KBA North America

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor One of the most striking trends to take shape at PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 is the degree to which one can now play a "zero degrees of separation" game between vendors of digital printers and prepress workflow systems. Some level of cross-linking seemed to be announced for almost every possible pairing. (More details are included in the "Prepress Workflow and CTP" show recap on page 28.) In terms of the print engines themselves, developments appear to have at least temporarily hit a plateau. The pieces required to build a viable business are already in place, so the focus

By Mark Michelson Editor-in-Chief Growing interest in digital press offerings notwithstanding, the estimated 62,000 attendees at PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 surely didn't go home with the impression that the traditional sheetfed offset market has lost its luster, especially given all of the big iron dominating the show floor during the seven-day-long exhibition last month. Sealing the deal for nine new Komori six-color, 40˝ Lithrone presses at various Consolidated Graphics facilities are, front row from the left: Robert Birmingham, Consolidated Graphics; John Marotta, Komori America; back row: Yoshiharu Komori, Komori Corp.; George Abboud, Consolidated Graphics; Stephan Carter, Komori America; and Satoshi Mochida, Komori

NEW ORLEANS—As the Gulf Coast continues to rebuild in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the printing industry—like much of the country—is doing whatever it can to ease the hardships experienced by the displaced citizens. For example, Xerox has pledged $2 million in cash and technical assistance. During PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05, Böwe Bell + Howell and Komori Corp., among others, announced donations and employee matching funds for relief groups such as the American Red Cross. The Graphic Arts Show Co. also sought charitable contributions from show attendees. According to Ed Chalifoux, president of the Printing Industry Association of the South (PIAS)—which covers

SEWICKLEY, PA—A panel of independent judges dubbed 17 innovative technologies worthy of 2005 PIA/GATF InterTech Technology Awards. The winners were chosen from a field of 52 technology nominees. Winners will be presented with Lucite InterTech stars during an annual banquet at the 2005 PIA/GATF fall administrative meetings, November 10-13, in San Francisco. The following is a list of the companies and their honored technologies: Metrix v1.5, LithoTechnics Pty Ltd. and Alterio Associates; Chameleon, Böttcher America; PDF Compare and PDF Merge, Creo Inc.; in-line coating for digital presses, NexPress Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions (Eastman Kodak); in-line coating for digital presses, Xeikon Print Protector, Xeikon International/Punch Graphix; Arrowlith UV,

California CARLSBAD—The Iris Group is now running a new six-color Komori Lithrone S40 perfector with coater. NORTH HOLLYWOOD—New in the prepress area at G2 Graphic Systems is a Fujifilm Quattro scanner, PictroProof II contone proofer and FinalProof GxT digital contract proofer, along with a Rampage workflow. The company also added a Xerox DocuColor iGen3 digital production press, as well as Fujifilm plates, in the pressroom. SANTA CLARA—PrintPapa has acquired KirkPrint, a commercial printing company based in Sunnyvale, CA. The new owners, Paul and Shawn Nag, report the recent addition of a two-color Ryobi 3302 press. PrintPapa also has digital and large-format printing capabilities.

Heidelberg Outlines PRINT 05 Plans KENNESAW, GA—Heidelberg announced plans for its 76,000-square-foot booth at next month's PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 exhibition in Chicago during a pre-show press conference held here recently. One of the main attractions will be the XL 105 Theater—a large-screen theater for live presentations that will house Heidelberg's new Speedmaster XL 105. The first product introduced in the company's new series of high-end offset presses known as the "Maximum Performance Class," it boasts speeds to 18,000 sph. There will be a total of 10 sheetfed presses, in various sizes and configurations, within the Heidelberg exhibit. Outside the XL 105

Attendees Soak Up the Views ORLANDO, FL—In a bid to inject new energy into the event and build attendance, the Vue/Point Conference was relocated to sunny Florida for its recent 2005 run. The results were mixed with regard to those goals, but attendees seemed pleased with the event overall. Judging by a show of hands in the opening session, there clearly was a spike in the percentage of first-time attendees. Also, representation by printers—as opposed to vendors—was said to be up. However, the total attendee number held more or less steady from the 2004 event in Washington, DC. There were several topics of

Web Printers Hit The Race Track DALLAS—Sun Chemical offered Web Offset Offset Association Conference attendees the opportunity to climb into a NASCAR race car for a high-speed ride around the track at the Texas Motor Speedway. Of the 250 guests in attendance at the event, nearly 160 people elected to ride as passengers in the stock cars, which reached speeds of 170 miles per hour as they sped around the oval track. DiMS! organizing print's entire European staff have relocated to a brand new, purpose-built, state-of-the-art office building in Lichtenvoorde, the Netherlands. The building is equipped with ultra-modern demo spaces and well-equipped training classrooms. KBA North America

RADEBEUL, GERMANY—Customer demands, technology developments and market pressures are leading printers to think about pressroom productivity and efficiency in new ways. Format and substrate flexibility—along with a continual drive for makeready gains—have become part of a more complicated formula for determining the right production platform. In the sheetfed printing segment, two production alternatives that have been getting greater attention of late are long perfectors and large-format presses. Koenig & Bauer AG recently held an open house at its sheetfed headquarters to give some 300 participants an opportunity to compare examples of each platform. A select group of U.S. commercial printers and trade press editors made

by chris bauer Managing Editor The demand for technology that allows web printers to efficiently produce shorter, versioned runs continues to increase. Print becomes a more attractive option for media buyers when they can combine the impact of highly targeted pieces with the advantages of the web offset process, including faster turnaround times and lower costs. As a result, web press manufacturers are designing machines able to satisfy the ever-changing needs of web printers. "The playing field for web offset is expanding," assesses Greg Norris, manager of marketing communications for Goss International. "Innovations in areas like automation, waste reduction and makeready speed are pushing