Digital Printing-Toner - Cut Sheet (Color)

The PRINT 13 trade show emphasizes the trend toward the Great Diversification Movement. The printing industry is enduring some violent changes from a technology standpoint. With the decade-long trend toward shorter runs continuing, digital printing—especially inkjet—stepping up its game, and electronic alternatives continuing to harvest market share, diversification is on the lips of many printers as they prepare to trek to Chicago for the quadrennial Fall classic.

Océ PRISMAprepare 6.1 is the Canon's latest generation of all-in-one document preparation software. This solution streamlines the make-ready process from composition to production while maintaining color quality and consistency.

As he sat at the IPMA awards banquet last month, watching the video of the In-Print contest judges selecting the Best of Show winner, Steve Rigby was surprisingly calm. Two of Washington State University's Gold-winning pieces were among the final four, and he was feeling rather confident.

“A business card is very personal. It’s representative of the individual,” explains Michael Schaefer, Print Center director at Methodist Healthcare System. “So I tell the employees, ‘You may think it’s just a card, but that’s got their name on it.’”

Spring is in full bloom, but astute in-plant managers may have noticed one thing missing from the graphic arts garden this year. For the first time since it took root nearly two decades ago, the On Demand show is nowhere to be seen.

Topp Digital Label Solutions in Doral, FL, developed a solution for Interbeverage’s Bonfrüt line that enabled them to effectively launch six different juice and tea products and positively brand Bonfrüt beverages with consistent vibrant colors.

The potential for digital packaging is great, and while there are many obstacles, these can all be overcome. Commercial printers would also like to get into packaging, but commercial shops have some additional challenges. Commercial printers generally do not have the finishing equipment: folding, scoring, diecutting. Perhaps more significant, brand owners generally look to box makers for boxes, not commercial printers.

At the inaugural Inkjet Summit in April, Charlie Pesko, founder of InfoTrends, stressed that production inkjet technology was poised to transfigure the printing business. "I sincerely believe that inkjet is the next big game changer in the printing industry," he said.

For the fifth consecutive year, Ricoh’s InfoPrint 5000 production print platform has been named the high-speed inkjet market share leader in the United States, according to IDC’s "U.S. Production Printer and MFP 2012 Vendor Shares." Within the "IDC MarketScape: Worldwide High-Speed Inkjet Web Press 2013 Vendor Analysis," Ricoh was also named a worldwide Leader.

After sprouting in 1994 and quickly blossoming into the industry's main spring event, On Demand has faded quietly from sight. Questex, owner and producer of the event, had planned a more modest two-day conference this year, focusing on the life cycle of content, but it never came to fruition.