The Headline News items which appeared in our Home Page news during the last week of June 2007...
The week's news for 25 - 29 June 2007
On the local front, Sappi's African Printers of the Year led the news on Tuesday with Johannesburg-based Ultra Litho being awarded no less than four of the eight Gold awards in this year's competition - an absolute record achievement in the competition's 28-year history. Other winners this year included Hansa Print, Durrant & Viljoen, Hot Dot Print and Atlas Printers. You will find news below of all the other Silver and Bronze winners as well - which includes many previous Sappi prize winners, as well as some newcomers from no less than five African countries out of a total of 443 entries in this year's competition. Our sincere congratulations to everyone and good luck to all the finalists in October in Boston, New England, when they compete with the winners from Sappi's European, North American and Trading Regions for the coveted Sappi International Printers of the Year bronze African Elephant trophies.
Heidelberg started the week well, with a 'World First' with its new Prinect Postpress Manager, which now enables full postpress JDF integration to complete the print shop value-added chain, all the way from prepress to finishing. There's another Prinect development for Job Planning in the news on Tuesday also. Both of these new developments will be highlights in the company's Prinect display at Drupa in just under a year's time. Other significant news from Heidelberg on Monday included its successful field testing of a Speedmaster SM 52 five-colour press with Anicolor short inking unit at Fotorotar in Switzerland. Fotorotar reports a massive waste reduction of up to 90 per cent, as well as savings on makeready times of a further 70 to 80 per cent. I think you will hear a lot more about Anicolor in the coming months.
Screen also hit the headlines on Monday, with its latest Trueflow workflow software which now includes the Adobe PDF Print Engine, effectively creating a new universal workflow for the company. It has been named Trueflow SE. There have been a number of 'firsts' this past week, not least of which was Screen's 'European First' with the sale of no less than two of its new high-speed reel-fed Truepress Jet520 inkjet printing systems to UK company GI Direct. The Truepress Jet520 was first seen in Europe at Ipex last year. Don't miss the announcement which led Wednesday's news.
There were so many software-related announcements last week, I will not even attempt to list them. All the links are below anyway. They include new enhancements and upgrades, as well as a number of completely new developments. Some nice orders and installations successes also, for sheetfed offset, DI offset and digital production presses. The only web offset press sale last week was announced by GWS, for a MAN Lithoman IV press which is to go to Teheran-based commercial printer Entekhab Rasaneh Print which will be operational before the end of the year. GWS also released its Summer 2007 Newsletter mid-week, which is available for download as a PDF - see the link below.
Congratulations are in order, as MAN Roland's Training Centre in Offenbach celebrates its tenth birthday (Wednesday). Offenbach is currently hosting an absolute bevy of trainees, from a total of 26 countries and all continents, who are taking courses on various MAN Roland presses. Get your tongue around that one during the evenings in the local.
There are many other news items for you to go through, so I shall not dwell on them any longer. During the past week, there have been some nice new feature articles, both of a general nature and also technically-related, along with the very latest from Laurel Brunner in our Technology Guides and Specialist Features section. Please don't miss those.
Our Drupa Newsroom is also taking shape, with three separate chapters or sections already, in order to separate the different types of news which has started to arrive more regularly now that there is less than a year to go before the world's biggest-ever printing exhibition, and the largest-ever Drupa in it's more than 50-year history opens next May.
Mike Hilton
The above is an extract from our weekly e-News update for Monday 2 July 2007.
Bespoke expands its global reach Bespoke forms a strategic partnership with BiZPRO Consulting in China, with focus on the Graphic Arts industry…
Bespoke has struck a strategic partnership with BiZPRO Consulting in China, a company with similar focus on the Graphic Arts industry and comparable full-service marketing communications capabilities.
The partnership, which is exclusive on both sides, has two objectives:
First, Bespoke clients will benefit from enhanced contact with a burgeoning Chinese market, and the extra market intelligence provided by BiZPRO that will ensure more effective on-the-ground campaigns and event implementation.
Secondly, the partnership will help Chinese companies to expand into international markets as well as participate in European and US events such as Drupa, Ipex and Print.
Commenting on the move, Dave Chandler, managing director of Bespoke, said, ‘We have been working with BiZPRO on an informal basis for some time. Combined efforts at two back-to-back Chinese printing exhibitions confirmed that both companies have a similar drive to deliver the innovation, creativity and performance that helps our clients stand out from the crowd.’
BiZPRO was established three years ago and works closely with the Chinese market, having domestic and international clients in its portfolio including the country's key printing associations. In addition to offering a range of marcoms services, BiZPRO specializes in technical translations and event support.
Bespoke is a leading agency in the Graphic Arts market, with 27 years experience and a highly international focus to its business.
Anna Wang, director of BiZPRO (pictured above with Dave Chandler), said, ‘As one of the leaders in its field, Bespoke has a strong reputation, built on technical knowledge and the ability to execute campaigns internationally. Using Bespoke's experience, we hope to build on our own current success to grow and develop. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.’
In addition to the enhanced service offered to its clients by the partnership, Bespoke will also provide industry-literate translations to any English-speaking company that wishes to do business in China.
The Bespoke Agency is a full service Public Relations and Marketing Agency specialising in the graphic arts, printing and imaging technology sectors. In business for 26 years, and with a passion to help its clients sell more products, the company has a wealth of experience in all aspects of the marketing mix from company positioning to PR and marcoms implementation.
Latest feature articles now online New articles are now in Online Features 2007, the Technology Guides section and in our dedicated Drupa Newsroom…
Just a reminder for visitors to the Website, and readers who are not so familiar with its various sections, that a number of new feature articles have been added to our Online Features 2007 section in both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 (Technology-related). There are also new articles in the Technology Guides + Specialist Features section from Laurel Brunner and Digital Dots.
The Drupa 2008 Newsroom is also beginning to see regular activity over past week or so, with two new articles from Messe Düsseldorf having been added for you today.
In our Archives New visitors to the Website shouldn’t overlook the other features already published in our Online Features 2007 section, and even some of those in Online Features 2006 (which contains more than 200 articles) as a large number of them are still topical and far from out-of-date. In fact, what many of our readers perhaps overlook, is that we provide news and features in almost real-time, so many of the articles we publish have not even appeared in printed issues of any trade magazine in the world - at the time they are added to our Website.
All the above can all be accessed from the Home Page Index, and by popular request from many readers our Ipex 2006 Newsroom was reinstated earlier this year to save you having to go to ‘Search Archives’ – under the appropriate year of publication.
If you really want to go further back, then use the ‘Search Archives’ search engine - Option 2 – and select year of issue… where you now have ten years of publishing to choose from… Before that, they weren’t completely digital as we only used computer-to-film and not CTP!
Compose System at Labelexpo 2007 Compose System to showcase Star Proof at Labelexpo 2007 driving the current range of Epson inkjet printers…
Compose System, an established developer of prepress workflow and colour proofing solutions, will demonstrate its Star Proof true dot proofing solution during Labelexpo in Hall 7. Using 1 Bit Tiff or Len files with screens of between 25lpi to 200lpi, Star Proof produces contract quality proofs on inkjet printers – quickly and economically. Compose will also be teaming up with Epson to demonstrate Star Proof’s quality whilst driving the current range of inkjet printers.
Star Proof is an ideal match for Epson Stylus Pro inkjet printers, whose unique variable sized droplet technology (VSDT) enables Star Proof to produce screened proofs that are perfect for the demands of the label printing industry. With Star Proof, designers, prepress departments and label printers can now create inkjet proofs that accurately reproduce the sharp dot patterns, trapping and opacity seen on the final printed job.
Said Steve Donegan, Compose' European sales and marketing manager, 'Compose recognises Labelexpo as 'the' event for label printers in Europe. With an increasing number of prepress departments switching to digital plate production, the need for a quality screened digital proof increases. The ability to produce an inkjet proof that will accurately represent the finished item, right down to the dot pattern is paramount. Star Proof is an affordable standalone solution that enables users to easily create colour accurate proofs, using the actual RIPped data, to produce a hard, sharp dot proof.'
Maximising accurate colour output for flexo labels and packaging Star Proof is a true dot proofing solution that has no comparison to contone proofing architecture. A contone solution uses a continuous tone that is laid down by the inkjet device and the resulting proof has photographic quality. But the reality is that printers prefer to look at dots. Star Proof's superior technical advantage lies in its' analytical engine, Actual Dot. It analyses the CMYK dot patterns and screen angles of high resolution separations and reproduces these by creating arrangements of hard dots on the proofer - right down to rosettes, fine line art, text at just 1pt, and even defects such as moiré patterns. With Star Proof, seeing is truly believing.
Due to Actual Dot's capability to replicate original screening and dot patterns at proofing resolutions, Star Proof delivers top quality proofs with a hard dot, sharp images, accurate colour and fine detail – just as they will appear on the press. And with ROOM proofing architecture to resemble the same set of high resolution separations that are sent to the plate setter/image setter, Star Proof also ensures data integrity between proof and print.
Flexo labels, and packaging in particular, tend to use a lot of ‘special’ or extra-trinary colours. Although inkjet printers cannot print spot colours directly, most of them have wide enough colour gamuts that allow them to simulate a wide range of 'special' colours. The colours produced on the press can be measured and used as a basis to set up colour tables for Star Proof, resulting in a very high level of colour accuracy.
Labelexpo 2007 is an excellent opportunity for Compose System to communicate with Star Proof's growing customer base in the flexographic industry and to introduce the solutions to new users. With an installed base of over 2,000 units worldwide, the label printing industry is beginning to embrace the benefits that Star Proof brings. JFM Plates, based in Manchester UK, specialising in flexo plates for the narrow web market serving printers in the label and packaging industry, made the switch to Star Proof. Marc McKee, owner of JFM Plates strongly believes that the end results are like night and day. 'Continuous tone proofing might produce a proof that looks good, but you can’t do basic adjustment. Ultimately, you can't really trust what you are seeing and you can't guarantee the final results,' said McKee. 'Star Proof has provided a dramatic difference in the quality and reliability of our proofs. The accuracy and sharpness of the dots, the ability to physically see the dot structure or rosette on the proof, is exactly the same on the print. We get 100 per cent accuracy every time.'
Express WorkFlow delivers maximum productivity Compose System will also demonstrate its Express WorkFlow solution that provides reliability and efficiency to meet the ever changing demands of today's prepress industry. At its heart is the Compose Express RIP – a fast, flexible version of the Harlequin RIP offering high levels of performance and productivity. A professional prepress workflow system, Express WorkFlow combines practical functionality with ease of use, ensuring tight integration and smooth data delivery between all processes in the customer’s prepress workflow. Express WorkFlow optimises and automates the production process and ensures data integrity, whether handling PDF or pure PostScript workflow.
Available for both Mac and PC clients, additional new features include template creation and dynamic job logging system together with a detailed history reporting database.
CIP4 announces JDF events at IGAS 2007 The CIP4 Organisation will have a demonstration pavilion featuring the JDF Specification at IGAS 2007…
The International Co-operation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4 Organisation) has announced that it will produce a demonstration pavilion with live presentations and other special events featuring the Job Definition Format (JDF) Specification at IGAS 2007. The JDF pavilion, covering a total of 212 square metres, will have three main areas: • JDF Solution Zone – Providing insight on the collaboration work among more than 30 companies with JDF enabled-products participating at IGAS 2007 in the JDF Pavilion and around the show floor. Visitors will be able learn about the compatibility and connectivity of JDF between various MIS systems, operation control systems, prepress workflows and production management systems. • JDF Demonstration Zone – Featuring 18 individual pods set up with companies from around the world, and presenting the latest in JDF-enabled software, technology and solutions. All with support staff to answer questions. • Automation Education Stage – Presenting representatives of the CIP4 Organisation and many of the companies at IGAS 2007 that provide JDF-enabled solutions who will give short seminars on JDF-enabled process automation. Presentations to include introductions to JDF, updates on JDF Version 1.4 and all the latest JDF news. In addition, case studies from CIPPI Award-winning companies will explain how these printers put JDF-enabled products to work in their shops.
