The pitstop principle applies to print

There was a Formula1 racing car from the Aston Martin Aramco stable outside the Xerox Innovation Centre in Uxbridge last week. It provided an opportunity for visitors to pose for selfies and digitally printed pictures alongside a car that Fernando Alonso will drive in the upcoming season. The Xerox logo was placed on the nose along with other businesses helping to sponsor the race car as it heads to Australia for the first race. It provided an interesting comparison for how Xerox itself is changing. 

These days no Formula1 team can do everything itself. Engines are shared; tyres are from the same provider; brakes, steering wheel and other components are likewise sourced from the same cohort of specialist suppliers. The trick is to compile these within an aerodynamic body and the right pilot and supporting crew and wider ecosystem to finish each race in front. Aston Martin used a Honda engine this year. Last year it was a Mercedes unit. Xerox is using toner engine supplied by Fujifilm and an inkjet unit from Kyocera, as others are doing. Like the Formula1 engineers it is the ecosystem around the engine that will determine success. There is very little difference in toner technology today, it doesn’t really matter where the print unit comes from. The workflow, the colour management, the use of driving its are the difference.

By extension there is no difference in the presses, prepress and finishing that a printer can use. At one time possession of a Heidelberg or Indigo may have conferred some advantage. Not any longer. Success comes from what you do with it, from how well the different components are integrated to how slick the crew are at maximising the potential of what they. For some that will be about speed and high levels of production, for others it’s about finesse and doing what other printers cannot do. The winners are those that combine what they have to their individual best advantage.