Grove City, Ohio – Kern, Inc., the North American subsidiary of Kern AG, is announcing the launch of a new web-fed production drop-on-demand (DOD) press, the Kern iMpres.  This marks Kern’s entry into the production printing sector of the document output management industry.  The Kern iMpres will be supplied under OEM license agreement, also announced today, between Kern and Graph-Tech, AG, a Domino Group Company. 

“We are excited to enter into this new, dynamic market segment for Kern and to continue to expand our product coverage in document output management for our customers”, said Thomas J. Brock, PhD, CEO of Kern Inc.  “We are pleased to partner with Graph-Tech as an industry leader in DOD technologies with some powerful differentiators and advantages that we can now offer our customers.” 

“Kern has an enviable reputation for quality and service in the transactional and mailing sectors in the North American market, where the iMpres has been designed to offer significant cost and efficiency benefits. We see clear leverage for Graph-Tech’s advanced technology coupled with Kern’s market knowledge to enable customers to easily engage with the latest inkjet technology in this demanding, high-volume market. The partnership with Kern is a real opportunity for Graph-Tech to enter the North American market with an internationally recognized company who is able to provide customers the commercial and technical support they require, and we are pleased that Kern has chosen Graph-Tech as their valued partner.” said Robert Pulford, Managing Director for Digital Printing at Domino Printing Sciences plc.

The new Kern iMpres is a monochrome high-speed inkjet printing press aimed at transactional / TransPromo production mail, book-on-demand and security print applications with 1200 dpi quality and speed of up to 492 feet per minute with web widths up from 17.5” up to 30”.  The iMpres is a departure from traditional continuous feed printer designs with an extremely compact footprint and unique paper path that enables simplex, duplex and even duplex plus MICR in a single print engine enclosure.  Advanced ink management systems ensure quality consistency and more reliable operation, resulting in stunning economics and a “no-click” pricing structure.