Digital printing, particularly new ink-jet solutions, stole the show.

By Mark Smith

“We believe this technology’s going to change this industry forever,” proclaimed Antonio Perez, Kodak’s chairman and chief executive officer, during a press conference. “Many jobs that are done today with an offset press will be done in time with this technology.”

A Coming Out Party for Ink-jet

In keeping with its stated intent to introduce a web-fed, thermal drop-on-demand product line, HP showed a 36˝ version of its Inkjet Web Press. The machine prints on uncoated paper, with a bonding agent applied, at 600 dpi and at 400 feet per minute (fpm) or 3,200 A4 pages per minute (ppm). When HP releases the first model in the fall of 2009, it will be a 30˝ configuration.