Canon Launches ProStream 2000 series of High-speed, Web-Fed Inkjet Printers for the Commercial Print and Business Communications Markets, and new flagship model ProStream 3160

Drupa Media Conference, Düsseldorf, Germany, 09.00h CET 26th March 2024 – Canon today announces the launch of the ProStream 2000, a new series of web-fed inkjet presses for commercial print and business communications service providers looking for an especially attractive cost/performance ratio for applications on media up to 150gsm and on uncoated papers. Printing at up to 133m/min on standard offset coated, uncoated and inkjet optimised media from 28gsm up to 150gsm, the ProStream 2000 series offers a better cost/performance ratio and is 20% shorter than the ProStream 3000. It also consumes 10% less energy¹ than the ProStream 1800.

Also announced today is the new ProStream 3160, the 160m/min flagship model of the ProStream 3000 series. A new polymer pigment ink set, also included with the ProStream 2000 series, ensures high, consistent offset-like print quality at rated speed, while extending the media grammage/speed range. Both the ProStream 2000 series and the ProStream 3160 enable ultra-fast production, allowing print businesses to move even higher volumes of work from offset and legacy technologies.

The new ProStream 2000 series is the ideal inkjet investment choice for general and specialised commercial print service providers, who are predominantly producing high-quality applications on lower weight media or on a wide range of media types and weights and want to migrate high-volume work from offset to digital. Papers up to 300 gsm are supported at reduced speed. The ProStream 2000 series will equally appeal to book printers, who principally produce applications on uncoated media but are looking to diversify into coated media, as well as to business communications companies that want to expand beyond traditional print jobs, such as reports, invoices and statements, to premium direct mail, brochures and newsletters through a cost-efficient and flexible means of production.

The new series comprises two models – the 80m per minute ProStream 2080 and the 133m per minute ProStream 2133 – and can print duplex up to 1,790 four-colour A4 impressions per minute or 11,300 B2 sheets per hour, equating to 58 million A4 impressions per month, on web widths up to 558mm.

Optimal print and application quality at all speeds is delivered with native 1200 dpi piezo drop-on-demand print heads and Canon Smart ColorGrip paper conditioning solution, together with the new polymer pigment ink set for extended colour gamut (brighter reds and darker blacks), superior abrasion resistance and applications ready for gloss varnish embellishment. Canon’s Inline Quality Control, a high-performance camera system, which checks print quality and automatically makes changes in real time, also helps to assure consistent quality from the first page to the last. In addition, the ProStream 2000 series incorporates systems that ensure a stable, continuous ink supply when printing higher ink coverage at high speed, for a constant, uniform print quality. That output quality has also been independently validated by the Fogra Research Institute for Media Technologies to the highest ‘A’ standard of its FOGRA51 certification.

Demonstrating Canon’s focus on reducing the environmental footprint of its products and operations, the ProStream 2000 series requires a 29% lower power supply and produces 36% lower exhaust volumes and heat emissions than its predecessor ProStream 1000 series while retaining the same speed/media grammage range. As with the ProStream 3000, the system is highly automated – including automatic splice handling – for minimal waste and ease of use, while the power supply of the 2000 series has also been relocated to improve accessibility for ease and speed of servicing.

Hans Schmidbauer, Director, Marketing & Innovation, Commercial Print, Canon EMEA, comments, “Canon is constantly looking to deliver new technologies that offer our customers maximum value in terms of a return on their investment and enable them to adapt and succeed in changing market conditions. In the case of ProStream, the advances we’ve introduced in recent years have given print businesses exceptional quality, productivity and cost efficiency for high volumes of on-demand applications on multiple media types and weights. And with the introduction of the 160-metres-per-minute ProStream 3160, we’re further improving the breakeven point, compared with offset, to offer customers even greater cost efficiency.

“We understand that one size doesn’t fit all and, with the launch of the new ProStream 2000 series, we now have a seamless portfolio of inkjet production presses, both sheet- and web-fed, that can meet the individual needs, in terms of applications and volumes, of every general commercial and online printer, book producer, photo product specialist and business communication printer. With its smaller footprint, the ProStream 2000 series offers an economical cost/performance ratio for applications printed on lighter papers, whether coated or uncoated, and makes the benefits of ProStream accessible to a wider commercial print audience. Similarly, the ProStream 2000 series is a viable proposition for business communication companies looking for a flexible solution that will enable them to diversify into more premium products printed on coated stocks or bring in-house such products that they previously had to outsource.”

The ProStream 2000 series will make its global debut at drupa (28^th May – 7^th June 2024), Düsseldorf, Germany), where it will be exhibited in a live production workflow with a broad range of print applications.

Both the new ProStream 2000 series and the ProStream 3160 are immediately available directly from Canon.

To find out more about the Canon ProStream 2000 series, go to: https://www.canon.co.uk/business/products/production-printers/digital-presses/prostream-2000-series/

To find out more about the Canon ProStream 3160, go to: https://www.canon.co.uk/business/products/production-printers/digital-presses/prostream-3000-series/