"Xerox was a logical first choice to be our digital press supplier because of the strong, global corporate relationship established between Fujifilm and Xerox over the years," said Joe Palaggi, vice president of operations and business development, Fujifilm U.S.A, Inc. "But the deciding factor for choosing the Xerox iGen3 was its high productivity and image quality."

The addition of the Xerox iGen3 electrophotographic presses to the processing labs is a first for Fujicolor. Prior to the installation, the company produced photo specialty items on silver-halide equipment or outsourced them to be printed digitally. The productivity and reliability of the iGen3 presses allow Fujicolor to better manage the higher volumes and quick turnaround required during its peak processing periods, such as this past holiday season. Prior to installing the iGen3 presses, turnaround times were measured in weeks to produce the popular spiral-bound photo calendar. Now that process is measured in days.

Fujifilm uses Xerox's flagship 110 page-per-minute iGen3 digital presses to produce calendars ordered through retail photo departments, and it plans to expand production to include other ink-based photo specialty products such as folded greeting cards and notebooks. The photo calendars are produced on Xerox Digital Color Elite Gloss Cover paper.

"By strategically placing our iGen3 presses across the country we've been able to provide a more competitive offering to our retail partners, not only with pricing, but also with faster turnaround and delivery with the high image quality they expect," said Palaggi.

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