FUJIFILM Graphic Systems Div.

Exhibitors Promise a Super Drupa DUSSELDORF, GERMANY—As an international group of journalists gathered at the fairgrounds for a preview, the countdown to Drupa 2004 clicked past the 100 days threshold. Scheduled once every four years, the 13th installment of this world market for print media, publishing and converting is slated to run May 6-19, 2004. Playing off the Olympic motto ("faster, higher, farther"), the slogan for Drupa 2004 could be "prettier, faster, more reliable," suggests Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, president of the event and CEO of Koenig & Bauer AG. "Print products are becoming prettier. Print services will have to be delivered ever faster in

Xerox Sees Future In Black-and-White ROCHESTER, NY—Based on its market analysis, Xerox Corp. believes there is $18 billion in annual print sales worldwide that potentially could migrate from offset to digital production. The nature of the applications, substrates used and other job requirements make this work suited to digital production, asserts Valerie Blauvelt, vice president of integrated marketing. "Our goal is to capture 10 percent of that opportunity." Xerox has identified a "mid production" market and technology category that fills a gap in price, performance and capability, adds Mark Waxenberg, vice president and general manager, Production Solutions Business Unit. In response, the company has

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor The size of a shop's presses used to be seen as saying something about the sophistication of its operations. Today, half-size and smaller presses are just as likely as full-size machines to boast sophisticated computer controls, digital interfaces and other automation features. While the trend toward shorter runs may play to the strengths of these presses, print buyers don't want to make any compromises in color, quality or service. Therefore, small- to mid-size printers have come under increased pressure to be technologically competitive throughout their shops. For a growing number, a critical step has been adopting computer-to-plate production with

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor The vendors are loath to admit it, but on the surface there is a growing degree of parity in the capabilities of today's prepress workflow solutions. Their core systems are typically client-server based, database driven and handle tasks such as preflighting, PDF conversion/normalization, trapping, imposition and rendering. At the same time, advances in technology have led to workflow being widely viewed as a digital continuum—from file creation to final output. This shared vision dovetails with the industry's move toward computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and implementation of the JDF (Job Definition Format) specification. Internet portals for online proofing and job

Bridging the Digital Divide BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor Trade shows are supposed to be a forum for presenting solutions to meet the needs of attendees. What many people took away from workflow displays at GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO, however, was a bag full of questions . . . and maybe the odd poster or two, a foam sword, canisters of M&Ms, etc. That doesn't mean attendees weren't looking to buy. Exhibitors were more ardent than usual about the quality of the leads they were getting, and they claimed to also be pleased with the quantity. "Turned the corner" was a popular

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor The goal is basically the same regardless of what name is given to the technology—no-process, process-free or non-process plates. Since computer-to-plate production is all about taking steps, variables and labor out of the workflow, it naturally follows that people would look to eliminate the chemistry-based plate processor. The leading plate manufacturers have very similar takes on the future of this development, even if they differ on what to call it. This shared vision begins with a focus on non-ablative switchable polymer and/or on-press development systems as promising technologies. That is, with the exception of Presstek Inc. in Hudson, NH.

VERNON HILLS, IL—Scheduling flexibility is what sets Aim Business Printers apart from other printers, asserts Richard Sussman, vice president and general manager. To support production of run lengths that vary from 500 to 1 million sheets, the shop installed a PlateRite 4000II thermal plate recorder and Trueflow PDF workflow from Screen (USA). It also implemented Screen's Spekta hybrid AM/FM screening technology. (www.screenusa.com) NORFOLK, VA—The Virginian-Pilot (daily circulation of 200,000 copies) has purchased two Polaris X violet-laser computer-to-plate platesetters from Autologic, an Agfa Co. (www.pilotonline.com/www.agfa.com) HOUSTON—Champagne Fine Printing is adding an HP Indigo digital printing press to assist clients in

VANDALIA, OH—The Association of Esko-Graphics Users recently held its annual meeting in St. Louis. A series of Adobe product and technology presentations met with considerable interest among attendees, as did the synergies afforded by the Esko-Graphics DeskPack solution released within the past year. The agenda covered a range of prepress topics and applications, including automated workflow, color theory, Internet proofing tools and alternative color models. (www.aeg.esko-graphics.com) PITTSBURGH—The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) has published a report of the findings from its original research study comparing the quality of print jobs from digital color and DI presses. The print technologies used in

System Enables Printers to be Self-Calibrating WEBSTER, NY—Printed colors have been one of the toughest things to get consistently right because there are so many variables in the production process, whether it is digital or traditional offset. Scientists at Xerox Corp.'s Webster research center now claim to have invented and patented an ultra-fast, low-cost spectrophotometer that they expect to streamline and simplify color printing. The spectrophotometer is said to cost less than one-sixth the price of current models. It can be embedded inside a digital printer to take color measurements on each passing page in a few milliseconds. As the paper moves at

BY MARK SMITH Rarely does the first generation of a "revolutionary" new technology live up to expectations. In software circles, for example, painful experience has taught many users to wait for version 2.0 of any new release. The saying, "Once bitten, twice shy," definitely applies. The greater the degree of disappointment, the longer the road will be to convincing potential adopters that a technology is now "real." Both stochastic/frequency-modulated (FM) screening and high-fidelity/extended gamut color separation technologies first made a lot of noise in the market during the mid '90s. Versions of each achieved some success, but both have been seen as failed technologies