Highlights from GRAPHEXPO 2000 and CONVERTING EXPO 2000

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Highlights from GRAPHEXPO 2000 and CONVERTING EXPO 2000
Chicago September 25, 2000

Xerox, Presstek Announce Strategic Alliance

Xerox to market two DI-equipped presses

Xerox Corporation and Presstek, Inc. announced today a strategic alliance, under the terms of which Xerox will market and sell two Presstek DI technology-enabled presses, the DocuColor 400 DI-4 (or DI-5; the press is available in a four- or five-unit configuration) and the DocuColor 233 DI-4.

According to representatives of both companies, these products represent the first stage in a long-term ongoing relationship. Presstek and Xerox plan to work together to develop additional digital offset and ink-on-paper solutions. Xerox will make the new presses compatible with its DigiPath digital production system, which is intended to create a "document crossroads," enabling a job to be submitted via the Internet to an office printer of to a full-scale pressroom, depending on need.

The DocuColor 400 DI prints a landscape 15x20" sheet, and can print a maximum image area of 14.5x19.88". It features a 12,000-iph maximum printing speed, and is available with an optional fifth unit for custom colors, versioning, for bump color, or varnishing. The DocuColor 233, described as an "entry-level" press, prints at a maximum speed of 7,000 iph and uses a portrait-format sheet with a maximum size of 18.11x13.39". This agreement involves a number of other strategic relationships among Xerox, Presstek, and several other companies, among them Adamovske Strojirny (Adast), manufacturer of the DocuColor 400's press components, and Ryobi, manufacturer of the press components of the DocuColor 233. Both presses incorporate Presstek's ProFire imaging assembly and PearlDry Plus plates.

Heidelberg Launches New Innovations to North American Audience

Solutions geared to streamline prepress, press, and postpress operations took center stage.

Chicago, September 24, 2000-A few hours before the doors officially opened Sunday at Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2000, Heidelberg provided the trade media with a preview of the myriad new solutions for prepress, press, and postpress operations that the company will showcase throughout the course of the event. At this news conference, Heidelberg hailed Graph Expo 2000 as the premier platform for debuting its latest solutions to North American marketplace. First on the list of innovations highlighted at the conference was NexPress four-color digital printing technology, which came to fruition as a result of the collaboration between Heidelberg and Kodak. Initially introduced to the graphic arts industry at Drupa 2000 in Germany in May, NexPress is slated to be commercially available within the next nine months, says Purushotham.

"We are showing NexPress 2100 for the first time to the North American marketplace," says NexPress president and chief executive Venkat Purushotham. "It offers a balance between offset and true digital printing, while the NexStation digital front end is a radically open, productive solution that is the first digital system to implement full PDF/PJTF workflow."

Prepress announcements

With regard to prepress, the company touted its new Supertraps plug-in PDF trapping solution that can be added to any Mac or PC-based PDF workflow. Also highlighted was Heidelberg's Delta Trapper Pro, a zone-based trapping solution that enables faster and more accurate trapping.

The Topsetter 102 eight-up CtP platesetter made its North American debut as well. Available in either semi- or fully automatic format, it can output 12 thermal plates an hour at 2,400-dpi resolution. The fully automatic version can put 500 plates on line. Heidelberg's Newcolor 700 image capture software combines the strength of Linocolor with CMYK editing tools, and features end-to-end 16-bit architecture to give prepress operators more to work with, say Heidelberg officials. Additionally, the company's Primescan 8400 product is an upright drum scanner featuring spot scanning technology. For the packaging and label converting industry, Heidelberg is showing the Prinergy Power Pack solution, a non-proprietary, compact workflow with specialty screening capabilities for both offset and flexographic printing.

The company also spotlighted its new Prinect solution, a modular workflow that integrates existing and newly developed control devices along the entire prepress/press/postpress chain to form a seamless production system. Prinect is the "glue that holds together all of the production solutions Heidelberg is demonstrating at Graph Expo," says Ernst Bischoff, director of Prinect electronic solutions. "Prinect gets down to business."

Printing through progress

John Dowey, vice president of Heidelberg's sheetfed group, called himself the "traditional heavy metal guy" that some might think could be obsoleted by the progress of digital printing and Web printing technology. "That couldn't be farther from the truth," says Dowey. "Traditional sheetfed printing is evolving right alongside the other forward-poised technologies for the graphic arts industry. "Traditional offset printing is still flourishing," he continues. "We're focused on improving quality, production, and reliability by developing technology that accommodates shorter runs, faster turnarounds, and more colors."

To that end, Heidelberg is featuring its Integration Center, which showcases an end-to-end PDF workflow integrated with a six-color Speedmaster 102 press with a coating unit. Among other quality and production enhancing technologies, the system enlists Topsetter CTP plates and ImageControl, Heidelberg's new quality control technology that compares printed sheets to the values generated in prepress. "ImageControl gives the press of set of objective eyes, and is the foundation for closed-loop color management," states Dowey.

