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A Healthy Balance

Ink and toner technologies advance to meet customer demand.

By Cassandra Carnes

A perfect print combines a number of elements. To keep costs down and meet customers’ expectations, it is important to consider consumables. Matching the right ink, toner, and media to a specific application is vital in producing quality output and managing shop profitability. How do you know you’re using the best technology for an application, the environment, and your bank account?

When deciding which device will best produce a job there are at least two points to consider, a customer’s expectations and the application. Although the perfect print can be elusive, forward thinking, utilizing the right equipment, and choosing the right materials will help achieve the desired output.

Focusing our attention on the elements of ink and toner, we asked industry experts to share their opinions. "The market is demanding reduced printing costs, increased printer productivity, and products that are better for the environment," says Mary Fromm, manager, Toner/Developer Manufacturing Group, Xerox Corporation. "Customers are also requesting printing systems that can improve their work processes and deliver a competitive advantage."

Mark Radogna, group product manager, Epson Profes-sional Imaging concurs, "Every year we see the standards for image quality, durability, consistency, and color stability expand. We realize that falling short on any of these needs directly impacts the bottom line for creative professionals—their livelihoods depend on it."

As manufacturers continuously raise the bar, you can bet customers will keep their expectations higher as well. Whether they are producing brochures, large format prints, or photo books, all print service providers should keep customer’s expectations in mind.

Inkjet vs. Toner: Let the Application Decide
In the digital print market, there is a strong need for both ink-jet and toner-based technologies. In fact, many manufacturers invest in both technologies to ensure all customer needs are met. Although most would agree that toner is the dominant technology in the digital production segment, inkjet is on the rise.

"The market demands features, functions, and value," says Ron Potesky, VP, corporate product marketing, Ricoh USA. "Most end-users are not as concerned with the underlying technology as they are with the capability that the device brings to their organization."

These capabilities come in the form of various applications. Before purchasing any type of digital printing device, it is important to consider what types of applications the organization typically runs. "The needs of the customer come first and our hope is to connect customers with the best product, regardless of the specific technology. As a result, not only can customers choose from a variety of individual printers, but also a variety of technologies depending on their preference and printing needs," says Ken Fleming, director, U.S. supplies marketing, Hewlett-Packard (HP) Imaging and Printing Group.

George Promis, VP of color solutions and technology alliances, InfoPrint Solutions Company, notes reasons for the popularity of toner. "Most major investments have taken place with toner technologies over the past 30 to 40 years. It’s a workable technology that people know how to use, even though it has a lot more movable parts and a lot of technical issues," he says.

Kodak believes toner-based, or dry ink, products have a future with digital production printers that are electrophotographic based. "This market has a double-digit growth rate over the next three years," say Charles Hura, worldwide product manager, NexPress Consumables, and Eric Wilson, director, product marketing, Inkjet Printing Solutions, Eastman Kodak Company. "Toner-based solutions will continue to provide a viable means for growth for print providers who are either getting into digital printing or trying to expand their offerings."

With toner in place and maturing with market demands, inkjet is stepping up to the plate. "When I talk with customers I always say, if you were a technologically-advanced being on a new planet comparing inkjet and toner, you would probably go hands down to inkjet. It’s simpler, less moving parts, less complex," says Promis. He notes that inkjet faced serious barriers in its early days, such as the cleanliness of inks, the clogging of heads, the quality of printheads, and high-yield print heads. "Over the last ten to 20 years those have started improving," he explains. "In the last four to five years they’ve started accelerating at a very rapid pace."

Technology means nothing if it is not the best choice for the application being produced. Some applications are better suited for toner, others inkjet. When it’s time to decide which device to use, purchase, or replace, the application must first be evaluated.

"In terms of coverage of a page and how much ink or toner you’re using on a page, at a certain point inkjet saturates the page too much. If you have low coverage, inkjet is much more cost-efficient. It is very application dependent —how much coverage you have on a page and what kind of paper or media you’re using. Today toner-based en-gines support a broader range of media. In time I think inkjet will."

As previously mentioned, thinking about the application is only one step, determining customer expectations is another. Expectations depend on a number or different factors, such as print segment, stock, and paper coverage. "Digital applications for the packaging and label market, for example, must meet expectations in terms of high productivity, consistent printing of solid and vibrant colors, and the reproduction of sharp lines to obtain readability of barcodes and small text," says Stefan Slembrouck, business manager, digital print solutions, Sun Chemical. "The ink must also perform as good as—if not better than—conventional inks in managing scuff and abrasion resistance, flaking, and fade."