During IGAS 2007, CIP4 will announce the release of new Interoperability Conformance Specifications, key changes in JDF1.4, and the winners of the 2007 CIP4 International Print Production Innovation (CIPPI) Awards. The CIPPI Awards were first awarded in 2005 and the program is now in its third year. The CIPPI awards were established to recognise leading printers, publishers, or prepress services, who are rigorously screened by a panel of five judges in conjunction to the three categories listed below: • Most innovative use of process automation technology in an implementation. • Best cost/benefit realisation as a result of process automation implementation. • Biggest improvement in efficiency and customer responsiveness as a result of process automation.
CIP4 will also hold seminars and conferences during IGAS 2007. The JDF Developers Technical Seminar will feature Rainer Prosi, CIP4’s Technical Officer who will present a JDF Tutorial intended for developers of JDF-related products, as well as IT professionals employed by printers. A JDF Executive Management Conference, intended for executives of printing companies and print-related companies, will feature presentations about automation trends and their impact on the future of management in printing industry. Attendees will learn how implementing JDF-enabled production may establish an environmental basis for Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as the infrastructure necessary for developing long-term sustainable manufacturing.
For the convenience IGAS 2007 visitors, a Japanese language CIP4 and JDF Website will be launched in June at: www.cip4.jp. In addition, a JDF Roadmap publication featuring JDF information and the stand locations of companies at IGAS 2007 providing JDF-enabled solutions and technology will be distributed widely to show attendees.
Helios Software debuts UB+ Server software Helios Software debuts its UB+ cross-platform Unbreakable Server software for Windows, Mac, and Web clients…
Helios Software GmbH, a leading developer of cross-platform networking, PDF, and image server solutions for Mac, Windows, UNIX, and Web clients, has announced the first public preview of the next generation of its Unbreakable Server Solutions, named Helios UB+. The free downloadable Helios test drive offers customers, prospects and journalists hands-on insight into the upcoming UB+ software. It includes Helios WebShare UB+, the state-of-the-art file server for Web clients, offering the highest security and performance for enterprise, government, university, and prepress sites. Utilising Web 2.0 technology, WebShare UB+ features easily customisable user interfaces, extensive access controls with audit trail, and extremely fast file searching.
'UB+ continues the success of Helios Software's fast, reliable, and secure server software used by customers around the world,' said Helmut Tschemernjak, president of Helios Software. 'By providing a public preview of UB+, we invite everyone to explore the great new features and to provide feedback.' Added Tschemernjak, 'A free preview of all UB+ products is available now at the Helios Website.' The preview runs as a test drive on all major server platforms, including Apple Mac OS X, Linux, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, HP-UNIX and Windows Server.
Helios WebShare UB+ is one of the highlights of UB+. WebShare UB+ is a highly secure state-of-the-art file server for web clients. Using Web 2.0 technology, administrators can easily create beautiful custom brandings, to present a personalised interface for each remote group or user. The web based branding editor offers an easy way to select all user interface elements without programming. WebShare action scripts allow custom processing of files, and integrate with Helios ImageServer, PDF HandShake and PrintPreview for remote image conversion, PDF preflighting, and print job proofing. The unique Helios zipstream technology delivers the best performance, with on-the-fly compression of downloads. Options add multi-page previews of images, QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, and PDF documents.
'WebShare UB+ offers a completely new approach to file sharing,' noted Dr. Martin Reinders, head of development at Helios. 'WebShare UB+ now offers customer branding, custom action scripts, and a new preview and proofing mode.' According to Reinders, 'WebShare UB+ is the perfect file sharing platform for collaborative and distributed teams.' Reinders explained that, 'WebShare UB+ enables companies of every type to increase service to customers while increasing profits.'
WebShare UB+ includes: • Web based file transfer and collaboration solution • Easy to use Web 2.0 GUI, customisable per-client • Highest security two tier server solution • On-the-fly ZIP compression/decompression • Server based file search via SQL database • Optional previews/proofs of images, XPress, InDesign, and PDF documents
For further information on UB+ and the requirements for the preview test drive, visit the Helios Website at: www.helios.com and see the QuickTime presentation.
SoftCare K4 supports Adobe Creative Suite 3 Integration between Adobe CS3 and K4 version 5.8, presented for first time at international K4 user conference…
At this year's International K4 User Conference on 15 June in Hamburg, Germany SoftCare presented version 5.8 of its powerful editorial system SoftCare K4. Version 5.8 with support for Adobe Creative Suite 3 is now available, allowing K4 customers to benefit immediately from the new cross-media production opportunities offered by Adobe Creative Suite 3.
Simultaneously, SoftCare released the optional K4 XML Exporter module for K4 version 5.8. One of the first companies to develop InDesign-compatible plug-ins, SoftCare has always been the quickest editorial system vendor to support the newest versions of Adobe software.
'Released recently with Adobe Creative Suite 3, Adobe InDesign CS3 and InCopy CS3 improve the way that design, editorial, production and IT professionals work on a day-to-day basis,' said Will Eisley, director, Adobe Creative Suite Layout & Illustration Products. 'With SoftCare K4 version 5.8 supporting these, powerful, yet easy-to-use set of tools, the publishing industry has an innovative and efficient solution for delivering content for cross-media publishing.'
SoftCare K4 is an integrated system that controls and connects creative and editorial workflows with Adobe InDesign and InCopy. Magazine, newspaper and book publishers, as well as agencies benefit from more efficient processes and increased productivity thanks to this solution.
At this year's User Conference, approximately 130 attendees, including IT managers, managing directors and more, came to share experiences and discuss publishing trends. In addition to introducing the latest K4 release, the User Conference has also featured renowned international customers presenting how they benefit from the innovative capabilities of K4. Among the speakers were representatives of BASF from Germany, St. Galler Tagblatt (NZZ Group) Switzerland, Hyresgästföreningen Sweden, and Le Point France. USA-based BusinessWeek gave a deep insight into its processes and showed how it already uses K4 for cross-media production. A panel discussion at the end of the conference with top-class participants discussed the future of publishing and the resulting challenges for systems and their users.
'Version 5.8 guides our customers in a future-oriented direction, easily and profitably. The User Conference was the ideal platform to present our customers the opportunities of the integration between Adobe CS3 and K4 version 5.8,' said Andreas Schrader, managing director of SoftCare. SoftCare K4 version 5.8 is available from K4 System Integrators worldwide. K4 supports Mac OS X and Windows clients in mixed-platform environments. The server software is available for Mac OS X, Windows, Sun Solaris and Linux.
Senator takes JDF workflow to the next stage Senator Press has taken delivery of a Speedmaster CD 74-5L and Prinance MIS system from Heidelberg…
Senator Press has taken delivery of a Speedmaster CD 74-5L and Prinance MIS system, investment which it believes will increase its efficiency and productivity.
‘Prinect Prinance is our first MIS system. We wanted to enhance our workflow, to be able to track jobs and log how long jobs take. Having estimating and management control tools like this will be a real advantage,’ said Ken Cocker, managing director of the Havant, Hampshire-based printer.
‘We already use Prepress Interface for both our presses and have some log in, log out capability in finishing so tying in the business functions is the next stage. We need the control – it saves us time and money.’
This JDF-conscious company has also opted for a Speedmaster CD 74-5L to run alongside the Printmaster PM 52-5 it installed a year ago.
‘The CD is a versatile machine, capable of handling 45gsm to 800 micron thick board. We do a lot of 60gsm perfecting sheet work, mainly pharmaceutical leaflets and flyers, but also board-based print. With a dedicated in-line coater we can use the fifth unit for specials and for MetalFX which we have been licensed to use for four years now.’
The press is operating double day shifts, five days a week with overtime to meet the UK wide customer base that Senator Press serves.
Corriere del Ticino to add Ferag postpress Biggest Ticino daily goes over to Ferag technology with MultiSertDrum, MultiDisc, JetFeeder and RollStream…
The Corriere del Ticino, Muzzano, Italy, is modernising its postpress processing. From the summer of 2008, daily circulations will be processed on a MultiSertDrum with MultiDisc, JetFeeder and RollStream. With Ferag technology, in future newspaper production can be run online right through to dispatch. So production will be slimmer and more flexible than the previous offline solution. Due to process automation, the time gain is considerable - especially when inserting.
Before Ferag can install the new lines at this traditional firm (Corriere del Ticino first appeared in 1891), an extension will be built on the Via Industria.
In addition to its own newspapers, production is also run for other publishers, for example Giornale del Popolo for Bistum Lugano. Each week, the supplement eXtra and TV-radio listing Ticino 7 are inserted into the 40,000 copies of the Corriere del Ticino while 120,000 individually addressed copies of Italian-language Migros magazine Azione leave the printing house for the Migros supermarket chain. Direct inkjet labelling and programmed bundle formation on MultiStack are controlled by LineMaster.
Investment in a state-of-the-art newspaper press planned for the near future comes on top of modernisation in postpress processing.
Adobe’s new document generation solutions LiveCycle ES streamlines personalised customer communications, with Production Print version to follow…
Adobe announced new document generation solutions in Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite (ES) software on Monday of this week. Building on the company’s leadership in interactive form processes, LiveCycle ES enables organisations to adopt a common design environment for document production and distribution that spans interactive, on-demand, and batch generation requirements.
The new document generation solutions, Adobe LiveCycle Production Print ES and LiveCycle Output ES, merge enterprise data with LiveCycle Designer ES templates to deliver personalised documents that engage, invite, and inform. LiveCycle Production Print ES addresses high-volume and production output requirements, while LiveCycle Output ES is best suited for on-demand or medium-volume applications. With these new capabilities, LiveCycle ES integrates document generation with electronic forms, process management, and document security to build business processes that extend from the initial request to the final archived document.
‘We see an increasing need among enterprises for personalised communications based on a single view of the customer,’ said Riley McNulty, research manager with IDC’s Document Solutions service. ‘Companies can benefit from a toolset that automates the document workflow from creation and production to delivery. By combining interactive tools with production output, Adobe’s solution provides a unified workflow infrastructure - rare in today's world - that will enable companies to take advantage of personalised customer communications and transaction-based marketing opportunities.’
LiveCycle Production Print ES, the result of a collaboration between Adobe and StreamServe, integrates LiveCycle Designer software with an updated version of StreamServe’s Persuasion software to streamline the production of documents such as bank statements and stock price notifications. The new Adobe solution offers the ability to deliver high volumes for both single jobs and complex document packages. It also supports AFP, PostScript, PCL, and PDF formats and adds advanced post-processing capabilities such as document collection, document sorting, and imposition with e-Stapling. Additionally, LiveCycle Production Print ES enables Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) to enhance mail room efficiencies.
LiveCycle Output ES enables organisations to generate, assemble, and deliver personalised documents in print or electronic formats such as contracts, welcome packages, or shipping labels. Document packages can be customised by combining newly generated PDF files with existing files from document repositories. Furthermore, LiveCycle Output ES converts PDF to PostScript or image file formats and automatically routes them to support unattended printing or archiving operations.
‘We’re excited to collaborate with StreamServe to extend LiveCycle ES and empower customers with the ability to deliver personalised information at every step in the business process,’ said David Mendels, senior vice president at Adobe. ‘Enhancing dynamic, high-volume document generation in LiveCycle represents another milestone in our commitment to offer enterprise solutions that give our customers a strategic advantage when creating business communications.’
Pricing and availability LiveCycle Production Print ES is available in limited release now, with general availability expected in Autumn 2007. Adobe LiveCycle Output ES is expected to be available in July 2007. Adobe’s existing document generation product line, the Adobe Central Output Server family, will continue to be available. Central Output software customers who wish to take advantage of the LiveCycle environment will be eligible to trade up to LiveCycle Output ES.
