Graph Expo Approaches

When the doors of Chicago's McCormick Place swing open to about 40,000 Graph Expo attendees on October 10, a large number of in-plant managers will be among them. Coming five months after the Drupa printing exposition in Germany, Graph Expo may not hold a lot of surprises, but that will hardly dampen the enthusiam that always accompanies this show.

The one trend that stuck out at Drupa, according to Bill Lamparter, president of PrintCom Consulting Group in Charlotte, N.C., was the revitalization of the sheetfed offset press. Lamparter notes that most manufacturers unveiled "significant developments" to the sheetfed press, with Heidelberg practically rolling out an entirely new platform.

While Job Definition Format (JDF) continues to be the media darling and will no doubt garner a great deal of attention in Chicago, Lamparter sees sheetfed press technologies making a bigger splash.

"The average printer is not going to go out and implement JDF tomorrow afternoon," he says. "But he may need a new sheetfed press. And, if he doesn't do that, he'd better know what new press his neighbor is going to buy."

JDF is still a pretty fresh topic, and the trend towards diversification will be evident in the Mailing & Fulfillment Center, along with the Wide Format Pavilion. Of course, there will be no lack of traditional equipment and software for prepress, press and postpress applications as 600 firms will be showcasing their wares in more than 400,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Garnering a great deal of attention will be the programs offered by CIP4, the Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress. Heading the initiative is the JDF Pavilion, which will feature 18 demonstration "pods" hosted by companies with JDF-enabled solutions.

JDF Pavilion visitors can follow a number of repeating tours of the pods, where they will see how JDF is exchanged between four to five systems of different vendors.

A special section has been created to group together exhibitors that specialize in mailing and fulfillment. Seminars related to these topics will be available. A Mailing & Fulfillment Center Theater (Booth 3670) adds to the educational component.

At the Wide Format Pavilion, more than 15 exhibitors will showcase tools for printing banners, posters, point-of-sale displays, outdoor signage and other products on an array of substrates. Educational seminars include "Wide Format Color Control" (October 10), "Wide Format Digital Graphics—Everything You Wanted to Know and More" (October 11) and "Wide Format Profit Boosters" (October 13).

As usual, Graph Expo and Converting Expo offers a wide variety of educational seminars—60 in all—as well as free general sessions. Spearheading the first general session on October 10 is Frank Romano and friends presenting their take on the "State of the Printing Industry" (4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.). Other sessions are listed below.

The printing industry's premier national event will be sharing the spotlight this fall. With the Chicago Marathon running on Sunday, October 10, and the baseball Cubbies on the verge of a postseason berth, the Windy City is certainly the place to be in early October.

Visit www.graphexpo.com for more information and registration.

The lineup of exhibitor presentations includes:

• "ePublishing as a Value Added Service," by Adobe (October 10, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

• "JDF and PDF: Industry Standards for Automated Print Workflows," by Adobe (October 11, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

• A session on increasing productivity called "Workflow and the E-CSR" (October 11, 4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.)

• "Vision into Print: The Evolutionary Path for Publishing," by Adobe (October 12, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

• "Mailing and Fulfillment Solutions," by Buhrs (October 12, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

Among the mailing and fulfillment educational seminars in the Mailing & Fulfillment Center Theater (Booth 3670) are:

• "Fulfillment and Supply Chain Integration" (October 11, 8:15 a.m. to 11 a.m.)

• "Selling Distribution Services" (October 11, 10:15 a.m. to noon)

• "Integrating Mail Services" (October 11, 2 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.)

Wide-format printing seminars include:

• "Wide Format Color Control" (October 10)

• "Wide Format Digital Graphics—Everything You Wanted to Know and More" (October11)

• "Wide Format Profit Boosters" (October 13)

-By Erik Cagle