Keeping the Horse in Front of the Cart
Commentary By David Dodd
Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2004 was held last month at Chicago’s McCormick Place, and, once again, this perennial extravaganza provided a showcase for new graphic communications equipment and technologies. Many products that were first demonstrated at drupa made their North American debut at Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2004.......MORE
Agfa’s Saggiomo Speaks Out at Graph Expo
By Cary Sherburne
Just a few weeks into his new role as Agfa’s president, Graphic Systems, North America, industry veteran Tom Saggiomo is nothing if not optimistic. He seems to be attacking his new challenges with ease and has a clear vision about where Agfa is today—and where he wants to take the North American operation. Read all about it in this exclusive Graph Expo WhatTheyThink executive interview.......MORE
Fear and Hope at Graph Expo
By Steve Aranoff & Robert FitzPatrick, The EAGLE
Strategic planning and business management are expected to be rational processes based on objective facts. For the printing industry, faced with competition from new media and a technology revolution that challenges its installed base of equipment, the need for a judicious, analytical perspective would seem to be of paramount importance.......MORE
The Word from the Top: What Are Industry Executives Saying?
By Cary Sherburne
Over the course of Graph Expo, I was able to speak with a number of industry executives to get their perspective on where the industry is going, what buyers are looking for, and what we can expect to see by drupa 2008. Here is what they had to say......MORE
More Prepress from Graph Expo: Creo, EFI, Presstek and Screen
By Cary Sherburne
We’ve already covered a lot of the prepress news from Graph Expo, but with the increased emphasis on automation, more productive workflow and a transition to digital, the volume of prepress news is increasing exponentially year over year. So here is more—a summary of prepress news from Creo, EFI, Presstek and Screen.....MORE
Graph Expo: What They Really Think about JDF and CIM
By Cary Sherburne
With all of the vendor hype around JDF and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, I wanted to know what it was that printers visiting Graph Expo were really looking for. Are they seeking JDF-enabled solutions? Do they even care about this latest in a string of three-letter acronyms? Are they seriously considering implementing CIM in their companies?.......MORE
Out of the Whirlwind: Metrix, Delphax, Epson, HP
By Noel Ward
Most vendors I asked said they were writing orders and said attendees were serious about making purchase decisions. Sounds good, but we'll see how it looks when the dust settles. If people came with checkbooks in hand it's a good sign. Any pent-up demand (or reluctant willingness to buy) has been building up over the past couple years when things were decidedly lean, so it's good to see that things may be on the upturn.......MORE
Prepress Round-Up
By Cary Sherburne
The prepress segment at Graph Expo seems to get bigger every year as both the role of workflow and the need to migrate to a more automated production process increase in importance. Following is a snapshot of representative prepress developments as reflected by the Graph Expo show floor. Not exhaustive by any means, this representative review will offer insight into where this segment of the market is headed.......MORE
Graph Expo Recap: MIS and Workflow
By Gail Nickel-Kailing
Now that the dust has settled and you’ve unpacked, laundered, and slept off Graph Expo, what was it that you came away with? Here are some of the things I saw that caught my eye. Realize, of course, that while I’m somewhat biased toward the nifty things that software can do, I am still fascinated by cool hardware.......MORE
Océ and Xerox Push Workflow and New Machines
By Noel Ward
Product launches and workflow were the lead items on the agendas at both Océ and Xerox. Both had new machines to show off along with freshly refined versions of their workflow tools. It would far space than I'm allotted to cover everything these companies are doing at the show, so I'll just hit the high points.......MORE
Frank Romano Joins InfoTrends/CAP Ventures as Consultant to the Commercial Printing Industry
By Cary Sherburne
During Graph Expo 2004, Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology and well known industry figure, and InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, an industry consulting firm, announced that Romano would be joining InfoTrends/CAP Ventures to manage a consulting service aimed at commercial printers. Romano retired from RIT in June of 2004. WhatTheyThink spoke with Romano and with InfoTrends/CAP Ventures Group Director Charlie Corr to get the scoop on the story behind this move and what we can expect to see from the arrangement........MORE
Further Consolidation in CtP: It’s about time!
