Kodak has announced a new sheetfed digital press, the Nexfinity, based on its dry toner Nexpress platform, which I believe is the next generation Nexpress technology that was previewed at Drupa back in June 2016.
It largely seems to be an enhanced version of the existing Nexpress ZX, with the same five print units. It can run at up to 152 A4 ppm and handle standard sheets up to 356 x 520mm. It will take coated and uncoated media including standard offset stocks up to 457gsm as well as some synthetics. There’s an optional feeder, which is also available for the Nexpress ZX, that allows for sheets up to 1.2m and papers up to 610 microns.
It’s designed for a broad range of applications including direct mail, commercial print, publishing, and packaging. Kodak says that the Nexfinity can handle monthly volumes of over 1 million impressions.
It boasts a new high resolution and multi-bit LED writing system giving 1200 x 1200 dpi and 256 levels of exposure on the imaging cylinder. There are integrated processors in each of the LED writers to process image data in real time to correct images on the fly.
This takes advantage of Kodak’s new Dynamic Imaging Technology, which is a halftone screening system that applies algorithmic adjustments to specific areas of an image to optimize image quality and consistency based on the image content in each area. This should allow crisp text, hard lines, soft skin tones and beautiful skies to co-exist on the same page.
Chris Balls, general manager of equipment for Kodak Print Systems Division, commented: “With Nexfinity press, printers get a robust digital printing platform that delivers offset quality while driving down costs and equipping them with the flexibility and speed to handle an expansive range of applications for their customers, whether it’s an order for a few hundred or millions of impressions.”
Naturally, there’s a new front end that offers all the prepress functions you would expect, including imposing, trapping, color management, job specification and job management and reporting capabilities. It can make use of JDF and JMF to fit into automated workflows, such as Kodak’s own Prinergy.
There’s also a new Multi-Press workflow station that will allow a press operator to handle multiple jobs on up to four of these presses.
The Nexfinity has been beta tested at Fotofabriek in Groningen, Netherlands. Stephan de Vries, CEO at Fotofabriek, explains that the company is mainly known for producing photo books and albums, adding: “As the first printer in Europe to use the Nexfinity press, we are excited about the new applications we can offer. The Nexfinity press offers awesome quality, consistency and color uniformity that will allow even better products at more competitive pricing, with its long sheet option at 120cm, we will be able to expand our photo offering by making beautiful lay flat albums, and with the ability to run thicker substrates we see the possibility to add new products for the retail market, like boxes and cardboard signs.”
The Nexfinity should be available from spring 2018 in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe. Further details from Kodak.com.
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