Scott Prochaska, product manager, supplies, Videojet Technologies Inc., believes that inks designed for variable data applications have a huge future in the graphics because of their ability to address the many different needs of the market. "The stock the media companies are using today and the coatings they use to make the publications that much more impressive require higher performance inks," says Prochaska. "Everything from plain porous media up to varnish and other overcoats can be addressed through choosing the appropriate ink. A variable data printer supplier can recommend the most appropriate ink for virtually any application," he adds.

"For TransPromo and other inkjet applications, the demand for more durable print is on the rise," say Hura and Wilson. "The use of pigment inks increases image permanence and overall print performance."


Consumables for Every Application
Print manufacturers are always researching new ideas to improve digital print quality. Just in time for Drupa 2008, Kodak introduces the newest solution for its inkjet printing systems, Kodak Stream Inkjet Technology. This continuous inkjet system enables offset class quality, productivity, reliability, and cost with the full benefits of digital printing for high volume commercial applications. In a recent news release, the company states that it "serves as an entrée for continuous inkjet printing into commercial printers that want the benefits of variable data, short run, personalization, or versioning on their jobs traditionally produced using offset presses."

On the other hand, Xerox recently announced a new toner technology inno- vation that uses a flash-fuse method to enable color xerographic continuous form printers to achieve speeds of nearly 500 pages per minute (ppm). According to the company, the technology enables color xerographic continuous feed printers to achieve speeds of 493 images per minute in full color. By flashing a high-intensity Xenon light more than 2,000 times per second, Xerox printers fuse the color toner to a wide variety of paper and substrates without ever touching the paper. As a result, the fusing technology enables color continuous feed printing at speeds that rival B&W continuous feed printing while creating high quality images.

Recent launches from Kodak and Xerox are just a few of the latest market developments. Whether it’s advancements with ink or toner, manufacturers are busy improving the technology to meet customer demands.

For toner-based production printing on digital presses such as the image-PRESS C7000VP, Canon offers its Vivid Toner (V Toner). The oil-free toner utilizes exceptionally small particles—averaging 5.5 microns—and containing micro-dispersed wax so the toner fixes evenly and lays flat. This results in sharp, vivid, dense images and a smooth finish that looks and feels like offset printing. There are no 3-D or raised toner effects, which, the company states, means you won’t be able to tell where the toner begins and ends on the page.

HP’s ElectroInk—used with the Indigo presses—is liquid ink that combines electronic printing with liquid ink qualities. It contains charged pigmented particles in a liquid carrier. The company states that like other digital printing technologies, such as Liquid EP or xerography, ElectroInk enables digital printing by electrically controlling the location of the print particles. However, unlike Dry EP, ElectroInk enables very small particle size, and is supplied as a concentrated paste that is loaded into the press in tubular cartridges. Inside the press it is fed into ink supply tanks and diluted with oil, to form a fluid mixture of carrier liquid and colorant particles ready for printing.

In addition to Kodak Stream Inkjet Technology, Kodak is answering the market’s demand for differentiation with its clear dry ink that spot varnishes—placing a clear protective coat on prints or providing a glossy output with no differential gloss.

Konica Minolta touts its popular Simitri HD polymerized toner on all new lines of its MFP and laser printer models. "There’s an incredible market for inks and toners in the marketplace," states Kevin Kern, VP, marketing and product planning, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. "And Konica Minolta has been leading the evolution since 2000—the year Simitri started being produced." Compared to conventional pulverized toner, Simitri HD polymerized toner comes in fine, uniform particles.

Ricoh is a prime example of a print engine manufacturer and technology leader with a multi platform strategy. "Ricoh has been a leader in laser engine technology—toner based—for many years," states Potesky. "In fact, Ricoh was the first copier manufacturer to transition from an analog to digital product line as we recognized the benefits of multifunction use of what had been single function devices." Today Ricoh offers a robust line of both color and monochrome laser-based technologies.

A general trend in toner technology, according to Lode Deprez, VP, Toner & Developer Group, Xeikon/Punch Graphix, is particle size reduction combined with an increase in print resolution. This leads to benefits such as lower toner consumption and higher image quality. "However, the particle size reduction has a lower limit," says Deprez. "It is generally ac-cepted that one should not make toner with particle sizes lower than five to six microns, since the human body is not capable of blocking these particles."

