A technology that has had commercial success in Japan is making its way into the North American commercial vehicle graphics market. Japan-based Ricoh is working to modify its Vehicle Art Robo (VAR), a full-color digital printing system specifically designed to “digitally paint” any graphics directly onto vehicle bodies. VAR employs automated surface tracing to print on multiple shaped commercial vehicle surfaces, from flat surfaces to curved and uneven metal surfaces, as well as directly onto rivets and panel connectors.
Inkjet industry veteran Craig Reid, the Pennsylvania-based contactor and project lead for Ricoh’s VAR, is helping Ricoh modify and launch its technology for commercial use in North America.
The VAR system is designed to be an alternative decoration technology to the vinyl wrapping process for commercial vehicles. The process involves positioning the vehicle in front of a giant printer that operates on a vertical flatbed frame. The inkjet nozzles traverse on a carriage to robotically paint the vehicle from top to bottom.
“It’s really unique,” Reid noted. “It’ll print up to almost 43 ft. wide by 10.5 ft. tall. It can print larger on a 53-footer (trailer) by doing what’s called image stitching, where you are basically stitching the image together. The North American market differs from Japan mainly in the size of the average commercial vehicle, so Ricoh is improving the technology to make it more suitable for our market.”
Ricoh installed a “beta” test printer and is leasing space at a large trailer leasing company in the Atlanta area. The company had started doing tests and demonstrating the technology earlier this year but had to shut down the machine in February due to COVID-19.
“We were going to have the commercial machines in June, but that has been pushed back to December due to COVID-19,” Reid said. “Our plan is to install the new commercial systems in a couple of shops in the U.S. at the end of the year or beginning of 2021.”
The VAR equipment costs roughly $250,000 per machine. The trade-off of VAR, Reid explained, is that while it has a higher capital equipment cost than a low-cost inkjet printer, the operating cost is up to 70% less than the vinyl wrapping process by eliminating the vinyl and lamination materials and reducing the high labor costs of wrap installers.
VAR can print cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and white colors as well as a clear coat in a single pass, Reid said. Print service providers (PSPs) are a natural fit for adopting this technology; however, Reid believes there will be an opportunity for some collaboration between a PSP with a fleet management company or fleet leasing company.
“There is no expectation that this will completely replace vinyl,” Reid explained. “At least for now there are things VAR can’t do that vinyl wrap is a better choice. Vinyl will still be the preferred method for the cab and for any surface that is horizontal. While the VAR prints on uneven and complex sides of a vehicle, it cannot currently print the top of the vehicle, back of the vehicle, or the front of the vehicle.”
Ultimately, Reid believes that digital painting and vinyl wrap will co-exist, with shops that already have vinyl investing in a VAR system.