Printware LLC

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

DRUPA 1995 was the beginning of the thermal computer-to-plate frenzy. Leading the charge: Creo and Kodak. Five years later, new platesetting initiatives are poised for DRUPA 2000. What digital platesetters will be announced at DRUPA 2000? Dusseldorf, Germany, holds the answers. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO At DRUPA 1995, a tiny Creo Products—tiny compared with the CTP giants Linotype-Hell, Gerber and Scitex— touted the production and workflow merits of thermal CTP for commercial printing. Creo's message was all thermal. Kodak consumables were Creo's enabling technology, bridging Creo's thermal output engines with the digital plate production demands of the average commercial printer. Who didn't take

That is the (killer) question... BY CHERYL A. ADAMS "It's not really a matter of ROI, but RIB—remain in business," contends Maureen Richards, technical director of prepress at United Lithograph, in Somerville, MA. (She attributes the RIB acronym to an article she saw.) "There are a lot of efficiencies that can easily justify the ROI on CTP, but the ability to do a quick fix when customers want to make last-minute changes is what makes CTP so valuable. You're able to make those changes and still be on press within moments of deadline. CTP gives you optimum control of the prepress process." Customers

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO As the platesetter market matures, more fully automated and semiautomated devices, perhaps more than the market can sustain, are redefining the role of platemaking to meet the demands of the CTP environment. Thermal imaging technology, functionality to support Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) and PostScript 3 availability now join reliability and throughput as inherent traits of many of today's new platesetter launches. To prepare for new platesetter launches on the horizon later this year, Printing Impressions offers a portfolio of devices and checks in with the technology providers poised to take them to market. Whether plug-and-play platesetting solutions, thermal

Variable data printing is a remarkable tool—especially in direct marketing environments—for pulling individuals into a subject, a theme, a sales pitch. Imagine the value of producing documents rich in custom-organized, image-intensive designs, fully personalized for each recipient. While the on-demand printing systems at today's digital printing houses and high-end commercial sites are actually delivering these personalized prizes, the real enablers of this growing marketing phenomena are the software packages. As a starting point, let's take a look at EFI's Fiery FreeForm variable data solution. Now available with the Fiery ZX line of color servers, FreeForm enables customers to use their existing workstations (PCs, Macs