Xerox Corp.

The consolidation of the PIA and GATF signifies a new era—one aimed at bettering the position of each association's membership. BY ERIK CAGLE The mere mention of the word merger is enough to conjure up images of Exxon and Mobil, layoffs and plant shutdowns. The modern business partnership—be it a merger, consolidation or whatever moniker du jour is applied—has more to do with bottom lines than frivolous considerations such as, say, enhanced products and services for the customer. With that in mind, we bring you the marriage of the Printing Industries of America (PIA) and Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF), which went into

OK, so not everyone can be a Consolidated Graphics—exploding in sales more than 60 percent during 1998 through acquisitions. Then again, could the commercial printing industry really thrive in a sea of Consolidated clones? In an industry that is changing and consolidating, here are some leading printers from the Printing Impressions 500 on the road to riches. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO In an industry of giants, an industry that can boast top sales in the billions for the upper echelon and an industry that can compensate top CEOs in the millions of dollars, a commercial printing operation doubling sales from $10 million to $20

GRAPH EXPO 98 and CONVERTING EXPO 98 was a hot ticket—sales were robust, booth traffic was brisk, technology advancements fierce and cooperative announcements healthy. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Question pondered: Could GRAPH EXPO 98 be a "Show of Shows," when the international spectacles that were IPEX 98 and PRINT 97 captured the printing industry's collective practically within the same 12-month span, with IPEX in September and PRINT 97 the previous September? Does $108 million answer that? That's the figure Heidelberg reported it registered during the show's four-day tour of Chicago's McCormick Place recently. Heidelberg's success was not singular. Scores of the show's more than

BIRMINHAM, UK—Technology innovators in prepress, press and postpress turned their collective attention to England recently as IPEX drew global crowds to this industrial city. Heidelberg rolled out the Speedmaster 74 DI, Screen jumped into the digital press ring with TruePress, Kodak Polychrome Graphics touted Kodak Approval XP4, Scitex marketed its Lotem family of platesetters, and Agfa Div., Bayer Corp., put the spotlight on Thermostar P970 and P971 for 830nm and 1,064nm thermal CTP, respectively. Technology highlights turned to new innovations in color management, thermal CTP, digital offset presses, variable data software enhancements, digital color proofing innovations, new scanning systems, large-format printing solutions, imagesetters and

As more digital color presses hit the market, traditional offset operations, like Dallas-based Harper House, are going on-demand. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Is investing in a digital color press the right move for progressive, commercial offset printing operations? Buy now, buy later? Buy what? Buy from whom? Why buy at all? The pressure to purchase a digital color printing device or full-force digital color press is only going to get more intense, as more digital color output products—conceptualized and marketed specifically to bolster today's offset printing operation—hit the market. It seems obvious that today's typical offset printing operation—often rooted in tradition and craftsmanship, and rigidly opposed to

How profitable are digital press investments? Not very—if on-demand postpress support is lacking. Finish-on-demand is just as important as its glamorous partner, as any on-demand printer can well attest. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The finishing component of on-demand digital printing is every bit as important as is the high-tech print engine that drives the most elite of digital presses. If the finishing finesse is missing, despite the best performance power of the finest digital color press, a digital print job is not only at risk of not being on-demand, but not being on time. As more traditional offset commercial printers and short-run shops go

The teeming class of digital color presses seems to be on the verge of a graduation of sorts. Xeikon celebrated the shipment of its 1,000th digital color press earlier this year, a DCP/32D. Indigo reports well over 1,000 E-Print shipments globally. Xerox boasts more than 4,000 DocuColor 40 units installed worldwide. Heidelberg's Quickmaster DI continues to flood the market. All this is happening just as Agfa's variable printing Chromapress and the Scitex/KBA-Planeta Karat continue to push the technology forward. But that doesn't mean new classmates, like Screen's recently launched TruePress and the Quickmaster's big brother, the new Speedmaster 74 DI, aren't ready to

How profitable are digital press investments? Not very—if on-demand postpress support is lacking. Finish-on-demand is just as important as its glamorous partner, as any on-demand printer can well attest. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The finishing component of on-demand digital printing is every bit as important as is the high-tech print engine that drives the most elite of digital presses. If the finishing finesse is missing, despite the best performance power of the finest digital color press, a digital print job is not only at risk of not being on-demand, but not being on time. As more traditional offset commercial printers and short-run shops go

MIAMI LAKES, FL—The problem: How to increase production volume, offer new services and cut overhead by hundreds of thousands of dollars, all at the same time? The answer, according to Andy Capodiferro, CEO of Laser Computer Graphics, is: think small. Since adopting that philosophy, Capodiferro's service bureau has grown by 60 percent to $1.4 million in gross revenues. "Laser Computer Graphics has been a heavy-iron shop since 1979," says Capodiferro. "We had a high-speed production environment with Xerox 8700 and 9700 laser printers. In 1997, we were about to spend $500,000 to install a new Xerox 4635 laser printing system when we got

LOUISVILLE, KY—As the home of the Kentucky Derby, Louisville is accustomed to long shots. And in 1994, Merrick Printing bet on one of the longest shots of all: digital printing. Despite all of the hoopla surrounding digital printing, this technology does not ensure higher profit margins—as many hapless printers have discovered. Merrick Printing, however, has discovered differently, hitting the jackpot with its digital on-demand services. Digital Print Impressions (DPI), Merrick's digital division, recently moved from a 5,000-square-foot facility to a new 30,000-square-foot home located within the same business park. The larger location provides plenty of room for DPI's six Xerox DocuTechs, two DocuColors