New 'text mining' software from Xerox Xerox invents powerful next-generation content discovery software for almost any electronic data source…
Researchers at Xerox have developed next-generation content discovery software powerful enough to sift through almost any electronic data source, regardless of the language, location, format or type of document. The new text-mining tool is tuned to the way humans think, speak and ask questions, and is able to highlight just a handful of relevant answers to search queries instead of returning thousands of unrelated responses.
Developed at Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE) in Grenoble, France, Xerox’s text mining software, FactSpotter, combines a powerful, advanced linguistic engine, which analyses the meaning of words and the construction of phrases and sentences with an easy-to-use interface, allowing a non-expert to conduct searches using everyday language.
FactSpotter is expected to be available from Xerox Global Services sometime between now and 2008 via the recently announced Xerox Litigation Services, which provide electronic discovery (e-discovery) services, primarily supporting litigation and regulatory compliance. The intelligent document technology complements Xerox’s growing portfolio of services-related innovations that differentiate the Xerox Global Services offerings and help customers deal with document-intensive work processes.
FactSpotter promises a significant boost in productivity for data-intensive environments, including electronic legal discovery, risk management, pharmaceutical research, competitive and market intelligence, security intelligence and fraud detection; it will significantly reduce search times and also improve the relevance of results.
'Today’s knowledge worker has quite a task in front of them as each and every day they search for specific data, information, or corporate knowledge in order to do their job well,' said Mike Maziarka, director for InfoTrends' Dynamic Content Software and Image Scanning Trends Consulting Services. 'We all need tools that will make it easier to search for that “needle” among the “haystacks” of masses of information that exists in our world today. FactSpotter meets this need because it can make searches easier to conduct, more accurate and more encompassing, ultimately improving the focus of the results and allowing workers to be more productive.'
Unlike traditional search engines, which bring back a plethora of complete documents that contain the search term (e.g. a 20-page document with one mention of the “Eiffel Tower”), Xerox’s text mining software is smart and selective in its search. For instance, it returns only those portions of the document that contain relevant information. What is more, the portions do not even need to contain the actual search terms used – the engine can also track words that are similar in meaning. For example, FactSpotter knows that “Paris’s tallest monument” refers to the Eiffel Tower.
'This ‘next-generation’ linguistic engine goes beyond today’s ‘keyword’ search and current data mining programs which typically end up searching only 40 per cent of all relevant documents,' said Frédérique Segond, area manager of parsing and semantics, XRCE. 'Xerox’s tool is more accurate because it delves into documents, extracting the concepts and the relationships among them. By “understanding” the context, it returns the right information to the searcher, and it even highlights exactly where the answer is located within a document.'
The new software goes beyond traditional search engines in several ways: • Its novel interface means users can express their queries naturally instead of forcing them to adapt their questions to the logic of computers. Traditional systems, on the other hand, split a query into isolated words and return only documents that contain exactly those words in exactly that order, • It takes into account the context of the entire document instead of just a cluster of nearby words. It introduces the concept of “relation,” searching within and across sentences and paragraphs, • It recognises abstract concepts, like 'people' or 'building', and will retrieve all the words that fit within that category.
These advanced capabilities enable Xerox’s new software to find in seconds information that would otherwise be very difficult to uncover. Analysing the meaning of both the query and the searched document is critical, for example, during the electronic discovery phase of a legal trial because it allows specific facts to be found quickly and easily among thousands (and often millions) of different documents. In addition to legal applications, FactSpotter is also expected to be valuable in other situations where information must be retrieved from a massive database, including risk management, corporate and governmental searches, drug discovery and fraud detection.
Xerox is represented throughout 24 sub-Saharan African countries by Bytes Document Solutions, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. For more information visit: www.xerox.com
PerfectProof’s new Pakready for prototype production Pakready now gives designers the opportunity to produce POS and packaging prototypes in under six minutes…
With a proven track record in proofing, PerfectProof adds a new and innovative solution to its portfolio. Pakready offers designers the ability to produce complete packaging prototypes in just a fraction of the time it usually takes to produce mock-ups.
Cost-effective short run packaging and POP-display production ‘Today, packaging prototyping is either a tedious manual process or extremely expensive. With the introduction of Pakready we offer a completely automated production suite, from creation to cutting and trimming at an affordable price level,’ explained Mark Verbist, general manager, PerfectProof Europe. ‘Where even experienced designers will take two to three hours to create a working prototype, because of the manual labour that is involved, today with Pakready they can focus again on their core business and skills, without losing precious time making packaging prototypes.’
The Pakready solution is built around state-of-the-art design, printing and cutting tools in combination with a unique set of consumables. Designers can create and import existing designs or choose from a series of adaptable design templates. Once the design is created, it can be viewed as an animated 3-D object, giving a realistic impression of what the package will look like. 3-D objects can also be sent to customers for review and approval, saving time and cost before even a single piece of paper is printed or cut. The final design is then printed onto a specially developed image transfer sheet, ready for transferring the design onto a chosen substrate. To assure a good match with the production model, colour management and image quality are handled by PerfectProof's ProofMaster colour engine.
Fast and accurate desktop cutting The Pakready Heat Press will transfer the printed material onto any pre-coated Pakready board by applying heat and pressure. The image can be transferred onto any kind of substrate, regardless of type and thickness and is ready for cutting. To ensure accurate cutting, the Pakready cutter uses a simple but effective pin-register system that aligns the printed material with the cutting head. Cutting, creasing, and blind embossing take only a few seconds, preparing the material for folding and assembling.
Verbist concluded, ‘With the introduction of Pakready we took another step in becoming a leader in driving ink-jet based solutions. With our first steps in the banner and display market last year, we feel we are now ready to tackle the packaging market. The synergy between our well-established ProofMaster software and the Pakready solution will provide our customers with a distinctive competitive edge and the flexibility to drive a prototyping and proofing solution from the same software platform. The quality and productivity of Pakready offers them an entry to new business opportunities and applications.’
PerfectProof is an Alwan Color Expertise, Epson, HP, X-Rite and Enfocus Software partner and its products are sold through a worldwide network of independent resellers. For additional information, please visit: www.perfectproof.com
New GBC film for digital print lamination GBC Digital Lay-Flat incorporates new technology for superior adhesion on electro-photographic output…
GBC Commercial Laminating Solutions has announced a new digital adhesive on its GBC Digital Lay-Flat film. This new film ensures superior adhesion and flat output when laminating electro-photographic prints.
Developed as a replacement for the popular Hi-Tac adhesive, the digital adhesive is designed to create an exceptionally strong bond with prints containing high levels of fuser oil. Extensive strength and field tests have validated GBC Digital Lay-Flat's adhesion capabilities, demonstrating it to be the product of choice for superior lamination results. Prints can be laminated with Digital Lay-Flat immediately after printing, making it the ideal solution for high-volume print shops that require fast turnaround times to meet customer demands. This new adhesive also eliminates the need to make additional prints to absorb excess accumulated fuser oil, thus saving time and expense.
The new Digital Lay-Flat film underwent rigorous testing at the UK firm, Butler & Tanner Digital. The company offers a comprehensive programme of services for customers ranging from short run on-demand printing to high-volume fully variable products. Daniel Field, Digital Operations Manager at Butler & Tanner, is extremely pleased with the results, 'We run three Kodak NexPress digital presses and specialise in brochures, catalogues and annual reports, as well as high end books and fine art. In today's competitive market, speed and quality are expected, not just desired requirements. Our finishing capability needs to match our print quality, which is why we have tested a number of laminating options."
The result of Butler & Tanner's testing indicated that GBC's Digital Lay-Flat film compliments both print and finishing. 'We are currently using GBC's gloss and matt finishes up to 315mm in width, and we chose GBC's Digital Lay-Flat film because it is perfect for laminating print from digital presses, including heavily print saturated products. Digital Lay-Flat film works well at various lamination speeds and temperatures – it's adhesion is definitely the best I have seen on any digital print,' concluded Field.
GBC Digital adhesive incorporates new adhesive technology and processes developed after years of testing by GBC. The resulting product provides over 10 per cent greater bond strength than the closest competitor when tested across all measures. It was tested on fresh prints including CMYK black, and at various lamination speeds and temperatures on both entry-level and high-speed laminators.
GBC Digital Lay-Flat film with digital adhesive is available in clear and matte finishes and widths that correspond to electro-photographic print sizes.
Additional information is available at GBC's Website: www.gbcfilm.com. Throughout Southern Africa, GBC products are distributed by Beswick Machinery. GBC's digital printing solutions are also available from Antalis Graphics division, a Beswick-appointed sub-distributor at: www.antalis.co.za
Madico introduces Durafol chemical-resistant film Advanced Durafol gives 25 per cent improvement in chemical resistance for a host of label applications…
Madico Graphic Films, a leading supplier of specialist pressure sensitive coated film products for durable label applications, has announced the introduction of Durafol, a new thermal transfer printable polyester offering excellent chemical, elevated temperature, UV and scratch resistance.
Developed in response to market requests for a more versatile, all-in-one solution, Madico has introduced Durafol as an innovative and durable alternative to the more costly and time-consuming process of over laminating labels with a clear protective film. Durafol is designed to be of particular use in applications requiring extreme chemical and mechanical resistance, including under-bonnet marking in the automotive industry, aerospace identification, laboratory facilities, the chemical industry and general industrial labels where variable information and barcode traceability are prerequisites.
The material is designed to offer superior chemical resistance when printed with a Ricoh B110CU thermal transfer ribbon. Independent tests carried out by Ricoh confirmed the product achieved maximum levels of resistance.
'Durafol meets and in most cases exceeds the needs of users by offering 25 per cent improved chemical resistance compared to other films used in the same applications,' said Andy Voss, managing director, Madico Graphic Films. 'Its superior chemical resistance allows it to be thermal transfer printed and exposed to a variety of harsh chemicals such as toluene, Skydrol, brake fluid and acetone. With conventional grades offered by other suppliers, the print and/or the topcoating would be removed when exposed to such harsh fluids.'
Continued Voss, 'Compared to a label that is thermal transfer printed and then overlaminated, Durafol offers potential material and production cost advantages since it is a single process, using only one material.'
Glen Stocker, quality and technical services manager at total printing solutions supplier, GSM Primographic, is just one customer for whom Durafol is set to increase quality while improving both time and cost-effectiveness. For Stocker, Durafol offers particular benefits to GSM’s automotive clients, which include worldwide OEM suppliers for Ford, Jaguar, Nissan and Land Rover.
'We supply a range of different informative, instructional and safety critical VDP labels for under-the-bonnet or other interior applications,' explained Stocker. 'As a very durable topcoat, Durafol will afford us greater chemical and abrasion resistance, which will be of huge benefit in meeting the often stringent abrasion test requirements of certain automotive specifications.
'Historically we have had to use over-laminates to pass such tests and have applied thermal transfer printable over laminates to obtain better durability,' he added. 'Durafol will allow us to avoid overlaminating, thereby reducing set-up time on our machines and eradicating the inherent conversion problems often associated with some of the overlaminates that we currently process.'
New Intel-based conversion tool from Markzware Markzware announces Universal Binary conversion tool for InDesign to QuarkXPress 7 document content…
Markzware has announced its Universal Binary version of InDesign to QuarkXPress 7 (ID2Q7). ID2Q7 is Markzware’s conversion tool that allows users to easily convert InDesign content into a new QuarkXPress document. The Universal Binary version of Q2ID now performs faster taking advantage of the Intel processor-based Macintosh.
“ID2Q7 is the data conversion tool that creative professionals depend on to migrate their content into a different work environment that may be more convenient. This XTension for Quark provides a very efficient way to do that while saving countless hours of re-scanning, re-keying and formatting. I’m sure that Macintosh users will appreciate the optimized performance of this great utility,” explained Patrick Marchese, founder and CEO of Markzware Software, Inc.
