Rihac – Pop Carts
The Australian Business Award for New Product Innovation recognises new products and services that provide innovative solutions for new and existing market needs.
Developed by Rihac, the idea of the Pop Cart was driven by a desire to create an alternative product in a niche market exclusively controlled by proprietary inkjet printer manufacturers. Rihac is an Australian family owned business that have been developing inkjet solutions for over a decade.
The Pop Cart is centered on converting an existing all-in-one print-head cartridge —which includes a combined print-head and an ink cartridge— into a segregated ink cartridge. The result is a print-head that can be re-used many times, only requiring the replacement of the relatively low cost ink cartridge. Once the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) all-in-one cartridge is empty a Pop Cart is inserted to replace the empty ink sponge, transforming it into a segregated print-head ink cartridge system.
The Pop Cart is a simplistic design comprising of an ink soaked sponge encased in a light, durable plastic shell, moulded to slide easily into the OEM cartridge casing. Currently available for all current model Canon brand printers, the Pop Cart is designed to contain almost twice the volume of ink as OEM cartridges and retails at $32 per set – a cheaper price than its OEM counterparts.
The Pop Cart also allows for the replacement of a single coloured ink cartridge rather than all three primary colours together. This, combined with it being a low-cost ink replacement alternative aims to reduce the environmental impact of printing. Rihac have won a New Product Innovation Award in the Australian Business Awards 2016 for the development of the Pop Cart.