The year 2018 was a turning point in digital printing industry. It gave us Xerox Iridesse, the first 6 colour digital press in the world. This machine is a clear manifestation of digital revolution in full swing. Digital printing offers something that traditional offset cannot. It is fulfilling a pressing need for high value applications and Iridesse can effectively produce personalized, variable data, or TransPromo documents.
Today there is a growing demand in our region, for high-value print applications incorporating CYMK+ as well as multiple embellishments with additional colours such as gold, silver, clear and white to produce eye catching printing items including banners, posters, marketing collaterals and much more. Iridesse redefines digital printing with award-winning Color FLX Technology, which layers CMYK with up to two Specialty Dry Inks in one single, incredibly productive pass – all while maintaining “spot on” registration from color to color. Being a 6 colour press The Xerox Iridesse is capable of printing inline embellishment in one pass. This is the first dry toner press available with six colour printing stations in the world. The extra colour units are placed before and after the CMYK in the laydown sequence and can easily be changed. This machine is ideal for print businesses looking to take their services to the next level of productivity, image quality and substrate latitude.
This digital beast churns out beautiful printed products with a speed of 120 A4 page per minute and it is compatible with all paper weights from 52 to 400 gsm. The recommended production volume is up to 475000 pages per month. While other presses may RIP at the same level, the image pipeline that feeds data to the Iridesse engine is unique, delivering 4 times more information to the press than competitive digital systems do. The combination of 1200 x 1200 x 10-bit RIP rendering and 2400 x 2400 x 1-bit print imaging yields unrivaled Ultra High Definition (HD) detail for smooth, beautiful gradients and tints, impeccable fine lines, and unprecedented small text. The press boasts Xerox EX-P 6 Print Server Powered by Fiery.
Impressive options
The machine also comes with an impressive array of options including high capacity feeder which extends paper capacity up to 8,000 sheets with four additional trays in two feeder stations. When used with the Inserter option, this provides a total of 8 pick points and 12,500 sheets for printing at rated speed. Xerox Crease and Two-sided Trimmer Creates a professional high-quality look and feel with added durability for documents that get repeated use. The trimmer is programmable for up to five customized creases which offers huge flexibility to printers enabling them to produce a fully bled booklet or sheet.
Iridesse raises the bar in the digital photo and printing world with high-value inline capabilities that allow customers to combine stunning imagery and options to alternate with four specialty colours, namely, gold, silver, clear and white, along with the ability to print on media up to 13 x 47.2 inches or 1.2 meters.
Highly Sustainable
The International Association of the Deinking Industry, (INGEDE) has awarded Iridesse a score of 100/100 for deinkability which means the paper used in the machine is recyclable. This is particularly good news for sustainability-minded printers that do not want a large quantity of their output one day contributing to landfill.
Striking the right chord in Saudi Arabia
Globally Iridesse proved to be a huge success, however in kingdom of Saudi Arabia the new Xerox machine particularly strikes the right chord with printers who want to offer something extra to their customers. Afan Printing and Packaging was the first member that joined the Iridesse Club in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Abdullah Al Moallam is the CEO of the company and under his leadership, the Dammam based digital printing press boasts some of the finest minds in the franchising market, as well as franchisees who have successfully made the Afan Printing and Packaging corporate vision work for themselves. The Company is one of few that have a complete fleet of digital, offset and packaging equipment.
On the reasons behind his recent decision to buy Iridesse Mr. Moallam said:” Our partnership with Saudi Xerox goes back to more than 15 years and during 2018 we had the objective of enriching our digital printing portfolio, so we decided to make a breakthrough in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by purchasing the new Iridesse. Machine’s beyond CMYK capabilities were the main driving force behind our decision.” He added:” The Covid-19 Pandemic has affected the whole world. It also had impacted our productivity. However, we were able to manage the crisis and soon we were back on our feet again. Having the digital printing capabilities from Xerox helped us a lot as well.”
Afan Printing and Packaging is specialized is high quality short run printing including books, colour reports, magazine, catalogs, business cards, invitation cards, flyers, brochures and packaging. Mr. Moallam, is optimistic and believes despite all the existing uncertainties there are opportunities for printing during post Covid era specially banners and flyers to promote safety measures and social distancing protocols. He also says that Covid 19 has accelerated the shift from offset to digital. “There is a healthy demand for short run, high quality digital printing in Saudi Arabia. Our strategic alliance with Saudi Xerox and the go to market strategy will also help us educate the market and make it responsive to high quality products and special effects, which now can be delivered beautifully with Iridesse. We are counting on that and we are sure of the success especially in presence of our strong partner in digital printing, Saudi Xerox.” Concludes Mr. Moallam.
Digitization is the future of Saudi Arabia
According to Mehmet Sezer, general manager of Saudi Xerox, the company has been offering the full array of Xerox products and services ranging from workplace assistants, workflow solutions and managed print services in the KSA market. “Digitization is the future of Saudi Arabia and we are actively working with our customers to help them transform their organizations with our solutions”, explains Sezer and adds:” Digital transformation encapsulates the essence of moving from a ‘physical’ or ‘analogue’ world to a ‘touchless’ or ‘digital’ one across the print industry.”
About Saudi Xerox
Saudi Xerox is the representation of Xerox in Saudi Arabia. It was established in 1986, with business lines that include providing solutions to improve business processes, automation and printing technology through an innovative vision of maximizing productivity and efficiency to create a better work environment. Saudi Xerox offers the full array of Xerox products and services ranging from workplace assistants, workflow solutions and managed print services in the KSA market. We address global and local market challenges consistently together in alignment with Xerox global standards.
