Agfa changes marketing focus - leaves PrintCity

The company is keen to demonstrate its connectivity capabilities to the widest range of companies, not just Print City consortium partners.

Print City is a demonstration project that has operated at trade shows such as drupa and IPEX. It involves different companies coming together to demonstrate the interconnectivity of ‘best in class’ technology.


"The PrintCity project has been a very successful one for us," said Agfa's vice president of imaging solutions, Jan Van Daele. "Drupa 2004 has fully demonstrated that systems and software from any member company can be integrated seamlessly. JDF connectivity, automation, open architecture and interoperability are very much a reality in our industry today. We will demonstrate connectivity in our day-to-day business, not just in a consortium or at a trade show."

"We were a founding partner at the previous Drupa but today's reality is different," said Agfa's vice president of Graphic Systems sales and services, Marc Schillemans. "Open standards have become a given and we will continue to invest our efforts and resources in innovations, connectivity and profitability for our customers."

PrintCity has pledged that it is “business as usual” in the wake of Agfa’s departure at the end of the year.

Rainer Kuhn, Managing Director of PrintCity, said: “Agfa has changed its priorities and, of course, it is entirely right for it to focus on these. Agfa’s decision is no reflection on the success of PrintCity and we are pleased that Agfa has acknowledged the accomplishments of being part of PrintCity. We wish the company every future success and have not ruled out working together again.”

John Dangelmaier, President of PrintCity, said: “The Agfa charter objectives for PrintCity were fully met in general and especially at drupa. Our “closed loop… open systems” approach will continue on an even grander scale in the future. However, we recognise that there is still much work to be done in the area of integration, which is not limited to JDF. We have lots of exciting news around the corner. “