Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 20 February 2012 – 20 years ago, Epson embarked on a course that would differentiate it from other printer makers, and give the company unique competing advantages today. In March 1993, Epson introduced the very first printer to bear its proprietary “Micro Piezo” inkjet technology that had been developed over the first three years of the 90s.
Micro Piezo is a high performance inkjet printing technology that uses piezoelectric materials which bend precisely when charged with varying electric currents to propel precise amounts of ink out of the print head. Today, Epson is the only major printer company in the world that uses piezoelectric print heads in its entire inkjet printer range – from the smallest personal photo printer, to the largest industrial press system.
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To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the technology, Epson has launched a range of its latest ink tank system printers with unique benefits that have been made possible by the technology and demonstrate how far it has developed and scaled.
Koichi Endo, the managing director of Epson Southeast Asia, and one of the engineers who developed the technology remarks: “Epson has waited 20 years for our Micro Piezo technology to mature. Today, its superior reliability, energy efficiency, and high ink compatibility is giving Epson unique advantages and growth opportunities in the fields of business document printing, industrial printing and our ability to create special products like our ink tank system printers for emerging markets.”
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The Birth of Micro Piezo Technology
The 1984 Epson SQ-2000: Epson’s first piezoelectric inkjet printer The 1993 Epson Stylus 800: The first printer to use the Epson Micro Piezo inkjet print head
In the 70s and early 80s, Epson was already the leader in the impact dot-matrix printer market. However the company had already begun to work on a quiet, high-resolution printer that did not use impact technology in 1978. One by-product of this research on several different systems was the Epson SQ-2000, the first inkjet printer to use a piezoelectric print head. However, research into other methods of printing continued. In 1988, the company made a decision to direct resources into improving the piezo system and to develop a new print head. The opportunity for this development to take a great leap forward came through the use of a multi-layered piezo element. This element enabled Epson engineers to reduce driving voltage and make the print head smaller, which was the first Micro Piezo print head developed independently by the company. Finally, in 1993, the first inkjet printer equipped with this print head, the Epson Stylus 800, was released into the market.
Compared to thermal inkjet printers, Epson Micro Piezo printers have three key advantages:
• Improved printing quality and precision due to their ability to eject ink droplets in varying sizes.
• Lower operating temperature that makes them more power efficient and allows them to use a wider range of inks, and on a wider range of media.
• Higher Reliability that allows Epson to build its print heads into its printers, instead of cartridges. This makes the cartridges cheaper to produce, more affordable to buy, and easier to recycle.
New Ink Tank System Printers – made possible by Epson Micro Piezo
The high reliability of Micro Piezo technology enabled Epson to create the world’s first branded ink tank system printer in 2010. Since then, Epson has remained the only ink tank system printer maker in the world. Building on the high success of the models launched over the last two years, Epson has introduced four additional models with even higher performance and features to fulfil the needs of more customers:
Epson L355 - The Epson L355 is the first model in Epson’s ink tank system printer range to feature Wi-Fi connectivity, making it ideal for sharing among users. With this Wi-Fi capability, it is also the first ink tank system printer model that can connect wirelessly with Epson’s iPrint app that allows users to wirelessly print from, or scan images to Apple iOS or Google Android mobile devices.
Epson L550 - The Epson L550 is Epson’s most fully-featured ink tank system printer – It is the first to have an integrated fax, Ethernet connectivity and an ADF which allows users to conveniently scan, copy or fax multi-page documents unattended. It is also compatible with Epson’s iPrint app when connected to the internet via a network.
Shared Features of the Epson L355 and L550
High speed, high reliability printing - Like Epson’s other next-generation L-series color ink tank system printers, the Epson L355 and L550 offer a productivity-boosting black print speed of 9ipm (images per minute – ISO standard), as well as draft speed of up to 33 pages per minute (draft, black printing). They also assures users of reliable performance with their high 30,000 page rated durability that is made possible by their Micro Piezo print head.
Extremely high print volume - The Epson L355 and L550 use high capacity ink bottles (priced at RM20 each) that allow it to print incredibly high volumes at an ultra-low cost per page so as to free users from worrying about printing costs. Their starting set of one black 70ml ink bottle can print 4000 black pages, and three 70ml colour ink bottles can print 6500 colour pages*. In addition, the printers come with two additional black ink bottles in the initial package.
Lowest Cost Per Page in the world - With these inks, the Epson L550 offers the world’s lowest cost per page of any genuine printer branded ink at only RM1/2 cent per black page and RM0.01 per colour page.
Epson M100 and M200 Monochrome Ink Tank System Printers
Building on the success of Epson’s L-series colour ink tank system printers, the new Epson M100 and M200 Monochrome ink tank system printer models now provide customers a superior alternative to monochrome laser printers of similar price.
Better-than-laser speed - The two Epson M-series printers achieve a laser quality speed of 15ppm that matches entry-level laser printers and makes them the fastest Epson ink tank system printers for black text printing. Additionally, they also offer a very high speed draft printing mode of 34ppm that such laser printers typically do not possess.
High print volume and long lifespan reduces disruptions - Featuring Epson’s unique ink tank system technology, the Epson M-series printers are able to print a very high volume of 8000 pages with the initial bundle of inks, and 6000 pages for each bottle of refill ink.* This helps to minimize work disruption for refilling of the printers. The printers also provide assured reliability with their long life span rated at 50,000 pages which is the highest among Epson’s ink tank system printers.
