Speaking at last week's Premier Partners congress in Amsterdam, Zagalo De Lima said: "We are a very big customer of Creo and Kodak doesn't want to lose that. Contractually and factually I don't see any reason to be concerned. Creo is one part of our RIP strategy and we also have our own and the EFI offering."

Creo's Spire RIP is the dominant front-end supplied with the firm's DocuColor and iGen3 digital presses in the commercial print market.
The theme of the Premier Partners event was "inspiration for growth". Delegates from 17 UK companies were among those present.

Zagalo De Lima urged delegates to lead the way in the transformation of the graphic arts industry. "Be innovative, build on your strengths and keep your opportunities for growth
in your own hands," he said.

Xerox is expanding its own document management services offering to large corporates, which it expects to grow from 20% to 50% of overall revenues. "We believe it [the office] is out of control, cost-wise. People don't know how much they spend producing documents," he said.

Its ePrintsourcing service, where Xerox takes responsibility for clients' offset printing requirements, is also growing strongly. This is yet to be launched in all European countries.

Xerox has won a contract with Scottish Widows where it has taken responsibility for all marketing communication materials. Zagalo De Lima, however, emphasised that in situations where Xerox was effectively competing with its own graphic arts clients for print management-type contracts it "guaranteed" not to have a price advantage.

Xerox also used the event as the launchpad for its new 495 Continuous Feed Duplex Printer. The 495 is an all-Xerox product and features a new non-contact, non-heating flash fusing technology. High intensity light is used to melt the toner into the paper.

The 600dpi machine runs at 35 metres per minute, or 472 impressions per minute in duplex mode. The new printer also has a small footprint, almost half the size of a traditional duplex system.
"We're very enthusiastic about this product. It's a reinforcement of our presence in that space, and it's a space that's going to grow," Zagalo De Lima added.

Story by Jo Francis