Eastman Kodak

TITUS EAPEN second guesses himself when it comes to the decision to move completely toward a digital printing workflow. The vice president of marketing at Chicago-based Grace Printing—who along with brother, Ajith (CEO and vice president), guide the future of the shop founded by their father in the basement of the family home—isn’t exactly kicking himself for making the transition from sheetfed offset printing. His lone regret may be that he waited too long to fully embrace the digital printing revolution. “We got in on the tail end of digital,” Titus concedes. “It’s kind of Monday morning quarterbacking, but we should have gotten into this two

Don’t tell David Torok that the world of commercial printing isn’t viewed as a commodity. The president of Dallas-based Padgett Printing is all too aware of the perception given to an industry once known as a craft, sprinkled profusely with seasoned craftsmen, all but eroded by bottom-line pricing, reverse auctions and print buyers willing to forego longstanding relationships with trusted print providers. Instead of crying in their collators, companies such as Padgett Printing have survived, and even thrived, by accentuating their offerings with value-added services and variable data digital printing solutions. The digital end has only strengthened Padgett’s position with traditional sheetfed and web

Bindery Gear Heads to East Coast Shop LEBANON, PA—Colortech Inc., a full-service commercial printer, recently installed a Vijuk 321-T saddlestitcher. Things Get Bigger in Texas After Install MESQUITE, TX— IntegraColor Inc. has purchased a five-color, 81˝ KBA Rapida 205 sheetfed press, making IntegraColor the first printer in the Southwest with 81˝ litho capabilities. The press has been configured with a special board-handling package and is also to be equipped with UV facilities for printing on plastics. It also incorporates an ICS slitter system and non-stop pile changing for the feeder and delivery. KBA has added its own Densitronic quality control

Raising the Bar for Print Buying As adoption of digital printing has spread and evolved in the marketplace, it has become a catalyst for changes that extend beyond the way ink (toner) is put on paper. What people buy has been impacted by the short run, on-demand and variable data printing capabilities enabled by the technology. How people buy is also changing as digital printing provides impetus for the development of Web-to-print solutions. The printing industry saw its share of dotcom startups promising to revolutionize the way business is done, but the concept gained limited traction. Digital printing was one area where e-commerce/e-procurement did

PIA/GATF Acts on Digital Print Initiatives SEWICKLEY, PA—PIA/GATF kicked off the new year by implementing its previously announced plan to transition the Digital Printing Council (DPC) into a core member service. DPC provides tools and publications designed to help digital printing operations become more productive and efficient, as well as increase sales. Association members are being given the option of joining the council at complimentary or premier ($295 per year) levels of membership. Included in the base level are the "Digital Printing Report" monthly newsletter, "Digital Impact" quarterly business/management newsletter, "Designing 4 Digital Online" monthly how-to articles and a copy of the executive summary from the

Landmark 500th CTP Device Installed ROCHESTER, NY—Morris Communications has purchased a thermal CTP newspaper solution from Kodak for its flagship newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle. The transaction marks the 500th Kodak Trendsetter News thermal CTP platesetter device sold. The Kodak solution being installed at The Augusta Chronicle includes two Kodak Trendsetter News devices, NewsManager workflow software, a Prinergy Evo PDF processor and Staccato screening software. Essex Products Group (EPG), a manufacturer of integrated color control systems, reports that Helga Kollegger has been named sales administrator. Kollegger is now the first contact for both current customers and sales inquiries. Punch Graphix plc regrets to announce the death

california COSTA MESA—ColorGraphics has moved into a new 40,000-square-foot facility, doubling the size of the plant previously located in nearby Tustin. It has also added an eight-color Mitsubishi press. OXNARD—Custom Printing has installed a four-color Mitsubishi Diamond 3000S with aqueous tower coater, an eight-up thermal computer-to-plate (CTP) device and a PDF-based workflow management system at its new 30,000-square-foot facility. It has also donated 52 cases of premium paper to its new neighbor, Rose Avenue School. colorado GRAND JUNCTION—Colorado Printing recently added a 10-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 102 perfector to increase capacity. Founded in 1947, Colorado Printing boasts approximately $15 million in sales and houses

User groups are far more likely to be a source for news than the subject of it. That wasn’t the case in 2005, and continuing into this year, largely due to the ripple effect of recent consolidation within the industry vendor community. Advances in technology are also contributing to the transformation of user groups. Much of this activity has been on the digital printing side of the industry, so user groups for products in that segment will be addressed here. An expanded version of this story—including updates on a broader spectrum of industry groups—will be published on www.piworld.com. When Hewlett-Packard announced last

Digital Printing Set to Heat Up Miami Event MIAMI BEACH, FL—"The event of the Future" is how Graphics of the Americas and Xplor International are billing their combined conference and exhibit, collectively set to run from February 1-5 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Along with Xplor's Global Document Exchange conference, featuring its traditional electronic document curricula, the event will host six additional educational programs of varying lengths (1-4 days). Included will be the PDF for Print Production Print Forum and Tutorials, XML for Print Production Forum and Tutorials, Digital Technologies to Grow Your Bottom Line seminar, Creative Suite Power Tour, Photoshop for Photographers Tour seminar

Heidelberg Puts Accent on Education KENNESAW, GA—The calendar said December, but the menu at Heidelberg's recent "Brats & Dots" customer event gave it the feel of an Oktoberfest, minus the beer. This open house at the company's Print Media Demonstration Center (PMDC) was followed by two days of classes for printers in its Print Media Academy and a briefing for industry editors. On the first day, printers were able to witness live demonstrations of Heidelberg's prepress, press, direct imaging and postpress solution in the 33,000-square-foot PMDC facility. The clear stars of the show were its new 40˝ Speedmaster XL 105 sheetfed press platform and