Agfa Graphics

Phototype Updates Facility CINCINNATI—Queen City printer Phototype has taken the wraps off its newly renovated, 40,000-square-foot facility that will house its headquarters and creative imaging center. The existing facility, a historic building, received a multimillion dollar facelift that included a two-story addition. Phototype also operates an imaging center in Columbus, OH, and a high-end creative art studio in Chicago. Quad Names Quadracci Sr. VP SUSSEX, WI—Joel Quadracci has been promoted to senior vice president of sales and administration by Quad/Graphics, and has been named a member of the board of directors. Quadracci served as the company's vice president of print sales for the previous four years. Quad/Graphics

Day International Group has acquired Network Distribution International (NDI). NDI is a national converter of offset blankets and a reseller of ancillary consumable products. In addition to Day's line of offset printing blankets, sleeves and pressroom chemistry, Rockland, MA-based NDI will continue to sell products manufactured by other companies.  Heidelberg hosted its second annual "Brats & Dots" open house recently at its corporate headquarters in Kennesaw, GA. More than 325 attendees were on hand to experience the latest in prepress, press, direct imaging, postpress and digital workflows from Heidelberg, including new systems unveiled at last fall's Graph Expo. The event lets guests inspect and talk to

Xerox Sees Future In Black-and-White ROCHESTER, NY—Based on its market analysis, Xerox Corp. believes there is $18 billion in annual print sales worldwide that potentially could migrate from offset to digital production. The nature of the applications, substrates used and other job requirements make this work suited to digital production, asserts Valerie Blauvelt, vice president of integrated marketing. "Our goal is to capture 10 percent of that opportunity." Xerox has identified a "mid production" market and technology category that fills a gap in price, performance and capability, adds Mark Waxenberg, vice president and general manager, Production Solutions Business Unit. In response, the company has

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor The size of a shop's presses used to be seen as saying something about the sophistication of its operations. Today, half-size and smaller presses are just as likely as full-size machines to boast sophisticated computer controls, digital interfaces and other automation features. While the trend toward shorter runs may play to the strengths of these presses, print buyers don't want to make any compromises in color, quality or service. Therefore, small- to mid-size printers have come under increased pressure to be technologically competitive throughout their shops. For a growing number, a critical step has been adopting computer-to-plate production with

Pantone Extends Brand Into Ink-jet Consumables CARLSTADT, NJ—Pantone Inc. is making a bid to expand the application of its color expertise by launching the PANTONE ColorVantage family of premium ink-jet inks, papers and specially developed profiles. The company initially intends to focus on the wide-format printing segment, and piezo-electric engines specifically, informs Andrew Hatkoff, vice president, Electronic Color Systems. Working in partnership with a third-party supplier, Pantone has developed a pigmented ink set (specially formulated CMYK plus light cyan and magenta) with a significantly larger color gamut than that offered by standard OEM inks, Hatkoff claims. Anticipating a potential concern, he adds that the

DOVER, NH—Heidelberg Web Systems recently completed a $5 million modernization of its Customer Training and Technology Center, located here. Begun last November, the new training center now includes a static lab for hands-on training on freestanding printing units; a folder lab equipped with three fully operational folders and a Contiweb splicer; and, most notably, a new wing with a fully operational printing tower from a Heidelberg Mainstream newspaper web press. Additional teaching assets include an XCalibur VLF thermal platesetter consigned by Agfa; and related equipment and materials from Agfa, QTI, Baldwin, Böttcher, Sun Chemical, AWS, Rima and Heidelberg postpress. As a result of the

In May 1998, William Davis, then new chairman and CEO of RR Donnelley—one of the largest printing companies in the world—said, "In this game, manufacturing discipline will win. The craftsman who has to leave his thumbprint on every page will lose." He continued: "We are a decade behind in manufacturing best practices." His comments reflect the modern challenge of the graphic arts. Traditionally the manufacture of print has been craft-oriented, from design through to print. Designers made their reputations by creating unusual print pieces, with beautiful typography, tough-to-match colors, and unusual trim and bind requirements. Printers made their reputations by dealing under deadline with these

Komori Hosts Screening Seminar ROLLING MEADOWS, IL—Komori America recently hosted an educational seminar on screening technologies at its demonstration facility here. The second in the press manufacturer's series of "Survivor" seminars saw printers from around the U.S. learning about screening applications. Representatives from Creo, Enovation Graphic Systems and Screen (USA) were also on hand to present their screening technologies, Staccato, Co-Res and Spekta, respectively MBO/Muller Martini Co-host Second Open House WESTAMPTON, NJ—Building on the success of its previous joint open house, MBO America and Muller Martini held a second, even larger event recently that also featured running equipment and product information from Creo, hhs

Last spring, I got a call from Mark Michelson, editor-in-chief of this magazine. I probably shattered has eardrum with my reaction. "What! You want me to write a 4,000 word article explaining JDF? Mark, I know what JDF is, but I am not an expert. How about six words and a few exclamation points?" Mark, in his usual unflappable manner, simply replied, "Become an expert." I moved to a higher octave as he explained to me that even though Printing Impressions was hiring me to write the article, it was a piece sponsored by Adobe and Heidelberg. All I could imagine was that I

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor The vendors are loath to admit it, but on the surface there is a growing degree of parity in the capabilities of today's prepress workflow solutions. Their core systems are typically client-server based, database driven and handle tasks such as preflighting, PDF conversion/normalization, trapping, imposition and rendering. At the same time, advances in technology have led to workflow being widely viewed as a digital continuum—from file creation to final output. This shared vision dovetails with the industry's move toward computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and implementation of the JDF (Job Definition Format) specification. Internet portals for online proofing and job