FERNDALE, Mich. & ROCHESTER, N.Y.--March 29, 2004-- Allied Printing Company has installed a Xerox Corporation DocuColor iGen3 Digital Production Press to provide customers high-quality, personalized color printing to meet their marketing communications needs. The Detroit-area commercial printer also will transition short-run color jobs from offset to the digital press to offer customers faster turnaround time. The purchase of the 100 page-per-minute DocuColor iGen3 has made Xerox the sole provider of Allied's digital color equipment. Allied expects the press to be running 1 million pages a month by year's end. According to Dave Bader, president and chief operating officer, Allied Printing Company, the business had been looking at digital color presses for a few years and found the DocuColor iGen3 to be superior in productivity, image quality and flexibility in handling different paper sizes and substrates. "The image quality and color is comparable to offset -- a huge benefit to sell to advertising agencies," Bader said. In order to meet its customers' growing requests for database-driven applications, Allied needed a press capable of processing increasingly complex jobs. The company produces marketing materials for a wide range of customers, including automotive and financial services companies, and recently began work on a Web-based marketing program for its financial customers. The online program enables agents to customize pre-approved marketing materials, maintaining the financial services company's brand identity, which is often lost when agents try to replicate the materials themselves. Allied can print and deliver these materials within 24 hours. According to Bader, personalized printing, where content varies from one page to the next, allows Allied's customers to better connect with their customers. He said the DocuColor iGen3's personalization capabilities nicely complement Allied's other services -- database management, design, print production and mailing capabilities -- to implement high-end variable marketing programs. "Digital printing is creating a transition in the industry; where traditional printers are evolving into communication service providers. Adding variable printing capabilities helps us progress into the next generation of print production," Bader said. To help ensure the company took maximum advantage of the DocuColor iGen3's capabilities, a Xerox SmartPress Consultant, part of Xerox's customer business development team, worked onsite at Allied. Allied Printing Company, a 67-person shop, offers digital and offset print production, data and mailing services, a full-service bindery, warehousing and fulfillment, and program management.