Eastman Kodak

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor There was a time, not all that long ago, when just being on the World Wide Web was hip enough for the commercial printing industry. The term "Web presence" was bandied about freely by printers in the period of roughly 1998 to 2001. The Internet was little more than an opportunity to showcase a company's brochure electronically, and most of the old guard only viewed this medium as a complementary driver for the brick-and-mortar business component. Clearly, though, the "me, too" syndrome has given way to a more progressive school of thought on not only driving more

Pair Plead Guilty to Mail Fraud CHESTERFIELD, MO—A printing broker and a manager for a printing company each pleaded guilty to fraud charges related to a kickback scheme, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Aristotle Kumpis pled guilty to two felony counts of mail fraud and Louis Drago pled guilty to one count of mail fraud. Each reportedly faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine per count, with mandatory restitution. A third participant in the kickback scheme, Elizabeth Richard, is awaiting sentencing on related charges. Kodak Names Leadership Team ROCHESTER, NY—Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG) has announced its senior leadership

At Presstek Inc., John Dreyer has been appointed lead director of the company's board of directors. Dreyer has been a member of Presstek's board of directors since 1996. He retired as chairman and CEO of the Pitman Co. in December 2000. Mohawk Paper Mills has named Thomas O'Connor Jr. chairman and CEO. Prior to this appointment, O'Connor was president and CEO. He represents a third generation of the O'Connor family closely identified with the family owned business. Michael Swack is the new public relations/analyst relations manager for the graphics market at Hewlett-Packard. He is now responsible for HP Indigo, HP Designjets, as well as MFP and

This is a column about women in the printing industry. I believe that women have far more to contribute than the men in the industry presently allow. I believe that women are, generally, under-recognized and underpaid versus their co-workers who speak in tenor, bass and baritone. Too few females hold senior management positions. Many great ideas go unheard because we live in a man's world. But you know all that. I have written about it before. My friend and arch nemesis column writer for another magazine, Dick Vinocur, characterizes himself openly as a "babe magnet." "BABE MAGNET?" Then I saw two gorgeous 30ish

EAST HAMPTON, NY—The Indigo Customer Exchange (ICE), an independent users group for owners of HP Indigo digital presses, has published an online directory of digital print providers. This "opt-in" directory contains information on nearly half of the more than 250 ICE members. Each listing includes contact information and a brief description of the kind of work the shop handles. (www.indigousers.com) KENNESAW, GA—One year after being rolled out worldwide, the installed base of Heidelberg's Quicksetter 300E and 400E polyester computer-to-plate systems has exceeded 100 machines in the United States alone. (www.heidelberg.com) BOULDER, CO—IBM reports that Xerox Corp. has joined the AFP

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor In terms of the production process, proofing often is the last remaining physical tie between the print buyer and printer—except for the finished product, of course. Both parties have resisted changes to the status quo. Soft, or monitor-based, proofing is a logical step toward a truly all-digital workflow. The notion of evaluating and approving work on-screen probably was suggested the first time work was produced digitally. Yet, the various solutions that have been introduced are still working to gain acceptance, especially for approval of color. Issues related to monitor technology can still be sticking points, but the biggest

At CIP4, Good Things Come In Threes RESTON, VA—CIP4 (The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress) has gotten off to a fast start in the new year, with a deal to expand its scope, further testing and take on a new initiative. The organization entered into an agreement with NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies that transfers the PrintTalk specification and schema to CIP4 for its long-term maintenance and distribution. PrintTalk is the specification for exchange of business data between print providers and their customers. It defines a "best practice" common and

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor Few things are as fundamental to the color offset printing process as screening. Add to that the experience built up with conventional screening, general resistance to change and some technical issues, and it's easy to understand the industry's caution when it comes to alternative screening solutions. The category of enhanced screening technologies now has been expanded to include what are referred to as "hybrid" systems, along with true stochastic or frequency modulated (FM) screening. Hybrid technology claims to combine the benefits of conventional, or AM (amplitude modulated), and FM screening. One group of specialty screening solutions that won't

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor It’s been more than a decade since the first high-volume, modern digital color printing systems were introduced. Heidelberg and Presstek teamed up to launch the digital offset (GTO DI, in this case) product category in 1991. A few years later, the Indigo EPrint and Agfa/Xeikon Chromapress ushered in the era of the all-digital production color printing systems. In the future, though, 2004 may be looked back upon as a key transition period in the maturation of digital printing as a business segment—both on the vendor and user side. No fundamentally new technologies were unveiled, but all the vendors

Kodak Takes Industry By Storm With Deals It wasn't a big surprise when Eastman Kodak bought out Heidelberg's 50 percent stake in their Rochester, NY-based NexPress Solutions joint venture in May of last year, or even when Kodak acquired Dayton, OH-based Scitex Digital four months earlier. But two back-to-back announcements last month that it has purchased Sun Chemical's half interest in its Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) joint venture and plans to acquire Creo Inc. outright certainly have many industry pundits and Wall Street analysts taking notice. Combined, the KPG and Creo acquisitions by Eastman Kodak will total almost $1.8 billion. Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG) has