A Look Ahead at Print 05

Several vendors recently revealed their plans for the big September show.

By Bob Neubauer

The Print 05 and Converting 05 trade show is right around the corner. To get a taste of what's in store, IPG was recently invited to Chicago along with other journalists to hear a handful of vendors discuss their plans for the show, which will take place September 9-15 in downtown Chicago.

The two-day press conference, called MediaDays 2005, was organized by the Broadford & Maloney PR firm.

Dave Poulos, of the Graphic Arts Show Co., told attendees that 80,000 people are expected to attend Print 05 and visit its nearly 800 exhibits covering more than 750,000 square feet of floor space. In addition to the new converting exhibition and exhibits on RFID (radio frequency identification), Print 05 will feature special interest pavilions, including:

• Mailing & Fulfillment, expected to exceed the total net square footage of the MailCom show.

• Wide Format, featuring more than 30 exhibitors.

Xerox will have a large presence at Print 05, with a two-story exhibit totalling 35,200 square feet, about three times as large as what the company had at Graph Expo 2004. This space will feature five solution zones:

• United offset and digital

• Print-on-demand and Web-to-print

• Book publishing

• Personalized communications

• Promotional transactional

Though Xerox executives told journalists about several new products and enhancements it plans to reveal at Print 05, we were asked not to publish this information until after the show. One new product, unveiled last month at On Demand, was the DocuColor 7000, a 70-page-per-minute (ppm) full-color device intended to fill the gap between the DocuColor 6060 and the 8000. It was built on the DocuColor 8000 platform.

Kodak Ready to Lead

Top executives from Kodak's Graphic Communications Group, including President Jim Langley, addressed journalists about Kodak's recent acquisitions and future plans.

"We're committed to being a leader in the industry," declared Langley, noting that, once the Creo acquisition closes, Kodak will have made a $2.3 billion investment in the graphic arts industry. If the Creo deal wraps up in time, it will be included in Kodak's exhibit area, he said, giving Kodak one of the largest displays at Print 05. Langley hinted that upgrades to the NexPress 2100 would be revealed at Print 05.

Jeff Jacobson, president of GCC Graphic Solutions & Services, said that plans previously announced by Kodak Polychrome Graphics to compete in the violet digital plate arena are still on track. Jacobson says he believes ink-jet technology ultimately will become the "next generation" of CTP solutions.

Coleman Kane and Marc Fors, of Printable Technologies, discussed two new modules and a new user interface for the PrintOne Customer Center that will be showcased at Print 05. The PrintOne Customer Center provides a secure, branded Web portal through which customers can make print purchases via the Web. With the new advanced functionality, it is possible to match the look and feel of the customer portal to any enterprise Intranet or Web site.

JobExpress, a PDF creation and job submission module, will allow end users to create and submit ad hoc jobs from any application by selecting the application print function. After the user has reviewed and approved the PDF proof, the file is encrypted and submitted to the PrintOne server, and a job submission form is presented to the user for completion. The job is then automatically priced and the user can approve the print job and proceed to check out.

Variable Data Composition

Printable also announced the release of FusionPro 3.0, the next generation of variable data composition tools. Improvements to this former Datalogics product allow for better control of copy fitting and management of dynamic variable text in the document.

Printable's FusionPro Desktop document composition application also has some new features:

• Export of text and all common style attributes from QuarkXPress, including QuarkXPress 6.5.

• New field definition functionality that offers "fill in the blank" or drop down boxes.

• Enhancements and improvements in print data stream output in PPML, VIPP and VDX.

Executives from Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses USA also made a presentation. Ken Kodama, vice president of sheeted sales, said the centerpiece of Mitsubishi's exhibit will be the 40˝ Diamond 3000TP tandem perfector. This five-over-five perfector, with an inline aqueous tower coater, runs sheets through in one pass, hitting a top speed of 13,000 sheets per hour and handling up to 24 point stock. Sheets are not turned; the front side is printed after the reverse side. The press features a new plate-changing system that enables simultaneous plate changing at all color units, which reportedly cuts plate-changing times in half.

Also showing will be the 40˝ Mitsubishi Diamond 3000R Double Diamond convertible perfector. With automatically convertible perfecting up to 12 printing units plus double tower coaters, it prints 11,000 sph in perfecting mode and 13,000 sph in straight printing mode. Inline coaters before and after the perfecting unit enable printers to print and coat both sides of the sheet in a single pass.

Jetrion, a spin-off company from Flint Ink, discussed its Print 05 plans. The company provides not only ink-jet inks but printers like the drop-on-demand Jetrion 3000 Series. In September it will show a new line of environmentally friendly continuous ink-jet inks with lower VOCs, as well as non-methanol solvents.

For wide-format printing Jetrion will introduce higher efficiency and expanded color gamut inks in unique process colors, with hexachrome and light color options. These higher quality pigments will offer longer outdoor life.

For labels, Jetrion will show custom UV inks, substrates and coatings. It will also show a prototype of a digital can printing process.

Baldwin rounded off the vendor presentations with previews of its blanket and web cleaning systems and its WebCatcher S-18 web break management system.

MediaDays organizer Martin Maloney, chairman of Broadford and Maloney, filled journalists in on the progress of The Print Council, an alliance of graphic arts leaders formed to promote the greater use of print. The council has secured exhibit space at Print 05, arranged to have inserts placed in trade magazines and is building membership among print suppliers and vendors. Maloney, executive director of the Print Council, formed a coalition of PR firms to help spread the word about the council's progress.