Eastman Kodak

With a pioneering spirit, Southeastern Color Graphics is one book printer intent on mapping digital prepress trails and charting new digital horizons. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The management team at Southeastern Color Graphics has a motto: You can't fight and win without good weapons. "If it's nearly affordable and it's a sound investment, we will find a way to make it happen. We don't just invest for the sake of spending capital, we invest for the sake of perpetuating our success and expanding our portfolio of prepress and printing services," reveals Charlie Montgomery, chairman and CEO. "Our attorney laughs that while, comparatively speaking,

BOSTON—With all the hype and hoopla surrounding the return of Seybold to Boston last month, all roads led to the Hynes Center for the latest advancements in digital prepress, digital printing and "repurposing" content for the Internet. From Adobe to Apple, from Markzware to Epson's Stylus 9000 and from Agfa to Creo, Seybold brought the digital movers and shakers back to Boston, where digital file transfer technologies, digital asset management, color proofing, thermal platesetting and every other degree of digital prepress stood on a very warm, very Bostonian, very welcome, familiar platform. Adobe's John Warnock, president, and Charles Geschke, CEO, laid out their

From Adobe's K2 to Apple's G3, from Markzware's MarkzScout to EPSON's Stylus 9000 and from Agfa's Galileo to Creo's SQUARESpot—Seybold brought the digital movers and shakers back to Boston, where file transfer, asset management, color proofing, thermal platesettind every other degree of digital prepress stood on a welcome, familiar platform. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Seybold, Boston. What a familiar and pleasant ring that name carries. With all the hype and hoopla surrounding the return of Seybold to Boston last month, all roads led to the Hynes Center for the latest advancements in digital prepress, digital printing and "repurposing" content for the Internet.

As computer-to-plate grows in popularity and application, prepress officials and technology providers trade outlooks on CTP's hottest issues—especially the true commercial availability of thermal plates. What's better—thermal or non-thermal? Warning: They tell it like it is. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Is the jury still out on the long-term merits of thermal imaging—and the consumables considerations any reasonable prepress director must labor over when deliberating which output device to recommend, thermal or non-thermal? For one, Maureen Richards, prepress technical director at United Lithograph, now a Mail-Well company, has her thermal reservations. "The current thermal technology is not 'utopia,' but I am perhaps biased by

Digital front ends are growing in flexibility and functionality, allowing for greater output opportunities, especially in areas of digital color proofing. Are DFEs where they need to be—technically speaking? Most are headed in the right direction, thanks to the promise of PDF. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The success of any print production process—whether it is direct-to-film, direct-to-plate or imposition proofing—relies fully on the competence of the digital front end in question. Digital front ends, or DFEs—rich in providing controls for color management, PDF support and a host of in-RIP capabilities, including trapping—are taking the front end to higher levels of sophistication. What is a

Technological strides in areas of digital prepress, plus new moves in digital color printing, will push for strong attention this year. Are commercial printers ready for the next wave of techno-hype? Time will tell. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Tired of hearing about thermal CTP? Bored with PDF discussions? Less than enthralled with the latest digital color proofing claims? Too bad—the next wave of PDF functionality, digital front-end output flexibility, thermal CTP strides and competitive advancements in digital color proofing devices are poised to make 1999 another hot year for digital developments. Still, hearing the tech talk isn't always easy, as many a prepress director

In an age of industry consolidation, LPT—a family-owned commercial printer—is bracing for the competitive, digital challenges of printing in the year 2000. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Hello January 1999! Quite an interesting time for a privately held commercial printer. How does a family-owned operation position itself for growth and stability in a time of massive industry consolidation? What expansion strategies can aid a traditional offset and digital printer to compete in an increasingly more on-demand, service-oriented environment? How are mid-size commercial printers bracing for the technological challenges of printing in the year 2000? The L.P. Thebault Group of Companies (LPT), of Parsippany, NJ, is ready to answer those

CHICAGO—What were the odds that GRAPH EXPO 98 would be a Show of Shows—when the international spectacles that are IPEX and PRINT 97 captured the printing industry's collective practically within the same 12 month span, with IPEX in September and PRINT 97 the previous September? How about $108 million to one? If you're talking GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO, that's not bad—that's the figure Heidelberg registered during GRAPH EXPO's four-day stay at McCormick Place here. Heidelberg's sales success was not singular. Scores of the show's more than 550 exhibitors reported GRAPH EXPO was a money maker. MAN Roland, for example, reported a

GRAPH EXPO 98 and CONVERTING EXPO 98 was a hot ticket—sales were robust, booth traffic was brisk, technology advancements fierce and cooperative announcements healthy. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Question pondered: Could GRAPH EXPO 98 be a "Show of Shows," when the international spectacles that were IPEX 98 and PRINT 97 captured the printing industry's collective practically within the same 12-month span, with IPEX in September and PRINT 97 the previous September? Does $108 million answer that? That's the figure Heidelberg reported it registered during the show's four-day tour of Chicago's McCormick Place recently. Heidelberg's success was not singular. Scores of the show's more than

BIRMINHAM, UK—Technology innovators in prepress, press and postpress turned their collective attention to England recently as IPEX drew global crowds to this industrial city. Heidelberg rolled out the Speedmaster 74 DI, Screen jumped into the digital press ring with TruePress, Kodak Polychrome Graphics touted Kodak Approval XP4, Scitex marketed its Lotem family of platesetters, and Agfa Div., Bayer Corp., put the spotlight on Thermostar P970 and P971 for 830nm and 1,064nm thermal CTP, respectively. Technology highlights turned to new innovations in color management, thermal CTP, digital offset presses, variable data software enhancements, digital color proofing innovations, new scanning systems, large-format printing solutions, imagesetters and