A key consideration for many commercial printers when looking to invest in digital inkjet technology is the level of quality that a digital print solution can offer compared with existing devices. Oliver Winkelmann, Managing Director of German IT and business services provider, QITS, highlighted why quality was a deciding factor when the company invested in the ColorStream: “Until this point, we’d ruled out inkjet because of the investment level required and the quality of the printed output. We always said we needed to offer digital quality that came very close to offset, otherwise we would never make the switch successful. At some point, the debate was over. Quality stopped being an issue and our customers saw how they could optimise processes and eliminate offset pre-prints. Gradually we moved most work to full colour digital production. By 2018, inkjet had become a quality standard, even for our large direct mail clients.”
With the ColorStream 6000, customers can be assured of 94% uptime. Operators no longer have to intervene during production, so staff have additional time to focus on exploring new market opportunities and growing the business. Sergio Nobile, CEO at Edubook, a Swiss book producer and distributor with a ColorStream 6000 Chroma, comments: “When you look at the manual, catalogue and self-publisher market, the new system will secure us 10-15% more business in these areas in the next several years. Our growth will also come through Edubase (Edubook’s online portal for students) and the delivery of rapid, short print runs, mostly from web2print. This print system has made the future look very bright for us. It’s very exciting”.
Customers have also commented on the ease-of-use of the printer, reducing manual intervention and increasing production efficiencies. This was a key reason for investing in the ColorStream for Finnish book printer, Otava. Marko Silventoinen, Managing Director, Otava, explains, “We’ve been very impressed with the reliability of the ColorStream {and ProStream}. They require very little operator intervention. None of our five operators here had any prior experience working with digital print technology, but they now really enjoy working with the machines. One of our operators is even switching between offset and digital on a daily basis. They’re extremely impressed by the machines’ ease-of-use.”
Building on a decade of continuous innovation since its introduction in 2011, the highly productive series, comprising the ColorStream 3000, 3000Z and 6000 series, has printed volumes of over 300 billion A4 pages across the globe, producing a mix of printed output such as bank statements, direct mailings, pharmaceutical leaflets and books.
The system has proved to be particularly popular in countries such as France, Germany, Italy and the USA, and over 40% of customers have installed more than one device, with one German customer having 18 towers across three production sites.
Peter Wolff, Vice President, Production Printing Products (PPP), EMEA Commercial Printing, Canon Europe, comments, “Since launching the ColorStream series, we’ve listened closely to the feedback of our customers and have continuously evolved the product series based on their needs. We are therefore encouraged to see that market demand for the ColorSteam series, now in its third generation, continues to be extremely positive. When we introduced the first printer in the range, it revolutionised digital inkjet technology and we’re proud to have remained the market leader, with 43% market share currently in Europe. By maintaining a close dialogue with our customers, we are able to ensure that we are meeting their requirements, with the highest reliability, productivity and quality. Each ColorStream can be tailored to a buyer’s needs – from speed and colour to custom inks and tailored inline finishing integration. There are so many optional upgrades to customise the ColorStream to specific customer requirements. We guarantee every buyer gets the right solution suited for their business needs to help them achieve growth.”