Xerox is bringing the curtain down on its iGen and Nuvera presses, meaning that the company which invented electrophotography is no longer producing electrophotographic presses. It is also ceasing production of the Baltoro inkjet press which uses the same components as the iGen. Xerox is hoping it will be able to sell the Baltoro business.
The plant, at Webster close to the Xerox headquarters in Rochester, New York, will continue to make toners, photoreceptor surfaces and provide spare parts when manufacture ceases on 30 June. There will be enough stock to continue to supply the colour and mono presses for the remainder of the year.
The company says the decision is part of the Reinvention process under CEO Steve Bandrowczak. It will continue to supply Versant and Iridesse presses which are supplied by Fujifilm. Other OEM deals are also likely in future as the company exploits its brand and extensive dealer and distributor network. Xerox itself will concentrate on software applications where it can add value, currently the Freeflow workflow software, Predictive AI Pro and XMPie.
The toner press space is crowded and there is little differentiation. Inkjet, however, has been a different proposition, though after initial enthusiasm and the acquisition of Im in France, Xerox first decided to concentrate on US developments and now looks sure to step away from this, even though Baltoro has a distinctive place in the market. “Xerox will continue taking and fulfilling orders and providing life of contract support for the cut sheet Baltoro HP inkjet press as we evaluate strategic options for our high speed inkjet technology,” the company says in a statement.
It will connect customers wanting high speed continuous feed inkjet with a third-party provider it says, but provides no more details. At one point Xerox had a significant continuous feed business, for CRDs and book printing and most mono. It failed to transition these machines into inkjet having failed to persuade printers that is solid inkjet CiPress technology was the future.
The closure was announced alongside Q1 results which show the company suffering a 12.4% decline revenues. It attributes this to loss of Parc revenues and backpack impacts felt from pandemic rebalancing. Equipment sales fell $100 million from $391 million a year ago to $290 million this year. Within that high equipment sales shrank from $73 million to $47 million.
Bandrowczak says: “This quarter, Xerox orchestrated one of its most intense periods of structural change in recent history, continuing the hard work required to reposition our business for long-term, sustainable growth. We implemented comprehensive and strategic operating model changes to align our organisation more closely with our buyers’ needs and improve efficiency.
“While results were below our expectations in Q1, I have full confidence we have the right team and the right strategy to execute Xerox’s Reinvention and deliver on our adjusted operating income targets.”
