NEW PRODUCTS
XEROX REVEALS PRODUCTION PRINT INNOVATIONS At a virtual event attended by partners and clients around the world, Xerox unveiled the following innovations: a Color Accelerator module for Baltoro, expanding inkjet applications and adding ink-saving automation; addition of fluorescent pink to the Iridesse Production Press, enhancing its metallics, white and clear colour palette; three new printers capable of higher volumes, more media and extended colour options in the VersaLink and Versant family; two Xerox Nuvera print speed upgrades that best competition; AI-enabled media manager software that enables high quality images with minimal set-up and staff time; and automated workflow updates to seamlessly print embellishments with FreeFlow Core 6.0 Xerox is committed to helping customers expand their business, enhance productivity with new technology and protect their existing investments with new tools and features. Digital print enhancements increase profitability, delivering higher margins and allowing print customers to expand into new areas. According to Keypoint Intelligence, digital print enhancement is expected to generate $25 billion a year and can increase a printers’ profit by 50 to 400 percent. By making it easier, customisable and faster to produce these pages, Xerox technology provides multiple entry options for customers to expand their business and increase profit. XEROX COLOR ACCELERATOR FOR BALTORO: The Xerox Baltoro™ High Fusion Inkjet Press platform, No.1 in the B3 cut-sheet inkjet market, now has a field upgradable module that expands its range. The Xerox Color Accelerator for Xerox Baltoro HF Inkjet Press enables increased print quality, expanded media options and automation to make inkjet printing viable for lucrative applications such as direct mail, postcards and catalogues. With
intelligent automation, Baltoro uses 50% less ink than competitor presses to purge inkjet heads, increasing uptime and productivity while delivering consistent, reliable quality. Introduced last year, Baltoro is redefining the inkjet market. At a fraction of the size, weight and power consumption of competitor presses, Baltoro offers a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) while being the only scalable, customisable platform in its class. FLUORESCENT PINK FOR IRIDESSE: Xerox has the broadest colour capability and Beyond CMYK offerings across any portfolio. No one offers the range of colours, embellishments, mixed metallics, extended gamut, media options and single-pass digital enhancement technology as Xerox. The Xerox Iridesse® Production Press is adding fluorescent pink specialty dry ink option to its existing Beyond CMYK palette of gold, silver, white and clear. These embellishments allow print providers to differentiate and offer their clients eye popping designs and enhancements. NEW VERSALINK GRAPHIC ARTS PRINTER: The newest addition to the VersaLink family is the Xerox VersaLink® C8000W, the most affordable entry point into the embellishment market. Using white toner as a base on dark and coloured stocks, its cyan, magenta and yellow toners make images pop for applications such as menus, envelopes,
window clings, decals and labels. A small footprint device, the C8000W offers clarity and quality that stands out over the typical four colour print. TWO NEW VERSANTS: Xerox is expanding its Versant family of presses with two new machines that support wider media options and add automation features that reduce staffing needs and set-up time. The Xerox Versant® 280 Press, a mid-production press, provides added value with thicker stock media options (400 GSM) for applications such as business cards. With the All Stocks at Rated Speed (ASRS) option, the Versant 280 is faster than any competitor in printing heavy stocks. Customers can print a million specialty colours using an Adaptive CMYK+ kit that leverages white, gold, silver, clear and fluorescents, unique to Xerox in this class of products. The Xerox Versant 4100 Press, handles higher volumes and heavier production loads than the Versant 280, bringing more jobs in-house by reducing set-up time and printing on more media types than any competitor press. The 4100 also handles thicker paper stocks, up to 400 GSM. Automated stock management saves time and reduces human error. FASTER XEROX NUVERAS: The Xerox Nuvera® family is built for high production environments with customers making more than 35 billion prints last year. The Xerox Nuvera 157 MX Production System and Xerox Nuvera MX Perfecting Production System monochrome production presses have upgraded the magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) print speeds to exceed any competitive press. MICR, the line of numbers that allows certain computers to read and process information, is key for processing bank, payroll and government cheques with tested and trusted Xerox Nuvera security. www.xerox.com
ESKO LAUNCHES ESSENTIAL TOOLKIT Esko has announced it is responding to the latest retailing trends by launching the ‘Essential Toolkit for Retailers: from Consumer Insights to Product Launches’, a free online resource that outlines how retailers can improve packaging and marketing asset management to target consumers through an integrated omni-channel marketing strategy. Esko, which provides a collaborative content creation platform for packaging, labels and marketing collateral, has recognised the trend for buying early in-store to avoid disappointment and acknowledges that ‘e-sales will explode’, putting retailers’ online strategies to the test, according to Forbes. Retail Toolkit “What we’re taking from these trends is that retailers, and the brands that supply them, need to act with supreme agility to cater to evolving consumerism. The need for reactivity is not going away any time soon. This will be a theme into Spring 2021, and perhaps beyond. Adopting
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effective technology will not only plug the gaps now but it will also future proof the packaging, label and marketing collateral creation process against this level of disruption for future retail generations,” says Matthew Haws, Global Marketing Director at Esko Brand Solutions. The Esko e-book explores retail challenges and trends and offers solutions on how to meet them head on with the right digital tools. Time consuming design approvals, laborious manual processes
and missing assets shouldn’t slow down speed to market, according to Esko. “A centralised location for team projects, approvals, artwork and collateral, gives the whole team greater visibility, improving accuracy to keep costs down and reducing the risk of missed deadlines,” continues Haws. Further to this, having the whole project to hand via solutions such as web-based collaborative workflow management system, WebCenter and accompanying digital asset management system, MediaBeacon, helps brand marketers to deliver joined up omni-channel messaging with ease. As the upsurge in e-commerce continues, digital collaboration through effective technology assists retail marketing teams to traverse the in-store and online marketing challenge to communicate clear messaging in a time when disinformation and conflicting messaging runs rife. www.esko.com/brands • www.esko.com
FEBRUARY 2021 • QUICK PRINT PRO