ID2Q7 is available for immediate download or on CD-ROM, starting at €199 or £139 for new users. Registered users of previous versions of ID2Q7 v.2.x can upgrade for free. Educational pricing and volume discounts are available.
Graphic Web Systems BV successful in Iran Teheran-based commercial printer Entekhab Rasaneh Print has ordered a MAN Lithoman IV commercial press from GWS…
The Teheran-based commercial printer Entekhab Rasaneh Print has ordered a MAN Lithoman IV commercial press from Graphic Web Systems, which has its head office in Schijndel, The Netherlands.
Graphic Web Systems has seen a growing demand for high-end printed commercial jobs within the Iranian market. The Dutch supplier of used web offset equipment and related systems sees Iran as a target market and is very pleased with this initial result. The MAN Lithoman IV press system will be dismantled at a Belgium printer and shortly afterwards the machine will be transported and re-installed in Teheran. The press system will be in full production at the facilities of Entekhab Rasaneh Print before the end of this year.
Additional information on GWS and its products and services are to be found at: www.gws.nl. You can also access the GWS Website directly from the advertising button on our Home Page.
Latest quarterly newsletter for download GWS’ very latest quarterly newsletter is also available for download from our Online Features 2007 downloads section (from Tuesday 26 June).
European first for Screen with GI Direct purchase European first as GI Direct crosses new frontiers in digital colour with double Screen Truepress Jet520 investment…
GI Direct, the Leicester-based print and communications company, is extending its position in the high-speed variable colour market with the acquisition of two Truepress Jet520 digital presses from Dainippon Screen, an investment of some £4m.
This is the first purchase of Screen's innovative high-speed technology in Europe, and radically alters the capabilities and price-per-page available for digital variable colour buyers, whilst maintaining output quality. This will be a critical decision factor for direct mail buyers in the UK and European market, where variable colour has tended to be applied only to higher value customer segments because of cost and speed restrictions.
The use of digital variable colour is undergoing explosive growth - GI Direct research from 2006 shows that almost two fifths of direct mail now uses some form of variable colour. In addition, transactional print (bills, statements and customer correspondence) is increasingly carrying targeted advertising messages, where use of affordable colour has been seen to dramatically improve response rates.
For example, managers of high-volume loyalty schemes will now have an affordable means of addressing targeted colour communication at the whole scheme membership, rather than just the higher spending segments. This provides critical support for marketing strategies that aim to encourage the majority of lower value customer segments to move up into higher-spending profiles.
The groundbreaking Truepress Jet520 unites Screen's proven prepress technology with the latest developments in inkjet printing. The company's first major inkjet system, the press delivers a balance of exceptional performance, high print quality and low operating costs.
The Truepress Jet520 is a continuous feed, single-pass, ink jet printer. Screen's renowned manufacturing and engineering skills combined with Epson's latest multi-tone Piezo DOD (Drop-On-Demand) inkjet print heads and water-based pigment inks results in a high level of quality and reliability on both standard and uncoated stock. Screen has been able to utilise many of its existing scanning and CTP technologies to control the movement and jetting of the Epson heads and it is these core skills that ensures outstanding quality.
Patrick Headley, sales director, GI Direct, commented, 'The UK digital print market is much more advanced than the rest of Europe, and so it is natural that a leading firm like ourselves should be spearheading investment in the latest very high speed variable colour technology. Without a low-cost high-speed solution in the marketplace, the current run of growth in digital colour would undoubtedly slow. However, the capabilities we are introducing with the latest technology from Screen makes mass variable colour truly affordable, with no compromise on quality. Our major clients are extremely excited by the arrival of these capabilities at GI Direct, and we are confident that new revenues will rapidly justify our market-leading move.'
Brian Filler, MD, Screen UK added, 'We are very proud to have won this order from such a significant leader in the direct mail sector. Screen has a long history as a precision manufacturer of innovative imaging technologies and the Truepress Jet520 signals an important new direction for us in a highly competitive market seeking high-quality, high-speed production solutions.'
GI Direct has also purchased new Hunkeler CS6 cutters allowing the Screen presses to run at high speeds and reduce downtime, and new folders that will enable more folds on one unit. The whole list of equipment will allow GI Direct to run simplex or duplex and utilise the Screen engines to their maximum capabilities allowing two projects to be run simultaneously.
Technical note on the Truepress Jet520 • Continuous feed, single-pass, ink jet printer • Epson multi-tone Piezo DOD (Drop-On-Demand) inkjet print heads and water-based pigment inks • Greyscale printing - Colour depth of four tones per drop • Roll-fed paper feeding system • 420 (duplex) colour pages or 64 metres a minute and a 507mm print width • Printing unit and a rewinder/unwinder unit available as a simplex or a duplex system • Built-in quality control scanner
MAN Roland remote service to improve even further Since 1 January, an improved TelePresence service package has been available 24/7. It's now aiming to get even better…
The ever fiercer competition demands maximum performance from a press. By optimising the entire processes one can achieve the highest level of press availability and productivity. Web offset printing systems provided by MAN Roland are now supported by comprehensive service and professional help around the clock.
While MAN Roland printing systems are extremely reliable but failures cannot be completely ruled out. In such cases help comes from the TeleSupportCenter (TSC). Since 1 January 2007 the improved TelePresence service package has been available, with TeleSupport, TeleInspection, TeleLink and TeleConsult rapidly analysing and solving problems with web offset printing systems.
With the TeleSupport facility, specialists provide 24/7 telephone assistance in analysing and rectifying faults. There is only one number but no limit to the number of calls that can be taken. The same goes for TeleInspection. By placing a call a fault can be immediately analysed and rectified online, completely doing away with travelling time and costs and with much shorter downtimes and loss of production. To make sure this works smoothly in an emergency, the TeleLink module regularly checks the link to every press of a TelePresence user. TeleConsult provides regular evaluation of a press in terms of its dependability and performance capabilities in order to prevent faults occurring in the first place or at least recognising them earlier. The module delivers information about five important parameters: start-up time, start-up waste, production waste, press speed and production speed. Press-related threshold values are available for each parameter and the evaluations are sent to the customers at regular intervals.
An impressive problem-solving rate The TelePresence problem-solving rate lies around 91 per cent with an average time of 0.8 hours per case. These impressive figures are due to the work of the technicians in the TeleSupportCenter. They are highly-qualified and have many years of experience in the fields of mechanics and process engineering, controls and drives, control console technology and production planning.
In order to keep their know-how up to date the technicians continually switch between working in service, commissioning and the TSC. Altogether 42 experts share the 24/7 duties.
TelePresence has been available for all newspaper presses since 1993 and for all commercial web presses since 1995. Quite a number of contracts have been concluded and many users have benefited from the system. Ebner und Spiegel in Ulm, Germany, for example had made 100 printing plates but due to an imposition error could not get the product over the turner bars of the former. At 7pm the adjustment track of the turner bars was extended via TeleInspection and the customer was able to produce with the 100 plates. The next day TeleInspection restored the original adjustment track. It took 35 minutes to solve the problem which saved a technician's visit which would have involved around eight hours travelling time. Downtime was much shorter and costs obviously much lower.
Norbert Baur, manager of MAN Roland's TeleSupportCenter, sums up the advantages, ‘TelePresence increases press availability, solves problems much faster, improves production planning and reduces non-productive time.’
It's getting even better This service package is of course being further developed. The planned new module is an intelligent management system with fully automatic messages for error prevention. When certain predetermined parameters are exceeded, such as rising temperatures, that could lead to press faults, it is intended that the press automatically sends a warning message to the TSC via the Internet. Then the technicians immediately contact the customer and remedy the imminent fault before it actually occurs.
The new system will be available from the third quarter of 2007.
Presstek broadens worldwide presence for DI presses Expansion of Presstek's global channels for high quality, environmentally friendly digital offset printing…
Presstek has announced continued strong growth of its direct imaging (DI) digital offset product line, with recent sales and strong interest in new markets around the world. The company's increased global presence reflects continued demand for its high quality, easy-to-use, environmentally friendly and cost-effective digital offset printing solutions.
‘To date, Presstek's record sales growth has been primarily based on strong performance in North America and parts of Europe,’ said Jeff Jacobson, Presstek's president and CEO. ‘To meet our growth initiatives, we will continue to expand our efforts throughout Europe, Asia-Pacific and South America, which are regions that provide an excellent opportunity for digital offset printing solutions. At the same time, we will continue to expand our presence in North America.’
Presstek recently sold DI press solutions in Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland and Russia, with strong activity in other international markets. With more than 3,000 DI systems currently installed worldwide, Presstek continues to offer a competitive advantage in the fast- growing, short-run market – from 250 to 10,000 impressions.
‘The DI presses' ease of use, superior quality, low cost per page and fast turnaround times have contributed to their rapid adoption by commercial and in-plant printers around the globe,’ added Todd Chambers, Presstek's chief marketing officer. ‘We are excited to bring our customers in these new markets the same increased capability, profitability and competitiveness that all DI users are accustomed to.’
These recent sales follow Presstek's record-breaking 2006 results – a 25 per cent year-over-year increase in DI press shipments and a 72 per cent increase in DI equipment revenue over 2005. In addition, Presstek 52DI sales almost doubled in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the previous quarter.
Industry Recognition Presstek's DI presses have received numerous honours worldwide, including 'Product of the Year' from the British Association of Print and Communication (BAPC), 'Golden Product' at Printing+Packing 2006 in Slovakia and 'Best Printing Quality' at the Digital Marzan 2006 trade show in Russia. The European Digital Press Association also honoured Presstek's 52DI performance and quality with an EDP Award.
Customer success ‘The productivity of the DI is so much greater than what we had before,’ said Dave Brown, owner of Contact Printing in Vancouver, Canada, who installed a Presstek 52DI in mid-March. ‘We can fit more work in the same amount of time, with the same operator, so we don't incur additional labour costs and are more efficient. With the DI's excellent quality, we expect to build new business and gain more business from our existing customers.’
Tipolito Teco, a print shop in Brescia, Italy, already has benefited from its new 52DI, which was installed in January. For owner Guido Lovato, the press' advanced technology and compact size were selling points. ‘We are receiving very positive feedback from our customers,’ Lovato said. ‘They have definitely noticed the increase in quality.’
Harry Korber, co-manager of Altstadt-Druck GmbH, based in Rostock, Germany, cites similar reasons for purchasing a DI. ‘The Presstek 34DI offers a powerful combination of faster turnaround times, higher quality colour and increased efficiency, and its compact size was the perfect match for our limited space requirements in our prime downtown location,’ said Korber.
Petr Hendrych at MHA Outsourcing, one of the largest outsourcing services for business products and services in the Czech Republic, which owns a Presstek 34DI press said, ‘The purchase of the 34DI press enabled us to truly establish our own offset printing facility, we are no longer totally dependent on outsourcing, and it has also increased our finishing business.’
Hugh Schlenker, owner of Prime Printing in Alberta, Canada is also reaping the benefits of his new Presstek 34DI, which was installed in March. According to Schlenker, his print shop used to job out a significant amount of high-quality work. With the DI's high-quality printing, consistency and fast makeready times, he says he can now keep these jobs in house. ‘The DI is going to keep us competitive for a very long time,’ Schlenker said. ‘It's quick, it's fast and the quality is there – that's the future of printing. We should have bought this a long time ago.’
Presstek digital offset, see it live In addition to exhibiting at most of the industry's leading trade shows, Presstek hosts open-house demonstrations, with more than 25 open houses scheduled for 2007. The next events are planned for Chicago and St. Louis, USA. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.presstek.com/events
Xaar ramps up production of latest printhead New high-tech production facility now fully operational and producing the flagship Xaar 1001 printhead…
Xaar's new high-tech production facility in Huntingdon, the first in the UK, is now fully operational and producing the company's flagship Xaar 1001 printhead. The company has also successfully completed certification of its Quality Management System to the international quality standard ISO 9001:2000. This provides customers with complete confidence in the quality of a supplier's products and services and demonstrates Xaar's ongoing commitment to providing a consistent level of quality and continual improvement in business processes.
