Workflow/MIS/Web-to-Print

Ten months ago, the aging, largely analog Central Printing Division at the Oklahoma Department of Central Services (DCS), struggled to produce high-value color print and finishing work. “It was more than a challenge to be competitive and meet production deadlines,” recalls Mark Dame, director of Central Printing. Because it conducts its business as a self-funded government program, Central Printing often competes with some of Oklahoma City’s best commercial printers. For this reason, Central Printing’s team of 24 employees knew the time had come for

In-plants have an opportunity to win an all-expense paid trip to the new xpedx Technology Center in Cincinnati. The two-day trip is valued at about $2,500 per winner.

Last week, IPG and other graphic arts journalists visited the new xpedx print technology center, located just outside of Cincinnati. The 11,000-square-foot facility is reportedly the only U.S. center demonstrating equipment from a variety of manufacturers.

On Monday, xpedx is set to open an 11,000-square-foot Technology Center in its metro Cincinnati headquarters. It will provide U.S. print professionals with a single location to learn about and test new equipment and technologies from top manufacturers. The exhibition center will spotlight technology covering all aspects of offset and digital printing, including creative, pre-press/workflow, press and post-press/fulfillment. Printers can evaluate new products, technologies and production techniques from major print industry suppliers in a live print production environment.

Xerox has honored 15 business partners for their contributions, chief among them Rochester Software Associates Inc. and C.P. Bourg. Xerox works with software and hardware providers to create integrated solutions that extend the capabilities of Xerox products. The awards recognize leading partners in two categories: workflow software and document feeding and finishing solutions.

e-LYNXX Corp., of Chambersburg, PA, says it has been granted a patent covering “any electronic system for procuring customized goods or services (including printing) that automatically matches supplier attributes with contract specifications to identify qualified suppliers, disseminates a bid solicitation to at least two identified suppliers and receives and forwards a bid response to the buyer.”

The U.S. business method patent (No. 7,451,106) was actually filed on Nov. 30, 1998. Therefore, e-LYNXX asserts that it could apply to procurement solutions currently in use.

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ—October 14, 2008—Agfa Graphics announced today that it has strengthened its sales management team across the United States. Dennis Ouellette is Agfa’s new regional director of Corporate Accounts leading a team of sales executives who focus on the large, national graphic communications firms. Dennis, a long-time Agfa employee, was promoted from his digital solutions regional sales position. Tony Petchar has been named regional director for the Western U.S. region. The Midwest is now managed by regional director Dan Maffeo, formerly with Fuji. Jack Baraczek continues as regional director for the Eastern Region. Peter Wilkens continues to head the sales and marketing organization

WASHINGTON, DC—10/06/08—The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization and Graphic Arts Show Corporation (GASC) today announced details for the JDF Works Print Shop Live! program at GRAPH EXPO 2008. The JDF Works Print Shop Live! is designed to show attendees exactly what can be accomplished using today’s print production automation technologies. At this new feature, show goers will follow a live digital print job through production at three different locations on the show floor from online job creation and customization, through order management, scheduling, prepress and imposition, to printing and finishing of the final printed

A GOOD PRODUCTION workflow is one of the main factors in meeting deadlines and profitability. Historically, the answer to creating an effective workflow has been to throw people at it. Not only is that expensive, but with the increasing complexity of the tools and processes required, it demands very skilled operators. And finding and training these operators can be a big challenge in itself. Now, automating everything is not always practical. For example, any process that requires some subjective decision making is not usually suited to automation; however, we should be using technology to replace many of those predetermined and repetitive tasks. That is

GHENT, BELGIUM—August 18, 2008—The world’s graphic arts experts have come together to release v4 of the Ghent Workgroup specifications (http://www.gwg.org/GWGversion4.phtml) for automated workflow efficiency in the range of application and output environments. v4 of the specifications supports Adobe Acrobat 9 - which itself includes Universal Proof of Preflight developed by the Ghent Workgroup. Heading the list of additional enhancements to v4 is a check for missing glyphs, one of the leading causes of preflight and page production frustration. GWG’s specifications have become the international benchmark for PDF quality assurance. The free specifications are utilized by designers, prepress and printers all over