Oce will be placing an Arizona 360 GT UV flatbed printer at the Printing Industries of America headquarters in Pennsylvania, USA. The printer will be used for market education, member training and internal production.
"The convergence of markets and technologies due to digitalization in the graphics industry provides new spin-off opportunities for commercial printers," said Sal Sheikh, Vice President of Marketing for the Wide Format Printing Systems division of Oce North America. "The capabilities of flatbed-based UV printers enable commercial printers to capture new business and enter new markets - from traditional graphic applications to imaging on manufactured goods to packaging applications."
The Oce Arizona 360 GT model will be the first flatbed and first digital UV printer to be installed at Printing Industries headquarters. The facilities at Printing Industries headquarters include state-of-the-art prepress, workflow solutions, printing facilities, post press, testing laboratories, libraries, and classrooms that provide a world-class platform for innovative digital and offset research, while producing leading-edge publications and instruction.
"The addition of the Oce Arizona 360 GT printer complements what we're doing here with our offset and digital printing presses," said Dr. Mark Bohan, Vice President, Technology and Research for Printing Industries. "We want to show our members how wide format digital printing can fit in partnership with traditional printing presses. With the Oce Arizona 360 GT printer on-site, we have the capability to educate our members on what is possible, to open their eyes to new business opportunities."
In addition to demonstrating an array of applications to its members, the Oce Arizona 360 GT printer will be used for training members on wide format print production. It will also be used for internal production of banners and signs for the conferences and programs produced by Printing Industries. Further, the ONYX ProductionHouse software RIP that drives the printer will assist staff in educating members on wide format colour management techniques.
About the Oce Arizona 360 GT printer
Introduced in April 2011, the Oce Arizona 360 GT UV flatbed printer features enhancements over previous models that enable customers to increase productivity and application versatility and open doors to technical and industrial applications. The printer offers the standard table size of 49" by 98.4" and an Express Mode print speed of up to 377 square feet/hour, which is ideal for banner and outdoor work. A new High Definition print mode delivers fine feature reproduction including the ability to print text as small as two-point, enabling commercial printers to offer higher-margin technical and industrial applications such as printing on lenticular lenses and membrane panels.
The White Ink Option, which will be included on the model for Printing Industries, enables under-printing for non-white media or objects, over-printing for backlit applications on transparent media and/or printing white as a spot colour.
Oce Arizona Series printers are true flatbed systems, which open the door to producing specialised applications. A vacuum system holds rigid media stationary on the printer's flat table surface, ensuring perfect registration even on multiple imaging passes or double-sided printing applications. Users can produce edge-to-edge (full bleed) prints to save time and labour costs in finishing.
Unlike conventional rigid capable printers that use friction or belt feed systems, Oce Arizona Series printers can print on just about anything less than 2" thick. These systems can handle irregularly shaped or non-square items, heavy substrates and materials that have an uneven surface, such as wood. They are ideal for complex technical or industrial printing applications where accurate, repeatable print geometry is critical.
