FUJIFILM Graphic Systems Div.

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—This will be the ink-jet Drupa. No, it will be the green Drupa. Or, maybe the print buyer Drupa. Actually, it will be big enough to be all three, and much more. With more than 1,800 exhibitors occupying more than 1.8 million square feet of exhibit space in nearly 20 halls, putting a label on Drupa is one way to make it more digestible. Another is for visitors to develop a “must-see” list ahead of time. To that end, a number of briefings are being held in advance of the show to get the word out about what to look for from major

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—01/22/08—Four months before the start of drupa 2008, print media trade fair, the exhibitor registration reflects the international market situation and industry developments. Consequently, the leading technology producing nations will be the most strongly represented countries at drupa 2008: Germany (745,100 sq. ft.), Italy (148,200 sq. ft.), the U.S. (142,600 sq. ft.), Switzerland (130,500 sq. ft.), Netherlands (99,100 sq. ft.), Japan (89,200 sq. ft.), the UK (80,000 sq. ft.), Belgium (70,800 sq. ft.) and Spain (68,600 sq. ft.). Exhibit space booked by emerging industrial countries such as China and India has increased considerably: by 300% for China (84,700 sq. ft.) and 60% for

Celebrating the New, But Treasuring the Old LOUISVILLE, KY—With the installation of its newest press, an eight-color Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105, and the historical display of its oldest, a 100-year-old Heidelberg letterpress, V.G. Reed and Sons has spanned a century of printing technologies. As a print and fulfillment solutions provider, the 140-employee company serves a wide range of customers including Fortune 500 companies, financial services firms, manufacturers, healthcare HMOs and niche publishers. ARIZONA BULLHEAD CITY—Two Quad-Stack web printing units from Web Press Corp. have been purchased by Brehm Communications, one for its News West Publishing location here and the other

AUGSBURG, GERMANY—22 November, 2007—fujifilm is partnering with the PrintCity alliance at drupa 2008, to be held in Düsseldorf, May 29-June 11, in a project to present the latest developments in workflow techniques and solutions. Fujifilm will join the PrintCity Workflow Integration & Networking Competence Centre in Hall 6. Fujifilm will also have its own major 1,800 square metre exhibition stand in Hall 8b. By partnering with PrintCity, Fujifilm aims to achieve a wider exposure for its prepress workflow technology ‘XMF’, which allows seamless integration by JDF across different suppliers’ products. The benefit for visitors to Hall 6 will be to see the latest developments in prepress workflow

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

SOUTHBOROUGH, MA—Oct. 4, 2007—Printing Industries of New England, the region’s largest trade association for printing and graphic communications companies, will host its annual Industry Awards Gala Thursday, Nov. 1 at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel in Framingham, Mass. The Industry Awards Gala has grown to become the preeminent evening for leaders in New England’s $12 billion print marketplace to gather to recognize achievements over the past year. PINE’s Influencer Award, given to an individual who has positively affected the graphic communications industry, will be presented to Randy Davidson, president and founder of WhatTheyThink.com. The popular web site has emerged as a leading source of unbiased information for

ONE OF the promotional pieces sent out by the sponsors of Graph Expo made the claim that this year’s event would be the largest digital printing show in the United States by a factor of two. That’s including solutions for page printing, wide-format printing, software and related equipment. Tuesday was designated “Customer & Marketing Communications Day,” which was supposed to put a special focus on transpromotional printing applications that combine direct marketing with statements/transactional mail. Several digital press vendors did highlight this developing market during their press briefings, and GMC Software had a good-sized booth, but this application was still easy to miss around

SEWICKLEY, PA—The PIA/GATF has revealed the winners of its 2007 InterTech technology awards. Eleven of the 31 nominations were chosen to receive the prestigious awards. They include:Energy Elite dual layer “no bake” plate, Agfa Graphics; UV printing blanket refurbishment, Enviro Image Solutions; C-Fit image intelligence software, Fujifilm; Kodak Traceless system, Eastman Kodak; font emulation in…

As the countdown to the world’s largest printing exposition begins, Messe Düsseldorf Chairman Werner Dornscheidt provides his thoughts on what visitors should expect for Drupa 2008. There are already indications that Drupa 2008 will surpass the record-breaking Drupa event back in 2000. In what respects? WERNER DORNSCHEIDT: Drupa’s history goes back over 50 years, but it has become clear that Drupa 2008 will be the largest yet. The exhibition grounds are totally booked up, with some 170,000 square meters of show space and 1,800 exhibitors. There isn’t even one square meter of space left in the newly built Hall 8b, next to Hall 8a

WHAT WOULD you give up for a life in the music business? Brent Barnhart unwittingly sacrificed his childhood. Barnhart, chairman of The Barnhart Group in Canton, OH, wasn’t always in the sheetfed printing business, though the firm has been in his family for more than 80 years. At the age of 8, the now 37-year-old Barnhart—even as a child, an accomplished trumpet player—began touring the world with a sundry of evangelists. For the next 20 years, it was an annual diet of 30 weeks on the road and 100-plus cities. He quickly spread his wings by cutting an album every other year beginning at