Inkjet & Digital Printing
Xerox Demonstrates Commitment to Lucrative Photo Specialty Market
Wednesday 04. March 2009 - Brings New Technology, Leadership to PMA 2009
Appoints new vice president of photo/packaging market;
Wins six DIMA Digital Printer Shoot-Out and Innovative Product awards;
Fujifilm to sell Xerox 700 Digital Color Press to professional, commercial photo labs
From sweeping the DIMA Digital Printer Shoot-Out honors to launching award-winning software that automates production of photo books, calendars and greeting cards, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) today kicked off PMA 2009 with its biggest presence yet at the photo industry’s largest annual tradeshow.
The company has also named Philippe Laude as vice president of photo and packaging within Xerox’s Global Business and Strategic Marketing Group. Laude is charged with helping print providers capture a piece of the lucrative and expanding photo specialty market.
Xerox and Fujifilm
With a joint booth presence at PMA, Fujifilm and Xerox will showcase a range of product offerings featuring Fujifilm’s software and photofinishing workflow and Xerox’s industry-leading digital print systems.
“Through our partnership with Fujifilm, we’re positioned to support professional and commercial photo labs as well as traditional print providers,” said Laude. “Our leading technology, workflow, and business development offerings in this space enable our customers to produce some of the highest profit-margin jobs being printed today – full-color photo-based applications.”
In addition, Fujifilm will now market the Xerox 700 Digital Color Press – on display in Booth F 130 at the show – to professional and commercial photo labs. The press delivers production features such as coated paper handling, heavyweight media support, and feeding and finishing options at an entry-level price. The collaboration opens another sales channel for both companies to better leverage the growing market for specialty photo products such as photo books, photo calendars, and greeting cards as well as trading cards, fun packs and other specialty items.
FreeFlow automation software debuts
Xerox’s FreeFlow Photo Automation Tool is being shown for the first time at the show. The software automates specialty photo workflows from a customer’s order through the print process and includes more than 50 templates for common photo specialty jobs, color management, and automatically applies job ticketing selections. It is a simple and affordable option for print providers entering the photo space or for those looking to increase photo specialty production volume.
Award-winning Xerox products
Xerox kicked off the show by winning four prestigious 2009 Digital Imaging Marketing Association Digital Printer Shoot-Out Awards, taking home honors in the following categories:
Creative Application, Alternative Substrate – Xerox PhotoPix Image Solutions Paper
Dry Production Printers (20-40 ppm) – DocuColor 242 Digital Color Printer/Copier
Dry Production Printers (41-70 ppm) – Xerox 700 Digital Color Press
Dry Production Printers (71+ ppm) – Xerox iGen4 Press
The 700 Digital Color Press and FreeFlow Photo Automation Tool also received DIMA Innovative Digital Product awards. The awards recognize products utilizing new technologies and applications that make them distinct and first of a kind.
Digital systems, business development tools and applications on display
In addition to the 700 Digital Color Press, Xerox will also showcase the DocuColor 242 system and the 8254E Wide Format Printer, a value-priced, large-format color device, on the show floor. The company will offer iGen4 and DocuColor 5000AP/7000AP/8000AP application samples, and Xerox experts will be on hand for print providers interested in discussing the greater production capabilities that these presses offer.
Xerox will also showcase the Xerox Picture Me Profitable Kit, part of its ProfitAccelerator Digital Business Resources portfolio. The kit helps photo labs, photo retailers and digital print providers design, market and produce a range of lucrative photo specialty products on Xerox digital printers. Additional tools from the ProfitAccelerator collection will also be on display.