- New ink production facility after doubling demand
- 1,200 Colorado installations worldwide
- Supply capability geared to the needs of the future
- Environmental aspects in building design
Canon has opened a new factory on its Innovation and Development Campus in Venlo, The Netherlands, for the central production of UV gel ink to meet growing market demand. More than 1,200 models of the Colorado roll-to-roll large format printer series have been installed by 2019, doubling the production volume of UV gel ink for this purpose last year.
Dirk Brouns, Vice President Large Format Graphics at Canon Production Printing, Venlo, explains: "Our customers worldwide already print an average of 15,000 m² per year on Colorado systems. We expect this volume to continue to grow. Some of our most powerful customers even exceed an annual production volume of 100,000 m². With our new ink plant, we can ensure delivery capability and support growing print volumes in this area now and in the future".
The new ink production centre, which has been fully operational since 1 December 2019, has an innovative workflow for processing the raw materials in several steps and in drums of 200 litres per colour. At the end of the automated production line, the ink is decanted into Canon UV gel ink bottles for immediate delivery.
"The new system is not only designed for large capacities, we have also placed great emphasis on sustainability. One focus was to increase energy savings by reusing cooling capacity from other production facilities on our campus. The use of a heat exchanger unit, which heats the cold air entering the building with the heat from the air leaving the production hall, also saves energy," says Rob Puts, Vice President Manufacturing and Logistics at Canon Production Printing.
The new UV gel ink production facility underlines Canon's continued commitment and growth ambitions in the roll-to-roll large format graphics market.
www.canon.de
