Prepress
Canon Europe Grows its Hybrid Pre-Press Offering through Strategic Partnership with Agfa Graphics
Friday 04. April 2008 - Partnership satisfies growing interest and demand for hybrid workflow applications ImagePRESS range to be fully integrated with Agfa Graphics new Apogee Suite The Canon Workflow Program continues to grow from strength to strength
As further testament to their market commitment and complete solutions offering, Canon Europe, world leader in digital imaging technology, and Agfa Graphics have today announced a strategic alliance which means that Canons imagePRESS range of digital presses will be capable of full integration with Agfa Graphics new Apogee Suite – a leading edge JDF workflow solution. Designed to help set customers firmly on the path to profit, the alliance ensures that both companies can leverage their market-leading expertise to offer customers more efficient, flexible and integrated workflow solutions.
With growing interest and increasing demand for hybrid workflows, the partnership with Agfa Graphics will provide Canon customers who also have traditional non-digital presses with the facility to unify their traditional and digital pre-press workflows. Agfa Graphics Apogee Suite will enable automated management and output of proofs or on-demand print jobs to imagePRESS digital presses, whilst at the same time controlling pre-press workflows for offset litho print production. The new software suite from Agfa Graphics represents one of the most automated, easy to use workflow applications on the market and is designed to put more control and advanced capabilities at the customers fingertips, enabling commercial printers to complete more jobs, to the highest quality standards in less time.
David Preskett, European Marketing Director, Professional Solutions, Canon Europe, says: “We are proud to be working with Agfa Graphics, one of the industrys leading brands recognised for its expertise in many areas of pre-press and workflow solutions.” He went on to say: “This is a positive endorsement towards driving the digital market forward, and is further evidence of how imagePRESS technology can complement traditional offset print in true production environments. To be competitive in the printing industry today, our customers have to continually increase their efficiency and productivity, whilst developing new market opportunities.
With Agfa Graphics, we see unified standards and complete solutions to be instrumental in supporting our customers in achieving these goals. This alliance means that Canons customers will benefit from even greater choice and convenience, as we help to deliver complete workflow solutions that increase their productivity, reduce lead times and maximise return on investment.”
Bart De Pelsmaeker, Director Sales & Marketing Commercial Software, Proofing and Newspaper at Agfa Graphics comments: “A strategic partnership with Canon is a natural progression for us. As two major players in digital printing and workflow solutions arena, we have united to bring the benefits of Apogee Prepress to Canon digital print users. The Apogee Prepress workflow which serves both conventional offset and digital printing environments, will allow users to process more jobs with minimal error and a greater consistency.”
The strategic alliance with Agfa Graphics is part of the Canon Workflow Program, which has been introduced to help and support print providers in finding the right solution in order to increase their revenue and business growth. The Workflow Program consists of a portfolio of software solutions designed to assist and enhance the workflow process for professional printers. These include colour management, production workflow and variable data solutions, all of which are underpinned with professional services and consultancy from Canons Solutions Business Consultants.
The hybrid workflow solution will be demonstrated on the Canon and Agfa Graphics stands in Hall 8a at drupa, with further information on commercial availability to be announced soon.