Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe has launched Weather-Resistant Ink for its AccurioJet series, letting print providers take on outdoor, backlit and short-run work that previously meant turning business away – and respond to urgent jobs in hours rather than days.
Print applications exposed to sunlight, heat and rain require more than outstanding image quality. They need color that performs consistently, not just accurately. Weather-Resistant Ink gives printing operations that durability – and a route into markets they currently pass to other processes.
New applications – and the jobs they replace
Weather-Resistant Ink works across all colors and makes several jobs digital that weren’t before. Print providers can now pitch vibrant promotional and advertising graphics, backlit outdoor signage on synthetic and specialty media, and even plant identification tags – work that currently goes to other processes or other suppliers.
They can now differentiate on durability and turnaround, not just prices: exploring synthetic and specialty substrates, taking on creative applications where digital flexibility makes short runs viable, and responding to time-sensitive campaigns with fast digital turnaround.
A day’s work in an hour
Outdoor backlit signage shows the commercial difference. In one production example, a job that took more than a day with conventional UV wide-format production was completed in approximately one hour using AccurioJet technology.
Weather-Resistant Ink has been evaluated for colorfastness to light in independent testing, in accordance with ISO 105 B02 (xenon arc lamp). The high-weatherability yellow ink achieved a color-change class of 8, against 6-7 for the standard yellow ink tested under the same conditions. These are accelerated laboratory results that demonstrate relative performance against a defined standard, expressed on the blue wool scale. They do not represent a specific outdoor service lifetime, which will vary according to substrate, application, exposure conditions and finishing.
Helping customers to reach their ambition
Weather-Resistant Ink extends the AccurioJet series proposition, which already covers a broad substrate range, including offset-coated, textured and synthetic media, without pre-treatment.
