Rank Xerox Ltd’s technical centre in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire was formally opened on Friday by President of the Board of Trade Michael Heseltine – a man who claimed to have built his early business on the back of one of its photocopiers. It was the third phase of a ú150m investment programme by the company in Europe – the Welwyn site complementing facilities in Vanray in the Netherlands and Grenoble in Switzerland. The complex, which took two years to complete, houses both design and engineering facilities for its mid-volume copiers and systems support for the whole of Europe. The company spent some ú55m on the buildings and equipment combined, where around 800 employees will work. No jobs will be lost as a result of the consolidation, i ndeed Guy Rabat, director of customer support in the UK said that the company is starting to take on more staff locally. Paul Allaire, chairman and chief executive officer of Xerox Corp said that the company – 70.6% owned by Xerox – is beginning the move away from its traditional manufacturing core towards services such as networking and systems integration, which is still relatively small compared to our $15,000m worldwide revenues, but will grow rapidly. The company has numerous new technologies up its sleeve, including a scanner that automatically translates text as it is scanned in, which it is hoping will be a winner with the European Commission.
