Pitney Bowes

Quality, efficiency and cost. Those were the three areas that Penn State University’s Multimedia & Print Center (MPC) sought to improve when it recently installed a new Presstek 52DI digital offset press.

Each year, a panel of industry experts, journalists and consultants analyzes the graphic arts technologies that will be on display at the Graph Expo trade show and assembles a list of those they feel will have the greatest impact on the printing industry. This list of “Must See ’Ems” winners has traditionally been revealed at the pre-show Executive Outlook Conference, just a day before the Chicago show opens.

State government printers from around the country assembled in Denver last month for the 35th annual National Government Publishing Association (NGPA) conference. About 30 government attendees took part in the three-day event, which was titled "Exceptional Government and the Power of Partnership."

Equipped with an arsenal of digital printing and high-tech inserting gear, the 42-employee print and mail operation at Physicians Mutual processes between 30 and 35 million mail pieces a year for the health and life insurance company.

Fujifilm will show the J Press 720 inkjet press. Heidelberg will present Prinect Digital Workflow Integration. New features for the Kodak NexPress platform will be shown.

With the early announcement of this year’s top technology winners, GRAPH EXPO 2012 attendees will be able for the first time to plan their Must See ’Ems booth visits in advance of the show. They also will be able to take advantage of a new Must See ’Ems pre-show webinar for more in-depth discussions of the winning technologies and the reasons they were chosen.

Xplor International will be back at Graph Expo this year, bringing a half-day program featuring nine sessions, held at three concurrent times. Titled “Making it Relevant,” Xplor’s seminars will take place Monday, October 8.

After two decades in its comfortable 30,000-square-foot facility, Printing & Mailing Services at the University of Alabama-Birmingham got a jolt last summer when it learned its building was going be razed to make way for a new minor league ballpark. The news was more than a little unsettling for Director Steve Murray.

The State of Colorado’s Integrated Document Solutions (IDS) was named the 2012 Mail Center of the Year by the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association. This award recognizes a corporate mail center for outstanding improvements in new technology, cost savings and processes.

Take a stroll through the halls of drupa and you will see more finishing equipment than you have ever imagined in your life. Most of those machines, sadly, are unavailable here on the other side of the Atlantic. So we've decided to focus on the equipment that is, and have provided a quick look at some of the new bindery and finishing systems that made their debuts at drupa.