Darwill Installs Oce ColorStream 3500 Inkjet Printing System

TRUMBULL, Conn., Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Oce, a Canon Group Company and an international leader in digital document management, today announced that print provider Darwill has installed the Oce ColorStream® 3500 Inkjet Printing System.

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The move is already paying back for the Hillside, Illinois-based print and graphic communications company. "We're getting work we wouldn't have been considered for before," said Troy Van Dyke, Darwill co-owner and VP of sales and marketing. "It's definitely getting us into more sophisticated, longer run jobs and campaigns."

Founded in 1951, Darwill has made a name for itself in direct mail by continually changing, adapting and adding services to meet the evolving needs of its customers. An early adopter of digital printing technologies, the company continues to look for ways to differentiate and add value.

That mindset is precisely what prompted Darwill's purchase of the Oce ColorStream 3500 system. Previously, the company relied on pre-printed shells to add personalization to direct mail for its customers in retail, travel and higher education. "Our lines kept increasing," said Troy Van Dyke, Darwill co-owner and VP of sales and marketing. "We saw that the inkjet technology would help us streamline that whole operation, get rid of inventory and give us more flexibility with campaigns and personalization," he said. "The Oce ColorStream 3500 system makes our large scale production much more manageable now, and the system offers a scalable solution as our business grows."

Flexibility advantage

Print providers like Darwill are increasingly choosing the Oce ColorStream 3500 system for versatility and performance in book publishing and transactional direct mail applications, according to Michael Poulin, Oce Product Marketing Manager. "The greatest benefit with the Oce ColorStream 3500 system is its flexibility," he said. "It allows you to easily switch from a monochrome system to a full-color system. That simplifies the transition from pre-printed shells to more sophisticated documents with variable personalization and color."

"The flexibility of the system makes it ideal for companies that want to extend their range of print services and grow their businesses," said Francis A. McMahon, Vice President, Marketing, Production Printing Systems division of Oce North America. "With the Oce ColorStream 3500 system, Darwill will have the opportunity to expand their capabilities into highly targeted direct mail and transpromo, while delivering more value-added services to customers through high-speed full-color inkjet printing."

The Oce ColorStream 3500 system prints at 246 feet per minute with a maximum print width of 21.25". That translates to 536 letter images per minute for a single unit or 1073 letter images per minute for a twin configuration – all at high-resolution, vivid full-color, and maximum monthly print volumes ranging from 16 million to 33 million letter images.

White paper in, full-color product out

The real benefit is for Darwill's customers. "One of the big things is improving response rates," said Van Dyke. "Before we could only print a phone number in black. Now, we can put store logos in color and we can produce shorter run campaigns, which helps our customers be more targeted and nimble in their marketing efforts."

For Mark Pageau, Director of Sales at Darwill, it's all about giving customers increased flexibility with messaging and time to market. "This gives them the advantage of doing variable and graphics in any color they would like," he said. "Customers no longer have to be restricted by pre-printed rolls. They can put something into play, and we can be printing it as soon as the job is approved."

Van Dyke sums it up, "We really can't do what we want to do without the Oce ColorStream 3500 system."

About the Oce ColorStream 3500 Inkjet Printing System

The Oce ColorStream 3500 inkjet printing system was unveiled at Canon Expo in Tokyo in November 2010. The high-speed, high-quality, full-color inkjet printer simplifies the transition from monochrome to full-color or even five or six colors. It offers productivity and flexibility for high-speed color and monochrome production of transaction, transpromo, direct mail, book and manual applications. Industry-leading reliability, print quality and media range are testaments to Oce DigiDot® multilevel dot modulation technology.

Enhanced usability and productivity is made possible by a combination of unique features:

• HeadSafe technology helps prevent nozzle clogging and minimizes lengthy purging processes. The ability to transition between monochrome-only and full-color printing promotes higher uptime and productivity levels.
• Using passive RFID technology, the Oce InkSafe® feature monitors both the proper placement of the ink containers in the press and the ink's shelf-life.
• The Oce ColorStream 3500 inkjet printing system provides consistent high-quality printing. The ability to print at varying speeds during ramp-up acceleration and ramp-down deceleration phases and to stop and restart without paper waste, increases operational efficiency and decreases turn-around time.

The Oce ColorStream 3500 inkjet printing system provides a modular offering in various single and twin configurations from monochrome to full-color up to six color including MICR and spot colors. The production and media flexibility contribute to a future-proof solution that simplifies the transition of applications and business models to more sophisticated documents with variable personalization and smarter communication in color.

About Darwill

Founded in 1951, Darwill is a print and graphic communications company based in Hillside, Illinois. The company provides creative solutions to preparing, printing and distributing communication materials to clients that include higher education, retail, travel, associations and non-profits. The company has been recognized as one of Diversity.com's top 500 diversity-owned businesses and on Crain's Chicago Business list of largest women-owned firms. For more information, visit www.darwill.com.

About Oce

Oce is one of the leading providers of document management and printing for professionals. The Oce offering includes office printing and copying systems, high speed digital production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and color display graphics. Oce is also a foremost supplier of document management outsourcing. Many of the Fortune Global 500 companies and leading commercial printers are Oce customers. The company was founded in 1877. With headquarters in Venlo, The Netherlands, Oce is active in over 100 countries and employs more than 20,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in financial 2010 amounted to approximately euro 2.7 billion. Oce is listed on Euronext in Amsterdam. For more information visit www.oceproductionprinting.com.

Oce North America is headquartered in Trumbull, CT, with additional business units in Chicago, IL and Boca Raton, FL. North America represents 34% of Oce's worldwide revenues, and employment is over 8,000. For more information about Oce North America, visit www.oceproductionprinting.com. Outside the U.S., consult http://global.oce.com.

Oce and Canon: Stronger together

In 2010 Oce joined the Canon Group of companies with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, to create the global leader in the printing industry. Canon develops, manufactures and markets a growing line up of copying machines, printers, cameras, optical and other products that meet a diverse range of customer needs. The Canon Group comprises over 197,000 people worldwide. Global net sales in 2010 were more than US $45 billion. For more information visit www.canon.com.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2010+, with global revenues of more than US $45 billion and is listed as number five in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies 2011 list. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei – "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" – Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.

+Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Oce North America