Itasca, Ill. (March 8, 2004) — In order to meet the growing demand for digitally-produced color covers, Xeikon America has joined the Books For Schools program at the ON DEMAND Conference & Expo, March 8-10, 2004 in New York City. Books For Schools has continued its expansion and now a group of seven industry leaders have gathered in Booth #3004 to produce over 10,000 on-demand books which will be donated to New York City public schools. The consortium involved in the Books For Schools program completes an entire book within several seconds – including the full color cover, B&W text pages, binding and trimming. The Xeikon 500 D was chosen to produce the color covers as it has the highest production rate of any digital press of its kind. In addition to offering the highest throughput, the Xeikon DCP 500D has the widest print format – at 19” – and because it uses continuous web technology it can print any length. The covers for Books For Schools are printed 2-up on the DCP 500D digital press at a rate of 3,500 covers per hour. The D&K Group laminated the books in order to achieve long-term durability in a school environment. The DCP 500 D is showcased at the Xeikon booth (#3337) where it will be printing large-format displays and direct mail applications. Along with book covers, these applications frequently require oversize print areas (larger than 14” x 20”) that can only be produced with Xeikon technology. continued… In addition to the DCP 500 D on the show floor, Xeikon will be discussing the announcement of the Xeikon 5000 press which will be introduced at Drupa 2004. Along with many new features – the new press can print book covers on materials thicker than 16 point - and up to 350 gsm.