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Return To Inkjets Article Archive   The Contenders in Bulk Mail Inkjet Solutions By Rick K. For a long time now, bulk mail houses have been left choosing between two different costs of inkjets. On the lower cost end, was an evolutionary concept brought out on the market about 9 years ago called thermal inkjet. It gave mailers an affordable alternative to the commercial print heads that used either a continuous flow system or a piezo system. The continuous flow system (made by several different manufacturers and sometimes called "binary array") could spray from a far distance, dry quickly, and handle the fast, high volume demands of the busier mail houses. The ink itself is extremely cheap, and comes in a tank instead of using small cartridges. But it has its drawbacks. First of all, it takes a long time to set up, and can waste ink while priming the systems and getting them positioned right. Second of all, it has the highest up-front costs. And third of all, it prints at a lower quality than other systems. The piezo system, while the print quality is much better, doesn\'t have as good as a throw distance as the continuous flow does. The continuous flow system does take more time to set-up, but it will generally handle more mail at a faster rate than both the piezo and the thermal inkjet systems. With either of the two systems mentioned above, replacing the inkjet heads is expensive, while the ink itself is relatively cheap. The lower cost system, thermal inkjet, gets a new printhead every time the ink cartridges are replaced. The system is easy to set up (just wipe the nozzles and start printing) and is very low maintenance. However, the ink is much more expensive, has a longer drying time, and has a shorter throw distance than the other two systems. So while it\'s great for small jobs, it\'s not always suitable for millions of mail pieces. It\'s always been one of those "spend less now, but spend more later" solutions. It worked for some people, but not for everyone. Not only that, but only one manufacturer made such a system. Now Lexmark\'s L-series inkjet technology delivers a third option. They\'ve bridged the gap between these alternatives, which have long been staring at each other from the far sides of the spectrum. The L-series offers much faster drying times than the older thermal inkjet system. As a matter of fact, the ink will dry on most aqueous materials, even when running on full speed. Not to mention the fact that the ink costs about 10% - 15% less than other thermal inkjet systems. The L-series uses a \'dual nozzle\' concept so that dried or damaged nozzles generally won\'t interrupt production. No more white lines in your print! It also throws further than the other thermal system, though not quite as far as a continuous flow system. And finally, the L-series systems themselves are about the same price as the other thermal systems. They use windows drivers and can be integrated with most current transport systems. Every mail house has their own set of needs, and different mail systems answer those needs in a different way. But one thing is for certain: the two extremes have just found a middle ground, and Lexmark won\'t be ignored in the mail industry any longer. Adresser Based Systems keeps their customers on the cutting edge of Mailroom Equipment and Address Printers at http://www.addresserbasedsystems.com keywords: direct mail | inkjet systems | address printers Compare All In One Printers

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