ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 22, 2008 – The printing industry's most productive high-speed digital color press has just taken its image quality, productivity and profitability to a whole new level.

Xerox Corporation today introduced the Automated Color Quality Suite Press Matching System, for its Xerox iGen3 90 and 110 Digital Production Presses, offering high performance plus quality that matches offset printing.  The new Automated Color Quality Suite enables faster press set up, quicker time to production, greater color stability and automated Pantone-color matching.

Routine color maintenance and adjustments associated with running a high-speed digital color press now can be done with greater automation. The Automated Color Quality Suite reduces operator tasks – such as calibration and color matching – traditionally done manually. With greater uptime and faster time to press, operators can expect to gain hours of extra productivity each week, which can translate into thousands of pages and additional revenue.

Xerox iGen3 presses with the new Automated Color Quality Suite capabilities will be on display in Xerox's stand in Hall 8b at drupa, May 29 through June 11, in Düsseldorf, Germany.

"Eight years ago, the iGen3 press started a revolution in graphic communications, helping print providers take on new kinds of work that brought in new revenue streams," said Quincy Allen, president, Xerox Production Systems Group. "With the introduction of the Automated Color Quality Suite, the best is getting even better. Print providers can now offer superior color to their customers, while achieving even more uptime, boosting their own profitability."

The new capabilities are made possible by integrating an in-line spectrophotometer, a device that measures the color of sample prints, in the Xerox iGen3's paper path. Breakthrough improvements in profile creation technology yield accurate saturated color, even and balanced neutrals, outstanding shadow detail and smooth highlight sweeps. Operators can accept a file designed for offset printing, send it to an iGen3 press and achieve the desired output with ease. By limiting human subjectivity through automation, accurate and consistent color matching is achieved across multiple presses.

Other components of the Automated Color Quality Suite include:

•    Advanced Profiling – Enables greater color consistency and realism in familiar objects like faces and skies and will automatically adjust colors to closely match offset printing standards in minutes.  It can accurately match the popular GRACoL (General Requirements for Applications in Commercial Offset Lithography) standard, and takes advantage of ICC (International Color Consortium) DeviceLink profiling for higher performance. A color matching industry benchmark, GRACoL offers a new source profile option for the most demanding jobs. The ICC DeviceLink Profiling allows for faster processing and improved color rendering.

•    Automated Color Check – Keeps the press production-ready by verifying color quality through a quick check of the system to ensure colors are being reproduced correctly and eliminating unnecessary maintenance. 

•    Automated Calibration – Eliminates the need for manual calibration and returns the print engine to a standard expected state – reducing inconsistencies in color caused by temperature fluctuations, humidity changes and day-to-day use. 

•    Automated Spot Color Calibration – Ensures accuracy of Pantone-licensed colors across print engines and reduces the need for manual adjustments of colors by automatically reading color values of printed patches, comparing them to reference values and modifying the CMYK formula for each spot color.

With these elevated high performance and image-quality enhancements, the industry-leading iGen3 press is a perfect match for printing profitable full-color applications that range from personalized direct mail and catalogues to marketing collaterals and photo books.

Pricing and availability

New and existing Xerox iGen3 press users operating Xerox FreeFlow Print Server 6.0 in all geographies can purchase the Automated Color Quality Suite Press Matching System immediately.  It has a U.S. list price of $25,000.