The move signals the firm's strategy to establish more of a presence in the packaging market. The inline coater is being developed by US partner Epic and is being tested by Field Packaging.

"The UV coater for the iGen3 presents us with a very big prospect in Europe and there is already a big demand for it," said Xerox Europe iGen3 market manager Wim Koning. "The addition means that we now have all the pieces in the puzzle. For Xerox, packaging is a new market and we think the iGen3 is the first digital engine that can print on the kind of substrates that the sector uses."

Last year the recommended stock range was upped from 300gsm to 350gsm. Koning added that the press's ability to match Pantone colours (when used with its DocuSP front end) was a key selling point for packaging markets.

Last month Xerox signalled it was to target new markets including packaging, consumer imaging and transactional mailings to grow the volumes printed on its machines.

The latest iGen3 can operate at 110 impressions per minute and in 2004 added new feeders and stackers for increased paper capacity, and post process inserter.

Story by Philip Chadwick