Last week more than 100 graphic arts journalists met in Düsseldorf, Germany, to attend the Official drupa International Media Conference to preview some of the product launches planned for drupa 2012, now less than two months away.
Reconstruction of the Screen (USA) Demonstration Center in Rolling Meadows, Ill., is now complete. With more than 12,000 square feet of demo space, including two visitor lounges, the newly modernized center enables clients to see the widest range of digital printing solutions offered by any manufacturer in the world.
A highlight of new computer-to-plate solutions from Agfa, Fujifilm, Glunz & Jensen, Heidelberg, Kodak, Mitsubishi Imaging, Screen (USA), Presstek and Xanté.
The crowds returned to Graph Expo this year. Here's a look at what they saw, including the latest inkjet presses.
A sudden workload increase came when cosmetics company Mary Kay Inc. shifted the printing and folding of product inserts from outside printing suppliers to the company's in-plant facility in Carrollton, Texas. "It hit us like a ton of bricks" recalls Keith Hopson. "We didn't know it was coming until we were flooded with work."
An upgraded computer-to-plate system at Securian Financial Group's in-plant has productivity soaring at the St. Paul, Minn.-based operation.
According to IPG data, almost 22 percent of in-plants have an imagesetter. Until last month, one of them was the University of Mississippi, which has been churning out film with a Screen Katana for years. The main reason the shop stuck with it? “It was paid for,” laughs Tony Seaman, director of Printing and Graphic Services at the Oxford, Miss., shop.
EVEN AFTER installing an HP Indigo 1050 digital color press four years ago, San Diego State University ReproGraphic Services still found it challenging to reach portions of the four-color market. Longer-run jobs were not cost effective on the 1050, so the in-plant was using its aging computer-to-plate (CTP) system and two-color presses to produce them. It was not the most efficient setup. So in 2006, Leslie Rutledge, manager of the nine-employee in-plant, made the decision to install a Presstek 34DI direct imaging press. Life has not been the same since. The chemistry-free, waterless offset press images plates directly on the press, saving time, improving quality and decreasing costs.
Dozens of in-plant managers came to Philadelphia recently for the On Demand Conference. Here's a brief glimpse of what they saw there.
Last month’s ACUP conference in Clearwater, Fla., was a great opportunity for in-plant managers to share their stories. Most of them have been very busy back home and had a lot to talk about. IPG Editor Bob Neubauer spoke with as many attendees as he could corner, to find out what’s been happening in their in-plants. Here’s what a few of them have been up to: • The University of Tennessee is replacing its four-color Heidelberg with a new four-color, 40˝ Heidelberg XL-105 with in-line coating and an image control system. The shop also purchased a pile turner for press stock preparation. • California
