According to a recent independent survey by industry research firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, Xerox Corporation's FreeFlow Digital Workflow Collection is the software that production print professionals prefer to use most for their digital printing workflow. Workflow tools like FreeFlow are used to streamline the path that print jobs follow, from creation to printing to final billing.

'Xerox leads the pack as the brand that customers use, trust and prefer in the digital printing marketplace', said Charlie Corr, Group Director, InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. 'Xerox has a history of expertise in this market, and with one of the most comprehensive collections of digital workflow software, its FreeFlow products are helping print professionals work smarter and better'.

The InfoTrends/CAP Ventures study, titled The Global Print Production Workflow Market : Enabling Fundamental Business Change in Graphic Arts, surveyed more than 500 print service providers in the U.S. and Europe on their usage patterns and familiarity with workflow products offered by a number of vendors.

Xerox FreeFlow software products led the competition with the greatest number of respondents indicating that they used, were familiar with or strongly preferred FreeFlow in three specific categories: software for predominantly digital printing workflows; software for hybrid offset and digital workflows; and variable data design, production, and automated composition applications.

In a related InfoTrends/CAP Ventures survey, The Changing Print for Pay Market : The Future of Commercial Printing, nearly 80% of the respondents claim that reducing production cost and improving efficiency is a current business strategy, yet many lack the plans to effectively achieve this goal.

Xerox FreeFlow products - including the recently announced FreeFlow Makeready, Web Services, Print Manager and Process Manager tools - are part of Xerox's initiative to help printing professionals improve operational efficiency, reduce costs and increase revenue.

'Xerox workflow tools enable us to maximise our equipment capabilities and streamline our production processes - jump-starting both our productivity and profitability', said Victor P. Garrow, General Manager, Rapid Ray's Printing and Copying Inc., a quick printer in Buffalo, N.Y. 'We provide the fastest and highest quality service in our region and won't accept anything less from our printing technology.'

The fast-growing production workflow software market was sized at about $5.9 billion in 2003 and is projected by InfoTrends/CAP Ventures to reach just over $8.8 billion by 2008.

The Xerox Corporation has also announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility in Rochester, USA that will be the world's largest permanent showcase of digital products for the graphic arts and production printing markets. The facility has been designed to help customers interact with today's digital technologies and to provide an insight into tomorrow's printing innovations.

The company also announced a faster version of its flagship Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press. The iGen3 110 will be among more than 20 digital systems and software solutions featured in the Gil Hatch Centre for Customer Innovation, a multi-million dollar, 100,000-square-foot facility located in the heart of Xerox's complex in Webster, N.Y.

The centre - the size of about three American football fields – is designed to give current and prospective commercial printers and corporate customers integrated, one-stop access to Xerox's entire portfolio of digital production printing equipment workflow solutions, and business development tools.

'These are the kinds of offerings that are transforming the world of print', said Quincy Allen, President, Xerox Production Systems Group. 'This centre enhances the total customer experience and demonstrates real-world ways to increase profits and boost productivity and revenue by improving the entire printing process.'

Xerox expects to host several thousand customers a year from around the world at the new centre, including commercial, quick, and in-plant printers; in house data centres; professionals from service bureaus; and digital book publishers.

More than 60 employees will work at the centre, which includes an iGen3 press customer-training lab, a paper feeding and finishing lab, multimedia theatre and meeting rooms. Customers invited to the centre can also see their own applications printed on the Xerox digital equipment in the facility.

For example, a customer considering adding digital print technologies to their business could bring in a job for a short-run colour brochure, catalogue or booklet, prepare it with FreeFlow Makeready software, print it on a Xerox DocuColor 8000 press or iGen3 press, and finish the booklets in-line.

In addition to the Gil Hatch Centre for Customer Innovation, Xerox will continue to operate existing customer centres around the world. These centres serve as regional locations where customers can receive executive briefings, see live production and office product demonstrations, work with Xerox consultants and test print applications.

About Xerox

Xerox markets a comprehensive range of Xerox products, solutions and services, as well as associated supplies and software. Its offerings are focused on three main areas : offices from small to large, production print and graphic arts environments, and services that include consulting, systems design and management, and document outsourcing.

Xerox supports The New Business Of Printing strategy by providing the largest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital products, solutions and services in the industry, integrated streamlined and efficient workflow solutions and a suite of business development tools that help customers to achieve sustained long-term growth. In the changing world of print, these three elements enable customers to improve business performance and productivity to ensure they uncover more ways to profit.

The Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partner Program is a Xerox-sponsored, global community, open to Xerox graphic arts service providers. Xerox provides tools, resources, and knowledge to its members.

The goal of this strategy is to help Premier Partners grow their revenues and profits, develop their capabilities and expand their business into a thriving enterprise.

By working with Premier Partners, customers are assured of high quality printing from best-of-breed companies equipped with the latest technology. For more information on the Xerox Premier Partner network, please visit www.xerox.com/xpp.

Xerox also has manufacturing and logistics operations in Ireland, the UK and Holland, and a research and development facility (Xerox Research Centre Europe) in Grenoble, France. For more information visit, www.xerox.com.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---