New product parade from Fuji Xerox in November

The arrival in Australia of the first iGen4 sparks the release of three other colour digital machines.

“I’ve never before been involved with so many product releases at the same time. It’s a busy period up until Christmas,” said Henryk Kraszewski, production colour marketing manager, at the Epicenter in Eveleigh.

In addition to the top of the range iGen4, the company is bringing to market a new addition to the colour production line-up, the 700 Digital Color Press as well as two upgrades to existing products, the proofing oriented Docucolor 1257GA and the Docucolor 5000 AP.

Star of the line-up, as far as expected numbers of sales is concerned, will be the 700, which fills a gap in the production colour lineup. With an output of 70 ppm and a price tag likely to be sub-$100k, it is a workhorse machine that has already attracted considerable attention from local buyers at drupa. Targeted at print shops that are upgrading to a more productive engine, its high-end quality at lite-price point is also expected to seed some greenfield digital sites.

The massive Xerox-branded iGen4 consolidates the company’s position at the high-end of digital colour production printing. Launched at drupa, the engine incorporates a number of improvements over its predecessor, including an in-built densitometer and spectrophotometer as well as improved ‘carrier’ replenishment. The iGen4 is rated to deliver 20 percent more productivity, even while keeping its rated speed at 110 A4 ppm.

Kraszewski is not expecting too many of the 30 plus iGen3 customers in Australia to swap over to the latest model. He says they are too happy with their bedded-in productive machines. The new spectrophotometer can be retro-fitted to earlier models, which will also be able to take advantage of ORIS colour software designed specially for the range.

Greenfield buyers of the iGen4 will have to wait for the currency fluctuations to subside a little before finding out what it will cost. According to Simon Lane, national manager, although Fuji Xerox will absorb some of the exchange rate changes, prices will have to go up to some extent.

Who can say what the position will be in late November when the company begins customer engagement with an eye on initial installations early next year? However it is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of the market however. Lane says this has been the best year ever for installations of the iGen3 throughout Australia.