DIGITAL digest

HP Digital Goal Scales Summit

SALT LAKE CITY—In order to grab a leading role in the digital graphic arts market, Hewlett-Packard leveraged the Sundance Film Festival in nearby Park City, UT, to spread its message during the Graphic Arts Summit held here January 24-27.

Some 75 journalists, consultants and industry observers attended to learn about HP’s latest wide-format printers, as well as advances with the Indigo 5000. The overall message was the company’s desire to establish itself as the leader in the digital printing market.

HP augmented the informational sessions with side trips into Park City and the Film Festival, where examples of HP work adorned marketing collateral and signage, from banners and flags to window signs. Attendees were also treated to screenings of movies and film shorts. In fact, renown movie critic Leonard Maltin was the opening night guest speaker.

As for the informational sessions, classic movie clips and soundtracks helped usher in the presenters. But HP quickly cut to the chase, detailing its quest to become the market segment leader.

Stephen Nigro, senior vice president and general manager of HP’s Graphics and Imaging Business, discussed HP’s plans to grow in both the graphics and digital photography markets. He said the recent purchase of Scitex Vision and partnership with Seiko I Infotech would allow it to dominate the wide-format market.

The HP Designjet 8000s and 9000s printer series served as the first fruits of the Seiko partnership. The 64˝ printers use low-solvent inks to produce vivid color prints that last up to three years outdoors without lamination. The 9000s prints 176 square feet per hour, while the 8000s print 88 square feet. Both boast 720x720 dpi resolution.

Enrique Lores, vice president and general manager of the Ink-jet Commercial Div., discussed another new wide-format product, the Designjet 4500, geared toward the technical graphics market. Lores said most project designs are done in color, but are then output as “ugly” monochrome pages. To remedy this situation, Lores said that color will be cheaper to produce on the 4500 than monochrome.

Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager of the Indigo Digital Press Div., said the Indigo 5000 experienced a 40 percent growth in pages between 2004 and 2005. He said Indigo products have 42 percent of the market compared with competitors like the NexPress 2100 (23 percent) and the Xerox iGen3 (26 percent). He announced that enhancements to the 5000 now enable it to print monochrome pages at 272 ppm (under 0.4 cents a page).
Digital Road Show Keeps Rolling

VALHALLA, NY—Enovation Graphic Systems is again partnering with Xerox and EFI to host a nationwide series of “Go Digital Now!” road shows. These hands-on events will introduce attendees to the new Xerox DocuColor 240/250 digital color printer/copier, EFI Fiery network controller and Fiery EXP250 server.

The events are geared for creative professionals, commercial printers, centralized reproduction department managers and others interested in the opportunities that digital printing creates.

Enovation plans to make 27 stops in cities across the country. The complete route and registration information can be found at www.enovationgodigital.com.
Xerox Lets Golf Fans Send Postcards To Soldiers

SCOTTSDALE, AZ—Xerox Corp. recently invited fans at one of the largest golf events on the PGA Tour, the FBR Open, to show U.S. soldiers just how much the community back home appreciates their efforts. Following the tournament, Xerox expected to bulk ship cards for delivery to more than 7,000 men and women serving in military units stationed at posts in Iraq, Egypt, Kosovo and elsewhere.

The “Let’s Say Thanks! Postcards from Home” cards featured drawings done by children—ages 6 to 13—who either have relatives serving overseas or belong to The Boys & Girls Clubs of Scottsdale. Asked to draw pictures that symbolized home, the young artists chose subjects that range from a local desert landscape to an American bald eagle.

During the golf tournament, spectators could stop by the Xerox card pavilion to select and sign one of four postcard designs produced on a Xerox iGen3 color digital production press by Hogue Printing Solutions, a commercial printer based in Mesa, AZ. In addition, a Xerox Phaser 8550 color printer was set up on-site to produce additional cards.

In a separate program, Xerox provided networked digital production printing and multifunction technology to produce course information for the FBR Open, including some half million pairing sheets.
Vue/Point Promises Real World Views

ORLANDO, FL—Having recently visited 34 printers in 25 states on a cross-country road trip, Professor Emeritus Frank Romano is making the Vue/Point 2006 Conference his next stop. Romano will offer a report of his findings in a session titled “New Rules for the Printing Business,” which is just one of the more than 18 inter-active sessions on the agenda.

Vue/Point 2006 will take place April 10-12 at the Hilton in Walt Disney World Resort. Since its launch nearly two decades ago, the conference has emphasized “truth from the trenches, not pitches from the podium.” The priority given to actual user experiences has fostered a reputation for no-holds-barred debates.

Romano’s session will address key enablers for success, the most common reasons for failure, growth opportunities and how printing management must improve. “Printers shared their successes and their failures with me, plus much more,” he recounts from his experience on the road. “This was a chance to learn about the present and the future of our industry from first-hand reporting, not dry surveys, and some of the results will astound you—in a good way.”

The complete program for the conference has been posted at www.vue-point.com. It features sessions on such topics as: solution selling, opportunities in wide-format printing, remote workflows realities, ramping up for Web-to-print, and building a business from one-to-one marketing.
Inaugural Dscoop Conference Set

FORT MYERS, FL—The first annual conference of the Digital Solutions Cooperative (Dscoop) is set to take place April 27-30 at the Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa. The event will provide a face-to-face forum for hundreds of HP equipment owners and operators to interact with HP Indigo specialists and solutions providers.

