Hewlett-Packard

By Bill Esler LAS VEGAS—Aiming to improve the odds for business success, 700 Printcafe management system users converged here June 9-12 for Connect 2002, the annual user meeting. Also present were 120 personnel from Printcafe and 13 exhibitors. Licensees of ProGraph, PSI, PrintSmith, Logic, Hagen, AHP, Automation and Elysium systems—all linked by the Printcafe umbrella in 2000—heard CEO Marc Olin's roadmap for cross-platform application development and Web utilities. These applications will ultimately work within all the management systems offered by Printcafe. Among several new items was PrinterSite, a Web browser application for Hagen Systems to check job status, customer ordering and sales

It's not often an industry gets a close look at an $18 billion market worldwide that fits perfectly into its capabilities and skills, but is slipping by, largely uncultivated. This fall's Graph Expo & Converting Expo will give the printing, publishing and converting business just such an opportunity—a comprehensive overview of the untapped large-format digital ink-jet printing market. The show takes place October 6-9 at McCormick Place South in Chicago. It's the foremost U.S. exhibition in 2002, with an expected attendance of more than 40,000 buyers and about 500 exhibitors slated to occupy nearly 365,000 net square feet of booth space. Large-format ink-jet

CPS Corp., a sister company of INX International, has been recognized for its environmental record and has been accepted into the National Environmental Performance Program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Muller Martini has launched a new digital on-demand finishing division. Andrew J. Fetherman was named manager of the new division. Fetherman was formerly product manager for Muller Martini's press division. That post is now held by Donald Geiger. Kim Graven-Nielsen has been named president and CEO of newly formed Esko-Graphics. The company was created after the merger of Purup-Eskofot and Barco Graphics. Presstek Inc. announced the qualification of its Anthem thermal CTP

It's always good to see my old friend Kent Martin—after all, we go back about 30 years. I ran into him at the Graphics of the Americas show which, by the way, is most definitely far more than a regional event and is well worth a trip. Not just because it's in Miami Beach at the beginning of February, but because it is well done and really has something to offer. Anyway, Kent and I went into our usual reminisce routine about print days past. And, of course, it always turns to the early '80s when he was president of Miller (does anyone out

Creo Products has appointed Mark Dance to the position of CFO. Dance retains his position as COO and will continue to serve as a director of the company. Dance replaces Michael Graydon who will continue with the company in an advisory role. Graydon is scaling back his responsibilities in order to pursue a greater balance in his family and work life. Also, Creo has appointed Judi Hess to fill the position of president, graphic arts. Hess has held the position of corporate vice president, printing workflow solutions, since April 2000. Goss Graphic Systems has reached an agreement in principle for the sale of substantially

HP Looks to Get Good Press After grabbing a lot of attention at PRINT 01, Hewlett-Packard's deal to acquire all the outstanding shares of Indigo quickly was overshadowed by its much larger and somewhat controversial bid for Compaq. However, HP management reports the Indigo purchase is still on track and has only been slowed by the U.S., Israeli and Dutch laws involved. As vice president and general manager of Digital Publishing Solutions at HP, Bill McGlynn has been a point person for the Indigo acquisition. Assuming things go according to the original plan, the following Q&A with McGlynn offers some insights into what

CLEVELAND—Oliver Printing has installed the world's first Heidelberg Quickmaster DI Pro digital offset press. The full-service printer's clients primarily are Fortune 500 companies and advertising agencies, to which it provides quick turnaround, multicolor printing. The workhorses of its conventional sheetfed offset printing capabilities are two six-color presses, a Speedmaster 74 perfector with coater and Speedmaster 102. The shop has more than 20 employees. (www.heidelbergusa.com) OVERLAND PARK, KS—On Demand Technologies (ODT) has entered into an agreement with Hewlett-Packard to jointly develop and deploy digital printing products and services. ODT will provide HP with certain intellectual property for print-on-demand (POD) solutions targeting the

BIRMINGHAM, UK—In times like these, it's hard to look beyond day-to-day events and challenges in running a business. But, American printers would be well advised to pause a moment and consider a spring trip to the U.K. for IPEX 2002: the global technology event for print, publishing and media. The event, which only comes around once every four years, is scheduled to take place at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) from April 9-17, 2002. In terms of scope and ancillary benefits, national trade shows can't provide the same experience of a major international event. Based on commitments made to date, IPEX 2002 is

Schmidt Acquires Rapid ReprintBYRON, MN—Publishing industry solutions provider Schmidt announced that it has acquired Rapid Reprint, a quick turnaround article reprint production company based in White Bear Lake, MN. Schmidt, a web offset printer, specializes in the production of direct response vehicles such as magazine and direct mail inserts, as well as the production and distribution of card packs for the publishing industry. Valassis Installs QTI Systems DURHAM, NC—Valassis Communications has purchased a Ribbon Control System 4000 (RCS 4000) and a Register Guidance System V (RGS V) with ink guiding and phaser control for the second of its MAN Roland Lithoman presses. Both systems were

MAN Roland Technicians Get Golden ToolsOFFENBACH, GERMANY—Two American technicians were honored recently for completing the 1,000th MAN Roland mechanical systems course at the company's training center here. As a result of the hands-on coursework, the technicians, Warren Collins and Greg Voigt, received their gold wrenches and are certified to install and get U.S. customers up-and-running on Roland 700 presses. Heidelberg USA has realigned its operations into four business segments: Digital, Postpress, Sheetfed and Web. Niels M. Winther, a 34-year veteran with the organization, has assumed responsibility as head of Heidelberg's Market Center North America (U.S. and Canada). Appointed to head the four U.S. groups