On Demand Conference

The show was built around a trio of themes: personalization, the Internet and outsourcing. This last theme, however, may have proved a bit overbearing.

As Barbara Pellow put it in the opening minutes of the 1998 On Demand Digital Printing & Publishing Strategy Conference and Exposition, "The digital opportunity isn't coming; it's here, it's today and it's now."

Certainly that was not headline news to printers, who have been hearing about—and practicing—printing on demand for years. Nevertheless, more than 18,700 people jammed the Javits Convention Center in New York recently to learn about the latest print-on-demand developments.

Pello's consulting firm, CAP Ventures, the show organizers, picked three themes around which to mold this year's conference: personalization, the Internet and outsourcing. This last theme, unfortunately, may have soiled the show for in-plant managers, who have spent years fighting the takeover attempts of outsourcing firms. Such firms had many opportunities at On Demand—including the opening keynote session—to rave about their services, while in-plant managers silently stewed in the audience.

The conference drew attendees from some of the country's largest in-plants, like Allstate, Brigham Young University and the New York State Department of Transportation. In fact about 40 percent of the show's attendees hailed from corporate in-plant or data center backgrounds, according to Charlie Corr, a CAP Ventures senior consultant. Surely these successful in-plant representatives did not come to New York to hear outsourcing representatives give their sales pitches.

Still, such talk could be tuned out, and the conference did provide a number of helpful sessions. One of the most beneficial was entitled "Building a Print Services Center for the 21st Century." The first speaker, West Barton, director of Print Services at Brigham Young University, detailed a number of steps his operation is taking to prepare for the future.

His operation is testing software to monitor campus copiers and printers, provide volume and billing information and handle electronic billing. The in-plant is preparing to go direct-to-plate and has acquired a color proofer. CDs are being examined as storage solutions and mediums for course packs. Networking capabilities have been improved, and BYU has set up a department to work on Web sites and cut down on printing. An emphasis has also been placed on training customer service reps to help customers keep up with technology.

Print Services will soon produce all publications for University Computing Services. The groups get together to select equipment and discuss programming concerns.

"We made a deal with our computing people: 'We won't compute if you don't print,' " noted Barton.

The in-plant's goal is to eventually take in all documents and output them in any format the customer requests.

In the same session, Jeffrey Dance, Chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Office for Publications, recommended that, to prepare for the future, in-plants should: offer color printing; consider full digital operations to reduce steps and errors; train employees; know all costs; perform community work; and develop a strategic plan.

In another session devoted to selling print-on-demand services, David Ginn, of Powerhouse Color, advised printers to take the lead instead of waiting for the market to develop. Preach the benefits of POD, he said, especially the fact that it keeps document content from becoming obsolete. Hold open houses to show customers what you can do. And talk with them about their needs.

Big Prints, Big Deal

Even the "trial of the century" couldn't escape the allure of the large-format print.

From charts to graphs to blown-up photos, the much-publicized O.J. Simpson trail warranted the use of high-quality visual presentations. In fact, it was one of the key elements in communicating each side's arguments.

"The O.J. Simpson [trial] was the first and only trial where large-format printing and laminating actually became part of a trial," revealed David Williams at an On Demand session entitled "Expanding Your Print On Demand Business into the Large-format Market."

Williams, director of CAP Ventures, a market research and consulting firm, explained how large-format printing pieces are becoming fundamental in today's corporate environment. And in-plants, he said, are now taking notice.

For starters, there's an increase in the demand for color and for larger prints.

"Posters and trade show signs drive large-format applications and also define the greatest opportunity for display and presentation graphics for your company," stressed Williams.

Key applications include presentation and specialty graphics, separations and color proofing, and promotional materials, like posters and banners.

Overall, the market value of producing digital prints compared to traditional offset is growing, according to a study conducted by CAP Ventures. Large-format printing via digital ink-jet is at 61 percent compared to 8.84 percent for traditional offset. The reasons are clear: quality and quantity.

That's why Ray Baggerley's company became an early adopter of large-format printing. As the vice president of R&D at Digital Quickcolor, Inc. (DQI), Baggerley sees DQI's large-format future expanding as the demand increases. In his presentation, he pointed out that 36˝ wide prints will still be the bulk of the output and that 300 dpi is not dead.

"People standing far away can't tell the difference," he said about the resolution quality.

Also, the increase in the use of pigmented inks for outdoor applications will make longer-lasting prints, he noted. Both Williams and Baggerley agree that large-format printing is another valuable service for customers—which, in turn, adds value to your shop.

Talk to your customers, advised Baggerley. Tell them what large-format printing can do for them. And before purchasing, he added, see a product demonstration and evaluate your current situation and needs, including RIPing, networking, prepress and hardware.

—Kentia Goodman

Wide-format Printing

From the conference rooms to the show floor, wide-format printing was a big deal at the recent On Demand conference. Avery Dennison Graphics Division was showing media manufactured for wide-format printers, while EFI and Splash had front-end solutions for these systems.

Companies exhibiting wide-format printers weren't too hard to find, either. Danka, a large independent supplier, displayed products from Hewlett-Packard, one of the biggest names in the wide-format field.

Hewlett-Packard's most recent introduction, the HP DesignJet 3000CP series, prints up to 54˝ wide and is capable of speeds of up to 92 square feet per hour. This new series comes in two models: the DesignJet 3000CP and the DesignJet 3500CP. The former ships ready to be integrated with an external RIP, while the latter offers a complete plug-and-play solution.