By Steve Aranoff & Robert FitzPatrick, The EAGLE
The EAGLE has recently read the news, and WhatTheyThink.com has reported, on the decision by Esko-Graphics to stop investing in a portion of its Commercial Computer to Plate business. Orders will continue to be filled and deliveries made, for the PlateDriver violet CtP, but no new investment will be made and the non-performing business will be closed down in an orderly fashion. In fact, employee separations began already at the end of the past week, but significant staff is being kept for support of new and existing customers........MORE
A Printer’s Path to Workflow via the “Prinect Experience” at Graph Expo
By Patrick Henry
Zebra Graphics is a small, relatively young business, so embracing CIM—in this case, several modules of Heidelberg’s Prinect solution—shouldn’t be as radical a step as it probably would be in a bigger plant with deeply rooted procedures and the change-resistant mindsets that often go with them........MORE
Tribute Updates His Commentary on Creo
By Andrew Tribute
Last week it was announced that there was to be a challenge to Creo’s CEO from industry veteran Robert Burton, where Burton is seeking to replace Amos Michaelson as Creo’s CEO. Based upon his past record of success in turning around ailing companies, it is quite likely that Burton will get a substantial degree of support from Creo’s shareholders........MORE
Creo’s Shareholder Group Action – What’s Next?
By Gail Nickel-Kailing
News of dissident shareholders and their action to remove the Creo board of directors, including CEO Amos Michelson, has been top of the page for the Globe and Mail as well as Canada.com News. Following is a brief “literature review” of current stories and comments from a number of financial analysts who keep close tabs on Creo.......MORE
Converging Traffic
By Noel Ward
My last report covered how Kodak Versamark had plugged a pair of their printheads into a Rotatech 2-color offset press to place variable data on what amounted to a pre-printed shell. Not to be outdone, Nipson showcased a 2-color Muller Martini Concepta press with a VaryPress 400, showing how printers can combine traditional offset printing with variable data. One of the applications they were running was instep with the times, too.......MORE
Graph Expo Presentation, Economic Data, Malpractice, Media Mix, and "The Picture"
Fridays with Dr. Joe Webb
The general economic situation still looks good—better than reported in the press. Last week, unemployment held steady in a report that had something for all of the pundits to wail about. The bottom line is that employment is a lagging indicator, and a slow rate of growth now is more related to the slower second quarter than it is to anything going on as we start into the fourth quarter. Remember, it’s such a lagging indicator that employment actually increases at the beginning of a recession and is slow to return when growth starts again......MORE
Marathon Sunday and a Visit to Kodak
By Noel Ward
It was Marathon Sunday in Chicago, a happening that has put hotel rooms at a premium, packed restaurants and clearly cut into the crowds at McCormick Place, or at least that's conventional wisdom about the thin crowds on the show floor opening day. Then again it was 72 degrees out under a perfect sky, a great sailing wind coming in off Lake Michigan, and about a million people in town to watch what I'm told is the world's largest marathon. Why would anyone want to go to a print show on a day like this?......MORE
2004 RIT Cary Award – Thanks, Frank!
By Gail Nickel-Kailing
In a room filled with suits, Xerox guys and gals looked on as Frank Steenburgh was presented the RIT Cary Award on October 10, 2004 – the opening day of Graph Expo 2004. The Cary Award is presented to notable individuals who have distinguished themselves in the development or application of digital media in graphic communications......MORE
Kodak Polychrome Graphics Adds Violet Plate Product to Mix
By Cary Sherburne
Kodak Polychrome Graphics unveiled its first violet CTP plate offering this week at IfraExpo, a European newspaper exhibition being held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The VioletNews plate is a violet photopolymer plate for newspapers. Currently in beta-testing at newspapers in Europe and North America, the VioletNews plate is manufactured at KPG's plant in Osterode, Germany. The plate will be commercially released in the first quarter of next year, initially in Europe but closely followed by North America, Latin America and Asia.......MORE
CIP4, JDF, NGP and now CIMcity? Sorting it all out at Graph Expo
By Gail Nickel-Kailing
It’s been the “Year of Interoperability” and there has been one more addition to the list: CIMcity. Located in the MAN Roland pavilion, designed as a prototype printing plant, CIMcity demonstrates a complete JDF-workflow driven by a printnet backbone from ppi Media, a MAN Roland subsidiary.......MORE
Day Three at Graph Expo Brings A Miscellany from McCormick Place
By Patrick Henry
Day Three was a bustling time at Graph Expo: plenty of visitors, a spate of product announcements from the vendors, and a banquet of new production technologies in nearly every booth. Here’s a sampling of what we learned at press conferences and in our perambulations through the aisles. .......MORE
