Eastman Kodak

FLYING CARS and colonies in space were once seriously predicted to be a reality by now. Closer to home, though, experts also said that Adobe Photoshop and the Mac would never be acceptable for professional graphic arts applications. Any attempt to predict the course of technological development amounts to an educated guess at best. Even once a prototype has been developed, the scale-up to volume production can be problematic. Often, it is an unexpected development that leads to success. Printed electronics, security printing and lenticular are three technological developments that may hold opportunities for commercial printers. Each is still a work in process to

ROCHESTER, NY—Oct. 22—To continuously drive strong marketing results for companies in the hospitality, automotive, photo product and financial services industries, WMSG of Dallas has purchased six additional Kodak Nexpress 2500 Digital Presses. WMSG utilizes its 12 Nexpress Presses to create personalized direct marketing materials that consistently meet customers’ high volume, customization and quality requirements. The recent growth at WMSG represents a continuation of its record achievement for volume of output in 2006. The company delivered 30 million impressions to advertising agencies, direct marketers and consumers last year. “WMSG focuses on working with customers to develop direct marketing campaigns composed of comprehensive variable content—it’s not

SUSTAINABILITY was the focus everywhere at Graph Expo last month. It was the one common theme that permeated throughout the largest national graphic communications trade show. For the first time, myriad companies expressed that sustain­ability issues are one of their top goals. As just one example, Yoshiharu Komori, president and CEO of Komori Corp., opened the Komori press conference by saying that “it is our responsibility and duty to embark on solutions for the environment.” Komori says one of his company’s main goals is to become a model for the environment in the industry. Companies that have a long history of commitment to environmentally sound

CHICAGO—The Paramus, NJ-based NAPL honored 12 printing industry leaders with induction into the Soderstrom Society during a pre-Graph Expo gala held September 8 at the Art Institute of Chicago. The event also celebrated NAPL’s 75th anniversary. The 2007 inductees are: Dale Aigner, owner, Bentley Printing & Graphics, Garden Grove, CA; Robert Carew, retiring president, Action Printing, Fond du Lac, WI; Craig Dellinger, general manager/partner, New Haven Print & Copy, Fort Wayne, IN; Bill Gavigan, executive vice president/CFO, PDQ Print Center, Scranton, PA; Steve Hayes, president/CEO, Omaha Printing, Omaha, NE; Kevin Joyce, managing director, Kodak, Norwalk, CT; Keith Kemp, president, Xerographic Digital Printing, Orlando, FL; Francis

CROSS-MEDIA services go hand-in-hand with digital printing and variable data. Two companies with lengthy digital printing experience, as well as two newer adopters, illustrate that point. To be a cross-media company means bringing in IT expertise or training internally. It means convincing customers that the company is capable of services beyond print. And, above all, it means consultative selling and “walking the talk” with cross-media marketing campaigns that show customers the power of this approach. Serge Grichmanoff, vice president of research and development at Avant Imaging & Information Management (AIIM), tells how in the early 1990s the company’s founders took the job of creating

THIS SPECIAL editorial section was produced to tie in with the upcoming sixth annual PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference, to be held November 3 to 6 in Phoenix. The event will feature two dozen sessions to help companies leverage variable data for success. Attendees will hear riveting case studies and participate in sessions selected directly by prospective attendees during online voting earlier this year. As one attendee said last year, “This is the type of conference that puts all the variables of variable printing into one comprehensive program. I learned more at this conference than I ever expected.” Sessions for decision makers include

Transpromo, adding marketing messages to bills/statements, is a rarity in today’s business climate—a printing segment that promises strong growth. Unfortunately, that spending is likely to come out of a company’s traditional direct mail budget. It’s also not clear if commercial printers are well positioned to compete for this business. According to research done by InfoTrends, a Questex Co., color digital output of transpromo work totaled more than 1.6 billion pieces in 2006. It’s projecting the annual output to approach 22 billion pieces by 2010, for a 91 percent compound annual growth rate. Several factors contribute to the bullish outlook for this market segment. 1)

PREPRESS USED to be a tightly defined process. Its evolution into “workflow” made the boundaries less clear cut, and they have been further blurred by the introduction of digital printing, variable data, Web-to-print and JDF into the production mix. Developments on all fronts could be seen around the show floor at Graph Expo 2007, along with a new potential wrinkle—Microsoft’s XPS (XML Paper Specification). Delivering on announcements made at last year’s show, a couple of vendors released upgrades to their workflow solutions that implement the Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE) technology. It implements native PDF rendering, faster file processing and further JDF integration. Agfa’s

WASHINGTON, DC—A House of Representatives hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m., and Ovid Bell Press CEO John Bell is hoping that a group of printers, publishers and associations can make a sufficient stink regarding postal rates. While Congress can’t control the rates set by the Postal Rate Commission, Bell is hoping to share horror stories from printers and publishers to prove that some rates are having catastrophic effects on short- and medium-run publications and periodicals. He noted that two drastic cases resulted in a 50+ percent increase in mailing costs. By sharing their experiences with Congress, Bell is hoping to bring pressure on

ROCHESTER, NY—Eastman Kodak has named Philip Faraci to the position of president and COO, effective immediately. He assumes responsibility of the Graphic Communications Group from Jim Langley, along with managing the Consumer Digital Imaging Group (CDG).Langley will remain as a vice president through the end of 2007. The positions of president for GCG and CDG…