Just think: up to 320 letter size images per minute or 19,200 letter size images per hour. One third to one half the cost of operation compared to conventional toner based copier/digital presses.

Introducing high speed, low cost ink jet printing!

I try to write my blogs to be educational and not show bias to any one product or industry segment. When I write about ink jet production presses, I am sorry if I sound like I am excited about telling everyone about the big shift in the printing industry that has been happening. It’s all about customer education, so let’s look at the ink jet production presses in the high volume, print production world.  

In the 1990’s the digital copiers started to take prints away from the offset presses.  They were able to do this because digital printers offered print on demand, full color prints in short runs with variable data. This ability introduced more people to full color printing without having to spend the money on long production runs.  

The big shift over the past ten years is that the ink jet production presses are taking prints away from the toner world because ink jet can do the same in printing of short run, full color variable prints at less cost, faster and with less down time over the toner systems.  And there is no going back. 

If you have been looking to get into the ink jet world, the time is now. Most people think you have to spend from $500,000 to over $1 million to get into a high production ink jet system. There is an alternative to the million dollar big name boxes I want to share this with you now.

The alternative is RISO. RISO has been manufacturing printing machines for over 70 years. More recently, RISO has been marketing their fully digital INK JET production press for fifteen years. Now in its sixth generation, the newest RISO ink jet production press is amazing.  Here are some statistics.

Volume

The monthly volume on the RISO digital production presses can range from 500,000 to two million letter size images per month. The speed range is 90 ppm to 320 pages per minute, which is 19,200, five over five, letter size images per hour. RISO achieves the 320 ppm by using two print engines in series with a perfecting unit in between the two print engines. This configuration is similar to a two tower offset press except RISO prints five over five colors, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and Gray. How much more printing could you produce in a day, a week or a month if you could print 320 pages per minute?

Oil-based ink

The RISO ink jet uses an oil base ink that does not have the need for a dryer or fuser.  The lack of heat is a tremendous power savings, both in the initial cost of buildout and an energy savings every month for the life of the machine. The side benefits of not using heat to dry the paper is that the end product comes out flatter and is less likely to create static in the stock. Both are great attributes when the prints must be finished either inline or offline. All of the RISO ink jet production presses use 120VAC plugs. How simple can you get?

Options

The RISO has many options available, based on the needs of our customers. Inline finishers include a booklet maker/stapler/punch, a perfect binder or an envelope printer/inserter combination. A Fiery front end is also available. Additional options are the high capacity feeders and high capacity stackers. When the need arrives, RISO also offers a scanner/document feeder. If that is not enough, we at Print Technologies, Inc offer near line and offline finishing to fit about anyone’s needs.

Affordability

The answer is YES, you can afford a RISO. First, lets look at the capital expense. We offer a lease to own option on all of the RISO products. A typical lease is 60 months, five years. At the end of the lease, a typical customer will own the machine and continue to operate the RISO for and additional five years and beyond. Wouldn’t it be nice not to have lease payments, forever?

Part of the initial cost is the power requirements as I spoke of before. Not only is there a savings on the lack of additional power requirements, the RISO has a much smaller footprint compared to anything in its speed class. The last part of the power savings is that you will save on your power bills for the entire life of the RISO.

Less downtime

Next on the list showing how you can afford the RISO ink jet production press is less downtime compared to the toner based machines. Ink jet printing is known for its long life and minimal service requirements. As long as the RISO is maintained properly, you will have many, many years of production with minimal downtime. The low cost of labor and parts adds to the overall savings owning a RISO production press.

Supplies

This is my favorite part. We can do all inclusive cost per copy programs but in order for the cpc program to work for the dealer, the dealers need to pad the consumable costs to cover the worst case scenario. The best cpc program is one that allows you to by the RISO ink, as needed.  You only pay exactly for the ink that you use, not a penny more. No drums, no belts, no fusers to pay for. Full color prints with minimal color can cost under one third of a cent per copy. A typical average cost for a full color print can be under one cent per copy. This is the most honest way to maximize your profits. Pay for only the ink you use.

Is the RISO Production Press for you?

If you are tired of sending in those large checks every month to the leasing company and the large checks for your click charges, and never own the machine, the RISO is probably for you.  If you are tired of waiting for you printer/digital press be repaired, the RISO is probably for you. If you would like to go green and save on the environment while putting money back in your pocket by lowering your electric bill, the RISO might before you. If you would like to improve your bottom line, the RISO is for you.

The RISO may not be for everyone, but don’t you think it’s worth your time to look at the future of printing?