Training and Education

AWAY FROM the churning of offset presses and clicking of bindery machinery, a buzz was emanating from the comparably quiet booths containing consumable product vendors at Graph Expo—a buzz caused by new product announcements, enhancements and other newsworthy scuttlebutt. Toyo Ink America, for instance, showcased a comprehensive lineup of inks for sheetfed and web printing applications. Ink products that debuted at the show included: Kaleido four-color process ink; edible inks; heatset web inks; the Scuff Tuff SG process series; and the Aqualess Ultra process series. New non-ink products from Toyo included the TOYO 1050 Color Finder system, with color matches for 1,050 colors that are

THERE MAY have been fewer large sheetfed presses or standalone web press units on the show floor at last month’s Graph Expo and Converting Expo exhibition—especially in comparison to the PRINT show held last year—but don’t infer that this resulted in disappointing sales activity and lead generation for conventional offset press exhibitors. Quite the contrary. Even with less heavy iron dotting the landscape at Chicago’s McCormick Place South Hall, the general consensus among press manufacturers indicated it was the most productive Graph Expo event they’ve experienced since the late ’90s. Visitor traffic was brisk and serious buying activity persisted. Chalk it up to

IT MAY be telling that, with a few exceptions, the presses in operation around the show floor of Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006 were of the digital variety. Offset units were conspicuous in their absence. Digital presses largely have become part of the commercial printing mainstream, rather than being a specialty product segment or market niche. The exhibition’s Wide Format Pavilion showed ongoing interest in that segment, but adding a wide, large, superwide or grand format digital system still is seen as a way to diversify rather than being standard equipment. Hewlett-Packard shared results from an InfoTrends study that surveyed a sampling

Putting an iGen3 in Team Spells Digital Success CAROL STREAM, IL—Some 350 people attended the open house recently held by Team Concept to showcase the capabilities of its new Xerox iGen3 digital color press. The shop reports running the machine 24 hours a day within just four months of installing it. Pictured in front of the digital press are (from the left) Tony Rouse, Team Concept president and CEO; Paco Salcedo, its iGen3 certified specialist; Julie Higgins, customer business development manager for Xerox; Laurie Kaminski, Team Concept’s iGen3 manager; and Mike Murphy of Xerox. Punch Graphix Rolls Out Xeikon 6000 ITASCA, IL—After

PHOENIX—The PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference is slated for November 12-14 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel here. The conference will feature three educational tracks: management, technical, and sales and marketing.Among the conference topics: profiting with digital printing, assessing customer needs, re-engineering database files, and liability/security issues. A Web-to-print symposium will be held in conjunction…

SEWICKLEY, PA—The trend for printing companies to expand their Internet-based services is growing rapidly. A recent survey by PIA/GATF and Printing Impressions highlighted the trend: Of those respondents not yet offering a “Web-to-print” solution, 54 percent plan to introduce one in the next 12 months. The October 2006 survey of more than 400 magazine subscribers also revealed that about 50 percent of the respondents already involved in such services are offering branded customer storefronts, compared to production portals (26), and digital storefronts (18). The addition of these services was not without considerable work: 41 percent of respondents built their sites from scratch, rather than by

CHICAGO—The Windy City is the place to be this month as thousands of printers from across the country converge upon the McCormick Place South complex October 15-18 for Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006. Products and services for the graphic arts industry will encompass more than 400,000 square feet of space. Nearly 600 exhibitors have committed to the event, which reportedly will be the largest Graph Expo since 2000. Among the evening festivities is the annual Gold Ink Awards and Hall of Fame Gala, sponsored by North American Publishing (parent company of Printing Impressions), on October 16. Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame inductees Jim

ALL ROADS lead to the Windy City for our industry’s biggest annual confab, Graph Expo, this month. Although you might be reading this issue of Printing Impressions just after the event—or perhaps on your way to the show—most pundits predicted that the overriding themes for this year’s edition would be digital printing and workflow. Large exhibits from companies like Xerox, Kodak, H-P, Xeikon and Océ will surely be bustling with show floor traffic. Printers who have already entered the digital printing realm will be crowded shoulder-to-shoulder within these booths with those still pondering whether to make their initial leap. Some show-goers will just

PRINTERS LOOKING to boost their bottom lines with digital printing, look no farther. Attendees at the general session “Profiting with Digital Print” at the upcoming PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference will learn what industry profit leaders have done to maximize their digital printing investments and realize respectable returns. Last year, digital/toner-based printing grew at double the rate of traditional ink-on-paper printing. This session, led by Ronnie Davis, Ph.D., vice president and chief economist at PIA/GATF, will discuss details from recent economic data compiled by the association, a benchmark to compare a company’s efforts in achieving desired results. “Right now, toner-based/digital printing is

THE FIFTH annual PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference, held November 12-14 in Phoenix, will feature more than two days of sessions to help companies advance their capabilities. This special supplement has been designed to highlight some of the key conference topics and speakers. Attendees will hear case studies from the Canadian Conservative Party and Move.com that provide a behind-the-scenes look at effective uses of VDP. Three separate tracks, a total of 21 sessions, are being offered. Management sessions will include: Building an Efficient Cost/Financial Model; Liability/Security Issues; Managing a Multimedia Company; Transitioning from Transactional to Marketing; as well as Profiting from Digital