Print Innovation Asia
- Nov 2, 2018

New Zealand’s Benefitz installs country’s first Fuji Xerox Iridesse Production Press

One of the country’s top print, signage, design and web companies, Benefitz, has become one of the first in New Zealand to install the Fuji Xerox Iridesse production press.

Based on Auckland’s North Shore, Benefitz is one of the country’s top print, signage, design and web companies. Benefitz has a reputation as an early adopter of new technology, so the Iridesse installation comes as no surprise. As a customer of Fuji Xerox for over two decades, Benefitz has consistently counted as one of the first to the market with the manufacturer’s new printing technology.

Aidan Bennett, managing director of Benefitz, said: “We are proud to be a Premium Partner of Fuji Xerox New Zealand. The relationship allows us to be at the forefront of technology, ensuring we are providing high quality and innovative solutions for our customers.”

He pointed out that the Fuji Xerox Iridesse Production Press offers massive advantages in quality and capability over the technology it has replaced. Its six colour print engine offers four process colours plus specialty dry ink with offset-like metallic colours. It also has white and clear inks.

“The introduction of the Iridesse has seen massive advancements in overall print quality and we are able to offer our customers many new digital print options,” Bennett added.

“The ability to print white  is huge, as well as the added ‘special’ metallic colours in addition to clear, and being able to print on up to 400gsm thick card. Our digital team is fizzing about the possibilities.”

Benefitz fittingly installed the new machine during the company’s 30th birthday celebration month.

“Fuji Xerox is incredibly proud to have had  a business partnership with Benefitz for over 20 years,” said Peter Thomas, managing director of Fuji Xerox New Zealand.

"We are also very excited to be delivering our new Iridesse digital press to Benefitz this month. We both believe that this new technology platform will allow Benefitz to enhance its position as one of New Zealand’s premier businesses in its field.”

The Iridesse press achieves the quality advancements with its Super EA Eco dry ink. For higher image quality, this new ink has a high viscoelasticity and its particle size has shrunk by 20 per cent. This smaller particle size means greater smoothness and better quality of fine detail with improved dot reproducibility.

The toner has a lower melt point and a reduced viscosity which uses less heat, therefore saving power. Thicker substrates will travel through the machine faster.

Each toner cartridge can produce more printed pages, so operators can expect longer times for continuous printing, owing to less replacement frequency.

The designers have made the  PC user interface vertical and attached the LCD monitor with a dedicated arm. Monitor options are 38cm to 60cm. The operator can move the monitor’s arm back and forth and around, and also adjust its height. The screen rotates 180 degrees, allowing the operator to check it screen from the back side.

The new Iridesse press joins the range of digital solutions at Benefitz, which includes the iGen press.

Fuji Xerox Iridesse Production Press broadens the possibilities for print

Fuji Xerox sees endless possibilities for Benefitz to take advantage of the Iridesse’s capabilities. The machine’s large range of applications can expand the market for printed products.

The Iridesse prints six colours at 120 pages per minute on stock rated from 52 to 400gsm. It is able to produce banner sheets of 729mm (two-sided) and 1200mm (one-sided) and it can handle a range of media from plain and coated paper to variations of specialty paper (coloured paper, aluminised paper, films, envelopes, embossed paper, and so on). The paper weight for auto duplexing is 360gsm.

It offers CMYK plus two specialty colour stations and a range of specialty dry inks (Gold, Silver, Clear and White), along with metallic effects with a mixture of gold/silver and Pantone metallic as well as enhanced finishing with three-sided trimming and creasing. Users can output multiple special colours in one pass, such as simultaneous printing of gold and silver.

The Fuji Xerox Iridesse Production Press at a glance:

• Six colour print engine

• Specialty dry ink realises offset- like metallic colours – Gold, Silver

• Also prints White dry ink and Clear dry ink

• Resolution 1200x1200dpi using 10-bit RIP rendering

• Sheet size up to of 729mm or 1200mm

• Enables printing on a wide range of stocks, from 52 to 400gsm