Vipin Tuteja, executive director, PSG and head, IM & SAO, Xerox India Ltd replied on some of FAQs relating to digital printing and its growth opportunities.

Vipin Taneja

Q: How do you see the Indian digital printing market growing in 2010?

The Indian digital printing industry has experienced a very good growth rate in the last few years and we hope this growth momentum to continue in the year 2010 as well. The Indian digital printing market is expected to grow from $504 million in 2006 to as much as $2.5 billion by 2012. So while print industry is growing around 12.2 percent, digital print is growing at about 25 percent.

Q: You recently launched iGen4 at IPEX 09, what has the response been?

iGen4 is the most productive cut-sheet digital press in the printing industry. It increases productivity by 25 to 35 percent by automating operator tasks resulting in improving the break-even point between digital and traditional offset printing. We received overwhelming response at IPEX 09.

Q: How long will Xerox continue both iGen3 and iGen4 in the portfolio? Is this really fourth generation technology, as the name implies?

For a period of time, iGen3 and iGen4 will co-exist in the portfolio to meet customer demand. We have installed seven iGen3 digital presses across the Indian sub-continent in about one year and hope to further accelerate this business growth with the iGen4. With the new enhancements in our Advanced Colour Quality Suite Press Matching System that we’ve just announced, we’ve made that outstanding press even better. iGen4 provides breakthroughs with its high-definition image quality as well as 25-35 percent greater productivity.

Yes, iGen4 press is a fourth generation technology and includes more than 400 new parts and subsystems and new patented technologies. A few of the key innovations and breakthroughs that sets the iGen4 apart from the competition are: Auto Density Control, Carrier Dispensing System, High Definition Linearization, and Advanced Colour Profiling, as well as a new in-line spectrophotometer.

Q: You have recently entered the digital photo-printing space, how do you see this market growing and how do you propose to cope with the present competition?

Xerox sees a huge potential for digital photo printing segment, with Indian consumer’s penchant for going digital. The burgeoning youth population and their rising interest in digital cameras and mobile phones with digital cameras, is expected to further contribute to this growth potential.

Xerox is hence planning to tap into this market in a big way and is also partnering with photo imaging software solution providers. Xerox has already entered into a strategic go-to-market partnership with Karizma, a digital imaging solutions provider, to tap into this segment aggressively.

Q: You also launched the Xerox DC 7002 at IPEX. What’s unique about it?

DocuColor 7002 provides great image quality and productivity enhancements to this segment of the production colour space with additional features like: New low gloss toner, Automated colour workflow, In-line spectrophotometer, which measures test patches that provide data on the press performance to Xerox’s Automated Colour Quality Suite which automates previous manual tasks and Expanded in-line finishing options.

Q: What are Xerox major plans for the coming year?

Xerox has been a pioneer in bringing innovative technology solutions to the Indian market to accelerate the growth of digital printing industry and will continue to do so in future also.

We have identified ‘Real Business Live!’ as this year’s theme for Xerox, under which we will look at providing real solutions to real business challenges of our partners and customers.

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