Konica Minolta unveils inkjet textile single-pass printer

Konica Minolta today launched gamechanging digital technology at the international machinery exhibition ITMA in Milan, Italy, that includes a flagship inkjet textile single-pass printer.
Called NASSENGER SP-1, the ultra high-speed digital textile printer has become a reality through Konica Minolta?s world-renowned expertise in developing and producing all printheads, printing mechanisms and inks for inkjet textile printers.

The model has been launched in response to the increasing use of digital on-demand printing for textiles where reducing downtime between jobs has become critical. Another factor has been greater environmental awareness to reduce effluent and the use of fuels.

Printing in the single-pass system is straight on to fabric that is fed under a fixed print unit at the speed of a screen printing machine. NASSENGER SP-1 technology is being showcased on Konica Minolta´s Stand C108 in Hall 18 at ITMA from 13-19 November. Konica Minolta guests and customers are also being transported to its newly-opened ´5million Demo and Training Centre in Bregnano, near Milan, for live demonstrations of the printer.

At ITMA, Konica Minolta has the world´s first showing of two new scan-type high- and medium-speed inkjet textile systems, NASSENGER 10 NASSENGER 8. These extend its lineup of high-resolution, high productivity inkjet textile printers and give customers a wider range of options to best suit their business needs.

The high-productivity NASSENGER 10 has a print speed of 580 sq m / hour that can replace a conventional flat screen printing machine, says Konica Minolta. NASSENGER 8 meets a variety of medium-volume printing needs ranging from sample printing to low-volume printing. With a print speed of 240 sq m / hour, this model is an ?ideal successor´ to a conventional inkjet textile printer.

Both systems have various printing modes ranging from high productivity to high image quality through to high density / high colour penetration mode. They are equipped with newly-developed inkjet printheads, which is also used in the NASSENGER SP-1.

With its brand proposition, ´Giving Shape to Ideas´, Konica Minolta remains firmly committed to innovations in the manufacturing process in the textile market by offering higher-performance, environmentally friendly products, and to helping customers enhance their corporate value, while joining the global effort to reduce environmental threats.

Akiyoshi Ohno, Konica Minolta Inkjet Division former President and now Senior Adviser, said: ´In the global textile market, there are ever-increasing demands for low-volume high-mix production to cope with shorter lead times, improved print quality, saving resources and environmental considerations.

´Reducing downtime is critical. Our new systems do this and open up huge new opportunities for customers, who share our belief that this is gamechanging technology. As an example, while screen printing machines with print speeds of 2000-3000 sq m / hour are used for high-volume printing in most cases, users of these machines are now calling for inkjet textile printers with the print speed of screen printing machines. NASSENGER SP-1 was developed to meet the needs of these users in the fast-emerging market of textile printing.´

Enrico Verga, Chief Operating Officer for Konica Minolta IJ Textile Europe, said: ´Visitors to our new innovation centre have been amazed at the performance capabilities of our new NASSENGER systems, and the show visitors to our stand and innovation centre will be similarly impressed.

¨We know there will be an enormous amount of interest on our stand at ITMA.¨