xpedx Printing Technologies/Ryobi

More coverage of Graph Expo product introductions . IT MAY be telling that the majority of presses in operation around the show floor of Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006 last month were of the digital variety. Offset units were conspicuous in their absence. Digital presses have become part of the commercial printing mainstream, rather than being a specialty product segment or market niche. To emphasize this, Hewlett-Packard shared results from an InfoTrends study that surveyed a sampling of digital color printing buyers and producers. The research firm found that the percentage of color printing jobs with a run length

OFFSET PRESSES continue to pull their weight amidst the flashy digital printers that have been popping up in offices nationwide. These digital newcomers might be great for short-run work, but for big projects they still must step aside and let ye olde offset workhorses do their thing. Don’t think being called “old” is an insult, though. The longevity of these machines is impressive and can easily add up to decades. Jim VanderWal, production manager at CRC Product Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., says that his shop’s four-color Heidelberg SM102 was purchased in 1989 and the two-color Heidelberg SM72 dates back to 1975. Over

Your competition over the next five to 10 years will only get stronger. Without a solid financial foundation, your in-plant will be unable to fund the new investments necessary to compete. To help you survive and grow, xpedx has once again contracted with Prime Digital Printing to conduct free in-plant workshops in several cities. Called “MBA of Finance,” these are brand new workshops that go much deeper than the previous seminars. They will provide in-plants with strategies to help them get senior management to make the investments necessary to successfully take on the competition. The first three workshops in Chicago, Philadelphia and Charlotte went well. The

Dominion, one of the nation’s largest producers and distributors of energy, has installed an eight-color, 23x29” Ryobi 758 press in its Richmond, Va.-based in-plant. The press, equipped with an interdeck UV dryer/curing unit, is the first eight-color Ryobi press installed in the United States. It was purchased from xpedx Printing Technologies, the U.S. distributor and marketer of Ryobi presses. “This Ryobi mid-size press delivers extremely strong print quality with unusual ease of operation,” lauds Joe Gilliland, coordinator for the Dominion in-plant, which produces 15 million impressions each year. The shop also has a four-up, 20x27” Ryobi 684 and a two-up Ryobi 3302 press. Gilliland says makereadies with

In the latest IPG video, Mike Renn, assistant vice president of core services at Mellon Financial, in Philadelphia, relates how his in-plant’s new Presstek Vector TX52 platesetter is saving the company money: “We don’t need chemistry with this, so we save $10,000 a year just in chemistry costs,” Renn says on the video. “Just add water and that’s all you have to do to it.” The video tour also covers the seven-employee in-plant’s Ryobi press, Xerox 6060, Xerox Nuvera 120 and other equipment. To see it all, go to www.ipgonline.com/video/ipg_mfcp.html

Dominion, a Richmond, Va.-based energy company, has installed an eight-color, 23x29˝ Ryobi 758 press in its in-plant. It is the first eight-color Ryobi press installed in the United States, and it joins a four-up, 20x27˝ Ryobi 684 and a two-up Ryobi 3302 press. The shop, which has a $2 million budget, handles all color billing inserts, plus brochures, posters, annual reports and calendars—as well as pro bono work for Dominion’s philanthropic partners. The eight-color press is expected to bring more than $500,000 in annual savings because its six-up format allows for fewer overall impressions and the UV dryer eliminates drying time.

IT MAY not be a new topic, but on-demand printing can still pack a room—or a trade show floor, as was the case at the recent AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition. More than 20,000 visitors from 50 states and 62 countries traveled to Philadelphia in May for the annual event. Waiting to greet them were some 450 exhibitors, all displaying their latest wares. Despite the show’s successful two-year run in Philadelphia, though, the city will not be hosting next year’s event (and no, the annoying cab strike on the first day had nothing to do with it). Questex Media Group, the

With demand rising for quick-turnaround, short-run color, in-plants are looking to half-size presses to give them the versatility and shorter makereadies they need. By Carol Brzozowski For Rodney Brown, a half-size press is, in many ways, the perfect size press for his in-plant. "There's very few jobs that we can't do for the university on this press," says Brown, manager of University of Delaware's Graphic Communications Center. His shop's 20x28˝ Komori is compact enough to fit in his facility, and it allows the in-plant to stay competitive, since materials cost less than they would on a 40˝ press. Plus, the quality it produces

The print shop dynamic is generally driven by the conflicting demands of cost, speed and quality. Today's copiers and digital printers are the kings of speed, for example, yet the payment plans imposed by manufacturers might drive the cost so high on large jobs that printers must turn elsewhere. That's where offset presses still shine. Despite all the hype from printer and copier manufacturers, offset presses still provide benefits that can't be