The Xaar 1001 printhead, designed for high-speed, single-pass applications, is based on Xaar's patented Hybrid Side-Shooter, TF Technology. Producing dynamically variable drop sizes, this new printhead architecture combines advanced piezo technology with Xaar's patented 'through flow' design. Key features that are attracting manufacturers from inkjet and Industrial markets worldwide, include: a high performance specification; excellent drop placement accuracy; variable dynamic drop sizes, self-priming and self-cleaning; superb repeatability and reliability. The unique TF architecture provides a wide operating window to give unparallel flexibility to handle a wide variety of inks and industrial fluids.
Greg Lockett, Director of Manufacturing at Xaar, commented, 'This new state of the art facility in Huntingdon provides us with the perfect environment to manufacture our latest Platform 3 products. It reflects our commitment to achieving the highest possible standards in everything we do and is yet another example of the technical leadership and commitment customers experience when working with Xaar.'
'By achieving this accreditation we demonstrate our dedication to manufacture to the highest standards,' added Brian Howard, Quality Assurance manager at Xaar. 'Providing our customers with high-quality, reliable products and services is paramount.'
Additional information about Xaar is available at www.xaar.co.uk
Offenbach Training Centre hosts the world As MAN Roland Training Centre celebrates its tenth birthday…
When people of different cultures can be seen moving around the Offenbach factory premises with smiles on their faces, there's a reason: the MAN Roland Training Centre is celebrating its tenth birthday.
The figures are impressive: up until now almost 15,000 people from 87 nations have taken courses in the Training Centre in the fields of printing technology, electronics and mechanics. The Training Centre is the result of MAN Roland's resolute qualification policy.
The anniversary celebrations in the Training Centre reflected this cosmopolitan orientation. Executive board member Dr. Marcus Rall, Training manager Albrecht Völz and Training Centre manager Karl-Heinz Severin welcomed a multicultural throng of well-wishers that would have done credit to an Olympic Games procession. Offenbach is currently hosting guests from 26 countries and all continents who are taking courses on MAN Roland presses - but this is routine for the Training Centre. Colombia, Lebanon, South Korea or Australia - they are all united in their enthusiasm for printing and for presses ‘made in Offenbach’.
Karl-Heinz Severin summarised the terms of reference, ‘With our training courses we safeguard the investments made by our customers, the printers. Well-trained personnel strengthens a company's future because staff cope with their tasks more efficiently and also enjoy their work more.’ Whether it be a printers' course or an electronics course in the Training Centre, MAN Roland customers can receive advanced qualifications on all the latest products. Moreover, there's no doubt that customers will continue to take advantage of these training opportunities.
Pictured above: The language of laughter is understood all over the world: international trainees enjoy the buffet.
Simlex returns to being a 100% Heidelberg house Simplex to increase productivity by 35 per cent as its replaces a second Mitsubishi with a Speedmaster CD 102-5L…
Simlex will complete its return to Heidelberg in October. Two years after replacing one Mitsubishi press with a Speedmaster CD 74 B2 five-colour press, it has returned to replace another Mitsubishi with a Speedmaster CD 102-5L.
‘This will increase our productivity by at least 35 per cent,’ says managing director David Earp (pictured). ‘An existing ImageControl will work across all presses measuring colour and giving us time, waste and quality benefits. It also means we can give customers accurate job reports when required.’
Other presses in place include a CD 74-5, two SM 74s (a five- and a two-colour), Printmaster PM 74-2 and a Speedmaster SM 52-2. All use Prepress Interface to digitally link prepress and press for speed of set up.
In addition to the new B1 press, the Wolverhampton company is also beefing up its stitching capacity by replacing a six-station ST300 with a ten-station Stitchmaster ST350.
‘We are doing more and more long content books where we have to pre-gather mainly A4 and A5 booklets. On the existing line it is taking too long and we cannot recoup the cost, so having more stations and the latest technology will enable us to be more efficient and reduce costs,’ said Earp.
‘It’s a tough market and getting your buying decisions right is critical if you are to maximise productivity,’ he said. ‘Heidelberg is now our preferred supplier.’
The company has recruited additional staff in the press and finishing halls over the past six months to meet increasing customer demand.
Simlex works double day shifts to meet the needs of a national client base. It is a very quality and service aware company and this has secured it work in the financial, manufacturing and service sectors. The business was established in 1945 and was one of the first in the industry to gain ISO 9002 accreditation.
Qualtech looks to Kodak to build digital print services Rochester printer advances quality using Kodak NexPress and the Marketmover Network as business building tool…
With the purchase of a Kodak NexPress 2100 digital production colour press, Qualtech Digital Inc. of Rochester, NY, is ready to take the services it offers to ‘the next level’.
‘We looked at several digital presses before selecting the Kodak NexPress 2100,’ said Lisa Giglio, president, Qualtech. ‘We do quite a few shorter run and quick turn projects. We're also looking at entering the world of variable data printing, and the NexPress press has what we need to take our business to the next level.’
Qualtech was launched in 1986 to provide film outputs to advertising agencies and printers, plus produce blueprints for engineers. The coming of the digital printing age placed the company at a crossroads and led to its emergence as a digital print provider for advertising agencies, healthcare companies and colleges. Qualtech also provides wide format printing services for posters and vinyl banners.
‘The quality of output from the NexPress 2100 is a big plus. We were also impressed by the fact that we will be able to save money operating the system and substantially reduce our down time,’ said Gerald Giglio, vice president, Qualtech. ‘Many of the parts on the press can be replaced by the operator. They are trained on the system to handle this type of maintenance, which will cut our costs to operate the system.’
The NexPress 2100 press meets a variety of needs from entry level to very high volume environments. Customers are able to upgrade presses as they grow their businesses with options to select desired paper capacity and increase processing capability.
Lisa Giglio said another reason Qualtech selected a NexPress press is the chance to get involved with the Kodak Marketmover Network. ‘I foresee the Marketmover Network helping us expand our business beyond New York State,’ she said.
The Kodak Marketmover Network connects print providers to an expanded pool of marketers who need printing services. Printers joining the Kodak Marketmover Network, powered by Four51, have access to the latest technology to build partnerships with other printers, expanding the opportunities to efficiently outsource projects. All Kodak solutions providers can join the Marketmover Network. Kodak NexPress digital production colour press owners will be the initial suppliers, but the Marketmover Network will expand during the next year to include other Kodak solutions providers as well. The Marketmover Network will help printers increase margins and operate their businesses more efficiently.
Sappi's African Printers of the Year 2007 Ultra Litho shines in Sappi printing awards, scooping four of the eight gold awards at this year's event in Cape Town...
Johannesburg-based Ultra Litho, scooped four of the eight gold awards at the glittering Sappi African Printers of the Year awards held at the prestigious Arabella Western Cape Hotel and Spa in Hermanus, Cape Town on 21 June.
The gold winners from the African region were selected from amongst 443 entries from five countries and will compete for the magnificent elephant trophies at the Sappi International Printers of the Year event to be held in Boston in October 2007. The gold awards chosen from amongst the silver award winners went to:
Annual Reports - Ultra Litho for the Bidvest Annual Report Books - Hansa Print for Forces of Nature Brochures - Ultra Litho for 'Dullstroom The Polo Estate' Calendars - Ultra Litho for the 'It's a Wild Life' Calendar Catalogues - Durrant & Viljoen for Image Volume 10 General Print - Hot Dot Print for 'Port Ghalib Awaken New Senses' Magazines - Ultra Litho for the BMW April 2006 magazine Packaging and Labels - Atlas Printers for the Ponds Kit Box
The theme of the evening was 'A greenprint for the future' and highlighted the importance of accelerating sustainable printing practices, thereby minimising environmental impact for a greener future.
'Responsibility for the environment not only makes good sense, it is a business imperative,' said Dinga Mncube, managing director of Sappi Fine Paper South Africa. 'A demonstration of this commitment is Sappi Fine Paper South Africa's 'Triple Green' paper range, manufactured in an environmentally sound manner. Triple Green provides designers and specifiers with a sustainable product which they can specify on behalf of their clients.'
Mncube further elaborated that it is the responsibility of the industry to increase consumers' awareness and provide corporate South Africa with a product that can contribute to their sustainability initiatives.
This year's judging panel comprised Colin Bekker from Standard Bank, Derek de Villiers from Durand and Bowden, Mike Lumb from Mike Lumb Consulting, Koos McDonald from Cross Media Training Centre, Philip van Rensburg from SICPA inks and Erich Kühl from PIFSA (Printing Industries Federation of South Africa). The judges attested to the excellent selection of substrates to complement the overall impact of the entries.
The other silver award winners were: Ince, MSM and Pro-Print in the annual reports category; Durrant and Viljoen, Intrepid Printers and IPC in the books category; Graphica, Pro-Print and Trident Press in the brochures category; Precigraph, Trade Litho and Trident Press in the calendars category; Fishwicks Printers, Hansa Print and Precigraph in the catalogues category; Fishwicks Printers, MSM and Trident Press in the general print category; Paarl Web, Precigraph and PrintAbility in the magazines category; Durrant and Viljoen, J Ryan Printers and MSM in the packaging and labels category;
The bronze award winners were: Atlas Printers, Hot Dot Print, Ince and Precigraph in the annual reports category; Graphica, Hansa Print, Pinetown Printers and Ultra Litho in the books category; Beith Digital, MSM, Pro-Print and Trident Press in the brochures category; Business Print Centre, MSM, Robprint and VRP Print in the calendars category; PrintAbility and Ultra Litho in the catalogues category; Durrant and Viljoen, Fishwicks Printers, Mills Litho and MSM in the general print category; Durrant and Viljoen, Paarl Web, Precigraph and PrintAbility in the magazines category; Durrant and Viljoen, J Ryan Printers and Pro-Print in the packaging and labels category; House of Print in the printer's own promotion category.
Printers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Reunion, South Africa and Uganda participated in the competition.
Pictured above Back row from left to right: Johan Swanepoel, Durrant and Viljoen (Catalogues); Dinga Mncube, managing director Sappi Fine Paper South Africa; Jennifer Duke, Ultra Litho (Annual Reports, Brochures, Calendars, Magazines); Trevor Raath, Hot Dot Print (General Print); Front row from left to right: Peter Downer, Ultra Litho; Ronnie Brown, Hansa Print (Books); Vinesh Gokool, Atlas Printers (Packaging and Labels).
About Sappi Limited A global leader in the pulp and paper industry, Sappi Limited (NYSE, JSE, LSE), headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, conducts its business through two business units, Sappi Fine Paper and Sappi Forest Products. Sappi Fine Paper, operating in Europe, North America and South Africa, produces a wide range of coated fine paper brands with an international reputation for quality and innovation. The company also produces a range of uncoated graphic and business papers, coated and uncoated specialty papers, as well as casting release papers. Sappi Forest Products owns or manages approximately 540,000 hectares of plantations through Sappi Forests; is a leading Southern African fully integrated pulp, packaging paper and newsprint business through Sappi Kraft; and is the world's leading producer of chemical cellulose used in the manufacture of viscose fibre through Sappi Saiccor; Sappi Trading, based in Hong Kong, operates a trading network for the international sales and distribution of the products of the two divisions outside their core operation regions. Sappi has manufacturing operations in nine countries on four continents, sales offices in some 50 countries and customers in over 100 countries around the world.
