Ricoh large format latex printers win top European award for innovation

Ricoh’s L5130e and L5160e large format latex printers have won the Roll-to-roll Printers < 170cm Award from the European Digital Printing (EDP) Association, for their innovative features. 

The EDP Awards highlight key developments in print production tools, software, substrates, inks, materials and finishing systems. 

“The whole aim of the association is to promote industry innovation,” says Vaughan Patterson, Head of Commercial and Industrial Print (CIP) at Ricoh South Africa. “They really drive the unification of operations and technology to meet business goals that deliver growth.”

Ricoh’s new devices have evolved from the Pro L5130 and Pro L5160 and offer new production, sign and display opportunities. They add green and orange inks to white, which is already available. They:

• Significantly extended the colour gamut compared to existing marketplace ink technology;
• Enable the accurate reproduction of a wider range of Pantone and brand colours;
• Help reduce ink consumption, for example there is no need to mix magenta and yellow to create orange, or cyan and yellow to create green; and
• Allow print operations to run double CMYK for increased productivity and CMYK and white for transfer materials, metallics, and dark substrates. 

The systems incorporate three staggered Ricoh GEN5 industrial print heads. They deliver variable dot printing at 46.7sqm per hour on outdoor high speed, four-colour mode, and 25sqm per hour on indoor, standard, four-colour mode. They employ a low print ink curing temperature that reduces energy consumption, while the Greenguard-certified latex ink enables sustainable and cost-effective production. 

They use the market leading RIP-software solution ColorGATE Productionserver, that is tailored to the demands of large format printing, for efficient operation. 

Eef de Ridder, VP, Graphic Communications Group, Ricoh Europe, says: “It’s no secret that quick and simple accurate reproduction of vibrant colours helps deliver captivating print. These systems enable operations to produce memorable and vivid results on a broad range of applications. Their ability to reduce waste, ink, and energy consumption also supports sustainable and cost-effective production. These are among the many reasons the technology was effectively used to create signage and social distancing applications during the pandemic.” 

For more information on Ricoh’s digital print solutions, visit www.ricoh-europe.com.