Canon Australia announces launch of ‘game-changing’ new Arizona 2300 Series

Canon Production Printing Australia has announced the launch of the new Arizona 2300 series which features smart production without masking, varying ink channel options to support a diverse range of applications, ground-breaking new FLOW technology and more.

Building on its rich heritage in flatbed printing, the latest addition in the series of award-winning flatbed printers will allow customers to speed up production, improve operational efficiencies and fuel growth opportunities through new applications.

The Arizona 2300 series will generally be available in Australia in 2021. Until then, customers are invited to see the Arizona 2380 XTF with Roll Media Option via online and live demos from Canon’s Customer Experience Centres in the Netherlands (Venlo).

Steven Badger, Senior Business Development Manager Asia Pacific at Canon Production Printing, who was host for the live online announcement on 1 September, confirmed that Australian and New Zealand customers and partners and press were the first globally to witness this ground-breaking new technology in large format printing, via a series of events across the world.

“These events started in Australia, and will then follow the sun to Europe and ultimately around to the America,” he said. “While we hoped to be delivering this unveiling from our local customer experience centre in Melbourne, Stage 4 COVID regulations have meant that I deliver this on behalf of my Australian colleagues and partners from our global headquarters.”

“To say the least, doing business during these times has been extremely challenging and our industry has been effected. In Australia we have worked hard to change and challenge our way of working to ensure that our humble industry not only survives this pandemic, but thrives in the face of it,” he added.

Revolutionising flatbed table architecture, the new printer series is built around Arizona FLOW technology, an airflow suction technique that combines a zoneless, multi-origin table layout with easy-to-use pneumatic registration pins to better secure the substrate in place on the table. The result? Productivity up by more than 20% compared with previous generations of Arizona printers, as no operator time is required for masking the table or taping the media down, enabling faster changeover between jobs, shorter set-up times and hassle-free job switching.

The FLOW technology makes printing on unusual and more challenging media, such as cardboard, wood and glass, or even printing large images tiled over multiple large boards, easier than ever before. Print from edge to edge on the substrate to benefit from less or no waste, more output and even more possibilities. 

The pneumatic registration pins allow you to align media to either the left or the right edge of the table – or even to both – and you can print 2-up, 4-up and 6-up. Turning the substrate over from front to back and from left to right on the flatbed enables perfect registration when printing double-sided, regardless of whether the substrate has dimensional imperfections. Confidently print on unusual, heavy, smooth or pre-cut media.

The new series has varying ink channel options available (40, 60 and 80) to support a diverse range of applications, which includes three compact GTF models (Arizona 2340 GTF, 2360 GTF, 2380 GTF) with a flatbed area of 1.25m x 2.5m and three large XTF models (Arizona 2340 XTF, 2360 XTF, 2380 XTF) with a flatbed area of 2.5m x 3.08m.

Keep productivity at an all-time high by printing up to 95m2/hr while maintaining print quality. The automated maintenance system offers hands-free printhead maintenance and reduces downtime by restoring nozzle functionality in seconds – including for white ink, which is usually difficult to maintain. You no longer have to wait for your printer to warm up – the new Arizona 2300 series offers an instant-on capability through its LED-UV curing system, enabling quicker turnaround for last minute jobs. Plus, its high-resolution camera alignment system enables easy, quick and precise printhead alignment and flatbed table mapping.

With Arizona Xpert, the Arizona 2300 series has a self-learning capability so you can design – and then repeat – complex, multi-layered projects. The printer remembers the ‘recipe’ for the next time you want to print similar applications, saving you set-up time and automating the production process.

In addition to the Arizona 2300 series, Canon is also introducing Arizona Xpert version 2.1. With new features and ‘recipes’ to further enhance productivity, the software application is able to print intelligent outlines of the media onto the flatbed table for perfect positioning without taping or masking. Arizona Xpert 2.1 supports ‘recipes’ for print and cut workflows via integration with Canon’s ProCut software. Double-sided and multi-panel printing is now easier than ever thanks to maximum automation. No mistakes and, consequently, reduced waste. The software application also enables easy ‘recipe’ exchange between print supplier and designer, so they can see the end product with a 3D view in Adobe Creative Suite, reducing the chance of design flaws to the bare minimum.

The Arizona 2300 series offers LED-UV curing for 40% less energy consumption compared with other flatbed printers thanks to its instant-on operation (as no warm-up period is needed), the longevity of the lamp life and its connectivity to a regular power network. It also offers low ink consumption, using less than 8ml/m² of ink on average, including maintenance.

Manufactured in Germany, the Arizona 2300 series has passed both the German TÜV (Technischer Überwachungsverein) and DGUV (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung) assurance tests, which confirm that the product range is in line with health and safety regulations for minimising environmental impact and guaranteeing a safer working environment. Its UV inks are UL GREENGUARD Gold certified, so prints are suitable for use in schools, hotels and hospitals.

To ensure your print room is meeting the specified requirements for air ventilation, an air filtration system is optional to help maintain a healthy working environment for you and your employees.

Achieve superior print quality, print after print, across a broad media range at the fastest production speeds, thanks to the high-key print mode, pixel placement compensation, enhanced screening and the award-winning, third-generation VariaDot printhead technology. If you’re looking for optimum configuration for high-value, high-margin applications, you can add extra ink channels (from four to six and up to eight channels) – including the brightest white ink set and crystal clear glossy varnish.

Meet any customer demand for printing on hard plastic materials such as acrylic, polycarbonate and styrene. The Roll Media Option allows you to explore a vast range of roll media, including thin, heat-sensitive media up to 220cm. This allows you to easily switch between rigid and flexible media jobs with no machine preparation. 24/7 production becomes a reality for safe, unattended overnight printing with the option of a fully robotised workflow with automated loading and unloading of boards.

Looking to add a new dimension to your work? The Arizona 2300 series can be equipped with Canon’s textured printing software, Touchstone, enabling applications, such as interior décor products including wallpaper and furniture panels, and functional applications such as braille, to be printed with elevated texture effects.

 “The large format graphics market is driven by innovation and we are fully committed to the R&D programme of our Arizona flatbed solutions. With the Arizona 2300 series, we are introducing new revolutionary flatbed technology: a unique airflow system that simplifies customer workflows and speeds up production processes. We’re excited to bring this product to the market to help our customers fuel new growth opportunities,” said Dirk Brouns, Vice President, Large Format Graphics and Martijn van Hoorn, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Canon Production Printing.

Andrew Cocker, Senior Sales Manager, Large Format Graphics at Canon Production Printing Australia, said: “We’re confident that the Arizona 2300 series will enable our customers to boost profits, expand their application possibilities and open up new market opportunities, while achieving operational excellence. With the addition of this new flatbed printer series to our portfolio and alongside our Colorado UVgel roll-to-roll printers, we have a range of large format solutions to suit any and every customer’s needs.”