Xerox re-enters the cutsheet inkjet market with Kyocera partnership

The agreement will see the US-headquartered firm source Kyocera’s cutsheet colour inkjet presses, in a move to broaden its production print portfolio and keep up with growth trends in the market.

Terry Antinora, senior vice-president and head of product and engineering at Xerox said this was “a pivotal moment” in the company’s production print business.

“Our re-entry into the cutsheet inkjet market allows us to diversify our portfolio, meet growing client demand for speed and efficiency, and reinforce our commitment to leadership in digital production,” Antinora said.

Xerox hopes to realign its production print business toward “higher-value, growth segments”, building on its ‘Reinvention’ simplification and profit improvement programme, announced by CEO Steve Bandrowczak in 2023, to expand the group’s market share in print and print services.

The firm said the agreement also underscores its strategy to deliver differentiated, ecosystem-enabled offerings to help clients scale profitably, streamline operations and reduce costs, while the move comes in response to a predicted rise in demand for cut-sheet inkjet installs in the coming years.

Availability and model-specific details for the new presses will be announced later this year. The presses will be branded under Xerox and integrated with the Xerox Production Ecosystem, including workflow automation software, finishing and remote service.

Once a global player in the inkjet market after the company acquired Impika in 2013 and became the manufacturer’s global inkjet innovation centre, Xerox then shut the facility in 2019 to focus inkjet development in the US.

Former Impika employees then set up the inkjet print production company Nixka in 2020, which was subsequently acquired by Kyocera three years later – expanding its offering for commercial and industrial inkjet printing. Its inkjet portfolio was put on show at the Japan-headquartered company’s Drupa debut last year.

Keisuke Koyama, executive officer and senior general manager of Kyocera’s corporate marketing division, said this offering will allow clients to “compete more effectively in the fast-evolving production print landscape”.

Koyama said: “By combining Kyocera’s proven inkjet technology with Xerox global reach, client trust, and workflow automation, we’re delivering truly unique solutions for production printers who demand reliability and a return on their investment.”

Xerox ceased production of its most recently available cutsheet inkjet press, the Baltoro, last year, while strategic partnerships in cut-sheet inkjet were actively being explored.

Xerox had a decades-long joint venture with Fujifilm, which came to an end in 2019 after the resolution of a major fallout between the two. The companies have continued to work together, with the extension of a technology deal in 2023.

(Source: PrintWeek.com)