Gongzheng Pro-A1060C
By Ed Avis
Memjet inkjet heads are found in Canon ColorWave 810/910 printers and Xerox IJP 2000 printers, but a new Memjet-driven printer may be on the horizon. Peter Barton, formerly sales director (until 2015) for RTI in Europe, is working on importing the Memjet-driven Pro-A1830 printer from Gongzheng, a Chinese printer manufacturer.
Barton, whose company is called Reprocad, says the Pro-A1830 is 25 percent less expensive than the Vortex printer, which was a Memjet-driven printer made by RTI until that company went out of business earlier this year. The Pro-A1830 has an end-user list price of around $70,000.
“The Pro-A1830 has only been marketed in Asia so far, and has sold about 100 machines there, so there is a good, stable, user base,” Barton says.
Barton is working to formalize support agreements in the United States, to ensure that all aspects of support, training, consumable supply, etc. are handled professionally, but otherwise the printer could be shipped here right now, he says.
Barton, who worked for Océ in the UK for 10 years, is also trying to introduce a line of monochrome piezo inkjet printers made by Gongzheng to Europe and the United States. These range from the Pro-A4000P, which cranks out 1,500 size A1 prints (A1 is approximately a D-size print) per hour, to the Pro-M510D, which prints 350 A1s per hour. The advantages of these systems are the use of pigmented ink and “lifetime” piezo printheads, leading to a reduced cost per square foot.
If you are interested in learning more about these printers, contact Barton at peter.barton@reprocad.co.uk