Xitron Announces Digital Front End Support for XAAR Printheads

Development also completed for Fuji Dimatix, Ricoh, Kyocera, SII, Toshiba, & Konica Minolta Printheads Ann Arbor, MI – March 21, 2018 – Xitron, the leading independent developer of RIP and workflow products for commercial, digital, and high-speed inkjet printing has announced the completion of a development project that results in Xitron support for the use of XAAR printheads in inkjet presses. Designed to work in conjunction with drive electronics by Meteor Inkjet Ltd., the digital front end includes the popular Navigator RIP and workflow based on the Harlequin Multi-RIP platform as well as the Harlequin Host Renderer. “We originally undertook this project to solve a long-standing problem for a customer in India,” said Eric Nelsen, VP of product development for Xitron. “They have an eight-head web press designed to print medical device packaging, which requires unique identification numbers on each package. We were able to develop the Navigator DFE to drive the XAAR printheads and incorporate our Variegator software for the variable data requirement.” Successful completion of the project means that the Navigator DFE can now drive other presses based on Meteor/XAAR components with little or no additional customization. In addition, presses using Meteor electronics with Fuji Dimatix, Ricoh, Kyocera, SII, Toshiba, or Konica Minolta heads are driven by Navigator as well. “We’re continuing to increase our production inkjet presence in the marketplace,” said Nelsen. “Along with these Meteor additions, Navigator DFE’s are compatible with systems from Memjet, and Canon Finetech, offering a robust combination of RIP and workflow tools with extreme color accuracy.” Clive Ayling, Meteor’s Managing Director comments, “Xitron and Meteor enjoy a strong working relationship and the synergy between our companies offers tangible benefit to customers including reduced printer development risk and accelerated time to market in a wide variety of applications.”