Eastman Kodak

LAST MONTH, I suggested some ways that you can put public relations to work and get the word out about your business. This month, the topic is self-promotion—a subset of PR in which you can showcase the skills, expertise and capabilities of your organization. The two go hand in hand. In November, for the third year in a row, I had the pleasure of judging the DICE Awards. DICE, the Digital Imaging Customer Exchange (www.dicegroup.org, formerly the Indigo Customer Exchange), has been around for more than a decade and just reached the 300-member mark. The group has expanded beyond owners of Indigo presses

ROCHESTER, NY—Dec. 4, 2006—In successfully becoming a frontrunner in the prepress industry, Colortek, Inc., resolved key business issues—saving time and reducing labor expense while maximizing productivity—with one solution: monitor proofing. As a 24/7 operation with national and international clients, Colortek relies on Kodak Matchprint Virtual Software to meet deadlines and strengthen collaboration between all levels of production, shortening the review and approval processes on most jobs from eight to two days. With Matchprint Virtual Proofing Software, Colortek continues its push toward a paperless workflow, which has reduced production labor and expense while maintaining the superior quality that is Colortek’s trademark. “We have

Digital Press Strengthens Partnership CEDAR FALLS, IA—The joint purchase of a Kodak NexPress 2100 plus digital color press and Kodak NexGlosser unit has enabled Woolverton Printing and American Color Imaging to reach new customers in the photo services market. Since the installation, John Lynch, owner of commercial printer Woolverton Printing, and Mark Lane, owner of American Color Imaging, a professional photo lab, report they have strengthened their partnership and grown their businesses. Press Added for Lenticular Work FRESNO, CA—Big3D.com Worldwide has ordered a six-color MAN Roland 500 press with in-line coating and an extended delivery. The privately held company is a leader in lenticular and three-dimensional printing

RESTON, VA—November 9, 2006—NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies announced the election of several new directors at its Annual Conference November 6 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Elected to terms expiring at the 2009 Annual Meeting were four new directors: • Michael Fox, President of Screen USA • Don Harvey, Vice President and General Manager of XpedX Printing Technologies • Marc Olin, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Professional Printing Applications • Thomas Wetjen, Vice President of Worldwide Graphic Communications at Xerox Corporation Nominated for re-election to terms expiring at the 2009 Annual Meeting were: • Timothy Combs, Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Fujifilm

A KNOCK frequently made against printers is that many don’t know their true costs and, as a consequence, can’t say if they’ve made money on any given job. Another way of looking at is that they don’t know the dollar value of individual jobs and customers to the bottom line. In order to know that answer, shops need to have the required infrastructure in place and an ingrained discipline throughout the company to capture and analyze the relevant data. It takes a big commitment to implement and religiously use a comprehensive Management Information System (MIS), now also called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),

LEVELING THE playing field for small- to mid-sized businesses to market their services like the Fortune 500 big boys—at affordable prices—was the goal for executives at Cross Media. The result, a 40 percent growth spike in 2005, proves that Cross Media’s vision had merit. Like its name implies, Cross Media is leading the way in a new hybrid industry where printing, creative and marketing services have merged and a return on investment (ROI) is key. Cross Media, based in Dallas, was founded in 1993. Its 85 employees support a client roster that includes well-known names like Hewlett-Packard, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sara Lee, HBO,

Centenarian Printer Continues to Evolve BARBERTON, OH—Davis Printing is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The company was founded in 1906 by John R. Davis., who produced a weekly newspaper and provided printing services to the public. Today, the full-service commercial printer offers sheetfed offset and digital printing, complete bindery, mailing and fulfillment, and Web-based services. Recently, Davis Printing also acquired Merrick Graphics. Steve Merrick was named Davis Printing’s vice president of marketing and president of the new creative division, Merrick Design Group. ALABAMA MONTGOMERY—Wells Printing has installed a Sakurai 675SD sheetfed press with coater. It was purchased through dealer Independent Graphic Services.

Palamides Open House Delivers RENNIGEN, GERMANY—Think that an automated delivery system can’t significantly boost the productivity of your folder, stitcher or in-line finishing system? Think again. Several such solutions were shown recently at Palamides’ “Think Tank 2006” open house held here. MBO America showcased these new equipment offerings to a group of printers and trade binders from across the United States. The open house event was hosted by Stefano Palamides, who founded Palamides GmbH in 1997, and partner company MBO Binder GmbH & Co. MBO America serves as the exclusive distributor for Palamides in the U.S. market. Innovations shown included signature production from extra-large format (XXL) sheets

New Additions Increase Efficiency APPLETON, WI—JP Graphics is counting on Kodak’s Prinergy workflow and a new Kodak Lotem 800 II Quantum platesetter with a five cassette automated plate loader to keep up with growth and customer demands. The midsize printer has acquired three different printing firms since 1998, including its latest acquisition 18 months ago that doubled its workforce overnight from 25 to 50 employees. CHICAGO—Hi-Liter/Inland and MAN Roland executives meet at Graph Expo to raise their glasses to the printer’s new 4x4 32-page web press destined for its Burlington, WI, facility. Brian SanFillipo has filled the new position of director of digital operations at

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