It's no secret that Canon is a major player in the printer sector, producing everything from tiny portable printers, through some of the best photo printers, right up to serious large format printers for enthusiasts and galleries. But did you know Canon also makes gargantuan, industrial printers? Turns out it does, and there's a new offering, the ProStream 3000 Series.
Intended for use by industrial printers, including online photo printing services, the machine can be used for printing postcards, posters, calendars, photobooks and much, much more. In fact, 'more' really is the right word, as the top-of-the-range ProStream 3133 is so named as it's capable of printing a barely-believable 133 meters per minute, on paper widths up to 558mm and side lengths up to 1524mm. Alternatively, the ProStream will also churn out 11,300 B2-sized (500×707 mm) sheets per minute, or 1790 A4 sheets per minute, which equates to an incredible 58 million A4 sheets per month!
The machine isn't exactly fussy about the grade of paper you load it with, as it'll print on a wide variety of substrates including coated, uncoated and inkjet-optimized paper. Paper weights of up to 300gsm are supported, though print speed must be reduced when printing on heavyweight paper.
Print quality is rated at 1,200 dpi, utilising piezo drop-on-demand print heads in combination with water-based Polymer pigment inks. Then there's the clever print optimization, like Smart ColorGrip, which conditions the paper so certain areas can be customised for stronger or weaker ink coverage. Cameras are also on hand to automatically keep tabs on print quality, reducing the need for operator intervention.
When printing in such large volumes, ensuring each printout is sufficiently dry is a must. Therefore the ProStream 3000 uses a controlled air flow at all stages of the paper run to protect each printout and dry it evenly.
"Customers around the world already have the ProStream's exceptional productivity for everything from high-margin books to Premium direct mail production, learned to appreciate - while benefiting from minimal Waste and very long operating times."
Jennifer Kolloczek, European Planning, Marketing & Innovation Senior Director, Production Print at Canon Europe
According to Canon, the new ProStream 3000 printers are available now. There's no mention of price, but you can safely assume it'll cost an arm and a leg, and likely your remaining limbs and several internal organs.
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