Over 1000 Océ Colorado 1640 and 1650 installed globally

Placements of the Colorado printers are growing rapidly and each installation is producing higher volumes than initially forecast, with 16% of customers printing more than 25,000 square metres per year on each Colorado device.

Dirk Brouns, Vice President Large Format Graphics, Océ Technologies, a Canon Company comments on the market interest for both models: “We‘re working in a dynamic market with constantly evolving application requirements. Our R&D philosophy is to listen and work closely with our customers and partners to focus our innovation on actual customer demand. After the initial success of the Colorado 1640, we identified further growth opportunities for customers who can benefit from a matte finish and a more flexible ink. With both the 1640 and the 1650 solutions in the Colorado family, we can now meet any roll-to-roll print need.”

He continues, “Our customers are reaping the rewards of our strategic innovation programme, in which we have focused on developing our own large format print engine, our own unique UVgel ink and our own print heads. As one of the few digital printer manufacturers capable of doing this, we’ve created an optimised production technology that perfectly meets the needs of the market.”

Earlier this year, the Colorado 1650 was introduced as the second member of the Colorado family, with a new flexible ink for customers producing applications that need to be folded, wrapped or bent such as framed canvasses, soft signage, front- and back-lit graphics, surface décor applications such as flexible wall coverings, and outdoor applications including vehicle graphics. The newer model also features unique FLX finish technology. This enables customers to choose between gloss or matte effects without the need to change ink or media, offering an even wider range of applications.

Feedback from Colorado 1640 users underlines the printer‘s extreme productivity and suitability for applications where robust short-term graphics are needed without lamination.

In Australia customers are expressing how impressed they are with the Colorado family.

Paul Nevell, General Manager at Trannys in Sydney, comments “We are very impressed with the way the Colorado prints to polyester backlit film. We are pleased with the way the Colorado prints self-adhesive vinyl at a rate of 40m2 per hour. Staggering!”

Martin Millington, Managing Director at Advance Visual in Perth, says: “The decision to partner with Océ has definitely been one of the best I’ve ever made – it’s revolutionised our business. The Colorado, in particular, is amazing. Its speed, its cost-effectiveness, the wide colour gamut, the finish – it’s a real game-changer.”

Eurorpean customers Bartosz Swiderski, owner at graphic art production studio Studio Bell (Poland) and  Jeffrey Vermaat, co-owner at De Resolutie in The Netherlands  also comment on the printers.

“The Colorado 1640 is a very efficient machine — the approximate speed of 40 m•/hour is more than four times higher than we have been able to offer our customers before. This means that instead of printing one wall covering project for an office customer within four days, I can print it now within one day,” says Bartosz.

“We look for printers that allow us to combine different materials so we can develop new products and concepts - that's our strength,” explains Jeffrey. “We can print a gloss effect on matte papers, in colour, and a matte effect on glossy media. These applications bring many new business opportunities for us in interior design.”

In the US, Constantin Serban, Director of Graphics Technologies at The Freeman Company has recently expanded his Colorado fleet and now has 10 Colorado 1640 devices and 10 Colorado 1650s.

 During the PRINTING United 2019 exhibition, The Freeman Company was named the Leading Customer 2019 by Canon, having the most Colorado printers installed worldwide.