Choosing a wide format printer & plotter

It is not an easy task to choose a right large format printer or wide formar printer as there are many models for selection. Thus, I believe by breaking down all the popular models by print widths and specific industry, it will helps to enable the buyers to perform an apple to apple comparison.

Generally, HP and Canon are well-known in CAD application while Epson and Canon are leading the graphic arts segment.

A2 Size/ CAD, GIS and 3D Paths Applications
1. Canon iPF510 (17", 5-color, 2400X1200 dpi, 192MB RAM, Network Ready)
2. HP Designjet 70 (18", 4-color, 1200X600dpi, 64MB RAM)

A1 Size/ CAD, GIS & 3D Paths Application
1. Canon iPF610 (24", 5-color, 2400X1200 dpi, 256MB RAM, Network Ready)
2. HP Designjet 510 Plus (24", 4-color, 2400X1200 dpi, 160MB RAM, Optional Network)
3. HP Designjet T610 (24", 6-color, 2400X1200dpi, 128MB RAM, Optional Network)
4. HP Designjet T1120 (24", 6-color, 2400X1200dpi, 320MB RAM, Network Ready)

View speed comparison video (Canon iPF610 vs. HP Designjet T610)

A0 Size/ CAD, GIS & 3D Paths Application
1. Canon iPF710 (36", 5-color, 2400X1200dpi, 256MB RAM, Network Ready)
2. HP Designjet 51o Plus (42". 4-color, 2400X12oodpi, 160MB RAM, Optional Network)
3. HP Designjet T610 (44", 6-color, 2400X1200dpi, 128MB RAM, Optional Network)
4. HP Designjet T1120 (44", 6-color, 2400X1200dpi, 384MB RAM, Network Ready)

View speed comparison video (Canon iPF710 vs. HP Designjet T1100 vs. HP Designjet 500ps)

View speed comparison video (Canon iPF755 vs. Canon iPF720 vs. HP Designjet T1100)

A0 Size/ CAD, GIS and 3D Paths Application (Heavy Duty, suitable for copy centre or shared among a big workgroup, >10 users)
1. Canon iPF810 (44", 5-color, 2400X1200dpi, 384MB RAM, Network Ready)
2. HP Designjet 4020 (42", 4-color, 2400X1200dpi, 604MB RAM, Network Ready)

A2 Size/ Fine Arts, Color Proof and Professional Photography Application
1. Canon iPF5100 (17", 12-color, 2400X1200dpi, 192MB RAM, Network Ready)
2. Epson Stylus Pro 4880 (17", 8-color, 2880X1440dpi, 64MB RAM, Network Ready)

A1 Size/ Fine Arts, Color Proofing and Professional Photography Application
1. Canon iPF6100 (24", 12-color, 2400X1200dpi, 384MB RAM, Network Ready)
2. Epson Stylus Pro 7880 (24", 8-color, 2880X1440dpi, 64MB RAM, Network Ready)
3. Epson Stylus Pro 7900 (24", 10-color, 2880X1440dpi, 256MB RAM, Network Ready)

A0 to B0 Size/ Fine Arts, Color Proof and Professional Photography Application
1. Canon iPF8100 (44", 12-color, 2400X1200dpi, 384MB RAM, Network Ready)
2. Epson Stylus Pro 9880 (44", 8-color, 2880X1440dpi, 128MB RAM, Network Ready)
3. Epson Stylus Pro 9900 (44", 10-color, 2880X1440dpi, 256MB RAM, Network Ready)

The above brief specifications is for easy reference purpose only. Please refer to Canon, HP and Epson official brochures for detailed specifications.

Other considerations

1. Printer size (Footprint and width)

2. Cost per print (Canon imagePROGRAF Ink Cost Per Print Calculation)

Videojet CIJ Product Positioning

From an ex-colleague of mine, I was told that the market share of Videojet CIJ market share (not including the ex-Willett channel) has shrunk drastically in Klang Valley region.

When I was handling the Videojet CIJ business in Malaysia, Videojet, Imaje and Hitachi were the top 3 brand in Malaysia and Klang Valley was the strongest base that lead the numbers. If this piece of news is true, probably the ranking of Videojet CIJ in Klang Valley has gone down to bottom 3 from top 3.

There could be several factors that contribute it:
1. Product positioning
2. Quality of the after sales support
3. Application knowledge of the sales team

I would say that product positioning of Videojet is the biggest factor that caused the fall of Videojet CIJ sales in Klang Valley region. In 3 to 4 years back, Videojet Inc. positioned its range of CIJ as below:
Common Models:
2 lines machine
Videojet 37 series vs Image 9020, Hitachi PB

3 to 4 lines machine
Videojet Excel 170i vs Image 9040, Hitachi PX

High End Models:
Videojet Excel 2000- Premium for the iP65 cabinet.
Videojet Excel UHS- Ultra High Speed Application
Videojet Excel HR- Ultra fine print quality

The problem of the product positioning as above was there is not an apple to apple comparison. Let's take the 2 lines category as example. Yes, Videojet 37e and 37plus were 2 lines CIJ printers. If the customer requirements are beyond just printing 2 lines 5x7 (7x5) matrix characters, then Videojet sales representatives would face very tough challenges to fulfil customer requirements as such:

1. High and bold single line character print
2. Long print message (more than 40 characters)
3. Logo printing
4. Chinese characters printing
5. etc.

I still remembered that I had requested the regional sales manager of Videojet to consider the FOB cost of machines based on the product positioning as below:

2-3 lines CIJ printer
Videojet Excel 170i vs. Image 9020, Hitachi PB

3-4 lines CIJ printer
Videojet Excel 2000 vs. Image 9040, Hitachi PX

Supporting Models:
Videojet Excel UHS- Ultra High Speed Application
Videojet Excel HR- Ultra fine print quality

My proposal was to phased out the Videojet 37 series in Malaysia and make Videojet Excel 170i as the entry level CIJ due to the reason as below:

1. Videojet Excel 170i is very reliable. It can handles most of the application needs that require to print 2 lines only.
2. It is very wrong to position Videojet Excel 170i at 3 lines printer as the line speed in 3 lines printing is just too slow (17 meter per minute) to cope with most of production line speed.

Even this proposal did not gone through, but the proposed product positioning of mine was used as the bible for all the sales persons as using the right model to compete with the competitors is the most critical step to win a deal.

It is a need for the Videojet distributors (Videojet channel) to seriously look into the product positioning and ride on the new opportunity with the new line up from Videojet 1000 Line.