Productivity and job efficiency, watchwords for Agfa’s new wide-format products
Among Agfa’s many Ipex releases are significant products for the wide-format community. These include the new version of Agfa’s Apogee workflow management suite. In addition to several new facilities Apogee 7 now allows printers who operate a variety of wide-format inkjet solutions (or who use wide-format solutions next to their traditional CTP devices) to have a central production management hub.
Apogee 7 checks and corrects incoming files and applies colour management before outputting the file to different devices. It also re-directs files to idle printers allowing for greater job efficiency. Apogee 7 works with each printer’s Rip and dedicated tools for a specific printing application on a wide-format printer. It also includes the latest available Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE 2.5) affording users the advantage of using the latest workflow engines whilst guaranteeing compatibility with Adobe’s latest Creative Suite.
You’ll be able to see demos of this software on the Agfa stand (11-CD220) throughout the show, but there will also be an Apogee user group conference on May 23rd at the company’s booth to provide an even greater, in-depth look at this new improved product.
On the hardware front Agfa will be demonstrating, for the first time in Europe, its Jeti 1224 UV HDC system, the first printer to be launched since Agfa acquired the Jeti business, and which is the result of joint Agfa/Jeti R&D development teams.
HDC stands for high definition colour and Agfa claims that this workhorse built on a solid steel platform and designed for three shift operations features the widest colour gamut and highest productivity in its class.
The Jeti 1224 UV HDC features a unique, linear motor driven vacuum bed for highly accurate dot placement in both flatbed mode or with the optional roll-to-roll (RTR) feature. The flatbed architecture can print on anything up to 5cm thick and with its industrial grade construction can support media rolls up to 110kg. This machine is also the first Jeti printer to use the Ricoh Gen 4 variable grayscale printhead technology and with 4-colour and white as standard, the Jeti 1224 UV HDC delivers equivalent speeds in both binary and grayscale modes at resolutions up to 1200dpi.
Agfa is rating throughput for this machine at 110m2/hr in express mode, 54m2/hr in production mode and 36.2m2/hr in high quality mode. With the Anuvia HD ink delivering maximum pigment density for saturated colours, combined with drops as small as 8picolitre, the Jeti 1224 UV HDC claims Agfa, consumes less than 7.6ml of ink per m2 yielding over 140 m2 per litre of ink.
The Jeti 1224 UV HDC is ideally suited for high resolution trade show graphics, POS, real estate signs, backlit signs, lenticular displays, high resolution banners, ceramic tiles, wood and many more flatbed applications. First customer shipments will commence on 1 June 2010.
Agfa Graphics will also use Ipex to demonstrate its new Agora ink product family. Designed and manufactured by Agfa Graphics, the new ink comprises two new ink lines both ideal for the next generation single pass, piezo printheads. Compatible with major inkjet head suppliers such as the Kyocera KJ4A, both ink lines offer photo-quality resolution at very fast speeds.
The Agora G ink family is designed for general purpose printing such as flexible packaging, labels, folding carton applications, shelf ready packaging, POS and specialty printing applications. On the other hand, the Agora D ink family is suitable for document printing including transactional, transpromotional and newspaper printing.
The Agora inks are the only inks in the market that that feature low viscosity, high reactivity, low evaporation rates with improved dot placement for small drop sizes (<5 picolitre). As such, these new inks are ideal for reliable printing with next-generation high-speed UV print heads on a wide variety of substrates for a numerous range of UV inkjet applications.
