Kyocera Enters Production Inkjet Market

[prwhite]

Kyocera has announced the launch of its first inkjet production print device—the TASKalfa Pro 15000c—moving into a whole new area of business—production print. Targeting transactional, trans-promotional and direct-mail applications, the 1500c features a warm-up time of 120 seconds or less, and a time to first print in black or color, of 5.5 seconds or less; and features unique inkjet print heads & technology developed by Kyocera.

Key features of the TASKalfa Pro 15000c include:

• Fiery® controller manages the print queue & complex workflows,
• Speed: Color/Black—Letter: 146ppm, Legal: 98ppm, 11”x17”:86 ppm, 12”x18” 74ppm,
• Warm Up Time: 120 seconds or less from Power-on,
• First Page Out: black/color print: 5.5 seconds,
• Resolution: 600 x 600 dpi; 600 x 1200 dpi,
• Maximum Monthly Duty Cycle: 1 million ppm,
• Scalable, with storage for 14,310 sheets maximum paper capacity.

Now available through authorized Kyocera dealers and resellers.

 

[SoggyWinter]

I'd love to see a bakeoff between the Taskalfa 15000c and comparable Riso, Epson, and Xerox inkjet presses.

 

[gregbatch]

I think Riso ink cost keeps them out of print for pay. The entry cost and impression cost of the Kyocera are encouraging. I'm eager to see some output. It's been almost a year and I'm hoping there's promising feedback on reliability as well. Anyone have experience with this machine?

 

[toddanderson1970]

I am looking for any feedback on the Kyocera 15000c Taskalfa Pro inkjet
It's been out around two years. Kyocera first production machine. I have been shopping for a inkjet cutsheet. One of my friends has one 15000c, he likes the machine but I guess the support he gets from Kyocera is poor. They had a direct Kyocera Rep come in System Support Engineer (SSE) that seemed to know very little about the machine. The Kyocera rep said they don’t have dedicated technical Production reps and he works on everything from a $500 printer all through to production machines and document management, from what I here he works on ever single thing Kyocera sells. He said Kyocera has one dedicated production guy for the entire country. We are just a small shop, the 15000c would be a big expense for us. I am worried that Kyocera does not have dedicated technical production technical reps to support the product.

 

[jwheeler]

I am looking for any feedback on the Kyocera 15000c Taskalfa Pro inkjet
It's been out around two years. Kyocera first production machine. I have been shopping for a inkjet cutsheet. One of my friends has one 15000c, he likes the machine but I guess the support he gets from Kyocera is poor. They had a direct Kyocera Rep come in System Support Engineer (SSE) that seemed to know very little about the machine. The Kyocera rep said they don’t have dedicated technical Production reps and he works on everything from a $500 printer all through to production machines and document management, from what I here he works on ever single thing Kyocera sells. He said Kyocera has one dedicated production guy for the entire country. We are just a small shop, the 15000c would be a big expense for us. I am worried that Kyocera does not have dedicated technical production technical reps to support the product.

Trust your gut...you're right to be worried. Regardless of which brand or model anyone gets, service is always the key. Just about every modern machine is great until it breaks down. The service response time, part availability, and technician knowledge make all the difference in the world. Feedback from this forum will always be mixed - and will vary depending on their local level of service. You need to investigate what service availability is like near your shop from Kyocera. If they can only present one tech that services all range of models like your friend, then move on to a more established brand in your area.

 

[toddanderson1970]

The machine paper size max 12x18 single, duplex if you add the side air feed paper deck
That will print 13x19 but will not duplex 13x19 only single side.
There is a new version machine coming out soon my Kyocera contact said 15050c.
I am going to wait on the new version models talk to Ricoh and MCS.
As the more people I talked at Kyocera, Kyocera does not have a production support group in place
They are just cross training desktop printer support people.

 

[NorbertK]

Sorry for the late Reply, i just joined this Forum. To the Service Question:
Inkjet technology is far simpler than Toner, less parts and maintenance required. All Engineer are trained by Kyocera (not third Party !)
and the Inkjet-Head's are in the Market since 2008 , build in Canon, Xerox and other Inkjet devices.
So Kyocera has a lot of experience and therefore also quarantees a 60 Month lifetime and free of charge exchange of his Heads.
By the Way there are more than 200 Taskalfa Pro 15000c installed meanwhile.

 

[SoggyWinter]

The Taskalfa goes for about $200,000 USD depending on accessories and is supported by the Ricoh network in the western US. The pricepoint is waay less than other production inkjets that appear to for $500,000 (Xerox Baltoro) to $2,000,000 (Xerox Trivor) or even $10,000,000 (Canon).

 

[toddanderson1970]

The original poster
Was commenting on how Kyocera does not have a dedicated
Technical support team for production.
There regional support SSE work on everything from A4 printers to production.
Which seems ridiculous. Kyocera needs a dedicated technical production team.
It seems like they have not invested in staffing the production technical support side.

 

[prwhite]

The original poster
Was commenting on how Kyocera does not have a dedicated
Technical support team for production.

For the record, this "original poster" did not make such a comment.

 

[texchar]

I am looking for any feedback on the Kyocera 15000c Taskalfa Pro inkjet
It's been out around two years. Kyocera first production machine. I have been shopping for a inkjet cutsheet. One of my friends has one 15000c, he likes the machine but I guess the support he gets from Kyocera is poor. They had a direct Kyocera Rep come in System Support Engineer (SSE) that seemed to know very little about the machine. The Kyocera rep said they don’t have dedicated technical Production reps and he works on everything from a $500 printer all through to production machines and document management, from what I here he works on ever single thing Kyocera sells. He said Kyocera has one dedicated production guy for the entire country. We are just a small shop, the 15000c would be a big expense for us. I am worried that Kyocera does not have dedicated technical production technical reps to support the product.

They have over 200 machines out in the field now. More technicians are being trained from Kyocera and other dealers now. Spoke with a tech and a tech showed up after 28000000 impressions.