This technology is widely used today in the bar code printing industry, automated teller machines and automated service stations for printing receipts. These industries demand high reliability, sustained performance and competitive costs. This technology is simple, reliable and has none of the negative aspects of "direct thermal" printing—no funny paper. We think this technology is ideally suited for producing highly reliable, low-cost wide-format printing applications.

Benefits of TTR technology:

More durable than toner based or inkjet: Does not fade like inkjet and unlike inkjet, a TTR print is waterproof. We have all experienced offsetting from a toner output left inside a binder plastic sleeve. TTR technology is less prone to offsetting. It is often used as a means of printing for outdoor billboard applications where durability is a key issues.

Greater flexibility of media than toner-based: Not only can TTR technology print on Bond, Vellum and Film (the three standards for toner based equipment), but it can also print on pressure-sensitive adhesive (peel and stick type) and backlit film.

Single color output: Unlike wide format toner based equipment which only offers black prints, WideCom’s TTR equipment also prints in blue or red. Manufacturers of TTR imaging cartridges can supply an unlimited number of colors and can match any Pantone color (minimum quantities required for special orders). In fact, even metallic gold and silver are available as output options.

Who else uses this technology?

While WideCom is the first company in the wide-format engineering industry to offer this technology, in the graphics arts industry, Matan of Israel offers a $ 150,000 color machine using the same technology while Roland and Fuji offer machines with traversing heads using TTR technology.

In the small-format multi-functional (scan, print, copy & fax) equipment market the following companies offer product lines using this technology: Xerox, Brother, Citizen, Canon, Murata, Olivetti, Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba. The world’s smallest plain paper printer, the PN60 manufactured by Citizen has also been created using TTR technology.

Other unique applications of this technology include fast pay printers at pumps in gas stations, mobile printers at car rental agencies and high-speed label printing equipment. Firms using TTR technology include Ricoh, Fuji, Regma, Gerber, QMS, Fargo Electronics, Mannesman Tally, Dupont, Sanyo, 3M, Kyocera, Mitsubishi and Seiko.