Punch Graphix Americas

PR agency duomedia hosted an event in Lisbon so some of its clients could fill us in on what to expect at drupa. The answer is quite a bit, especially on the equipment side where I hang out.

Taking center stage in Xeikon’s drupa stand will be two models of the new Xeikon 8000 Series of digital presses, which have been developed to meet the specific needs of the document printing market. Furthermore, Xeikon will launch a new, breakthrough printing technology for the document printing market, called Quantum, that avoids today’s compromise between quality and speed.

Kodak, Esko, Enfocus and Xeikon/basysPrint were among the companies that teamed up to hold a pre-drupa media briefing of their own this week. Each of those exhibitors provided an overview of their plans for the show, summarized here with a link to the full announcement.

Twenty of the printing industry’s foremost suppliers have signed on as sponsors for the upcoming Vision 3 Summit to be held Feb. 19-22, 2012, at the Marco Island Marriot in Marco Island, FL. The second-annual executive leadership conference has the theme “Focus Your Vision on Transformation and Growth.”

Modern marketing means brand extensions, on pack promotions, packaging to tie in with events—all designed to increase sales and enhance relationships with consumers. This provides opportunities to printers that can meet these demands. To date, digital printing has left packaging alone while expanding in publication printing.

On the heels of GRAPH EXPO 2011’s post-show attendance report released last week-which revealed buyers up 7 percent and buyer companies up 12 percent over last year’s show-are just sampling of comments from attendees and exhibitors who spoke out on the quality of this year’s show.

Seeing the equipment and software on the show floor are only part of the value of shows like Graph Expo. At least for analysts and members of the press, a big part is learning how companies are approaching the market and how they think about their products and services.

While run lengths decrease and the overall number of label jobs is growing, Jack Willemsz, founder of label printer W&R Etiketten (Tilburg, The Netherlands), has seen pressure building on the high end of the market. To increase his company’s flexibility and competitiveness, he implemented a management information system (MIS) and recently invested in the company's first digital label press, the Xeikon 3300. W&R’s current fleet of equipment, software and services enables Willemsz to run a sleek, JDF automated operation.

The challenge for Willemsz was to adapt and develop the company for the future, manage the growing flow of short-run orders

Commercial printing industry national news from Printing Impressions May 2011, featuring items on The Herald and Foster Printing.

Pricing pressures are arguably as strong in Southern California as they are in any part of the country. For Anaheim, CA-based Advantage Inc., a purveyor of direct mail, commercial printing and marketing solutions, it’s a fact of life.