Manroland

Despite falling just a month after IPEX in England, this year's show drew more than 44,000 visitors—and the vendors didn't let them down. When graphic arts industry representatives from all over the world arrived in Chicago for Graph Expo recently, Xeikon decided to shock them a little bit. At a press conference, the Belgium-based digital color press manufacturer contended that digital color production costs are now comparable with offset at runs of 1,000 units or more. Based on a study Xeikon had commissioned, which used real costs and time factors in actual production environments, the company insisted that digital color presses have

Converting to electronic prepress is helping the Marians of the Immaculate Conception in-plant keep up with its ever-growing workload. Keeping up with the needs of some 600 priests and brothers would be difficult for even a large commercial printer. But for an in-plant with a staff of 12, meeting the print production demands of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception—one of the Catholic Church's most successful religious communities—presents a challenge of Biblical proportions. "We're getting busier and busier," remarks Charles Parise, manager of press operations. "The organization's growing." Print runs for the Congregation's religious materials have increased dramatically over the years as the

Like automation, color is not just an option anymore. Manufacturers are responding to the trend by offering more color-productive equipment. Color and simplicity seem to be the chief components of today's sheetfed offset presses. Quicker makereadies, digital prepress consoles, auto-perfecting channels and color controls are just some of the latest advances—with color creating a new niche market. "In 1986, most of the 9,000 presses sold by small-press manufacturers comprised single-color presses," observes Tom Nishimura, president of Hamada. "However, last year approximately only 4 percent of about 2,700 presses sold under 40˝ were single color. In-plants looking for easy-to-use, multi-functional machines that feature the