Xerox, the company that invented electrophotographic printing, pulled out of drupa 2024. For market observers like me, this is still a shock, although it is not that unexpected. Printweek reported that the sizeable 2,000 sq. m (21,500 sq.ft.) booth Xerox reserved became unassigned on drupa’s digital floorplan and Xerox dropped from the exhibitor list. A Xerox spokesperson has confirmed the withdrawal.

It could be simply called a business decision, but we know that decisions of that scale stand for a lot more. My business connections to Xerox, mainly in Europe, date back more than 20 years. I have met many bright, committed employees during that time, with some still at Xerox, while many others have left by now. While it is tough to single out one person, I would like to mention Valentin Govaerts. He headed Xerox Europe and the GA business and actively drove developments to enter new (rollfed) or reclaim (wide-format) markets, believing in competitive technologies and solutions for the customers. In these years, Xerox set the standards for a wide adoption of digital color printing.

The flow of hardware innovations ebbed somewhat in the following years. Xerox, probably too fixated on the established cut-sheet EP devices, joined the inkjet revolution as a latecomer with the Impika acquisition in 2013 and its own technology like the CiPress. In 2019, Xerox launched the Baltoro HF, which was supposed to be the platform for more products to come. Here is a complete list of production printing hardware launches since then: