months, show the Niagara live at GRAPH EXPO 15; version 1.2 should be ready in time for drupa 16.
The “Canon for Business 2014” event held on May 19 was akin to a User Group gathering, like EFI Connect or HP’s Dscoop, complete with a not-so-mini exhibition area. Highlights included:
- Peter Wolff of Canon Europe's Commercial Print Group announced the world premier of the Océ VarioStream 4000 dry-toner, monochrome device, which can print between 180 and 1,200 pages per minute.
- The Océ Infinistream digital packaging press, spanning some 90 feet in length, also was shown.
- Océ VarioStream 7170, an entry-level, flash-fused monochrome device, now is available.
- Canon reported that the first installation of the Océ ImageStream 3500 will be in Europe in Q4. It features new piezo print heads and a 30-inch web width.
Our European trek culminated the next day with a trip to the FESPA digital wide-format print show in Munich. There, amid much fanfare and a paparazzi-like scene, Canon literally unveiled its Océ Arizona 6100 series large-format, flatbed printer.
For what truly was an informative trip, I express heartfelt gratitude to Canon U.S.A. and our gracious host, Dennis Amorosano, marketing VP within the manufacturer’s Business Imaging Solutions Group (BISG) and its Canon Information and Imaging Solutions (CIIS) professional services subsidiary; also to Brian Dollard, BISG product marketing director.
