For too long, print service providers needing to deliver high-quality, high-margin brochures, posters or photo books have been held back by time, labour and even colour constraints. This has all changed with the launch of the new Xerox iGen 5 press, which is now available in South Africa.
What sets the iGen 5 apart is the fact that it offers users access to a gamut-extending fifth colour. This will dramatically increase their ability to produce the kind of jobs that customers are looking for today.
Said Jenny Attewell, production services and wide format product manager at Bytes Document Solutions, ‘The fifth colour option enables the iGen 5 to match a wider variety of corporate brand colours, extending the value of digital print to previously offset-only jobs. Users have the option of choosing one of three additional colours, orange, green or blue, in addition to the standard cyan, magenta, yellow and black colours. This makes it much easier for printers to accurately hit distinctive brand colours, without moving short runs to offset.’
Moreover, she explained, up until now, the process of achieving consistent, sellable image quality has been manually intensive. It requires users to print, calibrate, print, adjust and print again.
‘However, the iGen 5 delivers built-in automation that makes it predictable and efficient. It also helps to radically reduce setup time, while also improving image quality, reducing labour costs and speeding up turnaround times. Combined with the fifth colour option, it means printers can easily attain the ideal colour they require and, more crucially, maintain it from shift to shift and press to press.’
‘Furthermore, Matte Dry Ink allows the user to better emulate the look of offset, thereby extending job flexibility providing a pleasing offset-like matte finish, particularly on uncoated or silk stocks,’ she stated.
‘Another advantage is the fact that the iGen 5’s large 660mm sheet size lets users print more jobs more economically, including unique applications such as six-panel brochures and gatefold pamphlets. Larger sheets translate to greater efficiency in the printing process, fewer sheets used and improved capabilities that will help boost their business.’
‘The iGen 5 is naturally fully customisable to meet page volume, application type and colour needs, and it offers all of the above while still delivering market-leading press uptime. Also, it is built on a single, configurable platform, which means users can choose the speed point and number of colour stations that best fit their particular requirements,’ noted Attewell.
Xerox introduced the iGen platform in 2002 to great acclaim and the new iGen 5 continues this reputation, delivering productivity gains of up to 25%, since less time is spent on reprinting, quality control and job setup.
‘The iGen family has always been about making a limited amount of time work harder for you. Thanks to its advanced automation and its fifth colour option, the iGen 5 means that there is no longer any reason for print service providers to have to choose between productivity and accuracy or speed and quality. With the new iGen 5, they can have it all,’ concluded Attewell.
