Donnelley Does DRUPA 2000

Premedia and its role in the changing print landscape is the prime directive of Mary Lee Schneider—and she's taking her directive all the way to Dusseldorf, Germany.

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO

Imagine you are chiefly responsible for the premedia directions, investments and operations of one of the largest companies in the world. Imagine that company is giant R.R. Donnelley & Sons. Imagine it is your responsibility to be current on all the new prepress trends, on-press imaging moves and Internet directions impacting—and readying to impact —the commercial printing industry.

Hold that thought. Now, imagine you are attending DRUPA 2000 in Dusseldorf, Germany, this month to get top secret reviews of the latest in digital prepress and on-demand digital printing technologies.

You must be Mary Lee Schneider, president of R.R. Donnelley & Sons' Premedia Technologies.

Schneider—abundantly accommodating with her time, for a person with such a serious job—is well aware of the ever-growing importance of the online world as a consumer resource for content and information.

Schneider contends that digital technologies and, chiefly, the recent upsurge of Internet services, has prompted a change in the way the printing profession now defines itself.

"We are no longer printers in the traditional sense of being responsible solely for putting ink on paper, but are now, in fact, facilitators making content available to consumers across multiple media," Schneider reports. "Therefore, prepress as a descriptive name is limiting—premedia is encompassing, and a more appropriate term."

Premedia will be the day-and-night driver of Schneider's DRUPA 2000 tour.

Schneider is already booked with a series of meetings with the key drivers in digital workflow, digital proofing, digital photography and on-demand digital printing arenas. What issues does she plan to take up with her technology hosts as she reviews new devices on the Dusseldorf fairgrounds?

"A key issue premedia providers and customers will have to face in the immediate future is the current lack of color standards for output devices. This is significant because the efficiencies and conveniences of digital soft proofing will not be realized until colors appear consistent, regardless of monitor or printer," she states. "At Donnelley, color scientists work with standards boards such as the International Color Consortium and other ANSI committees to address this need, and standards are indeed on the horizon."

Serious About DRUPA
Another hurdle to overcome in premedia, according to the Donnelley executive bound for DRUPA, is in the area of integrated software. "Although some progress has been made in the effort to create a single program customers may use to create content for multiple media use, a seamless tool set has yet to be developed," she contends. "The ability to tag data in Quark pages may address this issue. Still, these two areas, color standards and integrated tools, present our greatest challenge as we move toward a new future."

Schneider is hopeful her DRUPA 2000 visit will be a true revelation, one that forecasts a truly digital commitment to premedia opportunities for printers the scale of Donnelley, to small, family owned printing operations.

"At DRUPA 1995, you saw that printing presses and bindery equipment took up half the floor space; the other half were digital systems, digital presses and prepress devices—to me, that was progress, undeniable progress," she states. "I am hoping, and I believe I will not be disappointed, that DRUPA 2000 will show a continuation of that progress, with manufacturers making new strides in integrating digital input with digital output, and advances in digital one-to-one printing."

Schneider is also hopeful that new Internet solutions and services and new tools for harnessing the Internet, such as new developments in XML, take a center stage at DRUPA 2000.

"I certainly hope DRUPA 2000 does not miss its opportunity to truly platform the Internet, and allow small and medium printing operations to meet their own growing needs by utilizing new Internet tools for content repurposing," she says. "It is imperative all commercial printing operations, regardless of size, transition to more comprehensive, full-service communications providers, utilizing the Internet and a variety of digital technologies to provide better quality printed and repurposed products, faster."

Beyond DRUPA 2000, Schneider projects, premedia providers will continue to make the most of technological and operational advancements. "With few exceptions, for instance, improvements in digital photography technology will make image scanning a process of the past—in fact, Donnelley's Premedia Technologies will focus most of its future energy on making scanning obsolete through the rapid adoption of digital photography technology."

Serious directions; but then, she is Mary Lee Schneider.

RRD Premedia in the News:
R.R. Donnelley to Open New
Southern California, Dallas Premedia Centers

R.R. Donnelley & Sons recently announced plans to expand its geographic presence and customer reach with the opening of two new full-service premedia technologies centers near Los Angeles and in Dallas. The facilities will be complete by June 2000.

The new facilities will fulfill Donnelley's objective of offering catalog, retail publishing and corporate customers end-to-end digital photography, content management and premedia services for both print and online channels. The move to expand Donnelley's Premedia Technologies business unit with its first full-service operations in the Southwest and California is the latest example of Donnelley's commitment to providing superior service and reducing cycle time by reaching customers where they do business, Donnelley officials report.

"Catalogers, retailers, corp-orations and publishers nationwide need to reach their customers through multiple media channels beyond print," reports Mary Lee Schneider, president of R.R. Donnelley Premedia Technologies. "Our continued expansion of full-service premedia facilities demonstrates our dedication to our customers' needs—we are expanding our reach to better enable us to offer new customers end-to-end information services solutions in two very significant geographic locations."

In January, the company initially moved into the Southwest with the acquisition of Dallas-based Omega Studios. In February, the company expanded its reach in the Pacific Northwest with the purchase of Iridio, a full-service premedia provider based in Seattle. Premedia Technologies has exist-ing facilities in Chicago, Minneapolis, Lancaster, PA, Lynchburg, VA, and Warsaw, IN.

For more information on R.R. Donnelley & Sons and its Premedia Technologies expansion, visit www.rrdonnelley.com.