For many people Punch Graphix of Belgium is a relatively unknown company. It should not be as within the organization are three very significant brands: BasysPrint, Strobbe, and Xeikon. BasysPrint is the leading supplier in the market for computer to conventional plate systems. Strobbe is the world leader in newspaper CtP systems through its OEM agreement with Agfa. Agfa sells the Strobbe products under its Polaris brand. Xeikon is a market leader in high-performance, high-quality digital color printing. What is interesting is how all these organizations work at the higher end, high-volume segments of their markets. In world terms Punch Graphix is a relatively small player, but is a company that punches well above its weight.

In the past week two of the Punch Graphix brands have introduced new products that extend this position of being market leaders or potential market leaders at the high end of their markets. First Xeikon introduced its new Xeikon 6000 digital color press. This builds upon the success of the Xeikon 5000 that was launched in 2004 at drupa. The Xeikon 6000 sets a new standard for high-performance, high-quality digital color printing. This week BasysPrint announced their new DSI 3 range of CtCP (computer to conventional plate) devices that have the potential to fundamentally change the face of CtP for high volume commercial printers. It is interesting how a relatively small high technology company from Belgium can be a market leader in three very different markets.

(In this article I shall not be talking about Strobbe and the Polaris newspaper CtP systems. This is a product sold by Agfa, and this is not an article about Agfa.)