The July/August issue of Big Picture talks about emerging opportunities in short-run digital color and variable-content messaging. Here is a partial listing of sources of equipment, software, supplies, finishing equipment and information resources.
Canon USA
www.usa.canon.com
Canon makes imaging equipment and information systems for both consumer use and professional business applications. Digital solutions enable businesses worldwide to capture and distribute information. Canon's CLC 3900+ and 5000 are 39- and 50-ppm color laser copier/printers for the entry-level production marketplace. Equipped with EFI print controllers, they can do variable data printing. Canon imageRUNNER Pro 150+ is a 150-ppm digital black-and-white printer for high-volume print-on-demand requirements.
Heidelberg USA
www.heidelberg.com
Heidelberg makes open and scalable solutions for the print-media industry, including prepress, digital print, quick print, commercial print, industrial print, packaging, labeling, commercial web printing, newpapers, and postpress finishing. The NexPress 2100 digital color production press with NexStation front-end can handle Internet-driven applications, full variable-data jobs for completely customized brochures, and full-color collated pages ready to be finished on demand.
Heidelberg's Business Development services group offers sales coaching, teaching your staff to “talk digital,” find digital prospects, ask qualifying questions, and overcome objections. It also offers consulting on internal planning and tactics for variable data projects, database handling, and networking.
HP Indigo
www.hp.com
Hewlett-Packard's Indigo division, part of HP's Digital Publishing Solutions group, makes five models of five-, six-, and seven-color presses for imaging, document, and label printing specialty products such as plastic cards, mousepads, keypads, and dials. Instead of dry toners, the presses use a proprietary liquid ink to produce high-resolution color images on coated and uncoated papers, transparencies, labels, and plastic stocks. Substrates for specialty printing include PVC, polyester, metallized foil, polycarbonate, and more. Customers can choose from a wide range of Pantone? approved spot colors and fluorescent colors.
HP's Digital Publishing Solutions group helps develop opportunities for HP customers throughout the digital-publishing “ecosystem,” including commercial printing firms, advertising agencies, and business enterprises. HP's Solutions Partners Program includes providers of software and web-based programs to feed digital presses easily and efficiently.
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Konica Business Technologies
www.konica.com
With tandem and clustering solutions, Konica can provide a complete black-and-white and full-color printing system with output speeds of 850 ppm. Its ColorFORCE 8050 color copier is rated at 50 ppm.
Oce Printing Systems USA
www.oceusa.com
Oce makes document-reproduction equipment for office workgroups, central reproduction, distributed printing, production printing, large-format, quick printing, and commercial printing.
For production digital color, Oce offers the CPS700 copy press, a 25-ppm device in which seven colors are laid side by side onto one imaging drum. Because there is no mixing or layering of colors, the system ensures that each copy provides consistent color time after time.
Scitex Digital Printing
www.scitexdpi.com
Ultra high-speed, high-resolution digital printing systems and hardware and software for personalized direct mail and transactional documents.
Xeikon
www.xeikon.com
Xeikon, part of Punch International, manufactures digital color-printing systems for commercial, production variable-data, packaging, label printing, and special applications markets. DCP500D is a 20-in. wide digital color press.
Xerox
www.xerox.com
Xerox makes an array of color and black-and-white digital printers, digital presses, multifunction devices, and digital copiers for workgroup, office, and commercial use. Xerox's Global Services division helps companies use document technologies to simplify business processes, accelerate decision-making, and improve responsiveness to the marketplace.
DocuColor line of digital presses include top-of-the-line Docucolor iGen? 3 Digital Production press for longer-run short-run jobs, including direct-mail marketing campaigns, personalized one-to-one communications, Web-fulfillment materials, and financial reports with unique text, images, and graphics. DocuColor 6060 Digital Color Press can produce customized brochures and one-to-one documents on a variety of paper stocks. Large Format Manual+Book Factory is a configuration of systems that makes it possible to economically produce 6- x 9-in., perfect-bound manuals with variable-information color covers and inserts.
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Material-Handling and Finishing Equipment
AMATCO Corp.
www.amatcousa.com
On-demand three-sided trimmer for perfect-bound or stitched books.
Banner American Products
www.banam.com
Foilant Series single-sided laminators can be used with offset or digitally printed sheets. Validated by Xerox for DocuColor family of digital color copiers/presses.
Bowe Bell & Howell
www.bellhowell.com
DemanWorks Perfect Binder is automated system for making completely finished books of variable sizes without three-knife trimming.
C.P. Bourg
www.cpbourg.com
Bourg Book Factory uses a Bourg High Capacity stacker to stack up to 5000 sheets from a DocuTech printer or to bypass sheets into a perfect binder where the 9- x 12-in. sheets are transformed into signatures, and fed into a binder for assembly with four-color covers.
GBC Industrial & Print Finishing Group
www.gbcconnect.com
Mercury and Polaris laminators for single-sided lamination of mid- to high-volume runs from on-demand printing systems.
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GBR Systems Corp.
www.gbr.com
CAS 52 POD is a computer-controlled folder for output from inkjet printers, laser, and digital printers.
Powis Parker Inc.
www.powis.com
Bind-on-demand technology includes Fastback? binding system which brings professional bindery capabilities to the office environment.
Roll Systems
www.rollsystems.com
Automated paper-handling, monitoring, and converting equipment for high-speed digital printers.
Standard Finishing Systems
www.standardfinishing.com
In-line, off-line, and automated off-line print-finishing products, including sheet feeders, paper unwinders, cutters, and rewinders.