A fantastic finish

The highlight of Heidelberg's Finishing Center is the Compucut and Compufold technologies, a wireless network that channels information directly from prepress to the bindery. By automating the final step in the production process-the bindery-printers can now be equipped to achieve the highest level of efficiency and profits throughout the entire production workflow.

"Finishing was once considered the step-child of the printing process," says Larry Tanowitz, vice President of postpress for Heidelberg USA. "Now, we have the ability to cut, fold, bind, and deliver with as much efficiency as the other critical processes of printing."

Fujifilm Introduces New Scanner, Workflow Interface, and Web Site

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. introduced yesterday its Lanovia Quattro digital scanner, designed to allow companies to produce high-quality scans in house without the need for an external reproduction house or trade shop. The Quattro contains four lenses for one-pass scans, and features an oversized A3 platen that permits up to 100 35-mm slides to be mounted and scanned in one operation, and an optical design capable of enlargements as great as 4,000%, according to the manufacturer. The optics of the Quattro can move in both X and Y directions for scanning anywhere on the platen. The offering produces up to 40 scans per hour using the Seybold standard of a 6x7-cm original scanned at 350 dpi with a 400% enlargement. The scanner is supplied with Fujifilm's ColourKit color management software.

Workflow interface

Fuji also unveiled its Luxel Gateway V3.5 software application, which serves as an interface between various workflows and the company's line of electronic imaging equipment. Gateway has the same architecture as Fujifilm's CelebraNT RIP but allows users to continue using their existing RIP to link with all of Fujifilm's imaging products, including the Sumo imagesetter and the new Saber Luxel P-9600 CTP photopolymer platesetter, the latter of which uses the company's patented acousto-optic deflector (AOD) laser technology. Like CelebraNT, the Gateway offering runs on a Windows NT platform and features job ticket control, drop folders, remote client capability, and the same output calibration system. The software accepts a range of bitmap formats, including TIFF 6.0 Contone, TIFF-IT (P1), and CT/LW. Says the company, users that are able to produce any of these formats can screen the file and output to any Fujifilm Luxel device. For those able to produce a TIFF 6.0 1-bit file and do not require screening, the software acts as a driver for the output device.

Web site offers e-services

Also debuted at the expo was the new myfujifilm.com Web site tailored specifically to small- and medium-size graphic arts companies, and based on an ASP model in which printers, designers, ad agencies, and other graphic arts companies can access digital tools on line through a subscription and pay-per-use basis. The Web site offers three separate categories for Internet-based services-e-production, e-information, and e-Commerce and Service.

Xeikon Expands Market for Digital Printing

New CSP 320 D and Third-Generation DCP Presses Demo'd at Expo

Xeikon demonstrated its newest digital color presses, where expo attendees were able to see the recently introduced cut-sheet CSP 320 D and third-generation DCP 500 D digital color presses, and view variable-printing workflow solutions currently employed by Xeikon users.

The CSP 320 D and new DCP 500 D were introduced respectively in February and April of this year. At Drupa 2000, both presses saw robust sales in North America, Europe, and around the world. "Xeikon has the broadest offering of digital color production presses and digital front-end (DFE) solutions for the commercial print market today," says Paul Peyrebrune, president and chief executive of Xeikon America, Inc. "This offering ranges from the entry-level CSP 320 D, with the new Emerge DFE (introduced at Drupa 2000), to the top-of-the-line DCP 500 D with eXpert or IntelliStream DFE. Our customers are currently growing their businesses with Internet-enabled digital printing, short runs, and variable-data printing." New technology, new customers

The success of the new cut-sheet press is exemplified by Norwegian printing company JMS Gruppen, which recently purchased 10 CSP 320 D presses for direct mail and one-to-one marketing applications across Scandinavia.

"Xeikon provides excellent color quality and powerful variable-data capabilities," says Stefan Mannfalk, managing director for JMS Gruppen. "The small footprint and low cost of investment also allow us to establish an enterprise-wide digital network throughout all of our franchises."

Digital production leaps ahead

The DCP 500 D prints 8,200, 8.5x11" four-color pages per hour, making it the fastest and most productive digital color press on the market today, claim Xeikon officials. It also is the only digital color press to offer 20"-wide, eight-page signatures, which simplifies the production of multiple-page documents.

The new generation also features numerous enhancements in the print engine, graphic user interface (GUI), and DFE that increase print quality, productivity, and ease of operation. Developer life has been extended as well, resulting in increased press availability and lower costs. New toner color pigments enhance color rendering, while print-to-print consistency throughout the print run has been significantly improved.

