In June, Hopkins Printing officially placed Inca Digital’s newest wide format flatbed digital printing press, the Onset X, into production! Hopkins Printing’s Inca Onset X features robotic automation which helps make this digital wide format printer a true 24/7 production workhorse.
Our Inca Onset X is Hopkins Printing’s third Onset press after we purchased the Onset S20 in 2009 and the Onset Q40i in 2014. As technology rapidly changes throughout the digital printing market, each generation of Onset presses brings advances in industry leading color, speed, and quality.
We feel that the Inca Onset line continues to be the leading digital press that pairs unbelievable high speed with unsurpassed quality. In particular, our Onset X can print at a larger sheet size than ever before (63″x126″) and at speeds upwards of 128 beds/hour (over 7,000 ft2).
Inca makes this speed possible by using the extra redundancy of thousands of print nozzles under the hood, operating with up to 14 color channels. Our model in particular has two banks of CMYK plus two banks of LmLc color channels, which result in high speed from the double CMYK channels and an expanded color gamut from the light magenta (Lm) and light cyan (Lc) channels. Hopkins Printing’s Onset X has been customized to meet the needs of our Retail and POP display customers, featuring a perfect blend of high speed and a wide color gamut. Alternative digital flatbed printers don’t offer speed and color without sacrificing their quality.
We also elected to add automation to the Onset X in the form of a large robotic arm that works in conjunction with the printer. The robot arm is the most efficient method to load/unload press materials, reducing operating costs and passing those savings onto the client. Further, the robot can handle the wide variety of materials that Hopkins encounters daily within the retail and display printing industry – such as styrene, Sintra (EPVC), magnet, papers, foamboard, P/S vinyl, polycarbonate, and acrylic materials.
Why it matters to you, the client
First, our Onset X addition further demonstrates our commitment to our clients — we will always be looking to improve and get better. Hopkins is committed to constantly looking at the state of the industry and searching for the next great offering for our clients.
Secondly, the Onset X will provide our clients with the ultra high quality graphics that they have become accustomed to receiving, but now with faster turnaround times and more competitive pricing on larger jobs. Improving our printing speed by over 200% directly improves our ‘burst’ capacity without any tradeoff in quality. This ensures that we can say ‘yes’ to your large jobs and aggressive timeframes. This device, along with the two Zund D3 dual beam finishing systems that Hopkins Printing integrated in 2017, have greatly expanded the operational efficiency of our facility.
Finally, adding the Inca Onset X further increases our reliability. As digital printing presses age, they lose their tolerances and become less reliable with unexpected downtime – and never at opportune times.
Hopkins continues to invest in state-of-the-art equipment and processes. We’re excited to see the positive effect this addition will have on our customers. We fully anticipate our clients will see fast lead times, more cost savings and the same great quality that they have always received.
Contact Hopkins Printing today to discover how we can print your dream products into reality.
If you’re not a current customer, check us out at www.hopkinsprinting.com or give us a call at 847-741-4411.
You can also send us a file and we’ll provide a prototype to compare to your current vendor! Nothing beats seeing the Hopkins difference!