About Sappi Fine Paper South Africa Sappi Fine Paper South Africa, a division of Sappi Limited, is the only domestic producer of coated fine paper in South Africa. The division produces a wide range of coated and uncoated fine paper brands focused on serving broad based end-use markets. Leading coated brands include Avalon Triple Green, Dukuza Triple Green, Crystal Triple Green and uncoated brands include Enigma, Sovereign Select, Reviva, African Dream and Typek.
For more information about Sappi visit: www.sappi.com. You can also use the hyperlinked Sponsor logos and banners on our Website.
Medal of Technology award for Xerox Xerox receives Medal of Technology from President George W Bush for over 50 years of Xerox innovation…
US President George W Bush has announced that Xerox is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology. The award recognises over 50 years of Xerox innovation in marking, materials, electronics and communications that created the modern reprographics, electronic printing and print-on-demand industries.
Said Rob Abraham (pictured right), MD of local Xerox distributor Bytes Document Solutions, 'Since its inception in 1961, the Xerox brand has become synonymous with innovative document solutions, services and systems. It is respected for its quality machines that constantly offer excellent results.'
Abraham added that the award is recognition of the work of the scientists and engineers who are at Xerox today, and everyone who has contributed to Xerox's innovations over the years.
The National Medal of Technology is the highest honour awarded by the US president to America's leading innovators. The medal is given annually to individuals, teams, and companies or divisions for their outstanding contributions to the nation's economic, environmental and social wellbeing through the development and commercialisation of technology products, processes and concepts; technological innovation; and development of the nation's technological manpower.
Xerox is to be honoured during a ceremony at the White House.
Xerox is represented throughout 24 sub-Saharan countries by Bytes Document Solutions, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prinect’s transparent and flexible job planning Heidelberg uses new Prinect Scheduler to integrate electronic planning board into the production workflow…
At the upcoming Drupa 2008 trade show, Heidelberg will be unveiling an electronic production planning system, the Prinect Scheduler, that is fully integrated into the Prinect workflow. This means print shops will be able to plan their print jobs much more quickly, flexibly, and easily.
Simple operation and flexible and production-related planning The key benefits of this new planning system, which Heidelberg is developing in close collaboration with its customers, include simple operation combined with high flexibility levels for planning changes, and high transparency in production workflows.
A print shop's entire production workflow can already be operated and monitored via the control centre for the Prinect workflow, the Prinect Cockpit. The Prinect Scheduler will be available as an option for the Prinect Cockpit, thus bringing together the print shop's planning activities and electronic production control in a single user interface. This tight linkup to production enables the Prinect Scheduler to have an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of all print jobs at any time.
The system offers wide-ranging opportunities for production planning, from semi-automatic planning of complete jobs - such as the earliest start or delivery date - down to detailed planning of individual production stages.
‘Our new electronic production planning system cuts schedulers' daily workload substantially by providing them with a previously unattainable range of real-time information on production and flexible planning tools,’ said Dr. Jürgen Rautert, director for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg, explaining the benefits of the Prinect Scheduler. ‘If schedulers wish to plan several print jobs with the same spot colours or make provisional reservations for agreed jobs for example, they can do this directly using the electronic production planning system and immediately see the effects on overall planning.’
Milestones, resource management, and sector-specific planning The Prinect Scheduler shows whether the key milestones for print jobs, such as approval of the proof and the availability of printing plates and paper, have already been reached. It detects missed deadlines and indicates these immediately with a ‘traffic light system’, which means schedulers are able to see at a glance where everything is going to plan and where they need to intervene because deadlines are at risk. As well as schedulers, any other authorized print shop employee can use the Prinect Cockpit to access this information at his workstation. The electronic production planning system enables a transparent overview of production, the status of every individual print job, and the free and tied-up capacity of workstations in all areas of a print shop in real time.
The Prinect Scheduler offers schedulers flexible support in all aspects of production planning, whether these relate merely to resource planning in the pressroom and the deadlines for prepress and finishing worked out from this, or whether all areas need to be actively planned. Production changes in the complete workflow - including at the last minute - that have an impact on planning are updated in the planning board and can thus be viewed right away by all users.
‘The electronic production planning system integrated into the Prinect workflow means there is no need for complex and non-transparent planning using external software modules and a manual planning board, as still used today by many print shops. Heidelberg also meets the demand from large numbers of customers for simple, constantly up-to-date, and production-related planning in the face of increasingly short throughout times and job changes at short notice,’ concluded Dr. Rautert.
Pictured above: Job planning at a glance: The electronic planning board integrated into the Prinect workflow provides users with a complete overview of the planning status of all future print jobs.
To view a larger illustration, please go to this article in our Drupa Newsroom.
PIA/GATF announces student landing page on its Website A ‘Student’s Guide to Careers in Graphic Communications’ page has been created on the association’s much visited Website…
Responding to the fast-paced electronic environment of today’s students, PIA/GATF, its Educational Services Office, and the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) have created a ‘Student’s Guide to Careers in Graphic Communications’ page on the association’s much visited Website (see link at the foot of this page). Students interested in careers in the industry, those who want information on colleges with graphic communications programs, and those searching for scholarship information, can simply click on the word Students in the Quick Links section of GAIN.
The student landing page opens to a quick-paced, two-minute video, ‘Introduction to Graphic Communications’. PIA/GATF worked with Printing Industry of Minnesota (PIM) to bring this video to GAIN. ‘We were pleased to be asked to team with PIA/GATF to use our now-modified video on the national Website,’ said David Radziej, president of PIM. ‘Our industry needs to reach out to students in the video and electronic environment of their choice.’
‘We are delighted to have this highlighted vehicle where all of the information is grouped and linked so students can find it quickly, get the information they need, and apply in a timely manner,’ said PGSF Administrator Bernie Eckert.
The ‘Introduction to Printing and Graphic Communications’ video has also been uploaded to: YouTube, along with other graphic communications videos. ‘This is a great tool to capture the attention of young people who are looking for an exciting career,’ said Michael Makin, president and CEO of PIA/GATF.
For additional information about the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF), please contact Bernie Eckert at 800-910-4283, ext. 740 or e-mail: pgsf@piagatf.org.
New Leaf adds first Canon imagePress C7000VP New Leaf Printing Group takes delivery of the UK's first digital colour Canon imagePress C7000VP…
Canon UK has announced that Manchester-based commercial print company, New Leaf Printing Group, has become the first in the UK to take delivery of its flagship imagePress C7000VP (pictured). New Leaf Printing Group, which placed the world's first order for the imagePress C7000VP at Ipex last year, will use the digital colour press to produce a range of high-quality, short-run jobs, as well as cutting-edge variable data work.
Said group managing director Frank Unsworth, ‘When we first saw the imagePress C7000VP at Ipex we knew it was exactly what we were looking for - a digital press that could produce litho-quality work at digital speed and flexibility. We wanted a state-of-the-art digital press to put us at the forefront of the digital print market, and I believe that Canon has given us the solution. We have built an excellent relationship with Canon over the years, especially with the Professional Print Team, and have absolute confidence in their services. I'm delighted that we are the first company in the country to install what I believe to be a truly revolutionary technology platform.’
The company, which was established 25 years ago, has four divisions: New Leaf Press, specialising in litho printing, Big Leaf, the group's large-format print arm, its services division, New Leaf Extra, as well as the company's digital print division, Quick Leaf. The imagePress C7000VP has joined Quick Leaf's arsenal of Canon digital equipment, which includes two monochrome iR8500s and a CLC 5151 digital colour printer. The company also has EFI's Web-submission tool, Digital StoreFront, which links directly to the press to give New Leaf's customers the ability to update and order jobs online.
The imagePress C7000VP comprises a number of innovative technologies, including V-Toner, T-Developer and E-Drum in conjunction with an oil-less fusing system, to deliver an exceptional print quality that has the look and feel of litho. The robust digital engine, coupled with advanced colour management tools, can deliver a true resolution of 1200dpi, at speeds of 70 colour pages-per-minute, onto paper stocks up to 300gsm in weight.
‘The ability to produce 70 litho-quality colour pages a minute digitally takes us into new markets for high-quality, short-run and variable data work. And feedback from our customers regarding the image quality has been extraordinary - we've already received a number of testimonials,’ added Unsworth.
Ben Milford, head of Professional Print Marketing, Canon Business Solutions, said, ‘The first UK customer installation of the imagePress C7000VP represents a major milestone for Canon. It not only illustrates our commitment to deliver benchmark solutions to the professional print sector, but shows that the imagePress brand continues to go from strength to strength. It's fitting that the New Leaf Printing Group - the world's first company to back the product when it signed up for one last year - is the UK's first owner of the imagePress C7000VP. This installation cements what is already a strong relationship between New Leaf Printing Group and Canon.’
‘At Northprint we announced that we would ship the imagePress C7000VP to UK customers from July, so it's pleasing to see us deliver it earlier than anticipated. Throughout the coming weeks we will complete the first tranche of UK installations of the imagePress C7000VP,’ added Milford.
The imagePress C7000VP is the result of significant investment into ground-breaking technologies by Canon Inc, whose research and development spend is around 8 per cent of its non-consolidated sales.
PCP adds UK's first EFI Hagen Prograph solution PCP initiates move to ‘Lean Manufacturing’ model by selecting a combination of EFI MIS unique in the UK…
EFI has announced that Precision Colour Printing (PCP) has purchased EFI Hagen Prograph, EFI PrintFlow and EFI Auto-Count. The contract for this combination of EFI management solutions, a first for a UK printer, was signed by PCP's managing director, Alex Evans, at EFI Connect 2007, the print industry's largest user conference, which was held in Las Vegas last week. Founded in 1980, PCP is one of the leading magazine printing companies in the UK, and is part of The Claverley Group, the proprietors of the Wolverhampton Express & Star and the Shropshire Star newspapers.
Having already invested over £10 million in state-of-the-art equipment over the past few years, PCP is keen to ensure that it remains competitive and at the forefront of technological change. For this reason, the company wanted a powerful management system that would enable it to reap the substantial benefits of Lean Manufacturing. Installation of the new system will begin next month, with Hagen Prograph expected to go live by November and completion of the full management solution anticipated by the start of Drupa in May 2008.
Created by EFI's Advanced Professional Print Software (APPS) group, Hagen is EFI's enterprise solution for technology-driven, large scale operations, creating a true CIM environment by connecting production and management processes into a seamless network. EFI understands the varying needs of different types of print service providers and because of this, Hagen is designed to work in all printing sectors from large commercial printers to more niche suppliers such as screen, direct mail and publication printers. Hagen offers advanced workflow and job submission tools across all aspects of the print business from estimating, job management, scheduling, purchasing, inventory and fulfilment and allows users to collect, share, analyse and respond to information in real- time.
Prograph's integration with Hagen will offer PCP comprehensive planning capabilities - including versioning, complex imposition, bindery planning and distribution tools - that will assist the company to make more informed business decisions and optimise its production process. The addition of PrintFlow Dynamic Scheduling and Auto-Count Direct Machine Interface (DMI), powerful, real-time manufacturing tools, will significantly enhance their planning and shop floor data collection capabilities. Together as one integrated management solution, a first in a UK print environment, the system will facilitate PCP's introduction of Lean Manufacturing, which it is hoped will result in the identification and steady elimination of waste, improvements in quality and the reduction of production time and costs.
As Alex Evans, managing director of PCP, commented, ‘The challenges currently faced by commercial printers in the UK are immense. Although we already run an efficient operation, we knew we would have to take a radical step to ensure we maintain and improve our position in the market and have therefore decided to implement Lean Manufacturing. In order to do so, however, we also know that we need tools beyond those of a standard MIS, so after careful evaluation of a number of systems, we've concluded that EFI's Hagen Prograph/ PrintFlow/ Auto-Count solution is by far the best to help us to achieve our goal and keep our business moving forward.’
