CALGARY, Feb. 15 - Blitzprint is opening a new world of digital printing opportunities with the installation of the first Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press in western Canada. The Calgary-based commercial printer will use the iGen3 press to provide its customers with superior colour capabilities, new variable printing solutions and shorter turnaround times, and to create new business opportunities by offering next-generation print services. "Blitzprint is continuously searching for new ways to expand our printing capabilities and venture into new markets," says Kevin Lanuke, president, Blitzprint. "Acquiring the first iGen3 press in western Canada puts us leaps and bounds ahead of the competition." Armed with the Xerox iGen3's capability to produce high-quality, cost-effective digital colour printing at faster turnaround speeds than offset, Lanuke expects the iGen3 press to triple Blitzprint's revenue within three years. The Xerox iGen3's superior capabilities will enable Blitzprint to offer innovative options such as 3-D print, magazine and direct mail pieces for customers looking to add an interesting new element to advertising and marketing campaigns. "Blitzprint pioneered the short-run book business in Canada, and now with the iGen3 press, we have an opportunity to develop the 3-D printing market," says Lanuke. "The Xerox iGen3 is going to play a pivotal role in building our business in this new field." Currently, Blitzprint is using the Xerox iGen3 to create sales collaterals, marketing materials and variable data printing pieces across a broad range of industries. For example, a national retail customer recently needed over 20,000 4-colour image coupons for its stores. Using the iGen3 press and digital workflow with Creo Spire, Blitzprint completed the job in less than 24 hours instead of the four days it would have taken to print on an offset press. Lanuke continues, "The Xerox iGen3 offers capabilities that traditional offset presses can't: quick job turnarounds and personalized printing. Quite simply, it's the best technology available today for our business." Blitzprint also caters to the self-published author, and plans to use the Xerox iGen3 to print short-run copies of children's books, a task that was not financially feasible until now, Lanuke says. The iGen3 press is Xerox's most significant production technology platform in a decade, with print speeds of 100 pages-per-minute on virtually any paper. It excels at short print runs, quick job turnarounds, and personalized printing in which up to 100 per cent of the content varies from one page to the next, creating documents with words and images tailored to an individual's unique interests and requirements. The Xerox iGen3 is the result of more than $1 billion (US) in research and development, and its invention generated more than 400 patents. Xerox will deploy a SmartPress Production Consultant to work on-site at Blitzprint to help the company take full advantage of the Xerox iGen3's capabilities. The consultant will also identify volume-building and revenue-generating opportunities.