Incredibly low cost per page, high quality prints - The Epson M-series helps users reduce running costs with their incredible cost per page of a mere RM0.01 cents that is up to 90% lower compared to genuine laser toner, and up to 50% lower than third-party refilled laser toner cartridges**. Yet, there is no compromise on print quality or durability as the printers use a genuine Epson pigment ink that ensures sharp, crisp printouts which are fade and water resistant.
Small and easy to share - The Epson M-series printers are also highly compact and feature Ethernet connectivity; allowing them to be save valuable office space while being shared among small workgroups.
Epson WorkForce WF-3521 High Performance Business Inkjet All-in-One
Also launched today is the Epson WorkForce WF-3521, which is Epson’s top-of-the-line all-in-one model for small businesses. Among Epson’s AiOs, it is the most fully featured model and offers customers among the highest performance and lowest running costs for a cartridge-based inkjet in its class.
High speed single or double side printing - The WF-3521 has a maximum draft speed of up to 38ppm, and laser quality speed of 15ppm (mono) and 9.2 ppm (colour). With the printer, saving paper by double sided printing is easy with its duplexer unit that is also one of the fastest in its class at 7.9ipm for double sided monochrome documents and 5.7ipm for colour ones.
High quality, durable prints - The WF-3521 uses Epson’s DURABrite Ultra pigment inks that produce sharp, high quality prints that are smudge, fade and water resistant.
Low cost per page - The new Epson WorkForce WF-3521 replaces the highly successful Epson ME Office 960FWD, but uses the same low cost Epson 141 and 143 cartridges as its predecessor. In particular, the higher capacity Epson 143 cartridges give the printer a low cpp of RM0.056 cents per monochrome page.
Flexible connectivity – The printer has both Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity that allows it to be shared among a workgroup, and an additional Epson Connect suite functions that include: iPrint, email print, remote print, scan to cloud, AirPrint and Google cloud print.
Powerful additional features – The Epson WorkForce WF-3521 has a high performance fax, a 2.5-inch LCD for easy monitoring and control, and a 30 page duplex ADF that allows for the convenient double sided copying or faxing of multi-page jobs. It can also print JPG files from SD cards or USB drives, or directly scan documents to them in JPG or PDF format.
Epson WorkForce WF-2538 Ultra-Compact All-in-One
Designed to save businesses desktop space and lower their printing costs, the ultra-compact Epson WorkForce WF-2538 is the smallest all-in-one printer to feature a convenient automatic document feeder (ADF) in its class. It also uses Epson’s low cost 190 cartridges and even an optional “190XL” black cartridge for even lower cost per page. The Epson WorkForce WF-2538 facilitates workgroup sharing with its Wi-Fi connectivity and offers customers the powerful features of Epson’s iPrint app and the Epson Connect suite.
High print speed – With a high draft print speed of 34 pages per minute (ppm) and laser quality speed of 9ipm, the printer helps users save time and maximize productivity
2-Line LCD – The two-line LCD found on the WF-2538 allows for easy control and switching between functions.
Fax feature – A high performance fax is featured in the printer. It has 60 speed dials, and an 180 page memory. With the printer’s ADFs, sending of multi-page faxes is also easy.
Durable, high quality prints with Epson DURABrite Ultra pigment inks – Like the Epson WorkForce WF-3521, the Epson WorkForce WF-2538 also uses Epson’s DURABrite Ultra pigment inks that produce high quality prints that are smudge, fade and water resistant.
New Epson SureColor T Series Technical / Computer Aided Design (CAD) Printers
The Epson SureColor T series is the company’s first printer series that is specially designed for technical / Computer Aided Design (CAD) printing. The printers in the series have identical features that have been optimized for technical printing needs, but come in a 24-inch, 36-inch or 44-inch wide format, allowing users to choose the ideal size for their requirements and budget.
The power of Epson Micro Piezo technology for technical / CAD printing - The Epson SureColor T series printers introduce Epson's multi award winning Micro Piezo Advanced TFP print head technology to the technical / CAD printing industry for the first time. The piezoelectric based inkjet print head gives the T series a maximum resolution of 2880 x 1440dpi and features Epson’s Variable-size Droplet Technology (VSDT) that can eject ink droplets in multiple sizes to enhance clarity and recreate fine detail while delivering optimum efficiency for larger areas of colour. The printers’ highly power-efficient Micro Piezo print head generates less operation heat, thereby qualifying them for an Energy Star certification.
New Epson UltraChrome XD ink - The Epson SureColor T series comes with a new Epson UltraChrome XD Ink which was specifically developed for technical and CAD printing. Working together with the Micro Piezo print head, the UltraChrome XD inks produce high-quality, durable prints with deep blacks, a wide colour gamut and crisp, dense lines with a minimum width of 0.02mm. The inks are also environmentally friendly as they are water based.
High speed printing - Using a 4-colour ink set, the printers are fast, reliable and economical. Each printer is able to generate an A1 printout in a mere 28 seconds (in draft mode on plain paper). This makes them ideal for printing architectural designs and plans, GIS maps, presentations, as well as posters and indoor signage. Further improving efficiency, the printers are quick to set up, with automatic photo and matte black ink switching, and are so easy to use that operators do not need special training.
User friendly operation - Designed to fit into an office environment, these printers feature sleek styling, small footprint, top-loading media path, low operation noise and can be fully operated from the front, allowing them to be positioned against a wall.
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