Marc Olin, senior vice president/general manager, EFI Advanced Professional Print Software (APPS), said, ‘EFI's ultimate objective is to increase our customers' profitability by introducing greater efficiencies in their workflow and business processes. We're delighted that, where the industry is suffering from market-driven pricing and low margins, we've been able to provide PCP with a unique and truly integrated management solution that will empower the company to run a leaner and more productive and profitable business.’
Liz Gilmour, sales development manager, EFI, added, ‘MIS has developed something of a reputation as a business tool required for such tasks as estimating, paper purchasing and stock control - but while of course that's all true, it doesn't actually effect what happens on the shop floor. In the case of PCP, however, the unrivalled combination of Hagen Prograph, PrintFlow and Auto-Count will have a positive impact on every aspect of the company's business and I therefore think that this is likely to be the first of a number of such installations over the forthcoming year.’
Pictured above: From the left, Liz Gilmour, sales development manager of EFI; Alex Evans, managing director of PCP Ltd; and Charlie Grace, VP of sales, EFI.
Fujifilm Sericol’s ‘total graphic solution’ at FESPA Fujifilm Sericol presented an exciting selection of new developments in screen and digital print on one of the shows largest stands…
Fujifilm Sericol presented an exciting selection of new developments in graphic screen and digital printing on one of the largest stands at FESPA 2007 - showcasing what it calls its 'total graphic solution'.
Sericol clearly confirmed its commitment to screen and emerging digital technology for graphic print, deploying an international team to inform and entertain visitors, while all equipment ran at full production pace.
For the first time at FESPA, Sericol showcased a new portfolio of wide-format digital products, including the new Fujifilm branded Acuity and Vybrant inkjet machines. Tudor Morgan, digital marketing manager, reported, ‘We were delighted with the response to our new line-up, which gives customers an entry point to digital at any level. We sold more machines than ever anticipated, including an Inca Onset to Graphic World in Holland. The new Onset received a lot of interest, with over 50 genuine enquiries.’
Said Joe Mueller, screen marketing manager, ‘We had a very busy show, with great interest in the new Displaymaster XX and Pro-File Fogra 27-compliant graphic inks. Sericol's graphic screen efforts complemented our inkjet offer as customers take on both technologies. We also featured products for textile decoration, which continues to be an important segment for us, and the level of interest at FESPA was excellent.’
Keith Harley, marketing director, stated, ‘Fujifilm Sericol recognises the importance of embracing digital alongside its screen business, encouraging customers to follow to ensure they can respond to changing market demands and continue to grow in the future.’
A World First for Prinect with Postpress Manager Prinect automated workflow now enables full postpress integration in the complete print shop value-added chain…
At the upcoming Drupa 2008 trade show, Heidelberg will demonstrate how Prinect now enables postpress to be fully integrated into the complete print shop workflow. This marks the final part of the company's JDF-based (Job Definition Format) process integration, making Heidelberg the first supplier in the industry to integrate all a print shop's processes - from management and prepress to press and postpress - in a single end-to-end workflow. Prinect Postpress Manager is thus the logical addition to the Prinect Integration System and Prinect Pressroom Manager integration modules unveiled by Heidelberg at Ipex 2006.
‘The incorporation of postpress in a complete integrated workflow for Drupa 2008 will provide print shops with significant further potential for productivity gains. It will be possible to control print jobs automatically across a printshop's entire value-added chain, process them without wasting any unnecessary time, repeat them easily and carry out precise preliminary and actual costing. The scalability of the solutions allows customers to adapt their systems to their particular growth trajectory, and the modular design also safeguards their investment in the long term. This is exactly what our customers have been waiting for,’ stated Dr. Jürgen Rautert, director for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg, as he summed up the significant customer benefits of Prinect based end-to-end process integration.
Prinect Postpress Manager enables Heidelberg postpress equipment to be linked up online via a JDF interface, providing bidirectional data exchange with a print shop's management information system (MIS). The TH/KH series of folders, saddle-stitchers from the Stitchmaster ST 350 model onwards, the Eurobind 4000 perfect binder and the Dymatrix/Diana die-cutters and folder gluers can all be linked online. This will also be possible for Polar cutters at a subsequent stage. The Prinect Data Terminal facility allows the remaining Heidelberg postpress systems that cannot be linked up online and third-party equipment to be integrated in the Prinect workflow. This means that postpress too, can benefit from fully automated central production data entry and comprehensive evaluation options such as actual costing of jobs.
Licensed users can obtain an overview of the status of a print job at the prepress, press and postpress stages at any Prinect workstation or ‘cockpit’. What's more, machine operators are able to download job information such as customer data and details on paper, format, print run etc. online, directly onto the relevant machine. Once the job has been completed, the machine returns the analysis data (setup, startup and production times, for instance) directly to the MIS for actual costing.
Analyze Point - detailed evaluations of print jobs As with the Prinect integration solutions for prepress and press, Analyze Point is a Prinect Postpress Manager option for on-screen display of the current status of all jobs and postpress machines. The machine status, the postpress speed, a variety of job and counter information, and details of the job currently loaded can all be displayed in graphic form. The module also compiles job reports that can be used to analyse the previous 15,000 jobs produced and display them graphically. This means that it is possible to show both the status and progress of the process.
Process integration with Prinect - the story so far For a number of years now, Heidelberg has gradually been developing various Prinect components to visualise the complete integration of all a print shop's processes in an end-to-end workflow. The company introduced the Prinect Integration System at Ipex 2006 in Birmingham last year - a system for centralised JDF-based data management at print shops. Also unveiled in Birmingham, the Prinect Pressroom Manager, which is the world's first purely JDF-based pressroom system for controlling and managing all the different data required for print production. For some years now, it has been possible to integrate industry software into a JDF workflow using Prinect Prinance, and the same applies to prepress thanks to the Prinect Printready System. The introduction of the Prinect Postpress Manager now means that all the key areas of a print shop are integrated in an end-to-end workflow.
Screen adds Adobe PDF print engine to Trueflow Screen announces Trueflow SE – creating a new universal workflow powered by Adobe PDF Print Engine…
Screen has announced the launch of its Trueflow SE workflow which adds the Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE) to the well-established Trueflow PDF- and JDF-based prepress production workflow to create a powerful new 'universal' workflow capable of managing production to multiple output devices on a single network.
Trueflow SE is a result of Screen's strategy to widen its range of digital imaging and printing equipment. Notable for its market-leading prepress and CTP systems, Screen has broadened its product portfolio over the last 18 months with the launch of the Truepress 344 digital offset press, the Truepress Jet520 inkjet colour transactional press, and the Truepress Jet2500UV, the company's first large-format inkjet printing system.
Trueflow SE has been designed to serve the needs of printers using multiple CTP and digital printing systems and enhance output consistency throughout the workflow, improving overall print productivity and profitability. It is a full JDF production workflow for printers that seek automation and tools that can easily be used by relatively inexperienced operators. It combines the strengths of PDF for content definition and the JDF standard for job ticketing and process control and automates production from page input to final output by a single 'drag and drop' action. Trueflow SE maintains all the current features and benefits of Trueflow whilst adding new functionality, such as support for CTP and 'Print on Demand' devices in the same workflow. In addition to handling PDF files, Trueflow SE continues to support PostScript files and expands its JDF capabilities still further.
The Adobe╝ PDF Print Engine (APPE) is a next-generation printing technology. With APPE Trueflow SE combines the strengths of content definition in PDF and JDF to control print systems. It allows PDF files to stay device-independent across the workflow, eliminating the need to flatten transparent artwork, make late-stage content corrections if required and enable re-purposing jobs for output on different printing systems.
Trueflow SE continues to improve the integrity of file input and output and strengthens the connectivity between designers and printers. The flexibility, offered by the APPE implementation, enables jobs to be sent to the output of choice at the latest moment in the workflow. Trapping, colour management and imposition can vary in relation to the output device of choice.
Trueflow SE starts delivery in the Autumn and will replace the current Trueflow 3 range of products. Existing Trueflow users will be able to upgrade seamlessly to Trueflow SE. Other products from the Trueflownet suite of products will retain connectivity or will be updated to a connectable version if applicable.
'Trueflow SE continues to provide the best workflow system by generating a stronger connection between Trueflownet products and Adobe's JDF and PDF technology,' says Sjaak Veeken, product manager workflow for Europe.
To find your local supplier of Screen technology and detailed information on all Screen products visit: www.screeneurope.com. In Southern Africa Screen products are distributed and supported by Kemtek Imaging Systems at: www.kemtek.co.za.
Fotorotar reports waste reduction of up to 90 per cent Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 52 five-colour press with Anicolor short inking unit field-tested in Switzerland…
For the past four months, Fotorotar AG, based in Egg near Zurich, has been testing the Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 52 five-colour press with coating unit and Anicolor short inking unit. More than one million sheets have been produced so far. Heidelberg introduced the new Anicolor inking unit technology on a Speedmaster SM 52 four-colour press at Ipex 06; order levels for this press have exceeded expectations. The Anicolor five-colour version is scheduled to enter series production in the first quarter of 2008.
The innovative Anicolor inking unit brings the benefits of offset printing to even the shortest of runs and helps significantly improve margins in production. These benefits also still apply to longer runs. The major asset of the Speedmaster SM 52 with the Anicolor inking unit is the use of commercially available printing plates, since the press works with tried-and-tested Alcolor continuous dampening system.
‘We supply a particularly large number of customers who insist on a spot colour,’ explained Otto Brunner, technical director at Fotorotar, summing up why he decided in favour of a five-colour press. The company employs a workforce of 140 and produces mainly pamphlets, brochures, magazines, and small printed items. As a state-of-the-art print media company, Fotorotar brings together printing, publishing, and new media under one roof.
‘The Speedmaster SM 52 five-colour press with coating unit and Anicolor short inking unit has exceeded all our expectations,’ comments Jürg Konrad, commercial director at Fotorotar. ‘For example, startup waste has been reduced by up to 90 per cent and we are saving 70 to 80 per cent on makeready times,’ added Konrad. By using the press in conjunction with Prinect Color Management from Heidelberg, we are able to start selling from the 20th sheet onward. ‘We have been very pleasantly surprised by the print quality, which is exceptionally high and consistent across the entire run,’ commented both Brunner and Konrad. Both directors believe the test phase has gone extremely well so far. ‘For runs of less than one thousand, Anicolor helps reduce printing costs by around 30 per cent. What's more, fast makeready times and low wastage mean that even small runs of 50 to 60 are now viable, whereas these would previously have been typical applications for digital printing.’
Anicolor short inking unit - innovative technology The Anicolor short inking unit developed by Heidelberg avoids ghosting. There is only a single inking forme roller in the zoneless Anicolor inking unit. This provides each printing element on the plate with the precise volume of ink required throughout the entire run, thus applying completely smooth print areas to the printing stock. The Anicolor inking unit's efficient temperature control system means that the amount of ink applied to the relevant printing materials can easily be adapted over the entire printing form. When used in combination with the Alcolor continuous dampening system, Anicolor is an internationally unique system and ensures excellent printing quality, outstanding consistency in the production run, and easy operation. The more standardised print job processing is, the more the strengths of this system come into their own.
Furthermore, existing systems can still be used for plate imaging. The sheet travel of the Speedmaster SM 52 remains unchanged. The exceptional diversity of printing materials and high production speeds means that longer runs can be handled quickly, too.
Pictured above: Otto Brunner and Jürg Konrad, both of whom are directors at Fotorotar, believe the test phase for the five-colour Anicolor unit has gone extremely well so far: ‘For runs of less than one thousand, Anicolor helps cut printing costs by around 30 per cent,’ said Brunner and Konrad.
Lüscher celebrates a successful FESPA 2007 Strong market interest and good sales for newly launched JetScreen DX blue laser direct exposure CTS system…
As FESPA 2007 closed in Berlin, Germany, Lüscher AG of Switzerland reported strong market interest and good sales figures for the newly launched JetScreen DX blue laser direct exposure CTS (computer-to-screen) system.