Kodak at Graph Expo: An Integrated View
By Cary Sherburne
Following Kodak’s several acquisitions this year, the formation of its new Graphic Communications Group and an aggressive business integration plan announced at drupa 2004 and reaffirmed at the company’s recent consultant briefing, WhatTheyThink visited with Kodak’s Jim Langley, President of the Graphic Communications Group, and Barbara Pellow, Chief Marketing Officer, to learn what visitors to Graph Expo might expect to see from Kodak, and to get more insight into the progress the company is making.......MORE
First-Day Briefings by Heidelberg and MAN Roland Yield Insight into the Mood of the Manufacturers
By Patrick Henry Gamblers have set up a mock futures market for the Presidential election in which the candidates’ trading prices rise and fall in step with the fluctuating fortunes of their campaigns. Perhaps printers—strictly for amusement, of course—ought to trade make-believe futures in equipment manufacturers based on their pronouncements at trade shows.......MORE
An Interview with Jan Dix, Chairman and CEO, Océ North America
By Noel Ward
A few weeks ago, Jan Dix was named as chairman and CEO of Océ North American operations. This marks a return to this continent for Dix, who was deeply involved in U.S. operations in the '90s. Dix began his new position on September 15th. WTT was able to arrange an interview with Dix and is pleased to include it this week as part of our Graph Expo Show Coverage......MORE
An Interview with Xerox's Mike Harvey
By Noel Ward
At the On Demand Show in New York City in 2003, Xerox announced a new initiative called FreeFlow. The company's intent was to develop a modular set of scalable, open architecture workflow products. It was more concept than reality at the time and while some examples have been rolled out over the intervening months, full-fledged products have not been forthcoming. We saw some examples at drupa but actual release dates were still vague.....MORE
You Printed It, Now Mail It
By Gail Nickel-Kailing
It’s here! If you’re not in the mailing business, now is the time to take a closer look. The National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) has told us that more than 58% of you view direct mail and direct marketing as a growth market. So now is the time to dig in and find out more about mailing and meet some of the folks who can help you be successful at it....MORE
Xerox and Kodak Hold Pre-Graph Expo Consultant Briefings
By Cary Sherburne
During the month of September in the Graph Expo run-up, both Xerox and Kodak held consultant briefings, both to communicate corporate strategies and directions as well as to talk about their Graph Expo plans. I found it interesting that both companies chose to take a more esoteric and futuristic view than these sessions normally have. Both put significant focus on their research & development capabilities and less focus on product “speeds and feeds.”......MORE
Nearness of drupa and Print ’05 Can’t Dim Graph Expo’s Luster As A Showcase for Conventional Offset Lithographic Technologies
By Patrick Henry
Sandwiched between drupa last May and Print ’05 next September, Graph Expo 2004 can’t help having an interstitial quality. This isn’t to deny that the show is a floor-space sellout (this was true weeks ago) or that attendance is almost certain to be heavy (nobody appears to be betting against the Graphic Arts Show Company’s confident prediction of 40,000 visitors)....MORE
Breaking News: KPG to Distribute NexPress Products
By Cary Sherburne
In a move long anticipated by industry insiders, NexPress Solutions, a Kodak company, and Kodak Polychrome Graphics, a joint venture between Kodak and Sun Chemical, announced that KPG will be collaborating with NexPress in the marketing and distribution of the Kodak NexPress 2100 digital production color presses and Kodak Digimaster E150 and E125 digital production systems in the United States.....MORE
You Always Remember Your First Time
By Noel Ward
I remember my first GraphExpo. The air of the giant hall was redolent with the scent of ink and fountain solution, an unmistakable aroma that was the elixir of life to many walking the aisles. There were huge printing presses, some the size of school buses, with spinning cylinders, drums, and rollers clattering, clicking and clacking away......MORE
Don’t Miss the MIS Providers, There’s A Whole Lot O’ Changin’ Goin’ On!
By Gail Nickel-Kailing
Every year in the fall, WhatTheyThink.com takes the pulse of the Graphic Arts Industry in Chicago. And Graph Expo 2004 is no exception. The WTT team will be there from the opening bell to the closing announcements.....MORE
“When I Move the Knife, I Am Making Money”: An Interview with Heidelberg USA’s Rob Kuehl
By Patrick Henry
Say what you will about digital workflows, robotic press controls, and printing in six, eight, or ten colors: they may be dazzling technical achievements in their own right, but none of them is as basic to the success of a job as the simple cutting and handling of paper....MORE
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