XEIKON-A Punch Graphix Brand

FROM THE beginning, Steve Bardwell knew his company’s success depended on its ability to continually innovate. That success has been realized with the help of digital printing technology and by becoming a leader in a niche market. Founded in Little Rock, AR, in 1985 as Electronic Imaging Services, the company now known as Vestcom International specializes in digital printing for the nation’s leading retailers. “Today, Vestcom serves more than 60 percent of the nation’s grocery, drug and mass merchandise retailers from its 10 production facilities located throughout the United States,” explains Bardwell, Vestcom president and CEO. Vestcom is a leading provider of data-driven,

WEIGHING THE differences between click charge plans in service contracts offered by providers of digital printing equipment is an apples-to-apples comparison. There’s just one problem. For apples, there are Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Cameo, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious and Jonagold, among countless other varieties. And where do they hail from? Vermont? Washington state? New England? So, in that regard, yes, click charge plans offered by manufacturers A, B and C constitute an apples-to-apples comparison when you factor in the high amount of variables influencing what may be the appropriate plan for a given digital printing operation. Which is to say that a direct comparison

Tackling a sizzling-hot topic in the printing industry, the 2005 PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference scheduled for November 6-8 at the Sheraton Crescent Hotel in Phoenix is designed to offer attendees the critical information needed for personalized digital printing success. In the following special section you will find articles pertaining to the main topic of this upcoming PIA/GATF event. Included are a look at several digital printers who have successfully implemented variable data printing (VDP); how a leading direct marketing agency relies on VDP to boost response rates; compensation plans for digital salespeople; results from a recent study concerning postal damage to digitally printed

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

Kodak Continues Integration, Debuts New Products ROCHESTER, NY—With the PRINT 05 show falling in early September, Eastman Kodak had little time to enjoy the honeymoon period with its acquisitions. The exhibition would serve as the major coming-out party for its newly integrated operations that wed the former Creo Inc., Kodak Polychrome Graphics, NexPress Solutions, Kodak Versamark and Encad entities to form Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG). GCG officials provided an update on their integration efforts and announced several new products shown at PRINT 05 during a recent press and analyst summit. "Kodak (today) is a combination of the 11 or 12 best companies

At CIP4, Good Things Come In Threes RESTON, VA—CIP4 (The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress) has gotten off to a fast start in the new year, with a deal to expand its scope, further testing and take on a new initiative. The organization entered into an agreement with NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies that transfers the PrintTalk specification and schema to CIP4 for its long-term maintenance and distribution. PrintTalk is the specification for exchange of business data between print providers and their customers. It defines a "best practice" common and

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor It’s been more than a decade since the first high-volume, modern digital color printing systems were introduced. Heidelberg and Presstek teamed up to launch the digital offset (GTO DI, in this case) product category in 1991. A few years later, the Indigo EPrint and Agfa/Xeikon Chromapress ushered in the era of the all-digital production color printing systems. In the future, though, 2004 may be looked back upon as a key transition period in the maturation of digital printing as a business segment—both on the vendor and user side. No fundamentally new technologies were unveiled, but all the vendors

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor Scientists have challenged its veracity, but the "boiling frog" legend endures. Here's a short version: Drop a frog into a pot of boiling water and it will immediately jump up. Place a frog into a pot of temperate water, then slowly turn up the heat, and it will stay in the pot until it is overcome. Admittedly, the dire consequences of this cautionary tale are overblown when it's applied to the current status of digital printing. Nonetheless, it does give one a visceral sense for how the slow pace of a change can mask its magnitude over time

Colter & Peterson and MBO America are now co-distributors of Wohlenberg paper cutters and cutting systems for the U.S. market. Specifically, the cooperative agreement will allow technical experts and sales personnel from both companies to confer with each other on how Wohlenberg cutters can best enhance the efficiency and productivity for printers and trade finishers looking to upgrade their operations. Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Print Media presented the Cary Award to Frank Steenburgh, senior vice president for business growth, Production Systems Group at Xerox Corp. during a breakfast at Graph Expo 2004. The Cary Award is presented annually to those who have

Printing Research Inc. (PRI) and its owner, Howard DeMoore, announced the successful conclusion of a patent infringement suit against a European company. The suit, filed in Germany against Green & Snob Grafik, showed that Green & Snob's product was a direct infringement against PRI's Super Blue 2 StripeNet anti-marking, anti-static nets. John Laabs has been appointed director of marketing for Fox River Paper. For the past six years, Laabs has worked in various sales and marketing capacities for both the Fox River and Gilbert brands of paper. KBA North America has named Steve Korn its new district sales manager to cover the states of Illinois and