Dec. 24, 2007— In sunny Boca Raton, Fla. at the end of November, Océ North America hosted the trade press and industry analysts for a product announcement and a look at how the company plans to move forward in the next year.

"Given the general state of the business world and changes and issues impacting the document production industry, it's clear that innovation and thinking differently pay big dividends—for our customers, for their customers, and for Océ," said Joe Skrzpczak, president and CEO, Océ North America.

Overall, he noted, the company had a fantastic 2007, and is looking forward to an equally good 2008. The company's growth in North America is outpacing the overall market, according to Mr. Skrzpczak, with increasing market share and operating profits. "It's one thing to have a vision. It's another to have a plan. I'm pleased to say we have both," he noted. "Our intent is to build on the momentum we've created, and continue to drive growth."

To do this, the company is focusing on three areas: continuing to strengthen their core product mix, expanding and enhancing the production color lineup, and by expanding their distribution coverage overall. While further new product releases and upgrades are in the works, the company also plans to actively strengthen their brand in the coming year, reaching out to the commercial print market.

"Together these efforts to grow our business, to expand our market and geographic coverage and drive awareness, all speak to a larger goal of going beyond the ordinary to solve customers' business problems in new and inventive ways," he noted.

The beginning of the company's strategy to expand into the commercial print market could be seen at Graph Expo this past October. There, they introduced the ColorStream 10000, a continuous-feed, digital press that delivers full-process color at 172 images per minute. And the company expanded the Job Appropriate Color strategy in Boca with the introduction of the new JetStream line.

"Our customers have been asking us to provide innovative solutions in the inkjet color printing market, to bring our reliability, our service excellence, and signature ease of use to the high speed color market," said Mal Baboyian, president, Production Printing Systems, Océ North America. "In response, we're taking our Job Appropriate Color strategy to the ultra-high volume color market."

The JetStream is an inkjet system, with a rated speed of up to 500 feet per minute. This, according to Mr. Baboyian, makes it the "first high-speed, high-volume inkjet printer to deliver the...speed, quality and productivity that our customers demand."

The press, which was running in the showroom, is an interesting mix of high-speed transactional printers, with higher-quality graphics needed for commercial print. The press, the company says, can work equally well in data centers and service bureaus, to commercial and corporate locations.

The line is rolling out with two models: the 1100 is a single-engine system that can produce up to 1090 duplex impressions per minute (ipm); and the 2200 is a two-engine system that prints up to 2180 duplex ipm.

All in all, Océ will be an interesting company to watch in the next six-12 months. The new products, coupled with its wide-format line, workflow software, and transactional printers, combine to give them a portfolio that leaves almost no segment of the industry untouched. As one person at the event noted, the company is one of the best-kept secrets of the industry—something Océ hopes to change. "We're not a niche player anymore," summed up Guy Broadhurst, vice president of product marketing, Production Printing Systems, Océ North America.