Solid Ink's Appeal Drives Colour Printer Growth

As more businesses convert from mono to colour printing Xerox is gearing up the production of its proprietary solid ink colour printers.

Xerox has now opened its US$24 million automated ink manufacturing plant in Portland, Oregon (USA) to serve growing demand for the company's latest generation of solid ink, which first became available last September when Xerox launched its Phaser 8860 colour printer and the Phaser 8860MFP colour multi-function system.

The factory fills 10,000 square feet of previously unused space and expands Xerox's production of solid ink by 10 times.

As the plant reaches full capacity, Xerox expects to add 20 employees to add to the 75 people that already work there.

Xerox claimed that the solid ink products feature a breakthrough in technology that for the first time makes colour printing as affordable as mono production.

Almost five years in development, the new crayon-like ink sticks have been developed to last longer than before.

It is claimed that by increasing the total number of colour pages the ink sticks produce, Xerox has reduced the price of colour printing.

When comparing the cost of the device and the ink, printing on the Phaser 8860 is half as expensive than using equivalent laser printers from other manufacturers.

The ink sticks are also said to produce 90 per cent less waste than comparable colour laser products and were designed to melt at a lower temperature, reducing energy consumption by 14 per cent.

Jim Rise, the vice president and general manager of Xerox's Solid Ink Business Unit, explained: "We have redefined colour printing with the advancements we've made in solid ink.

Known for its exceptional image quality and ability to print vibrant colours, solid ink was initially the preferred technology for graphic artists.

Now, we've taken it to a level where solid ink is the affordable, easy to use colour printer for businesses of any sort and size.

That's why we're investing in this new factory and our success in solid ink is really just getting started." The plant follows Xerox's opening in September of a US$60 million emulsion aggregation (EA) toner plant near Rochester, New York state (USA).

EA toner is claimed to produce sharper images than traditional laser printer toner and uses less toner per page.

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