Kodak's Debuts New Line Of Prosper 6000 Digital Presses: 6000C, 6000P

Commentary by Mark Michelson, Editor-in-Chief

Describing the new production inkjet press series as “revolutionary,” and positioned to “blow open the market for higher end commercial inkjet printing,” Will Mansfield, Kodak’s director of marketing, Inkjet Printing Solutions, conducted a one-on-one conference call with me in advance of this week's Kodak Prosper 6000 series press introduction.

According to Mansfield, the Prosper 6000’s “clean-sheet press design” incorporates 20 patent-pending innovations that enable full-color inkjet output at production speeds up to 1,000 ft./min., making it the fastest continuous-feed, full-color inkjet press available. This redesign takes greater advantage of Kodak’s Stream continuous-inkjet technology, which heretofore had topped out at 650 ft./min. on the Prosper 5000XLi.

The Kodak Intelligent Print System (IPS) provides improved camera-based registration control and on-the-fly correction. A print artifact monitoring system detects streaks and jetting issues. A large diameter high grip, full-width nip drive; fixed position rollers; and air-assist turn bars enable improved color and front/back register, faster paper changeovers and easier operator maintenance. New nanotechnology, pigmented inks have also been developed for greater color gamut and durability.

Available this summer, the Prosper 6000C incorporates air-cooled near infrared dryers and internal chillers to enable high-speed printing of heavy ink-coverage, commercial jobs. And, since the press employs Kodak’s Stream continuous-inkjet technology, head life is independent of head usage, making it more cost-effective for high-ink coverage commercial work. Maximum speeds are 1,000 ft./min. when printing on newsprint, ground wood and coated matte stocks; 650 ft./min. on glossy substrates. Supporting web width capabilities of 8˝ to 25.5˝, the Prosper 6000C handles 42 gsm to 270 gsm substrates, including 12-pt. card stock.

Mansfield revealed that a yet unnamed large U.S. direct mail printer is running a Prosper 6000C as a beta site. He says that, for direct mail applications, for example, the Prosper 6000 provides up to a 30 percent lower total cost of ownership in comparison to toner-based, full-color digital printers. The 6000’s reproduction quality levels and glossy paper printing capabilities will also challenge more jobs that had previously been limited to offset press output.

Available later this fall, the Prosper 6000P is designed for publishing applications that typically use lighter weight papers and low-to-medium ink coverage. These include books, journals, manuals, transactional printing and solicitation direct mail. Substrate range is 42 gsm to 125 gsm. Speeds are 1,000 ft./min. when running newsprint, ground wood and coated matte grades; 325 ft./min. for glossy stocks.

The Prosper 6000 series is available with two paper paths based on ink coverage and drying requirements. The baseline path is suited for uncoated stocks and less than 20 percent ink coverage. Suitable products include transactional, mass-market books, letter solicitation direct mail and textbooks. The extended paper path configuration handles coated grades and higher ink coverage applications, such as high-end direct mail, teachers’ edition books, catalogs and newspapers.

The Prosper 6000 is available in a straight line (standard) configuration, as well as space-saving U and L shaped designs. It is driven by the Kodak 700 Print Manager front end and, when part of Kodak’s Unified Workflow, relies on Prinergy with Rules-Based Automation (RBA) and Web-to-print/customer portal compatibility that enable jobs to be sent automatically to the right output device.

New unwind and rewind options will be available from GSS, EMT and Hunkeler, and an auto splicer is also optional.

The Kodak Prosper 6000, and all the R&D that stands behind it, is a testament to Kodak’s resurgence and financial commitment to the high-speed production inkjet printing space. Kodak has now moved up a slot among its competitors in a long race with no clear winner in sight.

ROCHESTER, NY—Kodak continues to exceed industry standards in digital color print with the introduction of the Kodak Prosper 6000 presses (click on the video tab to the right to watch the B-roll video). With new innovations in transport, drying, and writing systems, combined with advanced press management technology, the Prosper 6000 presses are a completely new product offering that deliver high levels of reliability, print speed and application flexibility. These enhancements will empower customers in the book, commercial print and newspaper businesses, as well as print service providers of data-driven print applications such as direct mail and transaction with tools for success.

