Written by Dustin Graupman
Vice President / General Manager, Ink Jet Business, Xerox
When we announced our fast, high-quality, color wide format printer at FESPA last year, we left some business unfinished.
At the time, our Xerox Wide Format IJP 2000 captured a lot of attention by opening new market opportunities. Previously, print providers had to choose between great image quality and fast speed when looking at wide-format print technology. The IJP 2000 was the industry’s first no-compromise solution combining fast speeds—420 square meters or 4,520 square feet per hour—with great, 1600×1600 dots per inch (dpi) image quality.
However, its finishing capabilities were limited to a built-in cutter and two options: a floor catch box and a 150-sheet stacker.
At FESPA 2014 in Munich, we raised the bar yet again by adding new finishing options that make the IJP 2000 a more complete solution. Those devices are:
- The Fotoba FHS42 Cutter, which provides inline vertical and horizontal trimming at the same fast speed as the IJP 2000 to deliver finished documents faster. The system reads embedded crop marks on each print to align its cutting blocks and deliver highly accurate cuts of one-, two- or three-up full-bleed prints. It is scheduled for availability later this year.
- The Gera Mondial B4c System, which is a folder and high-capacity stacker, providing a wide array of standard and custom folds for architecture and engineering documents. It is now available in Europe directly from Gera.
We generated plenty of other good news during the show, as well. The European Digital Press Association recognized the Xerox IJP 2000 with an EDP award as the “Best wide format roll to roll printer up to 1,6 meter.” In winning that, we joined with our flagship Xerox iGen 150 Press, which won an EDP Award as the “Best cut sheet color printer high production commercial print system.”
Visitors to our stand saw demonstrations of localization, versioning and personalization using XMPie software; our 7142 printer; and our new 7742 scanner for Europe and developing markets, which turns the 7142 into a multi-function device. We’re also actively expanding our recommended media list, particularly for specialty media, including:
- Backlit films for banners, maps and signs
- Polyester adhesives for internal signage, labels, panels and posters
- Matte backlit film for light boxes, vending machines, and cosmetic and fast food displays
- Textured light block film for roll-up banners, tradeshow signage, marketing displays and point-of-purchase signage
To learn more about the wide-format opportunity and how Rubin Rid Ltd. of Tel Aviv gained new business with the Xerox IJP 2000, you can hear a replay of a recent “Kicking Your Wide-Format Business Into High Gear” webinar.
Digitally printed signage and graphics is a $55 billion global market, expected to grow at a 6.5 percent compound annual growth rate between 2012 and 2017, according to InfoTrends.
What are you doing to capture the growth opportunities in wide-format printing?
