C.P. Bourg Inc.

By Erik Cagle A dozen manufacturers were asked to list the primary differentiators that set apart multiple brands of collating equipment. It may come as no surprise to learn that virtually no one mentioned the price factor. It seems there are numerous attributes that factor into choosing a collator that is the right fit for a particular printer or trade finisher. The depth of choices on the market only underscores the importance of looking past the price tag, as there is a collator for every need. Versatility is a key ingredient for serving the evolving needs of clients, according to Tony Cockerham of Buhrs

Solutions Forum Gives Canon a Platform CHICAGO—Canon U.S.A. recently held its Digital Solutions Forum 2003, an annual showcase of the company's technology and strategic vision. This year's event occupied more than 100,000 square feet of the McCormick Place Convention Center. A large portion was devoted to displaying solutions for key markets targeted by Canon, including financial services, education (on-demand books), law enforcement, general office, healthcare, color publishing and legal services. "Today's demanding technology customer is giving considerable attention to workflow and the bottom line, and what an investment made now will mean for the future," asserts Kinya Uchida, company president and CEO.

BY CHRIS BAUER The whole point of on-demand printing is to get the customer his or her print order in a short amount of time. So you have an army of 100+ ppm printing devices and you can churn out short-run, digital documents like there is no tomorrow. That is all well and good, but customers are looking for finished documents—books that are bound, brochures that are folded and marketing materials that are cut, slit and punched. Out of necessity, digital and on-demand printing has become more and more popular in the commercial printing world. According to CAP Ventures' 2000-2005 U.S. Print On Demand market forecast, print

BY CAROLINE MILLER In the world of saddle stitchers and bookletmakers, machinery is king. "The emphasis is on the equipment," reports Ron Bowman, vice president of sales and marketing for Rosback. Ease-of-use, automation, reliability, flexibility, versatility and productivity are just a few of the advances touted by saddle stitcher and bookletmaker manufacturers these days. Many of these innovations have come as a result of the growing industry trend of putting relatively unskilled employees in the bindery, while still demanding that the products they produce be as perfect as possible, reveals Bowman. Rosback offers the Setmaster Stitch/Fold and Trim bookletmaker, an in-line or off-line unit

CALIFORNIABUENA PARK—Ernest A. Lindner, printer, collector and founder of the International Printing Museum, passed away on October 2. BURBANK—Richard Rice, president of Candlelight Press, announced that two long-term employees, Richard Alonzo and James Magdaleno, are the USA National Print Olympics champions. The competition was held during PRINT 01 in Chicago, where the contestants were evaluated on their offset press skills. Alonzo and Magdaleno qualified for the national event after winning the western regional competition. They will contend for an international championship at IPEX, held in Birmingham, England, in April 2002. SAN RAMON—K/P Corp. recently announced a collaboration with Ariba Inc., a business-to-business e-commerce

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA—California Polytechnic State University now can give is students training on the Indigo TurboStream six-color digital offset press, thanks to a donation from Indigo N.V. Dr. Harvey Levenson, head of the school's Graphic Communication Department, commended the manufacturer for officially joining Cal Poly as a "Partner in Education." (www.indigonet.com) SPARTANBURG, SC—Altman Printing has been designated a Certified Microsoft Publisher 2002 Service Bureau. The certification process required the company to develop a specialty in outputting and printing electronic document files from the software program. (www.altmanprint.com) PITTSBURGH—Presstek is helping the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) renew its commitment to

CAMBRIDGE, MA—Pageflex Inc. and Xerox Corp. have entered into an agreement that gives Xerox the right to resell Pageflex's Mpower and Persona variable-data software on a non-exclusive, worldwide basis. Pageflex software also will be incorporated into a soon-to-be-announced solution from Xerox for the personalized and customized printing market. (www.pageflexinc.com and www.xerox.com) FAYETTEVILLE, AR—University of Arkansas Printing Services has added a new digital Xerox 6180 Book Factory system to its facility. Consisting of a digital printer and several binding units, the system was chosen by Rich Bundsgaard, director of printing services, after he researched a variety of alternatives. The university is

BY ERIK CAGLE The evolution of book publishing has some parallels with that of the computer. Smaller and quicker are the operative words in this comparison. Before the PC became a household fixture, computers were hulking boxes with reel-to-reel tapes and other round objects that made those cute little concentric circles. And they weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, boasting the processing speed of a can opener. Book publishing was also big and scarry—1,000-page megatomes were loaded onto presses to churn out millions of copies. "War and Peace" was followed by hundreds of thousands of 500-page copies of biology books. Obviously, they