Ricoh Co. Ltd. has announced more than 500,000 RICOH MH5420/5421 series printheads, Ricoh's fifth generation of printheads, have already been chosen by worldwide solutions developers to drive tremendous digital transformation revenue across all industrial sectors.

Confidence in the versatility of these printheads and their ability to deliver consistent and repeatable high-quality results in testing industrial environments has been central to the achievement of this milestone.

Ricoh's MH5420/5421 series printheads are compatible with a broad range of inks from water-based to UV, solvent and oil. And OEMs that have invested use them for a wide range of applications (including signage, textiles, labels and industrial décor), as well as for developments in printed electronics, 3D, pharmaceuticals and DNA printing. Extensive technical and integration support for waveform design and jetting optimization is core to the product offering.

Among the worldwide developers across a spectrum of industries and sectors that place Ricoh's MH5420/5421 series at the heart of their innovative technologies is Mark Andy. 

"We chose RICOH MH5420/5421 series because of their robustness and reliability, and because they deliver a consistent, small drop over and over again," said Dave Medlar, vice president of the digital business unit, Mark Andy.

Agfa's Head of Materials Technology Centre Dr. Karin Vercauteren highlighted the printhead's wide viscosity range, its strong and stable piezo technology that supports a long lifetime, and its small footprint that facilitates integration.

"In addition, the open platform allows us to tune the waveform for particular inks and applications and achieve outstanding print quality," Vercauteren said.

Durst uses RICOH MH5420/5421 series technology in conjunction with proprietary data electronics and automated matching algorithms in many water-based and UV ink applications, and as an integral part of its modular machine systems. According to Durst Group Technology Officer Georg Grossrubatcher, the reliability and robustness of the printheads helps meet demand from industrial clients for high machine availability and print quality consistency. 

"We can meet these expectations only with reliable printhead partners who consistently drive their inkjet technology forward and keep an open ear for optimization requirements in close innovation partnerships," Grossrubatcher said.

The printhead's consistency with different inks was a key capability for d.gen, Inc.'s signage and textile printers. 

"It matches many different types of inks including pigment, so the end users can choose the right ink types for their unique applications," said Chris Kang, COO, d.gen Inc.

"The Ricoh printhead compatibility with EFI inks offers the highest versatility available, allowing EFI to address many application segments," said Doug Edwards, CTO, EFI Inkjet. 

Edwards also valued the ability to deliver the highest print quality at production speeds while offering best-in-class ROI and Ricoh's technical support in enabling EFI to bring products to market faster.

Ricoh's expertise was important for Dantex too. 

"The support from Ricoh was excellent and effective during the long development program," said Ben Danon, CEO, Dantex.

"The robustness, reliability and performance of Ricoh's MH5420/5421 series printheads, our fifth generation of printheads, have allowed these, and many other global partners, to develop and launch new systems that have achieved tremendous sales," said Ken Nagao, general manager, Component Business Center, Ricoh Graphic Communications BU, Ricoh Co. Ltd. "They have confidence in Ricoh's technology. And the versatility of the printheads has also supported innovation in a wide range of sectors enabling acceleration of development while minimizing the risk in time and cost."