Ink-jet Printing -- Coming Up Heads and Tales

While it’s not exactly in the same product class, RISO Inc. is already on the second generation of its sheetfed ink-jet printer line. The HC5500 ComColor printer outputs 120 ppm and produces what the company characterizes as “communication color” quality.

Xerox Corp.’s position in the production ink-jet printing segment is still to be determined. The company has said it intends to compete in the market “when the time is right” and that it will not duplicate existing technology, but offer a solution with “superior image quality on a wide array of substrates.” What it has shown so far is a technology demonstration of “cured gel ink” that converts into a liquid in the print head. It is the consistency of peanut butter when it hits the substrate, where it is hardened by a pulse of UV light.