Groundbreaking Xerox technology draws massive crowds at Drupa

Digital printing hardware and its associated automated workflow solutions, cloud-based software services, integrated inline finishing and business development tools were the “must see” innovative solutions at Drupa 2012, the world's largest print media trade fair, held in Dusseldorf, Germany, from 3 to 16 May.

The Xerox stand welcomed more than 100 000 visitors and generated more than 14 000 specific requests for information about Xerox's solutions - twice as many as expected.

“Many visitors were drawn by the Xerox X1000 digital press, which was a real crowd puller, particularly for developing market operations, which accounted for more than half the business generated at the show,” says Paul Haglich, marketing manager of the production systems group in the Xerox division at Bytes Document Solutions, which distributes Xerox in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The iGen 150 press with integrated booklet-making line from CPBourg was also a hit with visitors. Its superb print quality using matte toners, speed, substrate size and finishing capabilities are unmatched in that segment of the market. The iGen track record is unsurpassed in number of installations and digital pages printed. It's still the flagship of the Xerox production press range.”

The iGen4 with Stora Enso Gallop inline packaging solution - the first sheet-fed integrated packaging line ever - was demoed, and a range of pharmaceutical and cosmetic packaging was produced. “It shortens lead times and enables short runs and quick changeovers and also allows cost-effective variable data printing on each package,” says Haglich.

The CiPress 500 inkjet press, running at 2 052 A4 images-per-minute, was the groundbreaking technology on show as it is the only inkjet press that does not require treated inkjet paper. The 'ink' is a patented polymeric resin that is melted by the inkjet nozzle when it is jetted onto the paper surface. This waterless ink does not soak into the paper as water-based inks do, enabling this press to print onto paper weights from 50gsm to 160gsm low-cost, untreated, offset paper.

“CiPress ink is safe and non-toxic and the prints are certified by the International Association of the De-inking Industry as 'Good De-inkable', the highest possible rating,” he adds. “Inkjet presses were demonstrated by many vendors and some offset litho manufacturers also announced partnerships and collaboration with inkjet press manufacturers so that they can add this technology to their product ranges.”

Haglich notes that inkjet is now encroaching into the offset litho space in terms of cost per page. “The image quality is perfect for applications such as statements, transaction marketing (transpromo) applications, customer communications, direct mail, catalogues and even short-run magazines. The offset litho vendors also demonstrated hybrid press systems that incorporate one or more inkjet stations that can impress variable data onto the offset printed web 'on the fly' in one pass.”

In its emerging trends for 2012 report, Trendwatcher mentioned that a printed product has no value until it is converted into a finished piece. Automated finishing was another key focus area in the product line-up from Xerox. “All digital presses were equipped with a comprehensive range of inline finishing devices producing saddle-stitched books, perfect-bound books, c-folded flyers and ring-bound books,” says Haglich.

Software as a service (SaaS) featured prominently as another business growth enabler with Xerox and other software partners offering cloud computing-based services. “In South Africa, Bytes Document Solutions now offers Silverline Lab's Xmpie multimedia campaign and Infigo Web-to-print services. This enables print service providers to minimise capital expenditure, reduce the complexity of their IT infrastructure, and deal with rapidly changing end-customer needs. Bytes Document Solutions SA also demonstrated this service at Drupa to many interested print providers based in the UK.”

Xerox's overall mission at Drupa was to help customers focus on how to:

1. Grow their business by acquiring new customers, expanding into new markets, gaining more work from existing clients, and delivering new high-value applications and services;

2. Produce more jobs by automating workflows to process more jobs, reducing order entry bottlenecks with Web to Finish solutions, and managing jobs more effortlessly;

3. Delight clients by reliably meeting fast job turnarounds, delivering outstanding image quality, being able to say 'yes' to more jobs and requests, and deliver high response rates with personalised marketing communications; and

4 Reduce costs by minimising time, labour and overhead through automation, and reducing waste obsolescence and inventory.