Thomas Schweizer, CTS sales director, declared that the impressive launch of the new JetScreen DX was one of the high points of the show and attracted a great deal of attention. Stencils produced by the new direct laser exposure system offer a quantum leap forward in achievable screen printing quality and as a result this technology opens up demanding applications in the global industrial and graphic screen printing market.
The use of extremely long-lived and high-powered blue laser diodes and the elimination of other consumables significantly reduce recurring stencil production costs in fabric and screen printing, improving the economic viability of the screen printing process in comparison with other, rival digital printing techniques. Direct laser exposure also clearly improves stencil quality in terms of its edge definition, its printable image resolution and, above all, its mechanical and chemical resistance during the print run.
As well as offering the customer a choice of exposure resolutions (600, 900 or 1200 true dpi), virtually all 'normally sensitised' production materials, including the well-known capillary film system, can be completely hardened and cured from the print to the squeegee side at maximum exposure speed with no loss of quality. The blue lasers of Lüscher’s direct exposure system are fully compatible with white, stainless steel or coloured, anti-undercutting meshes, whilst the exceptional hardening and curing of the emulsion also ensures that the resulting stencil has a very high level of resistance to mechanical abrasion, water and solvents.
Depending upon the desired stencil size, Lüscher offers the JetScreen DX with either 32, 64, 96 or 128 laser diodes.
The Lüscher Laser JetScreen DX is produced for all current external screen frame formats from 1800 x 1600mm up to a maximum frame format of 3800 x 8000mm.
Schweizer reported that a total of 6 JetScreen DX systems were sold at the show. In addition, the well-established JetScreen WAX machines attracted undiminished interest from all those customers and screen printing users employing the coarsest and at the same time heavily coated mesh grades, such as technical screen printing users or stencil providers, or T-shirt screen printers.
Besides the CTS systems, orders were also received for three XPose! UV conventional platesetters for offset printing and a JetPrint 3530 UV for digital large-format printing.
The JetScreen DX sales were primarily to customers from the Romance and English-speaking regions but very good contacts were also made with screen printing visitors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Europe.
Managing director Kurt Steidle was delighted with the constant crowd of visitors on the Lüscher stand throughout the show and the fact that everybody manning the stand was busy the whole time. He was also very pleased with the high level of interest amongst international trade visitors in the new blue laser direct exposure technology, as well as the extremely high calibre of the visitors to the Lüscher stand. 'From the sales point of view, the Berlin show was undoubtedly Lüscher AG’s most successful FESPA,' enthused Steidle.
Elpical joins Enfocus partner programme With Elpical’s Claro, PitStop Automate now has the ability to automatically enhance images embedded in a PDF file…
The industry-leading PDF preflighting software, PitStop Automate, now has the ability to automatically enhance images embedded within a PDF file, following a partnership between Enfocus and Dutch firm Elpical. Elpical’s Claro Module for PitStop Automate (illustrated) plugs into the Enfocus automation product to enable hands-off image optimisation to become an integral part of the PDF workflow.
Elpical, which is well known in the newspaper sector, specialises in software that allows images to be automatically analysed and optimised. It can also apply ICC profiles to allow resampling and colour converting. This means that images within PDFs received from different sources can be optimised to look better and also have colour profiles applied to suit the output process for that job. The function can be carried out towards the end of the pre-press production cycle, giving greater freedom to the designer. In addition, images can easily be repurposed for different uses eg newspapers, magazines, websites etc. Elpical’s Claro Module is completely configurable from within the PitStop Automate user interface.
'As our industry becomes more automated, it needs easier tools to streamline the automation,' said Elpical’s managing director John de Jong. 'The Claro Module for PitStop Automate offers entry level functionality to enable a broad base of potential customers such as digital printers and professional copyshops to automatically increase the quality of customers’ jobs. Increasingly, document creators have little or no graphic arts experience, so it falls to the printer to find the tools that allow quality to be maintained. As such, Enfocus’ experience in PDF quality management and automation and Epical’s automatic enhancement technologies form a perfect match.'
Continued Leo Vanderdonckt, international sales account manager at Enfocus, 'PitStop Professional and PitStop Automate have become industry standards for preflighting functions,' he said, 'In order to expand their attraction and use even further we have had a policy in recent years of working with other leading software suppliers to incorporate their packages where appropriate. This had resulted in some exciting technical developments and important product launches and we believe the addition of Elpical’s new Claro Module fits perfectly with our existing technology partners.'
Océ brings full-colour to digital newspapers Some of the world's most famous international newspapers have been printed digitally in full-colour by Océ…
Some of the world's most famous international newspapers, including the Financial Times, have been printed digitally in full-colour by Océ. Publishers from around the globe have been impressed by the quality, which was said to be 'even better than offset'.
Pioneer Océ, the recognised world leader in short-run digital newspaper printing, has completed extensive tests and produced full digital colour copies of the Financial Times, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald as well as Spanish newspaper El Pais and Germany's Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.
The samples were first shown at Océ OpenHouse in Poing, near Munich, Germany, which is Europe's largest annual digital printing exhibition.
Ian Denhard, the FT's head of logistics, said, 'Through its world-acclaimed digital offering, Océ has played an important part in opening up new markets throughout the world for the Financial Times, and has been an integral part of our development strategy for new printing locations. Producing newspapers in colour is another quantum leap forward and, quite frankly, the quality from Océ's digital printing is better than offset.'
Each day Océ produces a total of more than 5,000 international editions of around 15 different titles at six separate commercial print sites - in London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Singapore and Zurich. The newspapers are produced on Océ's latest digital continuous feed technology, such as the VarioStream 9000 series.
In addition to the full-colour version the next groundbreaking development in the Océ VarioStream 9000 line-up is a system for ultra-productive output, raising the print speed benchmark by over 50 per cent.
The digital printing giant also produces 20,000 copies of the Handelsblatt News Am Abend newspaper per day at 26 separate print sites in 14 locations across Germany. The final editorial deadline is at 2pm and special news copies are available at 3.30 pm on Air Berlin flights and on trains of Deutsche Bahn.
Michaela Frisch, international market segment manager for the newspaper industry, said, 'Printing in full colour is another massive leap forward for this unique way of producing international editions of some world-famous titles across the world. Publishers have said that the high quality is even better than offset quality of the originals.' She continued, 'We are focusing strongly on areas that are of strategic importance to publishers, where digital production technology can make a real difference through adding value to publishers' businesses.
'Apart from the introduction of colour we're also introducing dramatically faster black and white machines, a development that opens up even more opportunities for publishers. Taking in consideration the progress we are making in technology every year and our intensive work on business models mixed with our six years activity and experience in this market I am very positive about the future outlook for Océ in the newspaper industry. We still have seen only the beginning of what digital print can do for newspapers.'
Kodak’s third GUA annual conference Announcing the 2007 Graphic Users Association of Kodak Solutions European Conference in Nice, France…
The third annual user conference of the Graphic Users Association of Kodak Solutions, focusing on prepress and in particular workflow and digital print, will take place from 3 – 6 October 2007 at Le Meridien Hotel, Nice, France. The event will give all attendees the chance to network with fellow users in the commercial and digital printing fields, meet technical experts, and also hear an update on Kodak’s plans for the coming year from senior management.
The conference agenda is driven by the users to serve their interests, and will give customers a chance to be heard as they share experiences and ideas. Meeting other graphic arts professionals and being able to have direct contact with technical experts was one of the most highlighted benefits of the previous events, and the reason that 98 per cent of delegates were satisfied with the conference and 80 per cent of the surveyed intend to return again this year.
‘The best part of the conference was the complete package,’ said a 2006 delegate, ‘This is a pool of knowledge with all the right people attending, and that’s exactly what I was looking for. The standard of the sessions and the way Kodak’s technicians handled my technical queries and requests amazed me.’
‘My intention was to get a feel of the roadmap for different products and get answers to specific questions,’ commented another delegate, adding, ‘This was accomplished. It was a very good event.’
The conference programme comprises three days of product updates, presentations, workshops, classroom courses, panels and entry to the Kodak Workflow Lab. Attendees will have direct access to senior management, product managers, developers and technical experts, and will be able to hear about upcoming products and initiatives. Day one begins with registration, a first time delegates meeting and an evening reception. Day two will commence with programme orientation and a keynote speech, and then breakout sessions on workflow, inkjet technology, basic colour theory and CTP will take place. Day three will also include breakout sessions, workshops and roundtables on a variety of topics. For all evenings dinner will be organised by the GUA.
The conference will be conducted in English, but handouts and other material will be translated. The lab will be equipped with Kodak’s major workflow and proofing products and staffed with technical experts fluent in major European languages. Here the users can get hands-on training and ask all the questions they have.
Users that attend the event will pay a €395 conference fee, and travel and accommodation expenses. To compensate these costs they will be eligible for a conference credit of €2,500 toward the purchase of selected Kodak software.
The Graphic Users Association (GUA) is a worldwide, independent, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to empowering users of Kodak Solutions with the tools and information to make them successful. It has a network of members working with Kodak to bring the best business and technical minds in Graphics Arts together. The mandate of the association is to leverage the experience and knowledge within the members base, maintain a close and collaborative relationship with Kodak and represent member interests in planning.
The European branch of the Association Board, which governs the activities of the European association, is made up of six Kodak customers and three Kodak representatives. Membership to the GUA is free-of-charge to all bona-fide users of Kodak prepress and digital printing solutions (as validated by Kodak).
To become a member of the GUA, customers can go to www.mygua.org. Here they will find more information on the conference program and how to sign up for it.
ACG to support PISEC '07 Conference and Forum ACG and PISEC ’07 announce close co-operation for this year's event to be held in London in November…
The Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) which campaigns against the trade in fakes on behalf of UK manufacturing industry has announced its support for, and participation in, PISEC ’07.
This global conference and forum will take place 19 - 21 November in London, featuring an international programme of senior speakers from brand-owning companies, governments and organisations, all experts in the escalating global problems of IP crime and identity theft.
As well as the main two-day conference programme, plans for PISEC include a special ACG-led panel session, discussing how to maintain the value of a company's IP in its balance sheet and manage the risk of counterfeiting. There will also be an ACG-sponsored Brand Owners Forum where conference delegates will be able to compare a range of counterfeit products with genuine counterparts, and discuss issues with experts from companies in a range of sectors, including drinks, clothing, tobacco, motor, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Said Ruth Orchard, director-general of ACG, 'With PISEC '07 taking place here in the UK, this is a great opportunity for ACG to support a programme which will examine current issues in brand protection, with major companies sharing their strategies and experience. Our Forum, exhibiting real and fake products, will give a clear picture of the kind of issues facing brands and law enforcement in their fight against the fakers and will also illustrate some of the security methods in current use.
Buzz Carter, from PISEC organiser IDEX, said, 'As the leading global event addressing international counterfeiting, piracy and fraud, we are delighted to have ACG's support and participation, representing the interests of more than a hundred major brand-owning and product security companies. Delegates at the PISEC event will directly benefit from the enhancements brought by ACG, and can be sure of connecting with the latest news, views and issues, shared by some of the world’s leading companies and experts in brand protection.”
On the local front, Sappi's African Printers of the Year led the news on Tuesday with Johannesburg-based Ultra Litho being awarded no less than four of the eight Gold awards in this year's competition - an absolute record achievement in the competition's 28-year history. Other winners this year included Hansa Print, Durrant & Viljoen, Hot Dot Print and Atlas Printers. You will find news below of all the other Silver and Bronze winners as well - which includes many previous Sappi prize winners, as well as some newcomers from no less than five African countries out of a total of 443 entries in this year's competition. Our sincere congratulations to everyone and good luck to all the finalists in October in Boston, New England, when they compete with the winners from Sappi's European, North American and Trading Regions for the coveted Sappi International Printers of the Year bronze African Elephant trophies.