Full-production digital printing

By employing a proprietary OPC belt and a unique patented separation transfer technique, Xeikon created a compact system that requires very little preventive maintenance. The sheetfed design of the Xeikon CSP 320 D also facilitates quick paper changes, and can handle a wide range of standard offset paper in various substrate sizes and weights, say company officials.

Emerge DFE, developed by Xeikon and integrated in the CSP 320 D, is the first product designed from the ground up by the company to support the new PPML specification for variable-data printing. The automated imposition controls, electronic collation, integrated quality control tools, and support for the Internet Printing Protocol creates efficient processing and printing of a wide range of print on demand and Web-to-print applications.

According to Xeikon officials, Emerge flattens the learning curve for production color digital printing through an automated workflow that utilizes job tickets for communicating all job parameters and an intuitive GUI with a user-friendly help function.

Xeikon also is demonstrating the productivity and marketing capabilities of its DCP 500 SP color packaging press. Through this digital press, packaging printers can benefit from profitable short runs and versioned printing, claim Xeikon officials. Other demonstrations from Xeikon this week at the show are set to include the Xeikon 7000 black-and-white digital press, which can print on a wide range of substrates, from labels and foil to card stock and tipped-on cards.

Citing Critical Value of Expo, NPES Outlines Goals at Show

As Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2000 promises to be the largest event in the history of the show in terms of attendees and exhibitor space, it remains an extremely important event for NPES The Association for Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies. "First, it's held annually in Chicago, with a major representation of potential buyers within a day's drive," explains NPES chairman Stan Freimuth, who also serves as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. "People in the industry rely on it as a place to see the latest technologies at work, and to see everyone they need to see. Second, aside from the international Print show, Graph Expo is the largest industry event in the western hemisphere and attracts attendance nationwide, as well as a significant number of buyers from overseas. And, it's our industry's show; NPES members have significant input into Graph Expo's management, plus the benefits of having the two major U.S. trade associations for printers, NAPL and PIA, as our partners."

Goals for the show
At Graph Expo, NPES has a number of goals. "Obviously, product sales is a number-one goal," says Freimuth. "Following that, our goals are to introduce and demonstrate new technologies, identify new customers, and bring existing customers to a place where they can get a complete picture of our product line. Networking, both with customers and other suppliers, and seeing what innovations they are showing that may help us improve our products and business techniques are further goals."

Strength in numbers

Established in 1933 with 26 member companies, NPES was founded on the idea of companies organizing to do together what the individual firms could not do alone. "That philosophy is behind all our programs, and of course the mix of services utilized by each member is different, in keeping with the individual company's business objectives," says Freimuth. "Member needs vary according to the size of the company, whether the company is an exporter or importer, and many other factors.

"My primary goal is to enhance and maximize the services offered to our entire membership, particularly the smaller manufacturers," continues Freimuth. "To that end, NPES conducted a membership survey earlier this year, and we are working on a number of initiatives which emanated from the survey results."

NPES membership continues to grow, continues Freimuth, who says that earlier this year, NPES membership passed 450 for the first time. The new members represent a wide variety of industry products, from press manufacturer Adast America to a new type of proof produced by RealTime Image, to finishing and converting equipment manufacturers such as American International Machinery and Carton Craft, and a significant number of e-business companies, including Collabria, Impresse, Noosh, and PrintBid.

Agfa Demonstrates Apogee Systems Connectivity

Open Interface To Brisque System Offers Hybrid Workflow Option

Chicago, Illinois USA - 25 September 2000 - At the Graph Expo Exhibition Agfa demonstrated the Apogee workflow management system using Apogee PrintDrive OpenConnect and Brisque Screen2Go to import data from a CreoScitex Brisque system.

The Apogee workflow system consists of four modular components: Apogee Create, Apogee Pilot, Apogee RIPs, and the Apogee PrintDrive output manager. The OpenConnect feature of PrintDrive imports multiple file formats -copydot, DCS, 1-bit TIFFs- into the Apogee workflow and manages the output of the files to Agfa output devices.

Now, an interface between PrintDrive OpenConnect and Brisque Screen2Go allows the import of Turbo-Screened data from a CreoScitex Brisque system. With this connectivity, users enjoy the productivity and flexibility of merging flat- or plate-ready data from different workflow systems. Meanwhile, Apogee system users benefit from powerful features that include load balancing, DoubleBurn, Digital QuickStrip and QuickFix late stage page replacement and correction.

"The growing number of mergers and acquisitions in the print and publishing industry have made hybrid workflows a common occurrence," says Dave Costa, Vice President of Marketing at Agfa. "Apogee was built on the concept of an open workflow, and with Apogee Series2 we offer an ever-increasing level of connectivity with multiple prepress systems. PrintDrive's OpenConnect feature helps production managers to be productive and profitable in a hybrid workflow environment."

Source: www.eshowdaily.com