More on Memjet-enabled Excelegraphix 4200 wide-format ink-jet printer

The following is a portion of an article authored by Patrick Henry, who reviewed product announcements and product releases at the Graph Expo trade show. The portion of the article that I’ve reprinted below is the portion that deals with the first commercially available Memjet-enabled wide-format printer. (The new printer will not be available until sometime next Spring.)

Commentary & Analysis

Whole is Greater than Sum of Parts in KBA-Donnelley, Xanté-Memjet Joint Ventures Announced At Graph Expo

By Patrick Henry
Published: September 13, 2011

As print technology providers go, Xanté is not a large company, but it innovates at a pace that would distinguish a vendor of any size. Its desire to offer small printers an affordable wide-format inkjet production system led it to seek a partnership with Memjet, whose color inkjet advancements have been recognized with a 2011 InterTech Technology Award.



Robert Ross, CEO of Xanté, said that high-volume Memjet inkjet heads enable the 42" wide device, named Excelagraphix 4200, to print at a speed he described as "unreal"-more specifically, one foot per second in full color. Xanté built the printer platform and supplies the controlling software.



The Excelagraphix 4200, according to Ross, is 90% complete in terms of application intent. "We want the customer to tell us what the remaining 10% should be," he said. Xanté will use Graph Expo and other upcoming trade shows as market research opportunities to identify optimal end-uses.



Ross said he believes that the packaging market, in particular, is "screaming" for an inkjet solution that can create prototypes and economically handle personalized short runs. One such type of customer, he said, might be a pharmaceutical company with hundreds of SKUs that it typically distributes in very small batches.



Xanté expects to ship the Excelagraphix 4200 next spring, Ross said. It will be the first wide-format equipment built around Memjet printheads, which presently are used in office and label printers.



Len Lauer, president and CEO of Memjet, praised Xanté for bringing the device to technical completion within a year of the project's commencement. He said that Memjet has been striving for a commercial wide-format implementation of its printhead technology for four years and that Excelagraphix 4200 represents that milestone.



Michael Puyot, president of Memjet's wide format division, said that the Excelagraphix 4200 owes its exceptionally high speed to a stitched array of five 8.7" wide Memjet printhead channels comprising more than 350,000 separate nozzles. This array can print at up to 1,600 dpi on materials as thick as corrugated packaging stocks, thanks to an adjustable printhead-height feature engineered into the Excelagraphix 4200 by Xanté.



Both technology partners emphasized the affordability of the Excelagraphix 4200 for small- and mid-sized printers, a segment that can find itself priced out of the market for production inkjet systems.



Frank Romano, print technology authority and professor emeritus at RIT, was on hand for a Graph Expo media briefing at which the Excelagraphix 4200 was announced. He said that the device could be "disruptive" in enabling smaller firms to compete with big ones for inkjet market share.



The Excelagraphix 4200 is "a high-level machine for small companies," Romano said. "It is a new kind of machine for the marketplace that needs it most."

First commercially available Memjet wide-format printing device

Note: I was traveling in Europe for three of the past four weeks and am now playing “catch up” on articles for the blog. Sorry for the absence. I would have posted while in Europe, but I forgot to take with me my laptop power cable!

Well, how about this one – news announcing, finally, that there’s actually going to be a commercially available Memjet wide-format printing device.

Xanté teams with Memjet for Excelagraphix 4200 wide-format launch

By Simon Nias Monday, 12 September 2011 (found on PrintWeek.com)

Xanté has teamed with Memjet to unveil its first wide-format press, the 42in wide Excelagraphix 4200 colour inkjet printer, which is also the first 42in device based on Memjet technology, at Graph Expo in Chicago.

The Excelagraphix 4200 uses an array of five overlapping 8.77in Memjet Waterfall printheads, each containing 70,400 nozzles, to generate a maximum print width of 42in (1,067mm).

Xanté said that the device had been designed to print high-impact, full-colour, large-format pieces on a wide range of substrates at "screaming fast" speeds, and at a price point that’s affordable for a fast ROI.

The press is based on Memjet’s wide-format colour printing components and technologies, including the Waterfall printheads, which are capable of printing at 6in (152mm) per second at a resolution of 1,600dpi or 12in (305mm) per second at a resolution of 1,600x800dpi.

Each printhead has five ink channels (CMYKK) and two rows of nozzles per channel, while the press can print on a wide range of media, including foam board, corrugated cardboard and paper. Sheet sizes can vary from 210x210mm up to a maximum of 1,067mm wide by 30m long.

Media thickness is configurable and media transport dependent. Nominal printhead to paper spacing target to maintain is 0.7mm.

According to Xanté, the press can be used to print jobs including oversized architectural or engineering documents, maps, indoor signage, POP displays, packaging, folding cartons, corrugated boxes, and newspapers.

Robert Ross, chief executive of Xanté, said: "The industry has been watching to see what Memjet would do, and Xanté is honoured to be part of an event that is breaking ground and has the capacity to significantly alter the production landscape for the better, and for the long term.

"We’re utilising two particular Xanté technologies: iQueue Color Smart Worfklow, and our unique handling of diverse substrates, to create what will likely be the fastest and, in terms of lower capital and operational costs, most efficient ways to print colour."

Memjet wide-format president Mike Puyot added: "This partnership combines the best of both worlds. As soon as they saw what they had to work with, both Memjet and Xanté engineers got excited about the exponential value of the pairing.

"The Xanté Excelagraphix 4200 is just the tip of the iceberg in what we’ll start seeing in affordable, high-speed colour solutions. Memjet colour printing technologies offer end-users the freedom to print exactly what they want, when they want it, and where they want it; directly on manufacturing floors."

The partnership was also given the stamp of approval by Frank Romano, RIT Professor Emeritus, who said "merging the high-tech inkjet of industry innovator Memjet with Xanté’s extraordinary skill at productising sophisticated innovations into 'everyman' solutions gives us, in the Excelagraphix 4200, a glimpse of printing’s viable future".

Romano added: "Xanté has long been a pioneer in bringing new printing technology to all graphic arts businesses, big and small. From image- and platesetting, to laser printers, they have provided cost-efficient alternatives. Now they enter the wide-format world.

"Xanté has proven itself capable of filling technology gaps that were cost-prohibitive for other manufacturers to fill. Robert Ross and his team consistently fill those gaps with amazingly progressive and yet inexpensive systems. As a result, many hundreds of shops and in-plants are able to produce commercial quality work and compete in their markets."

Memjet has already announced OEM partnerships with Lenovo and LG Electronics this year, among others. Memjet’s technologies are also the recipient of the 2011 InterTech Technology Award from the Printing Industries of America.