The reduction of toner particle sizes is based on two major processes. The first produces toner particles through an extrusion and milling step. Toners produced with this process are called Traditionally Produced Toners (TPT). The other process makes and grows toner particles in solutions; toners produced through this process are labeled Chemically Produced Toners (CPT).

"Xeikon’s latest toner technology combines the advantages of both the TPT and CPT processes, while minimizing/eliminating their disadvantages," says Deprez. Xeikon’s Form Adapted (FA) dry toner technology utilizes a, "traditionally-produced chemical-looking toner particle," Deprez adds.

Xerox’s efforts on ink and toner align with the overall product directions, including developing products with features to meet the needs of all of their customers, reducing costs, and improving productivity. "The latest Xerox solid ink and toner designs will help Xerox provide the customer with new, more economical and environmentally friendly products," says Fromm. "The demand for Xerox-produced solid ink and emulsion aggregation toner continues to grow," she adds.

Thinking Green
The environment is a growing concern among manufacturers and consumers. Many vendors are taking specific steps towards printing technologies that are environmentally friendly. The following is just a snapshot of green ink toner initiatives from print engine manufacturers.

With digital printing, "users want to be sure that their printing process not only provides them the advantages of digital printing—such as just-in-time delivery, personalization, and stock reduction—but is also environmentally friendly," says Deprez. This means printing systems should minimize production waste, consume less energy than offset printing, produce no volatile organic compounds (VOC), and produce printed paper that can be recycled. "At the same time, the users expect the toners to be economical and have higher performance characteristics in terms of their light fastness, substrate adhesion, temperature resistance, and color gamut," Deprez adds.

In late 2007, HP made environmental strides by improving the manufacturing process for HP ElectroInks. Two of the company’s ElectroInk manufacturing facilities—plants based in Rehovot and Kiryat Gat, Israel—implemented a new particle grinding process that reduces the energy consumption in the manufacture of inks by up to 40 percent. The company plans to adopt the new, energy-efficient manufacturing process in a third ElectroInk plant in Signapore.

Kodak produces environmentally friendly dry inks for the NexPress. "Our dry inks are non-toxic and do not output any irritating odors," say Hura and Wilson. "There are no harmful compounds used or generated during the manufacture, use, clean-up, or disposal of dry inks." The cartridges are even recyclable, and the company recently made a major packaging change to reduce packaging materials, shipping weight, and waste at customers sites. "As we progress in our research into new dry inks, printing in an environmentally friendly way is a key priority at Kodak," add Hura and Wilson. Most of the industrial inkjet line is based on water-based inkjet technology. Ac-cording to Hura and Wilson, their continuous inkjet inks offer low VOC content and easier disposal compared to counterparts.

Grinding is unnecessary with Konica Minolta Simitri HD polymerized toner. "The manufacturing of polymerized toner requires at least 30 percent less energy consumption compared to conventional methods because, unlike with pulverized toner, grinding is unnecessary," states Kern. The elimination of the grinding process reduces the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted. In conjunction with an upgraded polymerized toner in 2006, Konica Minolta succeeded in reducing energy consumption during use by about 15 percent—on top of the energy saved during manufacturing.

Xeikon has always seen "green" as a way of working, thinking, and acting, "And this goes beyond offering the Xeikon ‘green’ FA-toner as a spot color!" says Deprez. "It is important to realize that ‘green’ and safe go hand-in-hand," he adds. "A testimony of our commitment to this philosophy is that Xeikon’s complete FA-toner range is FDA-approved for use in food packaging."

Xerox made significant commitments related to Green House Gas reduction. Both emulsion aggregation toner and solid inkjet-based products provide environmental advantages to traditional printing systems. The emulsion aggregation toner technology, which is protected by more than 300 patents, requires less energy to manufacture than traditional pulverized toner and generates less waste. And, with the Xerox cartridge-free solid ink technology, the ink sticks require minimal packaging, and generate less waste at the printing site than comparable laser printers.

In Conclusion
Deciding on inkjet or toner is an integral step towards meeting the print customer’s demand. There is a place for both ink and toner technologies in the future of digital print—and in a healthy environment—but which is right for you?

Mar2008, Digital Publishing Solutions
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