Supplies
Cascade Fine Papers Group
www.cascades.com
Rolland hitech premium imaging paper for digital printers, laser copiers, and offset presses.
D&K Group
www.dkgroup.com
Superstick? laminating films for digital prints.
Domtar Inc.
www.domtar.com
Domtar Microprint Coated Laser paper for digital-printing equipment.
Eastern Paper
www.easternpaper.com
Complete line of papers for digital presses includes Inspire line of untreated, uncoated papers for HP Indigo presses.
Folex Imaging
www.folex.com
Digital-imaging consumables include products for color laser printer/copiers, inkjet printers, and digital presses. Newest additions to DigiPrint line includes static cling in clear and white opaque and self-adhesives in silver, clear, and white opaque.
GBC Industrial & Print Finishing Group
www.gbcconnect.com
AccuShield? ultra-thin coating for single-sided lamination of digitally printed documents.
Hammermill Papers/International Paper
www.ippaper.com
Accent? Opaque Digital papers and Hammermill Color Copy Gloss coated two-side paper for high-speed color copiers.
M-Real USA
www.m-real.com
Coated papers for digital color presses, color laser copiers, and wide-format inkjet printers.
Mohawk Digital Papers
www.mohawkpaper.com
Comprehensive line of premium papers for digital color production printing.
Stora Enso
www.storaenso.com
Futura Laser coated paper for dry-toner copiers, laser printers, and digital offset presses.
Tekra
www.tekra.com
Dura-Go and DuraKote digital films for HP Indigo and toner-based presses include polyester, polycarbonate, vinyl, and pressure-sensitive adhesive stocks.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION & TRAINING
Associations, Websites and Trade Shows
Drupa 2004
www.mdna.com/shows/drupa.html
Global printing-industry trade show held once every four years. Showplace for current and future technology. In 2000, the show attracted 430,000 visitors from 170+ countries. Next event: May 6-19, 2004, Dusseldorf, Germany.
Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC)
www.gasc.org
Jointly owned by three printing associations, GASC produces regional and national conferences and trade shows, including:
Executive Outlook: One-day conference held prior to the opening of the Graph Expo trade show. Provides insight into changing technologies and critical print-industry issues. This year's session is entitled, “Profiting with the Right Technology, Struggling without It”?a Print Management Survival Kit,” and will be held Sept. 27 at Chicago's McCormick Place.
Graph Expo: Trade show and conference for the printing industry that will feature seminars and exhibits on new media opportunities and growth avenues created by expanded technology. This year's event: Sept. 28-Oct. 1 at Chicago's McCormick Place South.
Vue/Point Conference: This business owner-to-business owner conference provides “truth from the trenches, not pitches from the podium.” Printing business owners not only share success stories with short-run color, variable-data, and wide-format graphics but also some of the adjustments they've made in terms of business operations. Transcripts of 2003 Conference sessions on “Variable Data Printing”?Where's the Beef?” and other sessions will be published in VuePoint: The Hard Copy magazine this summer. Next event: March 8-10, 2004.
Graphic Arts Information Network
www.gain.net
Graphic-arts information portal of The Printing Industries of America (PIA) and the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF). Bookstore features 12 publications on digital printing, including several from GAMIS, the graphic-arts marketing information service of the PIA/GATF. Collection includes “Designing4Digital”?a training package print companies can use to help educate graphic designers about variable-data print jobs.
IDEAlliance
www.idealliance.org
Formerly the Graphic Communications Association, the International Digital Enterprise Alliance promotes user-driven, cross-industry solutions for publishing and content-related processes. Offers The Business of Digital Production in the Graphic Arts, 2nd Edition, a 60-page book for management-level professionals in all aspects of print media.
IPA: The Association of Graphic Solutions Providers
www.ipa.org
Originally founded as the International Prepress Association, the organization includes pioneers in exploring emerging graphics-communications technologies. Sponsors management, technical, and sales and marketing conferences on topics such as consultative selling and selling value-added services.
NAPL: National Association for Printing Leadership
www.napl.org
Trade association providing management, education and economic analysis services that help managers of commercial printing businesses profit from change. Recent publication: “Building a Digital Services Portfolio: A Guide to Digital Solutions for the New Print Services Provider.”
On-Demand Printing and Publishing
www.ondemandexpo.com
Conference and trade show for users and suppliers of digital printing and publishing technologies, including tools for printing, delivering, and managing documents, forms, and publications. Produced by Advanstar Communications and CAP Ventures, a strategic consulting firm specializing in business-communication technologies and services (www.capv.com). March 8-10, 2004, Jacob Javits Convention Center, NY.
PODi
www.podi.com
PODi, the digital printing initiative (www.podi.org), is a consortium of print-on-demand equipment manufacturers and software developers. The organization publishes information about opportunities in digital printing, including a free e-mail newsletter with tips on designing personalized print campaigns, and updates on relevant technical standards. The Digital Print Sales Kit ($2500 members/$1250 for associate members) includes 130 case studies for use in sales presentations or sales collateral. Best Practices in Digital Print includes 40 case studies of successful digital print projects, analyses of industry trends, market segments and best practices in personalized print The PODi Applications Forum features technical and business-related seminars and idea-sharing roundtables.
PrintOnDemand.com
www.printondemand.com
Online resource for buyers and providers of digital printing services.
PrintPlanet.com
www.printplanet.com
Hosts discussions and forums on graphic-arts-related topics, including digital printing and variable-data printing.