Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa expands into production print market, with the launch the TASKalfa Pro 15000c. This development is the next step in Kyocera’s diversification, building on a wealth of experience in the creation of inkjet printhead technology.

Kyocera’s longstanding heritage and expertise in the printing industry, where their collection of laser MFPs and printers are among the most respected in the market, now moves into the production printing domain with their latest product. The device offers low maintenance, high efficiency and low energy consumption, and provides solutions in an economical way for printing in high quantities.

“This is a landmark moment for Kyocera, bringing our decades of experience into the production print sector. This production device provides companies of all sizes with an unrivalled return on investment thanks to its 150 pages per minute and market-leading reliability,” says Greg Griffith, Hardware Product Manager at Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa.

Inkjet technology is revolutionising the production print market, with Smithers Pira forecasting that it will drive growth for digital print through 2023 and beyond. The dramatic rise of inkjet can be put down to several key factors including its unique feature set and changing consumer trends.

Whilst this is the first Kyocera device featuring inkjet technology, the company launched its inkjet printhead business in April 2008 and has been successfully producing industry-leading OEM inkjet printheads since then. This product launch sees Kyocera retain many of the key features that have made the brand so successful and move them into a whole new area of business. One such aspect is the device’s ease-of-maintenance. Few moving parts reduces the risk of breakdown and they can mostly be easily replaced by users themselves, eliminating the need for a technician visit. This provides reliability for companies who require consistency from their printing services due to the high quantities of print demanded from each production job.

Additionally, the TASKalfa Pro 15000c can enhance the productivity of any print job, with a warm-up time of less than 120 seconds and a time to first print of 5.5 seconds or less. This offers improved agility and flexibility to companies who cannot afford to wait for their print output. When combined with simple integration into existing workflows, the device can ensure that users always find a way to meet even the most demanding of deadlines, without compromising on quality, control or costs.

“The product offers more than just quality, but also reliability and environmental sustainability, which is at the heart of Kyocera’s philosophy. The device operates at 6.3 KwH/week for Typical Electricity Consumption (TEC), representing one of the best energy efficient products in this category on the market. Focused on optimising energy usage as much as possible, the TASKalfa Pro 15000c maintains Kyocera’s focus on reducing environmental impact at the same time as cost,” Griffith added.

Griffith says that customers in the production printing domain are very knowledgeable and will look carefully at what technology can deliver. To this end, Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa has invested in redesigning their showroom to allow interested parties to view and test the device.

“We are upbeat about the opportunities in South Africa. Companies are growing increasingly conscious of the need to improve security by internalising print services, particularly in sectors such as banking, healthcare, utilities and public services. In addition to this, as the direct mail market becomes more digital and personalised with shorter print runs, printers will need to offer high quality, fast output at a considerably lower cost. The TASKalfa Pro 15000c was designed to address these needs.” concludes Griffith.

Did you know:

* Kyocera launched its inkjet printhead business in April 2008. By optimising its broad knowledge and technology base as a global leader in fine ceramic products, the company created the world’s fastest “drop-on-demand” inkjet printhead that enables high-speed, high-definition and high-reliability inkjet printing.

* The TASKalfa Pro 15000c features the piezo actuator, a core component in inkjet printheads, which is based on Kyocera’s technical expertise in fine ceramics and this has been cultivated ever since the company was established in 1959