Print-Division, located in Maribor, Slovenia, has recently installed the world's first production Rho 800 HS (High Speed) large format, UV inkjet printer. This is the fifth Rho UV inkjet in use by the company, which has three Rho 160's and a Rho 600 Pictor. The Rho 800 HS was purchased to replace their existing Rho 205, which had served them well for three and a half years.
"What we needed now was a very fast, high production machine and the Rho 800 HS was the ideal choice. We first saw it at FESPA in May this year and made the decision to purchase it immediately," said Zoran Markovic, managing director, Print-Division.
"Over the years our salespeople have been getting much larger orders and, particularly in the retail market, delivery times have been getting shorter. So, to be able to satisfy this demand for high volume, high quality print, we had to look to investing in new equipment. The Rho 800 HS had only been installed for a few days, and already we were greatly impressed by both its speed and quality of print."
The Rho 800 HS is housed in the company's new 7,500 sqm premises that will eventually hold all their production and warehousing needs.
Print-Division was founded 22 years ago as a photographic lab and retailer. The business grew rapidly into a large and successful chain of photographic retail outlets and photo labs. They first ventured into large format digital printing about 12 years ago with a Durst Lambda and soon the company wanted to expand into other large format digital print areas. Today, both the photographic and printing businesses trade as successful independent companies.
The company employs 44 personnel and offers a complete digital print service through to finishing and delivery of the widest range of roll and rigid materials, from textiles and vinyl to Foamex and corrugated board, both for indoor and outdoor applications. Their customers include all the major Slovenian retail chains and major brand names such as BMW and Coca Cola across the country. They also export a large volume of print to Austria and Germany.
They see the purchase of the Rho 800 HS as a major step towards automated production of in-store displays. "We intend to purchase an automatic cutting table in the near future to link in with the Rho," said Markovic. "We want to make the production of corrugated display material a continuous process. Not only is the Rho exceptionally fast, it also produces very high quality print and this is particularly important for in-store retail displays. We have the six color option of additional light colors so flesh tones etc. are perfect."
"We've incorporated our latest imaging, workflow and operational technologies into a proven production imaging platform to create the Rho 800 HS printer. Users can complete a wide array of print jobs faster and far more cost-effectively?which improves their operations, their ability to say yes to their customers, and their profits. We're pleased but not surprised that Print-Division is having such a positive experience with its new Rho 800 HS," said Michael Lackner, marketing manager, Durst.
The 250 cm-wide Rho 800 HS features "continuous board printing" and comes equipped with the latest development of Durst's Quadro 30D Array print head technology with double the number of nozzles per colour of 2,048 which effectively almost doubles its output speed over the standard Rho 800 Presto.
The Rho 800HS prints on multiple narrow boards across its total 250 cm width, on materials up to 70mm thick, at a top speed of more than 216 sheets/hour (125 x 80cm/4 x 2.6 feet). In productive two-pass mode, it delivers exceptional image quality at 110 sheets/hour (125 x 80cm/ 4 x 2.6 feet). The Rho 800 HS also is compatible with Durst's roll feed / take-up accessory, designed for long runs and fast media changes. It handles oversized rolls up to 200kg, diameters up to 30 cm and widths up to 250 cm. and with Durst providing the highest reliability in the market, users can rely on 24/7 production.
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