The Prosper 6000 presses are powered by an advanced Intelligent Print System (IPS) that continuously monitors, evaluates and adjusts operations to ensure exceptional quality output. With the improved IPS, the Prosper 6000 presses can monitor and instantly correct color registration, delivering enhanced registration performance. The 6000 press’s writing system runs on Kodak’s newly formulated nanotechnology inks, offering a greater color gamut and delivering print quality that rivals offset output on a wide range of uncoated, coated, and glossy papers.

Two Prosper 6000 Models for Business Agility
The Prosper 6000 presses will be made available in two models:

Kodak Prosper 6000C press, ideal for commercial print applications requiring high-ink laydowns.
Kodak Prosper 6000P press, designed specifically for publishing applications such as books and newspapers which typically use lightweight paper and low- to medium-ink laydowns.

Both Prosper 6000 presses print at speeds of up to 1,000 feet, or 300 meters, per minute on matted and uncoated papers with a duty cycle of 90 million A4 top quality pages per month—up to 2.5 times faster than the Kodak Prosper 5000XLi press. An enhanced drying capability allows heavy-weight glossy and silk stock to be printed on the Prosper 6000C press at 650 feet, or 200 meters, per minute.

"Today’s printers need tools that enable them to quickly respond to the needs of their customers, as well as the needs of the business," said Doug Edwards, president, Digital Printing and Enterprise, Eastman Kodak Co. "From book publishing to commercial and newspaper printing, the future of the industry will revolve around digital solutions. The Prosper 6000 presses deliver the highest industry performance coupled with quality approaching 200 lpi, allowing customers to increase agility so they can adapt to the changing demands of the business and better respond to their customers.”

Aligning with its commitment to sustainability, Kodak is focused on delivering imaging innovations to customers that provide greater product value while enabling them to achieve their own sustainability goals. With the combination of stellar quality, reliability, and industry-leading productivity, the Prosper 6000 presses produce saleable prints at a low cost per page; approaching $0.005/A4 in color consumable costs. The 6000 presses provide customers with long inkjet head life, high operational uptime, and fast job set-up and makeready time, helping them save both time and money.

Next-generation Printing
In today’s printing environment, businesses are investing in technologies that lay the foundation for future success. In book printing, printers are looking for ways to enhance revenue potential by shifting to profitable short-run jobs. These print-on-demand jobs reduce inventory costs and allow the printing of shorter runs on a just-in-time basis to meet specific orders. Kodak Prosper 6000 presses make it feasible and economical to print up to 200-lpi quality books at production run lengths of up to 3,000 copies. In addition it can produce millions of offset-like pages month after month and reduce costs associated with obsolescence and warehousing.

Printers in the commercial print space are looking to provide their customers with better response rates for mailings. Kodak Prosper 6000 presses can produce high-gloss targeted direct mail pieces for an average of 30 percent less than using electrophotographic (toner-based) systems. These economics deliver greater return on marketing investments, as well as improved efficiency and profitability for production runs of up to one million high-quality mail pieces.

Newspaper printers and publishers need to drive innovation and leverage technology to gain a competitive advantage. Kodak Prosper 6000 presses make it possible to reach new audiences more efficiently, while streamlining print runs and adapting print editions to target different readers. Digitally printed newspapers are the same size as offset versions and have the same look and feel, offering a high-quality appearance that is readily accepted by advertisers and readers. The 6000 presses allow multiple newspaper titles to be produced in very short runs. The right number of newspaper editions needed for each outlet can be produced with sufficiently high productivity for medium-sized markets: 15–20,000 newspapers.

Please visit www.kodak.com/go/6000 for additional assets and information including an animated video (you can also click on the YouTube video below)

To check out the Inside Story of Kodak Stream Inkjet Technology click here or click here to watch a YouTube video on the technology.

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Companies:
Eastman Kodak

Kodak Debuts Prosper 6000 Full-Color Inkjet Presses (With Commentary from Mark Michelson)