The system, which combines major advances in inkjet and paper-handling technologies, will be showcased in Hall 8b, stand C10 with demonstrations of the Elan 500 powered by Memjet. A news conference is scheduled for May 4 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 01 Congress Center Dusseldorf (CCD-South). “With Elan we are introducing a product line that has the potential not only to penetrate important segments of the market but to reshape them,” said Dieter Schilling, president and chief executive officer of Delphax. “We believe that Elan’s combination of price, sheet-fed configuration and performance will make versatile high-quality color printing affordable—and profitable—for a much wider range of commercial printers than is the case today.”

Powered by Memjet technologies, Elan 500 is a robust production class sheet-fed print system offering full color and 1600 dpi print quality at speeds of up to 500 impressions per minute. Delphax engineers have integrated multiple Memjet printheads with a unique Delphax-designed paper path utilizing the company’s patented SST transport technology to create an unprecedented combination of speed, versatility, affordability and high quality for color sheet-fed and on-demand inkjet production.


“The system’s capabilities have been shaped by our market research, including extensive customer input, on the production and competitive pressures faced by commercial printers today,” Schilling said. “The result is innovation that not only sets a new speed benchmark for inkjet technology in a sheet-fed configuration, but will also allow Delphax to market these systems at substantially lower prices than the competition.”


The Elan digital front end (DFE) uses the Adobe PDF document format for both publishing and variable workflow, driven by Delphax’s unique scalable RIP architecture. The Elan DFE allows simple and cost-effective integration into any workflow solution without binding the customer to proprietary systems or requiring separate software solutions for each application type. An intuitive touch-screen interface simplifies the operator experience, keeping input options clear and uncomplicated. Comprehensive reporting systems provide detailed metrics and permit real-time analysis of system performance.


Maximum sheet size is 18 x 25.2 inches (SRA2 - 450 x 640 mm); minimum sheet size – 8 x 8 inches (203.2 x 203.2 mm). The system prints on a wide range of substrates, from 60 to 350 gsm. Patent-pending in-line primer capability is an option for enhancing substrate compatibility. The system also offers up to two spot colors. Industry certified Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) is offered for security and direct mail printing and other personalized applications.


Elan is Delphax’s response to a growing customer demand for more efficient, versatile and affordable color printing equipment, and it promises to be ideal for commercial print-on-demand challenges in direct mail, transpromotional, billing, statements and book or manual publishing. Its variable data and MICR capability are also expected to make Elan attractive to Delphax’s established security printing market. Customer beta testing is scheduled to begin later this year.


A pioneer in digital print production, Delphax has captured the largest worldwide market share in check-printing applications, developing a highly regarded global customer-service and support organization in the process.


“We are positioning Elan to have a much broader market appeal than we could ask from our existing monochrome products,” Schilling said. “It represents an entirely new category of digital print technology and offers a combination of price and performance that is unmatched today and long awaited by the market.”