Written by Robert Stabler
SVP/GM, Graphic Communications Business Group, Xerox Corporation
It’s no secret that most of our industry’s manufacturers staged their major 2016 announcements at drupa this past spring. So why should you pay attention to Graph Expo, which runs from Sept. 25-28 in Orlando? Here are five reasons why Graph Expo is, as the organizers might say, a “must-see-em.”
1. Experience the best of drupa. Graph Expo (and Xerox) will host the North American debut of many top drupa introductions. Just 3 percent of drupa’s 260,000 visitors were from the United States, so for many this is a welcome opportunity.
Editor’s Note: Even if you can’t attend the show in person, you’ll be able to experience product demos, industry panels and more LIVE by tuning into our Live Stream feeds.
2. Explore game-changing inkjet technologies. Some truly innovative inkjet products were introduced in the last six months, and two from Xerox are recognized with Must See ‘Ems awards:
- The Xerox® Brenva™ HD Production Inkjet Press stands out among the cut-sheet inkjet presses now reaching the market, for its low-cost total ownership, workflow flexibility and proven technologies from the Xerox iGen®, Impika, Nuvera®, CiPress® and FreeFlow® families. These contribute to best-in-class, in-line automation for optimal productivity.
- Xerox® Direct to Object Inkjet Printer creates new opportunities by printing directly onto objects sized from bottle caps to football helmets. Printable materials include plastics, metals, ceramics, glass and other substrates, and can handle flat, contour and uneven surfaces like those of golf balls. The new printer eliminates the need for labels, enables personalization, and has a sleek, compact design that fits easily in retail locations.
In addition to these award-winning technologies, the Xerox Rialto 900 Inkjet Press with new enhancements – inline dynamic perforation and a second high-capacity stacker – will be on display. This device aims to democratize inkjet, making it accessible to the masses by eliminating classic barriers such as cost, size and complexity.
Lastly, samples of our new High Fusion Ink will be on display. These new inks, designed for the Xerox Trivor 2400, enable printing directly onto low-cost, commodity-based offset coated stocks without the need for any pre or post treatment or inkjet coatings. This opens up yet another large piece of the offset printing market to digital.
3. Consult on your business challenges. As the largest graphic communications trade show in North America, Graph Expo is one of the year’s best opportunities to network. Many Xerox experts will be at our booth #1625 to discuss business and technology topics. And on two days —Sept. 26 and 27—we’ll host a 4 pm happy hour in our booth for networking with industry experts and colleagues as well as the Xerox team.
4. Automate your business. Shorter runs, faster turns, more jobs and the requirements of many high-growth applications have created a mandate to automate. The value of three key pieces in the Xerox workflow automation suite were reaffirmed when their latest enhancements received Must See ‘Ems awards.
- Xerox® FreeFlow® Core 5.0, the intelligent automation platform that streamlines prepress activities to increase productivity and reduce costs, is now available in two cloud versions—base and advanced—in addition to cloud and on-premise.
- Xerox® FreeFlow® Digital Publisher, which automatically produces online, mobile and print content from a single PDF file, now offers specially formatted mobile course packs for higher education, and a new custom storefront for mobile apps.
- XMPie Campaigns on Demand integrates XMPie® PersonalEffect® StoreFlow™ and Circle to enable personalized multichannel campaign ordering and execution directly from a Web-to-print store. It will be available in 2017.
5. Discover opportunities with toner-based technologies. Two of our xerographic technologies recently received prestigious 2016 InterTech Technology Awards, as breakthroughs with the potential to impact the future of the graphic communications landscape:
- The Ultra HD Resolution on the Xerox® Versant® 2100 Press is so good that “there’s no longer a reason to avoid the elements that used to be a problem for digital print—gradients, thin fonts and vector graphics,” according to the InterTech judges.
- And the Metallic Dry Inks delivered via a fifth toner station of the Xerox® Color 800i/1000i Press are “a game changer” for offering new revenue-generating opportunities, the judges stated.
Joining the Versant 2100 at Graph will be the Xerox® iGen® 5 Press with its optional fifth-toner-station, which offers three gamut-extending colors and clear toner for adding pop to selected sections of printed pieces.
For more about Xerox at Graph Expo, visit www.xerox.com/graphexpo. And if you can’t attend in person, we’ll do our best to bring the experience to you. Follow us on Twitter (@XeroxProduction) for the latest updates and watch our live stream video broadcasts on Periscope.
