According to Agfa board member Albert Follens, the aquisition will allow the group to build up its graphic systems printing business. "dotrix will allow us to take position in the markets of digital printing and to gain larger access to industrial printing niches such as decoration, packaging and security printing," he said.
dotrix employs approximately 75 staff and its turnover in 2003 was estimated at close to €5 million. The price of the transaction is thought to be around €6 million.
"We are excited to be part of the world's largest pre-press company," said dotrix chief executive Rob Haak. "End-users will benefit from new product offerings and extended services which will lead to increased customer satisfaction. With improved time-to-market and Agfa's recognised brand name we expect to rapidly expand our customer base."
dotrix's printing solutions include a high-speed full-colour industrial digital press based on state-of-the-art inkjet technology and UV inks, a faster image processor for driving the digital press and workflow software to support the different applications.
Founded in September 2001, dotrix is a spin-off from Barco and is located in Ghent, Belgium. As a start-up company, dotrix has quickly gained market leadership in pre-press solutions for security and decorative printing applications and offers industrial printing workflow systems in various market segments.
In 2002, dotrix launched its state-of-the-art full colour digital inkjet press, selling under the brand name 'the.factory', which applies the advanced technology of the single-pass inkjet colour engine.