Dave Erlandson

EFI recently released a significant rewrite and enhancement to the Direct Smile platform and has named it MarketDirect Cross Media.

Supporting the graphics and printing needs of events like the Super Bowl is big business for a number of print service providers.

Now more than ever, printers are investing in technology to automate their shops. Order entry and prepress is being automated with Web-to-print software, new digital presses continue to get more productive, and job information is flowing effortlessly through the system. That drive for automation is now being directed at finishing.

In a short period of time, Ricoh has built an impressive portfolio of high-speed rollfed inkjet presses and cut-sheet toner presses, software, plus a line of services that include color management and workflow analysis. Ricoh continues to invest in this market.

Direct mail pieces that are personalized are somewhat rare, but personalized direct mail pieces offer higher response rates.

Print will find a new equilibrium in the magazine industry, however we forecast the decline of magazine printing to continue.

After holding the Xeikon Café in Europe for several years, Xeikon brought the event to North America this week in Chicago. All in all the Xeikon Café was a first class event that created real value for all who attended. While primarily a user conference, Xeikon took the opportunity to add in a press conference and provide new insight on their strategy and positioning.

The next phase for digital color printing will be using inkjet to print offset-quality images on coated stocks.