The keynote address will offer an in-depth look at “HP Technology and Vision” by Stephen Nigro, HP senior vice president of imaging and printing. The main conference will feature a choice of business, sales and technical tracks. Among the topics to be explored in the workshops and seminars are building the digital business, marketing in the digital world, using personalized URLs and succession planning for family owned businesses.

In addition, key industry partners will be demonstrating their solutions throughout the conference.

Membership in Dscoop, which HP is underwriting for the first year, is a prerequisite for conference attendance. For information on joining the group or registering for the conference, visit www.dscoop.org.
Study: Printers, Vendors See Market Differently

ROLLING HILLS, CA—Trends in the print-for-pay services market is the focus of a new co-branded research paper published by the Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF), a non-profit organization serving the document management and communications industry. “Supplier and Service Provider Priorities: 2005 Survey Results” was produced through the collaboration of the InfoTrends/CAP Ventures market research firm in Weymouth, MA, and the Graphic Communication Program at Clemson University in Clemson, SC.

According to the study, print providers and vendors don’t always have the same view of their common marketplace.

Both groups report being optimistic about print revenue moving forward, with the strongest growth over the next two years expected to come from variable data printing and digital full-color printing. Their opinions differ on other specifics, however.

Print providers forecast growth for offset printing, fulfillment/kitting and facilities management. Suppliers, on the other hand, forecast a decline in offset print revenue and are less optimistic about growth in fulfillment/kitting and facilities management.

Of the print providers surveyed, 44 percent described themselves as early adopters of new technology, 40 percent said they are mainstream adopters and 16 percent admitted to being laggards. Vendors, however, see the breakdown as being only 25 percent early adopters, 45 percent mainstream adopters and 30 percent laggards.

According to the report’s authors, achieving “super efficiency” requires investments in software and services that many print providers are not planning to make. If this gap persists, it will lead to many print providers exiting the competitive landscape, they predict.

The study is available as a free download at www.edsf.org.
digital bytes

BOULDER, CO—The AFP Color Consortium has begun publishing key components of a new open color standard as part of an effort to spur innovation in high-speed color printing of bills, statements and other business communications. Created by IBM, the industry consortium’s international membership now includes a mix of 27 hardware or software companies.

The group has been working to define the color management portion of IBM’s Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) architecture, thereby enabling users to develop device-independent color applications, resources and workflows. A new online community—www.afpcolor.org—has been launched as a resource for information on the color standard.

LAS VEGAS—To support its expansion into digital printing services, Graphics West, part of Nationwide Graphics/Premier Print printing network, has added a Xerox DocuColor 8000 digital color press.

PORTSMOUTH, NH—On Demand Imaging has launched a new Website, www.IDOPrint.com, to complement its traditional printing operation. Users can get quotes and schedules for jobs instantly.

ROCHESTER, NY—Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group has logged several more installations of its thermal computer-to-plate (CTP) solutions for newspapers. Phoenix News-papers is converting to CTP production at both its Deer Valley, AZ, and Mesa, AZ, facilities by installing four Trendsetter News 200 platesetters and one Trendsetter News 100 unit. Brehm Communications, in San Diego, has ordered its third system, a Kodak Trendsetter News 50 driven by the Prinergy Evo workflow for its Hi-Desert Publishing division in Yucca Valley, CA. McNaughton Newspapers purchased a Kodak Trendsetter News 70 device for its Daily Republic operation in Fairfield, CA, and a Kodak Trendsetter News 50 device for the Davis Enterprise operation in Davis, CA. Both sites will also install Kodak Prinergy Evo workflow servers.

TEWKSBURY, MA—ECRM Imaging Systems reports installing its 1,000th computer-to-plate system, a Mako 8 violet platesetter acquired by Goodway Graphics for its Burlington, MA, facility.

FLORENCE, KY—The Hennegan Co. has acquired a Kodak NexPress 2100 Plus digital color printing system to produce “higher-value, higher-impact” variable data collateral materials.

DES PLAINES, IL—Schawk Inc. has established Schawk Digital Solutions as a business unit dedicated to developing enterprise digital asset management, workflow management and online proofing software solutions for the parent company’s client base. Headquartered in Chicago, the group also has offices in Nashua, NH, and London.

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL—Screen (USA) has announced a pair of thermal computer-to-plate system placements. Documation, Eau Claire, WI, has replaced an earlier model with a Screen PlateRite 4300 six-up device and upgraded to the latest version of the Trueflow 3, PDF workflow. Family owned Custom Printing has installed an eight-up PlateRite 8000II platesetter as part of an operations makeover that included moving its headquarters to a new 30,000-square-foot plant in Oxnard, CA.

ROCHESTER, NY—The Kodak Matchprint Inkjet Proofing Solution has achieved SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications) Certification driving Epson Stylus Pro 4800, 7800 and 9800 printers using Matchprint Pro Publication Semi-Matte 245 Media.

ITASCA, IL—Punch Graphix has rolled out three installations of its Xeikon 5000 webfed digital color press. Mail America, a turnkey provider of advertising products based in Wheeling, WV, is using its new press to offer one-to-one direct marketing solutions as part of its repertoire. The two machines acquired by USA Direct, in York, PA, are intended to support its USA MailNow online direct marketing division.