May 29, 2007 -- A strategic agreement between international market leader First Data International and Punch Graphix Hellas will “drive” two Xeikon 6000 systems, the flagship of the new Xeikon family, in its print center in Greece. It is one of the major digital printing deals concluded this year in the region of Southeast Mediterranean and signals a “shift to digital color” from the leader in the international variable data processing market. Both Xeikon systems will be guided by the Xeikon X-800 proven front-end technology (DFE), which together with the new Xeikon IPDS Controller will form an enhanced workflow for high quality, full colour output at the rated printing speed. The solution offers state-of-the-art productivity thanks to high printing speeds. Single-pass duplex printing guarantees flawless front-to-back content. The Xeikon 6000 system also enables 2-up printing and in-line density and register control. Jobs can be easily followed up during printing. In case an error occurs, page level error recovery enables the printer to know which page was the last good one. File input possibilities include PS, PDF and IPDS, with easy switching between transactional and graphical. With Xeikon Print Protector the output of Xeikon’s roll-fed total transactional printing solution can be protected from scuffing and scratching during post-press production or because of rough handling in mailing systems because of the supplementary protective treatment it applies. Printed matter will then be finished flexibly roll-to-sheet with the Xeikon Document Converter. The Xeikon Document Converter greatly increases the flexibility of this transactional printing solution. It is a modular, full-functional product for in-line processing of roll-to-sheet printed documents that serves the post-processing needs of various markets. It can slit and merge simple, job-separated document stacks in a variety of formats (A3, A4, etc.) on the fly and it also allows for dynamic perforations in two directions, for the production of tear-off strips (reply cards, bank order payments, checks, etc.) on mailings and statements. According to Mr. Leonidas Patrikios, Document Production and Services Director of First Data Hellas, “This investment allows us to follow the trend for more color in typical B/W transactional applications and offer our customers unique and highly personalized direct mail campaigns. Xeikon 6000 further broadens our horizons, we have now the possibility to use both coated and uncoated paper for high quality production, furthermore it is the only digital color press on the market that has a web width of 20” with virtually no restriction on the length of the printed piece. We were also extremely impressed with Xeikon’s Digital Front-End, the X-800. It has been developed with high productivity in mind.” “Xeikon solutions can be seamlessly integrated to add value, using the same workflow, substrates, and pre/post processing equipment prevalent in many of today’s high volume production facilities. Furthermore, with the new Xeikon family we continue to deliver true graphic color quality required for high value, high impact marketing campaigns, the highest productivity and the lowest cost per print in the market”, commented Mr. Yannis Triantafyllou, marketing & development director of Punch Graphix Hellas. He added “Our success and profitability depends entirely on our customers. Hence, our objective is to provide the right solutions to the right customers.”