Xerox Courts In-plants With Renewed Production Print Focus

By Bob Neubauer

Xerox is signaling it wants back into the in-plant conversation after what looked, for a time, like a retreat from production printing. At a four-day event in the UK last week (Feb. 24-27) called “The Future of Xerox Production Print – Accelerating the Pace,” executives described a deliberate, “very intentional” push to win back respect, backed by a new global production and services division, according to Printweek. The message was unmistakable: Xerox wants customers to view it as a serious, long-term production player, not a legacy vendor.

"Production print is a strategic pillar for Xerox, and we are investing boldly in high-speed inkjet, AI-driven workflow and digital embellishment to help our clients enter a new era of print," said Terry Antinora, president of Global Production Print Services at Xerox.

Xerox showcased next-generation presses at its Future of Xerox Production Print event in the UK.

That stance matters to in-plants because Xerox’s recent history has not left them confident. The company shuttered its Baltoro platform a few years ago and stepped away from inkjet manufacturing, moves that disappointed operations that had invested in Xerox. Layer on the exit from long-standing platforms such as iGen and Nuvera, and it’s understandable why many in-plants became wary of betting future capacity on Xerox.

The Xerox IJP900 inkjet press was shown at the event.

Against that backdrop, Xerox’s launch of the Xerox IJP900 Inkjet Press, which it showed at PRINTING United Expo, read as a first step toward re-establishing credibility and signaling that inkjet production is back on the table.

Now Xerox is trying to rebuild trust with a product pipeline that is both broad and specific, as detailed in an article in Printweek. At the UK event, executives discussed a planned 1,200x1,200-dpi, 150-ppm Xerox inkjet press; a 300-ppm B3 sheetfed inkjet press, which a spokesman called a “Canon killer,” nodding to Canon’s iX3200; and a 70-mpm inkjet label press that would mark Xerox’s first move into labels.

Alongside those longer-horizon launches, Xerox also previewed near-term updates like new PrimeLink mono and color devices and an Iridesse with updated electronics, shown running with a new in-line laminator. It was all part of an effort to convince cautious in-plants that this time, the commitment is meant to stick.

Read the full Printweek article here.

0 Comments

View Comments

Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited 200 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.