1st iGen 3 for Australia

After the IPEX signing, Mike Jones (2nd from right) shakes hands with Henryk Kraszewski, flanked by John Loadsman, general manager CDM, and Brett Maishman, Product manager of Fuji Xerox.

“This is a natural move for us. We are part of the Xerox family and we want to move with them to the next level,” said Jones.

“We don’t want to keep pulling traditional work from offset. It’s a case of dipping our toe in the water of full colour variable data printing. To do that you need the equipment. With the iGen3 we’d need to be doing between 400,000 and 500,000 copies per month of full colour. It can be done, we’ve already got 2060s that are doing up to 70,000 per month.”

CDM is one of the most productive digital printing companies in the industry and is often held up as a paragon of the 'new business of printing.'

At least two other Australian graphic arts companies – Sinnott Brothers, part of IPMG, and Mercury Printeam in Melbourne – have also signed letters of interest with Fuji Xerox at IPEX, according to Brett Maishman, Fuji Xerox product manager.

“We have had very strong interest from some of the largest printers and prepress companies in the country,” he said. He expects the first units in the country next year. The press is not yet available commercially although Xerox is taking reservation orders worldwide. Around 100 early iGen3 units have been produced to date.

At the same time at the Print On Demand show in New York, Xerox announced, price reductions of up to12 per cent on the DocuColor 2060 including a scanner for hardcopy input, and a six per cent decrease for DocuColor 2045. The DocuColor 2000 Series is the most successful product line of its kind with 5,000 installations, one-and-a-half times more placements than all comparable competitors combined, according to company claims.