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OKI Launches Ground-Breaking White Toner Printers
Published Feb 10, 2013
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OKI has added another major industry ‘first’ to its portfolio of innovative print solutions, removing the last barrier to creativity and design and creating a major opportunity for channel partners with the introduction of its range of digital LED A4 and A3 white toner printers.
The new C711WT and C920WT models, showcased recently at OKI Europe’s Smart business Conference in Barcelona, has already highlighted a number of strong vertical market opportunities, from T-shirt transfers and film printing to innovative in-store point of sale applications.
The new white toner models are tried and tested devices that are well-regarded by OKI’s target small and medium business (SMB) customer base for their high quality output, robustness and affordability, making them suitable for graphic-based industries. OKI is the first company to introduce a toner-based solution to the ‘white printer’ sector and will significantly expand what has so far been a highly-specialist, complex, costly and low-volume market.
“In the past, products have been based on inkjet, dye sublimation or transfer film-ready technologies,” says Oki Middle East General Manager, John Ross. “These have niche applications in areas such as garment decoration or printing proofs for packaging application which are typically expensive both to purchase and maintain and the production time is lengthy.
“The new OKI white toner-based products by contrast are versatile, easy to use and, as there is no drying time required, enable much faster and more cost-effective printing. At the same time, the robust solid print output is just as good as foil blocking, making it a credible in-house solution for a wide range of white print applications.”
New markets, new partners
The C711WT A4 printer offers 4-colour (CMY and white) printing, at 8ppm in transparency mode and 34ppm using plain paper. The C920WT A4/A3 printer is designed for higher volume applications, at 10ppm and 31ppm respectively for A4, with higher capacity toner cartridges.
With its new white toner range, OKI will extend its printer offering to existing partners serving the graphic arts market. In addition, the company plans to broaden its partner base, by recruiting new specialist partners selling ‘white printing’ hardware and software and printed applications as a service.
The new white toner products will initially be aimed at a number of key markets, in addition to existing graphic arts applications. These include transfer media printing, for example for T-shirts, as well as ceramic decoration, back light signage by transparency film and film printing for packaging. The new products will also offer creative point of sale signage opportunities for glass or window displays in retail outlets and car windows, for example.
“However, the applications identified so far promise to be just the tip of the iceberg,” believes John Ross. “What is really exciting is that new uses are emerging every day, as both our partners and their end-user customers discover how our new white toner products will enable them to use white printing in creative and innovative ways.”
End-customer benefits
As variants of existing tried and tested OKI printers, the new white toner products offer a number of major advantages over other white printing devices, making them affordable for the first time to large and small businesses and organisations looking to expand their in-house print capability.
The C711WT and C920WT offer faster printing and are much easier to use, as users can load and print many sheets. Printed output offers consistent high quality and robust performance, as it is scratch resistant compared to inkjet-based competitors.
They are more versatile in handling a broad range of media, including photo printing, layout proofs, film printing, packaging, POS and T-shirt transfers. And all this is delivered with low running costs and overall cost of printing, making them accessible to a much broader user market.
Terry Laidlaw, managing director, OKI Europe, adds: “OKI has built much of its success on technology innovation. With our new white toner products, the channel has a terrific opportunity to help end-customers to improve their competitiveness, making the most of their ability to print a broader range of high-quality materials in-house.”
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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