The European alliance between Fujifilm and Xerox means that offset printers looking to invest in digital press technology can now buy from a supplier familiar with their established business needs and processes - but with a substantial pedigree in print-on-demand.

There is now general agreement within the industry that digital presses don't compete with offset, they complement them. They excel at very quick turnaround short-run jobs and have injected a new lease of life into highly targeted direct mail. These complementary capabilities provide opportunities for traditional offset printers to expand their businesses into new application areas.

Nearly all industry reports on the subject suggest that the number of applications for print-on-demand (PoD) and personalisation is set to increase dramatically, so rather than see more business lost to high street copy shops or digitally-equipped competitors, it makes sense for offset litho printers to get into digital now.

Dynamic duo

Now that the alliance with Xerox has brought the DocuColor and iGen ranges of digital presses into the Fujifilm portfolio, it means there is an established print industry supplier whose experience in offset printing puts it in a perfect position to help commercial printers integrate new digital technologies into their businesses.

Fujifilm's history in the print-ondemand sector goes all the way back to the foundation of the Fuji Xerox joint venture by Fuji Photo Film and Rank Xerox in 1962. Seventy-five per cent owned by Fujifilm since 2001, when it became a member of the Fujifilm Group, Fuji Xerox manufactures and supplies a wide range of office-based and high-end production printing systems, sold under the Fuji Xerox brand name in the Asia-Pacific region and under the Xerox name in the rest of the world.

Further to the 2001 integration of Fuji Xerox into the Fujifilm Group, Fujifilm became a reseller of Xerox digital presses in Japan in 2000, followed by the US in 2003, Canada in 2006 and Europe in 2007.

Adding value via integration

Further, Fujifilm's development of workflow, image enhancement and colour management technologies now brings a degree of integration, control and consistency between offset and digital print that was previously unavailable. XMF 2.0 is a unique cross-media workflow solution that allows on-the-fly re-imposition and preparation of jobs from offset to digital presses or vice-versa at the press of a button. This makes late changes in output device a simple matter and ensures consistency between jobs, whichever type of device they are printed on.

The expertise in image and colour management embodied in Fujifilm applications such as XMF C-Fit and supporting technologies adds further value to a powerful cross-media workflow. Demonstrations at drupa showed how close a match could be achieved between conventional offset and DocuColor print, making it feasible to mix and match presses according to availability, deadlines or specific media and finishing requirements. Fujifilm also demonstrated a software tool for optimising the toner usage on DocuColor presses. Not only does this reduce the amount of toner used, it also reduces the ‘shine' often seen on DocuColor prints.

With this degree of support and integration, it's now possible to add digital presses into an offset workflow in a way that capitalises on the strengths of both print technologies, allowing printers to offer their customers a wider range of services, more efficiently and competitively than ever before.