$59m Plant Development For Xerox Toner Production

Xerox has plans to build a toner plant on the company's 1,100-acre campus in Webster, New York (USA).

Xerox has plans to build a toner plant on the company's 1,100-acre campus in Webster, New York (USA).

The six-story, 120,000-square-foot facility will require a $59 million investment, including about $10 million for the actual construction of the new plant, which is scheduled to begin later this year.

EA toner is currently manufactured at the company's plant in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada).

The additional plant in Webster will increase EA toner production by 175 per cent per year.

Scheduled for completion in 2007, the facility will create more than 40 jobs and retain 50 jobs.

The plant will produce emulsion aggregation toner, a chemically grown toner that uses less toner per page and produces sharper images than traditional toner, said the company.

The company employs 6,000 people at its Joseph C Wilson Centre for Technology in Webster, which consists of 47 buildings totalling 5.5 million square feet.

The campus is home to some of the company's global research, engineering, manufacturing and distribution operations.

Xerox introduced EA toner three years ago.

It is said to be used in 15 Xerox products, such as the company's Workcentre multi-function devices that print, copy and fax, and the Xerox Docucolor series of colour printers.

Developed jointly at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and the company's Supplies Delivery Unit in Webster, EA toner is chemically grown from the molecular level to precise shapes and sizes, eliminating the grinding and size selection process required to make traditional toner.

Dr John R Laing, senior vice president of the Supplies Delivery Unit at Xerox, said: "EA toner, which is protected by more than 100 patents, requires less energy to manufacture and generates less waste, making it a key plank in our pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

We have committed to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent from the baseline year 2002 to the end of 2012." Wim Appelo, Xerox's corporate vice president of paper, supplies and supply chain operations, said: "Our invention of EA toner has created another differentiator for us in the marketplace.

As more Xerox colour systems are designed to use EA toner, we need to increase production, ensuring that Xerox is well positioned to support future growth in colour printing." The company said that colour is playing a critical role in creating new business opportunities for it and its customers.

It added that only three per cent of the total pages produced in businesses today are produced on colour devices.

It expects new colour technology and services to drive that number to 10 per cent of pages by 2008, fuelling a $22 billion market opportunity.

The company also added that it continues to deliver double-digit revenue increases from the sale of its colour systems.

Appelo commented: "We chose to build this facility in Webster to take advantage of the strong manufacturing and engineering competencies that exist here today.

It's an investment in the community, in our people and in Xerox innovation.".

Back to top