Xeikon founder Lucien De Schamphelaere passes away

De Schamphelaere was born on April 3, 1931 in Gijzenzele, Belgium. He graduated in 1952 as an engineer in electronics and started working that same year for Gevaert Photo-Products physics lab. In 1958, he transferred to instrumentation, a young department that had been created to automate machines and workflows at Gevaert.

After a 40-year career with Agfa-Gevaert, where he was instrumental in forming the company's Electronic Imaging System department, De Schamphelaere established Ellith, which started with just five employees. That name would soon be changed into Xeikon, the composition of the Greek words ‘xeros’ (dry) and ‘eikon’ (image).

Five years later, at Ipex 1993, the company unveiled its prototype of the DCP-1. The digital color press provided the basis for the company's full-scale product line. In November 1994, the company introduced its variable data system, which allowed single-pass personalizing of individual pages.

Xeikon went public in March 1996 by listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. It was only the second Flemish company to do so. Less than six months later, it launched the Xeikon DCP/32D digital color press. The introduction of the Xeikon second generation helped net profits to reach more than 1.8 million USD. In 1997, Xeikon introduced the DCP/50D – the first digital color press capable of printing B2. 1998 saw the sale of its 1,000th digital color press and a fifth color unit was introduced to its presses, as well as an opaque white toner. The same year De Schamphelaere went on to found Triakon, a digital printing company specializing in point-of-sale.

Xeikon went on to be acquired by Flint Group on 2015. It also launched the Xeikon CX3 digital label press and the Xeikon 9800 dry toner digital color press. A year later in introduced Trillium One.

Wim Maes, Xeikon CEO, commented: ‘We were so saddened to hear the news of Lucien’s death. He had an amazing passion for digital printing and unstoppable drive that lead him to achieve such an incredible amount in his lifetime. His dedication and pioneering approach remains a key cornerstone of Xeikon today.’