Mark Little · Senior Director, Global Pr...
At Printing United Expo in Orlando, Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH meets Mark Little to talk about Ricohâs VC80000, the companyâs newest high-speed inkjet pressâshown publicly for the first time in North America.
Mark gestures toward the towering machine beside them. âWeâve had one running in our Customer Experience Center in Boulder,â he says, âbut people want to see the real thing. Theyâve seen the installations around the world, and now they can finally experience what makes it so special.â
Having spent years working across toner and inkjet platforms, Mark believes the timing for a true digital shift is now. âPeople talk about âoffset to digital,â but really itâs âoffset with digital,ââ he explains. âOffset isnât going away, but for short runs, variable jobs, and faster turnarounds, digital is the smart choice. The VC80000 fits perfectlyâitâs already running in publishing, commercial print, data-driven direct mail, and transactional mail. Itâs a Swiss Army knife for production printing.â
The VC80000 is a ground-up Ricoh design, not an iteration of earlier systems. âItâs all Ricoh technology,â Mark notes proudly. âEvery new platform brings challenges, but customer feedback has been outstanding. One customer told me theyâre saving thousands of dollars every day on metal plates alone. Thatâs massive, and itâs why several are already ordering their second unit.â
When asked about costs, Mark acknowledges that total cost of ownership has long been a key discussion point for digital inkjet. âWe perform ROI analyses with customers before installation,â he explains. âIn most cases, digital comes out ahead. Roll-fed paper is cheaper than cut-sheet, uptime is higher, and with our 23-inch web width, we can run letter workflows in landscape orientationâboosting efficiency by over 20%. Add grain-correct folding and full-speed handling of up to 300 gsm, and suddenly, commercial printers see applications they never thought were possible on inkjet.â
He highlights automation and AI-driven intelligence as Ricohâs biggest differentiators. âLabor shortages are universal,â he says. âSo we built intelligence right into the machine. The VC80000 automatically manages alignment, density, and registrationâit even calibrates itself. Operators donât need to understand every technical parameter anymore. Just push the button, and the system does it.â
During live production, the printer scans every page in real time at 150 meters per minute (492 feet per minute). âIf it detects a jet-out,â Mark explains, âit corrects it instantlyâmillisecondsâwithout stopping the press. Later, it self-cleans and permanently fixes the issue. Thatâs ultra production efficiency in action.â
Morten laughs. âWith half a million offset presses still out there,â he says, âI suppose they all just need to buy one of these.â
Mark grins. âExactly. And if they order by the dozen,â he replies, âIâll wrap them myself.â