Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!
First Canon PIXMA G-Series MegaTank Printers Launched By OEM
Canon USA has announced four new printer models in the Canon PIXMA G-Series MegaTank range, which are PIXMA G4200 MegaTank Wireless All-in-One printer, PIXMA G3200 MegaTank Wireless All-in-One, PIXMA G2200 MegaTank All-in-One, and PIXMA G1200 MegaTank Single Function printers. These four printers are the first PIXMA models that boast of inbuilt refillable ink tank systems. The entire PIXMA G-Series MegaTank range is intended for home office and small offices that require high volume printing along with low maintenance costs and flexibility.
The most notable aspect of the Canon PIXMA G-series MegaTank printers, as is obvious, is the inbuilt refillable ink tank system. More importantly, the incorporation of such high volume ink tanks in the PIXMA G-Series MegaTank printer models hasn’t resulted in them becoming too bulky or cumbersome. As opposed to having the refillable tanks mounted on the side and making the printer bulky, they’re placed on the front. The ink tank system’s front facing placement also makes it easy for them to be monitored and refilled without much downtime.
The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) has worked very hard to counter one of the most common problems with refillable ink tanks in printers – spillage. Epson has given each of the ink tanks in the Canon PIXMA G-Series MegaTank printer models spill resistant tops. Compared with previous models in the PIXMA series of printers, these new printers offer a much higher yield owing to the new hybrid integrated ink replenishment system.
This system also makes these printers far more cost-effective than their predecessors. For example, the black ink tanks in the Canon PIXMA G-Series MegaTank printer models has a yield of up to 6,000 pages for every bottle while the colour tanks offer a yield of up to 7,000 pages. This capacity is achieved because the OEM has given its blank ink bottles a volume capacity of about 135 ml and about 70 ml in each of the colour tanks.
While the benefits of this new ink tank system in the Canon PIXMA G-Series MegaTank range are substantial, they don’t come at any cost either. For instance, you would think that such an elaborate “hybrid integrated” ink tank system would require a lot of time to set up. However, that isn’t the case and the setting up time of this system is mere six minutes.
The most advanced printer model in the Canon PIXMA G-Series MegaTank range is the PIXMA G4200. This printer model boasts of printing, scanning, and faxing functionality along with an LCD screen, and even an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF). The PIXMA G3200 and G2200 offer printing and scanning functionalities while the PIXMA G1200 only offers the printing functionality. Furthermore, both PIXMA G4200 and G3200 are wireless devices. This means that users will be able to access the PIXMA Cloud Link by way of the Canon PRINT app on their smartphones. The PIXMA Cloud Link will give users the ability to print from online services such as Google Cloud Print, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, Photobucket, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
The print quality of the entire Canon PIXMA G-Series MegaTank range is excellent simply because Canon has chosen to use a new type of ink i.e. a hybrid of pigment and dye. The print speed of all the printer models in the PIXMA G-Series MegaTank range is to the tune of 8.8 images per minute (ipm) for monochrome prints and 5 ipm for colour prints. The printers are formally rated with a maximum print resolution of 4800 x 1200 dots per inch (dpi).
Two New Innovation Hubs Announced By Epson in Como, Italy
It is well-known that Epson has been making headway in the industrial digital textile market segment for some time now. One of the earliest signs of the OEM’s intention to do so was their acquisition of Robustelli, something we reported on in July last year. While that acquisition was huge for Epson because it strengthened its position in the industrial digital textile market segment, a lot of work still had to be done for Epson to become a force in the sector. Epson is well on its way to do so through two new innovation hubs in Como, Italy.
The announcement regarding the setting up of the two new innovation hubs also mentioned the nature of the two facilities. The two facilities will be The Innovation Research Lab and The Printing Research Centre. The Innovation Research Lab will work on research and development into existing and new ink technologies. This will entail developing new types of ink to be used on a wide variety of media in the industrial digital printing. This lab will comprise a number of research experts spanning various disciplines such as chemical analysis, chemical engineering, and lab technicians.
The Printing Research Centre will focus on developing the OEM’s inkjet core technology so as to make it better for textile printing. This facility will be located in F.lli Robustelli’s head office and it will focus exclusively on refining Epson’s textile printing technology. The two facilities have been set up in collaboration with For.tex and F.lli Robustelli. The objective behind setting up these facilities is to promote the global digital textile industry. Epson already has a Textile Solution Centre established in Como, Italy.
The reasoning behind Epson’s focus on the industrial digital textile segment is the scope of growth in it. For example, the global industrial textile industry printed about 31 million square feet of fabric in 2014 alone but only two to three percent of that amount was done through digital technologies. Estimates even suggest that growth in the industry will be significant. One particular report from WtiN Intelligence pegged an increase of about 17 percent in the print volume of the industry on a yearly basis till 2019.
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