Graph Expo: Top Ten List

Missed Graph Expo & Converting Expo? Even the 40,000 who attended the hemisphere's biggest print show couldn't see everything. Not with 600 exhibits spread over 392,000 sq.ft. (more than eight football fields), plus 62 seminars and numerous tutorials sponsored by suppliers and industry groups. This staff report provides a glancing review of key technology talking points, with more available on-line at www.gammag.com. (That's where we're posting the Must See 'ems—Graphic Arts Show Co.'s listing of technologies not to be missed—plus further news on Graph Expo that comes to light later on.)

At this show, technology on display met real-world business in the shop. Obviously, attendees agreed. The big sales tell it all: Print firms are retooling. Two presses are moving out for each new one in. Large-format sheetfeds are being matched with jumbo platesetters and super-sized folders, cutting cost per piece. Hard-to-set-up equipment is disappearing. And so, for that matter, is ugly. New machinery even looks cool, so you won't cringe when agency customers come to the shop.

Here's what caught our eyes:

1. Best Practices Count Most. A striking reflection on the industry was offered by Heidelberg CEO Jim Dunn. At his first Graph Expo since succeeding Niels Winther as head of the industry's leading equipment supplier, Dunn recounted a 1995 experiment (predating JDF) in which a small group of North American and European printers intentionally adopted "best practices." These are the factory processes that, inevitably, must be implemented when JDF-integrated machines start working together in an automated fashion. "The results were astounding," related Dunn. "Net production increases ranging from 19% to 34% were achieved with no additional investment in technology. You can imagine the reaction of a press manufacturer, faced with the prospect of the industry having the ability to increase output so dramatically without investing in new presses! Nevertheless, Heidelberg took the view that efficiency, in whatever form, would only make the industry stronger."
2. Single-pass Processing. Output rates plateau before the bar is raised again. Presses are geared for one-pass, two-sided coating over five colors, and hybrid UV/aqueous for "luxe" effects are in demand. KBA tops the 40″ class with its 18,000-sph Rapida 105. (Heidelberg's comparably fast Speedmaster XL105, shown at Drupa, doesn't arrive here until April, though its Speedmaster 102 CD has the same infeed and delivery technology.) MAN Roland's 700 press features in-line Prindor foiling. Mitsubishi and Komori advance perfector technology with machines that print on two sides without flipping the sheet—just a lead gripper area is required. And, keep an eye on Akiyama (now owned by China's $6-billion Shanghai Electric), which launched the 16,000-sph, 40″ Extreme press.
3. Commodity No More. Print moves in the course of these innovations, from a commoditized service based on marking up paper—to eye-popping, tactile, value-added product. Enhancements include digital print on prefinished stocks, security taggants, holograms and random pantographs, gluing and slitting at delivery, roll-fed sheetfeds, hybrid digital and conventional print, and mixing digital print and mechanical finishers.
4. Print as System. Perhaps surprisingly, ink companies are taking the lead. Flint Ink launched Progressive Color Media, providing color workflow advice and training, and ArrowStar inks, a worldwide brand of sheetfed inks promising consistent color in commercial and packaging applications. Sun Chemical offers a unique, integrated "print" system comprising its Rycoline chemistries, Kohl & Madden inks, and blanket offerings. Beyond blankets, Day International's new focus is on image transfer, providing media for everything from gapless presses to digital printers.
5. Cross-platform Consistency. Now you can print or proof on any platform; color will match. Press-side soft proofing arrives from ICS, Creo and KPG. (See related side-bar on page 39.)
6. Chemistry-free Plates. New approaches to image formation include expose and print plates from KPG, Presstek, Creo, Agfa. Glunz & Jentzen and JetPlate have inkjet versions. Xante shows a $15,000 metal CTP. Interesting new direct-to-plate systems were shown by Konica-Minolta and Mitsubishi.
7. Finishing Meets Prepress. High-tech folders from MBO, Muller Martini, and Heidelberg, to name a few, take orders on-line or set-up easily through operator prompting. Standard Finishing, to cite one example, shows how far integrating digital print to finishing has come with its CIP4, JDF-enabled i2i Standard Horizon finishing systems.
8. Digital Print's Here. Toner-based machines, not too costly, are easy to run and reliable. Time to get one? See page 40.
9. Integrated Good; Standalone Bad. MAN Roland and partners built CIM City, showing JDF-based, computer-integrated manufacturing across various mechanical and MIS platforms. Twenty of the Creo-inspired Networked Graphic Production group exhibited, including Hiflex. Heidelberg announced its JDF cooperation with this German MIS software provider. (Hiflex opens an Atlanta division.) Hundreds passed through Heidelberg's JDF-based Prinect experience (Prinect partners: Hagen, Prism and EFI).
10. Supply Channels Shaken. Consumables firms sell equipment; equipment vendors sell supplies; both buy each other. On Oct. 29, Presstek won the bid for AB Dick, giving it a franchise in the heart of the small commercial printer. Heidelberg debuted its own DI consumable (Saphira) at Graph Expo, as Presstek continues its patent-infringement lawsuit against OEM source Fuji in German court. Meanwhile, Sun Chemical's Vivitek channel focuses on flexo markets.